The invention relates to an apparatus (10) for feeding a plurality of flat elements (12) lying flat on one another, in particular carton blanks, to a packaging apparatus (V), comprising: a first feed section (18) having a conveying device (46), of which the conveying surface (22a1) intended to support the flat elements (12) is formed from a material which, with respect to the interaction with the flat elements (12), has a predetermined coefficient of adhesive friction, and a second feed section (20), which falls toward the packaging apparatus (V), wherein the inclination of the first feed section (18) and the inclination of the second feed section (20) toward the packaging apparatus (V) are different from each other.

An image forming apparatus includes a transfer unit including a transfer nip portion, a fixing unit including a fixing nip portion, a suction belt conveyance unit arranged between the transfer unit and the fixing unit and conveying the sheet toward the fixing nip, a first casing, a second casing connected to the first casing and supporting the fixing unit, a first positioning portion, and, a second positioning portion. The first positioning portion is disposed in the first casing and performs positioning of the suction belt conveyance unit in a predetermined direction along a surface perpendicular to a width direction of the sheet. The second positioning portion is disposed in the second casing and performs positioning of the suction belt conveyance unit in the predetermined direction.

A medium transport apparatus includes: a frame; a table including a placement surface on which a medium is placed, a first end portion, and a second end portion, the table extending from the first end portion to the second end portion and being rotatable about a first shaft portion parallel to the placement surface; a first rotor arranged adjacent to the first end portion of the table; a second rotor arranged adjacent to the second end portion of the table; a belt that is stretched by the first rotor and the second rotor, and is configured to rotate circularly and to transport the medium in a first direction from the first end portion toward the second end portion; and a biasing part that links the frame and an attachment part provided between the second end portion and the first end portion of the table, and that biases the table.

A sheet conveying apparatus, including: a support portion configured to support a second sheet different from a first sheet among a plurality of sheets when the first sheet located undermost among the plurality of sheets conveyed by a conveyance portion is placeable on a placement portion; and a restriction unit configured to bring the second sheet into a first state in order to restrict downward movement of the second sheet at a restriction position located downstream of a support position at which the support portion supports the second sheet when the first sheet is placeable on the placement portion, and to bring the second sheet into a second state in order to remove or reduce a restriction force for restricting the downward movement of the second sheet to less than a restriction force in the first state after bringing the second sheet into the first state at the restriction position.

An automated sheets processing system has a vertical stacks accumulating region (SAR) into which sheets are uninterruptedly fed to build vertical stacks for pre-specified loads including completed loads and newly building nascent loads. A tiltable Stacking Deck has a downstream discharge end from which the sheets can be fed at different elevational levels into the stacks accumulating region. A nascent sheets accumulator system has a plurality of support surfaces that are retractably interjectable into the stacks accumulating region for defining a separation gap between the top of a completed load and the bottommost sheet of a nascent new load. At least one of the support surfaces is retractably interjectable in an upstream direction into the stacks accumulating region while at least two others of the support surfaces are retractably interjectable in a downstream direction into the stacks accumulating region. One of the support surfaces has an anti-scuff feature.

A medium transport apparatus includes: a frame; a table including a placement surface on which a medium is placed, a first end portion, and a second end portion, the table extending from the first end portion to the second end portion and being rotatable about a first shaft portion parallel to the placement surface; a first rotor arranged adjacent to the first end portion of the table; a second rotor arranged adjacent to the second end portion of the table; a belt that is stretched by the first rotor and the second rotor, and is configured to rotate circularly and to transport the medium in a first direction from the first end portion toward the second end portion; and a biasing part that links the frame and an attachment part provided between the second end portion and the first end portion of the table, and that biases the table.

A banknote stacking device includes a piece-by-piece banknote conveying mechanism, an upper conveyor belt, an arc-shaped stacking plate, a movable blocking mechanism, a sensor device, and a control unit. An elastic sheet is arranged on the arc-shaped stacking plate at a position for stacking banknotes, an end of the elastic sheet is fixed on the arc-shaped stacking plate, and a free end of the elastic sheet extends in a direction opposite to the conveying direction of the banknotes, the extending segment of the elastic sheet forms an arch and is configured to elastically support the upper conveyor belt, and a through-groove is provided in the arc-shaped stacking plate at a position corresponding to the elastic sheet, and the free end of the elastic sheet is configured to extend and retract freely in the through-groove.

A sheet-material supply device includes a lift, a sheet-material detector, and a sheet-material retaining conveyor. The lift elevates sheet materials in a stacked state. The sheet-material detector detects that an uppermost sheet material of the sheet materials in the stacked state has reached a predetermined height. The sheet-material retaining conveyor retains and conveys the uppermost sheet material that has reached the predetermined height. The sheet-material supply device stops elevation of the sheet materials in the stacked state when the sheet-material detector detects that the uppermost sheet material has reached the predetermined height. The sheet-material retaining conveyor is disposed to be movable in a direction in which the sheet materials in the stacked state elevate.

A floating clamp mechanism prevents sheets from migrating back from a lead edge registration wall during the compiling of sheets in a stacker. The floating clamp mechanism includes a spring loaded ball mounted in converging upper and lower tracks that act as a one-way clutch. This allows the incoming sheets to be scuffed with low force to the lead edge registration wall while simultaneously holding the registered sheets to the registration wall.

A sheet conveying apparatus, including: a support portion configured to support a second sheet different from a first sheet among a plurality of sheets when the first sheet located undermost among the plurality of sheets conveyed by a conveyance portion is placeable on a placement portion; and a restriction unit configured to bring the second sheet into a first state in order to restrict downward movement of the second sheet at a restriction position located downstream of a support position at which the support portion supports the second sheet when the first sheet is placeable on the placement portion, and to bring the second sheet into a second state in order to remove or reduce a restriction force for restricting the downward movement of the second sheet to less than a restriction force in the first state after bringing the second sheet into the first state at the restriction position.