A sorting conveyor has pivotally mounted flaps for sorting articles into sorting outlets as a function of a sorting indication affixed to each of the articles. The conveyor includes a monitoring and control unit designed to cause each flap to pivot between a closed position in which the flap forms a conveyor portion suitable for conveying an article in a certain conveying direction and an open position in which the flap interrupts conveying of an article on the conveyor to deflect it towards an appropriate sorting outlet. The monitoring and control unit is also arranged to retrieve thickness data from a memory giving a certain thickness for the article to be deflected, and to respond by causing the flap to pivot into an open position through a certain opening amplitude determined as a function of the thickness data about the article that is to be deflected.

A post-processing device includes a first discharge unit, a processing tray, an end alignment portion, a transport unit that comes into contact with an upperface of a medium placed on the processing tray and transports the medium to the end alignment portion, a position changing unit that changes the relative position of the transport unit with respect to the processing tray, a controller, and a post-processing unit that performs a post-process on the medium on the processing tray, wherein the position changing unit is configured to move the transport unit to a transport position to which the medium is transported and a standby position farther away from the processing tray than the transport position, wherein the controller changes the standby position based on the processing information related to the process performed on the medium, and wherein the processing information includes information about a process performed on the first medium.

In some examples, a sheet processing machine includes at least one pile formation device. The at least one pile formation device is arranged in a vertical direction beneath a multiple-up separating mechanism. The at least one pile formation device is arranged so as to be displaceable at least in an inward-moving direction. The at least one pile formation device includes at least one horizontally displaceable pile formation means and a deposit element that can be displaced relative to the at least one pile formation means.

The stacker comprises two stacking platforms and a system for conveying corrugated board sheets, configured to discharge the sheets alternatively onto one or the other of the two stacking platforms. A switching device allows for a quick switch of the conveyor system from one to the other of two operating conditions.

Alignment apparatuses include a frame and contact elements connected to the frame. The contact elements contact items that are to be transported in a processing direction relative to the frame. The contact elements are in permeant fixed positions relative to the frame, and do not move relative to the frame. Adjustable mounts are connected to the frame and move the frame in the processing direction and in a perpendicular cross-processing direction. A controller is electrically connected to the adjustable mounts, and the controller is adapted to control the adjustable mounts to simultaneously move the frame and all the contact elements in the cross-processing direction and the processing direction while rotating the frame. Methods laterally shift imaging on sheets that have had rotational correction performed by such alignment apparatuses.

A curl straightening device includes an endless belt, a curl straightening roller, a nip width adjusting mechanism, and a guide member. The curl straightening roller makes pressure contact with an outer peripheral surface of the endless belt, forming a nip portion, and straightens curl of the sheet which passes through the nip portion. The nip width adjusting mechanism moves the curl straightening roller in a direction away from or close to the endless belt so as to change a nip width. The mechanism includes a supporting holder of the curl straightening roller, and a rotationally moving portion that rotationally moves the roller supporting holder for moving the curl straightening roller. The guide member includes a pair of hanging members that are hung from both ends of the curl straightening roller so as to keep the guide member in constant position and posture relative to the curl straightening roller.

The curl straightening device includes supporting rollers, an endless belt, a curl straightening roller, and a contact member. The supporting rollers are disposed rotatably about a shaft extending in a direction orthogonal to a conveying direction of the sheet. The endless belt is stretched across the supporting rollers, and circulates in the conveying direction. The curl straightening roller makes contact with an outer peripheral surface of the endless belt between the supporting rollers so as to form a nip portion, and straightens curl of the sheet which passes through the nip portion. The nip portion is shaped so that the endless belt curves along a peripheral surface of the curl straightening roller. The contact member is disposed to oppose a center portion of the curl straightening roller in an axial direction, and makes contact with the curl straightening roller so as to prevent deformation of the curl straightening roller.

A transport mechanism includes a transport belt in which holes are formed and a suction clinging mechanism. The transport mechanism transports the medium in the first transporting direction, and when the upstream edge reaches a switching position, the transport mechanism transports the medium in the second transporting direction and stacks the medium in a stacker. The suction clinging mechanism includes an opening of a first suction chamber and an opening of a second suction chamber, and the opening of the first suction chamber is located downstream of the opening of the second suction chamber in the first transporting direction. The switching position is located upstream of the opening of the first suction chamber in the first transporting direction. In the first transporting direction, the distance from the switching position to the opening of the first suction chamber is longer than the length of each hole.

An assembly (100) and method for bottoming feeding sheets from a stack of sheets to a top-feed sheet feeding mechanism (F) on a device (P), such as a copy machine. The assembly (100) includes a sheet feeder (200), a transport arm (300), and a final height adjustment block (420) translatably attached to and extending along the distal end (302) of the transport arm (300) for limited transverse (T) translation relative to the machine direction (MD).

A system is provided for processing documents. In particular, the system incorporates a feeder for feeding documents to a device for further processing of the documents. For instance, the system finds particular application in the field of document imaging in which a variety of documents of varying sizes and orientation are to be fed to an imaging system, such as a document scanner. The system may provide a sorting station that receives documents from a work station and sorts the documents to a plurality of sort locations. The system may export the image data for the documents to a fileserver so that a remote operator can provide instructions for the processing of the documents so that the documents can be subsequently processed according to the instructions provided by the operator.