The invention discloses a sheet processing machine with an alignment plate at the input. The sheets are piled against the plate, and during each machine cycle, the bottommost sheet is extracted and delivered to a gripper bar of the machine. The alignment plate can move precisely longitudinally and diagonally to adjust the position and the skew of the sheet for correct positioning in the gripper bar. The alignment plate is guaranteed to be kept vertical by using a pair of synchronized linear actuators on each side of the plate. The machine can adapt to varying sheet thickness by adjusting the gap below that plate thanks to a motorized gauge. To even better position the sheets, a set of abutments is provided after the plate, and at a fixed distance to the plate. The abutments are pivoting to get out of the way of the gripper bar when needed.

An apparatus separates printed products that have been assembled into a stack. The apparatus includes a conveyor for transporting the stack, which is connected to an advanceable element, which implements separation of the printed products in the stack. The printed products in a receiving support are transferred into a skewed position, which leads to a reduction of the load on the printed products that are to be de-stacked. A retainer, which is part of the receiving support, and a support are set with a clearance with respect to the predefined printed product thickness.

Systems, devices, methods, and machine-readable media configured to dispense cards for card printing are provided. A card hopper can include a base, sidewalls extending from the base, the sidewalls configured to hold a stack of cards therebetween, a card lifter assembly including a ramp, the card lifter assembly mechanically coupled to the base, a lifter mechanism situated on the ramp, the lifter mechanism including a card retainer, the card retainer configured to transfer weight of cards of a stack of cards to the lifter mechanism, and a gate located in a sidewall of the sidewalls, the gate configured to allow a bottom most card of the stack of cards to pass therethrough when pushed by the card lifter assembly.

The invention discloses a sheet processing machine with an alignment plate at the input. The sheets are piled against the plate, and during each machine cycle, the bottommost sheet is extracted and delivered to a gripper bar of the machine. The alignment plate can move precisely longitudinally and diagonally to adjust the position and the skew of the sheet for correct positioning in the gripper bar. The alignment plate is guaranteed to be kept vertical by using a pair of synchronized linear actuators on each side of the plate. The machine can adapt to varying sheet thickness by adjusting the gap below that plate thanks to a motorized gauge. To even better position the sheets, a set of abutments is provided after the plate, and at a fixed distance to the plate. The abutments are pivoting to get out of the way of the gripper bar when needed.