Provided herein is a device for folding a stack of sheets. The device includes a frame, means for pre-folding a stack of sheets along a crease line into a main plane such that a booklet with a straight back is obtained, means for keeping the pre-folded booklet relative to the frame, a carriage movably arranged to the frame and moveable parallel to the back of the booklet, and a nip arranged to the carriage for receiving the back of the pre-folded booklet. The nip direction forms an angle greater than zero with respect to a direction of movement of the carriage.

A post processing apparatus is attachable to an image forming apparatus. In a state in which a concavely curled recording material is placed on a second placement unit, when a plurality of the recording materials which are convexly curled are discharged to the second placement unit, a control unit causes a post processing unit to perform specified post processing on at least one recording material of the plurality of recording materials, causes a discharging unit to discharge the at least one recording material to the second placement unit, and after the discharge, causes the post processing unit to perform the specified post processing on the recording material or the recording materials of the plurality of recording materials other than the at least one recording material.

There is provided a process liquid coating apparatus comprising: a recording medium conveyance unit configured to convey a recording medium; a coating roller configured to rotate in accordance with the conveyed recording medium to apply process liquid on a surface of the recording medium; a pressure roller configured to cause the coating roller to apply the process liquid on the surface of the recording medium by forming an abutment part for nipping and pressing the recording medium with the coating roller; and a winding member configured to form a bent conveyance path along which the recording medium is bent with respect to a conveyance direction so that the recording medium is wound around the surface of the pressure roller, wherein the winding member is disposed adjacent to the pressure roller.

A method and an apparatus for stabilizing the position of a sheet-like element made of hard brittle material during transportation thereof along a transport path is provided in which the element is guided through a roller chicane having three rollers.

A printing apparatus includes: a feeding unit feeding a sheet; a conveying unit conveying the sheet fed by the feeding unit; a printing unit printing the sheet conveyed by the conveying unit; an inversion path inverting the sheet printed on a first surface by the printing unit and conveying the sheet to the conveying unit; and a conveyance control unit performing conveyance control of overlapping a trailing edge of a preceding sheet conveyed through the inversion path and a leading edge of a succeeding sheet fed following the preceding sheet.

A printing apparatus includes a feeding roller configured to feed a sheet, a conveyance roller configured to convey the sheet fed by the feeding roller, a printhead configured to print the sheet conveyed by the conveyance roller, and a control unit configured to, when performing a printing operation on both sides of the sheet, start to feed a succeeding sheet before the printing operation on a back surface of a preceding sheet is complete, and maintain a distance between a trailing edge of the preceding sheet and a leading edge of the succeeding sheet at an almost constant distance after feeding of the succeeding sheet starts.

A sheet transport assembly is provided for transporting a sheet along a process unit configured for applying a process to the sheet. The sheet transport assembly includes: a conveying unit including a transport belt and a deflection element. The transport belt is configured for advancing the sheet in a transport direction along the process unit to the deflection element, the sheet being placed with a contact side on the belt and a process side towards the process unit. The deflection element is arranged in contact with the transport belt to deflect the transport belt downstream in the transport direction relative to the process unit. The sheet transport assembly further includes a separating unit for separating the sheet from the transport belt. The separating unit is connected to an air supply source. The separating unit includes a restrain blowing device arranged for directing a restrain air flow onto the process side of the sheet in a restrain area for urging the sheet towards the transport belt proximate to the deflection element. The separating unit further includes a lifting blowing device arranged for directing a lifting air flow onto the contact side of the sheet in a lifting area for lifting the sheet from the transport belt. The lifting area is arranged extending only over a middle portion of a width of the sheet, the width being a dimension of the sheet in a lateral direction perpendicular to the transport direction.

A feed device includes a feed roller, a transport roller pair provided further to the downstream side in the transport direction of a sheet than the feed roller, a first motor by which the feed roller is driven, and a second motor by which the transport roller pair is driven, and in which a controller that controls the first motor, and performs a skew removal operation accompanying reverse transport of the sheet by the transport roller pair causes a reverse current and a hold current as suppression currents that suppress the reverse transport amount of the feed roller to the reverse transport amount of the transport roller pair or less to flow to the first motor in at least a part of the skew removal operation.

Apparatus is described that has a flexion component configured to apply a force to a first portion of media within a media path of a media processing device. The apparatus has a support portion configured to couple the apparatus to the media processing device. The media path provides a path along which the media is transported and has a feed area. The flexion moves a second portion of the media away from the feed area of the media path. A method of applying a force to media is also described.

A sheet separation device includes a sheet separator and a conveyor. The sheet separator separates a non-bonding portion of a two-ply sheet in which two sheets are overlapped and bonded together at a bonding portion of the two-ply sheet. The conveyor conveys the two-ply sheet toward the sheet separator while bending the two-ply sheet in a direction that intersects a conveyance direction of the two-ply sheet.