A belt-form body conveyor that conveys a belt-form body includes a plurality of non-contact guide portions over which portions of the belt-form body are wound, and that support the belt-form body in a non-contact manner, and a drive unit that, when viewed in a direction that is perpendicular to a surface of the belt-form body before the belt-form body is supplied to the plurality of non-contact guide portions, causes at least two non-contact guide portions out of the plurality of non-contact guide portions to rotate in the same direction and by the same angle.

A roller-type lateral force generation device includes a roller, a first plate, a second plate, a connection plate, a first spring, a rotation shaft, a second spring, a fixing element and an adjustment element. The connection plate is disposed along a set direction, which is perpendicular to a paper-feeding direction. The first spring is disposed between the first plate and a first shaft portion of a roller shaft of the roller. The second spring is disposed between the second plate and a second shaft portion of the roller shaft. The adjustment element has a limitation plate perpendicular to the first plate. The limitation plate has a limitation groove. The first shaft portion is penetrated through the limitation groove. The set direction and the connection line of the rotation shaft and the roller shaft have an angle larger than 0 degree. A lateral force is generated, thereby avoiding paper squeezing inward.

A meandering correction device for a roll medium includes: a first roll medium conveyance unit; a second roll medium conveyance unit disposed downstream of the first roll medium conveyance unit in a conveyance path for a roll medium; a meandering correction roller located between the first roll medium conveyance unit and the second roll medium conveyance unit in the conveyance path and being vertically downwardly in contact with the roll medium to thereby apply a tension to the roll medium. The meandering correction roller includes a rotational shaft whose direction is changeable. A change in the direction of the rotational shaft causes a position of the roll medium in contact with the meandering correction roller to move in the direction of the rotational shaft.

A sheet transport apparatus according to an embodiment includes a roller having a surface formed from an elastic material. The roller transports a sheet. A rotation mechanism rotated the roller around an axis of the roller. A twist mechanism selectively twists the roller with respect to the axis. When the roller is twisted and the rotation mechanism rotates the roller, a sheet transported by the roller is transported in a first direction perpendicular to the axis and in a second direction parallel to the axis. When the roller is not twisted and the rotation mechanism rotates the roller, a sheet transported by the roller is transported in the first direction and not in the second direction.

A sheet transport apparatus according to an embodiment includes a roller having a surface formed from an elastic material. The roller transports a sheet. A rotation mechanism rotated the roller around an axis of the roller. A twist mechanism selectively twists the roller with respect to the axis. When the roller is twisted and the rotation mechanism rotates the roller, a sheet transported by the roller is transported in a first direction perpendicular to the axis and in a second direction parallel to the axis. When the roller is not twisted and the rotation mechanism rotates the roller, a sheet transported by the roller is transported in the first direction and not in the second direction.

A sheet conveying device, which is included in an image forming apparatus, includes a sheet holding roller to move while holding a sheet, a detector to perform a primary detection to detect a sheet position before the sheet holding roller holds the sheet and a secondary detection to detect a sheet position downstream from the sheet position detected by the primary detection, and a controller configured to cause the sheet holding roller to perform a first drive to move the sheet holding roller in at least one direction of a width direction of the sheet and a rotation direction in a sheet conveying surface based on a result of the primary detection and a second drive to move the sheet holding roller opposite to the at least one direction of the first drive, based on a result of the secondary detection.

A transport module for flat items comprising at least one transport element borne in a transport element carrier having a drive shaft is designed for installation in a station of an item processing system and, after installation, is borne rotatably around an axis of the drive shaft. It is one of multiple transport modules of an identical design. The transport element has, on one side, a lower friction coefficient than on the other side of an equator and is driven by the drive shaft via transmission means of the transport module. The transport element carrier carries the transmission means of the transport module and has a spring assembly allowing it to be shifted in the direction of gravity and contrary to it.

A sheet feeding device, which is included in an image forming apparatus, includes a roller detachably attached to the image forming apparatus and configured to feed a sheet in a sheet conveying direction, a shaft configured to engage with the roller and transmit a driving force to the roller, a movable body configured to rotate in a direction of rotational axis and includes a holding portion configured to engage with the second engaging portion of the roller and rotatably hold the roller and a guide configured to guide attachment of the second engaging portion of the roller to the holding portion, and a biasing body configured to apply a biasing force and bias the movable body from a drive receiving side to a drive transmitting side.

In a front/back reversing unit, a base metal sheet having rollers attached thereon is engaged with a rotation spindle fixed to a fitting such that the base metal sheet is rotatable in a horizontal direction. When an operation of rolling up a print target medium is started and if winding tension with respect to the print target medium to be wrapped around a winding shaft becomes unbalanced, the front/back reversing unit rotates in accordance with the winding tension so as to balance the winding tension. Then, when the winding tension applied to the print target medium becomes balanced, the front/back reversing unit is returned to its original position by an elastic member, and the roller of the front/back reversing unit and the winding shaft become substantially parallel to each other.

A conveyor includes: a first guide plate including: a first roller shaft; and a first roller having a first hardness and attached to the first roller shaft; and a second guide plate disposed opposite to the first guide plate and including: a second roller shaft; a second roller having a second hardness higher than the first hardness of the first roller and attached to the second roller shaft, wherein parallelism between the first roller shaft and the second roller shaft is variable, and the first guide plate and the second guide plate guide the target, and the first roller and the second roller nips and conveys the target in a conveyance direction.