The invention presented and described comprises an apparatus for mounting flat data carriers (1) on a continuous carrier web (2), having a data carrier supply device (3), a data carrier transfer device (4) and a carrier web positioning device (5), wherein the supply device (3) has a drive roller (6), a deflector (7) arranged substantially horizontally spaced apart from the drive roller (6) and at least one carrying belt (8) which runs around the drive roller (6) and deflector (7), wherein the carrying belt (8) has an upper run (9) which runs substantially horizontally in the feed direction of the data carriers (1), and a lower run (10) which runs in the opposite direction below said upper run, wherein the upper run (9) forms a transport path (11) for the data carrier (1) and is hydraulically connected to a suction box (12) which is arranged beneath in such a way that data carriers (1) which are located on the upper run (9) can be drawn by suction onto the carrying belt (8) by negative pressure, wherein the transfer device (4) has a transfer roller (14), which is provided with intake openings (13) on the circumference and which is hydraulically connected to a negative pressure source in such a way that data carriers (1) located on the outer casing of the transfer roller (14) can be drawn by suction onto the outer casing by negative pressure, wherein the transfer roller (14) has an entry region (15) which is adjacent to the suction box (12) of the supply device (3) and an exit region (16), which is spaced apart from the entry region (15) by a specific angle and is adjacent to the positioning device (5), and wherein at the exit region (16) of the transfer roller (14), a data carrier (1) which is located there on the outer casing of the transfer roller (14) can be transferred onto the carrier web (2).

An apparatus for mounting data carriers onto a carrier web has a supply device, a transfer device and a carrier web positioning device. The supply device has a drive roller, a deflector, and at least one carrying belt running around the drive roller and deflector. A transportation path for the data carriers is hydraulically connected to a suction box such that data carriers are drawn by suction onto the carrying belt. The transfer device has a transfer roller hydraulically connected to a negative pressure source such that data carriers located on the outer casing of the transfer roller are drawn by suction onto the outer casing. The transfer roller has an entry region adjacent to the suction box and an exit region adjacent to the positioning device. At the exit region, a data carrier located on the outer casing of the transfer roller can be transferred onto the carrier web.

A media sheet drive has a continuous belt of a dielectric material for transporting sheet media supported on the belt in a transport direction. A launch mechanism is used to launch a sheet medium onto a top surface of the belt. A charging circuit including a charging head is used to charge a top surface of the sheet medium and the belt as the sheet medium is launched. Charging acts to generate an electrostatic tacking force to tack the sheet medium to the belt. To prevent high electric field near the belt top surface which might otherwise affect the printing process, a neutralizing circuit is positioned downstream of the charging circuit to reduce electric field near the top of the belt by balancing charge at the top and bottom of the belt while keeping the sheet medium tacked to the belt.

A medium transporting apparatus includes an endless conveyor belt having an outer surface to which a sheet P adheres, at least two rollers, which are a first roller and a second roller, around which the conveyor belt extends. The second roller is located downstream of the first roller in a medium transporting direction. The medium transporting apparatus also includes a backing plate that supports an inner surface of the conveyor belt at a position between the first roller and the second roller. In the medium transporting apparatus, the backing plate includes a hollow-containing portion that is formed at an upstream end of the backing plate in the medium transporting direction. The hollow-containing portion has a plurality of hollows formed therein in a width direction that intersects the medium transporting direction. The plurality of hollows are formed in a support surface that supports the conveyor belt.

A media sheet drive has a continuous belt of a dielectric material for transporting sheet media supported on the belt in a transport direction. A launch mechanism is used to launch a sheet medium onto a top surface of the belt. A charging circuit including a charging head is used to charge a top surface of the sheet medium and the belt as the sheet medium is launched. Charging acts to generate an electrostatic tacking force to tack the sheet medium to the belt. To prevent high electric field near the belt top surface which might otherwise affect the printing process, a neutralizing circuit is positioned downstream of the charging circuit to reduce electric field near the top of the belt by balancing charge at the top and bottom of the belt while keeping the sheet medium tacked to the belt.

A stretching roller for stretching an intermediate transfer belt is tiltably disposed, and includes a sliding ring unrotatably disposed at both axial ends of a roller portion. The intermediate transfer belt winds and slidably rotates around the sliding ring. The sliding ring has a tapered portion inclined so that the outer diameter increases toward the axial end side of the stretching roller. The tapered portion is formed so that the inclination angle with respect to the central axis of the stretching roller differs at least in part in the circumferential direction.

A medium transporting apparatus includes an endless conveyor belt having an outer surface to which a sheet P adheres, at least two rollers, which are a first roller and a second roller, around which the conveyor belt extends. The second roller is located downstream of the first roller in a medium transporting direction. The medium transporting apparatus also includes a backing plate that supports an inner surface of the conveyor belt at a position between the first roller and the second roller. In the medium transporting apparatus, the backing plate includes a hollow-containing portion that is formed at an upstream end of the backing plate in the medium transporting direction. The hollow-containing portion has a plurality of hollows formed therein in a width direction that intersects the medium transporting direction. The plurality of hollows are formed in a support surface that supports the conveyor belt.

A sheet feeder, which is incorporated in an image forming apparatus, includes an attraction body disposed facing a bundle of sheets, a charger to charge the attraction body to electrostatically attract an uppermost sheet of the bundle of sheets to the attraction body, a liquid supplier to supply a liquid to dissolve discharge products to the attraction body, and a liquid remover to remove the liquid from the attraction body. Further, a method of removing discharge products includes counting the number of sheets fed from a sheet container, determining that the number of sheets reaches a predetermined threshold value, confirming that a current time falls within a predetermined period of time or receiving a turn off signal to turn off a power supply, removing the discharge products from a surface of an attraction body, and resetting the number of sheets or further turning off the power supply.

A flexible and continuous substrates-conveying sheet has a plurality of to be processed substrates disposed on or in it. A nondestructive transferring unit includes a plurality of first transferring rolls and a plurality of second transferring rolls. The first transferring rolls make contact with a first surface of the substrates-conveying sheet where that surface can have electrostatically-induced charge formed thereon. Each of the first transferring rolls includes a first central portion charged with a positive electric charge and a first outer portion surrounding the first central portion. The second transferring rolls make contact with the first surface of the substrates-conveying sheet. The second transferring rolls are disposed alternately with the first transferring rolls. Each of the second transferring rolls includes a second central portion charged with a negative electric charge and a second outer portion surrounding the second central portion.

A sheet feeding apparatus includes a controller for shifting a sheet attractor from a stand-by state in which the attractor is away from a sheet accommodated in a sheet stacking device to an attraction state in which the attractor is elastically deformed to surface-contact with the sheet stacked on the stacker to electrostatically attract the sheet, to a separating state for separating the sheet from a lower sheet by lifting a downstream end of the sheet with respect to the feeding direction, and to a spaced state in which the attractor spaces the attracted sheet from the lower sheet, the controller changing a slackness of the attractor in the separating state on the basis of a stiffness information of the sheet.