A heating device includes a heating unit that heats in a non-contact manner an upper surface of a transport material that is transported; and a blowing unit that blows air against a lower surface of the transport material via multiple blowing holes that open with respect to the lower surface, the multiple blowing holes being disposed so that blowing holes that are closest and adjacent to each other in a transport direction of the transport material are shifted from each other in an intersection direction that intersects the transport direction.

A sheet conveyor is provided for transporting a sheet. The sheet conveyor includes a supplying conveyor, a receiving conveyor and a sheet guidance unit. The receiving conveyor includes a support surface arranged for supporting the sheet on a contact side of the sheet and an attraction unit arranged for attracting the sheet to the support surface. The supplying conveyor includes a transport belt being arranged for advancing the sheet in a transport direction along a transport path towards the support surface of the receiving conveyor; the sheet having two side edge portions relative to the transport path. The sheet guidance unit is arranged at a downstream end of the transport path for guiding the sheet towards the receiving conveyor, wherein said sheet guidance unit includes a lifting element arranged for lifting both side edge portions of the sheet away from the support surface while a middle portion of the sheet in between both side edge portions is guided towards the support surface.

An image forming apparatus includes a housing, a sheet conveyor, a sheet stacker, and circuitry. The sheet conveyor is configured to convey a sheet on which liquid is applied. The sheet stacker is configured to stack the sheet conveyed by the sheet conveyor. The circuitry is configured to control conveyance of the sheet. The circuitry is configured to cause the sheet conveyor to expose the sheet on which the liquid is applied, to an outside of the housing, and convey the sheet to the sheet stacker.

An image forming apparatus includes: a pretreatment section that applies a precoat liquid to a printing surface of a continuous recording medium to be transported; a printing section that sprays ink onto the continuous recording medium to which the precoat liquid is applied; and a transport section that transports the continuous recording medium along a predetermined path. The transport section includes at least one pass roller that is disposed between the pretreatment section and the printing section, the pass roller transporting the continuous recording medium to which the precoat liquid is applied toward the printing section and coming into contact with the printing surface of the continuous recording medium. A surface of the pass roller is subjected to water-repellent finishing for the precoat liquid.

A print substrate transport system comprises a print substrate supply mechanism and a tensioner. The print substrate supply mechanism is configured to advance print substrate to a printing zone in a discontinuous motion. The tensioner is provided downstream of the print printing zone and is configured to guide a path of the print substrate from the printing zone to a post-processing zone, to control tension in the print substrate in the post-processing zone, and to convert the discontinuous motion of the substrate to continuous motion. A print substrate transport method comprises supplying a print substrate to a printing zone in a discontinuous motion, controlling a tension of the print substrate on a path downstream of the printing zone and converting the motion of the substrate from the discontinuous motion to a continuous motion.

There is provided a transport device which transports a web-shaped substrate from a first atmosphere of a first atmosphere temperature to a second atmosphere of a second atmosphere temperature different from the first atmosphere temperature along a transport path, the transport device including a plurality of pass rollers that are disposed in the transport path and that each support the substrate, and a plurality of heaters that heat the plurality of pass rollers respectively. The plurality of heaters perform heating such that the closer a pass roller is to an upstream side of the transport path, the closer a temperature to which the pass roller is heated is to the first atmosphere temperature and the closer a pass roller is to a downstream side of the transport path, the closer a temperature to which the pass roller is heated is to the second atmosphere temperature.

An intermediate unit includes a transportation path provided with a drying unit that accelerates the drying of the medium. The transportation path includes an inlet path, an outlet path, a first branch path, a second branch path, a first junction path, a second junction path, a switch-back type inversion path with a first inversion path and a second inversion path. The first branch path and the second branch path which branch off at a branch point from the inlet path. The first junction path and the second junction path and the outlet path join each other at a junction point. The first branch path and the first junction path and the first inversion path join each other at a first connection point. The second branch path and the second junction path and the second inversion path join each other at a second connection point.

A contacting member contacts a region of a contacted member to which a liquid composition has been applied. The contacting member contains a substrate, a fluororesin fiber layer, an adhesive layer, and a mixed layer. The fluororesin fiber layer contains a fluororesin fiber and is configured to contact the contacted member. The adhesive layer contains an adhesive member directly or indirectly fixing the fluororesin fiber layer to the substrate. In the mixed layer, the fluororesin fiber in the fluororesin layer and the adhesive member in the adhesive layer are mixed. A thickness of the mixed layer is from 5% or more and 60% or less with respect to a thickness of the fluororesin fiber layer.

A sheet processing apparatus includes a pair of belts, a water supplying unit, a curving unit and a controller. The pair of belts defines a conveying path for holding and conveying a paper sheet. The water supplying unit supplies water to outer surfaces of the belts. The curving unit curves the conveying path defined by the belts. The controller makes the water supplying unit supply water to the outer surfaces of the belts, and makes the belts convey the sheet between the belts in a state where the conveying path is curved by the curving unit to correct the curling of the sheet.

A web transport system for transporting a web of media along a web transport path in an in-track direction, including a liquid application system for applying a liquid to at least one surface of the web of media. An air skive is positioned along the web transport path downstream of the liquid application system, wherein the air skive directs one or more streams of air onto the web of media thereby removing at least some of the liquid that is being carried along with the web of media. A vapor source adds a vapor into the one or more streams of air provided by the air skive before the one or more streams of air are directed onto the web of media.