A conveyor configured to transport sheets along a transport path from an input end to a discharge end includes a main frame, an upper conveyor deck supported by the main frame and having a plurality of belts and a lower conveyor deck supported by the main frame and having a plurality of wheels. The transport path is defined by the contact surfaces of the plurality of belts in the first contact region and the contact surfaces of the plurality of wheels in the second contact region, and the conveyor is configured such that the sheets make direct contact with the contact surfaces of the plurality of belts and make direct contact with the contact surfaces of the plurality of wheels when the sheets move along the transport path. The wheels are shiftable in the third direction relative to the belts and relative to the main frame.

A conveyor includes a frame, a carriage supported by the frame for sliding movement in a longitudinal direction, a lower conveyor deck supported by the frame and an upper deck. The lower deck has a plurality of contact elements, which may be wheels, for supporting sheets of material moving through the conveyor. The upper deck includes a rear portion having a plurality of longitudinally extending transversely spaced first belts each supported by a plurality of first pulleys and a front portion including a plurality of longitudinally extending transversely spaced second belts each supported a plurality of second pulleys. The plurality of second pulleys includes a first second pulley and a second second pulley that are supported by the carriage for movement with the carriage relative to the frame.

A diverter conveyor includes a main conveyor having an upper deck and a lower deck, the upper deck including a plurality of belts, and the lower deck including a plurality of contact elements such as wheels. A plurality of paddles is mounted downstream of an entrance end of the conveyor and an actuator is configured to shift the plurality of paddles from a first position outside a sheet transport path to a second position extending into the sheet transport path such that the plurality of paddles in the second position diverts sheets from the main transport path into a diverted path and onto a rejection support.

Sheet collating device for accumulating sheets from at least one hopper, comprising: a lower transport path and an upper transport path; a switchable guide for directing the sheets from the at least one hopper to the lower or the upper transport path; left and right upper drive shafts connected to a right and a left upper drive pulleys supporting a pair of upper belts, a drive direction of the pair of upper belts being changed dependent on what transport path of the upper and lower transport paths is selected; first and second lower drive shafts connected to a right and a left lower drive pulleys supporting first and second pairs of lower belts; and a first series of right paddles mounted on the first pair of lower belts and a first series of left paddles mounted on the second pair of lower belts for registering a collated set of sheets.

A media separation apparatus may include: a pickup roller disposed at one side of the loaded media, and configured to sequentially pick up and transfer the loaded media; a feed roller disposed separately from the pickup roller in a media feeding direction, and configured to feed the media picked up and transferred by the pickup roller toward a transfer path; and a media separator disposed at a position facing the feed roller, having a plurality of separation rollers and a separation belt wound around a part of the circumference of each of the separation rollers, and configured to separate a following medium from a leading medium through friction of the separation belt, the following medium being in close contact with the leading medium fed by the feed roller and transferred at the same time as the leading medium.

A sheet aligning mechanism includes first and second conveyance mechanisms disposed on first and second sides of a sheet conveyance path, respectively. A nip is formed between the first and second conveyance mechanisms. The first conveyance mechanism includes a first roller, a second roller, and a first conveyance belt wound around the first and second rollers. The first and second rollers are configured to rotate in a first direction along a sheet conveying direction for sheet conveyance, and stop rotation or rotate in a second direction opposite to the first direction for sheet alignment. The first conveyance belt includes an extended region between the first and second rollers in an extending direction inclined with respect to the sheet conveying direction, such that a width of the sheet conveyance path becomes narrower towards the nip in the sheet conveying direction.

An agitator for agitating sheets of material passing through a sheet transport device that has upper and lower guide sections defining a sheet transport path therebetween. The agitator includes first and second sets of rollers each having a roller axis of rotation and a width, and the rollers are mounted to at least one holder such that the axes of rotation of the rollers are radially spaced from a line and such that rotating the at least one holder around the line causes the rollers to orbit around the line. At least one support supports the holder for rotation around the line, and the set of first rollers is spaced from the set of second rollers in the direction of the line by a distance greater than the width of the rollers. Also a sheet transport device including the agitator.

A sheet aligning mechanism includes first and second conveyance mechanisms disposed on first and second sides of a sheet conveyance path, respectively. A nip is formed between the first and second conveyance mechanisms. The first conveyance mechanism includes a first roller, a second roller, and a first conveyance belt wound around the first and second rollers. The first and second rollers are configured to rotate in a first direction along a sheet conveying direction for sheet conveyance, and stop rotation or rotate in a second direction opposite to the first direction for sheet alignment. The first conveyance belt includes an extended region between the first and second rollers in an extending direction inclined with respect to the sheet conveying direction, such that a width of the sheet conveyance path becomes narrower towards the nip in the sheet conveying direction.

A paper correction apparatus B corrects a curl of a sheet S by passing the sheet S through curved paper conveying routes CCP1 and CCP2 whose curving amounts can be changed. The paper correction apparatus B is provided with a control unit B3 which sets the curving amounts of the curved paper conveying routes CCP1 and CCP2, and changes a sheet interval in accordance with the curving amounts which are set. By this configuration, it is possible to inhibit the productivity from being reduced due to paper correction during performing post-printing processes in a finisher which is located in the downstream side of the paper correction apparatus B.

A system has first and second winding drums and a core feeder for inserting a core into a winding nest for forming a convoluted roll. The leading edge of the web is engaged with a threading belt and directed around the first winding drum and through the winding nest to a position where the leading edge is beyond where the core feeder inserts the core into the winding nest thus providing an excess portion of the web between the leading edge and the core feeder core insertion position. A thread-up core is inserted into the winding nest and rotated with the winding drums so that the excess portion moves around the thread-up core. The leading edge is separated from the threading belt, the excess portion of the web is wound around the thread-up core, and the web from the supply is wound around the thread-up core.