A low cost and low air resistance belt support structure for an endless belt conveyor of an inkjet printer can be achieved with the belt support structure being provided over a suction chamber. The belt support structure includes a plurality of longitudinal, narrow support beams positioned spaced apart from one another and parallel to one another in a transport direction of the belt to define a flat support plane for the belt. The support beams provides a relatively small contact area with the belt, which results in low friction The support beams further allow for a relatively large open area between them to achieve a low air resistance.

An image forming apparatus includes a transfer unit forming a transfer nip portion, a fixing unit forming a fixing nip portion, and first and second belt suction conveyance units to suck a sheet onto a first belt and a second belt, respectively. The fixing nip portion is arranged at a position above the transfer nip portion. In a sheet conveyance direction, an upstream end portion of the first belt in the first belt suction conveyance unit is provided below the transfer nip portion, a downstream end portion of the first belt is provided above an upstream end portion of the second belt in the second belt suction conveyance unit, and a downstream end portion of the second belt is provided below the fixing nip portion. The first and second belts are inclined from a lower position to an upper position from upstream to downstream in the sheet conveyance direction.

A manufacturing method for a band-shaped glass includes a forming step, which forms a band-shaped glass, an annealing step, which performs an annealing treatment on the band-shaped glass, a cooling step, which cools the annealed band-shaped glass, a direction-changing step, which changes a feeding direction of the cooled band-shaped glass from a longitudinal direction to a horizontal direction, and a horizontal conveying step, which conveys the band-shaped glass in the horizontal direction while supporting the band-shaped glass at a horizontal conveyance part. In the horizontal conveying step, the band-shaped glass is conveyed in the horizontal direction while a first propulsion for driving the conveyance in the horizontal direction is provided at both sides in the width direction of the band-shaped glass by the horizontal conveyance part, the first propulsion being larger than a second propulsion provided at a center in the width direction of the band-shaped glass.

The invention relates to a reel-up (1) for receiving and winding into a roll (5) a paper web (W) that arrives from a drying cylinder (2) in a paper making machine. The reel-up (1) comprises a rotatably mounted reel spool (4) onto which a paper web (W) can be wound to create a paper roll (5) of increasing diameter and an endless flexible belt (6) mounted for rotation along a predetermined path of travel such that the flexible belt (6) forms a loop. The flexible belt (6) is positioned adjacent to the reel spool (4) to engage the paper web (W) against the reel spool (4) during winding such that the flexible belt (6) is deflected from the predetermined path of travel when the paper roll (5) starts to build up on the reel spool (4). The flexible belt (6) is air permeable and at least one blow box (7, 8, 9) is arranged inside the loop of the flexible belt (6) such that an underpressure can be generated that draws the paper web (W) against the flexible belt (6). The at least one blow box (7, 8, 9) has at least one nozzle (10) through which air is blown out of the at least one blow box (7, 8, 9) and the nozzle is shaped as a slot. According to the invention, the at least one blow (7,8, 9) box faces the flexible belt (6) with an outer surface (11) which is convexly curved such that dust which has been sucked through the flexible belt (6) and lands on the at least one blow box (7, 8, 9) is helped by gravity to glide along the outer surface (11) of the blow box (7, 8, 9) and fall of the blow box (7, 8, 9).

An image forming apparatus includes a transfer unit forming a transfer nip portion, a fixing unit forming a fixing nip portion, and first and second belt suction conveyance units to suck a sheet onto a first belt and a second belt, respectively. The fixing nip portion is arranged at a position above the transfer nip portion. In a sheet conveyance direction, an upstream end portion of the first belt in the first belt suction conveyance unit is provided below the transfer nip portion, a downstream end portion of the first belt is provided above an upstream end portion of the second belt in the second belt suction conveyance unit, and a downstream end portion of the second belt is provided below the fixing nip portion. The first and second belts are inclined from a lower position to an upper position from upstream to downstream in the sheet conveyance direction.

A manufacturing method for a band-shaped glass includes a forming step, which forms a band-shaped glass, an annealing step, which performs an annealing treatment on the band-shaped glass, a cooling step, which cools the annealed band-shaped glass, a direction-changing step, which changes a feeding direction of the cooled band-shaped glass from a longitudinal direction to a horizontal direction, and a horizontal conveying step, which conveys the band-shaped glass in the horizontal direction while supporting the band-shaped glass at a horizontal conveyance part. In the horizontal conveying step, the band-shaped glass is conveyed in the horizontal direction while a first propulsion for driving the conveyance in the horizontal direction is provided at both sides in the width direction of the band-shaped glass by the horizontal conveyance part, the first propulsion being larger than a second propulsion provided at a center in the width direction of the band-shaped glass.

The present invention provides an improved belted reel which is particularly well suited for the winding of soft, bulky tissue webs and overcomes the limitations of the prior art. The belted reel is capable of providing coordinated web tension and nip control by providing the winding parent roll with two nip pointsthe first nip formed between the winding roll and the second between the winding roll and a second support drum. Preferably the drum encircled by the endless belt lies above the second support drum and the first and second nip points lie in the same vertical plane.

The present invention provides an improved belted reel which is particularly well suited for the winding of soft, bulky tissue webs and overcomes the limitations of the prior art. The belted reel is capable of providing coordinated web tension and nip control by providing the winding parent roll with two nip pointsthe first nip formed between the winding roll and the second between the winding roll and a second support drum. Preferably the drum encircled by the endless belt lies above the second support drum and the first and second nip points lie in the same vertical plane.

A low cost and low air resistance belt support structure for an endless belt conveyor of an inkjet printer can be achieved with the belt support structure being provided over a suction chamber. The belt support structure includes a plurality of longitudinal, narrow support beams positioned spaced apart from one another and parallel to one another in a transport direction of the belt to define a flat support plane for the belt. The support beams provides a relatively small contact area with the belt, which results in low friction. The support beams further allow for a relatively large open area between them to achieve a low air resistance.

An inkjet printer system includes a porous printing table and thereunder a vacuum chamber that may be divided into sub-vacuum chambers by a movable vacuum divider and a brush attached to prevent contamination and vacuum leakages in the vacuum chamber.