According to an embodiment, a stacking apparatus includes: a first precedent-stage conveyor unit that conveys first sheets; a second precedent-stage conveyor unit that conveys second sheets; a merging unit that guides, to a merge point, the first sheets output from the first precedent-stage conveyor unit and guides, to the merge point, the second sheets output from the second precedent-stage conveyor unit; a subsequent-stage conveyor unit that sequentially receives, at the merge point, the conveyed first sheets and the conveyed second sheets, and conveys the received first sheets and the received second sheets in order of the reception while lining up in a conveying direction; and a stacking unit that sequentially catches each of the first sheets and each of the second sheets and stacks, at a predetermined position, each of the first sheets and each of the second sheets in order of the catch.

A recording-material-transporting device includes a suction unit that suctions a recording material included in a recording-material stack from above, the suction unit including a movable member that moves upward when pushed from below by the recording material moving upward with the suction, the suction unit being movable in an intersecting direction intersecting a vertical direction and moving the suctioned recording material in the intersecting direction, at least a part of the movable member serving as an outside advancing part that advances to an outside of a perimeter of the recording-material stack with the movement of the suction unit in the intersecting direction; and a restricting part that restricts a downward movement of the outside advancing part when the outside advancing part is free of support by the recording material from below.

The invention relates to a method and a system for moving and labelling reels (R.sub.1, R.sub.2, R.sub.3, R.sub.4, . . . R.sub.n) of a web material such as paper or nonwoven in which each reel has a central core piece (3) which is hollow and around which the web material is wound. A robot arm (6) is inserted into the central core piece (3) of at least one reel (R.sub.1) and is then used to move the (R.sub.1) from a first position (P1) to a second position (P2) and to fix an inner label (15) onto the central core piece (3). According to the invention, the inner label (15) is placed on the robot arm (6) before the robot arm (6) is inserted into the central core piece (3) and the robot arm (6) is used both to fix the inner label (15) to the central core piece (3) and to move the at least one reel (R.sub.1).

A material separation device comprises a placement component, a blower, a suction component, a suction pad driver, and a controller. The blower blows air at a plurality of aluminum sheets that have been stacked on the placement component to float an uppermost aluminum sheet. The suction component uses suction pads to chuck and hold the uppermost aluminum sheet from above while the air is being blown. The suction pad driver drives the suction component up and down, using servomotors as a drive source. The controller performs control so that the suction pads chucking the aluminum sheet are raised to a temporary stopping position by the suction pad driver, and the suction pads are stopped for a predetermined length of time at the temporary stopping position while the air is stopped, and the suction pads are then raised by the suction pad drivers to a conveyance position.

A holder assembly includes a base, a drive assembly coupled to the base, a motive source connected to the drive assembly, a vertical force applicator connected to the drive assembly along a connection edge thereof, and a gripping member coupled to the base, the gripping member having a contact surface coupled to a vacuum source, wherein the drive assembly has a first position with the flattening member engaged with the contact surface and a second position with the flattening member positioned away from the contact surface.

According to the present disclosure, a tape feeder includes a main body that is attached to a component mounter and has a tape traveling path which is a traveling path of a carrier tape; and a sprocket that is provided in the main body, causes an outer peripheral tooth to engage with a feed hole of the carrier tape, and rotates so as to perform pitch feeding of the carrier tape on the tape traveling path. The tape feeder includes a lock mechanism that has a press operation unit operated with pressing force, locks the sprocket in the main body in a state where the press operation unit is not operated, and unlocks the sprocket in a state where the press operation unit is operated.

An apparatus for picking a product, including: at least one vacuum cup including at least one axis passing through the at least one vacuum cup; and at least one damping device surrounding at least a portion of the at least one vacuum cup in a radial direction orthogonal to the at least one axis. The at least one vacuum cup is arranged to create negative pressure and adhere, with the negative pressure, the at least one sheet of material to the at least one vacuum cup. The at least one damping device is arranged to contact the at least one sheet of material to limit displacement of the at least one sheet of material with respect to the at least one vacuum cup.

A holder assembly includes a base, a drive assembly coupled to the base, a motive source connected to the drive assembly, a vertical force applicator connected to the drive assembly along a connection edge thereof, and a gripping member coupled to the base, the gripping member having a contact surface coupled to a vacuum source, wherein the drive assembly has a first position with the flattening member engaged with the contact surface and a second position with the flattening member positioned away from the contact surface.

A method and an apparatus for preparing an edge of a reel of web material wherein it is envisaged to grip any portion of an external layer of web material of a new reel, removing damaged web material forming loops of the reel, and arranging a leading edge of the new reel to be joined with a tail edge of the reel close to finishing,

The invention relates to a method and a system for moving and labelling reels (R.sub.1, R.sub.2, R.sub.3, R.sub.4, . . . R.sub.n) of a web material such as paper or nonwoven in which each reel has a central core piece (3) which is hollow and around which the web material is wound. A robot arm (6) is inserted into the central core piece (3) of at least one reel (R.sub.1) and is then used to move the (R.sub.1) from a first position (P1) to a second position (P2) and to fix an inner label (15) onto the central core piece (3). According to the invention, the inner label (15) is placed on the robot arm (6) before the robot arm (6) is inserted into the central core piece (3) and the robot arm (6) is used both to fix the inner label (15) to the central core piece (3) and to move the at least one reel (R.sub.1).