A material pickup mechanism for automatic hat-making production line equipment includes an installation seat, a servo motor, and a rotating seat. A control box is arranged on one side of the installation seat through bolts. The servo motor is arranged at a bottom end of the installation seat through a positioning plate and positioning screw nails. The rotating seat is arranged at an output shaft of the servo motor through bolts. Top and bottom ends of the rotating seat are both connected with an installation plate through a fixed shaft. Adjusting holes are formed at a top of the installation plate. A hollow screw penetrates the adjusting hole. A bottom of the hollow screw is connected with an air outlet end of a sucking disc. The material pickup mechanism can continuously pick up materials to improve production efficiency. It is convenient to adjust positions between sucking discs.

A paper conveying apparatus and an image forming apparatus are described which can appropriately convey a sheet when the sheet is restarted after forming a loop. The paper conveying apparatus includes a conveying roller pair in the upstream side of a loop roller pair, a stepping motor for rotationally driving the conveying roller pair, and a processor for controlling rotation of the stepping motor by controlling pulse signals and excitation current supplied to the stepping motor. This processor halts rotation of the conveying roller pair by stopping output of the pulse signals when loop formation of the sheet is completed, and switches the excitation current to a lower current value which is lower than a reference current value at which excitation is turned on.

Perforated endless conveying belts are stretched between drive and idle rollers. A suction box is arranged between upper and lower belt portions of the perforated endless conveying belts. Abutment members are attached to positions of a support corresponding to the perforated endless conveying belts and pressed against the perforated endless conveying belts. The upstream of the suction box from the abutment members forms an attracting area, and intake holes are formed therein. Lifting plates extend to at least an intake hole range of the attracting area between the perforated endless conveying belts. The lifting plates move between a first position to vertically open the intake holes and project from conveying surfaces of the perforated endless conveying belts and a second position to close the intake holes and retract from the conveying surfaces of the perforated endless conveying belts.

Perforated endless conveying belts are stretched between drive and idle rollers. A suction box is arranged between upper and lower belt portions of the perforated endless conveying belts. Abutment members are attached to positions of a support corresponding to the perforated endless conveying belts and pressed against the perforated endless conveying belts. The upstream of the suction box from the abutment members forms an attracting area, and intake holes are formed therein. Lifting plates extend to at least an intake hole range of the attracting area between the perforated endless conveying belts. The lifting plates move between a first position to vertically open the intake holes and project from conveying surfaces of the perforated endless conveying belts and a second position to close the intake holes and retract from the conveying surfaces of the perforated endless conveying belts.

A medium conveying apparatus includes a conveyance roller to convey a medium, a DC motor to drive the conveyance roller, a processor to rotate the DC motor, an encoder to output a first pulse signal whose cycle varies according to a rotation speed of the DC motor, and an imaging device to acquire an image acquired by imaging a conveyed medium in response to a pulse of a second pulse signal whose cycle is constant. The processor detects a number of pulses of the second pulse signal included in a predetermined cycle of the first pulse signal, and discards images acquired by the imaging device in the same number of pulses as difference between the detected number of pulses and a reference number, in a next cycle of the predetermined cycle of the first pulse signal, when the detected number of pulses exceeds the reference number.

A conveyor conveys a sheet along a conveyance path provided with an ultrasonic sensor, and includes: an updating member that successively updates a parameter indicating aged deterioration of the conveyor; a searcher that searches a look-up table storing pieces of noise data of noises predicted to be superimposed on a detection signal of the ultrasonic sensor in accordance with a degree of the aged deterioration, and obtains a piece of noise data corresponding to a current parameter value of the conveyor; and a signal processor that uses, for signal processing, a remaining portion of the detection signal of the ultrasonic sensor excluding a portion corresponding to the piece of noise data obtained by the searcher.

A sheet feeding device includes a lift plate, a feeding portion, a lifting member lifting the lift plate, a motor coupled to a pivot shaft serving as the pivot fulcrum of the lifting member, a control portion, and an encoder outputting a pulse signal according to the rotation of the pivot shaft. The encoder includes a rotary member and an optical sensor. The control portion recognizes the remaining quantity of sheets on the lift plate based on the count value of the pulse signal. When the motor stops being driven, the control portion thereafter does not count the pulse signal until a predetermined period elapses.

A post-processing apparatus includes a blade, a transfer mechanism, a sheet folding roller pair, a motor, a drive control device, and a control device. The blade presses into the sheet to form a fold line in the sheet. The transfer mechanism moves the blade toward and away from the sheet. The sheet folding roller pair conveys the sheet with the fold line formed by the blade by pinching the sheet at a nip between the sheet folding roller pair. The motor rotatively drives the sheet folding roller pair. The drive control device controls drive of the motor. The control includes a control circuit. When, through the processor executing a control program, the control device controls the transfer mechanism to withdraw from the nip the blade having been pressed into the sheet and the nip by the transfer mechanism, the control device controls the drive control device to stop the motor.

A medium conveying apparatus includes a conveyance roller to convey a medium, a DC motor to drive the conveyance roller, a processor to rotate the DC motor, an encoder to output a first pulse signal whose cycle varies according to a rotation speed of the DC motor, and an imaging device to acquire an image acquired by imaging a conveyed medium in response to a pulse of a second pulse signal whose cycle is constant. The processor detects a number of pulses of the second pulse signal included in a predetermined cycle of the first pulse signal, and discards images acquired by the imaging device in the same number of pulses as difference between the detected number of pulses and a reference number, in a next cycle of the predetermined cycle of the first pulse signal, when the detected number of pulses exceeds the reference number.

A medium conveying apparatus includes a conveyance roller to convey a medium, a DC motor to drive the conveyance roller, a processor to rotate the DC motor, an encoder to output a first pulse signal whose cycle varies according to a rotation speed of the DC motor, and an imaging device to acquire an image acquired by imaging a conveyed medium in response to a pulse of a second pulse signal whose cycle is constant. The processor detects a number of pulses of the second pulse signal included in a predetermined cycle of the first pulse signal, and discards images acquired by the imaging device in the same number of pulses as difference between the detected number of pulses and a reference number, in a next cycle of the predetermined cycle of the first pulse signal, when the detected number of pulses exceeds the reference number.