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.

A folding apparatus for folding absorbent sanitary articles having an absorbent central body and two wings projecting from opposite side edges of said absorbent central body, comprising: a vacuum conveyor comprising a conveyor belt which holds the absorbent central bodies of said absorbent sanitary articles and moves said absorbent sanitary articles in a longitudinal direction, and a pair of stationary folding elements that engage respective wings of said absorbent sanitary articles while these are moved in said longitudinal direction by said vacuum conveyor, wherein said conveyor belt comprises a plurality of recessed seats which receive the absorbent central bodies of said absorbent sanitary articles, with said wings extending laterally outwards from said recessed seats on an outer surface of said conveyor belt.

A method in which, while an article is carried with a main portion in contact with a carrying surface and a to-be-folded portion in contact with a folder plate, includes: a first guiding step, wherein a first guide surface guides the to-be-folded portion of the unfolded article, on a side of the carrying surface, in parallel to the carrying surface; a second guiding step, following the first guiding step, wherein a second guide surface, while being in contact with the to-be-folded portion, gradually raises the to-be-folded portion while moving downstream; and a third guiding step, following the second guiding step, wherein a third guide surface guides the to-be-folded portion so that the to-be-folded portion is folded onto the main portion.

Equipment for stacking sheets with a stack support, input rollers for feeding entering sheets and transport belts with lower branches arranged above the stack support. A compensation mechanism modifies the height of the stack support, while the transport belts are motorized to drag the entering sheets with the lower branches and deposit the sheets on the stack support or on stacked sheets. An arrest member is provided for the entering sheets, a pressure member for the stack to be stacked and a sensor device for a last sheet of the stack. The arrest member arrests the sheets in stacking while the pressure member is contiguous to the stop member and operates on the last sheet of the stack with a stabilizing function and in which the compensation mechanism is servoized to the sensor, for maintaining constant the height of the last sheet of the stack from a reference plane.

A medium discharge includes a first tray having a first medium receiving surface, a second tray having a second medium receiving surface for receiving the medium discharged from the first tray, a discharge section that discharges the medium disposed on the first tray to the second tray, and a push-down portion that is located downstream of a downstream end of the first medium receiving surface in the medium discharge direction, and that is located at a place deviated from the discharge section in a width direction that is a direction intersecting with the medium discharge direction, and pushes down a part of an upstream end of the medium to be discharged in the medium discharge direction.

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.

A sheet conveyor includes a conveyance belt configured to convey a sheet on a first surface of the conveyance belt in a conveyance direction, a suction device configured to suck the sheet onto the conveyance belt via the conveyance belt, and multiple supports between the conveyance belt and the suction device in a vertical direction, the multiple supports configured to support a second surface of the conveyance belt. A longitudinal direction of each of the multiple supports is parallel to a direction intersecting the conveyance direction, and the multiple supports are arrayed in the conveyance direction.

The invention relates to a device, in particular a roll cross-cutter, for forming a shingle stream of underlapping or overlapping sheets, in particular of paper or carton sheets, having a transport apparatus for transporting sheets, having a shingling apparatus for underlapping or overlapping sheets in regions, having a deceleration apparatus, downstream of the shingling apparatus in the transport direction of the sheets, for decelerating shingled sheets, in particular by forming a deceleration gap for the passage of shingled, combined sheets, and, preferably, having a cross-cutting apparatus upstream of the shingling apparatus for cutting a material web into individual sheets. According to the invention, the shingling apparatus is designed to be adjustable, in dependence of the cut length, in and/or opposite the transport direction of the sheets.

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 medium discharging device includes a first tray, a second tray receiving a medium from the first tray, a supporter which is configured to be displaced from a retreat position in the first tray and an advance position above the second tray and which supports the medium, an aligner which is provided in the supporter and that aligns a first end portion which is an upstream end portion in a discharge direction of the medium supported by the supporter, to be displaced together with the supporter, and a restrictor configured to be displaced between a restriction position where an upstream movement of the first end portion of the medium in a position of the aligner in the discharge direction and a non-restriction position where the movement is not restricted, when the supporter is in the advance position.