A printing apparatus includes a transport unit configured to transport a medium, a winding unit disposed downstream, in a transport direction, of the transport unit, the winding unit being configured to wind the medium, and a tension applying unit including a rod member biased toward the medium between the transport unit and the winding unit, the rod member being for applying a tension to the medium. The tension applying unit is configured so that the rod member moves along a predetermined direction as at least one of the transport unit and the winding unit is driven to transport the medium. An upper limit position of a movement of the tension bar along the predetermined axis is changed according to a winding mode of the winding unit.

The present invention includes a stacker unit SU that includes a transport body 500 moving along a transport route 400 while retaining paper sheets in an upright state and stopped at a paper sheet extraction position PP, and clamping means 812 and 803 clamping the paper sheets on the transport body, and that switches the direction of the paper sheets in a process of reciprocatively rotationally moving between an upper limit position and a lower limit position, and an operating mechanism 730 that rotationally moves the stacker unit forward and reversely. The clamping means performs an opening/closing operation to clamp paper sheets when the stacker unit is at the upper limit position, and performs an opening operation to cancel clamping of paper sheets after a time when the stacker unit reaches the lower limit position.

A static elimination apparatus includes a conveyance unit to convey a sheet along a conveyance path, a non-contact static elimination unit to eliminate static from the sheet, a first guide member including a contact portion to guide the sheet, and a plurality of openings arranged next to each other in a width direction. The plurality of openings expose the non-contact static elimination unit to a conveyance path. The contact portion includes a plurality of first ribs arranged on one side with respect to a conveyance center, and a plurality of second ribs arranged on the other side with respect to the conveyance center. The plurality of first ribs and the plurality of second ribs are inclined relative to the sheet conveyance direction so that the further downstream in the sheet conveyance direction each rib is, the greater a distance between each rib and the conveyance center is.

A charge-eliminating device for eliminating charge of a sheet on which toner is fixed by an image forming apparatus includes a conveying guide, a first charge-eliminating unit and a second charge-eliminating unit. The conveying guide forms a conveyance passage through which the sheet conveyed from the image forming apparatus is conveyed. The first charge-eliminating unit is disposed on one side of the conveyance passage in a thickness direction of the sheet and eliminates charge of the sheet in a non-contact state with the sheet. The second charge-eliminating unit is disposed on the other side of the conveyance passage in the thickness direction and eliminates charge of the sheet in the non-contact state with the sheet.

A sheet conveying apparatus, including: a sheet storage portion; a roller to convey sheets by rotating about a rotation axis; an arm rotatably supporting the roller and pivotable about an arm pivot axis; a presser plate pivotable about a presser-plate pivot axis; and a pivot mechanism to pivot the presser plate such that a contact angle, which is an angle defined upstream in a sheet conveyance direction by the arm and an uppermost one of the sheets contacting the roller, is less than a maximum angle in a time period from a sheet maximally loaded state to a sheet minimally loaded state, the maximum angle being an angle defined upstream in the conveyance direction by: only one sheet assumed to be placed on the presser plate which is the presser plate in the maximally loaded state; and the arm the roller of which contacts the one sheet.

A material conveyor, included in a transfer device of an image forming apparatus and configured to use position control of rotary bodies, includes a first rotary body and a second rotary body disposed opposing each other in an opposing region through which a material is conveyable, and a contact and separation device configured to cause at least a surface, of at least one of the first rotary body and the second rotary body to move, between a separated position and a contact position. The contact and separation device is configured to cause the at least the surface to move from the separated position to the contact position, at a first speed, and then to move at a second speed slower than the first speed. A method of position control includes moving at least the surface at different speeds or based on a distance relative to a threshold distance.

A card feeding apparatus realizes random and selective feeding of cards of different types or kinds. This apparatus includes a card supplying device, a card holding and feeding device, and a controller. The card holding and feeding device includes a table set having tables on which cards from the card supplying device are held, a table set supporting structure (e.g., a frame), a table set moving device (e.g., a lifting mechanism), and a card conveying device that conveys cards held on the tables. In response to a card feeding signal, the table set supporting structure is temporarily stopped using the table set moving device such that a target table designated from the tables by the said signal is located at the card conveying position, and the card holding and feeding device is activated, thereby feeding a card on the target table by the card conveying device.

A sensor signal is generated from a plurality of sensors located on a sensing roll, wherein each signal is generated when each sensor enters a first nip between the sensing roll and a rotating component during each rotation of the sensing roll. A rotating applicator rod forms forming a second nip with the sensing roll such that each sensor enters the second nip during each rotation of the sensing roll. A periodically occurring starting reference is generated associated with each rotation of the applicator rod and the signal generated by each sensor is received so that a particular one of the sensors which generated the signal is determined and one of a plurality of tracking segments is identified. The signal is stored to associate the sensor signal with the identified one tracking segment.

A sensor signal is generated from a plurality of sensors located on a sensing roll, wherein each signal is generated when each sensor enters a first nip between the sensing roll and a rotating component during each rotation of the sensing roll. A rotating applicator rod forms forming a second nip with the sensing roll such that each sensor enters the second nip during each rotation of the sensing roll. A periodically occurring starting reference is generated associated with each rotation of the applicator rod and the signal generated by each sensor is received so that a particular one of the sensors which generated the signal is determined and one of a plurality of tracking segments is identified. The signal is stored to associate the sensor signal with the identified one tracking segment.

An image scanning apparatus which reduces misalignment of documents includes a scanning unit configured to scan images from a first document and a second document having a width that is smaller than a width of the first document, and a document transfer unit configured to automatically feed the first document and the second document. The document transfer unit includes a frame including a feed tray on which the first document and the second document are stacked, a pickup module mounted on the frame, and configured to pick up the first document and the second document and to transfer the first document and the second document, and an auxiliary guide installed in the frame, and configured to change a position according to a height of the first document stacked on the feed tray and to support one side in width direction of the second document.