A system for separating alternately stacked first and second sheets (5,6) such as film plates and paper. The system comprises a first sheet holding device (8,9) for holding a first sheet (5) of the stack; an eccentric (2) for causing relative separation movement between a sheet held by the first sheet holding device and the remainder of the stack so that the held sheet is positioned spaced above the remainder of the stack, the first sheet holding device being laterally moveable to feed the separated first sheet to an exit (12). A second sheet removal device (14) is provided for laterally feeding a second sheet (6) from the stack to an exit in generally the same lateral direction as the first sheet.
An imaging system is provided for imaging media of differing widths while supported at an imaging position on a support surfaces. The system includes a loading device configured to move the medium to be imaged along the support surface to the imaging position. During loading, the leading edge of the medium, which extends across the medium width and substantially perpendicular to a direction of movement of the medium, moves in a direction towards a registration device. The registration device is contacted by the leading edge of the medium during loading so as to position the medium in the imaging position on the support surface. A drive mechanism is provided to move the regristration pin, typically prior to loading of the medium, to a position which corresponds to the particular width of the medium to be imaged.
In order cost effectively and in spite of the lowest possible expenditure on construction to permit the logical provision of printing plates of different types and sizes for an extremely wide range of printing plate exposers, in an apparatus for loading and/or unloading an exposer, in particular a drum exposer, with printing plates, having a suction means comprising at least one sucker plate and at least two suction heads connected to a vacuum system for picking up printing plates, in particular thermal printing plates, and a pivoting device for pivoting the suction means, it is proposed that the sucker plate be constructed in the form of a cylindrical segment and the suction means be pivotable about an axle which is arranged substantially parallel to the axis of the cylindrical segment.
An automatic dispensing machine of substantially flat goods is provided which detects the over-dispensing of goods while accommodating for varying thickness of the substantially flat goods. The automatic dispensing machine includes a table which supports goods such as cards, a suctioning device which pulls the cards, a transporting device which transports the cards after they are pulled by the suctioning device, a position-control device which controls the distance between the uppermost card and the suctioning device. The position-control device is configured to increase the distance between the uppermost card and the suctioning device based on a dispensing signal. The distance between the uppermost card and the suctioning device is then decreased until a predetermined distance is reached.
A device for guiding moving articles (10) past at least one ink-jet printing head (3), comprising a conveying belt and a cover belt (2, 4), as well as a guide frame (1) to prevent the depositing of ink drops in the region surrounding the printing heads (3) as a result of air turbulence developing on the edges. The printing heads (3) are located in cutouts in the guide frame (1). In accordance with the invention, flow channels (6) that extend in the article conveying direction are provided at least in the region surrounding the printing heads (3) in the guide frame (1), which flow channels are deep enough so that the flow does not stop. Narrow ridges are positioned between the flow channels (6) and are designed to guide the articles. Narrow guide elements (7) for extending the ridges are located above the ink-jet printing heads (3), in locations where the printing jets (5) are not covered. The ridges and guide elements (7), positioned in article conveying direction after the respective printing head (3), have a lower height (FIG. 1) than those in front to prevent a contact with the printed-on article sections.
An assembly for positioning a piece of photosensitive film into a scanning position on a curved film platen and an internal drum scanner assembly. The film platen is defined by a film feed edge and a film stop edge. An alignment mechanism is positioned proximate the film stop edge and a feed mechanism is positioned proximate the film feed edge. The feed mechanism operates to feed the leading edge of the film from the film feed edge along the film platen towards the film stop edge alignment mechanism, and wherein when the photosensitive film is in the scanning position, the photosensitive film is compressed against the curved film platen in alignment between the alignment mechanism and the feed mechanism. A centering mechanism is also provided.