Device for decelerating sheets to be placed on a stack, especially paper or cardboard sheets

A machine for sheet cutting material webs, in particular paper or cardboard webs, the machine comprising:

• a sheet cutting device containing two cutter drums equipped with cross cutting knives;
• and
• a deceleration and overlapping device by which the sheets produced by sheet cutting are accepted and decelerated and wherein a cascade is formed, the deceleration and overlapping device comprising:
• rotatably drivable clamping elements that are arranged across a width of the device on at least one side of a transport plane of the sheets, and that have clamping zones that extend into an infeed plane of the sheets part of the time during rotation, the clamping elements being configured to be connected to a variable rotary drive, the clamping elements have clamping zones shaped as annular segments on a portion of their circumference;
• a rotating counter-element configured to be arranged on an opposite side of the transport plane of the sheets such that a sheet is clamped between the clamping zones and the counter-element;
• and
• a deflection device via which trailing edges of the sheets are deflected downward out of the infeed plane, the deflection device being located a distance ahead of the clamping elements in the direction of sheet travel