Process and apparatus for transporting printing products arriving in imbricated formation

An apparatus for transporting printing products arriving in an imbricated formation, and for feeding the arriving printing products to, and at least partially past, a branch-off point, their position being essentially retained with respect to the conveying direction of the conveying device, comprising:

• a conveying device leading past said branch-off point;
• a branching-off device provided at the branch-off point for leading a number of the fed printing products in a branch-off direction running at an angle to the conveying direction, wherein the branch-off point, viewed in the conveying direction, is followed downstream by a removal conveyor for guiding away the printing products led in the branch-off direction, the conveying device transporting the printing products with a leading edge thereof running at an angle defining an incline with respect to the conveying direction, and said printing products overlapping one another, wherein said branching-off device comprises a deflecting member which can be brought into and out of action on a region exposed by the incline of the fed printing products, and wherein the deflecting member comprises, on the side opposite the removal conveyor with respect to the conveying device, a deflecting element and a branching-off element, respectively, and, on the side facing the removal conveyor, a branching-off element for leading the printing product in the branch-off direction by acting on a region of the same printing product.