Protective sheet peeling device and protective sheet peeling method

A protective sheet peeling method which separates, from a sheet which is being conveyed, a protective sheet which is superposed with one surface of the sheet, the method comprising the steps of:

• conveying the sheet and the protective sheet, which is superposed with the one surface of the sheet, in a first direction along a predetermined conveying path;
• curving, toward a protective sheet side and along a portion of a first roller of which one portion is set on the predetermined conveying path, the sheet and the protective sheet which have been conveyed in;
• after a leading end of at least one of the sheet and the protective sheet passes by the first roller, moving a second roller, which rotates in a direction opposite the first direction, from a first position to a second position to abut the protective sheet, thereby applying conveying force in the direction opposite the first direction to the protective sheet and peeling the protective sheet from the sheet;
• and
• conveying the peeled-off protective sheet along a path which is forked-off from the predetermined conveying path.

A protective sheet peeling device which, at a time when a sheet, which is removed together with a protective sheet superposed with one surface of the sheet, is conveyed in order to be supplied to a subsequent process section, peels off and separates the protective sheet from the sheet, the device comprising:

• a conveying roller provided at a side of the one surface of the sheet which is being conveyed, and conveying the sheet and the protective sheet toward the subsequent process section by being driven to rotate;
• a free roller provided so as to correspond to a side of another surface of the sheet which is conveyed downstream of the conveying roller, and disposed in a state in which one portion of the free roller is on a predetermined conveying locus of the sheet, and rotating freely;
• and
• a displacement roller provided so as to correspond to the side of the one surface of the sheet which is conveyed downstream of the free roller, and able to move between a state of arriving on the predetermined conveying locus and a state of being withdrawn from the predetermined conveying locus, and being driven to rotate in a direction opposite a rotating direction of the conveying roller,
• wherein, after the sheet and the protective sheet have passed by the free roller, the displacement roller is moved onto the predetermined conveying locus, and thereby, while the sheet and the protective sheet are being forcibly curved along the free roller, the protective sheet is peeled off from the sheet by rotation of the displacement roller in the opposite direction.