An apparatus for conveying a substrate or sheet through a printing machine
comprises a drive roller and a baffle assembly forming a path for the
substrate past the drive roller. The baffle assembly includes an idler
roller having an axle rotatably supported within the baffle assembly to
cooperate with the drive roller to exert a nip force on the substrate. A
nip spring connected to the baffle assembly bears against a bushing
carrying the idler roller axle to exert a nip force on the idler roller.
A nip force adjustment apparatus is mounted within the baffle assembly
and is operable to apply an adjustment force on the bushing of the idler
roller to augment the nip force generated by the nip spring. The
adjustment apparatus includes an actuator movable between a neutral
position and an activated position, a force transmission element movably
supported within the baffle assembly to engage, in an operable position,
the bushing of the idler roller to exert the adjustment force, and a
linkage connecting the actuator to the force transmission element to move
the force transmission element into the operable position when the
actuator is moved from the neutral position to the activated position.