the suction openings 22 the controllable pneumatic units 23 are capable of producing a vacuum depressurizing the suction openings 22 and leading a positive pressure to the suction openings 22 in order to move the sheets 6 out the vacuum can then be switched off and the suction openings 22 can be provided with a positive pressure the positive pressure causes the sheets 6 to be loosened or separated from the stripping plate 15 in particular the use of antistatic compressed air has proven to be advantageous the suction openings 22 are preferably arranged in the inlet region 21 of the stripping station this offers the advantage that the sheets 6 can be gripped by the vacuum of the suction openings 22 immediately at the start of the insertion thereof into the stripping station 3 so that the sheets 6 are held under tension during the entire feeding time in a preferred embodiment of the invention two rows of suction openings 22 are arranged after one another in the stripping plate 15 in the sheet running or travel direction as represented by the accompanying directional arrow in fig1 fig3 is a plan view of the inlet region 21 of a stripping plate 15 the stripping plate 15 is provided with suction bars 24 having a plurality of suction.