Apparatus for adjusting the diameter of folding drum in a rotary press

An apparatus for adjusting a diameter of a folding drum in a rotary press includes essentially, bands, slide bases, screw rods, sun gears, a differential device and mechanism for operating the differential device. The bases, formed with internal threads, support the bands. The screw rods, fitted in the internal threads, have pinion gears. The sun gears are concentric with the folding drum, mesh with the pinion gears and are rotatable with respect to the folding drum. The operating mechanism changes phases of the sun gears with respect to the folding drum. Then, the screw rods rotate, and the bands expand and contract, thus adjusting the diameter of the folding drum.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to an apparatus for adjusting a diameter of a 
folding drum the folding drum being capable of stably discharging sheets 
of paper during the operation of a folding machine in a rotary press. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
A conventional technique will be explained with reference to FIGS. 4 
through 6. 
The operation of a folding machine is typically classified into 
single-folding and double-folding. The single-folding process is performed 
in the following manner. Sheets of printed paper which have been wound up 
are cut to a predetermined length by a saw blade 02a of a saw drum 02 in 
cooperation with a needle 03a of a needle device 03 of a folding drum 01. 
Subsequently the sheets of paper are creased by a folding blade 04 and are 
folded sheet by sheet by a pair of folding rollers 05. The paper is then 
discharged. On the other hand, the double-folding process is effected in 
such a way that the cut paper is made to pass temporarily by, halting the 
operation, a subsequent printed paper so folded so as to be superposed on 
the previous paper one, and the paper then being discharged. 
A single unit of a folding machine serves to perform both the 
single-folding process and the double-folding process. The folding machine 
is constructed to adapt to a wide variety of modes, i.e., variations in 
the number of pages and the quality of paper. More specifically, as 
illustrated in FIG. 5, bands 06 are disposed respectively at three 
positions on the outer periphery of the folding drum 01. One end of each 
individual band 06 is so fixed as to be finely adjustable, and the other 
end thereof is movable in the tangential direction of the folding drum. 
The band 06 is pushed from a position depicted with a solid line in FIG. 5 
to a position shown by a dotted line on the the outer periphery of the 
folding drum 01, whereby the band 06 is swollen in the position 06a 
indicated by the dotted line. The overall diameter of the folding drum is 
adjusted on the basis of the quantity of swelling at the three positions 
on the outer periphery of the folding drum. 
Mechanisms for adjusting the swelling quantity of the bands 06 at the three 
positions on the outer periphery will now be described. The adjusting 
mechanisms provided at the three positions have the same features, and 
hence only one of them will be explained. 
The arrangement begins with a step of embedding one end of the band in the 
outer peripheral portion of the folding drum. One end thereof is connected 
with a pin 09a to a slide plate 07 slidable in the tangential direction 
for 0-point-setting by use of an adjustment screw 09c. The other end of 
the band is connected with a pin 09b to a slide plate 08 embedded in a 
position relative to the slide plate 07 on the outer periphery of the 
folding drum and slidable in the tangential direction. A rotatable cam 
follower 010 is fastened to the lower surface of the slide plate 08. The 
cam follower 010 is inserted in an oblique groove 012 chased in a portion 
of the upper surface of slide base 011 axially slidable by dint of a 
rotation screw rod 013. Note that the bands 06 are allocated to a 
plurality of positions in the longitudinal (axial) direction, and the 
plurality of slide plates 07 and 08 are set to be slidable with the help 
of guide plates 023a and 023b only in the direction axially orthogonal to 
the folding drum 01. 
An operating end of the slide base 011 is formed with an internal thread. A 
screw rod 013, the opposite end of which is provided with a gear 014, is 
fitted into the internal thread. The screw rods 013 are axially rotatably 
supported on bearings 01b provided at the three positions on the outer 
periphery of the folding drum body 01. The gears 014 provided at the axial 
ends of the screw rods 013 mesh with gears 015 rotatably mounted on studs 
015a embedded in the outer periphery of the folding drum body 01. 
Sprockets 016, integral with the gears 015, are linked through endless 
chains 021 to main driving sprockets 017 disposed at predetermined 
positions on the outer periphery of the folding drum. The endless chains 
021 are, as depicted in FIG. 6(a), arranged so that their tensions are 
adjusted by idler sprockets 022 provided at predetermined positions on the 
outer periphery of the folding drum body 01. 
The main driving sprocket 017 is fixed to an axial end of a wheel shaft 019 
of a worm gear box 018 installed on the outer peripheral portion of the 
folding drum. An unillustrated handle is inserted from outside of the 
folding drum in the direction orthogonal to the drum into a four-side 
chamfering portion 020a provided at the axial end of a worm shaft 020 
disposed orthogonally to the wheel shaft 019. The worm shaft 020 is 
manually rotated. 
In this arrangement, the adjustment of the diameter of the folding drum 
involves the steps of stopping the machine, inserting the handle into the 
worm shaft end portion 020a of the worm gear box 018 provided on the outer 
periphey of the folding drum 01 and manually rotating the worm shaft 020. 
As a result, the rotation is conveyed to the gear 014 fixed to the axial 
end of the screw rod 013 through the sprockets 016 formed with the gears 
015 which are provided at the three positions on the outer periphery of 
the folding drum by means of the endless chains 021, with the sprockets 
017 serving as driving sources. The rotation of the gear 014 permits the 
slide base 011 to slide in the longitudinal direction of the folding drum 
through the screw rod 013, with the result that the slide plates 08 
allocated to the respective positions of the folding drum direction 
simultaneously slide in the tangential direction through the cam followers 
010. Because of the sliding action of the slide plates, the plurality of 
bands 06 connected through the pins 09b to the slide plates 08 
concurrently expand and contract in the tangential direction of the 
folding drum at the three predetermined positions on the outer periphery 
of the folding drum, wherein the band connecting pins 09a of the slide 
plates 07 serve as cardinal points. The expansion and contraction of the 
respective bands are effected en bloc by manually operating the worm 
shafts 020, and their swelling quantities .beta. are controlled, thus 
adjusting the diameter of the folding drum. 
In recent years, there has increasingly been a market-demand for a folding 
machine capable of responding to a wide variety of modes, viz., variations 
in the number of pages or in paper quality during operation. There arise, 
however, the following problems inherent in the prior art folding machine. 
Every time the diameter of the folding drum is adjusted to meet such 
requirements, the adjustment operations have to be done during the 
stoppage of machine. This results in poor performance. Besides, it is 
impossible to adjust the diameter of the folding drum while observing 
conditions under which the sheets of paper are drawn in during the 
operation. Therefore, the market needs of automatization and presetting of 
the folding machine can not be attained. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is a primary object of the present invention to eliminate the 
above-described problems and to provide an apparatus for adjusting a 
diameter of a folding drum in a rotary press which comprises a plurality 
of slide bases slidably disposed in predetermined positions on the outer 
periphery of the folding drum in the longitudinal direction thereof, and 
screw rods fitted in operating end portions of the slide bases, and pinion 
gears fixed to the screw rods. Sun gears, concentric with the folding 
drum, are meshed through intermediate gears with the pinion gears, the sun 
gears being so arranged that the sun gears, which are not fixed to a 
rotary shaft of the folding drum, make the same concentric rotation as 
that of the folding drum. A differential device is disposed in a driving 
system for the sun gears. An operating means operates the differential 
device from outside of the machine, the operating means serving to change 
the phases of the sun gears with respect to the folding drum. 
In this construction, the sun gears, supported concentrically with the 
folding drum, are mannually or automatically operated from outside of the 
machine through the differential device, whereby the phases of the sun 
gears with respect to the folding drum are varied. Simultaneously, the 
screw rods screwed in the slide bases are forced to rotate both in the 
forward direction and in the reverse direction through the sun gears. The 
bands, which are arranged in a plurality of lines on the outer periphery 
of the folding drum and allocated to the plurality of portions in the 
individual lines, are made to concurrently expand and contract through the 
slide bases, the cam followers and the slide plates, thereby adjusting the 
diameter of the folding drum. 
The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the invention 
will become more apparent on reading the following detailed description 
with reference to the accompanying drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
As described in the prior art apparatus, slide bases slidable in the 
longitudinal direction of the drum are disposed in three predetermined 
positions on the outer periphery of the folding drum. Screw rods are 
fitted in operating ends of the slide bases; and pinion gears are fixed to 
the other ends of the screw rods. Oblique grooves are chased in a 
plurality of predetermined portions of the upper surfaces of the slide 
bases in the longitudinal direction. Cam followers, fixed to the lower 
surfaces of a plurality of slide plates, are rollable on the upper surface 
of the slide bases in the direction axially orthogonal to the folding drum 
and are fitted in the oblique grooves. Bands, both ends of which are fixed 
to the upper surfaces of the slide plates with pins, are, as depicted in 
FIGS. 4 and 5 showing the prior art apparatus, allocated by plural pieces 
to three positions in the longitudinal direction of the folding drum. The 
bands at one end are so fastened with the pins as to regulate the cardinal 
points. Positions of the cardinal points of the slide plates are 
determined by cardinal point adjusting bolts. With one ends serving as the 
cardinal points, the other ends of the bands are fastened to the slide 
plates with the pins. When the screw rods rotate both in the forward 
direction and in the reverse direction, the slide bases slide in the 
longitudinal direction, whereby the cam followers move along the oblique 
grooves formed in the slide bases. Thus, the slide plates fixedly provided 
with the cam followers slide in the tangential direction of the folding 
drum, and the bands fastened to the plates with the pins expand and 
contract in the tangential direction with their first ends serving as the 
cardinal points, thus adjusting the outside diameter of the folding drum. 
The foregoing arrangement is completely the same as that in the 
above-described conventional apparatus, and hence the description based on 
a procedure of marking the components with their own numerals is omitted 
by referring to FIGS. 4 and 5. However, the components corresponding to 
those in FIGS. 1 to 3 are indicated by removing every 0 from the numerals 
of FIGS. 4 and 5. 
The embodiment of the present invention will hereinafter be described. The 
description is focused mainly on a driving system for manually or 
automatically operating the screw rods, which are depicted in FIGS. 1 to 
3, from outside of a folding machine. 
A differential device involves a variety of modes. In this embodiment, 
there is exemplified a situation employing a planetary gear train. 
However, other differential devices available in the market will provide 
the same effects. 
Referring first to FIG. 1(a), rotary forces are propagated from driving 
gears 31 of a saw drum 2 via intermediate gears 32, 33, 34 and 35 to a 
differential toothed wheel driving gear 36. Next, as illustrated in FIG. 
2(a), the differential toothed wheel driving gear 36 linked to a 
differential toothed wheel 38 serves to convey driving forces to an 
intermediate toothed wheel 39. The intermediate toothed wheel 39 is linked 
through a key to a toothed wheel 40. The intermediate toothed wheel 39 is 
also supported on a differential toothed wheel receiver 41 in cooperation 
with a bearing so that the intermediate toothed wheel 39 rotates about a 
shaft 40a of the toothed wheel 40. The toothed wheel 40 engages with a 
toothed wheel 37 freely rotatable about an axis of the differential 
toothed wheel receiver 41; and sun gear driving toothed wheel 43 is fixed 
through a key to an axial end of the toothed wheel 37. 
The sun gear driving toothed wheel 43 meshes with a sun gear 44. Sun gears 
44 and 45 are arranged to be integral with each other. The sun gears 44 
and 45 are not fixed to the shaft of the folding drum 1 but are so 
arranged that they make the same concentric rotations as those of the 
folding drum 1. The differential toothed wheel receiver 41 is disposed in 
the driving system. The sun gear 45, fixed to the end surface of the 
folding drum, meshes with a pinion gear 14 through an intermediate gear 15 
rotatably attached via a bearing to one of studs 15a provided at the 
predetermined three positions on the outer periphery of the folding drum. 
The pinion gear 14 is fastened to the screw rod 13 with a key. 
The constitution and function of the parts associated with the screw rods 
13 is much the same with those in the prior art. 
In the above-described arrangement, the rotary forces are imparted from the 
driving gear 31 of the saw drum via the intermediate gears 32, 33, 34 and 
35, the differential toothed wheel driving gear 36, the intermediate 
toothed wheels 39 and 40, the toothed wheel 37 and the sun gear driving 
toothed wheel 43 to the sun gear 44. The rotary forces are further 
propagated from the sun gear 45 through the intermediate gear 15 to the 
pinion gear 14. According to the present apparatus, the following 
arrangement is made preparatory to the expansion and contraction of the 
bands distributively placed at the three positions in the longitudinal 
direction, for the purpose of adjusting the diameter of the folding drum. 
The differential toothed wheel receiver 41 is supported so as to be 
rotatable with respect to the operating frame 42, and a worm wheel bearing 
51 is fixedly fastened to the differential toothed wheel receiver 41. A 
worm wheel 52 is fastened to the bearing 51. A worm shaft 53 engaging with 
the worm wheel 52 is, as illustrated in FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b), supported on 
a worm bearing 54 fixed to the frame 42. A bevel gear 57a attached to the 
end of the worm shaft engages with a bevel gear 57b provided at the tip of 
a worm driving shaft 56 provided orthogonally to the worm shaft 53. The 
worm driving shaft 56 is supported on the worm bearing 54 and on an 
operating bearing 55 of the worm driving shaft 56. A lock nut 58 and a 
handle 59 are provided at the tip of the worm driving shaft 56. 
In the above-described constitution, the worm driving shaft 56 is rotated 
by turning the handle 59 from outside of the operating frame 42, whereby 
the intermediate toothed wheels 39 and 40 supported on the differential 
toothed wheel receiver 41 rotate about a differential toothed wheel shaft 
37a. Then, the phases of the sun gears 44 and 45 with respect to the 
folding drum 1 vary. As the sun gear 45 rotates with respect to the 
folding drum 1, the gears 14 and 15 and the screw rods 13 also rotate. As 
a result, bands 06 (see FIGS. 4 and 5) provided at the three positions on 
the outer periphery of the folding drum expand and contract through slide 
bases 11 and slide plates 07. It is thus feasible to adjust a peripheral 
velocity of the folding drum accurately, safely and simply, to correspond 
to the number of pages and the feeding velocity thereof, while observing 
the condition from outside of the machine during the operation of the 
folding machine. 
As discussed above, the present invention provides the following effects. 
1. The diameter of the folding drum can be adjusted while observing a flow 
of paper during the operation of the folding drum of the folding machine 
in the rotary press. 
2. An optimum value of the diameter of the folding drum, which stabilizes 
the flow of paper and the discharge thereof, can be obtained within a 
short period of time, thereby minimizing the loss of paper. 
3. The operation from outside of the machine is practicable, and hence good 
operability can be obtained. 
4. Since the handling operation can simply be changed to a button-operation 
by virtue of automatization based on the prior art, the automatization and 
presetting can readily be attained. 
Although the illustrative embodiment of the present invention has been 
described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to 
be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise embodiment. 
Various changes or modifications may be effected therein by one skilled in 
the art without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention.