Patent GB-443866-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to paper folding machines
IPC: B65H45/12
Filed: 1935-02-08
Abstract: 443,866. Folding paper. POLLAK, J. E., 20, Holborn, London.-(Brehmer Geb.; Plagwitz, Leipsic, Germany) Feb. 8, 1935, No. 4160. [Class 100 (i)] A machine for folding sheets includes a pair of inversely rotating fold-rolls and a guide actuated to move along a path inclined to the longitudinal axes of the rolls in a plane passing through the bite of the latter thereby to direct a sheet fed thereto into the bite of the rolls by progressive pressure applied to the sheet along the line of contact with the moving guide. The machine as described is used for cross-folding sheets after they have been parallel-folded. As shown, the machine, which is of the type which produces a 32-page book signature or pamphlet, comprises a sheet feed table A, buckle fold section B, cross fold section C, and a delivery conveyer D. A sheet to be folded is fed by hand or automatically along the table A to the section B where it receives three parallel folds, and is then fed by the rolls 10, 10<a> through pairs of short feed-rolls and a pair of scoring-discs 14 all mounted on shafts 17 on to a series of conveyer belts 20. The discs 14 score the sheet where it is to be cross-folded, and a spring- pressed disc 30, co-operating with a roll mounted on the shaft 21 which drives the pulleys of the belt 20, is adapted to enter the groove scored by the discs 14 to guide the sheet. Side guides for the sheet are adjustably mounted on cross-bars 25, 70, and rotatable discs or runners are adjustably mounted on rods above the inner pair of belts 20 to press the sheet on to the belts. The inner pair of belts 20 are supported by a pair of plates 52 mounted over a pair of cross-fold rolls 19, the plates abutting at the left-hand end of the rolls 19, and being flared outward towards the right-hand end of the rolls to provide a wedge-shaped gap to enable the sheet to pass therethrough when engaged by the rolls 19. As shown, the moving guide which directs the sheet into the bite of the rolls 19 comprises a series of bladeshaped members 31 constrained to move along a closed path in a vertical plane passing through the bite of the rolls 19. The blades 31 may be mounted in spaced or abutting relationship upon a carrier belt or chain or, as shown, freely mounted in abutting relationship in a continuous guideway formed by a pair of housing plates 32. Each blade has a pair of rotatable rolls 34 on each side thereof, and a double sprocket-wheel mounted between the plates 32 on a driving shaft 36 is adapted to engage these rolls 34 to force the blades around the continuous guideway in the plates ; if desired, the driving sprocket may be situated at the opposite end of the guideway. The blades 31 project beyond the plates 32 when travelling in the lower part of the guide therein, and the plates are inclined so that the sheet to be folded is pressed gradually towards the bite of the rolls 19. The plates 32 are mounted for transverse and vertical adjustment at each end ; as shown, the right-hand end is adapted to be adjusted vertically by the screw 43. To facilitate registration of the sheet prior to its downward movement between the cross-fold rolls 19, a stop member is mounted on a cross-bar 54. The stop member comprises a screw-adjusted member having transverse arms at each side of the housing plates 32 at the right-hand end of the rolls 19, and each of the transverse arms has slidably mounted thereon a stop which engages the leading end of the sheet near the lateral edge of the latter. The folded sheet carried by the conveyer belts 20 above the rolls 19 encounters the blades 31, which move at substantially the same speed as the sheet, and the sheet is progressively pressed between the rolls. The rolls seize the sheet and crossfold it in drawing it therebetween. The folded sheet is then delivered on to a belt conveyer 63. Where it is desired to deliver the folded sheet with the leading edge horizontal, then the rolls 19 are frusto-conical in shape. In a modification, the conveyer belts 20 are inclined in the opposite direction to the inclination of the active fold blades 31 so that the sheets cannot overrun the belts ; also the V-fold of the depressed sheet, at its point of engagement in the bite of the rolls 19, is somewhat deeper than in the above construction, whereby the rolls initially engage a greater surface of the sheet. Specification 394,058 is referred to.