Year: 1886

page_text: I, OLIVER IMRAY, of No 28 Southampton Buildings, Ohancery Lane in the
County of Middlesex; Fellow of the Institute of Patent Agents, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to machinery for folding sheets of paper for books
whereby the sheet is folded by being pressed between two blades one of which
fits with an edge into a groove in the other so as to crease the sheet, after which it
is folded on the crease by the action of guide plates and pressure rollers.
The object of my invention is to provide novel means for moving the folded
sheet into engagement with the pressure rollers between which the sheet passes for
pressing it along the line of the fold made by the folding blades.
The invention also has for its object to provide novel means for clamping the
folded sheet to move it to the pressure rollers without undue pressure being
applied to the folding blade so that the knife can rise without liability of lifting
the sheet.
The object of my invention I accomplish in the manner and by the means
hereinafter described and claimed, reference being made to the accompanying
drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a sheet folding machine embodying
my invention; Fig. 2 a top or plan view theroof broken away at one side on the
line of Fig. 1 to shew the pressure rollers and the clamping jaws for moving
the folded sheet into engagement therewith; Fig. 3, a vertical sectional view
taken on the line y y of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 a detail perspective view of one pair of
the clamping jaws, shewing also a portion of one of the upper folding blades;
Fig. 5 a detail perspective view of one of the lower blades; Fig. 6 a sectional view
of one of the clamp operating cams taken on the lines of Fig. 7; Fig. 7 a side
elevation of one of the cams and Fig. 8 a detail sectional view of one of the
clamping jaws.
In order to enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will
now describe the same in detail referring to the drawings where the numeral 1

page_text: indicates a supporting frame work, 2 the table having at each side a slot, each
of which has at its opposite edges a guide plate 3.
An attendant sits at each side of the table and places one of the flattened out
sheets of paper or set of sheets, back downwards, upon the guide plate 3, at the
time the crosshead 4 is elevated, when the cross head descends the vertical blade 5
attached thereto, strikes the sheet along the folding line and presses it down upon
a vertical blade 6, which is held in such position that its top edge is just below
the back of the sheet. The lower edge of the upper blade is chamfered to
correspond to a groove in the top edge of the lower blade and the two blades
come sufficiently close for the upper blade to press the sheet at the folding line
into the groove of the lower blade to clamp or pinch the sheet.
The motion of the two blades is thereafter coincident and downward to force
the sheet between the guide plates 3, sufficiently far to place the fold line in a
horizontal line passing between the pair of pressure rollers 7, after which the
blades separate, the upper one ascending, leaving the sheet folded between the
guide plates. It is now necessary to move the sheet in a horizontal plane to
engage and pass between the pressure rollers to press the sheet along the folded
line and eject it from the machine into a suitable receptacle. To accomplish this
I employ two jaws 8, preferably of wood and capable of sliding backwards and
forwards in a rectilinear path on blocks 9, secured to a cross plate 10 fastened at
its ends to the frame of the machine. These jaws at one end are curved into
projecting points 11 so that such ends may pass between the rollers or near their
peripheral contact, and each jaw is slotted as at 12, and provided with a metallic
wear plate 12, Fig. 8, to receive the upper end of a lever 13. These levers are
mounted on independent pivot pins 14, located in a frame 15, having journals 16,
by which it is swivelled in bearings 17, on a traverse 18, extending across the
machine. Between the levers 13, above the swivelled frame is a rod 19 secured to
one lever and passing through a hole in the other the said rod being encircled by a
spiral or other spring 20, the tendency of which is to separate the jaws as in
Fig. 4. The lower ends of the levers have attached studs 21 engaging properly
shaped cam grooves 22 in a cam 23, fixed to a transverse shaft 24, each of the said
grooves having within it an elevation 25, Fig. 6, the construction being such that
as the cams are rotated by the shaft. 24, the elevations first spread the lower ends
of the levers outward to swing them on their pivot pins 14, to close the jaws 8
against the opposite sides of the folded line of the sheet after which the levers are
so acted upon by the walls of the cam grooves as to cause them to swing the
swivelled frame 15 in its bearings and advance the clamping jaws towards the
pressing rollers 7, so that the points 11 deliver the sheet directly to the peripheral
contact point of the rollers which grip the book and immediately thereupon the
jaws are by the cams released and restored to their normal position to clamp and
advance another sheet.
In order to prevent the clamping action of the jaws from exerting undue
pressure on the upper folding blade while it is between the folded sheet, which
would interfere with the withdrawal of the blade and be liable to lift the sheet,
I provide the acting face of one of the jaws with a projection 26, which may
consist of a staple driven into the jaws if the latter are of wood which is preferable.
This projection is in a plane coincident with a notch 27, in the lower edge of the
upper blade, so that the projection presses on the folded sheet through such notch
and to a large extent prevents the acting faces of the jaws from unduly clamping
the sheet upon the opposite sides of the blade, thereby permitting the latter to rise
without disturbing the folded sheet.
There are three shafts 24, 28 and 29 extending across the machine frame, the
shaft 28 having a pulley 30 for the driving belt and also a pinion 31, engaging a
spur wheel 32, on the shaft 24, which spur wheel gears with a smaller spur
wheel 33 on the shaft 29, the latter having a bevel wheel 34, engaging a bevel
wheel 85 on the vertical shaft of one of the pressure rollers, which shaft is geared

page_text: with the other pressure roller shaft by gear wheels 36, whereby the pressure rollers
are rotated.
The cross head 4 is secured to a vertical shaft 4* adapted to slide up and down
in suitable bearings and is operated by a cam 37 on the shaft 24.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim in respect of machinery for folding sheets of paper is :-
1. The combination with the folding blades and the pressure rollers, of opening
and closing and laterally movable clamping jaws for moving the folded sheet into
engagement with the pressure rollers, substantially as described.
2. The combination with the folding blades and the pressure rollers of two
clamping jaws, a swivelled frame, and means substantially as described, for first
operating the levers to clamp the jaws on the folded sheet and thence to advance
the jaws to deliver the sheet to the pressure rollers, substantially as described.
3. The combination with the folding blade having a notch, of the opening and
closing and laterally moving jaws one of which is provided with a projection
on its acting face arranged in a plane coincident with the notch in the blade,
substantially as described.
4. The combination with the pressure rollers for pressing a folded sheet, of the
sliding jaws, the swivelled frame, the levers pivotted in the swivelled frame and
connected with the jaws, and the cam acting on the lower ends of the levers for
moving the jaws to and from each other and also to and from the pressure rollers,
substantially as described.
5. The combination with the pressure rollers for pressing a folded sheet along its
fold line of the clamping jaws movable to and from the rollers and having adjacent
pointed ends for passing between the rollers, substantially as and for the purpose
described.