CA1300183C - Method and apparatus for half folding paper sheets - Google Patents
Method and apparatus for half folding paper sheetsInfo
- Publication number
- CA1300183C CA1300183C CA000575925A CA575925A CA1300183C CA 1300183 C CA1300183 C CA 1300183C CA 000575925 A CA000575925 A CA 000575925A CA 575925 A CA575925 A CA 575925A CA 1300183 C CA1300183 C CA 1300183C
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- sheets
- velocity
- buckle chute
- shingled
- paper
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired - Lifetime
Links
Classifications
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
- B65H29/00—Delivering or advancing articles from machines; Advancing articles to or into piles
- B65H29/66—Advancing articles in overlapping streams
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
- B65H29/00—Delivering or advancing articles from machines; Advancing articles to or into piles
- B65H29/12—Delivering or advancing articles from machines; Advancing articles to or into piles by means of the nip between two, or between two sets of, moving tapes or bands or rollers
- B65H29/14—Delivering or advancing articles from machines; Advancing articles to or into piles by means of the nip between two, or between two sets of, moving tapes or bands or rollers and introducing into a pile
- B65H29/145—Delivering or advancing articles from machines; Advancing articles to or into piles by means of the nip between two, or between two sets of, moving tapes or bands or rollers and introducing into a pile the pile being formed between the two, or between the two sets of, tapes or bands or rollers
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
- B65H45/00—Folding thin material
- B65H45/12—Folding articles or webs with application of pressure to define or form crease lines
- B65H45/14—Buckling folders
- B65H45/142—Pocket-type folders
- B65H45/144—Pockets or stops therefor
Landscapes
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
- Folding Of Thin Sheet-Like Materials, Special Discharging Devices, And Others (AREA)
Abstract
ABSTRACT
METHOD AND APPARATUS
FOR HALF FOLDING PAPER SHEETS
Method and apparatus for half folding sequentially and nesting a plurality of paper sheets. The apparatus includes a buckle chute folder, the folder having a first pair of feed rollers rotatable at a given velocity, and a device for continuously feeding the paper sheets in shingled relationship at a second velocity greater than the given velocity to the feed rollers. The shingled relationship is defined by an overlap of the sheets of at least one half of the length of the sheets. By using the apparatus and method, any desired number of sheets may be folded sequentially and nested one inside the other.
METHOD AND APPARATUS
FOR HALF FOLDING PAPER SHEETS
Method and apparatus for half folding sequentially and nesting a plurality of paper sheets. The apparatus includes a buckle chute folder, the folder having a first pair of feed rollers rotatable at a given velocity, and a device for continuously feeding the paper sheets in shingled relationship at a second velocity greater than the given velocity to the feed rollers. The shingled relationship is defined by an overlap of the sheets of at least one half of the length of the sheets. By using the apparatus and method, any desired number of sheets may be folded sequentially and nested one inside the other.
Description
13~0~l~33 METHOD AND APPARATUS
FOR ~ALF FOLDING PAPER S~EETS
Back~round of the Invention The instant invention relates to folding sheets oE paper with buckle chutes, and more particularly to sequential folding in half by a buckle chute of a plurality of sheets of paper and the subsequent nesting of the folded sheets of paper into a packet and the insertion of the packet into an envelope.
There presently exists a need in the area of folding of paper sheets by means of buckle chute folders to be able to fold together a relatively large number, such as 10, 20, 30 or more, of paper sheets or documents. This requirement comes about by virtue of businesses, such as utilities or banks or retail stores, having large statements or bills which in many cases may exceed 30 more sheets of paper, most or all of which may need to be folded in order to be inserted into an envelope for mailing to a customer.
Typically, the feeding of the sheets of paper, the folding of the sheets of paper, and the insertion of the folded sheets of paper into the envelope are effected by an inserting system comprising documents feeders, conveyors, buckle chute~folders and envelope feeders.
A critical limitation with the aforesaid state of the art inserting system is the inability to fold a large number of sheets together simultaneously, in large part due to the high speed of these systems. Some of the most critical limitations are the noise of the sheets of paper entering and leaving the folding rollers and the tremendous force required to maintain pressure of the folding rollers relative to each other as they separate to accept a large number of sheets together.
It is therefor extremely desirable to have a practical solution to the foregoing problem of folding a large number of sheets simultaneously. The instant invention provides such a solution by providing apparatus and a method for half-folding a plurality of paper sheets sequentially and ~L3~0~83 subsequently nesting the half-folded sheets and thereby attaining a result which in terms of quality of fold is superior to simultaneous ~olding of the same large number of sheets.
Summary of the Inven~ion The instant invention accordingly provides apparatus and a method for half-folding sequentially and nesting a plurality of paper sheets. The apparatus includes a buckle chute folder having a pair of feed rollers rotating at a given velocity, the rollers forming an entrance nip to the buckle chute folder. Means for feeding the plurality of paper sheets seriatim along a path towards the feed rollers at a second velocity greater than the first velocity are provided. Also, means are situated within the path for causing a succeeding paper sheet of the plurality to become shingled relative to a preceding paper sheet of the plurality prior to the succeeding paper sheet entering the nip of the feed rollers. This forms a shingled stream entering the entrance nip to the buckle chute holder~
whereby any desired number of the sheets may be folded in half and nested one inside the other sequentially. The method of the present invention includes the step of feeding, at a given velocity, the plurality of paper sheets seriatim along a path toward a buckle chute folder having a pair of feed rollers rotating at a second velocity less than the given velocity. The rollers from an entrance nip to the buckle chute folder. A succeeding paper sheet of the plurality is caused to become shingled relative to a preceding paper sheet of the plurality prior to the succeeding paper sheet entering the nip of the feed rollers.
The shingled paper sheets are continuously fed into the buckle chute folder at the second velocity, thereby forming a shingled stream entering the entrance nip to the buckle chute folder. The half folded sheets are collected in nested relationship, whereby any desired number of the sheets may be folded in half and nested one inside the other sequentially.
Icm:jj 13~ L83 -2a-Brief Description of the Drawings Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a shingling conveyor in combination with a buckle chute folder in accordance with the instant invention;
Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the apparatus seen in Fig. l;
Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of the apparatus seen in Figs. 1 and 2;
Fig. 4 is a side alevational view of the buckle chute folder seen in Fig. 1 showing a first, second and third sheet of paper in progressive stages preparatory to half-folding;
Fig. 5 is similar to Fig. 2 except that the first sheet of paper has been half-folded and a second sheet of paper is about to be half-folded while the third sheet of paper is still entering the buckle chute;
Fig. 6 is similar to Fig. 3 except that a collecting bin is shown beneath the buckle chute for receiving the half-folded and nesting sheets of paper;
Fig. 7 is similar to Fig. 4 except that the half-folded sheets of paper are shown as having been completely nested and assembled into a packet of sheets.
Icm:ii ~s ~L3~ 3 Detailed Description In describing the preferred embodiment of the instant invention, reference is made to the drawings wherein there is seen in Figs. 1-3 a conveyor--accumulator 10 consisting of three upper belts 12, 14 and 16 mounted on driven pulleys 18, 20 and 22 respectively and on idler pulleys ~4, 26 and 28 respectively. The driven pulleys 18, 20 and 22 are fixedly mounted on a drive shaft 30 which is driven by a motor (not shown). The idler pulleys 24, 26 and 28 are rotatably mounted on a shaft 32 journalled in the frame (not shown) of the conveyor-accumulator 10. The conveyor-accumulator 10 typically is part of a total folding and inserting system.
The conveyor-accumulator 10 further includes immediately below the upper belts 12, 14 and 16 a pair of lower belts 34 and 36 mounted on driven pulleys 38 and 40 respectively and on idler pulleys 42 and 44 respectively. The belts 12, 14, 16, 34 and 36 are preferably "0" ring belts. The driven pulleys 38 and 40 are fixedly mounted on a drive shaft 46 which is driven by a motor (not shown) and the idler pulleys 42 and 44 are rotatably mounted on a shaft 48. As best seen in Fig. 3, the upper reaches 50 and 52 of the lower belts 34 and 36 respectively are situated immediately below the lower reaches 54, 56 and 58 of the upper belts 12, 14 and 16 respectively. As best seen in Fig. 2, a plan view, the lower belt 34 is si-tua-ted between the upper belts 12 and 14 and the lower belt 36 is situated between the upper belts 14 and 16.
Three sheet elevating ramps 60, 62 and 64 are rigidly suspended below the lower reaches 54, 56 and 58 of the upper belts 12, 14 and 16 respectively along a conveying path moving in the direction of the arrows seen in Figs. 1-3.
The functioning of the ramps 60, 62 and 64 and of the entire conveyor-accumulator 10 will be explained in additional detail hereinbelow.
Located downstream of the accumulator-conveyor 10 is a conventional buckle chute folder generally designated 66 consisting of a first pair of feed rollers 68 and 70 and a third feed roller 72 which cooperates with the roller 70 to form a second pair of feed rollers. The buckle chute folder 66 also includes a conventional buckle chute 74 having a stopping bar 76 therein (see Figs. 4-6).
In operation, thP conveyor-accumulator 10 ~eeds seriatim a stream of sheets 78 which have been separated from a stack (not shown) of sheets upstream by a singulating device (not shown) between the lower reaches 54, 56 and 58 of the upper belts 12, 14 and 16 respectively and the upper reaches 50 and 52 o~ the lower belts 34 and 36 respectively at a desired velocity consistent with the overall folding and inserting system of which the conveyor-accumulator 10 is a component. The sheets 78, as they are fed seriatim by the conveyor-accumulator 10, encounter the three sheet elavating ramps 60, 62 and 64 whose upstream portions intercept the leading end 80 of the sheet 78 (see Fig. 1) to thereby cause the sheets 78 to become slightl~ elevated.
This slight elevation results in each sheet 78 being deposited upon the preceding sheet 78 downstream of the ramps 60, 62 and 64 and upstream of the feed rollers 68 and 70 which function similar to a registration device in that their slow speed results in the sheets 78 belng slowed considerably after leaving the conveyor-accumulator 10. The buckle chute ~older 66 has its stopping bar 76 positioned so that the sheets 78 are folded in half, and in order to achieve this half fold, it is necessary that the sheets 78 have a shingled relationship to each other prior to entering the feed rollers 68 and 70. A shingled relationship is defined to mean a plurality of sheets whose leading or downstream ends are offset from one another, so that their leading or downstream ends are not aligned to form a vertical plane. It has been found that in creating the half fold, a shingled relationship in which the overlap of one sheet to the adjacent sheet is at least one half of the length of the sheet required. Achieving this overlap is effected by having the sheets 78 moved through feed rollers 68 and 70 at a speed between about 5 to 40% that o~ the speed the sheets 78 are moved by the Icm:D
(3il83 conveyor-accumulator 10, the preferred range being between about 10 and 20~. For example, if the accumulator-conveyor 10 is moving the sheets 78 at the speed of 100 inches per second, then the rollers 68 and 70 should move -the sheets 78 at a speed o~ about 5 to 40 inches ~er second (preferably between about 10 to 20 inches per second) to produce overlapping of the sheets prior to their entry into the nip of the rollers 68 and 70 of between about~ ~ sand one half of their length. It should be noted that sufficient shingling can be effected by almost any differences in speed between the conveyor-accumulator 10 and the roller 68 and 70; e.g. a 1% difference in speed can work although such a small differential may not be commercially feasible.
The result of the sheets 78 being shingled as described above prior to entry into the nip of the feed rollers 68 and 70 is illustrated in Figs. 4-7. The pressure of the feed rollers 68 and 70 feeds the sheets 78 into the buckle chute 66 toward the stopping bar 76. As the leading edge 80a of the sheet 78a is stopped by the buckle chute stopping bar 76, as seen in Fig. 4, a buckle 82 is formed in the middle of the sheet 78a towards the nip of the rollers 70 and 72.
The succeeding sheets 78b, 78c, 78d, etc. continue to enter the buckle chute 66 and are not affected by the buckling and folding of the sheet 78a.
As seen in Fig. 5, continued feeding of the sheet 78a by the roller pair 70 and 72 causes a fold 84 to be formed in the location of the buckle 82 once the buckle area 82 exits the nip of the rollers 70 and 72. Simultaneously, as seen in Fig. 5, a buckle 86 is being formed in the succeeding sheet 78b so that sheet 78b is being folded inside preceding sheet 78a as the sheet 78a exits the rollers 70 and 72. As clearly seen in Figs. 4-7, only one sheet at a time is being folded, and as best seen in Fig. 6, after the sheets 78 exit the rollers 70 and 72 they nest inside one another, as they enter a guide platform 88 which holds the nested packet of sheets 78, which in the case seen in the drawings, consists of four sheets 78 a-d. As seen in Fig. 7, once the four sheets 78 a-d have exited the nip of the rollers 70 and 72, `- ~3~ 3 all oE the four sheets 78 a-d rest against the platform 88 remote from the rollers 70 and 72.
Once the sheets 78 a-d are accumulated on the platEorm 88, they are removed by conventional means and may be inserted into an envelope (not shown). It can be appreciated that there is virtually no limit to the number of sheets 78 which may be folded and nested inside each other, but there is a practical limitation imposed by the thickness of the envelope.
Although the invention has been described in conjunction with ~he Eoregoing specific embodiment, many alternatives, variations and modifications will be apparent to those of ordinarily skill in the art. Those alternatives, variations and modifications are intended to fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
FOR ~ALF FOLDING PAPER S~EETS
Back~round of the Invention The instant invention relates to folding sheets oE paper with buckle chutes, and more particularly to sequential folding in half by a buckle chute of a plurality of sheets of paper and the subsequent nesting of the folded sheets of paper into a packet and the insertion of the packet into an envelope.
There presently exists a need in the area of folding of paper sheets by means of buckle chute folders to be able to fold together a relatively large number, such as 10, 20, 30 or more, of paper sheets or documents. This requirement comes about by virtue of businesses, such as utilities or banks or retail stores, having large statements or bills which in many cases may exceed 30 more sheets of paper, most or all of which may need to be folded in order to be inserted into an envelope for mailing to a customer.
Typically, the feeding of the sheets of paper, the folding of the sheets of paper, and the insertion of the folded sheets of paper into the envelope are effected by an inserting system comprising documents feeders, conveyors, buckle chute~folders and envelope feeders.
A critical limitation with the aforesaid state of the art inserting system is the inability to fold a large number of sheets together simultaneously, in large part due to the high speed of these systems. Some of the most critical limitations are the noise of the sheets of paper entering and leaving the folding rollers and the tremendous force required to maintain pressure of the folding rollers relative to each other as they separate to accept a large number of sheets together.
It is therefor extremely desirable to have a practical solution to the foregoing problem of folding a large number of sheets simultaneously. The instant invention provides such a solution by providing apparatus and a method for half-folding a plurality of paper sheets sequentially and ~L3~0~83 subsequently nesting the half-folded sheets and thereby attaining a result which in terms of quality of fold is superior to simultaneous ~olding of the same large number of sheets.
Summary of the Inven~ion The instant invention accordingly provides apparatus and a method for half-folding sequentially and nesting a plurality of paper sheets. The apparatus includes a buckle chute folder having a pair of feed rollers rotating at a given velocity, the rollers forming an entrance nip to the buckle chute folder. Means for feeding the plurality of paper sheets seriatim along a path towards the feed rollers at a second velocity greater than the first velocity are provided. Also, means are situated within the path for causing a succeeding paper sheet of the plurality to become shingled relative to a preceding paper sheet of the plurality prior to the succeeding paper sheet entering the nip of the feed rollers. This forms a shingled stream entering the entrance nip to the buckle chute holder~
whereby any desired number of the sheets may be folded in half and nested one inside the other sequentially. The method of the present invention includes the step of feeding, at a given velocity, the plurality of paper sheets seriatim along a path toward a buckle chute folder having a pair of feed rollers rotating at a second velocity less than the given velocity. The rollers from an entrance nip to the buckle chute folder. A succeeding paper sheet of the plurality is caused to become shingled relative to a preceding paper sheet of the plurality prior to the succeeding paper sheet entering the nip of the feed rollers.
The shingled paper sheets are continuously fed into the buckle chute folder at the second velocity, thereby forming a shingled stream entering the entrance nip to the buckle chute folder. The half folded sheets are collected in nested relationship, whereby any desired number of the sheets may be folded in half and nested one inside the other sequentially.
Icm:jj 13~ L83 -2a-Brief Description of the Drawings Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a shingling conveyor in combination with a buckle chute folder in accordance with the instant invention;
Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the apparatus seen in Fig. l;
Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of the apparatus seen in Figs. 1 and 2;
Fig. 4 is a side alevational view of the buckle chute folder seen in Fig. 1 showing a first, second and third sheet of paper in progressive stages preparatory to half-folding;
Fig. 5 is similar to Fig. 2 except that the first sheet of paper has been half-folded and a second sheet of paper is about to be half-folded while the third sheet of paper is still entering the buckle chute;
Fig. 6 is similar to Fig. 3 except that a collecting bin is shown beneath the buckle chute for receiving the half-folded and nesting sheets of paper;
Fig. 7 is similar to Fig. 4 except that the half-folded sheets of paper are shown as having been completely nested and assembled into a packet of sheets.
Icm:ii ~s ~L3~ 3 Detailed Description In describing the preferred embodiment of the instant invention, reference is made to the drawings wherein there is seen in Figs. 1-3 a conveyor--accumulator 10 consisting of three upper belts 12, 14 and 16 mounted on driven pulleys 18, 20 and 22 respectively and on idler pulleys ~4, 26 and 28 respectively. The driven pulleys 18, 20 and 22 are fixedly mounted on a drive shaft 30 which is driven by a motor (not shown). The idler pulleys 24, 26 and 28 are rotatably mounted on a shaft 32 journalled in the frame (not shown) of the conveyor-accumulator 10. The conveyor-accumulator 10 typically is part of a total folding and inserting system.
The conveyor-accumulator 10 further includes immediately below the upper belts 12, 14 and 16 a pair of lower belts 34 and 36 mounted on driven pulleys 38 and 40 respectively and on idler pulleys 42 and 44 respectively. The belts 12, 14, 16, 34 and 36 are preferably "0" ring belts. The driven pulleys 38 and 40 are fixedly mounted on a drive shaft 46 which is driven by a motor (not shown) and the idler pulleys 42 and 44 are rotatably mounted on a shaft 48. As best seen in Fig. 3, the upper reaches 50 and 52 of the lower belts 34 and 36 respectively are situated immediately below the lower reaches 54, 56 and 58 of the upper belts 12, 14 and 16 respectively. As best seen in Fig. 2, a plan view, the lower belt 34 is si-tua-ted between the upper belts 12 and 14 and the lower belt 36 is situated between the upper belts 14 and 16.
Three sheet elevating ramps 60, 62 and 64 are rigidly suspended below the lower reaches 54, 56 and 58 of the upper belts 12, 14 and 16 respectively along a conveying path moving in the direction of the arrows seen in Figs. 1-3.
The functioning of the ramps 60, 62 and 64 and of the entire conveyor-accumulator 10 will be explained in additional detail hereinbelow.
Located downstream of the accumulator-conveyor 10 is a conventional buckle chute folder generally designated 66 consisting of a first pair of feed rollers 68 and 70 and a third feed roller 72 which cooperates with the roller 70 to form a second pair of feed rollers. The buckle chute folder 66 also includes a conventional buckle chute 74 having a stopping bar 76 therein (see Figs. 4-6).
In operation, thP conveyor-accumulator 10 ~eeds seriatim a stream of sheets 78 which have been separated from a stack (not shown) of sheets upstream by a singulating device (not shown) between the lower reaches 54, 56 and 58 of the upper belts 12, 14 and 16 respectively and the upper reaches 50 and 52 o~ the lower belts 34 and 36 respectively at a desired velocity consistent with the overall folding and inserting system of which the conveyor-accumulator 10 is a component. The sheets 78, as they are fed seriatim by the conveyor-accumulator 10, encounter the three sheet elavating ramps 60, 62 and 64 whose upstream portions intercept the leading end 80 of the sheet 78 (see Fig. 1) to thereby cause the sheets 78 to become slightl~ elevated.
This slight elevation results in each sheet 78 being deposited upon the preceding sheet 78 downstream of the ramps 60, 62 and 64 and upstream of the feed rollers 68 and 70 which function similar to a registration device in that their slow speed results in the sheets 78 belng slowed considerably after leaving the conveyor-accumulator 10. The buckle chute ~older 66 has its stopping bar 76 positioned so that the sheets 78 are folded in half, and in order to achieve this half fold, it is necessary that the sheets 78 have a shingled relationship to each other prior to entering the feed rollers 68 and 70. A shingled relationship is defined to mean a plurality of sheets whose leading or downstream ends are offset from one another, so that their leading or downstream ends are not aligned to form a vertical plane. It has been found that in creating the half fold, a shingled relationship in which the overlap of one sheet to the adjacent sheet is at least one half of the length of the sheet required. Achieving this overlap is effected by having the sheets 78 moved through feed rollers 68 and 70 at a speed between about 5 to 40% that o~ the speed the sheets 78 are moved by the Icm:D
(3il83 conveyor-accumulator 10, the preferred range being between about 10 and 20~. For example, if the accumulator-conveyor 10 is moving the sheets 78 at the speed of 100 inches per second, then the rollers 68 and 70 should move -the sheets 78 at a speed o~ about 5 to 40 inches ~er second (preferably between about 10 to 20 inches per second) to produce overlapping of the sheets prior to their entry into the nip of the rollers 68 and 70 of between about~ ~ sand one half of their length. It should be noted that sufficient shingling can be effected by almost any differences in speed between the conveyor-accumulator 10 and the roller 68 and 70; e.g. a 1% difference in speed can work although such a small differential may not be commercially feasible.
The result of the sheets 78 being shingled as described above prior to entry into the nip of the feed rollers 68 and 70 is illustrated in Figs. 4-7. The pressure of the feed rollers 68 and 70 feeds the sheets 78 into the buckle chute 66 toward the stopping bar 76. As the leading edge 80a of the sheet 78a is stopped by the buckle chute stopping bar 76, as seen in Fig. 4, a buckle 82 is formed in the middle of the sheet 78a towards the nip of the rollers 70 and 72.
The succeeding sheets 78b, 78c, 78d, etc. continue to enter the buckle chute 66 and are not affected by the buckling and folding of the sheet 78a.
As seen in Fig. 5, continued feeding of the sheet 78a by the roller pair 70 and 72 causes a fold 84 to be formed in the location of the buckle 82 once the buckle area 82 exits the nip of the rollers 70 and 72. Simultaneously, as seen in Fig. 5, a buckle 86 is being formed in the succeeding sheet 78b so that sheet 78b is being folded inside preceding sheet 78a as the sheet 78a exits the rollers 70 and 72. As clearly seen in Figs. 4-7, only one sheet at a time is being folded, and as best seen in Fig. 6, after the sheets 78 exit the rollers 70 and 72 they nest inside one another, as they enter a guide platform 88 which holds the nested packet of sheets 78, which in the case seen in the drawings, consists of four sheets 78 a-d. As seen in Fig. 7, once the four sheets 78 a-d have exited the nip of the rollers 70 and 72, `- ~3~ 3 all oE the four sheets 78 a-d rest against the platform 88 remote from the rollers 70 and 72.
Once the sheets 78 a-d are accumulated on the platEorm 88, they are removed by conventional means and may be inserted into an envelope (not shown). It can be appreciated that there is virtually no limit to the number of sheets 78 which may be folded and nested inside each other, but there is a practical limitation imposed by the thickness of the envelope.
Although the invention has been described in conjunction with ~he Eoregoing specific embodiment, many alternatives, variations and modifications will be apparent to those of ordinarily skill in the art. Those alternatives, variations and modifications are intended to fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
Claims (8)
1. Apparatus for half folding sequentially and nesting a plurality of paper sheets, comprising a buckle chute folder having a pair of feed rollers rotating at a given velocity, said rollers forming an entrance nip to said buckle chute folder;
means for feeding said plurality of paper sheets seriatim along a path toward said feed rollers at a second velocity greater than said given velocity; and means situated within said path for causing a succeeding paper sheet of said plurality to become shingled relative to a preceding paper sheet of said plurality prior to said succeeding paper sheet entering the nip of said feed rollers, thereby forming a shingled stream entering said entrance nip to said buckle chute folder, whereby any desired number of said sheets may be folded in half and nested one inside the other sequentially.
means for feeding said plurality of paper sheets seriatim along a path toward said feed rollers at a second velocity greater than said given velocity; and means situated within said path for causing a succeeding paper sheet of said plurality to become shingled relative to a preceding paper sheet of said plurality prior to said succeeding paper sheet entering the nip of said feed rollers, thereby forming a shingled stream entering said entrance nip to said buckle chute folder, whereby any desired number of said sheets may be folded in half and nested one inside the other sequentially.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said given velocity is between about 5 to 40% of the second velocity.
3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said given velocity is between about 10 to 20% of the second velocity.
4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the shingled relationship comprises an overlap of at least one half of the length of said sheets.
5. A method of half folding sequentially and nesting a plurality of paper sheets, comprising:
feeding at a given velocity said plurality of paper sheets seriatim along a path toward a buckle chute folder having a pair of feed rollers rotating at a second velocity less than said given velocity, said rollers forming an entrance nip to said buckle chute folder;
causing a succeeding paper sheet of said plurality to become shingled relative to a preceding paper sheet of said plurality prior to said succeeding paper sheet entering the nip of said feed rollers;
continuously feeding said shingled paper sheets into said buckle chute folder at said second velocity, thereby forming a shingled stream entering said entrance nip to said buckle chute folder; and collecting said half folded sheets in nested relationship, whereby any desired number of said sheets may be folded in half and nested one inside the other sequentially.
feeding at a given velocity said plurality of paper sheets seriatim along a path toward a buckle chute folder having a pair of feed rollers rotating at a second velocity less than said given velocity, said rollers forming an entrance nip to said buckle chute folder;
causing a succeeding paper sheet of said plurality to become shingled relative to a preceding paper sheet of said plurality prior to said succeeding paper sheet entering the nip of said feed rollers;
continuously feeding said shingled paper sheets into said buckle chute folder at said second velocity, thereby forming a shingled stream entering said entrance nip to said buckle chute folder; and collecting said half folded sheets in nested relationship, whereby any desired number of said sheets may be folded in half and nested one inside the other sequentially.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein said second velocity is between about 5 to 40% of the given velocity.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein said second velocity is between about 10 to 20% of the given velocity.
8. The method of claim 5, wherein the shingled relationship comprises an overlap of at least one half of the length of said sheets.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| US9569587A | 1987-09-19 | 1987-09-19 | |
| US095,695 | 1993-07-21 |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1300183C true CA1300183C (en) | 1992-05-05 |
Family
ID=22253193
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000575925A Expired - Lifetime CA1300183C (en) | 1987-09-14 | 1988-08-29 | Method and apparatus for half folding paper sheets |
Country Status (3)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA1300183C (en) |
| DE (1) | DE3830754C2 (en) |
| GB (1) | GB2209738B (en) |
Families Citing this family (6)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DE9404431U1 (en) * | 1994-03-16 | 1994-05-19 | Mathias Bäuerle GmbH, 78112 St Georgen | Device for collecting and folding several sheets of paper |
| DE29516265U1 (en) * | 1995-10-13 | 1995-12-07 | Mathias Bäuerle GmbH, 78112 St Georgen | Upsizing machine with a saddle folder |
| DE19938419C1 (en) * | 1999-08-13 | 2001-01-18 | Sartorius Gmbh | Machine for transferring, post-folding and stacking pleated filters, includes swinging arm and gripper jaws with further equipment placing folded filters into magazine in defined packing pattern |
| AUPR483801A0 (en) * | 2001-05-09 | 2001-05-31 | Bell, Ashley Laurence | Device for folding and inserting paper sheets into an envelope |
| US6899665B2 (en) | 2002-04-23 | 2005-05-31 | Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. | Media folding |
| DE102008048286A1 (en) | 2008-09-22 | 2010-03-25 | Heidelberger Druckmaschinen Ag | Method and device for folding sheets |
Family Cites Families (1)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DE682101C (en) * | 1933-12-24 | 1939-10-10 | Brehmer Geb | Device for feeding a moving pile |
-
1988
- 1988-08-29 CA CA000575925A patent/CA1300183C/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1988-09-07 GB GB8820979A patent/GB2209738B/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 1988-09-09 DE DE3830754A patent/DE3830754C2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| GB2209738B (en) | 1992-02-12 |
| GB2209738A (en) | 1989-05-24 |
| DE3830754C2 (en) | 2001-10-25 |
| GB8820979D0 (en) | 1988-10-05 |
| DE3830754A1 (en) | 1989-03-23 |
Similar Documents
| Publication | Publication Date | Title |
|---|---|---|
| US4898570A (en) | Method and apparatus for half folding paper sheets | |
| CA2134295C (en) | Apparatus and method for forming collations of two different size documents | |
| US5083769A (en) | Dual collating machine | |
| US4805891A (en) | Standard and reverse collator | |
| US4640506A (en) | Reverse collating machine | |
| EP0926085B1 (en) | Dual document singulating apparatus for a mail handling system | |
| US5487254A (en) | Apparatus for inserting material into envelopes | |
| US5074540A (en) | Document singulating apparatus | |
| US4905977A (en) | Combination collator folder | |
| US5775689A (en) | Accumulator apparatus and method | |
| US5183246A (en) | Diverting apparatus and method for in-line inserting equipment | |
| US5123639A (en) | Standard and reverse collator using a removable idler roller shaft | |
| US5554094A (en) | Folding apparatus | |
| CA2134296C (en) | Method of folding collations having two different size documents | |
| US5765823A (en) | Apparatus for combining sheet-like products | |
| US4372201A (en) | Device for producing a bundle of paper sheets | |
| CA1300183C (en) | Method and apparatus for half folding paper sheets | |
| US5655761A (en) | Reversible sheet feeder accumulator | |
| US5564684A (en) | Anti-shingling buckle chute folder system | |
| US6095511A (en) | Processing channel for incoming imbricated printed products | |
| JPS59102761A (en) | Paper handling device | |
| US5685531A (en) | Process for accumulating unfolded paper sheets and collating with folded sheets | |
| US5492318A (en) | Sheet accumulator | |
| JPH0126681Y2 (en) | ||
| US5354171A (en) | Method and apparatus for reverse accumulation of folded documents |
Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| MKLA | Lapsed | ||
| MKEC | Expiry (correction) |
Effective date: 20121205 |