US240235A - crowell - Google Patents

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US240235A
US240235A US240235DA US240235A US 240235 A US240235 A US 240235A US 240235D A US240235D A US 240235DA US 240235 A US240235 A US 240235A
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web
over
folding
turners
folded
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    • BPERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65HHANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
    • B65H45/00Folding thin material
    • B65H45/12Folding articles or webs with application of pressure to define or form crease lines
    • B65H45/28Folding in combination with cutting

Definitions

  • Figures 1 to 5 illustrate a machine embodying the invention in one of its forms, of which Fig. 1 is a side elevation Fig. 2, a plan; Fig. 3, an end elevation; Figs. at and 5, views of the turning-surfaces disposed so as to deliver the folded paper vertically at opposite sides of the machine, and Fig. 6 a vertical section of the tumors on'the line a of Fig. 5.
  • FIG. 7 is a side elevation; Fig. 8, a plan view; Fig. 9, an end elevation; and Figs. 10 and 11 views of the turning-surfaces disposed so as to deliver the folded paper in the opposite direction from that shown in Fig. 9.
  • Fig. 11 is a sectional elevation of the turning-surfaces on the line 0 of Fig. 10.
  • Figs. 12, 13, 14, and 15 illustrate one mode of arranging these turning-surfaces with a printing-machine, so as to 0 deliver the printed sheets therefrom and fold the same either longitudinally or both longitudinally and transversely, Fig. 12 being an end elevation, Fig. 13 a side elevation with cutting-cylinders in section, Fig. 14 a rear 5 view, illustrating the lower main tapes only, and Fig. 15 a detail.
  • Fig. 16 is a perspective view of a machine embodying two longitudinal-folders.
  • the folding apparatus constituting the prin- 0 cipal portion of the present improvement, while capable of folding a web or sheets of any material longitudinally, is more especially designed to form a part of the delivery mech anism of that class of printing-machines which 4 5 operate to perfecta web of paper by printing thesame upon its opposite faces while it passes once through-the machine.
  • ModuleL This has been provided for by a rotary sheetcollecting mechanism and a rotary sheet-folding mechanism; and while the former is capable of delivering sheets in the flat form at the requisite speed, the latter is only capable of attaining that speed when the first fold in the sheet is formedtransversely to the line of travel of the sheet.
  • the first fold madeis longitudinal, or in the direction of the travel of the sheet, and is produced by a foldin g-blade, such sheet is arrested or checked in its onward movement in order that it may be properly so folded, because that operation changes its movement to one at 6 right angles to the direction of travel it has as it enters the folding mechanism.
  • This stopping or partially stopping the travel of the sheet greatly modifies the speed of manipulation and interferes with the accuracy of fold- 7o ing, because the time thus necessarily consumed in delivering the sheet, from one set of active mechanisms to another, each carrying the paper in difi'erent directions, will cause the sheet being folded to be overtaken by the succeeding one, while both are required to be in an exact correlation at the instant the folding operation is performed.
  • a limit of speed upon such a delivery mechanism which is greatly within that at which the printing-machine may be operated.
  • the present invention relates to the structare of a folding device whereby a length of material passed through it is folded on a line parallel with the direction of its travel, which said folding device, though particularly designed to fold webs or long lengths of mate-- rial,is capable, with some modification, of folding in like manner short pieces of material in 0 the form of sheets.
  • This improvement consists, primarily, of a folder constituted by stationary turners arranged in such a manner that a web or sheet passing over them will be folded longitudi- 5 nally, or in the direction of its travel, which operation laysone section of the web or sheet upon the other, thus doubling it, andat the same time reducing its dimensions widthwise accordingto the relation the line of folding [CO bears to the center of the web or sheet.
  • the invention further comprchends certain modifications of the structure of parts and various combinations of the folder with feeding and delivering mechanisms, all of which is too particularly hereinafter set forth to need further preliminary description.
  • FIGs. 1 to 6 A' machine embodying the folding mechanism in its simplest form willfirst be described. Such a one is illustrated by Figs. 1 to 6.
  • Its folding mechanism consists of three foldingbars or turners, 3, 5, and 7, stationary in the sense of not turning, all of which turners are arranged to meet at a common point at which the line of creasing or folding is determined.
  • the turners 3 and 5 spread at such angles to each other as to afford a surface capable of supporting the web distended widthwise, (see Fig. 2,) the turner 3 preferably standing at an angle of about one hundred and thirty-five degrees with respect to the turner 5.
  • the turners 3, 5, and 7 may be straight or conical bars, or simple wires or edges provided by any rigid material, directed toward a common point, 6, which is the creasing or fold-determining point.
  • One mode of making them is to bend a plate of metal into the form illustrated by the drawings, which plate will provide not only aconvenient means for rigidly securing the turners in proper relation to each other, but provide sheet-supporting plates extending from one turner to the other, and afford a secure means for attachment to the frame-work, such means, as shown, being a bar, 30, to which the lower edge of the front plate, 11, and that of the plate 13 are united, which bar is attached to the side frames, 32 33.
  • This web passes under a leading-roller,'20, thence through the folder, and is taken up in its folded condition after passing under a leading-roller, 21, upon a roller, 22, that is provided with a rotating crank, 23. From the roller 20 the web 8, fully distended widthwise, is laid over the turners 35, so that one section of it shall be stretched over the turner 3 and the other over the turner 5, its center or other predetermined place of folding lying over the folding-point 6.
  • the sec tion laid over the turner 3 is carried down ward therefrom while the other section is laid over the turner 5, then laterally to and over the turner 7, from which it is carried downward.
  • the single ply stretched widthwise from the turners 3 and 5 has one section, or that part lying at one side of the folding-point 6, carried upward over said turner 3, and thence downward, while the other section, lying on the opposite side of the folding-point 6, is carried upward over the turner 5, is then turned at a right angle, carried transversely to and over the turner 7, and again turned at a right angle as it is carried downward from such turner 7.
  • the right-hand section of the web will be transferred laterally to the left; but by disposing the turners 3, 5, and 7 as is shown in Fig. 5 the left-hand section of the web may be transferred laterally to the right.
  • the resulting doubled web 9 will have the common plane of its two parts lying parallel with that in which the single web is stretched.
  • the web is thus doubled longitudina-lly upon a line in such relation to the edges of the web as may be determined by the lateral disposition of the web with respect to the point 6, and the sections of the web will thus be lapped so that its upper face will form the inner surfaces of the folded product.
  • the turners are so disposed with respect to each other that they do not extend to the point where the fabric is folded, said folders, on the contrary, being blunted, cut away, or set apart, so as to leave the fabric without any bearing-surface at that point.
  • the fabric though given the proper direction by the support afforded by the turners, nevertheless remains free or unsupported at the folding-point, and may hence bend or double at that point without being strained by any rigid supporting-surface or opposing force on either side of it.
  • This operation may be carried on at a very high speed, one equaling that of a printing or other machine manipulating a web by means of rotating devices; and if the dimensions of the web are thus reduced one-half it follows that an equal reduction of the dimensions ot' the mechanisms which are to further manipulate it may be accomplished, whether the same are to fold it into a pack of zigzag folds, as in the Patent No. 8,240, granted to Ambrose and Reynolds, July 22, 1851, or are to impart a second longitudinal fold to it, or divide it into sheets and deliver them flat or folded, or to impart a second longitudinal fold, then cut into sheets and impart to them a transverse fold, or to manipulatethe product in any other manner.
  • the doubled web may be carried directly to an apparatus for rolling it up or otherwise manipulating it, being for that purpose led over one or more rollers, as 21. If it is desired to framework at one side of the machine.
  • the turners 3, 5, and 7 are here so disposed that the distended web 8 has its section that is brought over the turner 3 carried downward over the turner 7, and thence at a right angle outward at one side, and the other section of the web that is brought over the turner 5 is carried at a right angle to its former travel outward, parallel with the first-named section.
  • the said web 8 being folded at the point6 and doubled on the line 10, as before, such doubled web being led over the roller 21 and wound upon a roller, 22, the rollers 21 and 22 in this arrangement being mounted in a suitable
  • the single web from the roller 34 is passed under the roller 20, thence through the folder, and by it not only doubled but delivered at a right angle to the plane at which it entered such folder.
  • the doubled web 9 may be deliveredin precisely the opposite direction, as is apparent.
  • the angles of relation of these turners may be varied considerably, and still be within the present invention.
  • the outer end of the turner 7 may be swung toward the position occupied by the turner5 until it stands in a position opposite to that it has as shown in Fig. 4, the turner 3 being swung or adjusted correspondingly downward, and the turner 5 swung or adjusted correspondingly upward, as is shownin Fig. 5, and that the turners may be so moved as to occupy any desired intermediate position.
  • the point 6 is an imaginary onethat is to say, that, though it is the common point at which the inner ends of the turners would meet it they joined together, such turners have their inner extremities blunted or cut away so that they, shall not someet.
  • the fold of the plate which would constitute this point is cut away.
  • Such imaginary point 6 is actually the point at which the fold 10 is formed, such fold has no bearingsurface directly beneath it upon which the paper rests.
  • This feature of the invention is applicable to turning-surfaces of any number that are arranged so as to cause a web or sheet drawn over them to be folded longitudinally, such as are shown in the aforesaid applications.
  • this folder may receive the web 8 from any source, as the cloth-beam of a loom or cloth-finishing machine, and deliver its longitudinally-folded product to any of the many forms of folding mechanisms capacitated to impart additional folds to it.
  • the web may come from a print,- in g-machine of the character herein described, and when folded be delivered by a foldingmachiue which severs it into sheets and folds such sheets transversely, such a one as is shown and described in Patent No. 143,674, dated October 14, 1873, and Patent No. 192,034, dated June 12, 1877. If, however, it is attached to a web-printing machine provided with cutting-cylinders, as 42 43, Figs.
  • the lower set of main tapes leading from the cutting-cylinders to the folder consists, as shown, of four endless tapes, 16 16 16 16 which run over pulleys 24 24 24 24 hung on a shaft, 24, mounted just in advance of said cutting-cylinders.
  • the tapes 16 and 16 pass over one section of the front plate, 11, of the folder, thus being stretched from the pulleys 24 24 under pulleys 25 25 that are mounted on a shaft, 25, so as to stand in front of pulleys 27 27 so that their peripheries coincide with the face of the plate 11.
  • the upper set of tapes coacting with the lower set consists of endless margin tapes, 17 17 and an endless center cord or tape, 17, which runs over pulleys 37, 37 and 37 hung on a shaft, 37, mounted justin advance of the cutting-cylinders and above the pulleys 24 24 24 24.
  • the margin tape, 17, runs above the tape 16 from the pulley 37, under the pulley 25, over the pulley 26, and returns under a pulley, 38, on a shaft, 50, and over apulley, 39, on a shaft, 39. (This portion of the tape is omitted in Fig.
  • the margin tape, 17* runs above the tape 16 from the pulley 37, Figs. 12 and 14, under the pulley 25. From this point it leaves the tape 16, (which is returned,) and thence lies upon the plates of the folder, which it follows thus: It bears over the turner 5, extends laterally over the plate 12, bears over the turner 7, and deseending returns over a pulley, 38, on the bar 50, thence over a pulley.
  • Each sheet will be supported and carried onto and over the folder by these tapes and will have its sections folded laterally one upon another, so as to double the same on a line parallel with its line of travel, as will be readily understood from the former description, said tapes controlling the sheet until in its once-folded condition it leaves said folder.
  • auxiliary endless tapes 15 15 and 18 18 stretched as follows:
  • the tapes 18 18 run over pulleys 48 48 hung on shafts and so located as to lie in the planes in which the folded plies of the paper lie as they-leave the plates 14 13, thenceover pulleys 44 44 and return over pulleys 44 44 by which said tapes are stretched horizontally to coact with tapes 19 19 that are stretched from pulleys and its companion to pulleys 51' 51 area means of delivering the paper when it is folded transversely.
  • the tapes 15 15 run over pulleys hung on the shaft 27 and returnover pulleys 49 49
  • the tapes 16 16 might be extended to take the place of the tapes 15 15 and would then return from the pulleys 49 49 to the pulleys 24 24
  • the tapes 15 15 and 18 18 might lead directly to a second taped folder composed of turners, or to a fly which would deliver the longitudinally-folded sheets in a flat pile, or to any of the well-known forms of rotating folding mechanism.
  • This taped folder is shown in Figs. 12, 13 as combined with a folder like that of the Patent No. 171,196, December 14, 1875.
  • Said folder consists of a double rotating folding-blade, 60, that is supported in a rotating carrier, 61, said folder operating to project one'of the folding-blades into the nip of the pulleys 44 44 and 45 45 at each rotation of its carrier, whereby a sheet caused to descend before said pulleys will be doubled by said folding-blade into the nip of the pulleys, as shown by dotted lines, and will thus be folded transversely on any predetermined line, and, thus folded, will be delivered by the tapes 18 18- and 19 19".
  • the smooth descent of the paper between these pulleys and the folder is aided by guides 62 and 63.
  • Conductors 65 may extend between the tapes 15' 15 and 18 18 to aid the descent.
  • the transversely-folded sheet may be arrested in its passage between the tapes 18- 18 and 19 19 or the unfolded sheet may be arrested while passing between the tapes 18 18 and 15 15 and be struck by a folding-blade between a pair of folding-rollers which are properly placed with respect to the plane in which the sheet is carried by said tapes.
  • the space intervening between the surface of the cutting-cylinders and the pulleys 24 24 24 24 and 37, 37 and 37 may be spanned by conductors or conducting-cords 66 66, that run in grooves in said cylinders and over pulleys 67 67 mounted on the shafts 37 and 24.
  • the system of taping may travel at the same speed as the cutting-cylinders, or fast enough to keep it taut, but not sever, thus enabling the connected sheets to rnnat a lesser speed than when controlled by accelerated tapes.
  • the sheets may be separated, after leaving the turners, by means of fast-running nipping-rollers.
  • a combined cutting and folding mechanism such as is described in Patent No. 143,674, dated October 14, 1S73- -one that embodies a other proportion of such width, and whether severed transversely or not, may be carried into the folder on top or beneath the main web, and thus be incorporatedwith it, said severed or unseveredsupplement web being delivered with the main web to form supplement sheets of different sizes, as required.
  • cutting-cylinders 42 43 may be removed and the folder receive sheets from any one of the various kinds of machines adapted to produce or manipulate fabrics.
  • the web or sheets folded once longitudinally by this improved folder may be converted into a tube suitable for various uses by laying a line of paste upon one of its edges as the fabric passes through the folder.
  • This pasting device may be of any well-known form, and be located at any proper point, as a disk, 100, placed near the base of the plate 11. (See Fig, 1.)
  • Fig. 16 I have illustrated the combination, with printing and cutting mechanisms, of two longitudinal-folders of the character herein described. The combination and operation of these folders have been so thoroughly hereinbefore described that no further explanation is required here. Though they are arranged in horizontal planes, their function and action remain the same. I have here shown a web of paper, 8, as being led from its supply-roll 81 between cylinders 70 71, which illustrate the type and impression cylinders of a printing-machine.
  • This web in passing over the turners 3 5 7 constituting the primary folder, will be doubled or folded longitudinally upon a central line, and in its doubled condition will pass over the turners 3, 5, and 7 constituting the secondary longitudinal folder, and thereby vbe a second time folded longitudinally upon a line parallel with its first longitudinal fold.
  • the web is led through a cutting and a folding mechanismit might be through acombined cutting and folding mechanismas shown and as has been hereinbefore described, and which, in this figure, is illustrated as consisting of two rotating carriers, 81, the one supplied with afoldin g or creasing blade,44,an d the other with fold-seizing jaws 85 86, the latter a moving jaw, which carriers are provided, at proper points opposite to those occupied by the folding-blade and nipping-jaws, with a cutting mechanism of any ordinary construction.
  • a longitudinal folding apparatus consisting of turners that bear upon one surface of the fabric only, and which are arranged at such relative angles as to guide together the two sections of a fabric drawn over them, all substantially as described.
  • a longitudinal-folding device consisting of three turners that are arranged to bear upon one surface of the passing fabric and guide its two sections together, substantially as described.
  • any other of the well-known rotary S is not limited to any other of the well-known rotary S.
  • a folder consisting of turners disposed at such angles to each other that aweb or sheet passed over them will have its sections lapped together, and thus be folded longitudinally, which said turners have their inner ends blunted or removed, so that the fabric shall not be inj uriously strained thereby atits fold in g-poin t, substantially as described.

Landscapes

  • Folding Of Thin Sheet-Like Materials, Special Discharging Devices, And Others (AREA)

Description

(Model.)'
9 Sheets-Sheet 1.
L. O. GROWELL. Folding Machine.
No. 240.235. Patented April 19; 188i.
a; 6 w w a L N, PETERS, PNOTO LITHOGRAFNER, WASHINGTON D c.
('Model.) 9 Sheets-Sheet 2.
. L. 0. GROWELL.
. Folding Machine.
No. 240,235. Patented April 19,1881.
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('Model.) v 9 Sheets-Sheet 3.
L. 0. GROWELL'.
Polding. Maohine. N0. 240,235. 4 Patented April 19,1881.
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N.FETERS. FHOTO-LJTHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON, D C.
9 Sheets-Sheet 4;
(ModeL) L. G. CROWELL.
, Patented April 19,1881.
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(ModeL) 9 Sheets-Sheet 5'.
' L. 0. OROWELL.
Folding Machine. No. 240,235. Patented April 19,1881.
N.FEIRS, FHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON. DV 0.
9 Sheets-Sheet 6.
(Model) L. O.. GROWELL. I Folding Machine. No. 240,235. Patented April 19,1881.
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(Modem I 9Sheets-Shet 7.
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Folding Machine No. 240,235. Patented April 19,1881.
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(Model.) 9 Sheets-Sheet 9.
' L. 0. OROWELL.
Folding Machine. Patented April 19,1881.
NPETERS, PHOm-LITMDGRAPNER, WASHINGTON D C.
UNtrEn STATES ATENT EEicEQ- LUTHER e. GROWELE, or BROOKLYN, ASSIGNOR TO E. HOE & 00., or NEW YORK, N. Y.
FOLDING-MACHINE.
SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 240,235, dated April 19, 1881.
Application filed May 11, 1880.
To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, LUTHER O. OnowELL, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Folding-lllachines, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying draw ings, forming a part of the same.
In said drawings, Figures 1 to 5 illustrate a machine embodying the invention in one of its forms, of which Fig. 1 is a side elevation Fig. 2, a plan; Fig. 3, an end elevation; Figs. at and 5, views of the turning-surfaces disposed so as to deliver the folded paper vertically at opposite sides of the machine, and Fig. 6 a vertical section of the tumors on'the line a of Fig. 5.
1 Another machine embodying the invention is shown in Figs. 7 to 11, of which Fig. 7 is a side elevation; Fig. 8, a plan view; Fig. 9, an end elevation; and Figs. 10 and 11 views of the turning-surfaces disposed so as to deliver the folded paper in the opposite direction from that shown in Fig. 9. Fig. 11 is a sectional elevation of the turning-surfaces on the line 0 of Fig. 10. Figs. 12, 13, 14, and 15 illustrate one mode of arranging these turning-surfaces with a printing-machine, so as to 0 deliver the printed sheets therefrom and fold the same either longitudinally or both longitudinally and transversely, Fig. 12 being an end elevation, Fig. 13 a side elevation with cutting-cylinders in section, Fig. 14 a rear 5 view, illustrating the lower main tapes only, and Fig. 15 a detail. Fig. 16 is a perspective view of a machine embodying two longitudinal-folders. v
The folding apparatus, constituting the prin- 0 cipal portion of the present improvement, while capable of folding a web or sheets of any material longitudinally, is more especially designed to form a part of the delivery mech anism of that class of printing-machines which 4 5 operate to perfecta web of paper by printing thesame upon its opposite faces while it passes once through-the machine. The chief obstruction to such machines running at the very high speed of which their rotary printing mechanisms are capable formerly existed in the mechanism provided for delivering the product.
(ModeL) This has been provided for by a rotary sheetcollecting mechanism and a rotary sheet-folding mechanism; and while the former is capable of delivering sheets in the flat form at the requisite speed, the latter is only capable of attaining that speed when the first fold in the sheet is formedtransversely to the line of travel of the sheet. In all machines where the first fold madeis longitudinal, or in the direction of the travel of the sheet, and is produced by a foldin g-blade, such sheet is arrested or checked in its onward movement in order that it may be properly so folded, because that operation changes its movement to one at 6 right angles to the direction of travel it has as it enters the folding mechanism. This stopping or partially stopping the travel of the sheet greatly modifies the speed of manipulation and interferes with the accuracy of fold- 7o ing, because the time thus necessarily consumed in delivering the sheet, from one set of active mechanisms to another, each carrying the paper in difi'erent directions, will cause the sheet being folded to be overtaken by the succeeding one, while both are required to be in an exact correlation at the instant the folding operation is performed. In order to accomplish this with accuracy there is imposed a limit of speed upon such a delivery mechanism which is greatly within that at which the printing-machine may be operated.
The present invention relates to the structare of a folding device whereby a length of material passed through it is folded on a line parallel with the direction of its travel, which said folding device, though particularly designed to fold webs or long lengths of mate-- rial,is capable, with some modification, of folding in like manner short pieces of material in 0 the form of sheets.
This improvement consists, primarily, of a folder constituted by stationary turners arranged in such a manner that a web or sheet passing over them will be folded longitudi- 5 nally, or in the direction of its travel, which operation laysone section of the web or sheet upon the other, thus doubling it, andat the same time reducing its dimensions widthwise accordingto the relation the line of folding [CO bears to the center of the web or sheet.
The invention further comprchends certain modifications of the structure of parts and various combinations of the folder with feeding and delivering mechanisms, all of which is too particularly hereinafter set forth to need further preliminary description.
A' machine embodying the folding mechanism in its simplest form willfirst be described. Such a one is illustrated by Figs. 1 to 6. Its folding mechanism consists of three foldingbars or turners, 3, 5, and 7, stationary in the sense of not turning, all of which turners are arranged to meet at a common point at which the line of creasing or folding is determined. The turners 3 and 5 spread at such angles to each other as to afford a surface capable of supporting the web distended widthwise, (see Fig. 2,) the turner 3 preferably standing at an angle of about one hundred and thirty-five degrees with respect to the turner 5. The turner 7, whose upper face is preferably inclined at an angle of about ninety degrees to that ofthe turner 5, has its inner face located nearly in the same vertical plane with that of the turner 3, so that the sections of the web or sheet folded toward each other and moving respectively over the turners 3 and 7 are brought nearly together.
The turners 3, 5, and 7 may be straight or conical bars, or simple wires or edges provided by any rigid material, directed toward a common point, 6, which is the creasing or fold-determining point. One mode of making them is to bend a plate of metal into the form illustrated by the drawings, which plate will provide not only aconvenient means for rigidly securing the turners in proper relation to each other, but provide sheet-supporting plates extending from one turner to the other, and afford a secure means for attachment to the frame-work, such means, as shown, being a bar, 30, to which the lower edge of the front plate, 11, and that of the plate 13 are united, which bar is attached to the side frames, 32 33. When made from a plate of sheet metal a smooth supporting-surface is provided for the web in its entire travel through the folder. Thus the front plate, 11, sustains it throughout its entire width as it is carried onto the folder. The back plate, 12, supports one section of it in its passage from the turner 5 to the turner 7, and the inner plates, 13 and 14, support its two sections as they pass downward in their doubled condition. Thus, in all positions which it assumes in being doubled by this folder, the web is kept smoothly distended without being unduly strained at any point, as will presently be more fully understood.
For convenience of illustration the web Sis shown inthe figures as coming from a roll, 31, mounted upon a roller, 34, that is provided. With a tension-strap, 35, that runs over a pulley, 36, Figs. 2, 3. This web passes under a leading-roller,'20, thence through the folder, and is taken up in its folded condition after passing under a leading-roller, 21, upon a roller, 22, that is provided with a rotating crank, 23. From the roller 20 the web 8, fully distended widthwise, is laid over the turners 35, so that one section of it shall be stretched over the turner 3 and the other over the turner 5, its center or other predetermined place of folding lying over the folding-point 6. The sec tion laid over the turner 3 is carried down ward therefrom while the other section is laid over the turner 5, then laterally to and over the turner 7, from which it is carried downward. In thus disposing the web over these turners the single ply stretched widthwise from the turners 3 and 5 has one section, or that part lying at one side of the folding-point 6, carried upward over said turner 3, and thence downward, while the other section, lying on the opposite side of the folding-point 6, is carried upward over the turner 5, is then turned at a right angle, carried transversely to and over the turner 7, and again turned at a right angle as it is carried downward from such turner 7. The latter section of such single web 8 is thus turned at the point 6 and carried over the other section, so that the single web is doubled 1ongitudinally and its two parts or sections lie in parallel planes and constitute a doubled web, .9, the folded point of union 10 being the central or other line which passed over the folding-point 6. As the web thus entered into the folder is drawn through the same by means of its doubled portion 9, that is led under the roller 21 and attached to the rotating roller 22, it is apparent that it will be doubled on the line 10, so as to lay its sections together and form a product folded once in a longitudinal direction.
By the action of the folder, constructed as described, the right-hand section of the web will be transferred laterally to the left; but by disposing the turners 3, 5, and 7 as is shown in Fig. 5 the left-hand section of the web may be transferred laterally to the right. In both cases the resulting doubled web 9 will have the common plane of its two parts lying parallel with that in which the single web is stretched. The web is thus doubled longitudina-lly upon a line in such relation to the edges of the web as may be determined by the lateral disposition of the web with respect to the point 6, and the sections of the web will thus be lapped so that its upper face will form the inner surfaces of the folded product.
Essential differences exist between this sys-' tem or method of folding and that commonly practiced, where the line or lines of folding are determined by surfaces over which the fabric is turned, as follows:
Heretofore in turning a web or sheets of f as l I I faces over which the web or sheets are carried are all disposed on one side of the fabric, and are so related to each other that the sections to he lapped together are gradually turned and caused to travel in such different planes as to ultimately come together or be lapped without the aid of any device acting upon the opposite side of the fabric. Such a structure, besides simplifying the mechanisms, enables one surface of the fabric to be coated with paste, printed, or otherwise ornamented, and whether such coating or ornamentation be freshly applied or dry the fabric may undergo the folding operation without damage or injury thereto.
It has furthermore been the practice to define the line of fold by means of a folding-edge in contact with the fabric at the line of intended fold, whereby such fabric is strained, distorted, or broken on the line of folding by such folding-edge.
In these improvements 'the turners are so disposed with respect to each other that they do not extend to the point where the fabric is folded, said folders, on the contrary, being blunted, cut away, or set apart, so as to leave the fabric without any bearing-surface at that point. The fabric, though given the proper direction by the support afforded by the turners, nevertheless remains free or unsupported at the folding-point, and may hence bend or double at that point without being strained by any rigid supporting-surface or opposing force on either side of it.
Moreover, it will be observedthat in all positions which the web is made to assume in being folded by the present improvements it is fully distended widthwise, and therefore has no slack portion, which would permit it to buckle up or to be otherwise distorted from its true course. This feature of the in- ,Vention will be found to exist in the improvements made the subject-matter of separate applications filed respectively on the 6th, 12th, 22d, and 27th days of May, 1880, and June 29,1880. This operation may be carried on at a very high speed, one equaling that of a printing or other machine manipulating a web by means of rotating devices; and if the dimensions of the web are thus reduced one-half it follows that an equal reduction of the dimensions ot' the mechanisms which are to further manipulate it may be accomplished, whether the same are to fold it into a pack of zigzag folds, as in the Patent No. 8,240, granted to Ambrose and Reynolds, July 22, 1851, or are to impart a second longitudinal fold to it, or divide it into sheets and deliver them flat or folded, or to impart a second longitudinal fold, then cut into sheets and impart to them a transverse fold, or to manipulatethe product in any other manner.
. The doubled web may be carried directly to an apparatus for rolling it up or otherwise manipulating it, being for that purpose led over one or more rollers, as 21. If it is desired to framework at one side of the machine.
with their faces change the direction of its travel, as at aright or other angle to that in which the distended web 8 enters the folder, it may be done by turning devices constructed on the principle of those contained in Patent No. 181,250, dated August 22, 1876. Thislatter effect may, however, preferably be accomplished by the folder in the act of imparting the longitudinal fold to the web. Such an arrangement of the apparatus is shown in Figs. 7to 10, in which parts like those found in the preceding figures are marked with the same characters, so that the modification may be readily understood with slight explanation.
The turners 3, 5, and 7 are here so disposed that the distended web 8 has its section that is brought over the turner 3 carried downward over the turner 7, and thence at a right angle outward at one side, and the other section of the web that is brought over the turner 5 is carried at a right angle to its former travel outward, parallel with the first-named section. The said web 8 being folded at the point6 and doubled on the line 10, as before, such doubled web being led over the roller 21 and wound upon a roller, 22, the rollers 21 and 22 in this arrangement being mounted in a suitable By these means the single web from the roller 34 is passed under the roller 20, thence through the folder, and by it not only doubled but delivered at a right angle to the plane at which it entered such folder. By disposing the turners 3 5 7 as in Fig. 10, the doubled web 9 may be deliveredin precisely the opposite direction, as is apparent. Now, from an inspection of Figs. 1 and 5 and Figs. 9 and 10 it will be apparent that the angles of relation of these turners may be varied considerably, and still be within the present invention. Thus the outer end of the turner 7 may be swung toward the position occupied by the turner5 until it stands in a position opposite to that it has as shown in Fig. 4, the turner 3 being swung or adjusted correspondingly downward, and the turner 5 swung or adjusted correspondingly upward, as is shownin Fig. 5, and that the turners may be so moved as to occupy any desired intermediate position. This is equally true of the arrangement shown in Figs. 9 and 10, which show a disposition of the turners that'is the reverse of that illustrated by Figs. 4 and 5. In all its variations the turners forming this folder in any adjustment ofthem stand inv approximately the same plane.
It is to be observed that the point 6 is an imaginary onethat is to say, that, though it is the common point at which the inner ends of the turners would meet it they joined together, such turners have their inner extremities blunted or cut away so that they, shall not someet. In the plate form of the turners the fold of the plate which would constitute this point is cut away. In all cases, therefore, though such imaginary point 6 is actually the point at which the fold 10 is formed, such fold has no bearingsurface directly beneath it upon which the paper rests. This feature of the invention is applicable to turning-surfaces of any number that are arranged so as to cause a web or sheet drawn over them to be folded longitudinally, such as are shown in the aforesaid applications.
In a practical application of this folder it may receive the web 8 from any source, as the cloth-beam of a loom or cloth-finishing machine, and deliver its longitudinally-folded product to any of the many forms of folding mechanisms capacitated to impart additional folds to it. The web may come from a print,- in g-machine of the character herein described, and when folded be delivered by a foldingmachiue which severs it into sheets and folds such sheets transversely, such a one as is shown and described in Patent No. 143,674, dated October 14, 1873, and Patent No. 192,034, dated June 12, 1877. If, however, it is attached to a web-printing machine provided with cutting-cylinders, as 42 43, Figs. 12 and 13, which sever it into sheets, such short detached portions or sheets will require to be conducted through the folder by means of conducting cords or tapes. One system of such taping will now be described as applied to the form of folder shown in Figs. 1 to 6, which description will fully instruct oneskilled in the art as to the modification of taping necessary to be adopted in the modifications ofthe turner herein described.
The lower set of main tapes leading from the cutting-cylinders to the folder consists, as shown, of four endless tapes, 16 16 16 16 which run over pulleys 24 24 24 24 hung on a shaft, 24, mounted just in advance of said cutting-cylinders. The tapes 16 and 16 pass over one section of the front plate, 11, of the folder, thus being stretched from the pulleys 24 24 under pulleys 25 25 that are mounted on a shaft, 25, so as to stand in front of pulleys 27 27 so that their peripheries coincide with the face of the plate 11. From these pulleys said tapes run lightly in contact with the plate 11 over the turner 3, (or pulleys 26 26 hung between the plates 11 13, so that their peripheries coincide with the surface of this turner,) thence down inside of the plate 13 to pulleys 27 27 hung on a shaft, 27, and return to the pulleys 24 21 The tape 16 runs from the pulley 24 under pulley 25 hung on the shaft 25, with its periphery coincident with the surface of plate 11. From thence said tape runs in contact with the plate 11, passing over a pulley, 26 hung in an opening in the plate 11, so that its periphery coincides with the surface of that plate, and returningunder a pulley, 27 on the shaft 27 to the pulley 24 The tape 16 runs from the pulley 24 on the shaft 24, under a pulley, 25, on shaft 25, (the periphery of which pulley stands in an opening in the plate 11 and coincident with its face,) and thence returns over a pulley, 27 on shaft 27 to the pulley 24 The pulleys 27 and 27 are shown in Fig. 6, in which the shaft 25 is broken away to expose them. These tapes 16 16 run in the same plane to the foot of the plate 11, and as far as they extend upward over said plate they all follow its surface.
The upper set of tapes coacting with the lower set consists of endless margin tapes, 17 17 and an endless center cord or tape, 17, which runs over pulleys 37, 37 and 37 hung on a shaft, 37, mounted justin advance of the cutting-cylinders and above the pulleys 24 24 24 24. The margin tape, 17, runs above the tape 16 from the pulley 37, under the pulley 25, over the pulley 26, and returns under a pulley, 38, on a shaft, 50, and over apulley, 39, on a shaft, 39. (This portion of the tape is omitted in Fig. 13, as it runs from pulley 39 to pulley 37 in the same plane as the cord 17 and would thus obscure said cord.) The margin tape, 17*, runs above the tape 16 from the pulley 37, Figs. 12 and 14, under the pulley 25. From this point it leaves the tape 16, (which is returned,) and thence lies upon the plates of the folder, which it follows thus: It bears over the turner 5, extends laterally over the plate 12, bears over the turner 7, and deseending returns over a pulley, 38, on the bar 50, thence over a pulley. 39*, on shaft 39, whence it is carried laterally back to its marginal position by means of deflecting-pulleys 40 and 41, from thelatterof which it descends to its pulley 37 The tape or cord 17 runs from the pulley 37 on shaft 37, under a pulley, 25 on shaft 25, thence against the plate 11, over the turning-surface 3, near the foldingpoint 6, descends between the plates 13 14, and returns over a pulley, 38 runningon the bar50, (see Fig. 15,) and a pulley,39 ,on shaft 39, thence over a deflecting-1.)uIIey, 39 to its pulley 37 The surface speed ot'these tapes will be slightly greater than that of the cutting-cylinders, so that the forward end of the partially or completely severed web (when nipped between the tapes 16 16 16 16 and tapes 17 17 on the line of contact with pulleys 25 25 25 25 will be advanced fast enough to detach such forward end to form a sheet, which sheet (or one formed by completely severing the web) will be advanced to provide a working distance between successive sheets, as is common in web-printing machines. Each sheet will be supported and carried onto and over the folder by these tapes and will have its sections folded laterally one upon another, so as to double the same on a line parallel with its line of travel, as will be readily understood from the former description, said tapes controlling the sheet until in its once-folded condition it leaves said folder. From the point where the tapes or cords 17 17 17 return such folded sheet is guided onward by means of auxiliary endless tapes 15 15 and 18 18 stretched as follows: The tapes 18 18 run over pulleys 48 48 hung on shafts and so located as to lie in the planes in which the folded plies of the paper lie as they-leave the plates 14 13, thenceover pulleys 44 44 and return over pulleys 44 44 by which said tapes are stretched horizontally to coact with tapes 19 19 that are stretched from pulleys and its companion to pulleys 51' 51 area means of delivering the paper when it is folded transversely. The tapes 15 15 run over pulleys hung on the shaft 27 and returnover pulleys 49 49 The tapes 16 16 might be extended to take the place of the tapes 15 15 and would then return from the pulleys 49 49 to the pulleys 24 24 It is obviousthat the tapes 15 15 and 18 18 might lead directly to a second taped folder composed of turners, or to a fly which would deliver the longitudinally-folded sheets in a flat pile, or to any of the well-known forms of rotating folding mechanism. This taped folderis shown in Figs. 12, 13 as combined with a folder like that of the Patent No. 171,196, December 14, 1875. Said folder consists of a double rotating folding-blade, 60, that is supported in a rotating carrier, 61, said folder operating to project one'of the folding-blades into the nip of the pulleys 44 44 and 45 45 at each rotation of its carrier, whereby a sheet caused to descend before said pulleys will be doubled by said folding-blade into the nip of the pulleys, as shown by dotted lines, and will thus be folded transversely on any predetermined line, and, thus folded, will be delivered by the tapes 18 18- and 19 19". The smooth descent of the paper between these pulleys and the folder is aided by guides 62 and 63. Conductors 65 may extend between the tapes 15' 15 and 18 18 to aid the descent.
of the folded sheet.
The transversely-folded sheet may be arrested in its passage between the tapes 18- 18 and 19 19 or the unfolded sheet may be arrested while passing between the tapes 18 18 and 15 15 and be struck by a folding-blade between a pair of folding-rollers which are properly placed with respect to the plane in which the sheet is carried by said tapes.
The space intervening between the surface of the cutting-cylinders and the pulleys 24 24 24 24 and 37, 37 and 37 may be spanned by conductors or conducting-cords 66 66, that run in grooves in said cylinders and over pulleys 67 67 mounted on the shafts 37 and 24.
If the cutting-cylinders 42 43 do not entirely sever the web transversely, but, partially severingit, leave it connected at two or more places, the system of taping may travel at the same speed as the cutting-cylinders, or fast enough to keep it taut, but not sever, thus enabling the connected sheets to rnnat a lesser speed than when controlled by accelerated tapes. In this case the sheets may be separated, after leaving the turners, by means of fast-running nipping-rollers.
A combined cutting and folding mechanism such as is described in Patent No. 143,674, dated October 14, 1S73- -one that embodies a other proportion of such width, and whether severed transversely or not, may be carried into the folder on top or beneath the main web, and thus be incorporatedwith it, said severed or unseveredsupplement web being delivered with the main web to form supplement sheets of different sizes, as required.
It will be understood that the cutting-cylinders 42 43 may be removed and the folder receive sheets from any one of the various kinds of machines adapted to produce or manipulate fabrics.
It is obvious that the web or sheets folded once longitudinally by this improved folder may be converted into a tube suitable for various uses by laying a line of paste upon one of its edges as the fabric passes through the folder. This pasting device may be of any well-known form, and be located at any proper point, as a disk, 100, placed near the base of the plate 11. (See Fig, 1.)
In Fig. 16 I have illustrated the combination, with printing and cutting mechanisms, of two longitudinal-folders of the character herein described. The combination and operation of these folders have been so thoroughly hereinbefore described that no further explanation is required here. Though they are arranged in horizontal planes, their function and action remain the same. I have here shown a web of paper, 8, as being led from its supply-roll 81 between cylinders 70 71, which illustrate the type and impression cylinders of a printing-machine. This web, in passing over the turners 3 5 7 constituting the primary folder, will be doubled or folded longitudinally upon a central line, and in its doubled condition will pass over the turners 3, 5, and 7 constituting the secondary longitudinal folder, and thereby vbe a second time folded longitudinally upon a line parallel with its first longitudinal fold. Thus folded, the web is led through a cutting and a folding mechanismit might be through acombined cutting and folding mechanismas shown and as has been hereinbefore described, and which, in this figure, is illustrated as consisting of two rotating carriers, 81, the one supplied with afoldin g or creasing blade,44,an d the other with fold-seizing jaws 85 86, the latter a moving jaw, which carriers are provided, at proper points opposite to those occupied by the folding-blade and nipping-jaws, with a cutting mechanism of any ordinary construction. In passing through these cylinders the longitudinally-folded web will be folded transversely by means of the blade 44, its doubled bight IIO or fold being entered into the slot provided between the jaws S6, and secured there by the latter jaw closing upon it. As the cylinders revolve the folding-blade 44 will be withdrawn and the paper carried onward by the jaws 85 86 until, the proper length having passed between the carriers 80 81, the web will be severed by the cutting mechanism, and the detached portion of the sheet thus formed will have its forward and rearward portions laid together to complete the fold, and the folded sheet will be piled beneath the carrier 81 by reason of the releasement of its forward-folded edge by the opening of the jaws 86, said operation being performed substantially in the same manner as is described in said Patent No. 143,674.
folding-machines and cutting mechanisms may be employed.
While I have shown two longitudinal-folders combined with each other, it is obvious that any other number may be thus arranged.
The following is alone claimed herein 1. A longitudinal folding apparatus consisting of turners that bear upon one surface of the fabric only, and which are arranged at such relative angles as to guide together the two sections of a fabric drawn over them, all substantially as described.
2. A longitudinal-folding device consisting of three turners that are arranged to bear upon one surface of the passing fabric and guide its two sections together, substantially as described.
3. The combination, with the turners 3, 5, and 7, of plates 11, 12, 13, or 14:, connecting them together and forming supporting-surfaces for the web or sheet, substantially as described.
4. The combination, with turners arranged to bear upon one surface of the passing fabric and guide its two sections together, of a leading-roller, as 20, substantially as described.
5. The combination, with turners arranged to bear upon one surface of the passing fabric and guide its two sections together, of a leadin g-roller, as 21, substantially as described.
6. The combination, with turners arranged to bear upon one surface of the passing fabric and guide its two sections together, of leadin rollers, as 20 an d 21, substantially as described.
7. The combination, with one or more longitudinal-folders, consisting of turners that are arranged to bear upon one surface of a web passed over them and fold the same longitudinally by guiding its two sections together, of a cutting mechanism severing said web into sheets, all substantially as described.
But, as has been hereinbefore re-- marked, any other of the well-known rotary S. The combination, with one or more longitudinal-folders, each consisting of turners that are arranged to bear upon one surface of a web passed over them and fold the same longitudinally by guiding its two side sections together, of a folding mechanism operating to impart transverse folds to the same, all substantially as described.
9. The combination, with one or more longitudinal-folders, each consisting of turners that are arranged to bear upon one surface of a web passed over them and fold the same longitudinally by guiding its two side sections to gether, of a cutting mechanism severing the web into sheets and a folding mechanism operating to impart transverse folds to the same, all substantially as described.
10. The combination, with one or more longitudinal-folders, each consisting of turners that are arranged to bear upon one surface of a web passed over them and fold the same longitudinally by guiding its two side sections together, of a printing mechanism, all substantially as described.
11. The combination, with one or more folders constituted by turners that are arranged to bear upon one surface of a fabric passed over them and fold the same longitudinally by guiding its two side sect-ions together, of tapes arranged to carry the fabric through the folder, all substantially as described.
12. A folder consisting of turners disposed at such angles to each other that aweb or sheet passed over them will have its sections lapped together, and thus be folded longitudinally, which said turners have their inner ends blunted or removed, so that the fabric shall not be inj uriously strained thereby atits fold in g-poin t, substantially as described.
13. The combination, with turners that are arranged to bear upon one surface of a web or sheet passed over them and fold the same longitudinally by guiding the side sections thereof together, of a pasting device, all substantially as described. I
14. The combination of a series of two or more longitudinal -folders, each consisting of turners that bear upon one surface of the fabric, and which are arranged at such angles as to guide its two surfaces together, all substantially as described.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.
LUTHER O. (JROWELL.
Witnesses:
H. T. MUNsoN, T. H. PALMER.
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US4279410A (en) * 1978-10-24 1981-07-21 Koenig & Bauer Aktiengesellschaft Folder for a web-fed rotary printing press

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* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4279410A (en) * 1978-10-24 1981-07-21 Koenig & Bauer Aktiengesellschaft Folder for a web-fed rotary printing press

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