EP0592716A1 - Automatic folding machine - Google Patents
Automatic folding machine Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- EP0592716A1 EP0592716A1 EP92117653A EP92117653A EP0592716A1 EP 0592716 A1 EP0592716 A1 EP 0592716A1 EP 92117653 A EP92117653 A EP 92117653A EP 92117653 A EP92117653 A EP 92117653A EP 0592716 A1 EP0592716 A1 EP 0592716A1
- Authority
- EP
- European Patent Office
- Prior art keywords
- paper
- folding machine
- folded
- guiding plate
- plate
- 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.)
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Classifications
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- 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
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- 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
- B65H45/147—Pocket-type folders folding rollers therefor
Definitions
- This invention relates to a personal desktop paper-folding machine. More particularly, the present invention relates to a compact-sized desktop paper-folding machine which contains a feeding unit for receiving paper sheets to be folded, and a folding unit for automatically folding the paper sheets into neatly folded letter stacks ready for mailing.
- Model BFM 212 manufactured by Mathias Bauerle GmbH in Germany; it weighs about 5.5kg, and has a dimension of 32cm x 26cm x 12cm.
- the next smallest size paper-folding machine is Model Superfax PF-70a made by Fuji in Japan; it weighs about 10.5kg and has a dimension of 35.5cm x 16cm x 29cm in dimensions.
- These machines while are much smaller than the conventional units, they are, however, still considered too bulky for office use. Office managers still have to make a tough decision regarding whether to buy a paper-folding machine to save man-power, or not to buy a paper-folding machine to save office space.
- the primary object of the present invention is to provide an automatic paper feeding-and-folding machine that is very compact in size and light in weight; it has a physical dimension similar to that of a telephone set and can be conveniently placed on the desktop in any office.
- the automatic paper feeding-and-folding machine disclosed in this invention is further provided with an external knob to allow it to be adjusted to varying sizes of input papers to be folded, including, for example, the A4-size or letter-sized papers.
- the input papers which can be in either A4 or letter size, are folded into and collected as a stack of three-plies before they are placed into envelops to be mailed out.
- the paper feeding-and-folding machine disclosed in the present invention can reduce the manpower cost, save office space, and prevent on-the-job injuries.
- the primary feature of the present invention is characterized by a novel zigzag and heave-from-the-middle path that the fed paper travels inside the paper-folding machine.
- a sheet of paper is fed from a paper-feeding unit into a relatively vertical first paper-guiding plate in the paper-folding unit.
- the paper After the paper reaches at or near the bottom of the first paper-guiding plate, it turns on a micro-switch which actuates a plurality of rollers.
- These rollers cooperatively heave the paper, at about one third of the length from the top of the sheet, from the first paper-guiding plate and press it between the rollers to make the first fold.
- the folded portion of the paper is then pulled, also by the cooperative action of the rollers, into a second paper-guiding plate.
- the paper After the leading edge of the folded portion of the paper reaches at or near the far end of the second paperguiding plate, the paper is again heaved up, at about one third of the paper length from the unfolded end, by the pulling action of another set of rollers and is pressed between two of these rollers to form the second fold.
- the fed paper sheet after having been folded twice to form a twice-folded paper ply (or a three-ply paper stack), is then rolled out of the paper-folding machine with the guide of a paper-guiding roller and an accurate paper-guiding p;ate. Finally the folded sheet exits the paper folding machine and falls into a receiving rack placed in front of the paper folding machine.
- Another feature of the present invention is that the length of the paper-guiding plate in the paper folding machine can be conveniently adjusted from an external knob.
- the user simply has to move an adjusting knob to a desired position, in accordance with the size of the paper to be folded, and the machine will take care of the rest of the steps.
- the primary feature of this invention is that it combines compactness, light-weight, ease of operation, and flexibility in a personal desktop machine that will reduce the manpower required in order to fold office letters before mailing and prevent potential office injuries.
- FIG. 1 shows a paper-feeding unit 60 mounted on the top of a paper-folding unit 10 as disclosed in the present invention.
- a power cable 16 is provided to connect the paper-feeding unit 60 to the paper-folding unit 10 and receive power therefrom via a pair of power sockets, not shown.
- Two positioning pegs 61 at the bottom of the paper-feeding unit 60 are adapted to be plugged into two corresponding positioning holes 15 on the top of the paper-folding unit 10 so as to lock the two units together into an integral unit.
- FIG. 5 illustrates a length adjusting assembly of the paper-folding unit.
- the length adjusting assembly includes a supporting shaft 51, a paper-holding plate 52 and a spring 53.
- the supporting shaft 51 extends through both sides of the paper-folding unit and is retained in place with two E-shaped retaining rings 54 and 54a, respectively.
- the paper-holding plate 52 has a tongue-shaped plate 55, the right side of which has a semi-circular flange 56 to be fitted in one of the two positioning holes 29a and 29b in a side flange 29 on the paper-guiding plate 28.
- the adjusting rod 50 of the tongue-shaped plate 55 mounted in the center of the paper-holding plate 52 can be moved slightly leftward thereby allowing the compressing spring 53 to urge the semi-circular flange 56 of the tongue-shaped plate 55 to be disengaged from the positioning hole 29a and engaged with another positioning hole 29b, or vice versa.
- the internal working of the paper-folding process of a preferred embodiment of this invention is illustrated as follows. Before folding a sheet of paper, the length of the sheet of paper sheet must first be determined . The adjusting rod 50 as shown in FIG. 1 is then moved to a desired position, for example an A4 or letter-sized position. Then the switch handle 62 of the paper-feeding unit 60 is set at "OFF" position (as shown in FIG. 2). THis turns off the first micro-switch 64 connected to a motor 63 and, pushes the shaft 65 back, causes the two rubber rollers 67 to be separated from two paper-guiding plates 68 fixed on shaft 65.
- the two rubber rollers 67 was pushed toward the two paper-guiding plate 68 by the compression spring 66 when the switch handle 62 was set at "ON" position shaft 65. Then, a given number of sheets of paper are placed in the space between the paper-guiding plate 68 and the rubber rollers 67. After the sheets of paper are placed into the feeding unit, the switch handle 62 is then set to the "ON" position (as shown in FIG. 3). This turns the micro-switch 64 start motor 63 as shown in FIG. 1. The motor 63 will drive a gear 69 to rotate which in turn causes two rubber rollers 67 on a shaft 70 to rotate. The rubber rollers 67 will feed one sheet of paper 20, by means of friction, into the paper inlet 11 in the paper-folding unit 10.
- FIG. 10 The steps by which the paper-folding machine makes its first fold are illustrated in FIG.10.
- FIG. 10 it is shown that the paper sheet 20 is being pulled and squeezed by the small roller 24, toward the robber roller 26 and the aluminum alloy roller 25.
- the sheet 20 will move in the direction as shown by the arrow 20a because of the frictional force exerted by the rubber roller 26 and the smaller roller 24 on the sheet of paper 20.
- the portion of the sheet between the lower edge of the first paper-guiding plate 21 and the lower edge of the rubber roller 26 will be folded to form the first fold, when it passes through the tight space between rollers 26 and 25.
- the sheet 20 will change its moving direction as a result of the obstruction of the upper edge 28a of the second paper-guiding plate 28, i.e., it will enter the second paper-guiding plate 28 as indicated by arrow 20b, until the front edge of the folded portion of the sheet is stopped by the paper-holding plate 52 which is fixedly attached to a shaft 51.
- Plate 52 is allow to pivot about shaft 51 as indicated by arrow 50a (as shown in FIG. 7).
- FIG. 11 The steps by which the paper-folding machine makes its second fold are illustrated in FIG. 11.
- the portion of the sheet 20 between the rollers 26 and 27 will be pulled in a direction as indicated by arrow 30a, and be pressed through the tight space therebetween to form the second fold.
- the sheet continues moving in the direction shown by the arrow 20c.
- the sheet 20 will move in the direction shown by arrow 20d, and will be pulled out of the paper-folding unit via the paper outlet 12 as shown in FIG. 1, as a result of the rotation of the paper-guiding roller 30 and the guide of arcuate paper-guiding plate 39.
- the folded paper plied will fall into a receiving rack 14.
- the cam gear 42 has been designed to have a predetermined number of teeth by which the cam gear 42 will take a longer time to complete a rotation cycle than the time required for the paper-folding machine to fold one sheet of paper. With this design, the cam gear 42 will not have completed one rotation cycle when the sheet of paper 20 is being pulled out of the paper outlet 12, as shown in FIG. 1.
- the apex 42a of the cam gear will again push the rocking arms 45 and 46 to their respective original positions.
- the three micro-switches 48, 48a and 49 behind the rocking arms 45 and 46 will be turned either on or off, depending on their respective functions.
- the second micro-switch 48 is turned off, the paper-folding unit 10 and the motor 31 will be stopped.
- the fourth micro-switch 49 is used to control the counter 13 to register the completion of folding one sheet of paper.
- the third micro-switch 48a When the third micro-switch 48a is turned on, it actuates the paper-feeding unit 63 and the motor 63 to begin feeding a new sheet into the paper-folding unit 10 and start the folding cycle.
- An automatic paper-and-folding machine which is compact in size and can be conveniently adjusted to accept paper sheets of varying sizes, such as A4 or letter sized papers, and fold them into paper plies before they can be placed into envelops for mailing.
- the sheet of paper to be folded is first fed from the paper-feeding unit into a first paper-guiding plate in the paper-folding unit to make a first fold through the cooperative action of a first set of rollers.
- the once-folded paper sheet is moved into a second paper-guiding plate to make a second fold through the cooperative action of a second set of rollers.
- the twice-folded paper sheet is guided out of the paper-folding machine with the aid of a paper-guiding roller and an accurate paper-guiding plate, and finally the folded sheet is collected in a receiving rack mounted in front of the paper-folding unit.
Abstract
An automatic paper-and-folding machine, which is compact in size and can be conveniently adjusted to accept paper sheets of varying sizes, such as A4 or letter sized papers, and fold them into paper plies before they can be placed into envelops for mailing. The sheet of paper to be folded is first fed from the paper-feeding unit into a first paper-guiding plate (21) in the paper-folding unit to make a first fold through the cooperative action of a first set of rollers (25,26). Then, the once-folded paper sheet is moved into a second paper-guiding plate (28) to make a second fold through the cooperative action of a second set of rollers (26,27). Thereafter the twice-folded paper sheet is guided out of the paper-folding machine with the aid of a paper-guiding roller (30) and an accurate paper-guiding plate (39), and finally the folded sheet is collected in a receiving rack mounted in front of the paper-folding unit.
Description
- This invention relates to a personal desktop paper-folding machine. More particularly, the present invention relates to a compact-sized desktop paper-folding machine which contains a feeding unit for receiving paper sheets to be folded, and a folding unit for automatically folding the paper sheets into neatly folded letter stacks ready for mailing.
- In order to keep in touch with customers and to disseminate information thereto, modern corporations frequently have to send out hundreds of letters which are printed using office copy machines or personal computer printers. With the recent proliferation of high speed laser printers, the amount of letters that are being sent out has increased very significantly. Folding of such large amounts of letters into a neat form before mailing is a monotonous and time-consuming job. It is a very wasteful use of office manpower, and can often cause cutting and/or grazing damages to office workers.
- Currently, there are commercially available many types of automatic paper-folding machines for folding newspapers and advertising flyers. Some of these paper-folding machines can fold tens of thousands of sheets per hour. Most of there machines are very large in size and are mainly designed for use by commercial printing shops; they are very poorly suited for office use. More recently desktop paper-folding machines, which are relatively smaller in size compared to the commercial folding machines and are designed primarily for office use, have been developed, most notably by German and Japanese manufacturers.
- The smallest of these desktop folding machines is Model BFM 212 manufactured by Mathias Bauerle GmbH in Germany; it weighs about 5.5kg, and has a dimension of 32cm x 26cm x 12cm. The next smallest size paper-folding machine is Model Superfax PF-70a made by Fuji in Japan; it weighs about 10.5kg and has a dimension of 35.5cm x 16cm x 29cm in dimensions. These machines, while are much smaller than the conventional units, they are, however, still considered too bulky for office use. Office managers still have to make a tough decision regarding whether to buy a paper-folding machine to save man-power, or not to buy a paper-folding machine to save office space.
- The primary object of the present invention is to provide an automatic paper feeding-and-folding machine that is very compact in size and light in weight; it has a physical dimension similar to that of a telephone set and can be conveniently placed on the desktop in any office. The automatic paper feeding-and-folding machine disclosed in this invention is further provided with an external knob to allow it to be adjusted to varying sizes of input papers to be folded, including, for example, the A4-size or letter-sized papers. In a preferred embodiment of this invention, the input papers, which can be in either A4 or letter size, are folded into and collected as a stack of three-plies before they are placed into envelops to be mailed out. The paper feeding-and-folding machine disclosed in the present invention can reduce the manpower cost, save office space, and prevent on-the-job injuries.
- The primary feature of the present invention is characterized by a novel zigzag and heave-from-the-middle path that the fed paper travels inside the paper-folding machine. During the first step in a preferred embodiment of the paper folding machine, a sheet of paper is fed from a paper-feeding unit into a relatively vertical first paper-guiding plate in the paper-folding unit. After the paper reaches at or near the bottom of the first paper-guiding plate, it turns on a micro-switch which actuates a plurality of rollers. These rollers cooperatively heave the paper, at about one third of the length from the top of the sheet, from the first paper-guiding plate and press it between the rollers to make the first fold. The folded portion of the paper is then pulled, also by the cooperative action of the rollers, into a second paper-guiding plate.
- After the leading edge of the folded portion of the paper reaches at or near the far end of the second paperguiding plate, the paper is again heaved up, at about one third of the paper length from the unfolded end, by the pulling action of another set of rollers and is pressed between two of these rollers to form the second fold. The fed paper sheet, after having been folded twice to form a twice-folded paper ply (or a three-ply paper stack), is then rolled out of the paper-folding machine with the guide of a paper-guiding roller and an accurate paper-guiding p;ate. Finally the folded sheet exits the paper folding machine and falls into a receiving rack placed in front of the paper folding machine.
- Another feature of the present invention is that the length of the paper-guiding plate in the paper folding machine can be conveniently adjusted from an external knob. In the preferred embodiment as disclosed in this invention, the user simply has to move an adjusting knob to a desired position, in accordance with the size of the paper to be folded, and the machine will take care of the rest of the steps.
- Therefore, the primary feature of this invention is that it combines compactness, light-weight, ease of operation, and flexibility in a personal desktop machine that will reduce the manpower required in order to fold office letters before mailing and prevent potential office injuries. An embodiment of this invention is described by way of example with reference to the drawings, in which:
- FIG. 1 is a perspective and fragmental view of a preferred embodiment of the automatic paper feeding-and-folding machine disclosed in the present invention.
- FIG. 2 is a first sectional view taken along line A-A in FIG. 1 when the switch handle is in OFF position.
- FIG. 3 is a second sectional view taken along line A-A in FIG. 1 when the switch handle is in ON position.
- FIG. 4 is a perspective and inner view of the paper-folding unit as viewed from the right front side thereof.
- FIG. 5 illustrates a length-adjusting assembly of paper-folding machine of the present invention.
- FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line B-B in FIG. 5.
- FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line C-C in FIG. 1.
- FIG. 8 illustrates a front view of the inner structure of the right side of the paper-folding machine according to the present invention.
- FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the rear-lift side of the paper-folding machine according to the present invention.
- FIG. 10 illustrates the cooperative actions of the rollers when the paper-folding machine of the present is making the first fold of the paper.
- FIG. 11 illustrates the cooperative actions of the rollers when the paper-folding machine of present invention is making the second fold of the paper.
- Referring now to FIG. 1, which shows a paper-
feeding unit 60 mounted on the top of a paper-folding unit 10 as disclosed in the present invention. Apower cable 16 is provided to connect the paper-feeding unit 60 to the paper-folding unit 10 and receive power therefrom via a pair of power sockets, not shown. Two positioning pegs 61 at the bottom of the paper-feeding unit 60 are adapted to be plugged into twocorresponding positioning holes 15 on the top of the paper-folding unit 10 so as to lock the two units together into an integral unit. - FIG. 5 illustrates a length adjusting assembly of the paper-folding unit. The length adjusting assembly includes a supporting
shaft 51, a paper-holding plate 52 and aspring 53. The supportingshaft 51 extends through both sides of the paper-folding unit and is retained in place with twoE-shaped retaining rings 54 and 54a, respectively. The paper-holding plate 52 has a tongue-shaped plate 55, the right side of which has asemi-circular flange 56 to be fitted in one of the twopositioning holes side flange 29 on the paper-guidingplate 28. In actual applications, the adjustingrod 50 of the tongue-shaped plate 55 mounted in the center of the paper-holding plate 52 can be moved slightly leftward thereby allowing the compressingspring 53 to urge thesemi-circular flange 56 of the tongue-shaped plate 55 to be disengaged from thepositioning hole 29a and engaged with anotherpositioning hole 29b, or vice versa. This causes the position of the paper-holding plate 52 to be changed; therefore, the paper-folding machine of the present invention is adjusted to suit the length of the sheet to be folded. - The internal working of the paper-folding process of a preferred embodiment of this invention is illustrated as follows. Before folding a sheet of paper, the length of the sheet of paper sheet must first be determined . The adjusting
rod 50 as shown in FIG. 1 is then moved to a desired position, for example an A4 or letter-sized position. Then theswitch handle 62 of the paper-feeding unit 60 is set at "OFF" position (as shown in FIG. 2). THis turns off thefirst micro-switch 64 connected to amotor 63 and, pushes theshaft 65 back, causes the tworubber rollers 67 to be separated from two paper-guidingplates 68 fixed onshaft 65. The tworubber rollers 67 was pushed toward the two paper-guidingplate 68 by the compression spring 66 when theswitch handle 62 was set at "ON"position shaft 65. Then, a given number of sheets of paper are placed in the space between the paper-guidingplate 68 and therubber rollers 67. After the sheets of paper are placed into the feeding unit, theswitch handle 62 is then set to the "ON" position (as shown in FIG. 3). This turns the micro-switch 64start motor 63 as shown in FIG. 1. Themotor 63 will drive agear 69 to rotate which in turn causes tworubber rollers 67 on ashaft 70 to rotate. Therubber rollers 67 will feed one sheet ofpaper 20, by means of friction, into thepaper inlet 11 in the paper-folding unit 10. After the sheet ofpaper 20 enters thepaper inlet 11 as shown in FIG. 1, thesheet 20 will move downward, as shown in FIG. 7, until the lower end thereof is stopped by alower flange 21a attached to a paper-guidingplate 21. When thesheet 20 is moved downward, apivoting arm 22 fixedly mounted on amicro-switch 23 will be pressed down, as a result of the weight of thesheet 20, causing themicro-switch 23 to be turned on. When this happens,motor 31, as shown in FIG. 4, is started which sets in motion abelt pulley 32 and abelt 33, which then causes abelt pulley 34 to actuate acompound gear 34a. Thecompound gear 34a then drives agear 35 mounted on arubber roller 26. Acompound gear 35a (as shown in FIG. 8) of thegear 35 is coupled togears aluminum alloy rollers big rollers - When the three
big rollers rubber roller 26, as shown in FIG. 7, is also rolling which causesgear 41 mounted thereon to couple with acam gear 42 andgear 43. At the same time,gear shaft 44a fixed on thegear 44 and the tworubber rollers 30 ongear shaft 44a will also rotate as a result of the coupling effect ofgear 43. When thecam gear 42 begins rotating, its apex 42a will change position, i.e., it will no longer push against a roller 45a mounted on rockingarm 45. This causes the two rockingarms shaft 38 by means of aspring 47. As a result of such pivoting action, thesmall roller 24 and thesheet paper 20 are pushed toward therubber roller 26 in the direction as indicated byarrow 47a. At the same time, the third micro-switch 48a fixedly mounted behind the rockingarm 45 and connected to amotor 63 of the paper-feedingunit 60 will turn off themotor 63 because it is no longer being pressed by the rockingarm 45. This stops the paper feeding operation. - The steps by which the paper-folding machine makes its first fold are illustrated in FIG.10. In FIG. 10, it is shown that the
paper sheet 20 is being pulled and squeezed by thesmall roller 24, toward therobber roller 26 and thealuminum alloy roller 25. When therubber roller 26 and thealuminum alloy roller 25 are rolling, thesheet 20 will move in the direction as shown by thearrow 20a because of the frictional force exerted by therubber roller 26 and thesmaller roller 24 on the sheet ofpaper 20. The portion of the sheet between the lower edge of the first paper-guidingplate 21 and the lower edge of therubber roller 26 will be folded to form the first fold, when it passes through the tight space betweenrollers sheet 20 will change its moving direction as a result of the obstruction of theupper edge 28a of the second paper-guidingplate 28, i.e., it will enter the second paper-guidingplate 28 as indicated byarrow 20b, until the front edge of the folded portion of the sheet is stopped by the paper-holdingplate 52 which is fixedly attached to ashaft 51.Plate 52 is allow to pivot aboutshaft 51 as indicated byarrow 50a (as shown in FIG. 7). - The steps by which the paper-folding machine makes its second fold are illustrated in FIG. 11. In FIG. 11, since the front edge of the sheet is stopped while the rubber roller and the
aluminum alloy roller 27 are still rolling, the portion of thesheet 20 between therollers arrow 20c. Finally it will be brought in contact with a rubber paper-guidingroller 30. Thereafter, thesheet 20 will move in the direction shown byarrow 20d, and will be pulled out of the paper-folding unit via thepaper outlet 12 as shown in FIG. 1, as a result of the rotation of the paper-guidingroller 30 and the guide of arcuate paper-guidingplate 39. Finally the folded paper plied will fall into a receivingrack 14. - The
cam gear 42 has been designed to have a predetermined number of teeth by which thecam gear 42 will take a longer time to complete a rotation cycle than the time required for the paper-folding machine to fold one sheet of paper. With this design, thecam gear 42 will not have completed one rotation cycle when the sheet ofpaper 20 is being pulled out of thepaper outlet 12, as shown in FIG. 1. When the cam gear completes its rotation cycle, the apex 42a of the cam gear will again push the rockingarms micro-switches 48, 48a and 49 behind the rockingarms unit 10 and themotor 31 will be stopped. Thefourth micro-switch 49 is used to control thecounter 13 to register the completion of folding one sheet of paper. When the third micro-switch 48a is turned on, it actuates the paper-feedingunit 63 and themotor 63 to begin feeding a new sheet into the paper-foldingunit 10 and start the folding cycle. - Although the best mode contemplated for carrying out the present invention has been herein shown and described, it will be apparent that modification and variation may be made without departing from what is regarded as the subject matter of the invention.
- An automatic paper-and-folding machine, which is compact in size and can be conveniently adjusted to accept paper sheets of varying sizes, such as A4 or letter sized papers, and fold them into paper plies before they can be placed into envelops for mailing. The sheet of paper to be folded is first fed from the paper-feeding unit into a first paper-guiding plate in the paper-folding unit to make a first fold through the cooperative action of a first set of rollers. Then, the once-folded paper sheet is moved into a second paper-guiding plate to make a second fold through the cooperative action of a second set of rollers. Thereafter the twice-folded paper sheet is guided out of the paper-folding machine with the aid of a paper-guiding roller and an accurate paper-guiding plate, and finally the folded sheet is collected in a receiving rack mounted in front of the paper-folding unit.
Claims (8)
- An automatic paper-folding machine comprising:(a) a feeding port for receiving paper to be folded;(b) a first paper-guiding plate and paper feeding means for moving said paper from said feeding port into said first paper-guiding plate, said first paper-guiding plate having a bottom flange for stopping the movement of said paper therein;(c) first set of rollers for making a first fold of said paper and moving the folded portion of said paper into a second paper-guiding plate, said second paper-guiding plate having a stop plate for stopping the movement of the once-folded paper; and(d) second set of rollers for making a second fold of said paper and moving the twice-folded paper from said second paper-guiding plate after said paper is stopped by said stop plate in said second paper-guiding plate.
- The automatic paper-folding machine of claim 1 which further comprises a paper-guiding roller and an arcuate third paper-guiding plate for guiding said paper after being folded out of said paper folding machine and into a receiving rack in front of said paper-folding machine.
- The automatic paper-folding machine of claim 1 which further comprises a cam gear and a plurality of micro-switches, said micro-switches being adapted to turn on and off by the rotation of said cam gear, and said cam gear being so designed that the amount time it requires to make a full rotation is longer than the amount of time required by said machines to fold one sheet of paper.
- The automatic paper-folding machine of claim 1 further comprises a length adjusting assembly for adjusting said paper-folding machine to accept varying sizes of papers to be folded.
- The automatic paper-folding machine of claim 4 wherein said length adjusting assembly comprising:(a) a paper holding plate having an elongated bottom member and two short vertical members each being disposed at one end of said bottom member, and each of said vertical members having a round first hole therethrough;(b) a supporting shaft which is mounted through both of said first round holes in said vertical members of said paper holding plate and is retained by two second round holes on said paper-folding machine;(c) a first side flange fixedly mounted on said second paper-guiding plate, said first side flange having at least two positioning holes; and(d) a tongue-shaped plate mounted at the center of said paper-holding plate, said tongue-shaped plate having a second side flange engageable with any one of said plurality of positioning holes in said first side flange, whereby pivoting of said tongue-shaped plate about said supporting shaft moves said paper holding plate up or down and allows said second side flange to be engaged with any one of said plurality of positioning holes in said first side flange in accordance with the size of the paper sheet to be folded.
- The automatic paper-folding machine of claim 5 wherein said supporting shaft is retained into said second round holes with a pair of compressing springs and E-shaped retaining rings.
- The automatic paper-folding machine of claim 1 further which comprises a pivoting arm disposed near the bottom end of said first paper-guiding plate, a micro-switch, and a motor, whereby when said pivoting arm is pressed by the weight of a sheet of paper, said pivoting arm turns on said micro-switch to actuate said motor, said motor then sets said first set of rollers into motion.
- THe automatic paper-folding machine of claim 1 wherein said first set of rollers comprises a small movable roller adapted to push said paper toward the rest of the first set of rollers thereby causing said paper to heave and thereby said first fold.
Priority Applications (3)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
EP92117653A EP0592716A1 (en) | 1992-10-15 | 1992-10-15 | Automatic folding machine |
GB9221716A GB2271555A (en) | 1992-10-15 | 1992-10-15 | Paper folding apparatus. |
FR9213558A FR2697823B3 (en) | 1992-10-15 | 1992-11-10 | Automatic paper folding machine, especially for office use. |
Applications Claiming Priority (3)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
EP92117653A EP0592716A1 (en) | 1992-10-15 | 1992-10-15 | Automatic folding machine |
GB9221716A GB2271555A (en) | 1992-10-15 | 1992-10-15 | Paper folding apparatus. |
FR9213558A FR2697823B3 (en) | 1992-10-15 | 1992-11-10 | Automatic paper folding machine, especially for office use. |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
EP0592716A1 true EP0592716A1 (en) | 1994-04-20 |
Family
ID=27234544
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
EP92117653A Withdrawn EP0592716A1 (en) | 1992-10-15 | 1992-10-15 | Automatic folding machine |
Country Status (3)
Country | Link |
---|---|
EP (1) | EP0592716A1 (en) |
FR (1) | FR2697823B3 (en) |
GB (1) | GB2271555A (en) |
Cited By (1)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
CN105730792A (en) * | 2016-03-31 | 2016-07-06 | 句容东发生活用品有限公司 | Folding device for tissue paper folding machine |
Citations (6)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
GB248383A (en) * | 1925-03-02 | 1926-07-15 | Georg Spiess | Improvements in sheet-folding machines |
FR1097037A (en) * | 1954-03-02 | 1955-06-28 | Kingsbury Components Ltd | Improvements to paper sheet folding machines, and the like |
GB1066398A (en) * | 1965-05-28 | 1967-04-26 | Timsons Ltd | An improved folder |
FR2584690A1 (en) * | 1985-07-09 | 1987-01-16 | Duplo Seizo Kk | FOLDING DEVICE FOR PAPER SHEETS. |
US5114395A (en) * | 1990-03-23 | 1992-05-19 | Martin Yale Industries, Inc. | Paper sheet folding device |
US5147275A (en) * | 1992-01-06 | 1992-09-15 | Hunt Holdings, Inc. | Automatic paper folder |
Family Cites Families (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US3178171A (en) * | 1960-09-28 | 1965-04-13 | Heyer Inc | Adjusting means for buckle folding machine |
DE3412569A1 (en) * | 1984-04-04 | 1985-10-24 | Mathias Bäuerle GmbH, 7742 ST. Georgen | FOLDING FOLDING MACHINE WITH MANUAL ADJUSTABLE FOLDING POCKETS |
US4619101A (en) * | 1985-12-16 | 1986-10-28 | Pitney Bowes Inc. | Sheet folding inserting machine |
GB2219575B (en) * | 1988-04-08 | 1991-11-20 | Pitney Bowes Plc | Paper handling apparatus. |
-
1992
- 1992-10-15 GB GB9221716A patent/GB2271555A/en not_active Withdrawn
- 1992-10-15 EP EP92117653A patent/EP0592716A1/en not_active Withdrawn
- 1992-11-10 FR FR9213558A patent/FR2697823B3/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
Patent Citations (6)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
GB248383A (en) * | 1925-03-02 | 1926-07-15 | Georg Spiess | Improvements in sheet-folding machines |
FR1097037A (en) * | 1954-03-02 | 1955-06-28 | Kingsbury Components Ltd | Improvements to paper sheet folding machines, and the like |
GB1066398A (en) * | 1965-05-28 | 1967-04-26 | Timsons Ltd | An improved folder |
FR2584690A1 (en) * | 1985-07-09 | 1987-01-16 | Duplo Seizo Kk | FOLDING DEVICE FOR PAPER SHEETS. |
US5114395A (en) * | 1990-03-23 | 1992-05-19 | Martin Yale Industries, Inc. | Paper sheet folding device |
US5147275A (en) * | 1992-01-06 | 1992-09-15 | Hunt Holdings, Inc. | Automatic paper folder |
Cited By (2)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
CN105730792A (en) * | 2016-03-31 | 2016-07-06 | 句容东发生活用品有限公司 | Folding device for tissue paper folding machine |
CN105730792B (en) * | 2016-03-31 | 2018-08-31 | 句容东发生活用品有限公司 | A kind of folding device for paper towel folding machine |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
FR2697823A3 (en) | 1994-05-13 |
FR2697823B3 (en) | 1994-10-07 |
GB9221716D0 (en) | 1992-12-02 |
GB2271555A (en) | 1994-04-20 |
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