EP0645335B1 - A device for guiding the leading edge of a sheet to be folded in a folding machine - Google Patents

A device for guiding the leading edge of a sheet to be folded in a folding machine Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0645335B1
EP0645335B1 EP94110513A EP94110513A EP0645335B1 EP 0645335 B1 EP0645335 B1 EP 0645335B1 EP 94110513 A EP94110513 A EP 94110513A EP 94110513 A EP94110513 A EP 94110513A EP 0645335 B1 EP0645335 B1 EP 0645335B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
sheet
laminae
folding
folded
leading edge
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
Application number
EP94110513A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0645335A1 (en
Inventor
Vittorio Rigoli
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Rigoli Fime SpA
Original Assignee
Rigoli Fime SpA
Priority date (The priority date 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 date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Rigoli Fime SpA filed Critical Rigoli Fime SpA
Publication of EP0645335A1 publication Critical patent/EP0645335A1/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0645335B1 publication Critical patent/EP0645335B1/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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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
    • B65H45/00—Folding thin material
    • B65H45/12—Folding articles or webs with application of pressure to define or form crease lines
    • B65H45/20—Zig-zag folders
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
    • B65H2301/00—Handling processes for sheets or webs
    • B65H2301/30—Orientation, displacement, position of the handled material
    • B65H2301/34—Modifying, selecting, changing direction of displacement
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
    • B65H2401/00—Materials used for the handling apparatus or parts thereof; Properties thereof
    • B65H2401/10—Materials

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a device suitable for guiding in a precise manner in a desired direction, in a paper sheet folding machine, the leading edge of a sheet to be multi-folded, accordion-like, onto itself, during the initial sheet folding phase, and to a folding machine provided with such a device.
  • a folding machine for sheets having a considerable length and width, suitable for folding said sheets many times onto themselves in one or both directions so as to obtain an accordion-like or zigzag folded sheet is described, for instance, in Italian Patent N° 2,083,484 and in the corresponding EP-A-0 171 486 of the applicant.
  • the main problem in folding machines is to provide a means which can assure that the leading edge of the sheet to be multi-folded onto itself, be precisely directed towards the folding unit during the initial phase of forming the first fold.
  • the leading edge is not guided in a precise and reliable manner in the desired direction and along the pre-established path, the subsequent folds, will be faulty, namely they will show dog-eared corners, wrinkles or other defects due to the leading edge of the sheet to be folded having, in the initial phase, possibly hit againts an element of the folding unit or other undesired obstacle.
  • the device for directing in a precise way the leading edge of the sheet consists of a roller RO located in the advancing path of the sheet to be folded. Said roller, rotating in the feed direction of the sheet, cooperates in directing in a precise manner the leading edge of the sheet towards the first folding phase, thereby avoiding right from the start undesirable folds.
  • roller RO Immediately afterwards the roller RO is shifted into its lower position so as not to hamper the subsequent folding phases, while it must return to its original position at the start of the folding of a new sheet.
  • the object of this invention is therefore to solve such problem in a simpler, less expensive, and most of all more reliable manner.
  • the sliding laminae means directs in its operative position in a precise manner the leading edge of the sheet to be folded in the desired direction and in the required position during the initial phase of forming the first fold, without any possibility of undesired deviations and without encountering hindrances that might result in the formation of the dog-eared corners in the sheet leading edge.
  • said laminae means is retracted to a non-operative position, outside the sheet stacking area for the formation of folds, and the folding operation proceeds in the conventional manner, imparting to the sheet, in succession, the different folds as required.
  • This laminae means is made of an appropriately shaped, resiliently flexible material which is endowed with shape memory.
  • the laminae means is moved forwards, parallel to the sheet to be folded, in a continuous manner, from a retracted position in an appropriate stationary slide assembly, which is parallel to the sheet advancing path, until said laminae means reach an area between the folding unit wherein the sheet is to be accumulated in order to form in it bends preliminary to the forming of the folds.
  • the resiliently flexible laminae means has its end protruding from the slide assembly in a curved shape, to said end having moreover been imparted a shape memory in respect of said bending, the curved shape of the laminae means allowing a reliable guide action for the leading edge of the sheet to be folded which is directed towards the first folding station, whereafter the laminae means is moved backwards and sheltered in its slide assembly, while the remaining part of the sheet is subsequently folded repeatedly onto itself, as needs be in a per se known manner.
  • the mass of the laminae means, according to the instant invention, which has to be shifted at the start of each new folding operation, is much less than that of a roller, of its pivot and of its related operating organs according to the prior art.
  • the alternating method of entry and exit of the laminae means, from and into its slide assembly, is mechanically realizable in a relatively simple manner and as a result of the lesser mass of the laminae means, rapid movements of the folding machine can be performed with the necessary promptness.
  • the forward and backward movements of the resiliently flexible laminae means may be carried out by means of various prior art drives and an embodiment of this invention may consist of a T-shaped, fixed geometry rocker lever, the vertical rod of which, corresponding to the T stem, is articulated on a cross arm to which is connected the end of each one of the flexible laminae means, which cross arm is opposite to the resiliently bent operative end of the laminae, the latter acting as a guide element for the leading edge of the sheet to be folded.
  • the opposite end of said vertical rod is pivoted, similarly to a first class lever fulcrum, on the central part of a cross-rod of the rocker lever, one end of said cross-rod of the rocker lever being actuated by a drive system for the advancement of the flexible laminae means, and the other one being biased upon by an antagonistic means moving the laminae means to the retracted position in the slide assembly for the laminae means.
  • a folding machine of the type disclosed in the aforecited patents will first be described in a schematic form, machine which is provided with resiliently flexible laminae means according to the present invention for precisely guiding the advancement, in the desired direction, of the leading edge of the sheet to be folded.
  • the sheet to be folded accordion-like is indicated in Figures 1-3 by the reference numeral 1 while wound over itself like a roll.
  • a first section of said sheet is passed within an advancing path consisting of an upper plate 2 and a lower plate 3.
  • Said sheet is drawn by an upper roller 4 and a lower roller 5, constituting a feeding unit one of which roller being the driving roll, and it proceeds until it exit through the outlet end 2' of said plates 2 and 3.
  • said left tape section 7' has an upward movement, and therefore the tape front edge, as a consequence of the upward movement of continuous tape 7, left section 7', tends to be directed upwards as shown in Figure 1, subsequently being compressed and then held between the first upper folding roller 10 and the left section 7' of the continuous tape 7 of folding unit 7, 10, 11.
  • laminae means 6 ( Figure 4), made from a resiliently flexible material susceptible to be shaped in a permanent way, namely with shape memory, such as for instance harmonic steel or suitable synthetic resins, is mutually connected by means of a cross arm 14.
  • the opposite end of said laminae means 6, indicated by 15, is bent upwards in a permanent way, which is to say with a memory of such bent shape, in the direction towards the upper folding roller 10, passing through an appropriate slide assembly consisting of said lower plate 3 and by a further lower plate 16.
  • the cross arm 14 is articulated on a rocker lever member 17 consisting of a vertical rod 18 and a cross rod 19 which is pivoted at 20.
  • One end of the cross rod 19 of the rocker lever member 17 is connected to a traction element such as for instance an electromagnet 21, while the other end of cross rod 19 of the rocker lever 17 is joined to a return member, such as for instance a spring 22.
  • the electromagnet 21 is energized, so that the rod 18 of the rocker lever 17 swings in clockwise direction, reaching the position indicated in this Figure.
  • the laminae means 6 is caused to move forward to the slide assembly consisting of plates 3 and 16, whereby their end 15, which is resiliently bent, is situated in the space between the folding rollers 10 and 11 and the tape 7, namely in the position in which the sheet leading edge exits from its path between plates 2 and 3 and is directed in a precise manner upwards, before engaging tape 7.
  • the laminae means 6 is caused to be retracted, temporarily straightening out, into the rectilinear slide assembly consisting of plates 3 and 16, due to the de-energization of the electromagnet 21, whereupon spring 22, acting on the other end of cross rod 19 of the rocker lever 17, causes the vertical rod 18 to swing towards the left side ( Figure 2), thereby causing the backward movement of laminae means 6 to a retracted position inside the slide assembly 3, 16, in a temporarily straightened condition.
  • laminae means 6 owing to their flexibility, can easily revert to a straight shape when retracted into their slide assembly and, owing to their shape memory, they will be ready to take up their shape again, i.e. curved at their free operating end, as soon as they have again been pushed out of their slide assembly as a consequence of electromagnet 21 being energized, at the initial phase of insertion of a new sheet to be folded accordion-like.
  • tape 7 consists of a series of belts arranged side by side and, as it may be taken from Figure 4, the laminae means 6 passes through a series of small rollers 23, that in their entirety constitute roller 5, said rollers 23 being spaced apart from one another and mounted on a common shaft 24, that can for instance be a driving shaft.
  • rocker lever member 17 The structure of the element which causes the forward and backward movement of the laminae means, herein exemplified as rocker lever member 17, may be replaced by any device that is suitable for this purpose, and the same applies to the rocker lever control system, here consisting of an electromagnet and a spring, that may be replaced by any other known control system suitable for this purpose.

Landscapes

  • Folding Of Thin Sheet-Like Materials, Special Discharging Devices, And Others (AREA)
EP94110513A 1993-09-24 1994-07-06 A device for guiding the leading edge of a sheet to be folded in a folding machine Expired - Lifetime EP0645335B1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
ITMI932050A IT1272680B (it) 1993-09-24 1993-09-24 Dispositivo atto a guidare in modo sicuro nella direzione desiderata, in una macchina piegatrice di fogli, il lembo anteriore di un foglio da ripiegare piu' volte su se' stesso a fisarmonica, nella fase iniziale di piegatura, e macchina piegatrice dotata di tale dispositivo
ITMI932050 1993-09-24

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0645335A1 EP0645335A1 (en) 1995-03-29
EP0645335B1 true EP0645335B1 (en) 1997-09-17

Family

ID=11366944

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP94110513A Expired - Lifetime EP0645335B1 (en) 1993-09-24 1994-07-06 A device for guiding the leading edge of a sheet to be folded in a folding machine

Country Status (3)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0645335B1 (it)
DE (1) DE69405669T2 (it)
IT (1) IT1272680B (it)

Families Citing this family (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
ATE533721T1 (de) 2006-04-07 2011-12-15 Oce Tech Bv Verfahren und vorrichtung zum falten eines mediums
JP5194245B2 (ja) * 2007-06-15 2013-05-08 オセ−テクノロジーズ・ベー・ヴエー 折り畳み装置

Family Cites Families (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR842423A (fr) * 1938-02-16 1939-06-12 Dispositif de guidage des feuilles de papier dans les plieuses à poches
DE2110964A1 (de) * 1970-05-29 1971-12-09 Polygraph Leipzig Falzwerk fuer Taschenfalzmaschinen
EP0037650A1 (en) * 1980-03-31 1981-10-14 HARPER & TUNSTALL LIMITED Zig-zag folding machines
IT1213165B (it) * 1984-05-08 1989-12-14 Rigoli F I M E S P A Macchina automatica piegatrice a fisarmonica di fogli longitudinali.
JP2541210B2 (ja) * 1987-03-31 1996-10-09 富士ゼロックス株式会社 紙折り装置

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE69405669T2 (de) 1998-01-22
IT1272680B (it) 1997-06-26
EP0645335A1 (en) 1995-03-29
ITMI932050A0 (it) 1993-09-24
DE69405669D1 (de) 1997-10-23
ITMI932050A1 (it) 1995-03-24

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