JP3222201B2 - Paper folding machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper folding machine that folds a sheet in a first direction and then folds the sheet in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction. The present invention relates to a folding machine suitable for folding.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a sheet is folded in two, a folding position determining unit which is constituted by a sheet entrance path and a stopper and determines a folding position of the sheet is disposed near an entrance of the folding position determining unit. A folding machine equipped with a pair of folding rollers that rotate by bringing their peripheral surfaces into contact with each other is used (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-203647 and Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 60-16460).

In this type of folding machine, first, a sheet is made to enter a sheet entering path of a folding position determining unit. When the leading end of the sheet comes into contact with the stopper and the sheet bends near the entrance of the sheet approach path, the bent portion is caught by the pair of folding rollers, and the sheet is folded while passing between the folding rollers. It is supposed to be.

[0004] When an advertisement flyer using various fixed-size paper such as A3 size or B4 size is mailed as a direct mail, the flyer is usually folded in two as shown in FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b). Thereafter, the sheet is further folded in two or three in a direction orthogonal to the folding line, and folded into a shape to enter the envelope. For example, as shown in FIG. 3A, A3 standard paper is generally folded in two from the center, and further folded in three in a direction perpendicular to the folding line, and sealed in an envelope.

In the case of folding into such a shape, conventionally,
First, after a sheet (flyer) is folded in two in a first direction by a first folding machine, the sheet is put into a second folding machine and folded in three in a second direction. I have.

In addition, a first sheet for folding a sheet in a first direction is provided.
And a second folding unit that folds the sheet folded by the first folding unit in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction. is there. In the case of this folding machine, a sheet folded in two in the first direction at the first folding section is conveyed to the second folding section, and the sheet is folded in the second direction at the second folding section. It is folded in three.

[0007]

However, the former method has a disadvantage that the operation is complicated because a plurality of steps are required. On the other hand, the latter method has a problem that the folding machine tends to be large in size and the device is difficult to spread.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a paper folding machine which is suitable for folding a direct mail flyer and which can easily be downsized.

[0009]

A folding machine according to the present invention comprises:
A folding position determining unit configured by a sheet approach path and a stopper disposed in the sheet approach path, a conveying unit that conveys the sheet to the sheet approach path, and a sheet leading edge abutting on the stopper to cause deflection. a pair of folding rollers to fold sandwich the sheets at the flexure, the pair
Roll contact with one of the folding rollers
A sheet-shaped creasing die roll for folding the sheet folded by the pair of folding rollers .
Between the roller and the creasing die roll,
And wherein and Turkey with a muscle fold in the sheet.

[0010]

According to the present invention, the sheet folded in two by the folding position determining unit and the folding roller is rolled into contact with a disk-shaped scoring die roll to form a folding line along the moving direction of the sheet. In this case, if there is only one creasing die roll that comes into contact with the sheet, the folded shape of the sheet is the shape shown in FIG. 3B (so-called cross-fold). Also, if there are two creasing die rolls that are in rolling contact with the sheet, the folded shape of the sheet will be the shape shown in FIG.

Conventionally, in an apparatus for folding a sheet in two directions orthogonal to each other, two or more sets of folding position determination units and folding rollers are required. However, since the folding machine according to the present invention requires only one set of the folding position determining unit and the folding roller, the apparatus can be downsized.

The folding position determining section includes, for example, an idle roller rotatably mounted on a pivot, a flexible plate member forming a sheet entry path between the idle roller and an outer peripheral surface of the idle roller, and a folding plate. And the stopper provided. In the folding position determination unit configured as described above, since the sheet that has entered the sheet approach path is curved in an arc shape along the outer peripheral surface of the idle roller, the apparent strength of the sheet in the sheet approach path is high. Become. For this reason, the position where bending occurs when the leading end of the sheet abuts on the stopper becomes constant with respect to the length direction of the sheet, and variation in the folding position can be suppressed.

[0013]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing a folding machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side view thereof. The bundle of sheets to be folded is placed on the paper feed table 12. A width guide plate 12a is provided on a side portion of the paper feed table 12, and
The mounting position of the sheet bundle is specified.

On the extension of the paper feed table 12, a paper feed plate 13 is provided. The sheet supply plate 13 is rotatable about a shaft 13a that supports an end on the sheet supply table 12 side, and the other end is provided with a peripheral surface of the sheet supply roller 16 by a spring (not shown). It is going to take off. The sheet on the paper feed plate 13 is sent out from the paper feed plate 13 by the paper feed roller 16 and is conveyed along the paper feed guide plate 21.

In the middle of the paper feed guide plate 21, a separating plate 15 is mounted and arranged on the separating table 14. The separation plate 15 is disposed so as to substantially contact the sheet feeding roller 16, and when two or more sheets are simultaneously conveyed, the frictional force between the sheet feeding roller 16 and the sheet and the separation plate 1
The sheet is separated and fed one by one using the difference between the frictional force between the sheet 5 and the sheet and the frictional force between the sheets.

A guide plate 22 is provided on the downstream side of the separating plate 15 in the sheet flow direction, and the sheet that has passed between the sheet feeding roller 16 and the separating plate 15 is guided by the guide plate 22 to be first and second. It enters between the second folding rollers 17 and 18. Each of the first and second folding rollers 17 and 18 has its peripheral surface covered with rubber, so that the peripheral surfaces thereof come into contact with each other and rotate.

The first and second folding rollers 17 and 18
The sheet having passed through the gap is guided by the guide plate 25, and the slit 3 between the idle roller 31 and the flexible thin plate 34 is formed.
Go inside 5. The idle roller 31 is a disk-shaped member formed of resin and is rotatably attached to the pivot 30. The pivot 30 is rotatably supported by the side plate 10. A fixed member 33 is fixed to the pivot 30 with the idle roller 31 interposed therebetween.
, A plate-like stopper 32 is fixed. Axis 30
Is a shaft for setting the position of the stopper 32, which is normally locked and fixed by an angle setting mechanism (not shown). However, when setting the position of the stopper 32, the lock by the angle setting mechanism is released. And become rotatable.

On the other hand, the flexible thin plate 34 is formed by arranging a band-shaped plastic plate having a smooth surface curved along the outer periphery of the idle roller 31, and both ends thereof are fixed by fixing members 36. Although the thin plate 34 is easily deformed due to its material, the thin plate 34 is disposed so as to face the peripheral surface of the idle roller 31, so that deformation and breakage can be avoided.

In the vicinity of the guide plate 25, a third metal folding roller 20 is arranged with its peripheral surface in contact with the peripheral surface of the first folding roller 17. This third folding roller 2
Above 0, two creasing die rolls 19 are attached to axis 19a.
It is arranged to be supported by. This die roll 19
The peripheral surface is a pointed disk-shaped plate, which is in contact with the third folding roller 20 and rotates. The sheet that has passed between the third folding roller 20 and the creasing die roll 19 is discharged onto the paper discharge unit 24.

The paper feed roller 16, folding roller 17,
Driving force is transmitted from the motor 23 via the driving force transmission mechanism (not shown) to the creasing die roll 19 and the creasing die roll 19 and rotates in the direction indicated by the arrow in the figure.

Next, the operation of the paper folding machine according to the present embodiment configured as described above will be described.

The uppermost sheet of the sheet bundle placed on the sheet supply table 12 is sent out by the sheet supply roller 16, passes between the sheet supply roller 16 and the leading end of the sheet supply plate 13, and passes through the separation plate 15. And the paper feed roller 16. In this case,
Even if two or more sheets enter between the separation plate 15 and the paper feed roller 16 at the same time, each sheet is separated by the separation action of the separation plate 15 and the paper feed roller 16, and the uppermost sheet is one by one. Feeded sequentially.

The sheet separated into one sheet between the sheet feeding roller 16 and the separating plate 15 is sandwiched between folding rollers 17 and 18, guided by the guide plate 25, and
And into the slit 35 between the flexible thin plate 34.
At this time, when the sheet edge comes into contact with the idle roller 31, the idle roller 31 rotates in the sheet moving direction, so that the sheet smoothly advances in the slit 35 with almost no resistance.

When the leading end of the sheet comes into contact with the stopper 32, the sheet is bent near the upper end of the guide plate 25, and the bent portion is sandwiched between the rollers 17 and 20. And
As the sheet passes between the rollers 17, 20, the sheet is folded in two. When the sheet is fed along the slit 35, the sheet is
The sheet is conveyed while sliding on the sheet, and curves in an arc shape. For this reason, the apparent strength of the sheet is improved, and the position where the bending of the sheet occurs in the length direction of the sheet is always constant. Therefore, the stopper 32 is moved from the upper end of the guide plate 25 to the stopper 32.
(The distance along the surfaces of the guide plate 25 and the flexible thin plate 34) is set to half of the sheet length.
The sheet can be folded almost exactly at the center in two.

The sheet folded in two by the folding rollers 17 and 20 is then sandwiched between the folding roller 20 and the creasing die roll 19 and passes between the folding roller 20 and the creasing die roll 19. At this time, the sheet is provided with two folding lines along the sheet advancing direction by the two die rolls 19. In this case, by setting the position of the die roll 19 in advance so as to form a three-fold shape, the folding roller 20 and the die roll 1
9 and the sheet discharged to the sheet discharge unit 24,
As shown in FIG.
Into a folded shape that can be enclosed in a rectangular envelope.

In this embodiment, if only one creasing die roll 19 is attached to the center of the shaft 19a, the sheet can be folded in the shape shown in FIG. 3B (cross-fold).

In the apparatus of the present embodiment, the sheet is compared with a conventional sheet folding machine having a plurality of sheet folding sections for folding a sheet in a first direction and a second direction orthogonal to the first direction. The number of rollers for folding is small, and the device can be easily miniaturized. Further, since the sheet is bent in an arc shape by the idle roller 31 and the flexible thin plate 34 to determine the folding position of the sheet, variation in the folding position of the sheet is extremely small. By changing the number and arrangement positions of the creasing die rolls 19 to be fixed, there is also an effect that various folding shapes can be easily handled.

[0029]

As described above, the folding machine according to the present invention comprises a pair of folding rollers provided with a creasing die roll for forming a crease in a direction perpendicular to the folding line on the sheet folded by the pair of folding rollers. Transfer to one of
Therefore, the size of the device can be reduced as compared with the related art, and it is possible to easily cope with various folded shapes.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing a folding machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the same.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are side views each showing a folded shape of a sheet.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10; side plate 12; sheet supply table 13; sheet supply plate 14; separation table 15; separation plate 16; sheet supply rollers 17, 18, 20; folding roller 19; creasing die rolls 22, 25; guide plate 23; motor 24; Paper unit 30; Axis 31; Idler roller 32; Stopper 34; Flexible thin plate 35;

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A sheet entry path and a folding position determining unit including a stopper provided in the sheet entry path, a conveying unit for conveying a sheet to the sheet entry path,
A pair of folding rollers for folding the sheet in which the leading end of the sheet abuts on the stopper and is bent by sandwiching the sheet at the bent portion; and one of the pair of folding rollers
It has a disk-shaped creasing die roll that rolls on the folding roller.
Then, the sheet folded by the pair of folding rollers is
Sandwiched between the one folding roller and the creasing die roll
By writing, sheet folding machine characterized by a Turkey with a muscle folding seat. 2. The folding position determining section comprises: a pivot arranged in parallel with the axis of the folding roller; an idle roller rotatably mounted on the pivot; and an arc shape along the outer peripheral surface of the idle roller. 2. The folding machine according to claim 1, further comprising: a flexible plate member disposed on the outer periphery of the idle roller to form the sheet approach path with an outer peripheral surface of the idle roller.