WO2017168926A1

WO2017168926A1 - Folding method

Info

Publication number: WO2017168926A1
Application number: PCT/JP2017/000491
Authority: WO
Inventors: 吉一小笠原; 博行三好
Original assignee: ユニ・チャーム株式会社
Priority date: 2016-03-31
Filing date: 2017-01-10
Publication date: 2017-10-05
Also published as: JP2017176668A; JP6174183B1

Abstract

Provided is a folding method with which a sheet-shaped article that comprises a connection part and an extension part can be folded stably. The folding method relates to a method for folding a sheet-shaped article (1) that comprises a connection part and an extension part (1b) using a folding device (100). The folding device is provided with a roller (120), a suction retention means (130) disposed on a lateral surface of the roller that faces the outside in the transverse direction, and a folding guide (140) disposed downstream of the roller. The folding method comprises: a crease formation step, in which the article is fed into the folding guide while creases are formed in the machine direction (MD) between a center region of the article in the transverse direction and side regions (S) of the article in the machine direction that include the extension part; and a folding step in which the side regions are folded onto the center region, pivoting on the creases, by the folding guide. During the crease formation step, the side regions are retained in a raised state by the suction retention means.

Description

Folding method

The present invention relates to a folding method for folding a sheet-shaped article using a folding device including a roller and a folding guide provided downstream of the roller.

Patent Document 1 discloses a folding device that folds a web that continuously extends in one direction. The folding device folds a side region along the conveyance direction of the web conveyed along the conveyance direction onto a central region in the orthogonal direction of the web (direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction).

The folding device has a sailor roll and a sailor plate provided downstream of the sailor roll in the transport direction. A sailor roll has a rotating shaft orthogonal to a conveyance direction, and sends a web in a conveyance direction toward a sailor board, pressing a web. The sailor plate guides the side region of the web so that the side region of the web along the conveying direction is superimposed on the inner region on the inner side in the width direction of the web with respect to the side region.

JP 2011-50478 A

In Patent Document 1, a rectangular web continuously extending in one direction is folded. The inventor of the present application is not such a web, but a continuous part composed of a continuous part from one end to the other end in the transport direction, and an extending part extending in a crossing direction intersecting the transport direction from the continuous part, It has been found that the following problems occur when a sheet-like article (see also FIG. 1 of the present application) is folded using the folding device.

As shown in FIG. 1 of Patent Document 1, the side region of the web rises upward in the vicinity of the sailor roll, and the side region of the web follows the guide on the side of the sailor plate. In a rectangular web continuously extending in one direction, the tension along the conveyance direction acts on the web, so that the side area of the web rises at the same point during the conveyance of the web.

On the other hand, when the sheet-like article having the continuous part and the extension part described above is put into the folding device described in Patent Document 1, the article is configured on the upstream side and the downstream side of the extension part in the transport direction. Since there is a region where there is no member (region B in FIG. 1 of the present application), the extension portion does not receive tension along the transport direction. Therefore, even if a part of the upstream side of the article is folded back by the sailor plate, the tension along the conveying direction does not work on the extension part, so that the extension part hangs down due to the action of gravity and follows the sailor board May not stand up. As described above, when the article enters the sailor plate in a state where the extended portion of the article does not rise along the sailor plate, the article cannot be stably folded as designed in the region near the extended portion.

Therefore, a folding device and a folding method capable of stably folding an article having the continuous part and the extension part as described above are desired.

A folding method according to one aspect includes a continuous part composed of a continuous part from one end to the other end in the transport direction, and an extending part extending from the continuous part in a crossing direction intersecting the transport direction. The present invention relates to a method of folding an article using a folding device. The folding device includes a roller having a rotation axis orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the article, suction holding means provided on a side surface facing the outer side of the intersecting direction of the roller, and downstream of the roller in the conveyance direction. A folding guide provided. In the folding method, a fold along the transport direction is formed between the central region of the article in the intersecting direction and the side region of the article along the transport direction including the extension by the roller. A crease forming step of feeding the article to the fold guide while forming the fold, and a fold step of folding the side region on the central region from the fold as a starting point by the fold guide, During the process, the side region is held in a state where the side region is pulled up by the suction holding means.

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an example of an article before being folded. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the article after being folded. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the folding device according to the embodiment. FIG. 4 is a side view of the folding device as seen from the direction of the arrow 4A shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a front view of the folding device as seen from the direction of the arrow 5A (upstream side) shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a plan view of the folding device as viewed from the direction of the arrow 6A (upper surface) shown in FIG. FIG. 7 is an enlarged plan view of the roll of the folding device as seen from the direction of the arrow 4A shown in FIG. FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing the positional relationship between the suction holes formed in the roll and the article. FIG. 9 is a plan view showing another example of the article before being folded.

At least the following matters will become clear from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

Using a folding device, a sheet-like article having a continuous part composed of a continuous part from one end to the other end in the conveying direction and an extending part extending from the continuous part in a crossing direction intersecting the conveying direction A folding method for folding,
The folding device includes a roller having a rotation axis orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the article, suction holding means provided on a side surface facing the outer side of the intersecting direction of the roller, and downstream of the roller in the conveyance direction. A folding guide provided,
The folding method is:
While forming a fold along the transport direction between the center region in the crossing direction of the article and a side region of the article along the transport direction including the extending portion by the roller, A crease forming step of sending the article to the fold guide;
A folding step of folding the side region on the central region from the fold line by the folding guide,
A folding method in which the side region is held in the state where the side region is pulled up by the suction holding means during the crease forming step.

The suction holding means can hold the side region in a state where the side region of the article is pulled up from the suction mechanism through the suction hole during the crease forming process. Thus, in the crease forming step, the side region including the extending portion is held in a state where it is forcibly pulled up by the suction holding means. Therefore, it is difficult for the extension part of the article to hang down due to the action of gravity, and the article can enter the folding guide in a state where the extension part of the article is raised. Thereby, the instability of folding resulting from the extension part not being intended and hanging down due to gravity can be suppressed, and the article can be folded stably.

According to a preferred aspect, the suction holding means has a first suction hole for sucking and holding the extension portion of the side region.

Thereby, when the article passes through the roller, it is possible to force the roller to suck and hold the extending portion that tends to sag due to the action of gravity. Therefore, the article can be entered into the folding guide with the extended portion of the article firmly raised. Thereby, the article can be folded more stably.

According to a preferred aspect, the suction holding means further includes a second suction hole that sucks and holds a region outside the cross direction with respect to the center of the side region in the cross direction.

Thereby, the second suction hole can forcibly hold the outer region in the crossing direction in the side region, that is, the region outside the extending portion. Thereby, it can suppress more that the area | region near the front-end | tip of an extension part hangs down by the effect | action of gravity. Thus, the article can be entered into the folding guide in a state where the region near the tip of the extension portion of the article is firmly raised, so that the article can be folded more stably.

According to a preferred aspect, the suction holding means further includes a third suction hole for sucking and holding the continuous portion of the side region.

By forcibly sucking and holding the continuous portion of the side region, the article can enter the folding guide in a state where the entire side region including the extending portion is firmly raised. Thereby, the article can be folded more stably.

According to a preferred aspect, during the crease forming step, the holding of the side region by the suction holding means is assisted by the frictional force between the side surface of the roller facing outward in the intersecting direction and the side region. .

Thus, during the crease forming process, the side region held on the side surface of the roller by the suction holding means is easily held on the side surface of the roller by the frictional force with the side surface of the roller. Accordingly, the holding of the side region by the suction holding means can be assisted, and the side region can be lifted firmly from the central region. As a result, the article can be folded more stably.

According to a preferred aspect, in the crease forming step, the central region of the article is sucked and held on the roller.

Thereby, in the crease forming step, the fold can be formed on the article by the roller while the central region of the article is sucked and held by the roller. Thereby, since the position shift of the article with respect to the roller is suppressed, the fold can be formed at an accurate position. Further, the suction holding means makes it easy to pull up the side region from the crease position as a base point. As a result, the article can be folded more accurately as designed.

According to a preferred aspect, during the folding step, the central region of the article is sucked and held in the article conveyance path.

By sucking and holding the central region of the article to the article conveyance path, it is possible to suppress the article from being displaced in the crossing direction during the folding process. Thereby, the article can be accurately folded at the position of the fold.

According to a preferred aspect, the article is directly sucked and held until the tip of the article on the downstream side in the conveyance direction exceeds at least a contact point between the roller and the conveyance path of the article. The central region of the article is sucked and held in the transport path when the tip portion of the article exceeds a predetermined distance from the contact point.

Thus, when the article is sent to the folding guide, the state where the side area is held is maintained as much as possible, and the article is allowed to enter the folding guide while the side area of the forcibly pulled up article is gradually pulled away from the roller. it can. Accordingly, the article can be sent to the folding guide in a stable state so that the side region is along the folding guide, and the article can be folded more stably.

Hereinafter, a detailed example of the embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description of the drawings, the same or similar parts are denoted by the same or similar reference numerals. However, it should be noted that the drawings are schematic and ratios of dimensions may be different from actual ones. Accordingly, specific dimensions and the like should be determined in consideration of the following description. Moreover, it is a matter of course that portions having different dimensional relationships and ratios may be included between the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of an article that is folded using a folding method according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 shows the article after folding. In this embodiment, the article 1 is an absorbent article such as a tape-type disposable diaper having a mounting tape.

Article 1 is conveyed in the front-rear direction L while being folded. The article 1 is a sheet-like article having a continuous portion 1a and an extending portion 1b. The continuous part 1a consists of the part which continued from the front-back direction L, ie, the one end E1 in the conveyance direction, to the other end E2. The extension part 1b consists of the part extended in the cross direction W which cross | intersects a conveyance direction from the continuous part 1a. A region adjacent to the extending portion 1 b in the front-rear direction L is a region B in which no element constituting the article 1 exists.

The article 1 may have a plurality of extending portions 1b at intervals in the front-rear direction L. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the article 1 has two extending portions 1 b arranged in the front-rear direction across the region B on both sides in the intersecting direction W.

Article 1 is folded with a fold line F along the front-rear direction L as a base point. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the article 1 is folded with a pair of folds F parallel to each other as a base point. A region between the pair of creases F of the article 1 is referred to as a “central region C”. In addition, an area outside the pair of folds F in the intersecting direction W is referred to as a “side area S”. Therefore, in the state where the article 1 is folded, the side region S overlaps the central region C.

In the present embodiment, the pair of folds F are provided in the continuous portion 1a of the article 1. Accordingly, the side region S is a region including a part of the continuous portion 1a and the extending portion 1b.

Next, a folding method will be described together with a folding device for folding the article 1. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the folding device according to the embodiment. FIG. 4 is a side view of the folding device as seen from the direction of the arrow 4A shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a front view of the folding device as seen from the direction of the arrow 5A (upstream side) shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a plan view of the folding device as viewed from the direction of the arrow 6A (upper surface) shown in FIG. FIG. 7 is an enlarged plan view of a later-described roll 120 as seen from the direction of the arrow 4A shown in FIG. 3 to 7, it should be noted that the position of the article 1 in the folding device may be different for convenience.

The folding apparatus 100 includes a transport roll 110, a roller 120, a folding guide 140, and a transport mechanism 150. The conveyance roll 110 sends the article 1 to the roller 120 and the conveyance mechanism 150 that are located on the downstream side in the conveyance direction MD. Here, the article 1 is conveyed in a direction in which the front-rear direction L is along the conveyance direction MD, and is delivered from the conveyance roll 110 to the conveyance mechanism 150.

The transport mechanism 150 has an endless belt 153 as a transport path for transporting the article 1. Endless belt 153 is wound between a pair of

rollers

151 and 152. The

rollers

151 and 152 are rotated by a driving mechanism (not shown) to move the endless belt 153. As a result, the region of the endless belt 153 where the article 1 is placed moves in the transport direction MD. The transport surface of the endless belt 153 is disposed at a position lower than the transport roll 110 by a height h.

The article 1 passes through the roller 120 and the folding guide 140 provided downstream of the roller 120 by the transport mechanism 150. The roller 120 feeds the article 1 to the folding guide 140 while forming a fold F along the conveyance direction MD between the central area C of the article 1 and the side area S including the extending portion 1b. Forming step). The folding guide 140 folds the side region S on the central region C with the fold line F as a base point (folding step).

The roller 120 is provided on the endless belt 153 of the transport mechanism 150 on the downstream side of the transport roll 110 in the transport direction MD. The roller 120 has a rotation shaft 124 orthogonal to the conveyance direction MD of the article 1. The central region C of the article 1 is sandwiched between the roller 120 and the endless belt 153. Due to the rotation of the roller 120 and the movement of the endless belt 153, the article 1 passes between the roller 120 and the endless belt 153.

The width W1 of the region of the roller 120 in contact with the endless belt 153 is substantially equal to the width in the intersecting direction W of the central region C of the article 1. As a result, the roller 120 presses only the central region C of the article 1 against the endless belt 153. The side region S of the article 1 jumps out of the roller 120. When the roller 120 presses the central region C of the article 1, a crease F is formed at the boundary position between the central region C and the side region S. In this manner, the roller 120 guides the folding of the article 1 while forming the fold line F along the transport direction MD between the central area C of the article 1 and the side area S including the extending portion 1b. 140.

In order to make it easy to make a crease F on the article 1, an unillustrated ridge portion along the circumferential direction of the roller 120 may be provided at an edge portion of the roller 120 in a region in contact with the endless belt 153.

The roller 120 may have a tapered shape with a diameter that decreases toward the outside of the cross direction CD. That is, the roller 120 may have tapered

surfaces

121a and 122a (see FIG. 5). In the illustrated example, the regions of the tapered

surfaces

121a and 122a of the roller 120 are relatively narrow, but instead the regions of the tapered

surfaces

121a and 122a may be wider. Specifically, the

tapered surfaces

121 a and 122 a may exist up to a position closer to the central axis of the roller 120.

The folding device 100 includes suction holding means 130 provided on the side surface of the roller 120 facing the outside in the cross direction CD. The suction holding means 130 includes suction holes 131, 132, 133 formed on the side surface of the roller 120. A plurality of suction holes 131, 132, 133 are provided along the circumferential direction of the roller 120. Instead of the illustrated example, the suction holes 131, 132, 133 may be provided in the tapered

surfaces

121 a, 122 a of the roller 120.

The suction holding means 130 can hold the side region S in a state where the side region S of the article 1 is pulled up from the suction mechanism (not shown) through the suction holes 131, 132, 133 during the crease forming process. . As described above, in the crease forming step, the side region S including the extending portion 1 b is held in a state where it is forcibly pulled up by the suction holding means 130. Therefore, the extension part 1b of the article 1 is unlikely to hang down due to the action of gravity, and the article 1 can enter the folding guide 140 with the extension part 1b of the article 1 raised. Thereby, destabilization of the folding resulting from the extension part 1b drooping by gravity unintentionally can be suppressed, and an article can be folded stably.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing preferred positions of the suction holes 131, 132, 133 with respect to the article 1 held by the roller 120. In FIG. 8, in order to clearly describe the positional relationship between the suction holes 131, 132, and 133, the positions of the suction holes 131, 132, and 133 are shown on the article that is virtually expanded in a plane.

The suction holding means 130 has a first suction hole 131, a second suction hole 132, and a third suction hole 133. A plurality of first suction holes 131, second suction holes 132, and third suction holes 133 are formed along the circumferential direction of the roller 120.

The first suction hole 131 is provided at a position for sucking and holding the extending portion 1b in the side region S of the article 1. Thereby, when the article 1 passes through the roller 120, the extended portion 1 b that easily hangs down by the action of gravity can be forcibly held by the roller 120. Therefore, the article 1 can enter the folding guide 140 with the extended portion 1b of the article 1 firmly raised. Thereby, the article can be folded more stably.

The second suction hole 132 is provided inside the first suction hole 131 in the radial direction of the roller 120. The second suction hole 132 is provided at a position for sucking and holding a region outside the cross direction CD from the center of the side region S in the cross direction CD.

Thereby, the second suction hole 132 can forcibly hold the area outside the cross direction CD in the side area S, that is, the area outside the extending portion 1b. Thereby, it can suppress more that the area | region near the front-end | tip of the extension part 1b hangs down by the effect | action of gravity. Accordingly, the article 1 can be entered into the folding guide 140 in a state where the region near the tip of the extending portion 1b of the article 1 is firmly raised, so that the article 1 can be folded more stably.

The plurality of second suction holes 132 may be arranged at intervals smaller than the interval between the first suction holes 131 along the circumferential direction of the roller 120. Thereby, the vicinity of the tip region of the extending portion 1b that is thin in the front-rear direction L can be reliably held.

The third suction hole 133 is provided outside the first suction hole 131 in the radial direction of the roller 120. The third suction hole 133 is provided at a position for sucking and holding the continuous portion 1a in the side region S.

By forcibly holding and holding the continuous portion 1a in the side region S, the article 1 is caused to enter the folding guide 140 in a state where the entire side region S including the extending portion 1b is firmly raised. Can do. Thereby, the article 1 can be folded more stably.

In the crease forming step, it is preferable to suck and hold the central region C of the article 1 to the roller 120. Specifically, a suction hole 135 for sucking and holding the central region C is provided on the outer peripheral surface 123 of the roller 120. A plurality of suction holes 135 are preferably provided along the circumferential direction of the roller 120.

Thereby, in the crease forming step, the fold F can be formed on the article 1 by the roller 120 in a state where the central region C of the article 1 is sucked and held by the roller 120. Thereby, since the position shift of the article 1 with respect to the roller 120 is suppressed, the fold line F can be formed at an accurate position. Further, the suction holding means 130 makes it easy to pull up the side region S from the position of the crease F as a base point. As a result, the article 1 can be folded more accurately as designed.

During the crease forming step, it is preferable to assist the holding of the side region S by the suction holding means 130 by the frictional force between the side surface S of the roller 120 facing the outside in the cross direction CD and the side region S. Specifically, the side surface of the roller 120 is made of silicone rubber, or the surface of the roller 120 is subjected to non-adhesive coating or plasma coating. Thus, the side region S held on the side surface of the roller 120 by the suction holding unit 130 during the crease forming process is easily held on the side surface of the roller by the frictional force with the side surface of the roller. Therefore, the holding of the side region S by the suction holding means 130 can be assisted, and the side region S can be pulled up firmly from the central region C. As a result, the article 1 can be folded more stably.

In particular, when the article 1 is an absorbent article, the surface of the absorbent article is composed of a nonwoven fabric containing fibers. Since the fibers constituting the nonwoven fabric are easily caught on the side surface of the roller 120, the absorbent article is easily held by the roller 120. From such a viewpoint, it is preferable that the folding apparatus and the folding method according to the present embodiment are used as an apparatus and a method for folding an absorbent article.

It is preferable that the central region C of the article 1 is sucked and held in the conveyance path of the article 1 during the folding process by the folding guide 140. Specifically, a plurality of suction ports 155 for sucking the article 1 are formed in the endless belt 153 of the transport mechanism 150. The article 1 is sucked and held through the suction port 155 by a suction mechanism (not shown) at least during the folding process. The article 1 moves together with the endless belt 153 while being sucked and held by the endless belt 153 during the folding process. By sucking and holding the central region C of the article 1 to the conveyance path of the article 1, the article 1 can be prevented from being displaced in the cross direction CD during the folding process. Accordingly, the article 1 can be accurately folded at the position of the fold line F.

When shifting from the crease forming process to the folding process, the side region of the article 1 until the tip of the article 1 on the downstream side in the conveyance direction exceeds at least the contact point P between the endless belt 153 as the conveyance path of the article 1 and the roller 120. It is preferable to suck and hold the central region C of the article 1 to the endless belt 153 when the tip of the article 1 exceeds a predetermined distance L1 from the contact P while directly sucking and holding S. Here, the contact point P is defined by the intersection of the imaginary line extending from the rotation axis of the roller 120 in the direction V perpendicular to the conveyance belt 153 and the conveyance belt 153.

Specifically, when the article 1 is sent from the roller 120 to the folding guide 140, the article 1 moves in the conveyance direction MD while the side region S of the article 1 is directly sucked and held. At this time, the side region S of the article 1 is directly sucked and held by the sucking and holding means 130 at least until it exceeds the contact point P between the endless belt 153 and the roller 120 (see also FIG. 7). More specifically, the extending portion 1b of the side region S is directly sucked and held by the sucking and holding means 130 until at least the contact point P is exceeded. Further, the central region C of the article 1 is sucked and held by the endless belt 153 when it exceeds a predetermined distance L1 from the contact point P.

Thereby, when the article 1 is sent to the folding guide 140, the state in which the side region S is held by the roller 120 can be maintained as much as possible while the central region C is sucked to the endless belt 153. Therefore, the article 1 can enter the folding guide 140 while the side region S of the article that has been forcibly pulled up is gradually pulled away from the roller 120. As a result, the article 1 can be sent to the folding guide 140 in a stable state so that the side region S follows the folding guide, and the article 1 can be folded more stably.

The suction force by the suction hole 155 of the conveyor belt 153 is preferably larger than the suction force by the suction hole 135 formed in the roller 120. Thereby, the central region C of the article 1 can be easily transferred from the roller 120 to the conveyance belt 153.

Alternatively, the suction operation of the suction hole 135 may be stopped when the tip of the article 1 exceeds a predetermined distance L1 from the contact point P. Thereby, the article 1 can be more smoothly transferred from the roller 120 to the transport belt 153. The suction operation is preferably stopped gradually.

The folding guide 140 has a first guide part 141 and a second guide part 142. The first guide portion 141 and the second guide portion 142 guide the side region S of the article 1 conveyed along the machine direction MD onto the central region C.

The 1st guide part 141 and the 2nd guide part 142 stand up on the side of roller 120 (refer to Drawing 5). On the side of the roller 120, the distance between the first guide part 141 and the second guide part 142 is substantially the same as or slightly larger than the distance between the creases F of the article 1.

The first guide portion 141 and the second guide portion 142 cover the side region S of the article 1 in the region downstream of the roller 120. The distance between the 1st guide part 141 and the 2nd guide part 142 is small as it goes downstream.

The side region S of the article 1 is pulled up along the first guide portion 141 and the second guide portion 142 on the side of the roller 120. The side region S of the article 1 in the raised state is tilted inward by the first guide portion 141 and the second guide portion 142 as it goes downstream. By passing through the folding guide 140, the article 1 is folded with the fold line F as a base point (see also FIG. 3).

As described above, the contents of the present invention have been disclosed through the embodiments of the present invention. However, it should not be understood that the descriptions and drawings constituting a part of this disclosure limit the present invention. From this disclosure, various alternative embodiments, examples and operational techniques will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

For example, the article to be folded is not limited to the shape shown in FIG. FIG. 9 is a plan view showing another example of the article before being folded. The article shown in FIG. 9 is a continuous body in which a plurality of articles 1 shown in FIG. This continuous body is a sheet-like article having a continuous portion 1a and an extending portion 1b. The continuous part 1a consists of the part which continued from the front-back direction L, ie, the one end E1 in the conveyance direction, to the other end E2. The extending portion 1b includes an extending portion 1b that extends from the continuous portion 1a in a crossing direction W that intersects the transport direction.

The folding apparatus 100 and the folding method described above can stably fold such a continuous body. In addition, after folding a continuous body, an absorbent article is manufactured by cut | disconnecting a continuous body for every absorbent article.

In the above embodiment, the absorbent article is exemplified as the article 1 to be folded, but the article 1 to be folded is not limited to the absorbent article. The article 1 to be folded may be a sheet-like article having the continuous portion 1a and the extending portion 1b as described above.

Further, in the above embodiment, the article 1 is folded with the pair of folds F as a base point. Instead of this, the article 1 may be folded around a single fold F. In this case, the center area C of the article 1 is defined by an area including the center in the crossing direction W of the article 1. Further, the side region S of the article 1 is defined by a region outside the fold line F in the intersecting direction W.

Note that the entire content of Japanese Patent Application No. 2016-071602 filed on March 31, 2016 is incorporated herein by reference.

Provided is a folding method capable of stably folding a sheet-like article having a continuous part and an extending part.

1: Article 1a: Continuous part 1b: Extension part 100: Folding device 110: Conveying roll 120: Roller 124: Rotating shaft 130: Suction holding means 131: First suction hole 132: Second suction hole 133: Third suction hole 135: suction hole 140: folding guide 141: first guide part 142: second guide part 150: transport mechanism 153: endless belt 155: suction hole C: central region S: side region

Claims

Using a folding device, a sheet-like article having a continuous part composed of a continuous part from one end to the other end in the conveying direction and an extending part extending from the continuous part in a crossing direction intersecting the conveying direction A folding method for folding,
The folding device includes a roller having a rotation axis orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the article, suction holding means provided on a side surface facing the outer side of the intersecting direction of the roller, and downstream of the roller in the conveyance direction. A folding guide provided,
The folding method is:
While forming a fold along the transport direction between the center region in the crossing direction of the article and a side region of the article along the transport direction including the extending portion by the roller, A crease forming step of sending the article to the fold guide;
A folding step of folding the side region on the central region from the fold line by the folding guide,
A folding method in which the side region is held in the state where the side region is pulled up by the suction holding means during the crease forming step.
The folding method according to claim 1, wherein the suction holding means has a first suction hole for sucking and holding the extension portion of the side region.
The folding method according to claim 2, wherein the suction holding means further includes a second suction hole for sucking and holding a region outside the cross direction with respect to the center of the side region in the cross direction.
The folding method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the suction holding means further includes a third suction hole for sucking and holding the continuous portion of the side region.
5. The holding of the side region by the suction holding unit is assisted by a frictional force between a side surface of the roller facing outward in the intersecting direction and the side region during the crease forming step. The folding method according to any one of the above.
The folding method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein in the fold forming step, the central region of the article is sucked and held on the roller.
The folding method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the central region of the article is sucked and held in a conveyance path of the article during the folding step.
While holding the side region of the article directly by suction until at least the tip of the article on the downstream side in the transport direction exceeds the contact point between the roller and the transport path of the article, the tip of the article is The folding method according to claim 7, wherein the central region of the article is sucked and held in the conveyance path when a predetermined distance from the contact point is exceeded.