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US 10,850,939 B2Granted
Systems and methods for folding a stack of substrate sheets
AssigneeExpress Scripts Strategic Development, Inc.
InventorThomas C. Pegg
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods for folding a stack of substrate sheets are provided. The system may include a roller assembly and a positioning mechanism. The roller assembly is configured for folding the stack of substrate sheets and the positioning mechanism is configured to position the substrate or stack for entry into the roller assembly. The positioning mechanism includes an upper curved for and a lower curved form to guide the stack of substrate sheets into a curved position for folding. The positioning mechanism further includes a folding blade positioned to extend through the gap between the upper and lower curved forms. The roller assembly can move the folded stack of substrate sheets in at least two directions.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- feeding a stack of substrate sheets into a first set of rollers by driving an approximate midpoint section of the stack of substrate sheets toward a first rollers contact point of the first set of rollers;
- rolling the first set of rollers to receive the approximate midpoint section of the stack of substrate sheets from feeding at a first side of the first set of rollers and passing the stack of substrate sheets to a second set of rollers in a first direction to fold the stack of substrate sheets at the approximate midpoint section to form a closed end of a folded stack of substrate sheets and an open end of the folded stack of substrate sheets;
- receiving the folded approximate midpoint section of the stack of substrate sheets from rolling the first set of rollers at a first side of the second set of rollers;
- reversing from the first direction and rolling the first and second sets of rollers to cause the stack of substrate sheets to travel in a second direction such that the open end of the stack of substrate sheets is received at a second side of the first set of rollers;
- stopping the first set of rollers to hold the open end of the stack of substrate sheets with the first set of rollers after receiving the stack of substrate sheets at the second side of the first set of rollers;
- reversing from the second direction and rolling the first and second sets of rollers to cause the stack of substrate sheets to travel again in the first direction;
- and
- after reversing from the second direction, again receiving the folded approximate midpoint section at a second rollers contact point of the second set of rollers and passing the stack of substrate sheets to a second side of the second set of rollers.
5 more elements
A method comprising:
- feeding a plurality of paper sheets into a first set of rollers by driving an approximate midpoint section of the plurality of paper sheets toward a first rollers contact point of the first set of rollers;
- rolling the first set of rollers to receive the approximate midpoint section of the plurality of paper sheets from feeding at a first side of the first set of rollers and passing the plurality of paper sheets to a second set of rollers in a first direction to fold the plurality of paper sheets at the approximate midpoint section to form a closed end of the folded plurality of paper sheets and an open end of the folded plurality of paper sheets;
- receiving the folded approximate midpoint section of the plurality of paper sheets from rolling the first set of rollers at a first side of the second set of rollers;
- reversing from the first direction and rolling the first and second sets of rollers to cause the plurality of paper sheets to travel in a second direction such that the open end of the plurality of paper sheets is received at a second side of the first set of rollers;
- stopping the first set of rollers to hold the open end of the plurality of paper sheets with the first set of rollers after receiving the plurality of paper sheets at the second side of the first set of rollers;
- reversing from the second direction and rolling the first and second sets of rollers to cause the plurality of paper sheets to travel again in the first direction;
- and
- after reversing from the second direction, again receiving the folded approximate midpoint section at a second rollers contact point of the second set of rollers and passing the plurality of paper sheets to a second side of the second set of rollers to form the plurality of paper sheets into a staggered folded configuration.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.