Folding machine as combined knife and buckle folders
AssigneeT.S.D. LLC
InventorLEO A. HAYDT, III
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A folding machine includes an accumulator that accumulates at least one sheet of flexible substrate material. A knife folder is adjacent the accumulator and has a knife fold plate that receives the sheet and a knife blade that reciprocates against the sheet. Buckle fold drive rollers are adjacent the knife folder and receive the sheet driven from the knife blade to form a knife fold. At least one buckle folder is oriented along the buckle fold drive rollers and receives a knife fold to form a buckle fold in the sheet. A buckle folder receives the knife fold to form a buckle fold. A sheet engages an end stop in the buckle folder. A biasing mechanism engages the end stop to allow biasing movement of the end stop to assist movement of the sheet in and out of the buckle folder.
Claims32
A folding machine, comprising:
- an accumulator that accumulates at least one sheet of flexible substrate material;
- a knife folder adjacent the accumulator and having a knife fold plate that receives the at least one sheet and a knife blade that reciprocates against the at least one sheet;
- buckle fold drive rollers adjacent the knife folder that receive the at least one sheet driven from the knife blade to form a knife fold;
- and
- at least one buckle folder oriented along the buckle fold drive rollers the receives the knife fold to form a buckle fold in the at least one sheet, the at least one buckle folder including an end stop onto which the at least one sheet engages such that the at least one sheet buckles into adjacent buckle fold drive rollers and forms a buckle fold, and a biasing mechanism engaging the end stop to allow biasing movement of the end stop as the at least one sheet engages the end stop to assist movement of the at least one sheet in and out of the buckle folder.
A folding machine, comprising:
- an accumulator that accumulates a plurality of sheets of flexible substrate material to form a page set;
- a knife folder adjacent the accumulator and having a knife fold plate that receives the page set and a knife blade that reciprocates against the page set;
- buckle fold drive rollers positioned offset to each other and adjacent the knife folder that receive the page set driven from the knife blade to form a knife fold;
- a plurality of buckle folders oriented along buckle fold drive rollers and at least one configured to receive the knife fold and form a buckle fold in the page set, wherein each buckle folder comprises opposing buckle plates that receive a page set, an end stop that causes the page set to buckle into adjacent buckle fold drive rollers and form a buckle fold and a biasing mechanism engaging the end stop to allow biasing movement of the end stop as the page set engages the end stop to assist movement of the page set in and out of the buckle folder;
- and
- a deflector pivotably mounted on one of the buckle plates that is normally in a position to deflect a sheet away from a buckle folder and pivoted out of position adjacent the buckle fold drive rollers to allow a page set to enter the buckle folder.
A method of folding sheets of flexible substrate material, comprising:
- feeding at least one sheet against a knife fold plate;
- driving a knife against the at least one sheet into buckle fold drive rollers to form a knife fold;
- and
- driving the knife fold using the buckle fold drive rollers into at least one buckle folder to form a buckle fold while engaging the at least one sheet against an end stop within the buckle folder and biasing the end stop for assisting movement of the least one sheet in and out of the buckle folder.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.