Partial folding and folding apparatus for paper documents such as card carriers

A partial folding and folding apparatus for paper documents such as card carriers, the apparatus comprising:

• an inlet section receiving a carrier, wherein a feeding direction is defined;
• a triplet of parallel pinch rollers including a center pinch roller, placed across the feeding direction, and a pair of side pinch rollers symmetrically placed with respect to the center pinch roller, both in contact with the center pinch roller, and staggered further away from the inlet section to substantially form an isosceles triangle pattern with the center pinch roller;
• a tilting chute apt to selectively guide the carrier to any of inlet nips formed at the interface of the center pinch roller with one of the side pinch rollers respectively;
• an extraction chute positioned downstream the triplet, having an inlet mouth apt to receive the running front edge of the carrier and determining a carrier path, the inlet mouth being substantially centered with respect to the triplet, such that it is positioned to receive the running front edge of the carrier from any of the nips facing it;
• and
• a stop device positioned along the carrier path at a determined distance from the triplet, apt to selectively block the running front edge of the carrier to cause a buckle in the carrier located between the inlet mouth of the extraction chute and the triplet,
• the center pinch roller and the pair of side pinch rollers being rotated in opposite directions to advance the carrier through and beyond the triplet, and
• the buckle being accordingly oriented towards a folding nip formed at the interface of the center pinch roller with the other of the side pinch rollers, to be ingested into the folding nip thereby create a fold or a partial fold.