Foldable-sheet processing systems

An automatic sheet-processing system having conveyor means establishing a sheet feed path and adapted to handle an intermix of foldable flexible sheets of different sizes, successively, including sheet folding apparatus having an entrance and having, at its entrance, sheet receiving means for successively receiving sheets of different sizes, and having, in the feed path downstream of said receiving means, means for folding sheets irrespective of size, into packets of uniform standardized length and width dimensions, the folding means including a plurality of selectively operable folding units;

• the conveyor means including feed mechanism in advance of said sheet receiving means for aligning successive sheets of different sizes and for feeding them to said receiving means of the folding apparatus;
• and sensing means establishing a sensing zone located along the sheet feed path in advance of said sheet receiving means, the sensing means being coupled with a plurality of said folding units and responsive to sheets of different sizes as they are successively fed through said sensing zone past said sensing means to the sheet receiving means to selectively subject the sheets to the action of one or more folding units of said folding apparatus to fold successive sheets, irrespective of size, into such packets of uniform standardized length and width dimensions.

In a system employing apparatus for printing sheets from reproducibles of different categories and also employing labelling means and sheet-folding mechanism, the method of processing foldable sheets of varying proportions, which includes:

• successively printing the sheets from such reproducibles and indexing each sheet, as printed, in accordance with the category of the reproducible from which it was made, passing the printed and indexed sheets successively through a sheet-scanning zone to a sheet-folding work station, utilizing the presence of a sheet in said zone to program the operation of the sheet-folding mechanism in accordance with the proportions of the particular sheet as determined in said scanning zone, so as to produce printed and folded sheet packets of uniform predetermined length and width regardless of the initial proportions of the successively printed sheets, also scanning such sheet as to its index and utilizing its index to activate the sheet labelling means to impose on the sheet a legend consistent with the category index.