Paper folding machine

A folding machine for sheet material comprising:

• a housing defining a space, having a sheet material in-take opening and a sheet material discharge opening;
• a frame in said housing;
• first, second, third and fourth rollers rotatably mounted to said frame and disposed in said housing, said rollers extending parallel to each other and defining between said first and second rollers a take-in nip, between said second and third rollers a first folding nip and between said second and fourth rollers a second folding nip:
• means defining a feed path in said housing from said in-take opening through said take-in nip, said first folding nip and said second folding nip, and to said discharge opening;
• a first pocket in said housing disposed on said path upstream of said first folding nip for facilitating folding of sheet material supplied to said pocket from said take-in nip and to said first folding nip from said pocket;
• a second pocket in said housing disposed on said path downstream of said first folding nip for facilitating further folding of sheet material supplied to said second pocket from said first folding nip and from said second pocket to said second folding nip:
• drive means connected to said first, second, third and fourth rollers for rotating said rollers to move sheet material along said feed path:
• and
• a feed table connected to said housing and extending toward said in-take opening for at least partly supporting sheet material to be supplied into said in-take opening and onto said feed path:
• said housing and said frame each being divided into two parts along a dividing plane which is near a tangent plane to said first folding nip, said two parts being connected to each other for movement between a closed position with said housing space closed around said frame and said rollers, and an open position with said rollers and said pockets exposed and said housing space open, at least said second and said fourth rollers mounted on one of said parts of said frame and said third roller mounted on the other of said parts of said frame, said take-in nip and said second folding nip as well as said in-take opening and said discharge opening of said housing disposed on one side of said tangent plane and said third roller disposed on an opposite side of said tangent plane.