Folding machine and process for automatic folding of a folding box

A folding machine for making a glued folding box made from a pre-grooved carton blank having a base with a plurality of sides and side walls, one side wall being respectively formed on each base side and each side wall being defined by one folding groove, said carton blank having a plurality of tabs serving to glue two adjacent side walls when a carton blank is folded, wherein said folding machine comprises:

• a receiving plane on which said carton blank is placed,
• at least one alignment means for aligning said carton blank into a fixed predetermined position on said receiving plane,
• a plurality of pre-folding flaps, one pre-folding flap being associated with one tab of said carton blank, for lifting the associated tab out of said receiving plane, said pre-folding flaps being movable on said receiving plane,
• at least one fixing means for securing said carton blank in the predetermined position on said receiving plane,
• a plurality of erecting flaps movable on said receiving plane, at least one of said erecting flaps being provided for each side wall of said carton blank to erect the side wall out of said receiving plane,
• a plurality of connecting means for connecting the tabs to the associated side walls, at least one connecting means being assigned to one tab of said carton blank, and each connecting means comprising:
• gluing means movable on said receiving plane and associated with a tab for gluing the tab to an adjacent side wall of said carton blank, and
• a pressing flap for compressing the tab glued by said gluing means and the associated erected side wall of said carton blank, said pressing flap being movable on said receiving plane.