JPH05338910A - Paper folding machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a paper folding machine which folds a sheet into two, and also scores the sheet in the direction normal to the folded line made so-as to let the sheet be put into an envelope. CONSTITUTION:A bundle of sheets is rested on a feed table 12 or a feed plate 13. The uppermost sheet of a bundle of sheets passes through a space between a feed roller 16 and a handling plate 15, and a space between folding rollers 17 and 18 so as to go into a slit 35 between an idle roller 31 and a flexible thin sheet 34. When the tip end of the sheet is hit against a stopper 32' the sheet is deflected at the vicinity of a guide plate 25, and the deflected portion of the sheet is held in by the folding rollers 17 and 20, so that the sheet is folded in two. The sheet folded in two is scored by a disc shaped scoring die roller 19 which comes in contact with the folding roller 20 while being rotated, so that the sheet is thereby delivered to a delivery section 24.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper folding machine that folds a sheet in a first direction and then in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction. The present invention relates to a paper folding machine suitable for folding.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a sheet is folded in two, a folding position determining section for determining a folding position of the sheet, which is constituted by a sheet entrance path and a stopper, and a folding position determining section are disposed in the vicinity of the entrance. A paper folding machine equipped with a pair of folding rollers that rotate by bringing their peripheral surfaces into contact with each other is used (JP-A-57-203647 and JP-A-60-16460).

In this type of paper folding machine, first, a sheet is introduced into the sheet entry path of the folding position determining section. When the leading edge of the sheet comes into contact with the stopper and the sheet is bent near the entrance of the sheet entrance path, the bent portion is sandwiched between the pair of folding rollers, and the sheet is folded while passing between the folding rollers. It is supposed to be.

By the way, when an advertisement leaflet using various standard papers such as A3 size or B4 size is mailed as a direct mail, the leaflet is usually folded in two as shown in FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b). After that, it is further folded in two or three in a direction orthogonal to the folding line to be folded into a shape to fit in the envelope. For example, an A3 standard paper is generally folded in two from the center and further folded inward in the direction orthogonal to the folding line to be enclosed in an envelope, as shown in FIG.

In the case of folding into such a shape, conventionally,
First, a method is adopted in which a sheet (leaflet) is folded in two in a first direction by a first paper folding machine, and then this sheet is put into a second paper folding machine and folded in three in a second direction. There is.

Also, the first folding the sheet in the first direction
It is also possible to use a paper folding machine having a paper folding unit and a second paper folding unit for folding the sheet folded by the first paper folding unit in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction. is there. In the case of this paper folding machine, the sheet folded in the first direction in the first paper folding section is conveyed to the second paper folding section, and the sheet is folded in the second direction in the second paper folding section. Fold in three.

[0007]

However, the former method has a drawback in that the work is complicated because it requires a plurality of steps. On the other hand, the latter method has a problem that the paper folding machine is likely to be large and the device is difficult to spread.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a paper folding machine which is suitable for folding a leaflet for direct mail and which can be easily downsized.

[0009]

The paper folding machine according to the present invention comprises:
A fold position determination unit configured by a sheet entrance path and a stopper arranged in the sheet entrance path, a conveyance unit that conveys a sheet to the sheet entrance path, and a leading edge of the sheet comes into contact with the stopper to cause bending. It is characterized in that it has a pair of folding rollers for sandwiching the folded sheet by its flexible portions and folding it, and a disc-shaped creasing die roll for rolling the sheet by rolling contact with the folded sheet by the folding rollers.

[0010]

According to the present invention, a disc-shaped creasing die roll is brought into rolling contact with the sheet folded in two by the folding position determining section and the folding roller to give a folding line along the moving direction of the sheet. In this case, if only one creasing die roll is rollingly contacted with the sheet, the folded shape of the sheet will be the shape shown in FIG. 3B (so-called cross fold). If there are two creasing die rolls rolling on the sheet, the folded shape of the sheet will be the shape shown in FIG.

Conventionally, in a device for folding a sheet in two directions orthogonal to each other, two or more sets of folding position determining units and folding rollers are required. However, in the paper folding machine according to the present invention, the folding position determining unit and the folding roller are sufficient as one set, so that the apparatus can be downsized.

The folding position determining portion is attached to the pivot shaft, for example, an idle roller rotatably attached to the pivot shaft, a flexible plate member forming a sheet entrance path between the idle roller and the outer peripheral surface of the idle roller. It can be configured with a stopper provided. In the folding position determination unit configured as described above, since the sheet that has entered the sheet entry path is curved in an arc shape along the outer peripheral surface of the idle roller, the apparent strength of the sheet in the sheet entry path is high. Become. Therefore, the position where the sheet is bent when the leading edge of the sheet comes into contact with the stopper becomes constant with respect to the length direction of the sheet, and variation in the folding position can be suppressed.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing a paper folding machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side view of the same. A bundle of sheets to be folded is placed on the paper feed table 12. A width guide plate 12a is provided on the side of the paper feed table 12,
The mounting position of the sheet bundle is regulated.

A paper feed plate 13 is provided on the extension of the paper feed tray 12. The paper feed plate 13 is rotatable about a shaft 13a that supports the end on the paper feed tray 12 side, and the other end is attached to the peripheral surface of the paper feed roller 16 by a spring (not shown). It is becoming popular. The sheet on the sheet feeding plate 13 is sent out from the sheet feeding plate 13 by the sheet feeding roller 16 and is conveyed along the sheet feeding guide plate 21.

In the middle of the paper feed guide plate 21, a separating plate 15 is mounted and arranged on the separating table 14. The separating plate 15 is arranged so as to be substantially in contact with the sheet feeding roller 16, and when two or more sheets are conveyed at the same time, the frictional force between the sheet feeding roller 16 and the sheet, the separating plate 1
By utilizing the frictional force between the sheet 5 and the sheet and the difference in the frictional force between the sheets, the sheets are separated and fed one by one.

A guide plate 22 is provided on the downstream side of the separating plate 15 in the sheet flow direction, and the sheet passing between the paper feed roller 16 and the separating plate 15 is guided by the guide plate 22 to form the first and second sheets. It enters between the second folding rollers 17 and 18. The peripheral surfaces of the first and second folding rollers 17 and 18 are both covered with rubber, and the peripheral surfaces of the first and second folding rollers 17 and 18 contact each other to rotate.

The first and second folding rollers 17 and 18
The sheet passing through the space is guided by the guide plate 25, and the slit 3 between the idle roller 31 and the flexible thin plate 34 is guided.
Enter within 5. The idle roller 31 is a resin-molded disk-shaped member and is rotatably attached to the pivot 30. The pivot 30 is rotatably supported by the side plate 10. A fixing member 33 is fixed to the pivot 30 with the idle roller 31 interposed therebetween.
A plate-shaped stopper 32 is fixed to the. Axis 30
Is a shaft for setting the position of the stopper 32, which is normally locked and fixed by an angle setting mechanism (not shown), but when setting the position of the stopper 32, the lock by the angle setting mechanism is released. It can be rotated.

On the other hand, the flexible thin plate 34 is a strip-shaped plastic plate having a smooth surface, which is arranged so as to be curved along the outer periphery of the idle roller 31, and both ends thereof are fixed by fixing members 36. Although the thin plate 34 is easily deformed in terms of material, since it is disposed so as to face the peripheral surface of the idle roller 31, deformation and damage can be avoided.

A third folding roller 20 made of metal is disposed near the guide plate 25 with its peripheral surface in contact with the peripheral surface of the first folding roller 17. This third folding roller 2
Two creasing die rolls 19 are provided above the shaft 0a.
Is supported and disposed. This die roll 19
It is a disc-shaped plate having a sharp peripheral surface, and rotates by rolling contact with the third folding roller 20. The sheet that has passed between the third folding roller 20 and the creasing die roll 19 is discharged onto the paper discharge unit 24.

The paper feed roller 16, the folding roller 17,
The driving force is transmitted from the motor 23 to the 18, 20 and creasing die rolls 19 via a driving force transmission mechanism (not shown), and they rotate in the directions shown by the arrows in the figure.

Next, the operation of the paper folding machine according to this embodiment constructed as described above will be described.

The uppermost sheet of the sheet bundle placed on the paper feed tray 12 is sent out by the paper feed roller 16, passes between the paper feed roller 16 and the leading end of the paper feed plate 13, and passes through the separating plate 15. And the paper feed roller 16 enter. In this case,
Even if two or more sheets enter between the separating plate 15 and the sheet feeding roller 16 at the same time, each sheet is separated by the separating action of the separating plate 15 and the sheet feeding roller 16, and the uppermost sheet is separated one by one. It is delivered sequentially.

The sheet separated into one sheet between the paper feed roller 16 and the separating plate 15 is sandwiched between the folding rollers 17 and 18, guided by the guide plate 25, and the idle roller 31.
And into the slit 35 between the flexible thin plate 34.
At this time, when the edge of the sheet comes into contact with the idle roller 31, the idle roller 31 rotates in the sheet moving direction, so that the sheet smoothly advances in the slit 35 with almost no resistance.

When the leading edge of the sheet comes into contact with the stopper 32, the sheet is bent near the upper end of the guide plate 25, and the bent portion is sandwiched between the rollers 17 and 20. And
When the sheet passes between the rollers 17 and 20, the sheet is folded in two. When the sheet is fed along the slit 35, the sheet is flexible thin plate 34.
It is conveyed while sliding on and is curved in an arc shape. Therefore, the apparent strength of the sheet is improved, and the position where the sheet is bent is always constant with respect to the length direction of the sheet. Therefore, from the upper end of the guide plate 25 to the stopper 32
By setting the distance to (the distance along the surfaces of the guide plate 25 and the flexible thin plate 34) to half the sheet length,
The sheet can be folded almost exactly in the center in two.

The sheet folded in half by the folding rollers 17 and 20 is then sandwiched between the folding roller 20 and the creasing die roll 19 and passes between the folding roller 20 and the creasing die roll 19. At this time, two fold lines along the sheet traveling direction are attached to the sheet by the two die rolls 19. In this case, the position of the die roll 19 is set in advance so as to be inwardly folded into three, so that the folding roller 20 and the die roll 1 are
The sheet discharged to the discharge unit 24 after passing between the sheet 9 and
As shown in Fig. 3 (a), it is folded in two at the center and further
It is folded into one and folded into a folded shape that can be enclosed in a rectangular envelope.

In this embodiment, if only one creasing die roll 19 is attached to the central portion of the shaft 19a, the sheet can be folded into the shape shown in FIG.

In the apparatus of this embodiment, the sheet is compared with the conventional paper folding machine provided with a plurality of paper folding units for folding the sheet in the first direction and the second direction orthogonal to the first direction. The number of rollers for folding the device is small, and it is easy to downsize the device. Further, since the sheet is bent in an arc shape by the idle roller 31 and the flexible thin plate 34 to determine the folding position of the sheet, there is very little variation in the folding position of the sheet. There is also an effect that various folding shapes can be easily dealt with by changing the number of fixing creasing die rolls 19 and the arrangement position.

[0029]

As described above, in the paper folding machine according to the present invention, the sheet folded by the folding roller is provided with the creasing die roll for making a folding line in the direction orthogonal to the folding line. The device can be downsized as compared with the conventional one, and various folding shapes can be easily accommodated.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing a paper folding machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the same.

3A and 3B are side views showing a folded shape of a sheet.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10; Side plate 12; Paper feed table 13; Paper feed plate 14; Separation board 15; Separation board 16; Paper feed roller 17, 18, 20; Folding roller 19; Crease die roll 22, 25; Guide plate 23; Motor 24; Ejection Paper part 30; Axis 31; Idle roller 32; Stopper 34; Flexible thin plate 35; Slit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A folding position deciding unit configured by a sheet entrance path and a stopper arranged in the sheet entrance path, and a conveying unit for conveying the sheet to the sheet entrance path,
A pair of folding rollers that folds a sheet that is bent due to the leading edge of the sheet abutting the stopper, and a disc-shaped roller that rolls on the sheet folded by the folding rollers to make a fold line on the sheet. A paper folding machine having a creasing die roll. 2. The folding position determining unit includes a pivot arranged parallel to an axis of the folding roller, an idle roller rotatably attached to the pivot, and an arc shape along an outer peripheral surface of the idle roller. 2. The paper folding machine according to claim 1, further comprising: a flexible plate member that is arranged in a sheet of paper and that forms the sheet entrance path with the outer peripheral surface of the idle roller.