Manufacturing container or tube from paper; or other manufacturi – Bending – Folding
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-18
2001-03-27
Vo, Peter (Department: 3721)
Manufacturing container or tube from paper; or other manufacturi
Bending
Folding
C493S023000, C493S405000, C493S420000, C493S435000, C493S442000, C493S460000, C271S184000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06206817
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention is generally related to a folding apparatus for folding a sheet of a document into a folded piece and, in particular, to a folding apparatus wherein the folded piece can be directed to an envelope inserting machine to be inserted into an envelope, or to a tabbing apparatus to be sealed and used as a self-mailer.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A self-mailer is conventionally defined as a mailpiece without an envelope. The self-mailer usually contains one or more sheets of printed material, folded once or twice by a folding machine into a smaller piece for mailing. Typically, the folded piece has a folded end and an open end (see FIGS.
11
-
14
). The open end is sealed with one or more tabs before the self-mailer is sent to the addressee.
Folding machines are well-known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,701,233 (Beck et al.) discloses a method of folding a sheet by bulging a portion of the sheet and then folding the bulged portion through a roller nip. U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,965 (Marzullo) discloses a folding apparatus wherein a buckle chute is used for stopping a sheet, causing the sheet to enter a roller nip for folding. U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,131 (Gough) also discloses a folding apparatus having a buckle chute. With the above-identified folding machines, when the folded piece exits the folding apparatus, it travels in the direction of the fold. This means that the folded end is leading the open end. Folding machines are generally designed for folding enclosure material to be inserted into envelopes in an envelope inserting device. In this particular application, the traveling direction of the folded piece is not very important. But for tabbing purposes, it is desirable that the folded piece travels with the open end leading the folded end. Thus, while the traveling direction of the folded piece exiting a prior art folding machine is suitable for envelope insertion, it is not suitable for tabbing.
It is advantageous and desirable to provide a method and an apparatus for folding sheets wherein the leading edge of the folded piece exiting the folding apparatus can be selected. Furthermore, it is advantageous and desirable to provide a method and apparatus for folding sheets wherein the length of the sheet to be folded and the type of fold for the folded piece can be easily selected.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The first aspect of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for folding a sheet having a certain length into a folded piece of a fold type having a first edge and an opposing second edge, wherein the apparatus includes a selecting mechanism to select he sheet length and the fold type, and a path directing mechanism to allow the folded piece to exit the folding apparatus with the first edge trailing or leading the second edge.
Accordingly, the folding apparatus of the present invention has a plurality of settings for selecting different fold types and selecting different sizes of the sheet to be folded. The folding apparatus comprises: a folding station, a feeding mechanism to feed the sheet into the folding station in order to fold the sheet into a folded piece; a turn chute having an ingesting nip to ingest the folded piece into the turn chute with the first edge leading the second edge, and an exiting nip to move the ingested folded piece out of the turn chute with the second edge leading the first edge.
Preferably, the folding station comprises: a first buckle chute for receiving the sheet fed into the folding station and folding the fed sheet into a folded sheet, a second buckle chute, and a deflector gate operable at a first gate position and a second gate position, wherein when the deflector gate is operated at the first gate position, the deflector gate causes the folded sheet to be ingested into the turn chute directly from the first buckle chute, and when the deflector gate is operated at the second gate position, the deflector gate allows the folded sheet to enter the second buckle chute to be folded again into the folded piece.
Preferably, the turn chute also includes a direct exit, and a reversing stop operable at a first position and a second position, wherein when the reversing stop is operated at the first position, the reversing stop causes the ingested folded piece to be engaged with the exiting nip so as to allow the exiting nip to move the ingested folded piece out of the turn chute with the second edge leading the first edge; and when the reversing stop is operated at the second position, the ingested folded piece is allowed to exit through the direct exit with the first edge leading the second edge.
Preferably, the reversing stop in the turn chute is adjustable to suit the fold type and the sheet length; and the first buckle chute is adjustable to suit the fold type and the sheet length; and the folding apparatus further includes a selecting mechanism linking to the first buckle chute, the reversing stop in the turn chute and the deflector gate for simultaneously selecting the operating position of the deflector gate and adjusting the first buckle chute and the reversing stop in order to suit the fold type and the sheet length in accordance with the settings.
The second aspect of the present invention is to provide a method of folding a sheet having a certain length into a folded sheet of a fold type. The folding method comprises the steps of: providing the sheet to be folded; folding the sheet into a folded piece having a first edge and an opposing second edge, wherein the folded piece moves in a direction with the first edge leading the second edge after the sheet is folded; and controlling the moving direction of the folded piece so that the first edge leads or trails the second edge.
Preferably, the folding step is carried out in a buckle chute that makes a single fold and has a sheet stop for selecting the fold type and the sheet length, and the controlling step is carried out in a turn chute having a reversing stop adjustable to suit the fold type and the sheet length, wherein the sheet stop and the reversing stop are linked to a turn knob for simultaneously adjusting the reversing stop and sheet stop to suit the fold type and the sheet length.
Preferably, the folding step is further carried out in a second buckle chute for making a second fold if required.
It is also preferred that the turn chute has a direct exit and a reversing exit, and the reversing stop is operable at a first position to cause the folded piece to exit through the reversing exit with the second edge leading the first edge, and a second position to allow the folded piece to exit through the direct exit with the first edge leading the second edge.
The method and apparatus for folding a sheet into a folded piece, according to the present invention, will become apparent upon reading the description taken in conjunction with
FIG. 1
to FIG.
14
.
REFERENCES:
patent: 1813476 (1931-07-01), Waterworth
patent: 5192389 (1993-03-01), Martin
patent: 5196083 (1993-03-01), Baker et al.
patent: 5441244 (1995-08-01), Bartose et al.
patent: 5514066 (1996-05-01), Monaco
patent: 5520603 (1996-05-01), Bluthardt et al.
patent: 5769774 (1998-06-01), Beck et al.
patent: 5802808 (1998-09-01), Lyga
patent: 5813327 (1998-08-01), Freeman et al.
patent: 5816570 (1998-10-01), Paradis et al.
patent: 5818724 (1998-10-01), Brewster, Jr. et al.
Sette Paul R.
Sloan, Jr. Richard A.
Desai Hemant M
Levitsky Paul A.
Melton Michael E.
Pitney Bowes Inc.
Vo Peter
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