Manufacturing container or tube from paper; or other manufacturi – Bending – Folding
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-10
2001-07-03
Gerrity, Stephen F. (Department: 3721)
Manufacturing container or tube from paper; or other manufacturi
Bending
Folding
C493S463000, C493S458000, C493S447000, C493S966000, C493S474000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06254523
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a method of imparting directional permanency of folding to a sheet efficiently, when one or a plurality of ridge-like (outward) folds and one or a plurality of valley-like (inward) folds are formed alternately in a sheet such as a pasteboard, a corrugated cardboard or other sheets having some degree of hardness, along folding ruled lines formed in parallel and orthogonal to the longitudinal dimension of the sheet, so that the sheet is folded accurately in accordance with the design in the following processing. This invention also relates to an apparatus for the method.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Recently, it has been proposed to use, as frame bodies for protecting and packaging an electric or electronic equipment product effectively when the articles are packed in a case or cushioning members for packaging, a recyclable sheet such as a pasteboard or a corrugated cardboard instead of a plastic foam body such as styrene foam.
One frame body or cushioning member is a corrugated cardboard block formed by zigzag folding of the sheet.
Another frame body or cushioning member using corrugated cardboard or the pasteboard is, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application laid-open No.60-32274, a hollow block with a pseudo-honeycomb section formed by repeatedly folding a sheet at a predetermined interval and bonding or connecting necessary folds (folded parts) to each other.
In manufacturing the above-mentioned frame bodies or cushioning members, at first, the sheet member such as the pasteboard or the corrugated cardboard is cut according to the design and folding ruled lines are formed orthogonal to the longitudinal dimension of the sheet with press lines by a press, perforated lines, intermittent cutting lines or the like according to the design.
Next, the sheet is folded along the above-mentioned ruled lines so that the ridge-like folds and the valley-like folds are formed alternately and then necessary portions are pasted to each other to make a block of a desired shape.
The frame bodies or cushioning members should be manufactured to have an accurate shape and size, since, as previously mentioned, they are used for supporting articles properly and protecting the articles from impact in circulation and for packaging the articles easily and efficiently.
It is difficult to manufacture the product of an accurate shape and size because the folded part tends to shift easily when the sheet, formed as above-mentioned, is folded by industrial means along the folding ruled lines. In order to fold the sheet along the folding ruled lines accurately and industrially, it is preferable to give directional permanency of folding (folding habit) to the folding ruled lines of the sheet.
However, no industrial means for imparting accurate directional permanency of folding to the sheet along many folding ruled lines formed in the sheet has been developed (it has been conducted by handwork). Therefore, the frame bodies or cushioning members of plastic foam have not been yet replaced by those using the sheet of a pasteboard, a corrugated cardboard or other recyclable materials.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a method of imparting directional permanency of folding to a sheet accurately and quickly along many folding ruled lines formed in the sheet beforehand, in the manufacturing process of the frame bodies, cushioning members or other block products made of paper or other easily recyclable materials.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for suitably performing the method of imparting directional permanency of folding to a sheet to achieve the abovementioned object.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for imparting directional permanency of folding to a sheet, which is capable of forming two different kinds of ridge-like folds (a reverse V-shaped fold and a reverse U-shaped fold) and two different kinds of valley-like folds (a V-shaped fold and a U-shaped fold) in the same apparatus.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for imparting directional permanency of folding to a sheet, which is capable of imparting directional permanency of folding, to various kinds of sheet in the same apparatus, even though the distances between folding ruled lines formed in a large number in the sheet vary depending on the kind of sheet to be processed.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned objects, the method of imparting directional permanency of folding to a sheet according to the present invention is as follows.
A method of imparting directional permanency of folding to a sheet according to the first embodiment of the method of the present invention comprises, in a process for forming ridge-like folds a
6
and valley-like folds a
7
alternately in a sheet a, a first step of supplying the sheet a formed with many folding ruled lines a
2
in parallel and orthogonal to the longitudinal dimension of the sheet, to a predetermined working position lb, a second step of disposing respective folding working tools
21
-
26
along the respective folding ruled lines a
2
on the surface of the sheet which becomes an inner surface when the sheet a is folded along the respective folding ruled lines a
2
, a third step of shifting respective folding working tools
21
-
26
,
31
-
36
, disposed on one or both surfaces of the sheet a, in required amounts in the folding direction along respective folding ruled lines
2
a
and a fourth step of shortening distances between the respective folding working tools
21
-
26
,
31
-
36
at a uniform ratio in accordance with an apparent amount of shortening of the longitudinal dimension caused by the shifting, while synchronizing with the third step.
According to the method of imparting folding directional permanency to a sheet of the first embodiment, since the method comprises the third step of shifting respective folding working tools
21
-
26
,
31
-
36
, disposed on one or both surfaces of the sheet a, in required amounts so that the sheet a is bent along the respective folding ruled lines a
2
and the fourth step of shortening distances between the respective folding working tools
21
-
26
,
31
-
36
at a uniform ratio in accordance with an apparent amount of shortening of the longitudinal dimension caused by the shifting while synchronizing with the third step, the folding directional permanency can be imparted to the sheet a along the folding ruled lines a
2
accurately and industrially.
Therefore, it enables the product to be manufactured in an accurate solid shape from the sheet a industrially.
A method of imparting directional permanency of folding to a sheet according to a second embodiment of the present invention comprises, in addition to the steps of imparting directional permanency of folding to a sheet according to the first embodiment, a fifth step of moving the respective folding working tools
21
-
26
,
31
-
36
away from the sheet a after the fourth step and a sixth step of returning the respective folding working tools
21
-
26
,
31
-
36
to the initial position, and the first step to the sixth step are repeated.
According to the method of imparting folding directional permanency to a sheet in the second embodiment, since the method comprises the fifth step of moving the respective folding working tools
21
-
26
,
31
-
36
away from the sheet a and the sixth step of returning the respective folding working tools
21
-
26
,
31
-
36
to the original position and a cycle from the first step to the sixth step is repeated, directional permanency of folding can be imparted to a long sheet continuously and accurately.
A method of imparting directional permanency of folding to a sheet according to a third embodiment of the present invention is a modification of the process of imparting directional permanency of folding to a sheet according to the first embodiment, wherein the sheet a is supplied to a predetermined working position lb in the second step by conveying it from one s
Yamamoto Masahiro
Yokoyama Yoshimasa
Gerrity Stephen F.
Hitachi Zosen Corporation
Lorusso & Loud
Tawfik Sam
LandOfFree
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