Folding Machine and Operation Method of the Same

This application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2024-098924 filed on Jun. 19, 2024, and Japanese Patent Application No. 2025-075489 filed on Apr. 30, 2025, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

The present disclosure relates to a folding machine for folding a sheet such as paper, for example, and an operation method of the folding machine.

As illustrated in Japanese Patent No. 5522805, a paper folding machine (folding machine) configured to fold paper by moving a knife onto the paper (sheet) and holding the paper between folding rollers is known. The paper folding machine is provided with a stopper configured to stop paper transported by conveyor belts.

When the leading end of paper collides with the stopper, the paper may float due to the impact of the collision. Accordingly, in Japanese Patent No. 5522805, the transport speed of paper is reduced before the paper collides with the stopper, and thereby floating of the paper is prevented.

It may be effective to reduce the impact force between the stopper and paper to suppress floating of the paper as with Japanese Patent No. 5522805. However, thinner paper or larger-size paper results in increased bending (waviness) of paper during transportation, and mere adjustment of the transport speed may insufficiently suppress floating of paper.

Further, although a brush may be used to press paper, the use of brush is unable to provide fine adjustment of the clearance through which paper passes when there is a change in the thickness of paper, the number of stacks of paper (the number of folds such as fold sections), or the like, and floating of paper when the leading end of the paper collides with the stopper may not be suitably suppressed.

The present disclosure has been made in view of such circumstances and intends to provide a folding machine that can suppress floating of a sheet as much as possible that may be caused when the sheet is stopped by a stopper and provide an operation method of the folding machine.

To achieve the above object, the folding machine and the operation method of the same of the present disclosure employ the following solutions.

A folding machine according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes: a conveyor belt configured to transport a sheet; a stopper configured to abut against the leading end of the sheet to stop the sheet; a knife having an elongated shape and configured to move onto a folding position of the sheet stopped by the stopper; at least one guide made of a rigid material and configured to hold the sheet between the conveyor belt and the guide and press the sheet transported to the stopper; and a clearance adjusting unit configured to adjust the clearance between the guide and the conveyor belt.

Floating of the sheet transported by the conveyor belts is suppressed by the guides when the leading end of the sheet abuts against the stopper. The knife having an elongated shape then moves onto the sheet, the sheet is guided and held between the folding rollers arranged opposite each other interposing the sheet, and thereby the sheet is folded, for example.

Since the guide is made of a rigid material and has a smaller amount of elastic deformation than in a case where an elastic material such as a brush is used, the clearance between the conveyor belt and the guide can be accurately determined. Further, the clearance between the conveyor belt and the guide is adjusted by the clearance adjusting unit and thus can be adjusted to a suitable clearance dimension in accordance with the thickness of the sheet or the number of stacked sheets (the number of folds of a sheet). Accordingly, the stop position of the sheet is accurately determined for any thickness of the sheet or any number of stacked sheets, and this enables precise folding with a knife. Since the clearance can be adjusted precisely, the present aspect is particularly effective when the bending of the sheet increases due to the sheet being thinner or larger.

For example, a metal guide can be used as the guide made of a rigid material.

The sheet may typically be paper.

Further, in the folding machine according to one aspect of the present disclosure, the guide has an elongated shape extending in a transport direction of the conveyor belt, and a plurality of guides are provided in an orthogonal direction that is orthogonal to the transport direction, and the position in the orthogonal direction of each of the guides is variable.

A plurality of guides each having an elongated shape extending in the transport direction are provided in the orthogonal direction that is orthogonal to the transport direction. Accordingly, floating of the sheet not only in the transport direction but also in the orthogonal direction can be suppressed.

Since the position in the orthogonal direction of each guide is variable, the position of the guide can be set as appropriate in accordance with the dimension in the orthogonal direction of the sheet. Accordingly, the folding machine is adaptable to sheets of various sizes.

Further, in the folding machine according to one aspect of the present disclosure, the knife is fixed to a body, and the guides are arranged on both sides of the knife, respectively.

Since the knife is fixed to the body, the folding position of the sheet defined by the knife is determined with respect to the body. The plurality of guides are arranged on both sides of the knife. Accordingly, while causing the knife to be located at substantially the center in the width direction (the orthogonal direction that is orthogonal to the transport direction) of the sheet, it is possible to accurately position the sheet at the stop position.

Further, in the folding machine according to one aspect of the present disclosure, each of the guides is expandable in a longitudinal direction along the transport direction.

Since each guide is expandable in the longitudinal direction along the transport direction, the length of the guide can be set as appropriate in accordance with the dimension in the transport direction of the sheet. Accordingly, the folding machine is adaptable to sheets of various sizes.

For example, when the guide is configured to have a sleeve structure formed of a cylindrical part and a core part inserted into the cylindrical part, the guide can be extended and retracted in the longitudinal direction.

Further, the folding machine according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes a control unit configured to adjust the clearance defined by the clearance adjusting unit.

The adjustment of the clearance can be automatically performed by instructions from the control unit instead of manually.

Further, an operation method of a folding machine according to one aspect of the present disclosure is an operation method of a folding machine including a conveyor belt configured to transport a sheet, a stopper configured to abut against the leading end of the sheet to stop the sheet, a knife having an elongated shape and configured to move onto a folding position of the sheet stopped by the stopper, and at least one guide made of a rigid material and configured to hold the sheet between the conveyor belt and the guide and press the sheet transported to the stopper, and the operation method has a clearance adjusting step of adjusting the clearance between the guide and the conveyor belt.

Floating of a sheet when the sheet is stopped by the stopper can be suppressed as much as possible.

One embodiment of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the drawings.

schematically illustrates a paper folding machine. The paper folding machineincludes a sheet feed unit, a parallel folding unit, and a knife folding unit.

The sheet feed unitincludes a placement tableon which a plurality of sheets S are stacked and arranged and a sheet feed rollerthat is operated by instructions from a control unit (not illustrated). A sheet S is taken one by one from the top of the stacked sheets S, and a sheet S is transported in the transport direction Atoward the parallel folding unit.

The parallel folding unithas a plurality of folding rollersThe plurality of folding rollersare operated by the control unit, and thereby the sheet S is held and folded between the folding rollersIn the parallel folding unit, the sheet S is given a folding line in the orthogonal direction Aorthogonal to the transport direction Aby the folding rollersand folded in half. A sheet Sdouble-folded in half in the transport direction Ais transported to the knife folding unit.

The knife folding unithas a knifehaving an elongated shape extending in the transport direction Aand a pair of knife-adapted folding rollersprovided below the knife. The double-folded sheet Sis stopped between the knifeand the knife-adapted folding rollers, and the knifeis moved downward to press the sheet Sagainst the knife-adapted folding rollersand hold the sheet Sbetween the pair of knife-adapted folding rollers. Accordingly, the double-folded sheet Sis further folded in half in the width direction (the orthogonal direction A), and a four-folded sheet Sis formed.

illustrates a main part of the knife folding unit. As illustrated in, the knife folding unitincludes the knife, a plurality of guideseach having an elongated shape and provided on both sides of the knife, a plurality of conveyor beltsprovided below the guides, and stoppersprovided downstream of the guides.

The knifeis arranged above the sheet S, arranged at substantially the center in the orthogonal direction A, and fixed to the body of the knife folding unit. That is, the folding position of the sheet S defined by the knifeis fixed relative to the body of the knife folding unit, and this position is used as the center reference position in the orthogonal direction Aof the paper folding machine. Note that, while the knife-adapted folding rollersillustrated inare arranged below the knifeand the sheet S, the depiction thereof is omitted in.

As illustrated inin a partially enlarged view, the knifehas a shaft partand a blade partThe shaft parthas a round rod shape extending in the transport direction A. Although not illustrated, a knife drive mechanism is connected to the shaft partand the shaft partis reciprocated in the vertical direction A. This enables the knifeto move closer to or away from the sheet S. The operation of the knife drive mechanism is controlled by the control unit.

The blade partis fixed to the bottom of the shaft partThe blade partis a plate-like member extending in the transport direction Al, and a tapered edgepoints vertically downward. The edgeof the blade partabuts against the sheet S. As illustrated in, a plurality of guidesare provided on the sides (in the orthogonal direction A) of the knife. Each guidehas an elongated shape extending in the transport direction A, is made of a metal such as stainless steel, and is made of a rigid material. Herein, the rigid material means that it exhibits a smaller amount of elastic deformation than elastic materials such as a brush.

In, three guidesare provided on each of both sides of the knife. However, the number of guidesis not limited to the above, two guides or four or more guides may be provided on each of both sides of the knife.

The lower ends of the guidesrestrict upward motion of the sheet S and thereby suppress floating of the sheet S. That is, floating in the longitudinal direction of the sheet S is suppressed by respective guidesextending in the transport direction A, and floating in the width direction (the orthogonal direction A) of the sheet is suppressed by the plurality of guidesprovided spaced apart from each other by a predetermined interval in the orthogonal direction A. The height position of the guide, that is, the positional relationship of the guiderelative to the sheet S is made variable and can be set as appropriate by the lifting mechanism. The lifting mechanismwill be described later.

The guidehas a core partlocated downstream in the longitudinal direction (the transport direction A) and a cylindrical partlocated upstream from the core partThe guidehas a sleeve structure in which the upstream end of the core partis inserted into the cylindrical partand the core partcan be displaced in the longitudinal direction relative to the cylindrical partThis enables a change of the length in the longitudinal direction of the guide.

A holeis formed at the downstream end of the core partof each guide, and a downstream slide shaftis provided so as to pass through each hole. The downstream slide shafthas a round rod shape, extends in the orthogonal direction A, and one downstream slide shaftis provided on each of both sides of the knife. Each downstream slide shaftis fixed to a downstream fixing partprovided on each of both side parts in the orthogonal direction A. The downstream fixing partis a member supporting the end of the downstream slide shaftand is not displaced in the orthogonal direction Abut can be displaced back and forth in the transport direction A(see). In, three core partsare supported by each of the left and right downstream slide shaftsinterposing the knife.

A holeis formed in the cylindrical partof each guide, and an upstream slide shaftis provided so as to pass through each hole. The upstream slide shaftextends in the orthogonal direction A, and one upstream slide shaftis provided on each of both sides of the knife. Each upstream slide shafthas a round rod shape and is fixed to an upstream fixing partprovided on each of both side parts in the orthogonal direction A. The upstream fixing partis a member supporting the end of the upstream slide shaftand is displaced neither in the orthogonal direction Anor in the transport direction A(see). Therefore, the cylindrical partof the guideis not displaced but fixed in the transport direction A. In, three cylindrical partsare supported by each of the left and right upstream slide shaftsinterposing the knife.

A plurality of conveyor beltsare provided below respective guidesso as to be located interposing the sheet S between the conveyor beltsand the guides. Each conveyor beltis of the endless type and extends in the transport direction A. The conveyor beltsare provided on both sides of the knife, respectively. In, three conveyor beltsare provided on each of both sides of the knife. However, the number of conveyor beltsis not limited to the above.

The conveyor beltsare each stretched around rollers (not illustrated) at both ends in the transport direction A. One of the rollers is a driving roller, and the other is a driven roller. The rotational rate of the driving roller is controlled by a control unit (not illustrated).

The sheet S is placed on the top faces of respective conveyor beltsand, in this state, transported in the transport direction A. The sheet S travels through the clearance between the top faces of the conveyor beltsand the bottom faces of the guides.

The stoppersare provided on the downstream end side in the transport direction Aof the guide. The stoppersstop the sheet S when the leading end of the sheet S transported by the conveyor beltsabuts against the stoppers.

The stoppersinclude a center stopperhaving a gate-like shape through which the knifepasses and side stoppersarranged on both sides of the center stopper, respectively. The dimension in the width direction (the orthogonal direction A) of the side stopperis larger than that of the center stopper

The center stopperand the side stoppersare fixed to one fixing beamthat is a square bar, respectively. Each of both ends of the fixing beamis fixed to each fixing part.

The downstream end of each guideis located upstream of the stopper, and a positional relationship in which the stopperand each guidedo not interfere with each other is established.

illustrates a case where a smaller sheet S than the sheet S used inis processed. As illustrated in, when the smaller sheet S is processed, the stoppersare moved upstream in the transport direction A, and the guidesand the conveyor beltsare moved to the knifeside located at the center.

When the stoppersare moved upstream in the transport direction A, the downstream fixing partsare displaced with respect to the upstream fixing partsfixed on the body side of the paper folding machine. At this time, the core partsare inserted in the cylindrical partsof the guides, and thereby the length of each guideis reduced. When the stoppersare moved downstream in the transport direction A, the operation opposite to the above is applied. The motion of the downstream fixing partsmay be performed manually or may be performed automatically in accordance with instructions from the control unit based on information on the sheet S and/or fold sections.

A single guideand a single conveyor beltassociated with each other in the vertical direction Aare moved integrally in the orthogonal direction Aalong the downstream slide shaftand the upstream slide shaft.

illustrates a state where a single guideand a single conveyor beltassociated with each other in the vertical direction Aare connected to each other. In, a conveyor belt-adapted base plate(hereafter, simply referred to as “base plate”) is provided on the side of the conveyor belt. The base plateextends in the transport direction Aalong the conveyor belt. Although not illustrated, a driving roller and a driven roller around which the conveyor beltis stretched are held by the base plate. This enables the conveyor beltto move together with the base plate.