FOLDING APPARATUS AND METHOD
First Claim
1. A method for forming a single sheet of a web of material into a zig-zag folded stack of panels of the web of material comprising:
- feeding the web of material to a pair of counter-rotating folding rolls of a folding apparatus, the counter-rotating rolls having a nip therebetween;
folding the web of material into a plurality of interconnected zig-zag folded panels;
separating the web of material into sheets upstream of the nip between the pair of counter-rotating rolls; and
forming each sheet into a discrete stack of a plurality of zig-zag folded panels.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Apparatuses and methods of forming discrete stacks of a plurality of zig-zag folded panels are provided. The apparatus and methods include defining a sheet to form all of the panels of the discrete stack of panels. The sheet may be defined by cutting the sheet from the web prior to folding the web into the interconnected panels for each sheet. The sheet may be defined by forming a separation line prior to folding the web into the interconnected panels for each sheet and then separating the sheet from the web of material at the separation line after the web of material is folded into the interconnected panels.
16 Citations
32 Claims
-
1. A method for forming a single sheet of a web of material into a zig-zag folded stack of panels of the web of material comprising:
-
feeding the web of material to a pair of counter-rotating folding rolls of a folding apparatus, the counter-rotating rolls having a nip therebetween; folding the web of material into a plurality of interconnected zig-zag folded panels; separating the web of material into sheets upstream of the nip between the pair of counter-rotating rolls; and forming each sheet into a discrete stack of a plurality of zig-zag folded panels. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. A method of forming a plurality of discrete zig-zag folded stacks of panels of a web of material comprising:
-
feeding the web of material to a pair of counter-rotating folding rolls of a folding apparatus, the counter-rotating rolls having a nip therebetween; folding the web of material into a plurality of zig-zag folded panels joined to one another along common fold lines disposed between adjacent panels; forming a separation line in the web of material establishing the location of a trailing end of a downstream sheet and an upstream sheet, the downstream and upstream sheets remaining interconnected after formation of the separation line, the separation line being formed upstream of the nip between the pair of counter-rotating rolls; stacking the plurality of zig-zag folded panels into a stack of zig-zag folded panels; and separating a discrete stack of a plurality of the zig-zag folded panels from the stack of zig-zag folded panels by disconnecting the downstream sheet from the upstream sheet at the separation line therebetween. - View Dependent Claims (10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
-
-
11. The method of claim 11, wherein the separation line is formed between a last fold line of the downstream sheet and a first fold line of the upstream sheet, wherein a last panel of the downstream sheet formed between the last fold line and the trailing end thereof is less than a full panel and a first panel of the upstream sheet formed between the first fold line and the leading end thereof is less than a full panel.
-
19. A folding apparatus for forming discrete stacks of a plurality of zig-zag folded panels joined together along common fold lines disposed between adjacent panels from a web of material, each discrete stack formed from a single sheet formed from a continuous web of material, the folding apparatus comprising:
-
a pair of counter-rotating folding rolls forming a nip therebetween for zig-zag folding the web of material into the plurality of zig-zag folded panels joined together along common fold lines disposed between adjacent panels; a cutting arrangement upstream of the pair of counter-rotating folding rolls for cutting a sheet from the web of material, a stacking arrangement for stacking the zig-zag folded panels as the panels exit the pair of counter-rotating folding rolls. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23)
-
-
24. A folding apparatus for forming discrete stacks of a plurality of zig-zag folded panels joined together along common fold lines disposed between adjacent panels from a web of material, the folding apparatus comprising:
-
a pair of counter-rotating folding rolls forming a nip therebetween for zig-zag folding the web of material into zig-zag folded panels joined together along common fold lines disposed between adjacent panels to form a stack of zig-zag folded panels; a separation line arrangement upstream of the pair of counter-rotating folding rolls configured to form a separation line in the web of material defining downstream and upstream sheets, the separation line arrangement configured such that the separation line does not completely sever the web of material and the downstream and upstream sheets remain interconnected after passing through the separation line arrangement; a separation arrangement downstream of the counter-rotating folding rolls configured to operatively separate each sheet from the web of material into a discrete stack of a plurality of zig-zag folded panels at the separation line. - View Dependent Claims (20, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
-
Specification