KNIFE-TYPE FOLDING MACHINE

• US 20200130981A1
• Filed: 10/21/2019
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Horizon International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Horizon International Inc.
• Inventors: YAMAMOTO, Hiroki, NAKAMURA, Yoshikazu, WAKIMOTO, Shigeru, TABUCHI, Hideaki
• Granted Patent: US 11,180,339 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2301/44314 between belts and cylinder
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2404/1521 rotating, pivoting or oscillating around an axis, e.g. parallel to the roller axis
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2404/1522 moving linearly in feeding direction
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2404/1532 the transport surface being a belt
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2513/11 angular
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2701/1313 trailing edge
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 45/16 Rotary folders
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 45/18 Oscillating or reciprocating blade folders carried on rotary members B65H45/16
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 9/06 Movable stops or gauges, e.g. rising and falling front stops B65H11/007 takes precedence

Abstract

A conveying unit 2including conveyor belts 7, a stopper 3positioning a sheet S at a folding position P on a conveying path 2, a knife-type folding unit 4, an anti-bounce roller unit 16having rollers 25a, 25b, and a motor 22 are provided. The rollers can be moved back and forth. A roller rotational speed monitoring unit 31 and a roller position setting unit 32 operatively connected to the motor are further provided. In setting mode, the rollers are moved from an upstream or a downstream of a tail end of the sheet positioned at the folding position P toward the tail end at a constant speed and stopped when the rotational speed of the rollers changes.

Claims

1. A knife-type folding machine comprising:

a conveying unit conveying a sheet along a conveying path;

a stopper extending across the conveying path at a right angle, the sheet being positioned at a predetermined folding position on the conveying path by coming into contact with the stopper at leading end thereof;

a knife-type folding unit folding the sheet positioned at the folding position in a conveying direction; and

an anti-bounce roller unit arranged at an upstream end of the folding position to prevent bounce of the sheet from the stopper, wherein

the conveying unit includes

a pair of drive and idle rollers which are arranged at upstream and downstream ends of the conveying path,

a plurality of conveyor belts extended between the pair of drive and idle rollers, conveying surfaces of the plurality of conveyor belts forming the conveying path, and

a roller drive mechanism rotating the drive roller, wherein

the anti-bounce roller unit includes

a roller support arranged above the folding position,

at least one slide guide extending in the conveying direction above the conveying path, the roller support being slidably attached to the at least one slide guide,

a support drive mechanism sliding the roller support back and forth, and

at least one roller attached to the roller support so as to rotate around a horizontal axis extending at a right angle to the conveying direction while being pressed against the plurality of conveyor belts of the conveying unit,

the sheet entering the folding position while passing through the at least one roller and the plurality of conveyor belts, an outer surface of the at least one roller contacting with a tail end of the sheet when the sheet abuts on the stopper, characterized in that

the knife-type folding machine can switch operation between a normal operation mode and a setting mode, and, in the setting mode, the plurality of conveyor belts of the conveying unit are continuously rotated at a constant speed so that the sheet is conveyed to the folding position and positioned at the folding position while the knife-type folding unit is kept on a standby state, wherein

the knife-type folding machine further comprises

a sensor detecting a rotational speed of the at least one roller of the anti-bounce roller unit,

a roller rotational speed monitoring unit receiving a detection signal from the sensor and sending an appropriate position arrival signal in the setting mode when the rotational speed of the at least one roller starts to change, and

a roller position setting unit operatively connected to the support drive mechanism of the anti-bounce roller unit and activating the support drive mechanism in the setting mode so as to move the at least one roller from an upstream or a downstream of a tail end of the sheet positioned at the folding position toward the tail end at a constant speed and stopping the support drive mechanism when the roller position setting unit receives the appropriate position arrival signal.

2. The knife-type folding machine according to claim 1, wherein the sensor has

a plurality of elements to be detected fixed to one end face of the at least one roller in such a way that the elements to be detected are arranged at a constant angular pitch along a circumference around a rotation axis of the at least one roller, and

a proximity sensor fixed to the roller support in such a way that the proximity sensor faces the elements to be detected and detecting the elements to be detected,

3. The knife-type folding machine according to claim 1, wherein the sensor has

a disc to be detected fixed concentrically to one end face of the at least one roller, a plurality of through holes being formed on the disc to be detected at a constant angular pitch along a circumference of the disc to be detected, and

a pair of photoelectric elements attached to the roller support in such a way that the photoelectric elements are arranged opposite each other across the through holes,

4. The knife-type folding machine according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is a rotary encoder or a potentiometer attached to the rotation axis of the at least one roller of the anti-bounce roller unit.