| 摘要 |
Disclosed is an automatic paper folding apparatus and method for folding cut sheet paper products, whether single sheets or multiple piles as in a "signature" that is already folded by a printing press. The apparatus of the invention contains at least one pair of opposed belts which continuously grip the products and carry them through the apparatus. At least one set of freely rotatable rollers is arrayed along the direction of travel. Each belt has a flat paper-gripping surface, a longitudinal groove on the opposite surface that receives a guide roller, and at least one side surface that slopes away from the folding line. Each roller has a conical forming surface. The angle of inclination of the conical surfaces of the rollers in a set increases incrementally along the direction of travel. As the belts carry the sheets through the apparatus, they each engage the conical surface to fold the sheet against a belt with no substantial degree of relative movement between the sheets and either the belts or rollers. A first set of rollers folds the paper from 0 DEG to 90 DEG . A second set of rollers, each of which has an axis of rotation generally perpendicular to that of the rollers in the first set, folds the paper from 90 DEG to 180 DEG . To fold a product into thirds, these first and second roller sets are located on both sides of a central frame member that extends along the travel path of the product.
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