US3182991A - Web fanfolding mechanism - Google Patents

Description

May 1, 1965 A. F. RODRIGUES WEB FANFOLDING MECHANISM 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 2, 1962 INVENTOR. ANTHONY E POOR/ GU55 ATTORNEYS 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR.

A. F. RODRIGUES WEB FANFOLDING MECHANISM ANTHONY F RODR/GUES May 11, 1965 Filed July 2, 1962 A 7TORNE VS y 11, 1965 A. F. RODRIGUES 3,182,991

WEB FANFOLDING MECHANISM Filed July 2, 1962 a Sheets-Sheet s INVENTOR. ANT/101V) liODAlGl/E.

A 7' TO/PNEVS May 11, 1965 A. F. RODRIGUES WEB FANFOLDING MECHANISM 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 hw ww Filed July 2, 1962 May 11, 1965 A. F. RODRIGUES I 3,182,991

was FANFOLDING MECHANISM e Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed July 2. 1962 IN VEN TOR. ANTHONY E RODR/GUES w wbx A 7'TO/PNE VS 2 A. F. RODRIGUES WEB FANFOLDING MECHANISM May 11, 1965 Filed July 2. 1962 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 INVENTOR. ANTHO F RODRIGUES ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,182,991 WEB FANFOLDING MECHANISM Anthony F. Rodrigues, Los Gatos, Calif, assignor to Cycle Equipment Company Filed July 2, 1962, Ser. No. 206,942 7 (Ilaims. (Cl. 270-73) The present invention relates to tape receiving means or fanfolding mechanisms for tape such .as perforated paper tape, for example, and is concerned more particularly with fanfolding mechanism of compact constructionto enable reduced size of the machine.

. It is an object of the invention to provide an improved fanfolding mechanism.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved fanfolding mechanism, in which a blade can be used either as a folding blade or as a tucking blade to enable the halving of the size of the folding mechanism.

Still another object of the invention is to provide tapereceiving means having a tape-responsive control arm movable in either direction from its normal inactive position to eifect a control of the machine, and associated therewith control means producing an invariable control in the machine irrespective of the direction of the movement of the'control arm.

A further object of the invention is to provide a tape control arm which can be set to the desired adjusted position on its supporting axis in accordance with the desired positionof feed of the tape to the control arm.

The above and other objects of the invention are at- 7 3,182,991 Patented May 71 l, 1965 r Ice cated by the arrow to move the fanfolded tape from the region of the folding drums.

' The respective folding drums 21 and 22 are similar but are assembled in left hand and right hand .fashion so that only one of these drums will be described in detail. The drum 22 includes a bottom wall 31, a central boss 32 in which is press-fitted a shaft 33 carrying a pinion 34at its upper end. Each druin also includes a cylindrical side wall 36 which has an annular groove formed therein at 37. A boss 38 at one portion of the periphery serves to connect the upper part of the surface 36 to the lower 1 and 6).

tained as set forth in the accompanying specification,

taken in connection with the attached drawings, in which:

FIGfl is a plan view of a fanfolding machine;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the fanfolding machine, with certain parts shown in dotted lines;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view illustrating the folding drums and their associated mechanism;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken in planes'indicated by the line 44 in FIG, 3;

FIG. 5 is a detail sectional view taken as indicated by the line 55 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a horizontal sectional view taken as indicated by the line 6-6 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6'but showing other operating positions of the linkage means;

FIGS. 8 through 10 are schematic views illustrating the operation of one of the blades as a folding blade and the other of the blades as a tucking blade;

FIGS. 11 through 12 are schematic views similar to FIGS. 8 through' 10 but illustrating thereversed operation of the blades.

Referring first to FIGS. 1 and 2, the fanfolding machine includes a casting comprising the body or frame of the machine and the housing, and on this housing there is mounted a pair of folding drums 21 and 22,- described in detail hereinafter, which operate'with respect to paper tape 23 fed over a control arm 24 to fanfold this tape and to deliver it to a receiving surface 26 which forms part of the removable or detachable tray 28. The bottom wall 26'of this tray is apertured or slotted to admit two conveyor belts 27 which are carried by respective sets of sheaves 29 which are suitably driven in a direction indi- Referring again to FIGS. 3 and 4, each folding drum "includes a' folding blade which is operative either as a trucking blade or a folding blade on alternate revolutions of the drum so thatvwitheach revolution or cyclethe character of operation of this blade changes and suitable control means are provided for effecting this function.

Referring to FIG. 3, drum 22 has a bell crank 5 1, one end 52 of which is formed as a blade cooperating with the folding surface 41 of the drum, and the other end of which is formed as a U shaped body portion 53. 'The bell crank 51 is pivotally mounted byapin 54 on the lever 56 whose other end is pivotally mounted at 57 in the mounting strap 58 secured torespective bosses 59 and 61 of the drumf The movable pivot pin54 carries an upper cam follower roller 62, and a lower or second cam follower roller 63 is journaled at the end of the U-shaped body portion 53 of the bell crank 51 and depends therefrom to engage a stationary cam 64 secured against rota tion by one or more pins 66 in the frame.

Also, each shaft 33 (FIG. 4) is journaled at its bottom in a bearing 67 in the frame, and at its top by a bearing 68 in a bracket 69 secured in spaced relation from the frame by'means of a'pair of posts 71 (FIG. 2),. This cover or bracket 69 has a cylindrical recess 76 which is offset from the axis of the shaft 33 and has seated therein a bearing 77 carrying-an internal gear 78 having acam or stop projection 79 depending therefrom. This inter nal gear 73 meshes with the. pinion 34 on the shaft 33 and is in the ratio of l to 2 so that the gear 78 and the cam projection 79 will turn-once for each two revolutions of the shaft 33. The bell crank 51 is urged counterclockwise as viewed in FIG. 3 by a spring 81 tension'ed between the bell crank and associated'drum 22 as viewed to the left of FIG. 3, and this spring tends to urgethe bell crank 51 counter-clockwise and also. to cause it to left hand drum of FIG. 3, and to position the tape be:

3 tween the folding surface 41 and the folding blade in the opposite drum.

From the above description, it will be seen that in alternate cycles or revolutions of this tape control means or folding means, each bell crank 51 and its blade 52 is alternately controlled to be either the tucking blade or the folding blade.

Means are provided for stripping tape from a drum after the folding operation, and this means comprises a stripping blade 86 (FIG. 3) projecting into the slot 37 of the associated drum. The fanfolded tape 23 then is fed out onto the table 26 and into engagement with the feed belts 27 to cause it to accumulate in the tray 28. The sharpness of the folds is exaggerated in FIG. 1.

To open the drums, means is provided to mount one of these drums for inward and outward movement with respect to the other, and for this purpose, as seen in FIG. 4, the right hand drum 21 has its shaft 33 journalled in an eccentric bushing 91 carried by a control disk 92 which is adjustable between two positions to bring the drums together or to separate them, and this control disk 92 has associated therewith a manually operable clamping notch 93.

The sequence of the folding operations is shown in FIGS. 8 through 12, and from a study of these views, it will be seen that beginning with FIG. 8 the upper blade 52 is projected by its cam 79 and the lower blade 52 is opened as 'a folding blade so that the tape is introduced between the lower blade 52 and its associated folding surface 42 by the upper blade 52, and subsequently the folding is effected. As rotation of the drums continues, in FIGS. 11 and 12, it is seen that the blades reverse their functions and the upper blade 52 becomes the folding blade and the lower blade 52 becomes the tucking blade.

As noted above, the tape receiving means of the instant invention is a slave machine, and operates to fold the tape only when tape is available and stops operation when tape is not available. In order to receive the tape advantageously from any direction, control arm 24 (FIGS. 1, 2 and 5) comprises a rod 106 carrying an upright shaft 107 on which a roller 108 is mounted in conjunction with a spring-type tape retainer 109. The rod 106 is releasably received in a sleeve .111 and has its inner end notched to embrace shaft 113. Sleeve 111 is clamped by a nut 112 and may be released so that the shaft 106 is positioned in any desired angular position on the shaft 113 pivoted in the frame 20.

At its lower end the shaft 113 (FIGS. 1, 6 and 7) carries a control segment or lever 117 having two links 118 pivoted about respective axes 119 which are symmetrically arranged with respect to the shaft 113. Each of the levers 118 has a slot 121 at its other end which is engaged with a pin 122 at the end of a switch control lever 123 pivoted at 124. The opposite end of the lever 123 is urged counter-clockwise by a spring 126 and is slotted at 127 to engage the control arm 128 of a conventional two-position set switch 129 for the motor 48. Thus in either direction of the movement of the control arm 24, as seen for example in FIG. 7, the rocking of the segment lever 117 in either direction will produce the same invariable movement of the switch lever 123 so that the power control lever 123 enables the source of power invariably irrespective of the direction of movement of the control arm 24. In this way the tape can be placed over the roller 108 extending either from the top side or the bottom side of the view. In this way, when the tape becomes taut, and the fanfolding drums continue to feed the tape, the control arm 24 will be moved to position the switch 129 in its off position. When tape is available and the spring 126 serves to return the arm 24 to its central position, the switch will again be flipped from its off position to its on position.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is apparent that the invention is 4 capable of variation and modification from the forms shown so that its scope should be limited only by the proper scope of the claims appended hereto.

What I claim:

1. In a fanfolding machine for tape such as perforated paper tape, a frame, a pair of folding means mounted for movement on said frame, including a folding blade in each folding means and a folding surface cooperatively related to said folding blade, means for operating said folding means in cyclic fashion, control means for the blade of each fanfolding means for opening and closing said blade with respect to the associated folding surface during one cycle of its operation as a folding blade, and other control means for said blade to cause said blade to project in the next succeeding cycle to tuck the tape with respect to the blade and the associated surface of the other folding means, whereby corresponding blades of said pair of folding means operate alternately with respect to'each other as tucking blades and folding blades.

2. In a fanfolding machine for tape such as perforated paper tape, a frame, a pair of folding means mounted for movement on said frame, including a folding blade in each folding means and a folding surface cooperatively related to said folding blade, means for operating said folding means in cyclic fashion, means for carrying the blade of each fanfolding means through one endless path and for opening said blade and for closing said blade with respect to the associated folding surface during one cycle of its operation as a folding blade, other means for varying the path of said blade to cause said blade to project in the next succeeding cycle to tuck the tape with respect to the blade and the associated folding surface of the other folding means, whereby corresponding blades of said pair of folding means operate alternately with respect to each other as tucking blades and folding blades.

3. In a fanfolding mechanism for fan folding paper tape such as perforated paper, a pair of folding drums mounted about parallel axes on said frame and having surfaces in substantial engagement to effect feeding of the tape therethrough, each of said drums including a folding surface, a combined folding and tucking blade movably mounted on each of said drums for cooperation with the folding surface and the corresponding blade of the other drum, control means for effecting operation of the blade of one of said drums during one rotation or cycle as a folding blade to open said blade with respect to the associated folding surface, and another control means operative to control said blade during the next succeeding rotation or cycle to cause operation of said blade as a tucking blade to move into the space between the other folding blade and its associated folding surface.

4. In a fanfolding mechanism as recited in claim 3, in which said first control means includes spring means normally operative to control the operation of the blade as a folding blade, and cam means automatically brought into play during every other cycle or rotation of said drum to override the control of said spring means and to cause operation of said blade as a tucking blade.

5. In a fanfolding mechanism as recited in claim 3, in which said first control means includes means normally operative tocontrol the operation of the blade as a folding blade, and means automatically brought into play during every other cycle or rotation of said drum to override the control of said control means and. to cause operation of said blade'as a tucking blade.

6. In a fanfolding mechanism or machine as recited in claim 3, in which said fanfolding blade is formed as a bell crank, means pivotally mounting said bell crank at an intermediate portion thereof including a lever pivotally mounted on the associated drum, a first control roller coaxial with said pivotal axis, and a second control roller at the end of said bell crank remote from said blade, a stationary cam for cooperating with said second roller to control with said spring the folding operation, and a rotatable cam means driven in synchronization with said drum at a ratio of 1 to 2 in cooperation with said first roller to cause projection of said blade as a tucking blade.

7. In a fanfolding mechanism or machine as recited in claim 2, in which said fanfolding blade is formed as a bell crank, means pivotally mounting said bell crank at an intermediate portion thereof including a lever pivot- I ally mounted on the associated drum, a control roller 1 to 2 in cooperation with said first roller to cause projec tion of said blade as a tucking blade.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 691,751 1/02 Cumming 27 0-73 860,004 7/07 Windle 22611 2,468,254 4/49 Delove 27073 2,819,068 1/58 Loase 270-73 2,896,944 7 07 Windle 226-1 1 2,981,540 4/61 Harless 27077 EUGENE R. CAPOZIO, Primary Examiner.

Claims (1)

1. IN A FANFOLDING MACHINE FOR TAPE SUCH AS PERFORATED PAPER TAPE, A FRAME, A PAIR OF FOLDING MEANS MOUNTED FOR MOVEMENT ON SAID FRAME, INCLUDING A FOLDING BLADE IN EACH FOLDING MEANS AND A FOLDING SURFACE COOPERATIVELY RELATED TO SAID FOLDING BLADE, MEANS FOR OPERATING SAID FOLDING MEANS IN CYCLIC FASHION, CONTROL MEANS FOR THE BLADE OF EACH FANFOLDING MEANS FOR OPENING AND CLOSING SAID BLADE WITH RESPECT TO THE ASSOCIATED FOLDING SURFACE DURING ONE CYCLE OF ITS OPERATION AS A FOLDING BLADE, AND OTHER CONTROL MEANS FOR SAID BLADE TO CAUSE SAID BLADE TO PROJECT IN THE NEXT SUCCEEDING CYCLE TO TUCK THE TAPE WITH RESPECT TO THE BLADE AND THE ASSOCIATED SURFACE OF THE OTHER FOLDING MEANS, WHEREBY CORRESPONDING BLADES OF SAID PAIR OF FOLDING MEANS OPERATE ALTERNATELY WITH RESPECT TO EACH OTHER AS TUCKING BLADES AND FOLDING BLADES.

Images