Outsert-forming machine and method

Abstract

A method and apparatus for forming informational items such as outserts and booklets may include folding a sheet of paper having product information printed thereon by making a plurality of folds in the sheet of paper to form a first folded article; making a fold in the first folded article to form a second folded article; making one or more folds in the second folded article to form an outsert using one or more folding apparatuses having a plurality of folding rollers having a nip therebetween and a movable blade member; and applying pressure to the folded article after the final fold is made.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to an outsert-forming machine and method.

An outsert is an informational item formed from a sheet of paper which is folded in two perpendicular directions. The sheet of paper has information printed thereon, which is typically information relating to a pharmaceutical product or drug. The outsert may be adhesively attached to the top or side of a pharmaceutical container, such as a bottle of pills. Alternatively, the outsert may be inserted loosely into a cardboard box in which a pharmaceutical container is disposed. After purchase of the pharmaceutical product by a consumer, the outsert may be unfolded so that the consumer may read the information printed thereon.

There are a number of patents which disclose methods of forming outserts and machines that may be used in connection with the formation of outserts. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,616,815 to Michael Vijuk discloses an automatic stacking and folding apparatus. U.S. Pat. No. 4,812,195 to Michael Vijuk discloses various methods and apparatus for forming outserts. U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,931 to Robert Vijuk discloses a method and apparatus for forming a folded leaflet. U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,873 to Michael Vijuk discloses an apparatus for stacking folded sheets on edge. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,656,103 and 6,645,134 disclose various methods and apparatus for forming outserts and booklets.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect, the invention is directed to a method of forming an informational item having information regarding a pharmaceutical product printed thereon. The method comprises (a) folding a sheet of paper having product information printed thereon by making a plurality of folds in the sheet of paper to form a first article, the folds in the sheet of paper being parallel to each other and parallel to a first direction, the folds in the sheet of paper being made using a first folding apparatus having a plurality of folding rollers; (b) folding the first article by making a fold in the first article to form a folded article, the fold in the first article being parallel to a second direction, the second direction being perpendicular to the first direction, the fold in the first article being made using a second folding apparatus having a plurality of folding rollers; (c) folding a folded article produced as a result of at least the acts recited in paragraphs (a) and (b) by making a fold in the folded article to form a third article, the fold in the folded article being parallel to the second direction, the fold in the folded article being made using a third folding apparatus having a plurality of folding rollers; (d) depositing an adhesive on a portion of the third article.

The method also comprises (e) folding the third article by making a final fold to form the informational item, the final fold being parallel to the second direction and being made so that the adhesive holds the informational item in a substantially closed position, the final fold being made using a fourth folding apparatus having a plurality of folding rollers having a nip therebetween and a movable member, the movable member of the fourth folding apparatus making contact with a portion of the third article and forcing the portion of the third article towards the nip between the folding rollers of the fourth folding apparatus; and (f) after the acts recited in paragraph (e), applying a pressure of at least about 30 pounds per square inch to the informational item by conveying the informational item through a pressing apparatus having a plurality of pressing rollers.

The method may also include applying a pressure of at least about 20 pounds per square inch to the informational item by conveying the informational item through a second pressing apparatus having a plurality of pressing rollers, the at least about 20 pounds per square inch of pressure being applied after the acts recited in paragraph (b) and before the acts recited in paragraph (c).

In another aspect, the invention is directed to an apparatus that forms informational items having information regarding a pharmaceutical product printed thereon. The apparatus comprises a first folding apparatus that forms a first article from a sheet of paper having information regarding a pharmaceutical product printed thereon, the first folding apparatus having a plurality of folding rollers and forming the first article by making a plurality of folds in the sheet of paper, each of the folds being parallel to a first direction and a second folding apparatus operatively coupled to receive the first article, the second folding apparatus making a fold in the first article in a direction parallel to a second direction, the second direction being perpendicular to the first direction.

The apparatus also comprises a third folding apparatus that forms a folded article from an article that was processed by the second folding apparatus, the third folding apparatus forming a third article from the folded article by making a fold in the folded article in a direction parallel to the second direction; an adhesive applicator that applies adhesive to a portion of the third article; and a fourth folding apparatus operatively coupled to receive the third article, the fourth folding apparatus forming a closed informational item from the third article by making a final fold parallel to the second direction, the final fold being made so that the adhesive holds the informational item in a substantially closed position.

The fourth folding apparatus comprises a first folding roller; a second folding roller disposed adjacent the first folding roller of the fourth folding apparatus, the first and second folding rollers of the fourth folding apparatus having a nip therebetween, the first and second folding rollers of the fourth folding apparatus causing the final fold to be made when the third article passes between the first and second folding rollers of the fourth folding apparatus; and a movable member that makes contact with a portion of the third article to force the portion of the third article towards the nip between the first and second folding rollers of the fourth folding apparatus. The apparatus also comprises a pressing apparatus comprising a pair of pressing rollers, the pressing apparatus applying a pressure of at least about 30 pounds per square inch after the final fold is made by the fourth folding apparatus.

The apparatus may also include a second pressing apparatus that comprises a pair of pressing rollers, the second pressing apparatus causing a pressure of at least about 20 pounds per square inch to be applied to an intermediate folded article after the intermediate folded article is processed by the second folding apparatus and before the intermediate folded article is processed by the third folding apparatus.

The second pressing apparatus may comprise a pair of spaced-apart support members; a first pressing roller supported by the support members; a second pressing roller supported by the support members; a pivot member that supports one of the pressing rollers, the pivot member being pivotable about a pivot point, the pivot member causing a vertical position of the one pressing roller to be changed when the pivot member is pivoted; and a support member that supports the pivot member in a plurality of different positions including a first position in which a gap between the pressing rollers corresponds to a first distance and a second position in which the gap between the pressing rollers corresponds to a second distance different than the first distance.

The features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in view of the detailed description of various embodiments, which is made with reference to the drawings, a brief description of which is provided below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side view of a stack of informational items bonded together;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an embodiment of one of the informational items of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3A-3F illustrate the formation of a plurality of folds in a first direction;

FIGS. 4A-4D illustrate the formation of a plurality of folds in a second direction to form the informational item shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is an overall block diagram of an embodiment of an outsert-forming machine;

FIG. 6 is a side view of one embodiment of the transfer unit shown schematically in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a top view of one embodiment of the accumulator station shown schematically in FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional side view of the accumulator station of FIG. 7 taken along lines 8-8 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9A is a side view of a portion of one embodiment of the sheet feeder shown schematically in FIG. 5;

FIG. 9B is a top view of a portion of the sheet feeder of FIG. 9A;

FIGS. 10A and 10B illustrate one embodiment of the folding unit 210 shown schematically in FIG. 5;

FIGS. 11A-11F illustrate one embodiment of the folding and pressing unit 212 shown schematically in FIG. 5;

FIGS. 12A-12B illustrate one embodiment of the folding unit 214 shown schematically in FIG. 5;

FIGS. 13A-13E illustrate an embodiment of the folding unit 216 shown schematically in FIG. 5;

FIGS. 14 and 14A-14C illustrate an embodiment of the pressing unit 218 shown schematically in FIG. 5; and

FIGS. 15 and 15A-15D illustrate an embodiment of the bonding unit 220 shown schematically in FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS EMBODIMENTS

Although the following text sets forth a detailed description of numerous different embodiments of the invention, it should be understood that the legal scope of the invention is defined by the words of the claims set forth at the end of this patent. The detailed description is to be construed as exemplary only and does not describe every possible embodiment of the invention since describing every possible embodiment would be impractical, if not impossible. Numerous alternative embodiments could be implemented, using either current technology or technology developed after the filing date of this patent, which would still fall within the scope of the claims defining the invention.

It should also be understood that, unless a term is expressly defined in this patent using the sentence “As used herein, the term ‘______’ is hereby defined to mean . . . ” or a similar sentence, there is no intent to limit the meaning of that term, either expressly or by implication, beyond its plain or ordinary meaning, and such term should not be interpreted to be limited in scope based on any statement made in any section of this patent (other than the language of the claims). To the extent that any term recited in the claims at the end of this patent is referred to in this patent in a manner consistent with a single meaning, that is done for sake of clarity only so as to not confuse the reader, and it is not intended that such claim term be limited, by implication or otherwise, to that single meaning. Finally, unless a claim element is defined by reciting the word “means” and a function without the recital of any structure, it is not intended that the scope of any claim element be interpreted based on the application of 35 U.S.C. §112, sixth paragraph.

FIG. 1 is a side view of a stack 10 of informational items 20 bonded together, such as by an adhesive. Referring to FIG. 1, each of the informational items 20 may have a first face 22 and a second face 24 opposite the first face 22. Each of the informational items 20 may have detailed information printed thereon, which printed information typically relates to one or more pharmaceutical products or drugs.

The informational items 20 may be bonded together via an adhesive disposed between adjacent faces 22, 24 of adjacent informational items 20. The informational items 20 may be bonded together via an adhesive that allows one of the informational items 20 to be manually removed from the stack 10 so that the removed informational item 20 can be inserted into a box or carton containing a pharmaceutical item or drug.

The adhesive, which may be a cold adhesive or a hot-melt adhesive, may be selected so as to allow easy removal of one of the informational items 20 from the stack without tearing or otherwise damaging the removed informational item 20 or the remaining informational items 20 of the stack 10. One adhesive that may be used is a cold glue adhesive, GMS Part No. GLUE-23704, which is commercially available from Graphic Machinery & Systems of San Rafael, Calif. That adhesive is also marketed by its manufacturer as Capitol Latex Adhesive L179.

Methods of Forming Outserts

Each of the informational items 20 can be provided in the form of an outsert. As used herein, the term “outsert” generally means an informational item which is folded from a sheet of paper and which can be later unfolded to read information printed on the sheet of paper. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an outsert 20a which may be included as part of the stack 10 of informational items 20, and FIGS. 3A-4D illustrate a method of forming the outsert 20a.

Referring to FIG. 3A, the outsert 20a may be formed from a sheet 70 of paper having information 72 printed thereon. The sheet 70 may have a length L and a width W. Referring to FIGS. 3B-3F, a plurality of folds 74, 76, 78, 80, 82 may be made in the sheet 70 in a direction parallel to its length to form a folded article 84 shown in FIG. 3F having a length and a width. Although the folds 74, 76, 78, 80, 82 are shown to be alternating or accordion-type folds, the folds could be made in other ways, such as by successively folding the sheet 70 in half.

Referring to FIG. 4A, the folded article 84 shown in FIG. 3F may then be folded in a direction parallel to the width of the folded article 84 and perpendicular to its length to form a folded article 86 having a first end that is composed of a fold or folded edge 88 and a second end composed of a plurality of unfolded sheet edges 90.

Referring to FIG. 4B, the folded article 86 shown in FIG. 4A may then be folded again by making a fold 92 in the same direction as the fold 88 made in FIG. 4A to form a folded article 94. The folded article 94 may have a first end composed of the folded edge 88 and a second end composed of the fold or folded edge 92. The fold 92 of FIG. 4B may be made so that the unfolded sheet edges 90 are disposed between the two folded edges 88, 92.

Referring to FIG. 4C, the folded article 94 shown in FIG. 4B may then be folded again by making a fold 96 in a direction parallel to the fold 92 to form a folded article 98. The fold 96 may be made so that the fold 92 is generally coincident with the unfolded end 90. One or more drops of adhesive 100 (see FIG. 4D) may be applied to the folded article 98.

Referring to FIG. 4D, the folded article 98 shown in FIG. 4C may then be folded again by making a fold 102 in the same direction to form a folded article 104. The fold 102 may be made at a point along the folded article 98 so that the folded edges 88, 96 are disposed directly adjacent each other. The folded article 104 may have an upper portion 106 composed of a plurality of sheet thicknesses and a lower portion 108 composed of a plurality of sheet thicknesses. When the upper portion 106 makes contact with the adhesive 100 disposed on the lower portion 108, the adhesive 100 bonds the upper and lower portions 106, 108 together to form the substantially closed outsert 20a shown in FIG. 2 having no exterior unfolded sheet edges that lie in a direction parallel to the fold 102.

While one method of forming outserts is described above, it should be understood that other methods of forming outserts could be utilized, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,931 to Vijuk and U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,700 to Vijuk, et al., which are incorporated by reference herein.

Outsert-forming and Bonding Machine

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an outsert-forming and bonding apparatus 200 that could be used to perform the outsert-forming method described above. Referring to FIG. 5, the apparatus 200 may include a printer 202, which may be in the form of a web printer that prints textual subject matter on a paper web (not shown) provided to the printer 202 and cuts the paper web into individual sheets after it is printed. The printer 202, which may also make one or more folds in the individual sheets, produces a stream of printed sheets which may be provided to a sheet transfer unit 204. The stream of sheets may be in the form of a shingled stream, in which case the sheets are overlapping each other in a conventional manner. Each of the sheets in the stream may be unfolded, or may have one or more folds formed therein.

The transfer unit 204 may act to transfer the sheets to an accumulator station 206, at which the sheets may temporarily accumulate in a stack of sheets, before being provided by an automatic sheet feeder 208 to a folding unit 210 that may make a plurality of folds in a first direction. The accumulator station 206 may be designed to accumulate sheets due to differences in the sheet processing capacity between the printer 202 and the folding unit 210. The folded articles produced by the folding unit 210 may be automatically conveyed to a folding and pressing unit 212 that may make one or more folds in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The folding and pressing unit 212 may include a folding apparatus 212a and an integrated pressing apparatus 212b. The pressing apparatus 212b may apply a pressure to force out excess air contained within the folded articles.

The folded articles that exit from the folding and pressing unit 212 may be passed to a folding unit 214, such as a knife-edge folding unit, that may make a plurality of additional folds in the second direction. The folded articles may then be transferred to a folding unit 216, such as a knife-edge folding unit, which may make a final fold in each of the folded articles, the final fold being made parallel to the folds made by the folding unit 212, to transform each of the folded articles into an outsert.

The outserts may then be transferred to a pressing unit 218 to cause the outserts passing therethrough to be subjected to a pressure that lies within any one of the following pressure ranges: a) 30-100 psi; b) 30-200 psi; c) 30-500 psi; d) 50-200 psi; or e) 50-500 psi. The outserts may then be automatically conveyed to a bonding unit 220. The bonding unit 220 may bond together the individual outserts into a plurality of stacks of outserts, such as the stack 10 shown in FIG. 1.

Although the embodiments described in connection with FIG. 5 include the printer 202, the transfer unit 204, the accumulator 206, and the sheet feeder 208, it should be understood that further embodiments that do not use those components may be utilized. For example, various embodiments which do not include the components 202, 204, 206, 208 may be used to process sheets that are preprinted or printed at another location or by another company.

Transfer Unit 204

FIG. 6 is a side view of a portion of one possible embodiment of the sheet transfer unit 204 shown schematically in FIG. 5. Referring to FIG. 6, the transfer unit 204 may have a plurality of upper conveyor belts 220 and lower conveyor belts 222 between which the stream of sheets from the printer 202 passes. The lower belts 222, which may be in the form of flat belts composed of fabric having a non-slip coating, may be supported by a plurality of rotatable metal rods 224 supported by a pair of frame members 226 (only one of which is shown), at least one of the rods 224 being rotatably driven by a motor shown schematically at 228.

The upper belts 220, which may be composed of rubber and which may have a circular cross section, may be supported by a plurality of rollers 230, each of which may be rotatably supported by a respective pivot arm 232 connected to one of a pair of pivot rods 234 supported between the frame members 226. The upper belts 220 may be sized so that, when they are placed onto the rollers 230, the tension of the upper belts 220 forces the pivot arms 232 downwards so that the upper belts 220 and the lower belts 222 make sufficiently firm contact with the stream of sheets to ensure that the sheets do not move relative to one another as they are transferred from the printer 202 to the accumulator station 206 by the transfer unit 204.

Accumulator Station 206

FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate the basic structure of one embodiment of the accumulator station 206 shown schematically in FIG. 5. Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8, the accumulator station 206 may have a flat base plate 240, a front plate 242, a rear wall 244, and a pair of elongate hexahedral side members 246, 248 each having a respective inner side surface 246a, 248a. As shown in FIG. 8, the upper and lower conveyor belts 220, 222 of the transfer unit 204 may be positioned so as to deposit sheets into the hexahedral space defined by the base plate 240, the front plate 242, the rear wall 244, and the side surfaces 246a, 248a.

Pressurized air may be forced against the lower portion of the stack of sheets in the accumulator station 206 in a conventional manner to slightly levitate the lowermost sheets to reduce the coefficient of friction between the lowermost sheet in the stack and the base plate 240 and to provide slight physical separation between the lowermost sheets in the stack. The pressurized air may be provided by a number of apertures 250 formed in each of the inner side surfaces 246a, 248a and a number of apertures 252 formed in the base plate 240.

The side members 246, 248, which may act as pneumatic pressure manifolds, may have a hollow interior which is divided into a number of individual pressure compartments, each of which may be pneumatically coupled to a source of pressurized air (not shown) and to a respective one of the apertures 250 in the side surfaces 246a, 248a. The pressure of the air provided through each aperture 250 may be varied by a respective regulator knob 254 associated with each of the pressure compartments by an internal valve structure shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,616,815 to Michael Vijuk, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

Pressurized air may be provided to the apertures 252 formed in the base plate 240 via one or more pressure manifolds 256 disposed beneath the base plate 240. Pressurized air may also be provided through a number of apertures (not shown) formed in the rear wall 244. The particular design of the accumulator station 206 described above is not considered important to the invention, and other designs could be used. Sheet transfer units, accumulator stations, and automatic folding machines of the type described above are commercially available from Vijuk Equipment Co. of Elmhurst, Ill.

Sheet Feeder 208

FIGS. 8, 9A and 9B illustrate one possible embodiment of the sheet feeder 208 shown schematically in FIG. 5. Referring to FIG. 8, the sheet feeder 208 may have a first part in the form of a vacuum drum or roll 260 and a second part in the form of a conveyor 262. The vacuum roll 260, which may be controlled to periodically remove the lowermost sheet from the bottom of the stack of sheets, may be provided in the form of a hollow cylindrical drum having a plurality of holes formed in its cylindrical outer surface and may be positioned directly beneath a rectangular aperture 263 formed in the base plate 240. The vacuum roll 260 may have a hollow interior portion 264 in which a reduced or suction pressure may be selectively provided. To that end, the interior of the vacuum roll 260 may be pneumatically coupled to a vacuum pump (not shown) via a pneumatic line (not shown) and a pneumatic valve (not shown) adapted to selectively open and close the pneumatic line.

FIGS. 9A and 9B illustrate the structure of the conveyor 262 shown schematically in FIG. 8. Referring to FIGS. 9A and 9B, the conveyor 262 may have a conveyor belt 280 driven by a pair of spaced rollers 282, 284 each of which may be rotatably driven by a respective drive rod 286, 288. The conveyor 262 may also include a sheet alignment mechanism 290 positioned directly over the conveyor belt 280. The alignment mechanism 290 may include a retainer arm 292 having a plurality of cylindrical bores 294 formed therein, a respective metal ball 296 disposed within each of the bores 294, and an L-shaped side guide 298 connected to the retainer arm 292.

Sheets from the accumulator station 206 may be periodically and individually fed by the vacuum roll 260 to the conveyor 262 so that they pass between the bottom of the metal balls 296 and the top of the conveyor belt 280. The weight of the metal balls 296 resting on top of the sheets may maintain the alignment of the sheets relative to the conveyor belt 280. As shown in FIG. 9B, the side guide 298 may be angled slightly relative to the conveyor belt 280. Consequently, as the sheets pass through the conveyor 262 (from right to left in FIG. 9B), the side edges of the sheets may gradually be moved against the edge of the side guide 298 to cause the side edges of the sheets to become justified or flush against the side guide 298 for proper alignment as the sheets enter the folding apparatus 210.

The sheet feeder 208 may be provided with a water score apparatus (not shown) so that, prior to being folded by the folding unit 210, the sheets could be subjected to a water scoring process to make subsequent folding of the sheets easier. In the water scoring process, one or more spray nozzles or other apparatus could be used to spray or otherwise apply a plurality of parallel lines of water or other liquid to the sheet at linear positions at which subsequent folds are to be made. The application of the water or other liquid may allow the subsequent folding to be made better or easier.

Further details regarding the design and operation of the accumulator 206 and sheet feeder 208 are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,095,512, which is incorporated herein by reference.

Folding Unit 210

FIGS. 10A and 10B are schematic side views of one possible embodiment of the folding unit 210 shown as a block in FIG. 5. The folding unit 210 may be used to make one or more folds in an unfolded sheet of paper, all of the folds being parallel to each other. Referring to FIG. 10A, the folding unit 210 may be provided with a pair of spaced apart frame members 302, 304 (not shown in FIG. 10B), a plurality of cylindrical folding rollers 310-321 rotatably supported between the frame members 302, 304, a plurality of folding plates 322-326 each of which may be provided with one of a plurality of stops 327-331 positioned to stop the leading edge or portion of an article 340 passing through the folding unit 210 at desired positions, and a plurality of deflectors 341-345, each of which may cause the leading edge or portion of the article 340 passing through the folding unit 210 to be deflected towards the next pair of folding rollers. The folding rollers 310-321 may have non-smooth, knurled or abraded surfaces to facilitate gripping the article 340.

When it first enters the first folding unit 210, the article 340 shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B may correspond to an unfolded sheet of paper, such as the sheet of paper 70 shown in FIG. 3A. When the leading edge of the article 340 hits the stop 327, an intermediate portion of the article at a point 350 may be forced downwardly towards the nip of the folding rollers 311, 312. When the point 350 passes between the folding rollers 311, 312, the article 340 may be folded at the point 350 by the folding rollers 311, 312 and then deflected by the end of the deflector 341 towards the nip of the folding rollers 312, 313, as shown in FIG. 10B.

The process may continue in a similar manner until all of the desired folds are made in the article 340. The folding unit 210 shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B would make five folds in the article 330. The number of folds and the positions at which they are made could be varied in a known manner by varying the number and/or position of the folding rollers 310-321, the folding plates 322-326 and the deflector plates 341-345.

Although a particular embodiment of the folding unit 210 is described above, numerous other embodiments and types of folding units could be utilized, and the particular type of folding unit used is not considered important to the invention.

Integrated Folding and Pressing Unit 212

FIG. 11A is a side view of a first portion of one possible embodiment of the integrated folding and pressing unit 212 shown schematically in FIG. 5. The folding and pressing unit 212 may be used to make one or more folds in an article in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which one or more initial folds were made. Referring to FIG. 11A, the folding and pressing unit 212 comprises a folding apparatus 212a and a pressing apparatus 212b, may be provided with a pair of spaced-apart frame members 346, 348 (not shown in FIGS. 11B-11D). The folding apparatus 212a may be provided with a plurality of cylindrical folding rollers 350-353 rotatably mounted between the frame members 346, 348, and a pair of folding plates 354, 356, each of which may be provided with one of a pair of stops 358, 360 positioned to stop the leading edge of an article 370 passing through the folding and pressing unit 212 at desired positions.

When it first enters the folding apparatus 212a, the article 370 shown in FIG. 11A may correspond to a folded article having a plurality of parallel folds made in a first direction, such as the folded article 84 shown in FIG. 3F. When the leading edge of the article 370 hits the stop 358, an intermediate portion of the article at a point 372 is forced downwardly towards the nip of the folding rollers 351, 352. When the point 372 passes between the folding rollers 351, 352, the article 370 is folded at the point 372 by the folding rollers 351, 352, and then the leading folded edge 372 of the article 370 moves along the folding plate 356 until it makes contact with the stop 360, as shown in FIG. 11B. As the rear portion of the article 370 continues to advance, an intermediate portion of the article 370 buckles at a point 374 and moves downwardly towards the nip of the folding rollers 352, 353. When the point 374 passes between the folding rollers 352, 353, it is folded by the folding rollers 352, 353, as shown in FIG. 11C. At that point, the article 370 may have a leading portion 380 and a trailing portion 382, with the leading portion 380 being twice as thick as the trailing portion 382, which is shown most clearly in FIG. 11D.

Referring to FIGS. 11C and 11D, the article 370 may be passed through the pressing apparatus 212b, which may comprise a pair of cylindrical pressing rollers 386, 388, and then to a conveyor 390, which may be provided with one or more upper conveyor belts 392 supported by a plurality of cylindrical rollers 394 and one or more lower conveyor belts 396 supported by a plurality of cylindrical rollers 398.

As shown schematically in FIG. 11A, the position of the upper pressing roller 386 may be vertically adjustable relative to the position of the lower pressing roller 388, so that the spacing or gap between the outer circumferential surfaces of the two pressing rollers 386, 388 may be adjusted to accommodate outserts of different thicknesses or to apply a desired amount of pressure to outserts passing between the pressing rollers 386, 388. As shown in FIG. 11A, the support shaft 387 on which the upper pressing roller 386 is mounted may be moved vertically within a pair of grooves 389 formed in the frame members 346, 348.

The spacing or gap between the pressing rollers 386, 388 of the pressing apparatus 212b may be adjusted to provide a desired amount of pressure to outserts passing through the pressing rollers 386, 388, such as a pressure within a range of between about 10-50 pounds per square inch (psi), or a pressure within a range of about 20-40 psi, or a pressure of about 30 psi.

One possible embodiment of the pressing apparatus 212b is shown in FIGS. 11E and 11F. FIG. 11E illustrates the support shaft 387, which is non-rotatable, which supports the upper pressing roller 386 (FIG. 11A), which is rotatably mounted on the support shaft 387. Each end of the support shaft 387, which is shown in cross section, is supported by a respective pivot plate 401, each of which is pivotably mounted to one of the frame members 346, 348 via a pivot bolt 402. Clockwise pivoting of the pivot plate 401 about the pivot bolt 402 causes the support shaft 387 to be lowered, whereas counterclockwise pivoting of the pivot plate 401 causes the support shaft 387 to be raised.

Since the support shaft (FIG. 11A) on which the lower pressing roller 388 is mounted is fixed, movement of the support shaft 387 that supports the upper pressing roller 386 causes the gap or spacing between the pressing rollers 386, 388 to be adjusted, and thus the pressure to be adjusted. Downward movement of the support shaft 387 (due to clockwise pivoting of the pivot plate 401) causes the applied pressure to be increased, whereas upward movement of the support shaft 387 (due to counterclockwise pivoting) causes the applied pressure to be decreased.

Referring to FIG. 11E, the position of the pivot plate 401 may be biased in the clockwise direction by the application of rightward force to an upper face of the pivot plate 401. The biasing force may be applied by a spring mechanism, such as a helically wound spring 403 having a first end that abuts the upper face of the pivot plate 401 and a second end that is supported by a spring block 404 mounted to the frame member 346. The force applied by the spring 403 may be adjusted by an adjustment screw 405 that is threaded into the spring block 404 and which abuts the end of the spring 403. In particular, rotation of the adjustment screw 405 in one direction will decrease the length of the spring 403, and thus increase the force applied by the spring, and rotation of the adjustment screw 405 in the opposite direction will increase the length of the spring 403, thus decreasing the applied spring force.

The vertical position of the lower end of the pivot plate 401 may be adjusted by an adjustment mechanism shown in FIG. 11F. Referring to FIG. 11F, that adjustment mechanism may comprise an adjusting bolt 406 that is threaded into the frame member 346 and a locking nut 407 that locks the position of the adjusting bolt 406. The adjusting bolt 406 has a tapered end section 406a on which one of the lower edges of the pivot plate 401 rests. As should be apparent from FIG. 11F, when the adjusting bolt 406 is rotated so that its tapered end 406a moves to the right in FIG. 11F, the vertical position of the lower edge of the pivot plate 401 will be lowered. Rotating the adjustment bolt 406 so that its tapered end 406a moves to the left in FIG. 11F causes the vertical position of the pivot plate 401 to be raised.

Although a particular embodiment of the folding and pressing unit 212 is described above, numerous other embodiments and types of folding units could be utilized, and the particular type of folding unit used is not considered important to the invention.

Folding Unit 214

FIGS. 12A and 12B are side views of one possible embodiment 214 of the folding unit 214 shown schematically in FIG. 5. The folding unit 214 may be provided with a guide member 410, a stop member 411 associated with the guide member 410, a linearly translatable deflection or knife member 412, a pair of cylindrical folding rollers 413, 414 rotatably mounted between a pair of spaced-apart frame members 415, 416, and a conveyor 417. Each of the frame members 415, 416 (or another support member coupled to the frame members 415, 416) may have a respective horizontally disposed aperture or slot formed 418 therein, and a support or axle portion 419 formed at each end of one of the folding rollers 413, 414 may be supported within the slot 418 to allow the spacing between the outer diameter of each of the folding rollers 413, 414 to be adjusted to accommodate the folding of outserts of different thicknesses.

In particular, the slot 418 could be sized to allow the distance between the outer diameter of the folding roller 413 and the outer diameter of the folding roller 414 to be adjusted to any distance in the range from zero inches to a distance that is up to 0.45 inches so that the distance may be any distance within that range. That distance range includes the range defined by a lower boundary of 0.25 inches and an upper boundary of 0.35 inches, and the range having a lower boundary of 0.25 inches and an upper boundary of 0.45 inches. The slot 418 could be sized to allow the distance between the outer diameters of the folding rollers 413, 414 to be larger than 0.45 inches while still allowing adjustment of the position of at least one of the folding rollers 413, 414 so that the spacing between the folding rollers 413, 414 lies within one or more of the ranges set forth above.

Referring to FIGS. 12A and 12B, after the folded article 370 exits the conveyor 390, the leading edge of the folded article 370 may abut against the stop member 411. With the folded article 370 in that position as shown in FIG. 13, the bottom edge of the deflection member 412 may be positioned at a point between the two ends of the folded article 370.

With the folded article 370 so positioned, the deflection member 412 may be moved downwardly so that it makes contact with an intermediate portion of the folded article 370 and so that it pushes the intermediate portion towards the nip between the folding rollers 413, 414, as shown in FIG. 12B. As the folded article 370 passes through the folding rollers 413, 414, the article 370 may be folded so that the portion 382 is folded over the portion 380.

The outsert may then be automatically conveyed by the conveyor 417, which may be provided with one or more endless conveyor belts 417a and a plurality of rotatable conveyor rollers 417b, to the folding unit 216 shown schematically in FIG. 5.

Further details regarding folding units that could be used for the folding units 210, 212, 216 are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,616,815, 4,812,195, 4,817,931, 5,044,873, 5,046,710 and 6,273,411, all of which are incorporated herein by reference. Although a particular embodiment of the folding unit 214 is described above, numerous other embodiments and types of folding units could be utilized, and the particular type of folding unit used is not considered important to the invention.

Folding Unit 216

FIGS. 13A-13E illustrate an embodiment of the folding unit 216 shown schematically in FIG. 5. Referring to FIG. 13A, the folding unit 216 may be provided with a main support structure 1000 and an inlet conveyor 1010. The inlet conveyor 1010 may include an upper support structure, which may comprise a pair of spaced-apart members or frames 1012 and a lower support structure, which may comprise a pair of spaced-apart members or frames 1014.

The upper conveyor frame members 1012 may have a plurality of upper conveyor rollers 1016 rotatably mounted between them, and the lower conveyor frame members 1014 may have a plurality of lower conveyor rollers 1018 rotatably mounted between them. One or more conveyor belts 1020 may be supported by the upper conveyor rollers 1016, and one or more conveyor belts 1022 may be supported by the lower conveyor rollers 1018. The conveyor rollers 1016, 1018 may have the same structure as the conveyor rollers 858, 862 shown in FIGS. 14 and 14B and described below. The proximal ends of each of the upper conveyor frame members 1012 may be pivotally connected to the main support structure 1000, and one or both of the lower conveyor frame members 1014 may be supported by an adjustable support mechanism (not shown).

The upper conveyor roller 1016 shown in FIG. 13A may be disposed adjacent a transfer roller 1050, and one or more conveyor belts 1052 may be disposed around the upper conveyor roller 1016 and the transfer roller 1050. The lower conveyor roller 1018 shown in FIG. 13A may be disposed adjacent a folding roller 1054 and may be operatively coupled to rotate with the folding roller 1054 via one or more drive belts 1056. A second folding roller 1058 may be disposed adjacent the folding roller 1054, and the second folding roller 1058 may be mounted between a pair of vertically disposed side plates 1060. Each of the folding rollers 1054, 1058 may be provided with a non-smooth, knurled or abraded surface to allow the folding rollers 1054, 1058 to readily grip folded articles passing between them.

One of the folding rollers 1054, 1058 may be horizontally movable or adjustable relative to the other of the folding rollers 1054, 1058 via an adjustment mechanism, such as an adjusting mechanism as described above, to allow the spacing between the outer diameter of each of the folding rollers 1054, 1058 to be adjusted to accommodate the folding of outserts of different thicknesses.

In particular, the distance between the outer diameter of the folding roller 1054 and the outer diameter of the folding roller 1058 may be adjusted to any distance in the range from zero inches to a distance that is up to 0.45 inches so that the distance may be any distance within that range. That distance range includes the range defined by a lower boundary of 0.25 inches and an upper boundary of 0.35 inches, and the range having a lower boundary of 0.25 inches and an upper boundary of 0.45 inches. The distance between the outer diameters of the folding rollers 1054, 1058 could be adjusted to be larger than 0.45 inches while still allowing adjustment of the position of at least one of the folding rollers 1054, 1058 so that the spacing between the folding rollers 1054, 1058 lies within one or more of the ranges set forth above.

An exit conveyor 1070 may be provided to transfer folded articles from between the folding rollers 1054, 1058 to the pressing unit 218. The exit conveyor 1070 may include a first pair of conveyor rollers 1072, 1074 disposed below the folding rollers 1054, 1058, an upper conveyor portion 1076, and a lower conveyor portion 1078, both of which may be supported between a pair of frame members 1080. The upper conveyor portion 1076 may comprise a plurality of conveyor rollers 1082, 1084, 1086 that support one or more conveyor belts 1088, and the lower conveyor section 1078 may comprise a plurality of conveyor rollers 1090, 1092, 1094 that support one or more conveyor belts 1096.

Referring to FIGS. 13A and 13B, a knife or blade member 1110 may be supported for reciprocating vertical movement by a blade-drive assembly 1120. The blade-driving assembly 1120 may include an electric motor 1122, a rotatable drive wheel 1124 having an eccentric portion 1126, a drive arm 1128 having an upper end pivotally attached to the rotatable drive wheel 1124 and a lower end pivotally attached to a vertically reciprocable slide block 1130 to which the blade 1110 is mounted.

The slide block 1130 may have a plurality of vertically disposed bores therethrough, and a pair of guide rods 1132 may pass at least partially through the bores. The guide rods 1132 may be supported by a support plate 1134 having a hole or slot 1136 formed therein to accommodate passage of the drive arm 1128. The support plate 1134 may be slidably disposed in a pair of slots 1138 formed in a pair of vertically disposed plates 1140, and the horizontal position of the support plate 1134, and thus of the slide block 1130 and the blade member 1110, may be adjusted by an adjustment screw 1150, which may be threadably coupled to a side of the support plate 1134.

In operation, upon rotation of the drive wheel 1124 caused by the motor 1122, the drive arm 1128 will move up and down (and pivot somewhat), forcing the slide block 1130 and the blade member 1110 attached to the slide block 1130 to vertically reciprocate. Downward movement of the blade member 1110 may be synchronized so that such downward movement occurs when a folded article overlays the nip between the folding rollers 1054, 1058 so that downward movement of the blade member 110 will force a central portion of the folded article downwards into contact with the folding rollers 1054, 1058, causing the folding rollers 1054, 1058 to make another fold in the folded article as the article passes therebetween.

The synchronization of the downward movement of the blade member 1110 and the passage of folded articles may be accomplished by a first sensor (not shown) that senses folded articles as they pass through the conveyor 1010, a second sensor, such as a proximity sensor, that senses the position of the eccentric portion 1126 of the drive wheel 1124, and/or a third sensor that senses the speed of the conveyor 1010.

For example, upon sensing a folded article at a particular point in the conveyor 1010, a clutch mechanism (not shown) coupled between the motor 1122 and the drive wheel 1124 may cause the motor 1122 (perhaps after a predetermined delay to allow the folded article to become positioned over the folding rollers 1054, 1058) to drive the drive wheel 1124 one complete revolution, so that the blade member 1110 moves from its uppermost position to its lowermost position (i.e. the position shown in FIG. 13A) and then back to its uppermost position.

The folding roller 1058 may be part of a folding assembly 1150, which may include the vertically disposed side plates 1060. and a base plate 1154. The folding roller 1058 may be rotatably supported between the side plates 1060, and the bottom of each of the side plates 1060 may be provided with a key portion 1156 (FIG. 13D) that may be slidably disposed within a respective slot 1158 formed in the base plate 1154.

The folding assembly 1150 may also include a horizontally disposed stop bar 1160 and one or more retention arms 1162 that may extend outwardly from, or pass through, a forward face of the stop bar 1160. The folding assembly 1150 may include a relatively thin base sheet 1164 having a forward portion disposed above the folding roller 1058 that is curved to generally conform to the shape of the folding roller 1058.

The horizontal position of the folding assembly 1150 may be moved relative to the base plate 1154 via an adjustment screw 1170 that may be threaded through a spring 1172 and into a portion of the folding assembly 1150. Turning the adjustment screw 1170 may cause the folding assembly 1150 to slide on the base plate 1154. Such horizontal movement of the folding assembly 1150 will cause horizontal movement of the folding roller 1058, and thus will cause the horizontal spacing between the two folding rollers 1054, 1058 to change. Such a change in spacing may be desired due to differences in thicknesses of various types of folded articles that may be passed through the folding unit 216b.

The horizontal position of the stop bar 1160 may be changed by an adjustment mechanism or adjustment screw 1180 that may have an end that is supported by a bracket 1182 (which may be L-shaped) that may be bolted to the base plate 1154 of the folding assembly 1150. The adjustment mechanism 1180 may be provided with a knurled adjustment knob 1184 and a threaded screw 1186 operatively coupled to the stop plate 1160 so that turning the knob 1184 causes the horizontal position of the stop plate 1160 to be changed. That may be desirable in the event the position in the folded article at which the folding unit 216b is to make a fold is to be changed.

For example, if it is desired to make a fold relatively close to the leading edge of the folded article, the stop bar 1160 would be positioned relatively close to the blade member 1110. In that case, forward movement of the folded article through the rollers 1050, 1054 would stop when the leading edge of the folded article made contact with the stop bar 1160. Since the stop bar 1160 would be relatively close to the horizontal position of both the blade member 1110 and the nip between the folding rollers 1054, 1058, a fold would be made relatively close to the leading edge of the folded article.

Referring to FIG. 13A, the folding unit 216 may include a glue applicator 1190 that may be used to apply one or more drops or spots of adhesive to each folded article passing through the entry conveyor 1010 so that after a final fold is made, the folded article will remain in a closed position as shown, for example, in FIG. 2. The folding unit 216 may also be provided with a glue verification system to ensure that the outserts produced remained adhesively closed. Various embodiments of such a glue verification system are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,793,614 to Neubauer, et al. FIGS. 13, 13A-13D and column 15, line 32 through column 18, line 25 of that '614 Neubauer, et al. patent are incorporated herein by reference.

FIG. 13C is a top view of the folding assembly 1150. Referring to FIG. 13C, the folding assembly 1150 may include a C-shaped mounting bracket 1200 having a main portion 1202 and a pair of side portions 1204. The mounting bracket 1200 may be disposed on top of the plate 1164, and the side portions 1204 of the mounting bracket 1200 may be bolted or otherwise connected to the side plates 1060. The upper portions of the side plates 1060 may be connected together by a cylindrically shaped front bracing rod 1206 and a cylindrically shaped rear bracing rod 1208.

The stop bar 1160 may have a pair of cylindrically shaped guide members 1210, 1212 connected thereto. The forward end of each of the guide members 1210, 1212 may extend into a respective bore formed in the stop bar 1160, and the forward ends of the guide member 1210, 1212 may be anchored in place by a locking screw threaded into a respective side face 1214, 1216 of the stop bar 1160, with each locking screw making contact with the forward end of each of the guide members 1210, 1212. Each of the guide members 1210, 1212 may be slidably disposed within a cylindrical bushing or bearing 1218 mounted within the mounting bracket 1200.

The guide member 1210 may be hollow and internally threaded, and the threaded screw 1186 of the adjustment mechanism 1180 may have an end that is threadably connected inside the guide member 1210. The adjustment knob 1184 may have a relatively small-diameter portion that is disposed between a pair of upwardly extending arms 1220 of the L-shaped bracket 1182 and a relatively thin, larger-diameter portion 1222 that is disposed on the opposite side of the L-shaped bracket 1182 as the knurled outer portion of the knob 1184. The adjusting knob 1184 may be fixably secured to the adjusting screw 1186 via one or more set screws 1224 threaded through the knurled outer portion of the adjusting knob 1184 and which make locking contact with the adjusting screw 1186.

The lateral or horizontal position of the stop bar 1160 may be adjusted by rotating the adjusting knob 1184, which, due to the threaded interconnection of the adjustment screw 1186 and the guide member 1210, will cause the guide member 1210 and the stop bar 1160 connected thereto to be drawn towards or away from the adjusting knob 1184, depending on the direction in which the adjusting knob 1184 is rotated.

Referring to FIG. 13D, the stop bar 1160 may have a plurality of evenly spaced slots 1230 formed therein (some of which are not shown), and each of the retention arms 1162 may extend through a respective one of the slots 1230. The slots 1230 may be shaped so as to allow the height of the retention arms 1162 to be adjusted. Referring to FIGS. 13C and 13D, a plurality of mounting blocks 1240 may be mounted to the rear bracing rod 1208 (the front bracing rod 1206 is not shown in FIG. 13D for sake of clarity). One mounting block 1240 may be provided for each of the retention arms 1162. Each mounting block 1240 may be secured to the rear bracing rod 1208 via a locking screw 1242. Each mounting block 1240 may have a bore formed therein with a vertical height-adjustment rod 1244 passing through the bore.

Referring also to FIG. 13E, the lower end of each height-adjustment rod 1244 may extend into a bore formed in a respective connecting block 1250 and be secured thereto by one or more locking screws 1252. Each of the connecting blocks 1250 may receive the rear end of a respective one of the retention arms 1162, with each retention arm 1162 being secured in the connecting block 1250 via one or more locking screws 1254.

Each of the height-adjusting rods 1244 may pass completely through the bore formed in its associated mounting block 1240 so that the elevation of each of the height-adjusting rods 1244 may be moved relative to its associated mounting block 1240 and then secured at a desired elevation by a locking screw 1260. Thus, the elevation of each of the retention arms 1162 may be independently adjusted. Alternatively, a retention arm adjustment mechanism that simultaneously adjusted the height of all retention arms 1162 could be utilized.

Pressing Unit 218

FIGS. 14 and 14A-14C illustrate an embodiment of the pressing unit 218 schematically shown in FIG. 5. The pressing unit 218 of FIGS. 14 and 14A-14C could be used to apply a pressure in various ranges between about 30 psi and about 500 psi to folded articles that pass through the pressing unit 218.

FIG. 14 is a side view illustrating a number of components of the pressing unit 218 and omits a number of components for the sake of clarity, a number of which are shown in FIGS. 14A-14C. Referring to FIG. 14, the pressing unit 218 includes a support frame or structure 830 that rotatably supports an upper pressure roller 832 and a lower pressure roller 834. The support structure 830 could include two parallel, spaced-apart support frames between which the pressure rollers 832, 834 could be disposed, in which case only the rear support frame is shown in FIG. 14 to allow the pressure rollers 832, 834 and other components to be shown. In FIG. 14, folded articles may be passed between the pressure rollers 832, 834 from left to right.

The pressing unit 218 may be provided with an upper inlet transfer roller 836 that may be disposed adjacent, a side of the upper pressure roller 832. Similarly, the pressing unit 218 may be provided with a lower inlet transfer roller 840 that may be disposed adjacent a side of the lower pressure roller 834. In FIG. 14, the vertical spacing between the upper and lower pressure rollers 832, 834 and the upper and lower transfer rollers 836 and 840 has been exaggerated for purposes of clarity.

The pressure rollers 832, 834 may be rotatably driven in any manner, such as by an electric motor (not shown) that is drivably coupled to the pressure rollers 832, 834 by any type of coupling mechanism (not shown). For example, the coupling mechanism could be provided in the form of a plurality of rotatable shafts coupled between a pair of spaced-apart plates of the support structure 830, with each of the rotatable shafts having one or more sprockets or pulleys. The coupling mechanism could also include one or more sprockets or pulleys disposed or integrally formed with shafts that support the pressure rollers 832, 834. The coupling mechanism could further include one or more drive belts or chains that pass around the sprockets or pulleys so that rotation of one set of sprockets or pulleys, caused by the drive shaft of the electric motor, causes rotation of the remaining sprockets or pulleys. The particular manner of rotatably driving the pressure rollers 832, 834 is not considered important to the invention, and various ways of driving them could be utilized.

The pressing unit 218 may be provided with an inlet conveyor 850. The inlet conveyor 850 may include an upper support structure, which may comprise a pair of spaced-apart upper conveyor frame members 852 (only one of which is shown in FIG. 14), each having a first end proximal to the support structure 830 (to the right in FIG. 14) and a second end distal from the support structure 830. The inlet conveyor 850 may include a lower support structure, which may comprise a pair of spaced-apart lower conveyor frame members 854 each having a first end proximal to the support structure 830 and a second end distal from the support structure 830.

The upper conveyor frame members 852 may have a first conveyor roller 856. rotatably mounted between them at their distal ends and a second conveyor roller 858 rotatably mounted at their proximal ends. The lower conveyor frame members 854 may have a first conveyor roller 860 rotatably mounted between them at their distal ends and a second conveyor roller 862 rotatably mounted at their proximal ends. One or more conveyor belts 864 may be supported by the upper conveyor rollers 856, 858, and one or more conveyor belts 866 may be supported by the lower conveyor rollers 860, 862.

Referring to FIGS. 14 and 14A, one or more drive belts 870 may be supported in a pair of grooves or slots formed in the upper conveyor roller 858 and the upper inlet transfer roller 836 to cause the upper conveyor roller 858 to rotate with the upper inlet transfer roller 836, and one or more drive belts 872 may be supported in a pair of grooves or slots formed in the lower conveyor roller 862 and the lower inlet transfer roller 840 to cause the lower conveyor roller 862 to rotate with the lower inlet transfer roller 840.

One or more drive belts 874 may be supported in a pair of grooves or slots formed in the upper inlet transfer roller 836 and the upper pressure roller 832 to cause those two rollers 832, 836 to rotate together. Although two drive belts 874 are shown in FIG. 14A, only one or more than two drive belts 874 may be utilized in different implementations. One or more drive belts 878 may be supported in a pair of grooves or slots formed in the lower inlet transfer roller 840 and the lower pressure roller 834 to cause those two rollers 834, 840 to rotate together. Although two drive belts 878 are shown in FIG. 14A, only one or more than two drive belts 874 may be utilized in different implementations. Optionally, one or more of the rollers 858, 862, 832, 834, 836 and 840 may have additional grooves or slots formed in each end to facilitate mounting of additional drive belts.

The pressing unit inlet conveyor 850 may be adjustable in a variety of ways. For example, the distal ends of the conveyor frame members 852, 854 may be raised and lowered to allow the pressing unit 218 to be positioned adjacent a variety of article folding or processing units, and to facilitate the automatic transfer of folded articles from such units to the pressing unit 218.

Referring to FIG. 14, the proximal ends of each of the conveyor frame members 852, 854 may be pivotally connected to the main support structure 830, and one or both of the conveyor frame members 852, 854 may be supported by an adjustable support mechanism 890, which may be coupled between the lower conveyor frame members 854 and a lower portion of the support structure 830.

The adjustable support mechanism 890 may include a threaded rod 892 directly or indirectly coupled to the lower support frames 854 via a bracket 894, a hollow cylindrically shaped member 896 coupled to the main support structure 830 via a bracket 898, a hand-rotatable crank or handwheel 900 having an interior threaded bore passing therethrough, and a washer, such as a nylon washer 902.

The vertical position or elevation of the distal end of the lower conveyor frame members 854 may be adjusted by manually turning the handwheel 900, which due to the threaded connection between the threaded rod 892 and the internally threaded bore formed in the handwheel 900, causes the rod 892 either to move inwardly into the hollow interior of the cylinder 896 and thus lower the proximal end of the lower conveyor frame members 854, or to move outwardly out of the interior of the cylinder 896 and thus raise the proximal end of the lower conveyor frame members 854.

Movement of the proximal end of the lower. conveyor frame members 854 may cause similar movement of the upper conveyor frame members 852. For example, the upper conveyor frame members 852 may rest on the lower conveyor frame members 854. Alternatively, the distal ends of the upper conveyor frame members 852 may be supported by a support mechanism (not shown in FIG. 14) that rests on or is otherwise coupled to the lower conveyor frame members 854, that causes the upper conveyor frame members 852 to be supported a given distance (which may be adjustable) above the lower conveyor frame members 854.

For example, such a support mechanism could include a threaded rod (not shown in FIG. 14) that extends through a threaded bore in one of the upper conveyor frame members 852 and makes contact with an upper surface of one of the lower conveyor frame members 854. Rotation of the threaded rod, such as by rotation of a knurled knob or crank attached to the threaded rod, may vary or adjust the distance between the distal ends of the conveyor frame members 852, 854.

FIG. 14B is an end view (looking from the left in FIG. 14 at a point midway along the length of the inlet conveyor 850), shown partly in cross-section, of portions of the pressing unit 218 with other portions not being shown in FIG. 14B for sake of clarity. Referring to FIG. 14B, the proximal end of each of the lower conveyor frame members 854 may be pivotally connected to a portion of the main support structure 830. That pivot connection could be accomplished by a fixed-position, non-rotatable lower pivot rod 910 which passes through a hole in each of the lower conveyor frame members 854 so that the lower conveyor frame members 854 may pivot about the lower pivot rod 910. Each proximal end of the conveyor frame members 852, 854 may be U-shaped, and a threaded locking screw may be threaded through the end of each U-shaped portion so that the conveyor frame members 852, 854 may be held at a desired position and then locked into that position by tightening the locking screws. The proximal ends of each of the upper conveyor frame members 852 may be pivotally connected to the main support structure 830 in a similar manner via an upper pivot rod 912.

Referring to FIG. 14B, the spacing between the conveyor rollers 858, 862 may be changed by changing the elevation of the upper conveyor roller 858 via an adjustment mechanism, which may be provided in the form of an adjustment screw 916. The adjustment screw 916 may be threaded into a threaded bore formed in an upper plate 918 of the main support structure 830 so that rotation of the adjustment screw 916 changes the elevation of the top of the screw 916 relative to the upper plate 918.

The adjustment screw 918 may have a hollow interior portion in which a support bolt 920 is disposed. The support bolt 920 may have an upper head portion having a relatively large diameter that is supported on an annular shelf or shoulder portion formed in the interior of the adjustment screw 916. The support bolt 920 may pass through an upper washer 922, a helical spring 924, a lower washer 926, and a nut 928. The lower end of the support bolt 920 may be threaded into a support block 930 that supports the upper pivot rod 912, which in turn supports the upper conveyor frame member 852 and the upper conveyor roller 858.

The elevation of the upper conveyor roller 858 may be changed by rotating the adjustment screw 916. Rotation in one direction will cause the position of the adjustment screw 916, and thus the support bolt 920 and the upper conveyor roller 858, to be raised relative to the main support structure 830, and thus to the lower conveyor roller 862, increasing the vertical spacing between the conveyor rollers 858, 862.

The upper portion of the support bolt 920 (at least the portion disposed above the spring 924) may be provided with a smooth shaft and a smaller diameter than that of the bore formed in the adjustment screw 916. In that case, the upper conveyor roller 858 may freely move upwardly, in which case the support bolt 920 will move upwardly relative to the adjustment screw 916, compressing the spring 916 in the process. The spring 924 may provide a relatively small amount of spring force or pressure, such as about 20 psi or lower. Allowing such upward movement of the upper conveyor roller 858 may be desirable to prevent damage to the conveyor rollers 858, 862 in case an unexpectedly thick item unintentionally or accidentally passes through the conveyor rollers 858, 862.

FIG. 14C is a side view of a portion of the pressing unit 218 that illustrates one manner in which the pressure rollers 832, 834 may be supported within the pressing unit 218. Referring to FIG. 14C, each end of the lower pressure roller 834 may be rotatably supported in a fixed position in a respective bearing member 938 supported by the main support structure 830. Each end of the upper pressure roller 832 may be rotatably supported via a respective bearing member 940. The bearing members 940 may be slidably supported by the main support structure 830, for example, by at least a portion of the bearing member 940 being disposed within a vertically disposed slot formed in a portion of the main support structure, so that each bearing member 940 is vertically slidable.

A bracket 942 may be mounted to the main support structure 830, and the bracket 942 may have an upper portion with a threaded hole formed therein. An elevation-adjustment member 944 may be provided to allow adjustment of the elevation of the upper pressure roller 832. The elevation-adjustment member 944 may be provided with a lower threaded portion that passes through and mates with the threads of the threaded bore formed in the bracket 942. In that case, rotation of the elevation-adjustment member 944 will raise or lower the elevation-adjustment member 944 relative to the bracket 942, the main support structure 830, and the lower pressure roller 834 fixed to the main support structure 830.

The elevation-adjustment member 944 may be provided with a hollow interior portion and a lower end having an annular collar or shoulder that may support a support bolt 946 that may pass through a washer 948. The support bolt 946 may have a threaded end that passes through a lock nut 950 and is threaded into the bearing member 940 to support the bearing member 940 at an elevation. Rotation of the elevation-adjustment member 944 will change its elevation relative to the bracket 942 fixed to the main support structure 830, which will thus raise the elevation of the upper pressure roller 832 relative to the main support structure 830, thus changing the spacing between the pressure rollers 832, 834 since the lower pressure roller 834 is fixed relative to the main support structure 830.

The interior hollow portion of the elevation-adjustment member 944 may be provided with one or more spacers 952, a plurality of pressure members 954, and a pressure-adjustment member 956. Each of the pressure members 954 may be provided in the form of a generally cone-shaped washer, which is commonly known in the art as a Belleville washer. The pressure-adjustment member 956 may be a cylindrically shaped member having an exterior threaded portion that threadably mates with a corresponding threaded portion formed in the upper interior portion of the elevation-adjustment member 944. The upper surface of the pressure-adjustment member 956 may have a shaped recess 958, such as a hexagonally shaped recess, to allow the pressure-adjustment member 956 to be rotated by using a tool, such as a hex wrench, that is passed through an opening 960 formed in the upper portion of the elevation-adjustment member 944. The position of the pressure-adjustment member 956 may be fixed or locked by a locking screw 962 that is threaded through a threaded bore formed in the side of the elevation-adjustment member 944. The end of the locking screw 962 may make physical contact with the outer surface of the pressure-adjustment member 956 to lock the latter in place.

Rotating the pressure-adjustment member 956 within the hollow interior of the elevation-adjustment member 944 may vary the pressure which is exerted on the folded articles as they pass through the pressing unit 218. The pressure exerted on the folded. articles by the pressing unit 218 also depends on the size and shape of the pressure members 954 that are used. For example, where Belleville washers are used, the pressure exerted by the Belleville washers depends on the diameter of the washers, the material from which the washers are made (e.g. steel or a particular type of steel) and the degree to which the side surfaces of the washers are angled. The pressure members 954 may be selected so that folded articles passing through the pressing unit 218 are subjected to a pressure that lies within any one of the following pressure ranges: a) 30-100 psi; b) 30-200 psi; c) 30-500 psi; d) 50-200 psi; or e) 50-500 psi.

Bonding Unit 220

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional side view of one embodiment, with portions shown schematically, of the bonding unit 220 shown in FIG. 5. Referring to FIG. 15, the bonding unit 220 may be provided with a pair of spaced-apart support frames 450, a conveyor unit 452 having an upper conveyor assembly 452a and a lower conveyer assembly 452b, a pusher unit 454, and a guide tray 456 that supports one or more stacks 10 of informational items 20.

The upper conveyor unit 452a may be provided with a plurality of support rollers 460, 462, 464, 466, 468 and a rotatable rod 470 which support a plurality of endless conveyor belts 472. Referring also to FIG. 15B, at least two spaced-apart conveyor belts 472 and two sets of rollers 460, 462, 464, 466, 468 may be utilized. The support rollers 460, 462, 464, 466, 468 may be supported by a plurality of support rods 474, 476, 478, 480, 482 which may be supported by the spaced-apart support frames 450.

The support rods 476, 478 may be disposed through a pair of slots 484, 486 formed in each of the support frames 450 so that the distance between the rollers 462, 464 can be adjusted in order to adjust the tension on the conveyor belts 472. The support rods 476, 478 may be fixed at a particular desired position within the slots 484, 486 by tightening end caps (not shown) threaded onto the ends of the rods 476, 478 or by utilizing other fastening structures.

The rods 480 that support the rollers 466 may be connected to support arms 490 that are fixed to a rod 492 connected between the frame supports 450. The angular position of the support arms 490 may be adjusted and then fixed via tightening bolts 494.

The lower conveyor unit 452b may be provided with a plurality of support rollers 496, 498 and a rotatable rod 500 which support a plurality of endless conveyor belts 502. The rollers 468 may support both of the conveyor belts 472, 502. The support rollers 496, 498 may be supported by a plurality of support rods 504, 506, which may be supported by the spaced-apart support frames 450.

The rollers 496 may be fixed to the support rod 504, the support rod 504 may be rotatable, and a motor 510 may be coupled to rotatably drive the support rod 504 via a gearing system (not shown) comprising one or more drive gears. The gearing system may include a pair of intermeshed gears that simultaneously cause the rods 474, 504 to rotate at the same rate in opposite directions so that the conveyor belts 472, 502 are driven in the direction indicated by the arrows in FIG. 15.

The bonding unit 220 may be provided with a glue application system 520. The glue application system 520 may be provided with a sensor 522 that is capable of detecting the passage of informational items 20, one or more glue applicators 524 that apply one or more drops of glue to informational items 20, a sensing wheel 526, a rotary encoder 528, and a controller 530 that is operatively coupled to the sensor 522, the glue applicator(s) 524, and the rotary encoder 528 via a plurality of signal lines 532, 534, 536, respectively.

Referring to FIG. 15C, the controller 530 may be provided with a random-access memory (RAM) 540, a program memory such as a read-only memory (ROM) 542, a microprocessor 544, and an input/output (I/O) circuit 546, all of which are interconnected by an address/data bus 548. In that case, a computer program may be stored in the ROM 542 and executed by the microprocessor 544 to control the operation of the glue application system 520. Alternatively, the controller 530 could be implemented as a logic circuit, a programmable logic array, or another electrical control apparatus or circuit.

Referring to, FIG. 15, the guide tray 456 may be provided with one or more base members 560 and a plurality of spaced-apart side walls 562. The base members 560 may be supported on a plurality of mounting blocks 564, each of the mounting blocks 564 having a cylindrical hole formed therein through which a cylindrical rod 566 passes. The ends of each of the cylindrical rods 566 may be supported by the spaced-apart support frames 450. As shown in FIG. 15A, the interior face of each of the side walls 562 may be provided with a retention clip 567, which may act to retain the upright position of the rearmost item 20 in the stack 10 or which may act to apply a pressure to the rearmost item 20 in the stack 10 to facilitate bonding of the rearmost item 20 to the stack 10.

Referring to FIG. 15B, which is an end view of the guide tray 456 looking from right to left in FIG. 15A, the base members 560 may have a U-shaped cross section, and the base members 560 may be connected to the mounting blocks 564 via a plurality of bolts 568. The lateral position of the base members 560 may be adjusted by sliding the mounting blocks 564 along the rods 566, and the lateral position may be fixed with a set screw (not shown) or another position-fixing device.

Each of the side walls 562 may be fixed to one or more mounting blocks 570 through which the cylindrical rods 566 pass. The side walls 562 may be spaced apart by a distance substantially corresponding to, or slightly larger than, the width of the stack 10 of informational items 20, as shown in FIG. 15B. The lateral positions of the side walls 562 may also be adjusted by sliding the mounting blocks 570 along the rods 566, and the side walls 562 may be fixed in a particular lateral position via a set screw (not shown) or other means:

Referring to FIG. 15A, the pusher unit 454 may be provided with a laterally extending pusher arm 580 having a pusher plate 582 attached thereto. The pusher arm 580 may be connected to a mounting plate 584 which may in turn be connected to a slide block 586 which is slidably supported by a plurality of slide rods 588. The slide block 586 may be connected to a drive arm 590 having a first end connected to the slide block 586 and a second end connected to a rotatable drive wheel 594. The drive wheel 594 may be rotatably driven by a motor 596 through a clutch mechanism 598.

The clutch 598 may be operatively coupled to a first sensor 600 that detects the presence of one of the informational items 20 as it moves downwardly between the upper and lower conveyor belts 472, 502 and to a second sensor 602 that senses the angular position of the drive wheel 594. For example, the sensor 602 may be a magnetic proximity sensor that detects when an enlarged portion 604 of the drive wheel 594 is adjacent the sensor 602.

Referring to FIG. 15, in the operation of the bonding unit 220, informational items 20 may be automatically provided, one at a time, to the nip or intersection of the upper and lower conveyor belts 472, 502 at the left-hand portion of the bonding unit 220 which is disposed immediately adjacent the support rollers 460, 496. The informational items 20 may be automatically provided to the bonding unit 220 directly from the conveyor 430 (FIG. 13B) of the folding unit 216, or they may alternatively be automatically provided via an intermediate conveyor (not shown) between the folding unit 216 and the bonding unit 220, or another conveyor can be added to the bonding unit 220. The details regarding the design and number of the conveyor units used to transfer the informational items 20 from the folding unit 216 to the bonding unit 220 are not considered important to the invention.

Each time an informational item 20, is introduced between the upper and lower conveyor belts 472, 502, it may be conveyed upwardly due to the frictional contact between the conveyor belts 472, 502 and the informational item 20 and the fact that the conveyor belts 472, 502 are driven via the motor 510. As it moves upwardly and to the right in FIG. 15, the informational item 20 may pass underneath the sensor 522, which may detect its presence and transmit a detect signal to the controller 530 via the line 532.

When the informational item 20 passes underneath the adhesive applicator 524, which may be in the form of a nozzle, for example, the adhesive applicator 524 may apply adhesive to the upwardly disposed face of the informational item 20. Whether or not adhesive is applied to the informational item 20 depends upon whether the informational item 20 is to be bonded to a preexisting stack 10 of informational items being bonded together.

For example, if the bonding unit 220 is to form stacks 10 of informational items 20, with each stack 10 being composed of eight informational items 20 bonded together, the controller 530 may be programmed to cause the adhesive applicator 524 to not apply adhesive to the first informational item 20, then to apply adhesive to the next seven informational items 20 which successively pass underneath the adhesive applicator 524 (causing the first eight informational items 20 to be bonded together). After passage of the first eight informational items 20, the controller 530 could be programmed to then cause the adhesive applicator 524 to skip a single informational item 20 by not applying adhesive thereto, and then to apply adhesive to the next seven consecutive informational items 20. Further details regarding the controller 530 are described below.

The precise time at which adhesive is applied by the applicator 524 may be controlled based on the speed of the conveyor belts 472, 502, as sensed by the sensing wheel 526 and transmitted to the controller 530 via the rotary encoder 528, and the known path distance between the sensor 522 and the adhesive applicator 524. Thus, after sensing of an informational item 20 by the sensor 522, the controller 530 may wait a length of time, which varies with the speed of the conveyor belts 472, 502, before signaling the adhesive applicator 524 to deposit adhesive, during which waiting time the position of the informational item 20 will have changed from being beneath the sensor 522 to being beneath the adhesive applicator 524.

After passing underneath the adhesive applicator 524, the informational item 20 continues moving upwardly and to the right between the conveyor belts 472, 502 until it reaches the support wheels 468, after which the informational item 20 may be conveyed downwardly between the belts 472, 502 in a generally vertical direction.

Referring to FIG. 15A, when the informational item 20 reaches a sensing position disposed horizontally adjacent the sensor 600, the sensor 600 may activate the clutch 598 to cause the motor 596 to begin to rotate the drive wheel 594. As the drive wheel 594 rotates, the slide block 586 and the pusher arm 580 and pusher plate 582 which are connected thereto may move from left to right in FIG. 15A.

By the time the pusher plate 582 moves rightwardly past the conveyor belt 502, the informational item 20 will have moved from its sensing position adjacent the sensor 600 to a loading position on top of the ends of the base members 560, which extend between the laterally spaced apart lower conveyor belts 502, as shown in FIGS. 14A and 14B. In the loading position, both faces of the informational item 20 are disposed vertically, and one of the faces rests against the conveyor belts 502.

With the informational item 20 in that loading position, the continued rightward movement of the pusher plate 582 may force the informational item 20 from its loading position to a contact position, in which the informational item 20 may be forced against the rearward face of the last (or most leftward) informational item 20 in the stack 10 being formed. If adhesive was deposited on the forward (or rightward) face of the informational item 20, the force applied by the pusher plate 582 may cause the informational item 20 to be bonded to previous informational item 20 in the stack 10.

In order to enhance bonding efficiency, various ways of increasing the force with which the most recent informational item 20 is pushed against the stack 10 may be utilized. For example, the rightward movement of the stack 10 may be retarded by placing a weight, such as a brick or metal plate (not shown) on top of the base members 560 and to the right of the rightmost stack 10 to retard the rightward movement of the stack(s) 10. Alternatively, the base members 560 may be disposed at an inclined angle (their elevation may increase from left to right) to achieve a similar effect.

As the drive wheel 594 continues to rotate, the pusher plate 582 may be retracted back towards its starting position. When the drive wheel 594 reaches its starting position, as sensed by the sensor 602, the clutch 598 may disengage the motor 596 from the drive wheel 594 so that the pusher plate 582 may return to its position shown in FIG. 15A.

It should be understood that the structural details shown in FIG. 15A are not shown to scale and that the stroke length of the pusher plate 582 could be changed by varying the diameter of the drive wheel 594 or by changing the point at which the arm 590 connects to the drive wheel 594. At any one time, there may be multiple informational items 20 in transit within the bonding unit 220 between the starting position and a loading position on top of the base members 560.

Further details regarding the operation of the controller 530 are shown in FIG. 15D, which illustrates a number of acts that could be performed during a gluing process 700. Referring to FIG. 15D, at block 702 a count variable may be initialized to zero. The count variable may be used to keep track of the number of informational items 20 that pass through the bonding unit 220 as detected by the sensor 522 (FIG. 15). For example, the first informational item 20 in each stack 10 could correspond to a count of one, the third informational item 20 in each stack 10 could correspond to a count of three, etc.

At block 704, the controller 530 may wait until an informational item 20 is detected by the sensor 522. When an informational item 20 is detected, at block 706 the value of count may be incremented by one.

Where adhesive is applied to the leading face of each informational item 20, or the face that is disposed forwardly (to the right in FIGS. 15 and 15A) when the informational item 20 is oriented in a vertical position, adhesive is not applied to the first informational item 20 of each stack 10 to be formed, but is applied to every informational item 20 in the stack 10 to be formed that follows the first informational item 20. Thus, at block 708, only if the value of the count variable is greater than one, meaning the current informational item 20 is not the first one in the stack 10, the process passes to blocks 710 and 712 which cause adhesive to be applied to the current informational item 20.

At block 710, the controller 530 may wait for a period of time, which may depend on the path distance between the sensor 522 and the glue applicator 524 and the speed of the upper and lower conveyor belts 472, 502, and then at block 712 the controller 530 may cause the adhesive applicator 524 to apply glue to the moving information item 20, which was detected at block 704 and which is now positioned underneath the adhesive applicator 524 due to the waiting period of block 710.

At block 714, if the current value of the count variable equals a pre-selected number of informational items 20 to be included in each stack 10, meaning that the current informational item 20 to which glue may have just been applied is the last informational item 20 in the current stack 10, the process may branch back to block 702 where the count variable is reset to zero since the next stack 10 is to be formed. Otherwise, the process may branch back to block 704 to wait for the next informational item 20. Obviously, if adhesive is. applied to the opposite face of each of the informational items 20, adhesive would be applied to each informational item 20 in the stack 10 to be formed except for the last informational item 20 in the stack 10.

In another embodiment, the outsert-forming machine 200 may be provided with a stacking unit instead of the bonding unit 220 shown in FIG. 5. The stacking unit may have any structure that is capable of manipulating the outserts so that they form, for example, a horizontal stack or a vertical stack. The bonding unit 220 described above could be used as the stacking unit. When so used, the bonding unit 220 may be programmed not to apply any adhesive to the outserts via the adhesive applicator 524 (FIG. 15). Alternatively, the stacking unit may be substantially the same as the bonding unit 220, except forth omission of the adhesive applicator 524 and the controller 530 used to control the application of adhesive.

The stacking unit could include a kicker arm or other mechanism to periodically laterally offset a selected informational item. For example, the kicker arm could laterally offset, such as by one-fourth of an inch, every 20th informational item that is stacked to allow, for example, an operator to readily determine how many informational items have accumulated. Such a kicker arm could be disposed to laterally offset an information item. disposed between the belts 472, 502 (FIG. 15) after the informational item passes underneath the sensor 522. The controller 530 could keep track of a continuing count of passing informational items and could periodically activate the kicker arm to laterally offset every 50th informational item, for example.

Claims

1. A method of forming an informational item having information regarding a pharmaceutical product printed thereon, said method comprising: (a) folding a sheet of paper having product information printed thereon by making a plurality of folds in said sheet of paper to form a first article, said folds in said sheet of paper being parallel to each other and parallel to a first direction, said folds in said sheet of paper being made using a first folding apparatus having a plurality of folding rollers; (b) folding said first article by making a fold in said first article to form a folded article, said fold in said first article being parallel to a second direction, said second direction being perpendicular to said first direction, said fold in said first article being made using a second folding apparatus having a plurality of folding rollers; (c) folding a folded article produced as a result of at least the acts recited in paragraphs (a) and (b) by making a fold in said folded article to form a third article, said fold in said folded article being parallel to said second direction, said fold in said folded article being made using a third folding apparatus having a plurality of folding rollers; (d) depositing an adhesive on a portion of said third article; (e) folding said third article by making a final fold to form said informational item, said final fold being parallel to said second direction and being made so that said adhesive holds said informational item in a substantially closed position, said final fold being made using a fourth folding apparatus having a plurality of folding rollers having a nip therebetween and a movable member, said movable member of said fourth folding apparatus making contact with a portion of said third article and forcing said portion of said third article towards said nip between said folding rollers of said fourth folding apparatus; and (f) after the acts recited in paragraph (e), applying a pressure of at least about 30 pounds per square inch to said informational item by conveying said informational item through a pressing apparatus having a plurality of pressing rollers.

2. A method as defined in claim 1 comprising applying a pressure in the range of about 30 pounds per square inch to about 500 pounds per square inch to said informational item by conveying said informational item through said pressing apparatus.

3. A method as defined in claim 1 additionally comprising applying a pressure of at least about 20 pounds per square inch to said informational item by conveying said informational item through a second pressing apparatus having a plurality of pressing rollers, said at least about 20 pounds per square inch of pressure being applied after the acts recited in paragraph (b) and before the acts recited in paragraph (c).

4. An apparatus that forms informational items having information regarding a pharmaceutical product printed thereon, said apparatus comprising: a first folding apparatus that forms a first article from a sheet of paper having information regarding a pharmaceutical product printed thereon, said first folding apparatus having a plurality of folding rollers and forming said first article by making a plurality of folds in said sheet of paper, each of said folds being parallel to a first direction; a second folding apparatus operatively coupled to receive said first article, said second folding apparatus making a fold in said first article in a direction parallel to a second direction, said second direction being perpendicular to said first direction; a third folding apparatus that forms a folded article from an article that was processed by said second folding apparatus, said third folding apparatus forming a third article from said folded article by making a fold in said folded article in a direction parallel to said second direction; an adhesive applicator that applies adhesive to a portion of said third article; a fourth folding apparatus operatively coupled to receive said third article, said fourth folding apparatus forming a closed informational item from said third article by making a final fold parallel to said second direction, said final fold being made so that said adhesive holds said informational item in a substantially closed position, said fourth folding apparatus comprising: a first folding roller; a second folding roller disposed adjacent said first folding roller of said fourth folding apparatus, said first and second folding rollers of said fourth folding apparatus having a nip therebetween, said first and second folding rollers of said fourth folding apparatus causing said final fold to be made when said third article passes between said first and second folding rollers of said fourth folding apparatus; and a movable member that makes contact with a portion of said third article to force said portion of said third article towards said nip between said first and second folding rollers of said fourth folding apparatus; and a pressing apparatus comprising a pair of pressing rollers, said pressing apparatus applying a pressure of at least about 30 pounds per square inch after said final fold is made by said fourth folding apparatus.

5. An apparatus as defined in claim 4 wherein said pressing apparatus applies a pressure in the range of about 30 pounds per square inch to about 500 pounds per square inch to said informational item.

6. An apparatus as defined in claim 4 additionally comprising a second pressing apparatus that comprises a pair of pressing rollers, said second pressing apparatus causing a pressure of at least about 20 pounds per square inch to be applied to an intermediate folded article after said intermediate folded article is processed by said second folding apparatus and before said intermediate folded article is processed by said third folding apparatus.

7. An apparatus as defined in claim 4 wherein said second pressing apparatus comprises: a pair of spaced-apart support members; a first pressing roller supported by said support members; and a second pressing roller supported by said support members, said second pressing roller having a position that is adjustable relative to said first pressing roller.

8. An apparatus as defined in claim 4 wherein said second pressing apparatus comprises: a pair of spaced-apart support members; a first pressing roller supported by said support members; a second pressing roller supported by said support members; a pivot member that supports one of said pressing rollers, said pivot member being pivotable about a pivot point, said pivot member causing a vertical position of said one pressing roller to be changed when said pivot member is pivoted; and a support member that supports said pivot member in a plurality of different positions including a first position in which a gap between said pressing rollers corresponds to a first distance and a second position in which said gap between said pressing rollers corresponds to a second distance different than said first distance.

9. An apparatus as defined in claim 8 wherein said pivot member supports a non-rotatable support shaft that supports said one pressing roller.

10. An apparatus as defined in claim 8 additionally comprising a spring that applies a bias pressure to a portion of said pivot member.