Roller apparatus for sheet folding machine

Abstract

There are provided a pair of rollers (W, W1; W, W2; W2, W3; W3, W4) for taking a sheet in a buckle zones (b1-b4), and a pair of rollers (W, W2; W2, W3; W3, W4; W4, W5) for folding a portion of the sheet deflecting from the buckle zones (b1-b4). A rotating shaft of at least one of the rollers of each of the roller pairs is carried by one end of a lever (6). The lever (6) is arranged for swing around a supporting point (8), and the other end of the lever (6) is provided with a spring resiliently biasing the roller carried by the lever (6) in a direction in which the roller is pressed against the counter roller. One end of an adjustment rod (15a-15e) is brought into contact with the other end of the lever (6). The adjustment rod (15a-15e) is guided by a guide (14) in a direction of its axis. The other end of the adjustment rod (15a-15e) is provided with a pulse motor (M1-M5) moving the adjustment rod (15a-15e) through the guide (14). The pulse motor (M1-M5)is driven, whereby the adjustment rod (15a-15e) is moved so as to swing the lever (6), and the gap length between the opposed rollers is adjusted.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a Side elevational view illustrating a structure of a main part of a roller apparatus for a sheet folding machine in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a structure of a control section of the roller apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view illustrating a display screen of a display of the roller apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating a whole of the sheet folding machine in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view illustrating a structure of a conventional sheet folding machine; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic view illustrating a structure of a mechanism for adjusting a gap length between rollers of a roller apparatus for the sheet folding machine shown in FIG. 5.

Claims

1. A roller apparatus for a sheet folding machine having: at least one buckle zone (b1-b4) in which a sheet to be folded is introduced by a length corresponding to a predetermined fold position;a pair of rotating rollers (W, W1; W, W2; W2, W3; W3, W4) arranged near an inlet of said buckle zone(s) (b1-b4) and oppositely to each other for taking the sheet in said buckle zone(s) (b1-b4);a pair of rotating rollers (W, W2; W2, W3; W3, W4; W4, W5) arranged near the inlet of said buckle zone(s) (b1-b4) and oppositely to each other for folding a portion of the sheet deflecting from said buckle zone(s) (b1-b4);a rotating shaft of at least one of the rollers of each of said roller pairs being carried by one end of a lever (6), said lever (6) being arranged for swing around a supporting point (8) provided at its intermediate position, the other end of said lever (6) being provided with a spring resiliently biasing said roller carried by said lever (6) in a direction in which said roller is pressed against the counter roller, said lever (6) being provided with a roller gap adjusting means for adjusting a gap between the rollers for each of said roller pairs by setting the closest position of the roller carried by the lever (6) to the counter roller,said roller apparatus characterized in that said roller gap adjusting means comprises:an adjustment rod (15a-15e) one end of which is brought into contact with said other end of said lever (6) or is pivotally connected to said other end of said lever (6) through a pivot;a guide (14) for guiding said adjustment rod (15a-15e) in a direction of the axis thereof;a pulse motor (M1-M5) connected to the other end of said adjustment rod (15a-15e) so as to move said adjustment rod (15a-15e) through said guide (14), said lever (6) being rotated around said supporting point (8) by rotary drive of said pulse motor (M1-M5);an input means (18) for inputting a preset value of a gap length between the rollers for each of said roller pairs;a storage means (17) for storing the preset value inputted from said input means (18); anda control means (16) sending a control signal to the associated pulse motor (M1-M5) so as to drive said pulse motor (M1-M5) based on the preset value stored in said storage means (17),whereby, for each of said roller pairs, said pulse motor (M1-M5) is driven by said control means (16), said adjustment rod (15a-15e) is moved so as to swing the lever (6) and the gap length between the opposed rollers is adjusted.

2. The roller apparatus for a sheet folding machine as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said input means (18) comprises a touch panel display (20), and a screen of said touch panel display (20) is provided with a selector button (21) for selecting a roller gap to be adjusted, and a preset value input button (22a, 22b) for inputting or changing a preset value of the length of the roller gap selected by said selector button (21).

3. The roller apparatus for a sheet folding machine as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said roller apparatus further comprises another input means (19) arranged separately from said roller apparatus and said another input means (19) is connected to said control means (16), said storage means (17) and said input means (18) of said roller apparatus for data communication, and the information about the roller gap selected by said another input means (19) and the preset value of the gap length of said roller gap inputted from said another input means (19) are directly transmitted to said storage means (17) and said input means (18).