Folding machine for large-format documents

Abstract

A sheet-folding machine has a housing having an off-line intake slot and, offset therefrom, an on-line intake slot, a manual sheet-input table on the housing juxtaposed with the off-line intake slot for feeding of a sheet manually into the off-line intake slot, and an automatic sheet feeder juxtaposed with the on-line intake slot and capable of cooperating with a sheet-processing device to receive a sheet therefrom and feed it into the on-line intake slot. Respective off-line and on-line guide chutes in the housing each have an upstream end at the respective slot and a downstream end. The downstream ends meet at an intersection. A roller-type folding unit in the housing receives a sheet to be folded at the intersection and folds it.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A sheet-folding machine comprising:
 a housing having an off-line intake slot and, offset therefrom, an on-line intake slot;   a manual sheet-input table on the housing juxtaposed with the off-line intake slot for feeding of a sheet manually into the off-line intake slot;   an automatic sheet feeder juxtaposed with the on-line intake slot and capable of cooperating with a sheet-processing device to receive a sheet therefrom and feed it into the on-line intake slot;   respective off-line and on-line guide chutes in the housing each having an upstream end at the respective slot and a downstream end, the downstream ends meeting at an intersection; and   a folding unit in the housing positioned to receive a sheet to be folded at the intersection and operable to fold the received sheet.   
     
     
         2 . The sheet-folding machine defined in  claim 1 , wherein the housing has a plurality of sides and the slots are on different sides of the housing. 
     
     
         3 . The sheet-folding machine defined in  claim 3 , wherein the folding unit includes
 a pair of feed rollers,   a folding-unit chute extending in a sheet-travel direction from the intersection to the document rollers, and   a plurality of folding rollers downstream in the direction from the feed rollers and operable to fold a sheet from the feed rollers.   
     
     
         4 . The sheet-folding machine defined in  claim 1 , wherein the housing has a removable module forming the on-line and off-line chutes. 
     
     
         5 . The sheet-folding machine defined in  claim 4 , wherein the sheet-input table or the automatic sheet feeder are mounted externally on the housing. 
     
     
         6 . The sheet-folding machine defined in  claim 1 , wherein the sheet-input table includes a sheet-guide flap movable between
 a use position exposing the off-line intake slot for sliding of a sheet into the off-line intake slot and   a closed position covering the off-line intake slot.   
     
     
         7 . The sheet-folding machine defined in  claim 5 , wherein in the open position the flap is oriented in alignment with the off-like chute for feeding of a sheet along the flap into the chute. 
     
     
         8 . The sheet-folding machine defined in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 off-line feed rollers in the housing and in the off-line chute for advancing sheets along the off-line chute in a sheet-travel direction from the off-line intake slot to the intersection.   
     
     
         9 . The sheet-folding machine defined in  claim 8 , further comprising:
 an off-line sensor adjacent the off-line intake slot for detecting a sheet at the upstream end of the off-line chute; and   control means connected to the folding unit, to the off-line feed rollers, and to the off-line sensor for operating the off-line feed rollers only when the folding unit is inactive.   
     
     
         10 . The sheet-folding machine defined in  claim 8 , wherein the automatic sheet feeder has on-line feed rollers, the machine further comprising:
 an off-line sensor adjacent the off-line intake slot for detecting a sheet at the upstream end of the off-line chute;   an on-line sensor adjacent the on-line intake slot or in the automatic feeder for detecting a sheet at the upstream end of the on-line chute or in the automatic feeder; and   control means connected to the folding unit, to the on-line and off-line feed rollers, and to the on-line and off-line sensors for operating the feed rollers such that only one sheet is fed to the folding unit at a time.   
     
     
         11 . The sheet-folding machine defined in  claim 1 , wherein the housing includes:
 a removable module forming the on-line and off-line chutes and the on-line and off-line intake slots, or   a removable module forming only one of the chutes and the respective slot.