Abstract: Towels or other segments of sheet material are moved along an upper pair of downwardly inclined guide plates 31, 32, and the side edge portions 16 of the segments are folded inwardly and under the central portion 20 of the segment and under the upper guide plates. The leading end portion of the segment is moved off the lower ends of the upper guide plates and onto a lower pair of guide plates 34, 35 that are coextensive with the upper guide plates, the two pairs of guide plates are then separated, and a fold blade 101 moves upwardly between the separated guide plates to form a cross fold 106 intermediate the ends of the segment. The movement of the intermediate folded portion of the segment is continued in an upwardly-inclined direction, which pulls the leading and trailing end portions together.

Abstract: Sheet material 14, such as a continuous supply of terry cloth towel 16, is moved along its length through a path and toward a cutting station 15 where it is cut into lengths 139. The sheet material is formed with bands 166 extending across its length, such as bands of reduced thickness, and the sheet material is cut in these bands. The bands are detected by rollers 144, 145 at opposite edges of the sheet material as the bands approach the cutting station 15, and each edge portion of the sheet material is fed by feed rollers 51, 52 independently of the other edge portion into the cutting station so as to cause one side of the sheet material which may lag the other side to be properly located at the cutting station prior to cutting the sheet material.