Abstract: A folding apparatus in which an intermediate span of a signature at the folding station is buckled by a pair of oppositely driven signature feeding surfaces into the nip of a pair of converging signature folding and feeding surfaces which fold the signature and feed it from the folding station.

Abstract: A gripper mechanism for printing press folding machines or other sheet handling equipment comprises a rigid holder mounted on a pivot shaft and a resilient gripper finger, fixed to the holder, which pivots into engagement with an angled clamping surface. The geometry of the gripper finger relative to the holder is such that the rigid holder and resilient finger act as a linkage which, upon application of counterforce by the clamping surface, imparts a radial component of force to the gripper tip equal and opposite to the radial component of counterforce, thereby producing non-sliding engagement of a sheet of paper positioned between the clamping surface and said tip.

Abstract: A folder collect cylinder comprises at least five gripper mechanisms and an equal number of tucking mechanisms controlled by non-rotating cams that are selectively masked by masking cams that rotate about an axis coincident with the cylinder axis. The masking cams are driven from the main collect cylinder drive through a transmission that can be adjusted to change the speed ratio of the masking cams to the collect cylinder and the phase of the masking cams to the gripper mechanisms to provide non-collect, two-collect, three-collect and partial-collect without ever masking the taking surface of the non-rotating gripper cam during a taking phase of any gripper mechanism.

Abstract: A sheet diverter in the path of a stream of cut sheets to be diverted in predetermined sequence in different directions in which a pair of rotary diverters having cam surfaces thereon divert and guide the sheets in the predetermined sequence relative to a pair of guiding surfaces.