...that several people are credited with the invention of the flush toilet? Most people have heard of Thomas Crapper (1837-1910), the sanitary engineer who invented the valve-and-siphon arrangement that made the modern toilet possible. Another claimant to "the throne" was British inventor Alexander Cumming who patented a toilet in 1775. Then there's a nameless Minoan (a native of ancient Crete) who lived 4,000 years ago who supposedly was ahead of his time and created the first flush toilet!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7846082 | Method for bifolding an article and article made thereby A method is provided for bifolding articles on a high speed production line on which the articles are moved along a predetermined path. The method includes the use of a vacuum conveyor assembly to engage the leading end portion of an article and transport it in the ... | 12/07/2010 |
| 7758486 | Sheet folding apparatus and method In some embodiments of the present invention, a method and apparatus for folding sheets are disclosed in which single transverse folds are created by vacuum rolls in one operational mode and double transverse folds are created by vacuum rolls in another operational ... | 07/20/2010 |
| 7736290 | Sheet folding apparatus, sheet folding unit and image forming apparatus A sheet folding apparatus, including: a stacker configured to stack a plurality of sheets; a first folding roller configured to rotate around a first axis; a second folding roller configured to rotate around a second axis which is in parallel with the first axis and... | 06/15/2010 |
| 7540836 | Drive for a cylinder of a rotary press In the drive for cylinders of a rotary press which operate together, one of the cylinders includes a pair of cylinder segments which can be driven and rotated independently of one another by respective electric motors. The further cylinder is driven by a dedicated e... | 06/02/2009 |
| 7494455 | Cylinder for processing flat material A cylinder, having a cylindrical body which is rotatable about a cylinder axis of rotation, is usable to process flat material. At least one group of a plurality of tools are distributed around the periphery of the cylinder body in a homogeneous manner. These tools ... | 02/24/2009 |
| 7442158 | Folding apparatus A folding apparatus includes at least a first folding cylinder and a second, folding jaw cylinder. A third measuring cylinder is also provided. The measuring cylinder is usable to cut product sections or signatures of a determined length L from an endless web. The f... | 10/28/2008 |
| 7435210 | Adjusting apparatus and method for a folding-unit cylinder An adjusting apparatus and method for a folding-unit cylinder is disclosed. The apparatus includes a linkage which can be set longitudinally by an adjusting drive which is arranged in the folding-unit cylinder. An adjusting member is articulated on the output side o... | 10/14/2008 |
| 7422553 | Gripper cylinder in a folding apparatus A cylinder, which is part of a folder, includes a cylinder body with at least one gripper that can be moved between a retracted position within the cylinder body; an extended position, and a clamping position in which a tip of the gripper presses flat material again... | 09/09/2008 |
| 7416522 | Folding drum of a folder of a printing press A folding drum includes folding-drum side walls lying opposite one another, journals lying opposite one another and acting on the folding-drum side walls, a frame on which the folding drum is mounted rotatably via the folding-drum side walls and the journals, a fold... | 08/26/2008 |
| 7399265 | Apparatus and method for adjusting a folding-jaw cylinder of a folder for a printing press A folding-jaw cylinder of a folder for a printing press is disclosed. Actuable folding-jaw cheeks are assigned to a first cylinder part of the folding-jaw cylinder and fixed folding-jaw cheeks are assigned to a second cylinder part. Both cylinder parts are assigned ... | 07/15/2008 |
| 7399266 | Method and machine for folding and finishing training pant diapers A method and machine for folding and finishing training pant diapers, whereby the diapers are formed from respective flat blanks, each of which is fed to a continuously-rotating, suction-type first wheel, and is folded into a U by clamping an intermediate portion of... | 07/15/2008 |
| 7338425 | Variable length cutting device A variable length cutting device includes a cutting cylinder and a transfer cylinder. The transfer cylinder cooperates with the cutting cylinder for cutting a ribbon into signatures having a desired cutoff length. An adjustable diameter portion of the transfer cylin... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7326166 | Method and apparatus for folding sheets of paper For folding a sheet of paper, a portion of the sheet situated between opposite ends of the sheet is bent to a folding nip between a pair of folding rollers. By rotating the folding rollers in an output rotation sense, whereby sections of the folding rollers in the a... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7326161 | Folder A folder includes a cut-off cylinder, etc. for cutting a web into sheets; a group of cylinders for folding each sheet into a signature in accordance with the selected folding specifications; and a conveyer apparatus, a fan wheel, a delivery conveyer, etc. for convey... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7326167 | Sheet folding device A sheet folding device includes a folding plate configured to push out a sheet or sheet stack in a direction pre-set against a conveying path; a couple of folding rollers configured to push the sheet being pushed into a nip of the folding roller couple; and a guide ... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7303522 | Parallel folding device of folding machine A parallel folding device includes: a folding cylinder which transfers a signature; a first jaw cylinder having gripper boards; an upper second jaw cylinder in contact with the first jaw cylinder and having grippers; a lower second jaw cylinder in contact with and t... | 12/04/2007 |
| 7303523 | Paper-folding apparatus A paper-folding apparatus includes a hopper for holding one or more sheets of paper or other similar foldable media, a discharge feed and stripper assembly, a shuttle associated with the hopper operable to transfer a sheet of paper from the hopper to the discharge f... | 12/04/2007 |
| 7303521 | Folding apparatus of rotary press A folding apparatus of a rotary press which can select collect run or straight run comprises: a fixed pin cam 2 which performs operations of straight run and collect run; a correction pin cam 3 which stops in case of straight run, and protrudes/retract... | 12/04/2007 |
| 7270631 | Method of tucking side panels with side panel fold location control A method of tucking a pair of side panels into a body portion of a pant-like garment in which the fold locations can be controlled. The garment is positioned between an upper vacuum conveyor and a lower vacuum conveyor. Opposing vacuum zones from the upper and lower... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7264583 | Folding machine with transferring device of the folded products that penetrates the folding roller The folding machine comprises a pair of folding rollers (1, 3) rotating about axes essentially parallel to each other and defining a nip (5) through which a web material (N) to be folded passes. Disposed on each of the folding rollers are folding membe... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7255668 | Folding appliances A folding appliance includes a rotatable folding blade cylinder for transporting a signature to be folded, and at least one folding blade that can rotated about a first axle inside the folding blade cylinder. That first axle is held on a carrier which, in turn, can ... | 08/14/2007 |
| 7247131 | Folding machine for the graphics industry The invention relates to a folding machine for the graphics industry. The machine has a folder, at least one pair of blade shafts following the folder, and a separate roll frame that supports the pair of blade shafts. In order to be able to perform changeover operat... | 07/24/2007 |
| 7247129 | Outsert-forming method 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; (b) making a fol... | 07/24/2007 |
| 7217233 | Parallel folding apparatus of folding machine A parallel folding apparatus of a folding machine comprises a first cylinder in contact with a second cylinder. A guide plate guides a signature transported on the lower circumferential surface of the second cylinder after being double-folded by grippers of the seco... | 05/15/2007 |
| 7217232 | Automatic paper folder This invention provides an automatic paper folder with the adjustable distance between a retarder and a feeding wheel assuring the consistency of the automatic feed for most types of paper. The automatic paper folder includes a paper feed assembly that combines the ... | 05/15/2007 |
| 7214175 | Folding gear comprising a cylinder with adjustable circumference A folding gear is comprised of a cylinder that is mounted to a frame for rotation. At least one clamp is arranged on the outer surface of the cylinder. The at least one clamp can be positioned by an actuator which includes a flexible toothed shell that is shaped by ... | 05/08/2007 |
| 7182723 | Informational item final folding apparatus 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; (b) making a fol... | 02/27/2007 |
| 7175586 | Methods of forming outserts A method of forming an outsert having printed information thereon is disclosed in which a plurality of parallel folds are made in a sheet of paper in a first fold direction using a plurality of pairs of folding rollers and stop members to form an intermediate folded... | 02/13/2007 |
| 7172547 | Variable-circumference folder A variable-circumference folder includes a gathering cylinder fitted with pin systems for reliably holding products of different thickness fed to the gathering cylinder by an accelerating device without any adjustment effort. ... | 02/06/2007 |
| 7153253 | Folding drums of a folding device A folding drum of a folding device is comprised of at least one folding element and a transmission unit. The transmission unit has at least one toothed wheel which is coaxially arranged with respect to the rotational axis of the folding drum. The toothed wheel can b... | 12/26/2006 |
| 7137554 | Card mailer system and method of preparing card packages for mailing An automate card package mailer for preparing card packages (60) composed of one or more cards(50) attached to matching carrier forms (33) for mailing has a carrier folding apparatus that is programmable to fold the carriers into different confi... | 11/21/2006 |
| 7124799 | Lamination apparatus and method of use A lamination apparatus and method of use, and more particularly a lamination apparatus for automatically laminating photographs onto album pages is provided. The lamination apparatus includes a holder slidably mountable on a main body and having an exit region in co... | 10/24/2006 |
| 7121993 | Sheet folding apparatus A sheet folding apparatus for folding a set of sheets into two at a center thereof, includes: a sheet number recognition section that recognizes the number of sheets in the set; a pair of rotating rollers pressed against each other to form a nip portion; a blade mem... | 10/17/2006 |
| 7121992 | Informational item forming machine and method 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, the folds in the... | 10/17/2006 |
| 7115088 | Folder cylinder with support plate A folding cylinder includes a plurality of gripping devices supported on a first rotatable support with a first gripping device for holding a signature on the cylinder. A plurality of tucking devices are supported on a second rotatable support, the tucking devices i... | 10/03/2006 |
| 7101332 | Sheet folding and trimming apparatus A sheet folding and trimming apparatus for a booklet maker or bookbinder includes a folding apparatus and a sheetwise trimming apparatus configured to trim the folded sheet from the folding apparatus on three unfolded sides of the sheet in a sheetwise manner. The lo... | 09/05/2006 |
| 7097607 | Folding roller for paper converting machine An interfolding machine, having first and second folding counter rotating rollers, a substantially cylindrical body and a plurality of folding means for engaging at a contact line (15) for making a stack of folded and/or interfolded sheets in a folding area. ... | 08/29/2006 |
| 7090632 | Folder with multiple-motor drive A folder includes a first cylinder having at least one first gripper for holding signatures and at least one tucker for tucking the signatures to define a first fold, a second cylinder having at least one first jaw for holding the signatures at the first fold, a fir... | 08/15/2006 |
| 7087006 | Album leaf and method and apparatus for making an album leaf An apparatus and method for automatically folding a sheet of media, for example, a photographic paper about a fold line, such that a album page is formed. The photosensitive media has images only on one side. A heat activated adhesive sheet is provided between the s... | 08/08/2006 |
| 7083562 | Geared folding apparatus A folding apparatus utilizes a primary drive motor, at least one cylinder that is driven for rotation by the primary drive motor, and a pair of folding rollers. The folding rollers can be driven for rotation by an auxiliary motor. The folding rollers can be coupled ... | 08/01/2006 |