Apparatus for forming webs of material into a stack

888,934. Folding and stacking material. KAUSCHKA, R. Aug. 6, 1958 [Aug. 7, 1957], No. 25235/58. Class 42 (2). A web of foldable material 13 is formed into a stack 23, from the top of which it can be withdrawn, by supplying it in folds to the bottom of the stack. The web is guided to the stack between two parallel rollers 4, 5 mounted on an arm 3 for reciprocating movement along a curved path and geared together by a chain drive 6 to rotate in the same direction. The web passes between bars 11, 12 mounted on levers 14, 15 carrying rollers 18, 19. In one end position of the reciprocating movement, roller 18 engages a cam-like abutment 20 to swing bar 12 to the Fig. 2 position in which it pushes the material in a fold between the stack 23 and roller 4. Similarly engagement between roller 19 and an abutment 21 forms a fold at the other end of the movement. The stack is supported on straps 7, 8 adjustably secured at one end to members 9, 10 and wound at the other end around rollers 4, 5; the length of the straps is such that they form approximately a circular arc to which the surfaces of rollers 4, 5 are tangential during their movement.