Filter pleating machine

Claim 1

In a filter pleating machine in which a laterally and vertically movable pusher bar and a parallel vertically movable stripper bar are normally spaced apart laterally above a table, and a vertically movable breaker bar is between the other two bars and normally below the table top in a plane parallel to the other two bars, the improvement in which the pusher bar and the stripper bar each has a plurality of longitudinally spaced upwardly extending slots in its lower edge for receiving parallel separator tapes above a filter strip extending along the table beneath said bars, and the breaker bar has a plurality of longitudinally spaced downwardly extending slots in its upper edge for receiving parallel separator tapes below such a strip when the breaker bar is raised, said tapes being unattached to said strip, said upwardly extending slots having upper end walls for engagement by the upper tapes after said breaker bar has moved upwardly a predetermined distance to start forming a fold in the filter strip, and said downwardly extending slots having lower end walls for engaging and lifting the lower tapes after said breaker bar has moved upwardly a predetermined distance, whereby to form tape folds of less depth than the filter folds.