Graham Harris, the firm's managing director and inventor of the Tri-Creaser, said 300 of the devices had been sold in the US this year, a figure that he hoped to double in 2004.

Harris, who set the company up at the end of 1999, invented the Tri-Creaser as part of his plan to become a finishing consultant.

It just got bigger and bigger. Its success has blown away all my preconceptions of what was possible, said Harris.

Tech-ni-Fold, which is based in Leicester, now has 6 employees and a turnover of nearly 1m.