GB2198990A

GB2198990A - Bookbinding

Info

Publication number: GB2198990A
Application number: GB08728953A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Peter Green
Original assignee: Remploy Ltd
Current assignee: Remploy Ltd
Priority date: 1986-12-12
Filing date: 1987-12-11
Publication date: 1988-06-29
Also published as: GB8629739D0; GB8728953D0

Abstract

A-method of bookbinding comprises applying adhesive to a spine 22 of a book 12, formed from a plurality of individual pages 10, by rotating adhesive-carrying threaded means 24 against the spine 22. The pages 10, whilst being clamped between opposed jaws 14, may be fanned to the left by extending piston rod 32b and then to the right by extending piston rod 32a, to give double fanning. The book 12, jaws 14, and double fanning forcing means, including the piston rods 32a, 32b, may all be carried by a reciprocable carriage (38 figure 3) capable of translational movement perpendicularly to the plane of the paper, to move the spine 22 across the threaded means 24. The spine 22 is fanned to the left during movement across threaded portion 26 and is fanned to the right during return movement across threaded portion 28. <IMAGE>

Description

BOOKBIND=NG The present invention relates generally to bookbinding, and is particularly concerned with a method and apparatus by which books can be bound, or re-bound, in an especially convenient and advantageous manner, without the use of thread.

Traditionally, the initial stages in the binding of a book are for the printed pages to be folded into a series of sections, or signatures, which are collated into the correct order, are covered on their backs by a strip of gauze fabric, and are then sewn or laced onto the gauze backing strip by one or more lengths of thread, to form a book block.

A less expensive method of bookbinding, of particular value with paperback books, is known as threadless or perfect binding.

In this method, the sections or signatures are trimmed along their backs, after having been collated, to leave the pages totally unconnected along a spine of the book. The trimming may be performed by, for example, a guillotine or a milling machine. The trimmed pages are clamped together for handling purposes between a pair of opposed jaws. A sufficient distance is left, between the spine and the jaws, to allow the individual pages of the spine to be spread apart from one another. This spreading apart of the pages of the spine is known as fanning. Whilst the trimmed back edges of the pages are spread apart from one another, an adhesive is applied thereto. More specifically, because adhesive is to be applied to each side of the individual pages, the spine is spread apart consecutively in opposite directions, giving rise to the term double fanning.A strip of kraft paper or other backing material is finally placed over the spine and pressed down on the adhesive to form a book block.

Hitherto, the unclamped distance between the spine and the jaws has been approximately 5 cm, whereas an adhesive-carrying roller has been located adjacent to the spine and approximately 4.9 cm away from the jaws.

The jaws, and the book pages clamped thereby, have been arranged to pivot about a central axis parallel to the length of the spine and the axis of the roller. As the pages are forced past the roller, some of the adhesive on the roller is transferred thereto. The adhesive extends approximately 0.08 cm onto one side of each of the pages.

Pivoting the jaws, and the book pages clamped thereby, in the opposite direction causes adhesive to be applied to the opposite side of each of the pages. To enhance the transfer of the adhesive, during this double fanning operation, the roller is itself arranged to pivot repeatedly about its axis in opposite directions. Thus, both the roller, and the assembly of the book pages with the jaws, are arranged to oscillate in synchronism with one another, but in reverse directions. For example, as the roller is moving in a clockwise sense, the assembly of the book pages with the jaws is moving in a counter clockwise sense.

Disadvantages of the method as just described result from the required oscillatory movements.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a method of bookbinding comprises the step of applying adhesive to a spine of a book, formed from a plurality of individual pages, by rotating adhesivecarrying threaded means against the spine of the book.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a bookbinding apparatus comprises means for holding a plurality of individual pages of a book together to present a spine, threaded means rotatably mounted in the vicinity of the holding means, and means for transferring adhesive onto the threaded means from whence the adhesive is to be transferred onto the spine of the book held by the holding means.

It will be appreciated that, as the threaded means contacts and abuts against the spine, the threaded means can help to fan the pages of the book apart from one another, even if they have not already been fanned apart from one another, thereby facilitating the transfer of adhesive from the threaded means to one side of each of the pages at the spine.

The area of contact between the threaded means and the spine may be sufficient to apply adhesive along the whole length of the spine. For example, the threaded means may be of particularly large diameter and the spine may be particularly short. It would usually be desirable, however, to provide relative translational movement between the spine and the threaded means, during the application of the adhesive, in addition to the rotational movement of the threaded means. It may be more convenient to move the jaws, and the book pages clamped thereby, rather than move the threaded means which is already being rotated, but either or both may be moved as circumstances dictate. Preferably, the spine is moved along its length across the rotating threaded means.The direction of the relative translational movement along the length of the spine may be that which better assists in the transfer of the adhesive from the threaded means to the spine. It is expected that, in practice, at the area of contact between the spine and the threaded means, the direction of movement of the spine relatively to the rotational movement of the threaded means will not be significant.

The holding means may take the form of a conventional clamp including an opposed pair of jaws, and the means for transferring adhesive onto the threaded means may take the form of a conventional adhesive bath or a conventional adhesive transfer roller.

Preferably, the spine is fanned independently of any fanning caused by the above-noted rotational and translational movements. This independent fanning may be as a result of translational movement of the spine and the threaded means relatively against one another but along the length of the threaded means. It is more likely that this independent fanning would be as a result of the spine being pushed to one side by mechanical or pneumatic or other forcing means. Preferably, the forcing means is mechanical and is in the form of a piston rod protruding from and reciprocable within a cylinder connectable to a source of fluid pressure.

Although there may be circumstances where it is merely necessary for the spine to be fanned to one side by a fanning force, it would be more usual for the spine to be successively fanned to both sides, during the application of the adhesive, by being successively subjected to opposing fanning forces in addition to any fanning effect resulting from the rotation of the threaded means.

In the usual situation where a double fanning operation is required, said step of applying adhesive by the method of the present invention comprises first arranging for the adhesive-carrying threaded means to rotate against one side of each of the pages at the spine, and subsequently arranging for the adhesivecarrying threaded means to rotate against the other side of each of the pages at the spine. The spine is fanned to one side during its translational movement across the rotating threaded means in one direction, and is fanned to the opposite side during its translational movement across the rotating threaded. means in the opposite direction.If the threaded means has the same hand of thread along its length, the threaded means is first arranged to rotate in one sense to apply the adhesive to said one side of the pages, and is subsequently arranged to- rotate in the other sense to apply the adhesive to said other side of the pages. However, the threaded means can be arranged to rotate in the same sense throughout the double fanning operation. In this case; the threaded means has a first portion of its length with one hand of thread to apply the adhesive to said one side of the pages, and has another portion of its length with the opposite hand of thread to apply the adhesive to said other side of the pages. Said different portions of the threaded means, with different hands of thread, may be formed to be integral with or separate from one another, and may be located either adjacent to or spaced from one another.

Whatever the construction of the threaded means, for use in the double fanning operation, there may be two forcing means preferably taking the form of a pair of piston rods aligned with one another on opposite sides of the book pages protruding from the jaws.

In a preferred arrangement, the holding means is carried by a carriage mounted for translational movement in the direction of the length of the spine across the rotatable threaded means. The two opposed forcing means are also carried by the carriage for successively fanning the spine to its two opposite sides.

More particularly, one of the forcing means is operable to fan the spine to one side during its translational movement across a first portion of the rotatable threaded means in one direction and the other of the forcing means is operable to fan the spine to the opposite side during its translational movement across a second portion of the rotatable threaded means in the opposite direction. As already mentioned, the first and second portions of the rotatable threaded means may have the same axis of rotation and different hands of rotation.

In an initial step, the book may be supported by orientating the holding means to hold the book in a substantially vertical plane with the spine lowermost; and, in a final step, a backing may be applied to the spine, after the application of the adhesive to the spine, by backing means located beside the rotatable threaded means.

In contrast to what has been done hitherto, the unclamped distance between the spine (at the back of the book) and the jaws (or other means for holding the pages of the book) is preferably increased, and may be for example approximately 8.9 cm to give a generally equivalent extent of adhesive application of approximately 0.08 cm onto the pages.

A method and apparatus in accordance with the present invention, and a known method and apparatus for purposes of comparison, will now be described in more detail, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic plan view of a known apparatus for use in a known method of threadless or perfect bookbinding involving double fanning; and Figures 2 and 3 are, respectively, schematic end and plan views of apparatus in accordance with the present invention for achieving the same objective by a method in accordance with the present invention.

Referring initially to Figure 1, a plurality of individual pages 10 of a book 12 are shown clamped between a pair of jaws 14 for pivotal movement about axis 16 parallel to axis 18 of an adhesive-carrying roller 20.

The book 12 has a spine 22 located between the jaws 14 and the roller 20. Adhesive is transferred from the roller 20 to the opposite sides of the pages 10 at the spine 22 by means of a double fanning operation. This is achieved by oscillating the pages 10 about the axis 16 in synchronism with, but in the reverse direction to, oscillating the roller 20 about the axis 18. In other words, as the pages 10 move in the direction of the arrow A, the roller 20 moves in the direction of the arrow B.

The present invention enables the double fanning operation to be improved.

Referring now to Figure 2, the pages 10 of the book 12 are again shown clamped between a pair of jaws 14. Here, however, the roller 20 is replaced by a threaded means 24 shown with a left hand portion 26 of one hand of thread, and a right hand portion 28 of the other hand of thread. The threaded means 24 is rotatably mounted in a bath 30 containing adhesive. Between the jaws 14 and the bath 30, two aligned piston rods 32a,32b are reciprocably mounted within a respective (two) aligned cylinders 34a, 34b connectable to sources of compressed air. The cylinders 34a, 34b may be single or double acting. The exposed ends of the piston rods 32a, 32b carry elongate pressing rods 36a, 36b.

In use, the piston rod 32b is extended, which thereby causes the pressing rod 36b to push the pages 10 to the left and causes the spine 22 to be fanned to the left (as shown). When the threaded means 24 is rotated, in the counter clockwise sense as viewed from the right, the left- hand portion 26 of the threaded means 24 transfers adhesive to the- exposed sides of the pages 10 at the spine 22. In fact, the adhesive can be regarded as being screwed onto or rifled into the pages 10. The spine 22 is simultaneously moved translationally, relatively to the rotating threaded means 24, in a direction along the spine 22 and perpendicularly up from the plane of Figure 2.

As shown in Figure 3, the jaws 14 and the cylinders 34a, 34b may all be mounted on a reciprocable carriage 38 for translational movement along the bars 40 in unison with one another. After the whole length of the spine 22 has been moved over the threaded means 24 whilst being fanned to the left, the piston rod 32a is then extended, which pushes the pages 10 to the right and causes the spine 22 to be fanned to the right (not shown). As the threaded means 24 continues to rotate in the same sense, the right hand portion 28 of the threaded means 24 transfers adhesive to the other exposed sides of the pages 10 at the spine 22, while the book 12 is moved thereacross.

The reciprocable carriage 38 may be chain driven, the jaws 14 and the cylinders 34a, 34b may be connected by respective extensible and contractable pneumatic pipelines to static sources of compressed air, and the threaded means 24 may be belt driven through a pulley 42.

The jaws 14 may be moved apart from one another, possibly by operation of a foot treadle, to provide a gap or a larger gap into which the book 12 is to be inserted. The individual pages 10 of the book 12 can be knocked into shape before or whilst being placed on a static location platform 44 located below the reciprocable carriage 38. Release of the foot treadle can be arranged to bring the jaws 14 closer together to clamp books 12 of different thickness therebetween. The cylinders 34a, 34b may maintain a withdrawn position for the pressing rods 36a, 36b whilst the book 12 is over the location platform 44.

After the application of the adhesive to the spine 22, a reciprocable backing platform 46 may be raised from its normal lower position to bring a backing sheet 48 placed thereon into abutment with the spine 22, the return translational movement of the reciprocable carriage 38 being halted above the backing platform 46, and the backing sheet 48 alternatively being supplied from a roll and cut-off to the correct width using sensors.

The threads formed in the threaded means 24, for example by cutting, may have an approximate depth of 0.2 cm and an approximate pitch of 0.3 cm and an approximate helix angle of 60O when the threaded means 24 is brass and has a diameter of approximately 180 cm, the preferred range for the number of pages 10 of the book 12 being between 10 and 500.

Claims

1. A method of bookbinding comprising the step of applying adhesive to a spine of a book, formed from a plurality of individual pages, by rotating adhesivecarrying threaded means against the spine of the book.

2. A method according to claim 1, in which there is relative translational movement between the spine and the threaded means, during the application of the adhesive, in addition to the rotational movement of the threaded means.

3. A method according to claim 2, in which the spine is moved along its length across the rotating threaded means.

4. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, in which the spine is fanned to one side, during the application of the adhesive, by being subjected to a fanning force in addition to any fanning effect resulting from the rotation of the threaded means.

5. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, in which the spine is successively fanned to both sides, during the application of the adhesive, by being successively subjected to opposing fanning fcrces in addition to any fanning effect resulting from the rotation of the threaded means.

6. A method according to claim 3 and claim 5, in which the spine is fanned to one side during its translational movement across the rotating threaded means in one direction, and is fanned to the opposite side during its translational movement across the rotating threaded means in the opposite direction.

7. A method according to any preceding claim, in which the threaded means remains rotating in the same sense during the application of the adhesive to the spine.

8. A method according to any preceding claim, further comprising the initial step of supporting the book in a substantially vertical plane with the spine lowermost.

9. A method according to any preceding claim, further comprising the final step of applying a backing to the spine after the application of the adhesive to the spine.

10. A - method substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 2 and 3 of the accompanying drawings.

11. A bookbinding apparatus comprising means for holding a plurality of individual pages of a book together to present a spine, threaded means rotatably mounted in the vic-inity of the holding means, and means for transferring adhesive onto the threaded means from whence the adhesive is to be transferred onto the spine of the book held by the holding means.

12. A bookbinding apparatus according to claim 11, in which the holding means is carried by a carriage mounted for translational movement in the direction of the length of the spine across the rotatable threaded means.

13. A bookbinding apparatus according to claim 12, in which two opposed forcing means are also carried by the carriage for successively fanning the spine to its two opposite sides.

14. A bookbinding apparatus according to claim 13, in which one of the forcing means is operable to fan the spine to one side during its translational movement across a first portion of the rotatable threaded means in one direction and the other of the forcing means is operable to fan the spine to the opposite side during its translational movement across a second portion of the rotatable threaded means in the opposite direction.

15. A bookbinding apparatus according to claim 14, in which the first and second portions of the rotatable threaded means have the same axis of rotation and different hands of rotation.

16. A bookbinding apparatus according to any one of claims 11 to 15, in which the holding means is orientated for supporting the book in a substantially vertical plane with the spine lowermost.

17. A bookbinding apparatus according to any one of claims 11 to 16, in which the rotatable threaded means is located beside means for applying a backing to the spine after application of adhesive to the spine.

18. A bookbinding apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 2 and 3 of the accompanying drawings.