Binding product and a method for the preparation thereof
Field of the invention
This invention relates to a book or a booklet including a leaf blank and a cover portion comprising at least a front and a back cover and possibly a back, which cover portion is made of a sheet or web material of board, cardboard, paper or the like by folding and bringing layers of material fitted against each other to adhere to each other, whereby the cover portion is formed by folding a one- or multi-layered single piece of sheet or web material blank at all free edges of the front and back cover against itself and by bringing the at least two layers folded opposite each other together to adhere to each other.
Moreover, the invention relates to a book or a booklet cover or a folder including at least a front and a back cover and a cover portion possibly including a back which cover portion is made of a sheet or web material of board, cardboard, paper or the like by folding and bringing layers of material fitted against each other to adhere to each other, whereby the cover portion is formed by folding a one- or multi-layered single piece of sheet or web material blank at all free edges of the front and back cover against itself and by bringing the at least two layers folded opposite each other together to adhere to each other.
In addition, the invention relates to a method for making a book or booklet cover or a folder of a sheet or web material of board, cardboard, paper or the like by folding and bringing layers of material fitted against each other to adhere to each other, whereby the cover portion is formed by folding a one- or multi-layered single piece of sheet or web material blank at all free edges of the front and back cover against itself and by bringing the at least two layers folded opposite each other together to adhere to each other.
Background of the invention
Traditionally, books are divided into two cathegories hard- covered and paperbacks, respectively, according to how they are bound.
The front cover and back cover of hard-covered books are formed with a rigid core of cardboard which core is lined both on the inside and the outside. The lining on the outside has been provided by folding the edges of the lining material around the edges of the core of cardboard and by adhering the lining material onto the core of cardboard. The inner lining has on its part been adhered onto the core of cardboard on the inwards folded edges of the outer lining. The inner lining does not take place until in the continued process, i.e. the casing-in, when the leaf portion and the covers of the book are being joined together. The books are bound in such a way that in the back portion of the book a sleeve or another solution is used between the leaf blank formed by the covers and the leafs bound together, i.e. the book blank, in order to keep the back portion of the cover off the back portion of the leaf portion of the book. The edges of covers achieved in this way have a high wear resistancy. The binding, however, includes several work phases .
Paperbacks are bound by adhering the book leafs together at their back portion to a book blank or block and by adhering the book blank to the back of a cover portion made of board. An improvement has been developed to this prior known paper- back and it is disclosed in the Finnish patent application No. 61657. Said improved method applies in the back of the book a sleeve which in a flattened state is slightly wider than the back of the book. By this an open fold remains on both sides of the back allowing the book to be opened in such a way that it also stays open and the back portion of the cover does not tend to break. The problem with paperbacks has been that the
cut edge surfaces of board at the edges of the covers show a tendency to fray and break up.
The making of covers from board by folding and bringing layers of material fitted against each other to adhere to each other is also disclosed in Finnish patent application No. 942789.
Summary of the invention
The characteristic features of the invention are disclosed in claims 1, 8 and 11. The object of the invention is to provide a method by means of which it is possible to manufacture advantageous and wear-resistant printed publications when the number of copies varies to a great extent from one copy to several thousands of copies . By means of the invention it is also possible to raise the quality grade of the product to a level replacing hard-covered books.
The folded portions of the book or booklet and covers or a folder according to the invention are dimensioned so that they will not overlap on top of each other, and they, as well as the method, are characterized in that the inner surfaces of the cover portion are at least partly provided with adhesive surfaces protected by a releasable protective layer, which is at least partly removed before the leaf blank and the possible protecting cover are attached to the cover portion.
The adhesive layer on the inner surfaces of the cover portion can be achieved in a simple way by distributing the necessary adhesive directly onto the inner surfaces of the cover portion and protecting the adhesive surface achieved in this way with a protective layer, preferably a release paper. Another advantageous alternative is to attach an adhesive laminate by means of an adhesive to the inner surface of the cover portion, said adhesive laminate comprising an adhesive surface and a protective layer. A third alternative is to use a double-sided adhesive laminate, in which both surfaces of the
adhesive laminate are provided with an adhesive surface and a protective layer, whereby one of the protective layers is removed when the adhesive laminate is being attached to the cover portion.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention the back portion of the book blank is not attached to the back portion 19 of the cover portion, instead the leaf blank is attached only to the cover portions 16 and 25. Correspondingly, when adhesive laminate is being used, the laminate is not attached to the back portion 19 of the cover portion, but only to the cover portions 16 and 25. This ensures a good durability of the book and that it will open easily. Furthermore, the opening and staying opened of the book has also been improved by making the structure of the back portion 8 of the cover blank 4 at least partly in such a way that the folded portions cover only part of the back 8 or do not extend at all over the back portion 8.
In another preferred embodiment of the invention a chosen part of the cover portion, advantageously the outer surface of the front cover, is provided with an adhesive surface which is protected by a protective layer. When said protective layer is removed it is possible to attach a convenient and individual note of information.
The method according to the invention can be adapted in the conventional machines of the packaging industry which are used to make cases for packaging various consumer goods . These machines can be used to fold and adhere the book covers according to the invention and to provide the inner surfaces of the cover portion with necessary adhesive surfaces and protective layers . After this the finished covers can be delivered to be bound to a leaf blank, which is carried out by removing the protective layer from the adhesive surface adhered to the inner surfaces of the cover portion, and fastening the cover portion to the leaf blank. By means of
this the book is produced in a much cheaper way than by using traditional methods. This applies especially if the number of copies is small.
There are several suitable applications for the covers according to the invention, for example, textbooks, manuals, phone directories, etc. A cover in accordance with the invention can also be made for conventional production processes specialized in manufacturing hard covers. By this the traditional cost burdens relating to cover production are avoided.
The invention and its details are described more closely in the following, referring to the enclosed drawings, wherein - Figure 1 shows manufacturing parts of previously known hard covers ,
Figures 2a and 2b show one embodiment of a book cover blank and a finished cover in accordande with the invention prior to attaching the adhesive surface, - Figures 3a and 3b show another embodiment of a book cover blank and a finished cover in accordande with the invention prior to attaching the adhesive surface, and
Figure 4 shows an embodiment of the cover in accordance with the invention to which cover an adhesive surface protected by a protective layer is attached.
In the way shown in Figure 1 the previously known hard book covers comprise a core 1 and back 2 of cardboard of the front and back cover, and a covering material, i.e. a lining 3. The cardboard which is used can, for example, be about 2 mm thick, grey so called crude board. The thickness of the back cardboard is usually less than 50 per cent of the thickness of the cover cardboard. Paper, fabric, plastics or a combination or compound of said materials has been used as the material of the lining. The size of the sheet of lining material 3, to be
adhered on the outer surface of the covers, is so big that the lining can be folded over the free edges of the core of cardboard. In this way the cut edge surface of the cardboard will be out of sight. In addition, an inner lining (not shown in the drawings) will be adhered to the inner surface of the covers. The lining of the inside is carried out in connection with the casing-in, when the leaf blank and the covers are joined. Then the so called flyleaf of the book is adhered at its outer side to the inner surface of the cover, forming the lining of the inner surface of the cardboard.
The book covers according to the invention can be made of relatively thin board which is commonly used in various hollow packages .
In the embodiments of Figures 2a and 3a all edges of the cover blank 4 are provided with horizontal and vertical groovings and/or creasings 5,6 separating the side laps 7, 11 of the covers from the rest of the blank. Also the back portion 8 is separated from the cover portion by means of creasings 9. The creasings of the back portion can be made either in connection with manufacturing the covers or not until in the manufacturing process of a bookbindery. The corners of the blank are chamfered at the corners of the edge creasings 5, 6. When the cover blank has been cut and creased, the book covers in accordance with Figures 2b and 3b are manufactured from the blank by folding all side laps 7, 11 along creasings 5, 6 against the inner surface of the cover blank, and by adhering together the two layers of board opposite each other.
The folded edges 7, 11 stiffen the whole periphery of the finished cover and they have the effect that the cut cardboard edge surfaces will not be edge surfaces in the finished cover. This prevents ply separation and tearing of cover edges as well as other changes in the cardboard cross-section when using the book. In addition, in the solution according to Figures 2a, 2b, the portions 11 to be folded around the
vertical edges of the covers are so wide that they extend to the connection point between the back and the cover. In the embodiment according to Figure 3a, 3b the edges of the side portions 7 to be folded extend to the connection point between the back and the cover. In both solutions the back portion is partly or entirely of a single structure. The covers are double and sturdy. The inner surface of the covers is smooth because there are no overlapping board seams.
Figure 4 shows an embodiment of the covers in accordance with the invention with an adhesive surface protected by means of a protective layer adhered to the inner surfaces. In addition, the protective layer is provided with groovings 15, 17, 21 and 22. The leaf blank (not shown in the Figure) is attached to the covers by removing the strips 16, 25 of protective layer along the groovings 15, 17, 21 and 22 and attaching the leaf blank to the adhesive surfaces. An individual protecting cover for the printed product (not shown in the Figure) is corresondingly attached to the covers by removing the strips 14, 23 of protective layer, after which the protecting cover is folded around the edges 13, 24 and pressed against the adhesive surfaces.
The invention is not limited only to the embodiments presented in the foregoing, but it may vary in different ways within the scope of the claims. If required, different openings can easily be punched through the covers showing, for example, part of the flyleaf.
The invention can be applied not only when making book covers and books but also when making folders. The invention may also be applied to booklet-type products having no proper back portion.