US3451081A - Book-binding machines - Google Patents

Description

R. LIQUVILLE BOOK-BINDING MACHINES June 24; 1969 Sheet v of4 Filed Jan. 3, 1968 Q01. Nb lnvenlor @JWW R. LIOUVILLE BOOK-BINDING MACHINES June 24, 1969 Sheet Filed Jan. 3. 1968 mm mm Wm Q Q o I nvenlof B omeg Julie 24, L|Q|JV|LLE 3,451,081

BOOK-BINDING MACHINES Filed Jan. 5, 1968 I Sheet 3 01 4 Inventor A bfiwb g Sheet.

Filed Jan. 3. 1968 Q0714 Laluw Baird/W United States Patent 3,451,081 BOOK-BINDING MACHINES Roger Liouville, Colombes, France, assignor to James Burn & Co., Limited, London, England, a British company Filed Jan. 3, 1968, Ser. No. 695,484 Int. Cl. B42c 19/00 US. Cl. 11-1 12 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A machine for binding packets of perforated sheets or books with wire binding elements of the kind having a series of curved prongs on which the sheets are impaled before the prongs are closed to ring shape by bringing their points into the vicinity of their roots in which the prongs are brought from the open to the closed position by a pair of jaws which are segments of cylinders of approximately the diameter of the prongs in the closed position subtending an angle of more than 90 and which effect the closing by being rotated in opposition directions away from the fore-edge of the book to be bound about axes disposed on the fore-edge side of the axes of the said cylinders.

This invention relates to machines for binding packets of perforated sheets, referred to herein generally as books, with wire binding elements having a series of curved prongs on which the sheets are impaled before the prongs are closed to ring shape by bringing their points into the vicinity of their roots.

The various features of the machine forming the subject of the application are designed to ensure simplicity of construction and operation of the machine and high production notwithstanding that the binding elements as supplied to the machine may have certain imperfections.

According to the invention, the closing operation is effected by a pair of jaws which are segments of cylinders of approximately the diameter of the prongs in their closed position subtending an angle of more than 90 and which effect the closing of the prongs by being rotated in opposite directions away from the fore-edge of the book to be bound about axes disposed on the fore-edge side of the axes of said cylinders.

Best results are obtained .if the prongs, in the open position have, in end elevation, the shape of a FIGURE 3, the two curved portions of the. 3 being approximately semicircles.

When the binding elements are ready for use, they are in the form of a slotted tube, the width of the slot determining the thickness of the book which can be bound, that thickness being, of course, also limited by the diameter of the rings finally formed by the prongs. It is desirable therefore that the said slot be over-wide rather than over-narrow and in the machine in accordance with the invention, the closing jaws are mounted so that their axes of rotation are moved towards each other at the beginning of the closing operation and away from each other at the end, by a movement of translation.

In order to'ensure that the slots are somewhat overwide, the binding elements are preferably received one by one on their backs on a plate on which they are yieldingly held while a wedge shaped member is brought into their slots. This operation can also serve to eliminate imperfections in the binding elements, particularly twists which impair the rectilinearity of the slots. Best results are obtained when the yielding means by which they are held on the plate are magnetic.

An example of a machine in accordance with the in- 3,451,081 Patented June 24, 1969 vention is shown somewhat diagrammatically in the accompanying drawings in which:

'FIGURE 1 shows a binding element in an early stage .in its manufacture;

FIGURE 2 shows the binding element ready for use in binding a book;

FIGURE 3 is an end elevation of the machine;

FIGURES 4, 5 and 6 are diagrams illustrating the binding operation;

FIGURE 7 is a cross section through part of the machine;

FIGURES 8 and 9 are respectively an enlarged elevation and an enlarged plan of a part of FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 1 shows a length of wire bent to form a band having a series of prongs 10 having closed ends or points 12 and open ends or roots 14. To enable such a band to be used for binding a packet of perforated sheets or book, the prongs are brought to the shape shown in FIGURE 2 in which, in end view, they have two approximately semicircular portions giving them the general shape of a figure 3. The binding operation comprises impaling the sheets of the book on the prongs and bringing the points 12 of the prongs into the vicinity of the roots 14. This operation is assisted by the kink in the prongs but that kink is not essential, i.e. the prongs may be C-shaped.

The machine shown in FIGURE 3 provides a binding station A to which books to be bound are fed from a station B and binding elements are fed from a station C.

At the binding station there is a pair of closing jaws 20 which are shown separately in FIGURES 4 and 5, wherein is seen a book 22 held between a pair of clamps 24 with its perforations 26 positioned for the passage through them of the points 12 of the prongs 10 of a binding element.

The closing jaws 20 have working surfaces 28 which are portions of cylinders of about the same curvature as the two portions of the binding element 10, the axes of the cylinders lying, in the open position shown in FIG- URE 4, in the plane X-X. The jaws are mounted for rotation about axes 29, 29' lying in the plane Y-Y which are parallel to the axes of the said cylinders and along which lie the points 12 and the roots 14 of the binder prongs.

To effect a binding operation, the jaws are rotated about the axes 29, 29' as indicated by the arrows in FIGURE 4. The book 22 lies with the lengths of wire 30 (FIGURE 2) between the root ends of the prongs resting on it so that the squeezing operation of the jaws does not result in any movement of the roots 14. It will be seen that the working faces of the closing jaws subtend an angle greater than that their movement is away from the fore-edge of the book and that the axes of rotation of the jaws are on the fore-edge side of the axes of the said cylinders. Consequently the squeezing operation is accompanied by a thrust to the left towards the fore edge which causes the prongs to follow a clockwise trajectory into the position shown in FIGURE 5. In that position, the greater part of the length of each prong is embraced by the jaws so that a substantially perfect ring is formed. It is emphasized that there is no movement of the root ends of the prongs so that those ends which cannot pass into the perforations in the sheets are not pressed down on to the package being bound.

It is, of course, desirable that the closed ring he of no greater diameter than is made necessary by the thickness of the book or, conversely, that the book be as thick as possible having regard to the size of the ring. The book thickness is governed by the width of the slot formed by the points and the roots of the prongs and, in order that there shall be no difficulty in inserting the book into the slot in the position shown in FIGURE 4 or removing the bound book from the position shown in FIGURE 5, it is advisable that the said slot be made wider than is required by the closing operation which has just been described. A method of ensuring the existence of such a Wide slot will be described further on. For the time being, it is to be noted that if the slot is wider than is shown in FIGURES 4 and 5, the closing jaws must, in the idle position (FIGURE 4), be further apart than has been shownin fact, in positions such as those shown in broken lines at 20 in FIGURE 4. To make that possible without upsetting the closing operation, the jaws may be mounted so that at the start of their pivotal or rotary movement they are caused to follow stationary cams 31 such as those shown in FIGURE 6.

As will be seen, the cams have steeply sloped surfaces 32 which are followed by the jaws 20 and which cause the jaws to be moved into the positions shown in FIG- URE 4 by a movement almost of translation. The central part 34 of the cams is fiat so that it does not affect the jaws during the closing of the ring. Finally, each cam has a further sloping surface 36 which ensures that at the end of the closing operation, the jaws are moved clear of the ring.

As will be seen in FIGURE 3, the jaws 20 are connected by connecting rods 38 and 40 to the arms of a lever 42 arranged to be rocked by a pneumatic jack 44. As will be seen from FIGURE 7, each jaw 20 has a shaft 46 mounted in a bearing 48 which is itself mounted to slide in .a slot 50 in a plate 52 rising from the baseplate 54 of the machine. Springs 56 urge the bearings of the upper and lower closing jaws 20 respectively upwards and downwards into contact with the earns 31.

Thus, by operation of the jack 44, the closing jaws 20 are caused to carry out the movements described in connection with FIGURES 4, and 6.

The books to be bound are fed to the binding station A from the left of FIGURE 3. A transporter 58 is shown in the position in which it offers a book to the binder. The book is not shown but will be held between a pair of clamps 24 as described in connection with FIGURES 4 and 5. The transporter is arranged to be reciprocated over a table 60 by a driving mechanism 62. The upper clamp-24 is arranged to be forced down on to the book resting on the lower clamp by a jack 64 which is automatically actuated by means not shown. Means, not shown, are also provided for limiting the movement of the transporter so that it presents the book with the perforations appropriately positioned as described in connection with FIGURES 4 and 5.

The binding elements are stored in a magazine 66 to the right of the binding station. As will be seen, they are stacked with their slotted sides upwards and are pushed out of the magazine one by one by a pusher 68 shown in greater detail in FIGURES 8 and 9 arranged to be reciprocated by a driving mechanism 70.

The pusher 68 has a base plate 72 from which upstand ribs 74 terminating at the left hand end in fingers 76 bevelled on the underside and the lateral sides of their tips. When the pusher is moved to the left, the shoulder 78 of the base plate pushes forward the lowermost binding element. Its fingers 76 the width of which is slightly smaller than the spaces between the prongs enter those spaces and thus serve to fix the position of the binding element lengthwise. The abutment of the shoulder 78 against the element also helps to position the element correctly. Meanwhile the next element in the magazine is supported by the base plate 72 at a height at which it cannot escape from the magazine.

The stroke of the pusher is such that the element removed from the magazine is pushed beyond the end of the table 80 on to a plate 82.

The plate 82 incorporates a magnet 84. The pusher 68 is of non-magnetic material the table 80 of magnetic material. The element itself being of magnetic material, a

4 magnetic circuit will be established which offers a substantial resistance to the thrust of the pusher until the circuit is broken by the element losing contact with the table 80. This plays an important part in assisting the straightening out of a binding element which may be somewhat twisted.

The binding element having been received by the magnetic plate 82, a jack 86 is brought into action which causes a spreader 88 to be brought down into the slot in the binding element as shown in FIGURE 3. The spreader is of wedged shaped cross-section at its lower end 90 so that it widens the gap between the points and the roots of the element and makes then uniform. Also, because the hold of the magnetic plate is not positive it also serves as the final means for bringing the element on it into the best position.

The spreader having been raised, the magnetic plate which is caused by an arm 92 pivotally mounted at 94 is swung upwards by means not shown into the position shown in broken lines in FIGURE 3 in which the binding element is ready to have its prongs passed through the perforations in the book awaiting it at the binding station.

As soon as the binding element is in the grip of the jaws 20, the arm 92 is swung back so that the magnetic plate is ready to receive another binding element. As soon as the binding is completed, the bound book is pulled back from the binding station, released and discharged through a chute. The transporter then delivers another book to the binding station. It will be appreciated that the cycle of operations is such that many of the operations take place simultaneously thus enabling the rate of production of the machine to be very high.

The magnetic plate 82 is not an essential part although a very convenient one. The magnet could be replaced by spring clips designed to allow the binding element some degree of freedom enabling its location or attitude to be adjusted. The longitudinal adjustment of the binding elements which is very important can, if desired, by elfected by ribs on the table 80, the plate 82 and the closing tools which engage in the prongs or in the spaces between them. Of course, it is not necessary to provide such ribs for every prong.

I claim:

1. A machine for binding packets of perforated sheets or books with wire binding elements of the kind having a series of curved prongs on which the sheets are impaled before the prongs are closed to ring shape by bringing their points into the vicinity of their roots in which the prongs are brought from the open to the closed position by a pair of jaws which are segments of cylinders of approximately the diameter of the prongs in the closed position subtending an angle of more than 90 and which effect the closing by being rotated in opposite directions away from the fore-edge of the book to be bound about axes disposed on the fore-edge side of the axes of the said cylinders.

2. A machine according to claim 1 in which the closing jaws are mounted so that their axes of rotation are moved towards and away from each other respectively at the beginning and the end of the closing operation by a movement of translation of the jaws.

3. A machine according to claim 1 having a magazine in which the binding elements are stacked and a pusher which pushes the lowermost element out of the stack and engages it so as to position it lengthwise while supporting the remainder of the stack.

4. A machine according to claim 3 having a plate for receiving the binding elements one by one from the stack provided with yielding means for holding the binding elements thereon.

5. A machine according to claim 4 in which the said yielding means are magnetic.

6. A machine according to claim 5 in which the said plate is carried by an arm having means for being swung 5 so as to bring the element on the plate into the closing station.

7. A machine according to claim 6 in which the binding elements before being offered to the closing jaws are acted upon by a wedge-shaped tool which is brought into the slot defined by the points and roots of the prongs to ensure that the width of the slot is adequate to receive the book and perfect the attitude of the elements.

8. A machine for binding packets of perforated sheets or books with Wire binding elements of the kind having a series of curved prongs on which the sheets are impaled before the prongs are closed to ring shape by bringing their points into the vicinity of their roots, comprising a binding station, a source of supply of binding elements, means for delivering said elements one by one from said source, means including a substantially horizontal platform for receiving said elements with their curved prongs projecting away therefrom, and means for swinging said platform through an angle of about 90 to bring the element on it into the binding station with its prongs directed laterally.

9. A machine according to claim 8 in which said platform is magnetised to hold the elements on it yieldingly.

10. A machine according to claim 9 comprising also a wedge-shaped tool and means for applying it to an element on the platform to engage between the roots and points thereof and thereby correct imperfections in the attitude of the element and in the shape of its prongs.

11. A machine for binding packets of perforated sheets or books with Wire binding elements of the kind having a series of curved prongs on which the sheets are impaled before the prongs are closed to ring shape by bringing their points into the vicinity of their roots, comprising a binding station, a source of supply of binding elements, and means for conveyng the elements from said source to said station, said means comprising a carrier for receiving the elements one by one with the roots and points of its prongs directed away from the carrier and defining a slot between them longitudinally of the element, and a wedgeshaped tool normally disposed above said carrier, and means for bringing said tool into and out of said slot to perfect the attitude of the element on the carrier and rectify inaccuracies of construction of the element.

12. A machine according to claim 11 comprising magnetic means for yieldingly holding each element on the carrier during its conveyance.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,117,242 5/1938 Eramo.

2,144,581 1/1939 Trussell.

2,185,004 12/1939 Trussell.

2,555,290 5/ 1951 Nomember. 3,334,918 8/1967 Pigna et a1.

FOREIGN PATENTS 987,116 3/ 1965 Great Britian.

LAWRENCE CHARLES, Primary Examiner.

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