Abstract: A press for stitching book block sections employs a transport system for transporting book sections to a stitching station. Carriages are mounted to an endless conveyor. A saddle is pivotally mounted to each of the carriages. The book sections are received on the saddle and transported to the stitching station in a continuous fashion. The pivotal swing of the saddles is controlled by rollers engaging cam paths as the conveyor is circulated.

Abstract: In the sewing of individual book block sections to define a thread-sewn book block, needles which pre-pierce the book block section to facilitate sewing are caused to remain in engagement with the block section during its transfer from a feed position to the sewing position. During the pre-piercing operation, the book block section is held against a sewing saddle by means of an apertured hold-down element, the tips of the pre-piercing needles being received in the hold-down element.

Abstract: An improved book block transport channel has adjustable lateral guide members, which define the channel width, and an adjustable skid plate with support finger projections outwardly in two opposed directions. The skid plate support fingers are received in slots in the guide members and define a discontinuous channel floor adjacent the guide members. The openings in the channel floor and the slots are partly bridged by guide rails which are mechanically coupled to a respective guide member and to the support fingers which are received in the slots in that guide member.

Abstract: Apparatus for selectively guiding printed sheets from the transport channel of a collating machine or the like comprises pairs of cooperating upper and lower clamping plungers which are driven by an arrangement of chains in a manner such that they execute and orbiting movement and are moved into the path on which the printed sheets to be intercepted move, the lower plungers of each pair extending through the transport surface. The pairs of clamping plungers move along a path which possesses a segment which is parallel to the direction of motion of the sheets and a contiguous downstream segment which leads angularly away from the initial motion path of the sheets. The clamping plungers are capable of selective actuation and when in the activated state clamp the printed sheets adjacent the leading and turning edges thereof and thus maintain the alignment thereof.

Abstract: Apparatus for sterilizing containers, for example open-topped plastic pots for receiving foodstuffs, comprises an aerosol generator which atomizes a liquid sterilizing agent and subsequently entrains the droplets of sterilizing agent in a carrier gas stream for delivery to a corona discharge wherein a charge is imparted to the droplets. The apparatus also comprises means for establishing an electrostatic field about a container to be sterilized whereby the charged droplets will be directed to the surface of the container to form a uniform coating thereon. The efficiency of the apparatus is enhanced by switching the polarity of the electrostatic field, for example as a function of corona current and also by minimizing the possibility of liquid sterilizing agent collecting on surfaces of the apparatus and subsequently falling on a surface of a container being treated.

Abstract: A stacking of fragile articles, particularly printed matter, is achieved in a substantially frictionless manner in order to eliminate damage. The stacking apparatus includes a feed system wherein incoming books are at least in part supported on an air cushion as they are formed into rows which are subsequently transferred onto a sliding platform which also, at least in part, establishes an air cushion beneath the articles. Movements are imparted to the sliding platform such that it may be retracted from under the feed system once a formed row of articles has been transferred thereto to gently deposit the row on a pallet or preformed stack supported on a pallet.

Abstract: Wrapping apparatus for use in the production of book covers employs wrapping systems for folding an overlay sheet around the leading and trailing edges of a cover board and subsequently clamping the folded-over overlay and cover board together for a defined period of time. The wrapping systems each comprise a tiltably mounted wrapping rail, controlled in a displacement-dependent mode, which cooperates with an associated support rail to form a clamp.

Abstract: A collating machine having a sweep element (6) for pre-accelerating the printed sheets (1) before they are acquired by the pusher dogs (5) of a collecting conveyor (2). The sweep elements (6) are connected to the pusher dogs (5), and are each able to be swung backwards and forwards in the transport direction. In addition, each element (6) is synchronized with the pusher-dog transport speed, via cam control means (8, 10), such that on approaching the printed sheet (1) which is resting on the supporting table (4) the element (6) swings backwards from an initial position (Position I) into which it has been swung forwards, comes into contact with the printed sheet (1), preferably at the moment when the speed of the backward swing is at a maximum (Position II), and is brought back to the pusher-dog transport speed during the further backward swing (Position III).

Abstract: An external electronic measuring apparatus 2 in which a sample book block 1 is clamped and the thickness is then determined as a displacement-dependent actual value. The apparatus further includes a microprocessor 20 in which the actual displacement value is evaluated, and is stored as a required value, and a control unit 19 for transmitting the required value to the actuators 44, 45, as an actuating variable. The measuring apparatus possesses a clamping device 8, 9 which can be driven by a motor, and which enables two or more actual displacement values to be determined, these values being functions of differing compressive forces which serve to hold the book blocks in the bookbinding machine 42. These actual displacement values are defined by switch arrangements 20, 38, 13, and 39, as pressure points P1, P2 . . . Pn, and are determined, as actual displacement values, by means of a displacement measuring facility 31-35, in a sequentially controlled procedure.

Abstract: The invention relates to a book case magazine for book casing machines, this magazine comprising a device for picking off that book case which, at a given point in time, is lying flat at the bottom of a stack, and for conveying it away. The transport elements for conveying the book case are configured as wide feeders 5, 6, extending from the vicinity of a central support surface 59 for the stack and running laterally at least as far as the mid-regions of the covers of a book case that is representative of the largest format to be accomodated by the magazine. The feeders 5, 6 are mounted on a crossbeam 4 which can be moved forwards and backwards, enabling them to be set conjointly to the book case height, and wherein these feeders 5, 6 are preferably interconnected to form a single component, and can be set conjointly to the book case thickness by means of an adjusting mechanism 9.

Abstract: The invention relates to a device for correcting the levels at which book blocks, emerging from a rounding and backing machine, are transferred to a machine downline, the level corrections being referred to a level predetermined by the latter machine, this level correction device possessing a pair of correcting grippers that grip the book block by means of jaws which can be caused to swing by being driven from a cam mechanism via link motion and lever assemblies that enable the throw of the jaw-swinging movement to be varied by adjusting the slidable link of the link motion within its slot guide.

Abstract: In a system for setting the vertical position of the rounding bar in a book block rounding and backing machine which possesses a support bearing unit, within which the rounding bar that acts on the spine of the book block reciprocates, the support-bearing unit is adjusted in the vertical direction, in side frames, by means of adjusting spindles, so as to set its vertical position, and is immobilized in the side frames by means of a clamping arrangement. The support bearing unit 7 is carried in a frame 4 and can, with the rounding bar 3, be deposited, by their own dead weight, onto the spine of a book block 1. The support bearing unit 7 is supported on intermediate supporting elements 24, 24a so that it cannot descent below them, while being free to slide upwards. The intermediate supporting elements 24, 24a are lowered by means of adjusting spindles 22 which can be motor driven.

Abstract: Apparatus for setting the pasting rollers in book casing machines. This setting apparatus features a position indicator 2 that is installed outside the fold-pasting unit 3, to which position indicator 2 a fold angle 1a of a book block 1 can be aligned. When this angle 1a is set to the same height as the indicator, the position of the book block represents the datum zero position of the conveyor. The leading edge 6b of the recess 6a in the pasting roller 6 can then be set, in that the pasting roller drive has a position mark 10 which corresponds to the leading edge 6b of the roller recess 6a, enabling this drive to be brought into register with a mark 7 corresponding to the datum zero position of the conveyor.

Abstract: A sewing-press for thread-sewing book blocks which are formed from individual book block sections comprises an endless conveyor which transports the block sections into registration with a sewing head. The conveyor includes sewing saddles which support the block sections during sewing, the saddles being articulated to a continuously moving chain so as to have a dwell phase in the sewing region. The sewing needles, after punching the sewing thread through the block section, pivot to directly transfer the thread to the cooperating hook needles which, in turn, draw the thread back through the block section in the form of a loop which is linked to a loop on the preceding block section.

Abstract: In a delivery unit for bookbinding machines, book blocks released by the transport grippers of an adhesive-binding apparatus are transported by a conveyor along a downward-inclined linear path segment which is followed immediately by a horizontal path segment. The conveyor comprises an endless chain drive, routed around reversing sprockets, which transport carrier plates are positioned on the chain at regular intervals. The carrier plates are comprised of individual plate links which are pivotally interconnected but which support each other so that they cannot sag in the loading direction. The leading side of each carrier plate is pivotally coupled to the chain drive, while its trailing side is coupled to the chain drive via a slide-guide.

Abstract: Open-topped containers are sterilized by employing an electrostatic field to insure complete coating of the interior surface of such containers with a sterilizing agent. The sterilizing agent is supplied in liquid form, ultrasonically atomized, the thus formed droplets entrained in a stream of carrier gas and an electrical charge imparted to the entrained droplets so that they will be influenced by the electrostatic field created in the containers.

Abstract: Cutting apparatus with three blades, for trimming three sides of an inner book or the like, having a drive system which permits the simultaneous trimming of two opposed sides of the work closely followed by the trimming of the third side. Operation of the third cutting blade while the other two are still in motion is permitted by driving the simultaneously operated blades along a multi-directional orbital path.

Abstract: An overlay is applied to a substrate, for example in the manufacture of book covers, by serially wrapping the overlay around a first pair of oppositely disposed edges of the substrate, folding the corners of the overlay into the substrate and wrapping the overlay around the two remaining edges of the substrate. The first wrapping of the overlay around a pair of edges of the substrate is accomplished by feeding the substrate with the overlay adhered thereto through a wrapping station alternately in opposite directions and deflecting the overhanging portion of the substrate at the leading edge out of the path of motion so that these overhanging portions may be engaged by a wrapping tool.