Abstract: Apparatus is disclosed for preparing side-stitched documents. The apparatus includes means for feeding a series of sheets to be included in said document in a paused, timed, preselected order, a downstream, in-line accumulating station to receive the sheets, first clamping means associated with the accumulating station for grasping a complete assembly of sheets on the side opposite the side to be stitched, and means for moving said clamped assembly to a downstream, in-line stitching station.

Abstract: A corner cover for use in binding comprises a sheet member of a rectangle having shorter sides and longer sides. The longer sides are about over two times longer than the shorter sides. The sheet member is provided with a hold line which is positioned on a side of an equilateral and right-angled triangle to be formed by in combination with the remaining two equal sides of the triangle. The two equal length sides are one of the shorter sides of the sheet member and a portion of the longer side. The corner cover is attached at a corner of a booklet with a staple, and is fixed with adhesive agent around the corner.

Abstract: A copying machine/finisher system is disclosed as having a rotary sorter arranged to receive a stream of copy sheets produced by a processor in conjunction with an automatic document handling apparatus of the type which produces multiple copies of a document sheet placed at an exposure station. The sorter collates the stream into booklets as the sorter is rotated in an indexing manner. An adhesive binder and a stapler are selectively positioned to effect binding while the booklets are still in the bins of the sorter. Binding is effected in timed relationship with sheets still entering the sorter. The sorter/finishing apparatus may also be a stand alone system.

Abstract: Apparatus is disclosed for preparing side-stitched (and preferably taped) documents which lie flat when opened on a flat support surface, such as a desk.

Abstract: A prefabricated bindable sheet having heat-responsive glue applied along one edge and a method for binding such sheets together which includes the steps of providing sheets of paper having segments of heat-responsive glue applied along one edge thereof, producing the desired information on said sheets, assembling said sheets with the glue edges in registration, pressing the registered glue edges of the assembled sheets together while applying heat to the edge thereof and alternatively, a method wherein at least certain of said sheets are double size to provide pairs of sheets connected by a fold line wherein the glue is applied to the outside of said pair of sheets along said fold line; and apparatus for attaching sheets together which includes means for clamping a plurality of sheets together which have heat-responsive glue applied along the attachment edges thereof and heating means for applying heat to the glue edges to positively connect said sheets together.

Abstract: A protective binder for storing and protecting printed or written material normally contained on multiple pages of unbound materials. The binder includes a unitarily formed and foldable semi-rigid member, preferably made of a thermo-formed polypropylene material. The foldable member has a front cover, a back cover, and a rear edge section. Hinge portions are unitarily formed between the front cover and the rear cover and the rear edge section, thereby flexibly interconnecting the front and rear covers to the rear edge section. A clear, elongated, flexible tape is bonded along a central section thereof to the rear edge section. An adhesive is provided along interior portions of the tape for securement to the front and rear pages of materials to be bonded or secured in place within the binder. The tape is free of any adhesive on the outer surfaces thereof which are adjacent the front and rear covers. The pages are securely received by the tape for storage between the front and rear covers.

Abstract: A binding apparatus includes a plurality of feed stations (10, 12, 14) which stack sheets on an inclined conveying surface (16). A conveyor (20) continuously conveys the stacks along a workpath (w) to a stitcher assembly (B). The stitcher assembly includes a frame assembly (100) having a stitcher head mounting bar (130) and a clincher mounting bar (136) on which stitcher heads and clinchers are mounted in cooperative relationship. A power take-off assembly (54) rotates a stitcher assembly transverse drive shaft (200) in coordination with advancement of the conveyor. The stitcher assembly transverse drive shaft rotates lever arms (210, 212) which are connected by connecting links (214, 216), with a stationary structure such that the frame assemby is cyclically reciprocated longitudinally along the workpath.

Abstract: Copy sheets having a re-fusable xerographic toner along an edge thereof are bound into booklets by arranging the sheets in a stack and re-fusing the toner so that the re-fused toner adheres adjacent sheets together. The re-fusing operation can be accomplished by a heating shoe and a patterned heating bar after each group of a few sheets is received from a copier so that the finisher operation can be carried on at the same rate copies are produced by the copier. Alternately, a larger stack of sheets can be bound together in an off-line basis by a simple heating step.

Abstract: An improvement on commercial machines which bind documents using plastic strips. The punch mechanism may be automatically actuated when the paper sheets are properly aligned on a punch platen or actuated manually at the user's discretion. Distance of the holes from the edges of the sheets may be indexed.