Patent Application
20190077179
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the reproduction of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
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The present invention relates generally to systems and apparatuses for book block binding and methods thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to providing a rotatable perfect binding solution having separated steps for maximizing efficiency for book block printing.
Existing binder concepts suffer numerous deficiencies. One such binder concept is to provide continuous movement. In systems implementing continuous movement, processes and clamp transportation may occur continuously. However, the processes must be synchronized to clamp, and the clamp speed is limited to the milling speed. As such, there is limited speed for thick books and the transportation time is equal to the process cycle. This solution results in complex synchronization and unnecessary wear.
Another existing binder solution relates to implementing processes while both moving and standing still. In this case, the clamp speed is equal to the milling speed and thus provides limited speed for thick books. A nipping operation may be performed while a book block is standing still, thus the nipping time plus the transportation time is equal to the process cycle. One benefit of this solution is that no synchronization is required. Although this is a straight-forward solution, it is a very slow process comparatively.
A further existing binder solution involves using independent clamps. In this solution, clamp movement and the nipping process are decoupled, thus no synchronization is necessary. However, the solution requires a complex clamp moving system.
A need exists in the art to address the deficiencies in the prior art and to provide capabilities for providing a binding solution permitting format changes from book-to-book on the fly and for quick changeover between formats. One solution described herein relates to implementing a system having only one cover size, which is modified as part of the binding process. Printed products produced according to the present disclosure may be generated with no overhang of the cover after binding and with the highest possible book quality. The solutions provided herein also have the benefit of being operator-friendly.
For implementations consistent with the present disclosure, the functions of processing at a process station and transportation to the next process station are separated. All processes, with the potential exception of applying side glue, may be performed simultaneously in the same work step. The clamps holding the book blocks are not required to move during the work step. A relative movement between a milling blade and a book block is necessary in the milling station. In common binder solutions, the book block is moved by the clamp through the milling. However, in implementations consistent with the present disclosure, the clamp is not required to move. Instead, the milling station may be configured to move rather than the clamp holding the book block. The same is true for glue application. In common binder systems, glue is applied by moving the clamp relative to the glue applicators. However, in implementations consistent with the present disclosure, the clamp is not required to move. Instead, the glue station (spine and side) may be configured to move relative to the book block.
In various systems, no process is performed while the transportation step is in motion. The process stations (such as, for example, milling and gluing stations) may return to their respective start position simultaneously with the clamp moving one step. One advantage of this separated step process is the fact that all clamps are moved at once and all can be statically chained or mounted on the rotating table without any loss of time caused by the two processes of milling and nipping.
Implementations consistent with the present disclosure are capable of decoupling binding processes and book block transport. There may be relative movement for milling and gluing through process station movement. There may be a high transportation speed between stations with implementations consistent with the present disclosure, and one or more formats associated with a book block may be changed while transporting the book block between processes. By performing all processes simultaneously in the manner described herein, binding may be fast, fully variable, and provide moveable process station capabilities.
One aspect of the present disclosure relates to a multi-clamp binding apparatus. The multi-clamp binding apparatus includes a rotatable body, a plurality of fixed operation stations associated with the rotatable body, and a plurality of clamps coupled to the rotatable body. Each of the plurality of clamps may be configured to retain at least one workpiece. The rotatable body may rotate each of the plurality of clamps to one or more of the plurality of fixed operation stations.
Another aspect of the present disclosure relates to a method of providing a completed book by a perfect binding apparatus. The method begins by receiving a book block at an in-feed location of the perfect binding apparatus. The book block is stored within a holding apparatus of the perfect binding apparatus. The book block is then rotated between a plurality of fixed operation stations. At least one operation is performed upon the book block at each of the plurality of fixed operation stations. A completed book is output at an out-feed location of the perfect binding apparatus.
A further aspect of the present disclosure relates to a system for providing perfect binding. The system includes a base section having plurality of fixed operation stations and a rotatable section having a plurality of clamps. Each of the plurality of clamps may retain at least one book block and may correspond to at least one of the plurality of fixed operation stations. The rotatable body is configured to rotate each of the plurality of clamps to one or more of the plurality of fixed operation stations. Each of the fixed operation stations may perform at least one operation corresponding to the book block.
Numerous other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the following disclosure when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings
While the making and using of various embodiments of the present invention are discussed in detail below, it should be appreciated that the present invention provides many applicable inventive concepts that can be embodied in a wide variety of specific contexts. The specific embodiments discussed herein are merely illustrative of specific ways to make and use the invention and do not delimit the scope of the invention.
Referring generally to
The perfect binding apparatus 100 of
The in-feed station 150a may be configured to receive at least one workpiece W from an external source. The in-feed station 150a may include at least one gripper 600 as described below with reference to
The jogger 150b may be configured to receive a workpiece W via a clamp 140 of the apparatus 100 and/or from an internal or external source. The jogger 150b may be an oscillating conveyor in one exemplary embodiment. The jogger 150b may be configured to align and transport at least a portion of the workpiece W towards a registration edge. The jogger 150b may operate by receiving a workpiece W from a clamp 140 configured to provide the workpiece W to the jogger 150b. The received workpiece W may be jogged along a length of the oscillating conveyor to the registration edge of the oscillating conveyor, where the clamp 140 may close, thereby securing the workpiece W. The workpiece W may then be transported via rotation of the clamp 140 to at least one other of the fixed operation stations 150, provided to an internal or external storage location, etc.
The milling station 150c may be configured to receive a workpiece W via a clamp 140 of the apparatus 100 and/or from an internal or external source. The milling station 150c may include a milling housing 420c having a milling device. The milling station 150c may be configured to create a rough surface on the workpiece W, for example to optimize glue adhesion. In one exemplary embodiment, the milling station 150c is configured to mill a spine of the workpiece W. One or more components of the milling station 150c may be selected for or, as implemented, result in minimized formation of dust during milling and/or dust and waste removal from a spine of the workpiece.
The milling station 150c may include a milling motor 422 and/or a track 424. The milling station 150c may further include a milling transport section (e.g., milling motor 422 and/or track 424) configured to place the milling housing 420c in contact with a workpiece W and to transport the milling housing 420c relative to the workpiece W during at least a portion of a milling operation. For example, the milling housing 420c may be coupled to a track 424 or other conveyance means capable of transporting the milling housing 420c. The milling housing 420c may be configured to move in a direction D1 using the milling motor 422 and the track 424. Although described with reference to a milling motor 422 and track 424, it should be appreciated that the milling transportation section is not limited solely to a motor/track configuration, but any means of conveying the milling housing 420c along the direction D1.
In one exemplary embodiment, the apparatus 100 is configured to hold the workpiece W stationary in the clamp 140c while the milling operation is performed by causing the milling housing 420c to be placed in contact with the workpiece W and transported across a surface of the workpiece W. For example, the clamp 140c may be configured to hold the workpiece W in a configuration where the spine may be contacted by the milling housing 420c when the milling housing 420c is moved along the direction D1 during a milling operation. Additional detail regarding the milling station 150c is described below with reference to
The glue station 150d may be configured to receive a workpiece W via a clamp 140 of the apparatus 100 and/or from an internal or external source.
In one exemplary embodiment, the glue applied by the glue station 150d is an ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) hotmelt glue, although any glue or tacky substance capable of functioning as described herein may be used within the spirit and the scope of the present disclosure. In the exemplary embodiment illustrated by
In addition or alternative to applying glue to a spine of the workpiece W, glue may be applied to at least one side of the workpiece W by a side glue section.
The side glue section 900 may be configured to use an EVA hotmelt glue or any other glue or tacky substance capable of functioning as described herein may be used. Use of one or more nozzles 904 enables the side glue section 900 to provide precise start and stop locations for glue application and to provide precise glue usage based, for example, on nozzle attributes such as opening size and angle relative to the workpiece W. The width wn may be automatically or manually determined and/or implemented, for example according to a width of the workpiece W. In one or more instances, the side glue section 900 may be configured to allow a workpiece W to pass through the section without applying any glue. The side glue section 900 may include one or more needle valves (not illustrated) to avoid excess glue dripping from one or more needles 904. One or more of the glue input tubes 902 may be selected based at least in part upon one or more properties specified for continuous movement.
The cover station 150e may be configured to receive a workpiece W via a clamp 140 of the apparatus 100 and/or from an internal or external source.
The scoring section 1004 may include at least one scoring device 1005, configured to selectively perform at least one scoring operation on a cover received at the input section 1002. The gripper 1010 may be configured to convey the cover to the scoring section 1004 for operation. In one exemplary embodiment, the scoring section 1004 may perform at least one scoring operation on the cover as the gripper 1010 transports the cover by the scoring section 1004 along the track 1012, and according to an orientation of the cover as held by the gripper 1010. The pre-trim cut section 1006 may include at least one cutting section 1007. The pre-trim cut section 1006 may be configured to perform at least one cutting operation on the cover. For example, the pre-trim cut section may be configured to reduce a size of the cover according to one or more parameters associated with the cover and/or an orientation of the cover as held by the gripper 1010.
The nipping station 1008 may include one or more of a suction plate 1014, a pressing station 1016, and a lifting motor 1018. The nipping station 1008 may be configured to receive the cover from the gripper 1010. The suction plate 1014 may be configured to hold the cover in place during at least a portion of operation of the cover station 150e. The pressing station 1016 may include an adjustable pressing plate 1020 and a fixed pressing plate 1022. Both of the adjustable pressing plate 1020 and the fixed pressing plate may be configured to be positioned and/or moved according to at least one property of a workpiece W. For example, in one exemplary embodiment, at least one of the adjustable pressing plate 1020 and the fixed pressing plate 1022 may be positioned according to a width of a workpiece to be operated upon by the nipping station 1008. The lifting motor 1018 may be configured to operate as a servo in one embodiment. Cover overhang may be trimmed prior to completed workpiece delivery (e.g., by the cover station 150e and/or delivery station 150f).
At least one component of the cover station 150e may include or otherwise have access to a processor 1020 configured to perform or coordinate at least one operation. In one exemplary embodiment, the processor 1020 determines at least one of a position or a relative orientation of at least a portion of the cover relative to the workpiece W in conjunction with the gripper 1010 (e.g., by wireless identification such as by obtaining a radio frequency (RF) tag identifier, scanning an image obtained by the gripper 1010 or other element of the apparatus 100, etc.). At least one operation of the scoring section 1004 and/or pre-trim cut section 1006 may be performed based at least in part upon the determined at least one of a position or a relative orientation of at least a portion of the cover relative to the workpiece W.
Unlike in common perfect binders, in various embodiments consistent with the present disclosure, the cover is not required to be conveyed using rollers and guides. Instead, the gripper 1010 may control movement of the cover (e.g., as mounted on a portal or industrial multiple axle robot). The cover may be either manually or automatically placed at a pick-up position for the gripper 1010. At least one of a position and/or an orientation of a print mark and thus for the image is obtained, identified, or determined before the gripper 1010 picks up the cover in one embodiment. Additionally or alternatively, the position or orientation may be provided to the cover station 150e from an internal or external source, or may be determined while the cover is in transit in the possession of the gripper 1010. As such, it is not the locations of a paper's edges that triggers the exact pick up position for the gripper 1010. Therefore, the tolerances in sheet size or position of an image on the sheet is irrelevant.
The gripper 1010 may be configured to know or determine the exact position and orientation of an image or print mark associated with a cover and can transport the cover to at least one of the scoring section 1004 and/or the pre-trim cut section 1006. During operations of the scoring section 1004 and/or the pre-trim cut section 1006, the gripper 1010 may be configured to hold the cover at all times to ensure correct positioning. After the operations are completed, the gripper 1010 may be configured to position the prepared cover on the nipping station 1008. There, the cover is hold in position by either a suction (e.g., vacuum) plate or another kind of holding mechanism to avoid any slipping when the gripper 1010 releases the cover. This ensures the position of the scoring and the position of the cover image to the workpiece.
The exemplary embodiment illustrated by
The control unit 440 may include one or more processors or devices configured to control one or more operations associated with at least one of the rotatable section 160 and/or the base section 400. Additionally or alternatively, the control unit 440 may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more operations or control signals received from an external entity (e.g., a remote computer or controller) via one or more wired or wireless public or private communications networks. Although illustrated and described with reference to the base section 440, it should be appreciated that one or more portions or operations associated with the control unit 440 may be implemented at any physical location or remote location associated with the apparatus 100, without departing from the spirit and the scope of the present disclosure.
To facilitate the understanding of the embodiments described herein, a number of terms are defined below. The terms defined herein have meanings as commonly understood by a person of ordinary skill in the areas relevant to the present invention. Terms such as “a,” “an,” and “the” are not intended to refer to only a singular entity, but rather include the general class of which a specific example may be used for illustration. The terminology herein is used to describe specific embodiments of the invention, but their usage does not delimit the invention, except as set forth in the claims The phrase “in one embodiment,” as used herein does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, although it may.
The term “circuit” means at least either a single component or a multiplicity of components, either active and/or passive, that are coupled together to provide a desired function. Terms such as “wire,” “wiring,” “line,” “signal,” “conductor,” and “bus” may be used to refer to any known structure, construction, arrangement, technique, method and/or process for physically transferring a signal from one point in a circuit to another. Also, unless indicated otherwise from the context of its use herein, the terms “known,” “fixed,” “given,” “certain” and “predetermined” generally refer to a value, quantity, parameter, constraint, condition, state, process, procedure, method, practice, or combination thereof that is, in theory, variable, but is typically set in advance and not varied thereafter when in use.
Conditional language used herein, such as, among others, “can,” “might,” “may,” “e.g.,” and the like, unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain embodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certain features, elements and/or states. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements and/or states are in any way required for one or more embodiments or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without author input or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or states are included or are to be performed in any particular embodiment.
The previous detailed description has been provided for the purposes of illustration and description. Thus, although there have been described particular embodiments of a new and useful invention, it is not intended that such references be construed as limitations upon the scope of this invention except as set forth in the following claims.
