Patent GB-799727-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to wire helix book-binding machines
IPC: B42B5/12
Filed: 1956-12-10
Abstract: 799,727. Bookbinding. BIEL. H. Dec. 10, 1956 [Dec. 8, 1955], No. 37595/56. Class 16 In a machine for securing paper stacks with wire helices threaded through perforations therein, the stacks P are fed in succession, at station I, to clamping means 20, 30 which are indexed to stations II, III, IV at which the perforations are aligned, the wire helix is formed and screwed into the perforations, and the bound stack is discharged on to the conveyer 22. The machine is driven by a motor 1, through gearing including a variable gear 5 and geneva-mechanism 12, 13 which latter drives the assembly of clamps intermittently whilst a shaft 11, carrying various cams, rotates continuously, the assembly advancing sixty degrees for each revolution of the shaft 11. The clamps each comprise a base 20 fixed relatively to the rotating assembly, and a plate 30 on a bell crank 31 which is spring-pressed to grip the stack but is controlled by a cam 35 which is stationary except as explained below. At station I a clamp is open to receive the stack which is positioned by contact with an abutment 24. On movement away from the station I, the cam 35 allows the clamp to hold the stack very lightly so that relative movement of the pages by the means 50 for aligning the perforations is permitted, this relative movement being facilitated by a cam on the shaft 11 which oscillates the cam 35 on the axis 18 so as to release and restore the slight clamping pressure whilst the aligning means are operating. These means comprise pins 51 on a bar 50 which is oscillated on its own axis and is screwthreaded in a bearing at one end so that, as it oscillates, it moves longitudinally. The pins 51 are shaped to engage the perforations and are inclined to correspond with the slope of the helix. As the pins are moved longitudinally with the bar 50, the perforations are aligned in the manner best able subsequently to receive the helix. The bar 50 is journalled in an arm, not shown, the pivot of which carries a gear wheel for oscillating the bar, the said oscillation, and the swinging of the arm for removing the bar from the path of the stacks, being effected by two cams on the shaft II. The stack is tightly clamped as it passes to station III for the insertion of the wire helix which is formed from wire D taken from a feed roll 79 by driven rollers 80, 81, which force the wire over a bending member 82 and on to a stationary mandrel 83 which is grooved at 84 to determine the pitch of the helix, a die 85 keeping the wire in the grooves. The helix as it is formed, is screwed into the perforations in the stack, this being facilitated by three rollers 87, 88, 89 which are grooved at 90 to accommodate the helix, and are brought together to bear on the helix. The rollers have a peripheral speed in excess of the helix, so that a tractive force is applied to the wire to assist the rollers 80, 81. The rollers 87, 88 are mounted on a common cranked member 91 pivoted at 92, and the roller 89 is mounted on a member 101 pivoted at 100, the members being actuated by cams 98, 107 on the shaft 11, so that the spacing between the rollers is increased to permit the insertion of the paper stack, or is decreased to grip the helix. The helix-forming and inserting mechanism is driven by a friction wheel 111 which is kept, by the cam 129, out of driving contact with the wheel 110 until the stack is presented for insertion of the helix. Alterations in the length of the helix,are made by the adjustment of the variable gear 5. Two cutting devices are arranged over the rollers 87, 88, 89, one at each end, to cut the wire and to bend the ends into the inside of the helix. Fig. 9 shows one of the cutting devices of the two which are mounted on upper and lower rods 145, 146 which are parallel with the rollers 87, 88, 89 and are mounted in a slide for bodily movement towards and away from the helix. This movement is produced by a cam on the shaft 11 which, through a thrust rod and linkage, bears down on the top bar 145, so that when the bodily movement is arrested, the bar 145 continues to move down towards the bar 146 against the action of the spring 133. The bars 145, 146 carry longitudinally adjustable members 130, 131 the latter carrying a bifurcated jaw 141, 142, Fig. 10, which has a cutting edge 143 which engages helix at the desired point of severance. The relative motion of the members 130, 131 produces a swinging, about a pivot 139, of a cutting member 137 by the roller 135 engaging the inclined surface 136. The bifurcations 141, 142 are so spaced that the end of the wire D remaining on the helix is bent by the moving cutter 137 into the desired position. The bound paper stacks are kept clamped until they reach the station IV where they are received by the discharge conveyer 22.