IMPROVEMENTS IN METHODS OF MANUFACTURE AND COMBI- NATIONS THEREWITH FOR PRODUCING BOOKBINDING CLASPS OR MECHANICAL BOOK- BINDERS
Year: 1872

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Paulin Lauranson at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st
August 1872.-A communication from abroad by Monsieur G.
Toiray-Mawrin, 4 & 6, Ruc des Vielles Handriettes, Paris. .
I, PAULIN LAURANSON, of 109, Hatton Garden, London, in the
County of Middlesex, Ink Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN METHODS OF MANUFACTURE AND COMBI-
NATIONS THEREWITH FOR PRODUCING BOOKBINDING CLASPS OR MECHANICAL BOOK-
BINDERS," to be as follows, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in the application of "thumbscrews with
double collar" for the purpose of joining the cover to the binding
clasp, in lieu of the screws with grooves hitherto employed for such
purposes, the object being a perfection not attainable by the ordinary
methods now in use, as well as great economy in the cost of the article.
The ordinary mechanical binders or book-binding clasps have hitherto
been made in the following manner, and consist of two parts:-First, the
book or bookbinding clasp proper, which serves to bind or collect bills
or other papers on, and the second part the cover or interior book. The

page_text: cover is furnished with a certain number of pins or spikes on which the
leaves lodge themselves by the action of a spring mechanism called the
compressor which forms an integral portion of the first part, Theso
two parts are joined or rendered dependent one on the other so long as
the cover is capable of receiving leaves, but when it is filled it must a
be separated from the other part and replaced by another empty cover.
Moreover the empty cover must be closed or clasped in such manner
that the leaves are, so to speak, bound or sewn by means of the spikes, the
whole constituting then a volume or gathering of bills, letters, etc. The
removal, the substitution, and the closing of the cover should be effected 1
with facility and rapidity. For this purpose in order to join the cover to
the clasp book I make use of "thumbscrews with double collar," in lieu
of the screws with grooves hitherto employed and requiring the aid of a
screwdriver which is not always at hand. Moreover I effect the closing
of the cover by a rod with immovably fixing screw nuts that can be fixed 1
and screwed upon the extremities of the pins or spikes which are filleted
for that purpose.
The screw nuts being immovably attached to the
fixing rod are not liable to be disturbed.
In order better to explain my meaning I have in the accompanying
design given a representation of my improved book clasp as a sample.
Fig. 1 shows a view in vertical elevation of the profile of the whole
of the book clasp open.
Fig. 2 gives the view of the same complete in a flat position.
2
Fig. 3 shows on a larger scale and in part only a plan of the com-
pressing mechanism indicating my method of fixing the back of the a
cover on the metallic fillet o, o, of the case B of the book by means of
the "thumbscrews with double collar."
Fig. 4, 5, & 6 display a view of the bottom, a view of the profile, and
a view of the top of the comb or entirely of the binding spikes.
Fig. 7 & 8 give a side view and a front view of the closed cover in the
form of a volume detached from the book clasp,
Fig. 9, 10, & 11 show in a longitudinal sense a view of the top, a
view of the side part cut, and a view of the bottom of the fixing or
closing bar J, J, of the cover bearing the screw nuts.
Fig. 12 shows a front view in reduction of the metallic fillet o, o, to;
which are fixed two springs M, M, and a metallic pinch, this last
one mado to slide all along between the fillet o, o, and the back of the

page_text: binder, and on the purpose of keeping tight the bar J, J, when not in
use for the binding of the book.
Fig. 13 shows in augmentation a front view of the screw i. In all
these Figures the same letters refer to the same parts.
0
a, cover of the book clasp, properly so called, containing altogether
the mechanism and the cover of the volume. b, case of the mechanism
upon which a bar c compressing the leaves may act. This bar is
strongly prossed down by springs arranged in the interior of the case ;
it is raised by the hand and held in that position outside the extremity
of the pins or spikes d by means of a trigger e. f, cover for closing
the volume. g, small bar, bearing a certain number of pins or spikes d.
This bar is placed on one of the outer sides of the back of the cover f, so.
that the spikes pass through the said back. h, h, two holes made in the
bar and intended to receive the "thumbscrews with double collar" i
for the purpose of fixing the cover ƒ upon the metal portion o, o, of the
case 6. M, M, two springs which are to maintain in their places the
"thumbscrews with double collar" J, J, during the operation of chang-
ing the cover. When the cover is once fixed to the portion o, o, of the
case B, the spikes & will be perpendicular with the compressor c, which
is pierced with as many holes. as there are pins, so that they may pass
through it during the action of compressing. It is while the compressor
is kept raised by the spring, and there is a free space left between it
and the extremity of the spikes that the edge of a sheet of paper,
bill, etc., is placed in that space, by pressing the trigger the compressor
falls down under the action of the springs, and carries with it the sheet
of paper to the said pins or spikes, and presses it on to the others
already in position, as is indicated by the red lines. When the cover ƒ
is full the two screws i, i, must be unscrewed, the extremities of the
spikes must be passed on to the other side of the back, and to the
exterior of that side must be applied the rod j, Fig. 9, 10, 11,
which is pierced with holes k, corresponding to the pins or spikes. In
some of these holes a screw nut is fixed, which can be turned in its
place and screwed on the said spikes, so as to effect the closing of the
volume as is indicated in Fig. 7 and 8.