Patent ID: 8920096

Claim:
A device for controlling the thickness of glue applied to the spine of a book during the book binding process, said device comprising: a glue pot having at least two glue wheels therein; said glue pot holding liquefied glue for application to the spine to bind said book; said glue wheels positioned in said glue pot such that a bottom portion is immersed in said liquefied glue and a top portion is positioned such that said spine rolls across said glue wheels for application of said glue; two doctor blades that are movable and positioned near each of the glue wheels to control the thickness of the glue that reaches the top portion of the glue wheel such that it controls the glue applied to the spine of the book; a book binder that collects paper into a book, holds said book in a clamp such that one edge of said book is the spine, and runs said spine across the top portion of the glue wheels to apply the glue to the spine; a means for controlling the position of the doctor blades in relation to the glue wheels to control the thickness of the glue applied to the spine and the location of the glue on the spine: for each doctor blade, said means comprising a servo motor having a cam; a linkage attached between the cam and the doctor blade that allows the servo motor to move the doctor blade to control the position of the doctor blade; wherein the doctor blade can be moved from a closed position where the doctor blade nearly touches the glue wheel to prevent substantially all the glue on the glue wheel from reaching the top portion of the glue wheel, and an opened position where the doctor blade is away from the glue wheel to allow a desired thickness of glue to reach the top portion of the glue wheel, and means for coordinating the position of the doctor blade with the position of the spine on the glue wheel comprising: a computerized control system that controls the movement of the servo motor to control the position of the doctor blade; said computerized control system having an input wherein an operator of the book binding system can input the projected speed of the book binder and hence the speed of the book across the glue wheel, the length of the book back, and the desired thickness of the glue on the book back; wherein said control system activates the servo motor to turn the cam to move the doctor blade to said opened position to allow glue on the glue wheel as the spine is approaching the glue wheel such that the glue is applied beginning at a precise location on the spine without excess glue on the glue wheel, and said control system activates the servo motor to turn the cam to move the doctor blade to said closed position to stop the application of the glue at a precise location on the spine.