Patent ID: 8840351

Claim:
A book binding machine, comprising: a collating machine for collating book blocks, said collating machine having a gathering device with a plurality of transport segments and feeders configured to deposit individual sheets into each of said transport segments; a perfect binder for processing the book blocks to produce perfect bound brochures or books, said perfect binder having a book block transport system with a plurality of book block clamps for transporting the book blocks through processing stations; a transfer device disposed between said collating machine and said perfect binder for transferring the collated book blocks from said gathering device to said book block transport system; and a control device for actuating said collating machine and said perfect binder in common, said control device assigning each of said transport segments of said gathering device to a respective book block clamp, and said control device being programmed to actuate said collating machine if a defective or missing book block clamp is detected, so that no book block is collated for the defective or missing book block clamp.