阅读说明：本技术 附加料件加贴装置及带有该装置的装订系统 (Additional material attaching device and binding system with same ) 是由 越智优 福田繁伸 谷内知则 于 2021-06-02 设计创作，主要内容包括：一种附加料件加贴装置及带有该装置的装订系统,包括：容纳连续片状的附加料件Q的卷2的卷容纳单元3；从卷容纳单元将附加料件卷出至裁切工位4的退绕单元5；配置在裁切工位上,根据书帖B的尺寸裁切附加料件,形成带状的附加料件的裁切单元8；支撑并夹持带状的附加料件其下方,并在壳体52的内部的缩回位置和壳体52的外部的前进位置之间移动,且在前进位置和前进位置的上方的上升位置之间移动的抓手装置12；以及将带状的附加料件从裁切工位递送到位于缩回位置的抓手装置上的递送单元23。(An additional material piece attaching device and a binding system with the same comprise: a roll accommodating unit 3 accommodating a roll 2 of continuous sheet-like additional material Q; an unwinding unit 5 that winds out the additional material from the roll accommodating unit to the cutting station 4; a cutting unit 8 disposed at the cutting station for cutting the additional material according to the size of the signature B to form a band-shaped additional material; a gripper 12 which supports and grips the strip-like additional material under it, and moves between a retracted position inside the casing 52 and an advanced position outside the casing 52, and moves between an advanced position and a raised position above the advanced position; and a delivery unit 23 delivering the additional piece in strip form from the cutting station to the gripper in the retracted position.)

1. An additive material attaching device connected to a binding machine, for supplying and attaching an additive material from the outside of the binding machine to a spine portion of a book having paste applied thereto, the spine portion being in a vertical state at an additive material attaching position stopped in the binding machine;

the device comprises:

a holding unit supporting a lower side of the additional material and holding the additional material;

a first holding unit driving mechanism that moves the holding unit between a retracted position inside the housing and an advanced position outside the housing; and

a second holding unit driving mechanism that moves the holding unit between the advanced position and a raised position above the advanced position;

wherein the advancing position is right below a spine of the signature stopped at the additional material attaching position within the binding machine;

the raised position is a position at which the additional material member is brought into press contact with the ridge portion of the signature.

2. The add-on material attaching device according to claim 1, comprising a control section that controls said first holding unit driving mechanism and said second holding unit driving mechanism, said advancing position and said ascending position being inputted to said control section.

3. The add-on material application device according to claim 1 or 2, comprising:

a roll accommodating unit rotatably accommodating a roll of the additional material member in a continuous sheet shape around a shaft;

an unwinding unit that winds out the continuous sheet-like additional material member from the roll accommodating unit to a cutting station;

a cutting unit disposed at the cutting station, cutting the continuous sheet-like additional material wound out by the unwinding unit according to a size of the signature, and forming a band-like additional material;

delivering the strip-shaped additional material from the cutting station to a delivery unit of the holding unit located at the retracted position.

4. The add-on material attaching device according to claim 3, wherein said holding unit, said first and second holding unit driving mechanisms, and said cutting unit are arranged in upper and lower stages with said cutting unit arranged above.

5. The add-on material application device according to claim 4, wherein the delivery unit has:

an adsorption head for adsorbing the belt-shaped additional material; and

an adsorption head driving mechanism that moves the adsorption head between the cutting station and the retracted position of the holding unit.

6. The add-on material application device according to claim 4, wherein the first holding unit driving mechanism has:

at least one sliding guide;

a slider mounted on the slide rail;

an arm extending in parallel along the slide rail and mounted on the slider, swingable at a rear end about a horizontal axis crossing a sliding direction of the slider, and mounted at a front end with the holding unit; and

a slider driving mechanism that moves the slider between a retracted position where the holding unit is disposed at the retracted position and a projected position where the holding unit is disposed at the advanced position;

the second holding unit driving mechanism is constituted by an arm driving mechanism that swings the arm between a horizontal position and a tilted position tilted downward from the horizontal position,

when the slider is located at the protruding position and the arm occupies the horizontal position, the holding unit occupies the raised position.

7. The add-on material attaching device according to claim 6, wherein the suction head driving mechanism of the delivery unit has:

a first suction head driving mechanism that moves the suction head in a horizontal direction and along the slide rail of the first holding unit driving mechanism;

a second suction head driving mechanism for moving the suction head in the vertical direction; and

and a third suction head driving mechanism for moving the suction head in the horizontal direction at right angles to the slide rail.

8. An add-on material application device according to any one of claims 1, 2 and 4 to 7, wherein the holding unit comprises a gripping device.

9. A binding system comprising the add-on material application apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 8 and a binding machine to which the add-on material application apparatus is attached.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an additive material application device which is provided separately from a binding machine and supplies and applies an additive material from the outside of the binding machine to a spine portion coated with paste of a signature which stands at an additive material application position stopped in the binding machine, and a binding system provided with the device.

Background

A perfect binding machine with a cold yarn backing supply device is known in the art (for example, refer to patent document 1). The perfect binding machine comprises a clamping device which clamps the book in a standing state and can move along a specified path; a series of processing units (a milling unit, an overlap width unit and an upper cover unit) arranged along the path and performing perfect binding processing; and a signature feeding unit that feeds the signatures to the nip device at a signature feeding position on an upstream side than the series of processing units on the path.

The upper cover unit has a top press plate and a pair of holding plates disposed above the top press plate. The cover feeding unit has a cover carrier on which the cover is placed, a knock-up plate that delivers the cover from the cover carrier to the upper cover unit, and a cover delivery mechanism on the pair of clamp plates.

When the binding process is started, the cover is delivered from the cover carriage to the top platen and the pair of clamp plates of the upper cover unit via the cover delivery mechanism. Then, the signatures held by the holding device reach predetermined positions above the knock-up plate and the pair of holding plates, and when stopping, the knock-up plate and the pair of holding plates are raised to the holding position, the cover is pressed against the spine of the signatures via the knock-up plate, and then the pair of holding plates hold both sides of the spine of the signatures, and thereby the cover is pressed against both sides of the spine of the signatures, the cover is pasted to the signatures, and the binding is completed.

Thus, according to the binding machine, the paperback binding can be realized. On the other hand, when the binding machine is used for binding a finished book (forming a finished book), a cold-yarn piping supply device is used instead of the cover supply unit.

The cold yarn mounting cloth supply device comprises a cold yarn mounting cloth forming unit for forming banded cold yarn mounting cloth according to the shape of the book label; the tape-shaped cold screening cloth is delivered from the cold screening cloth forming unit to the upper cover unit of the binding machine, and supplied to the delivery unit on the pair of holding plates of the upper cover unit in a state of being spanned over these holding plates.

The cold yarn cloth-mounting forming unit comprises a continuous sheet cold yarn cloth-mounting roll; a driving part for rotating the roll and delivering the continuous sheet cold yarn cloth to the loading platform; first and second cutters cut the continuous sheet of cold yarn piping delivered via the drive in the length and width directions.

The first cutter can move in the width direction of the continuous sheet of cold yarn piping and cut the cold yarn piping in the length direction according to the thickness of the signatures. Further, the second cutter cuts the cold yarn piping cloth cut by the first cutter and positioned on the mounting table in the width direction in accordance with the length of the signature in the vertical direction.

The delivery unit has a suction jig that sucks the band-shaped cold yarn cloth on the table and a rail that extends from the table to the upper cover unit. The rail extends from above the mounting table to above the signatures held by the holding device and stopped above the top platen and the pair of holding plates of the top cover unit, and the suction jig is movably attached along the rail with respect to the rail.

When producing a finished book on the binding machine, first, a band-shaped cold yarn pasting cloth having a size corresponding to the book is formed on a cold yarn pasting cloth forming unit of a cold yarn pasting cloth supplying device. Next, the band-shaped cold scrim is supplied to a pair of holding plates of an upper cover unit of the perfect binding machine while crossing these holding plates via a delivery unit of a cold scrim supply device.

Then, at a section feeding position of the perfect binding machine, the section is fed to a holding device, and the holding device holding the section passes through a milling unit and an upper width unit, reaches a predetermined position above a top press plate and a pair of holding plates of an upper cover unit, and stops.

Further, the knock-up plate and the pair of grip plates are raised, the band-like cold yarn mounting cloth is pressed against the spine portion of the signature via the knock-up plate, and then the pair of grip plates grip both sides of the spine portion of the signature, and thereby the band-like cold yarn mounting cloth is pressed against both sides of the spine portion of the signature, and the band-like cold yarn mounting cloth is pasted to the spine portion of the signature.

In this way, according to the perfect binding machine with the cold yarn pasting cloth supply device, the cold yarn pasting cloth in a band shape corresponding to the size of the signatures can be formed and pasted to the spine of the signatures, so that the perfect binding of a plurality of signatures of different sizes can be quickly realized.

Documents of the prior art

Patent document

Patent document 1: japanese unexamined patent application publication No. 2014-198394

Disclosure of Invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

However, according to this configuration, a user who has a perfect binder without a cold yarn mounting cloth supply device has to purchase a new perfect binder to bind the perfect book, which causes a large cost burden.

Also, the cold yarn mounting cloth feeding device has a bulky structure, and thus the perfect binding machine becomes larger, requiring a larger installation space.

Therefore, the invention aims to provide an additional material piece attaching device and a binding system with the same. The additional material piece attaching device can be easily attached to a binding machine for paperback binding, and is used for providing and attaching additional material pieces such as cold yarn mounting cloth. In addition, the invention also aims to realize the compactness of an additional material piece applying device for providing and applying the additional material pieces such as cold yarn mounting cloth and a binding system with the same.

Means for solving the problems

In order to solve the above problem, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an additive material application device connected to a binding machine, for supplying and applying an additive material from outside the binding machine to a spine portion with paste of a signature standing at an additive material application position stopped in the binding machine. The apparatus includes a holding unit supporting a lower portion of the additional material and holding the additional material; a first holding unit driving mechanism that moves the holding unit between a retracted position inside the housing and an advanced position outside the housing; and a second holding unit driving mechanism that moves the holding unit between the advanced position and a raised position above the advanced position. Wherein the advancing position is a position directly below the spine of the signature at the additional material attaching position stopped in the binding machine, and the raising position is a position at which the additional material is brought into press-contact with the spine of the signature.

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, there is provided an add-on material attaching apparatus comprising: a roll accommodating unit rotatably accommodating a roll of continuous sheet-like additional material around a shaft; an unwinding unit that winds out the continuous sheet-like additional material member from the roll accommodating unit to a cutting station; a cutting unit disposed at the cutting station, cutting the continuous sheet-like additional material wound out by the unwinding unit according to a size of the signature, and forming a band-like additional material; delivering the strip-shaped additional material from the cutting station to a delivery unit of the holding unit located at the retracted position.

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the additional material attaching device includes a control section that controls the first holding unit driving mechanism and the second holding unit driving mechanism, and the advanced position and the raised position are input to the control section.

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the holding unit, the first and second holding unit driving mechanisms, and the cutting unit are arranged in two upper and lower stages with the cutting unit arranged above.

According to another preferred aspect of the present invention, the delivery unit has an adsorption head capable of adsorbing the band-shaped additional material; and an adsorption head driving mechanism which moves the adsorption head between the cutting station and the retraction position of the holding unit.

According to still another preferred aspect of the present invention, the first holding unit driving mechanism has at least one slide rail; a slider mounted on the slide rail; an arm extending in parallel along the slide rail and mounted on the slider, swingable at a rear end about a horizontal axis crossing a sliding direction of the slider, and mounted at a front end with the holding unit; and a slider driving mechanism that moves the slider between a retracted position where the holding unit is disposed at the retracted position and a projected position where the holding unit is disposed at the advanced position. The second holding unit driving mechanism is constituted by an arm driving mechanism that swings the arm between a horizontal position and a tilted position tilted downward from the horizontal position, and the holding unit occupies the raised position when the slider is located at the protruding position and the arm occupies the horizontal position.

According to still another preferred aspect of the present invention, the suction head driving mechanism of the delivery unit has a first suction head driving mechanism that moves the suction head in a horizontal direction and along the slide rail of the first holding unit driving mechanism; a second suction head driving mechanism for moving the suction head in the vertical direction; and a third suction head driving mechanism for moving the suction head in the horizontal direction at right angles to the slide rail.

According to a further preferred aspect of the invention, the holding unit comprises a gripping device.

A binding system according to one aspect of the invention comprises an add-on material application device as defined in any one of the preceding claims and a binding machine to which the add-on material application device is connected.

ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECTS OF INVENTION

The forward position of the holding unit is directly below the spine of the signature stopped at the additional material applying position in the binding machine, and the holding unit is connected to the binding machine in an arrangement in which the additional material is press-contacted to the spine of the signature at the rising position. The holding unit holds the delivered band-shaped additional material piece at the retracted position, moves from the retracted position to the advanced position, raises the additional material piece from the advanced position to the raised position, releases the holding at the raised position, then lowers the additional material piece from the raised position to the advanced position, and sticks the band-shaped additional material piece to the spine of the signature.

In this way, a holding unit is included which supports and holds the lower side of the band-shaped additional member, and moves between a retracted position inside the casing and an advanced position outside the casing, and in the up-down direction, moves between the advanced position and a raised position above the advanced position, and then, the band-shaped additional member formed according to the size of the signature is delivered from the outside of the stapler to the signature stopped at the additional member affixing position inside the stapler via the holding unit, and is affixed to the spine portion of the signature.

Thus, the additional material attaching device for supplying and attaching the additional material can be configured independently of the binder, and the additional material attaching device of the present invention can be easily attached to the binder by providing only the opening portion for accessing the attaching position of the additional material in the binder from the outside, and supplying and attaching the band-shaped additional material formed according to the size of the signature from the outside to the spine portion of the signature stopped at the attaching position of the additional material in the binder.

Moreover, the user does not need to newly purchase a binding machine with the function of forming the fine book section, and the fine book section can be manufactured by adding the additional material piece attaching device to the existing flush-mounted binding machine.

In addition, the cutting unit, the holding unit, and the first and second holding unit driving mechanisms (the attaching mechanism that delivers the additional material to the spine portion of the signature in the stapler) are arranged in two upper and lower layers, enabling efficient use of space, thereby enabling the additional material attaching device to be compact.

Drawings

Fig. 1 shows a binding system according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is a schematic side view of the internal structure of an add-on material attaching device.

Fig. 2 is a top view of the gripper of the add-on material application device of fig. 1, and the first and second gripper drive mechanisms.

FIG. 3A shows the gripper of FIG. 2, and the first and second gripper drive mechanisms, as a cross-sectional view along line Y-Y of FIG. 2 with the gripper in a retracted position.

Fig. 3B is a cross-sectional view of the gripper of fig. 3A in an advanced position.

FIG. 4A shows the gripper of FIG. 2, and the first and second gripper drive mechanisms, as a cross-sectional view along line Y-Y of FIG. 2 with the gripper 12 in the raised position.

Fig. 4B is a cross-sectional view of the released grip in a raised position relative to the gripper of fig. 4A.

Fig. 5 is a front view of a delivery unit of the add-on material application device of fig. 1.

Detailed Description

The structure of the present invention will be described according to a preferred embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of the internal structure of an add-on material application device for applying an add-on material to the spine of a signature, according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 1 shows a binding system with a binding machine M and an add-on material application device 1, wherein the add-on material application device 1 is connected to the binding machine M. In addition, for the sake of clarity, only the adsorption head of the delivery unit is depicted in fig. 1, representing the delivery unit (the structure thereof will be described in detail later).

An additional material applying apparatus 1 including a roll accommodating unit 3 rotatably accommodating a roll 2 of a continuous sheet-like additional material Q about a horizontal axis in a housing 52 thereof; the continuous sheet-like additional material Q is wound out from the roll containing unit 3 to the unwinding unit 5 of the cutting station 4. The control unit 50 controls the operation of the unwinding unit 5.

Here, the "additional material" refers to a sheet material that is stuck to the spine portion of the signature in the finishing process, and includes, for example, cold yarn paperhanging and paper.

The unwinding unit 5 is constituted by a pair of unwinding rollers 5a, 5b rotatable about horizontal axes, respectively. Further, a guide roller 6a and a pair of guide rollers 6b, 6c are disposed between the pair of unwinding rollers 5a, 5b and the roll accommodating unit 3, and are rotatable about horizontal axes, respectively. Further, a driving force may be applied to the pair of guide rollers 6b and 6c so that a reverse torque is applied in a direction opposite to the feeding direction of the pair of unwinding rollers 5a and 5 b. Thereby, tension can be applied to the additional material Q. When the additional material Q is unwound, the pair of guide rollers 6b and 6c transport the additional material Q in the feeding direction by friction while applying a reverse rotation torque. However, when the unwinding of the additional material Q is stopped, the counter torque of the pair of guide rollers 6b and 6c is also stopped.

The continuous sheet-like additional material Q unwound from the reel 2 is guided between the pair of unwinding rollers 5a and 5b via a part of the circumferential surface of the guide roller 6a and between the pair of guide rollers 6b and 6 c. Then, each time the pair of unwinding rollers 5a and 5b is rotated in accordance with a command from the control section 50, the continuous sheet-like additional material Q of a predetermined length is wound out from the roll 2 to the cutting station 4. The cutting station 4 is provided within the housing 52.

Further, a curl corrector 7 for correcting the curl of the continuous sheet-like additional material Q is disposed between the pair of guide rollers 6b and 6c and the pair of unwinding rollers 5a and 5 b.

The additional material attaching device 1 further includes a cutting unit 8 arranged at the cutting station 4, cutting the continuous sheet-like additional material Q wound out via the unwinding unit 5 in accordance with the size of the signature B, and forming a band-like additional material S.

The cutting unit 8 has a first cutter 9, a delivery mechanism 10, and a second cutter 11, wherein the first cutter 9 is disposed at the entrance of the cutting station 4, and cuts the continuous sheet-like additional material Q, which is wound out via the unwinding unit 5 and has a length corresponding to the thickness of the signature B, in a direction crossing the winding-out direction (direction indicated by the arrow X); the delivery mechanism 10 delivers the cut additional material piece from the first cutter 9 in the unwinding direction (arrow X); the second cutter 11 is disposed on the delivery path of the delivery mechanism 10, and cuts the cut additional material delivered on the delivery path in the unwinding direction (arrow X). The control section 50 controls the operations of the first cutter 9, the delivery mechanism 10, and the second cutter 11.

The first cutter 9 has a linear blade 9a extending transversely to the unwinding direction (arrow X), and the second cutter 11 has a pair of rolling blades 11a, 11b rotatable about an axis transversely to the unwinding direction (arrow X). The positions of the pair of rolling blades 11a and 11B of the second cutter 11 are adjustable in a direction crossing the unwinding direction (arrow X) according to the length of the signature B in the vertical direction.

The cutter unit 8 also has a stopper 10a that traverses a delivery path extending at a downstream end of the delivery path of the delivery mechanism 10 and stops the strip-shaped additional material S by abutting against a leading end of the strip-shaped additional material S delivered from the second cutter 11.

The additional material application device 1 further includes a gripper (holding unit) 12 capable of supporting the lower side of the strip-shaped additional material S and simultaneously gripping the strip-shaped additional material S. The additional material application device 1 includes a first gripper driving mechanism (first holding unit driving mechanism) 13 that moves the gripper 12 between a retracted position inside the housing 52 and an advanced position outside the housing 52; and a second gripper driving mechanism (second holding unit driving mechanism) 14 for moving the gripper 12 between the advanced position and a raised position above the advanced position. The control section 50 controls the operations of the first gripper driving mechanism 13 and the second gripper driving mechanism 14.

The gripper 12, the first and second gripper driving mechanisms 13 and 14, and the cutting unit 8 are arranged in two upper and lower stages with the cutting unit 8 arranged above. The hand grip 12 is located within the housing 50 when in the retracted position and extends outside of the housing 52 when in the advanced position. The first gripper driving mechanism 13, a main portion of which is disposed inside the housing 52, has a front portion thereof protruding outside the housing 52 when in the advanced position. The second gripper drive mechanism 14 is disposed adjacent an exterior of the housing 52. Therefore, as shown in fig. 1, when the additional material attaching device 1 is attached to the stapler M, the second gripper driving mechanism 14 is located inside the stapler M. However, the second gripper driving mechanism 14 may be provided within the housing 52.

Fig. 2 is a top view of the gripper 12 of the add-on material application device 1 of fig. 1, and the first and second gripper drive mechanisms 13, 14. Fig. 3A, B and 4A, B are cross-sectional views taken along the line Y-Y in fig. 2, illustrating the operation of the gripper 12 and the first and second gripper driving mechanisms 13 and 14 in fig. 2.

The gripper device 12 includes a holding portion 12g that holds the additional material S in a belt shape. The clamping portions 12g can increase or decrease the distance between the placing surfaces of the gripper 12 on which the strip-shaped additional material S is placed, and the additional material S can be temporarily fixed by clamping the additional material S between the placing surfaces. The control unit 50 controls the operation of the clamping unit 12 g.

Referring to fig. 2 to 4B, the first gripper driving mechanism 13 has at least one (two in the present embodiment) slide rail 15 extending obliquely downward outward from the inside of the housing 52; a slider 16 mounted on the slide rail 15; a flat plate-shaped arm 17 extending in parallel along the slide rail 15, attached to the upper surface of the slider 16, swingable with a rear end edge portion 17b as a support shaft, and having the gripper 12 attached to the front end thereof; and a slider driving mechanism 18 for moving the slider 16 between a retracted position (see fig. 1 and 3A) in which the hand grip 12 is disposed at the retracted position and a projected position (see fig. 3B) in which the hand grip 12 is disposed at the advanced position.

The slider 16 mounting arm 17 is a pair of through holes provided at regular intervals in the front-rear direction on both sides of the insertion arm 17; specifically, this is accomplished by a pair of flanged pins 16a, 16b each fixed to the slider 16, a compression spring 16c arranged between the flange of the front-side flanged pin 16a and the arm 17 among the pair of flanged pins 16a, 16b, and a compression spring 16d arranged between the flange of the rear-side flanged pin 16b and the arm 17 among the pair of flanged pins 16a, 16 b. The front compression spring 16c has a lower spring constant than the rear compression spring 16 d.

The slider drive mechanism 18 has a ball screw 19 extending in parallel along the slide rail 15 and disposed to be rotatable around an axis at a fixed position; a ball screw nut 20 provided on the slider 16 and fitted with the ball screw 19; and a ball screw drive mechanism 21 for rotating the ball screw 19 about the axis.

The ball screw drive mechanism 21 is composed of a motor 21a disposed on the rear end side of the ball screw 19 such that the drive shaft is parallel to the ball screw 19, a pulley 21b fixed to the drive shaft of the motor 21a, a pulley 21c fixed to the rear end of the ball screw 19, and an endless transmission belt 21d interposed between the pulley 21b and the pulley 21 c.

Then, the ball screw 19 is rotated in the forward and reverse directions by the ball screw drive mechanism 21 (motor 21a), and the slider 16 slides along the slide rail 15.

The second gripper driving mechanism 14 is constituted by an arm driving mechanism capable of swinging the arm 17 about a rear end edge portion 17B (fulcrum shaft) of the arm 17 between a horizontal position (refer to fig. 4A) and an inclined position (refer to fig. 3B) inclined downward (extending in parallel along the slide rail 15) from the horizontal position.

The arm driving mechanism is constituted by a cylinder 22 disposed at the lower side of the arm 17 in front of the projecting position of the slider 16 and extending in the vertical direction, a horizontal support shaft 22b is attached to the front end of a piston rod 22a of the cylinder 22 and extends in the direction crossing the delivery path, and a roller 22c is attached to both ends of the support shaft 22b so as to be rotatable about the support shaft 22 b.

Then, the piston rod 22a of the cylinder 22 reciprocates between a first position where the roller 22c is retracted below the inclined position of the arm 17 and a second position where the roller 22c protrudes upward from the inclined position of the arm 17.

In this way, the piston rod 22a of the cylinder 22 is always in the first position, and when the slider 16 occupies the projecting position, the piston rod 22a moves from the first position to the second position, whereby the arm 17 swings from the inclined position to the horizontal position. Then, the piston rod 22a returns from the second position to the first position, whereby the arm 17 swings from the horizontal position to the inclined position.

The add-on material application device 1 also has a delivery unit 23 for delivering the strip-shaped add-on material S from the cutting station 4 to the gripper 12 in the retracted position. The control unit 50 controls the operation of the delivery unit 23.

Fig. 5 is a front view of the delivery unit (view viewed in the arrow X direction of fig. 1).

As shown in fig. 5, the delivery unit 23 has an adsorption head 24 capable of adsorbing the additional material S in a belt shape and an adsorption head driving mechanism 25 that moves the adsorption head 24 between the cutting station 4 and the retracted position of the gripper 12.

The suction head 24 includes a plurality of suction cups 24a and a negative pressure generating unit 24b for generating suction force in each suction cup 24 a.

The suction head driving mechanism 25 has a first slide rail 25a extending in the horizontal direction along the slide rail 15 of the first gripper driving mechanism 13; a first slider 25b mounted on the first slide rail 25 a; a first ball screw 25c extending in parallel along the first slide rail 25a and disposed to be rotatable around an axis at a fixed position; a first ball screw nut 25d mounted on the first slider 25b and fitted with the first ball screw 25 c; and a first rotation driving mechanism 25e that rotates the first ball screw 25 c.

The suction head driving mechanism 25 further has a second slide rail 25f mounted on the first slider 25b and extending in the up-down direction; a second slider 25g mounted on the second slide rail 25 f; a second ball screw 25h mounted on the first slider 25b, extending in parallel along the second slide rail 25f, and rotatable around an axis at a fixed position; a second ball screw nut 25i mounted on the second slider 25g and engaged with the second ball screw 25 h; and a second rotation driving mechanism 25j attached to the first slider 25b and rotating the second ball screw 25 h.

The suction head driving mechanism 25 further has a third slide rail 25k mounted on the second slider 25g, extending in the horizontal direction at right angles to the first slide rail 25 a; a third slider 25m mounted on the third slide rail 25 k; a motor 25n mounted on the second slider 25g and having a drive shaft (not shown) extending in parallel along the first slide rail 25 a; a pulley 25p mounted on the second slider 25g and rotatable about an axis parallel to the drive axis of the motor 25 n; and an endless belt 25q which is hooked between a pulley (not shown) attached to the drive shaft of the motor 25n and the pulley 25p and fixes the third slider 25 m.

Then, the suction head 24 is mounted on the third slider 25m in a straight line along the third slide rail 25k with the suction cups 24a facing downward, respectively.

In this way, the first ball screw 25c is rotated in the forward and reverse directions by the first rotary drive mechanism 25e, and the suction head 24 is moved in a direction in which the cutting station 4 or the gripper 12 located at the retracted position is moved toward or away from the cutting station, and the second ball screw 25h is rotated in the forward and reverse directions by the second rotary drive mechanism 25j, and the suction head 24 is moved up and down, and the endless belt 25q is rotated in the forward and reverse directions by the motor 25n, and the suction head 24 is moved in the longitudinal direction of the belt-shaped additional material S.

The control unit 50 is composed of, for example, a cpu (central Processing unit), a ram (random Access memory), a rom (read Only memory), and a computer-readable storage medium. Further, a series of processes for realizing the respective functions are stored in a storage medium or the like in the form of a program, for example, and the CPU reads out the program into a RAM or the like and executes processing and arithmetic processing of information, thereby realizing the respective functions. In addition, the program may be applied to a system preinstalled in a ROM or other storage medium, a system provided in a state stored in a computer-readable storage medium, a system distributed by a wired or wireless communication unit, or the like. The computer-readable storage medium includes a magnetic disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, a semiconductor memory, and the like.

Next, the action of the additional material attaching device 1 will be described.

Referring again to fig. 1, the additional material application device 1 is attached to the binding machine M in an arrangement posture in which the advancing position of the gripper 12 is located directly below the spine of the signature B stopped at the additional material application position P in the binding machine M, and the gripper 1 brings the strip-shaped additional material S into press contact with the spine of the signature B in the raised position.

At this time, a reference position (for example, positions of the ends of the additional material R on the side cut by the second cutter 11 and the opposite side) set in advance on the additional material applying device 1 side and a reference position (for example, a position of the end on the front end side in the traveling direction of the signature B held by the holding device K stopped at the additional material applying position P) set in advance on the stapler M side are adjusted so as to align both.

Further, the position of the stopper 10a of the cutting unit 8 is adjusted so that the band-shaped additional material S stopped by the stopper 10a is arranged substantially parallel to the spine of the signature B stopped at the additional material applying position P of the stapler M.

In the present embodiment, the binding machine M is configured as a perfect binding machine, the additional material attaching position P is configured as an upper cover position of the perfect binding machine (a position directly above the top plate F1 and the pair of holding plates F2 and F3 of the upper cover unit F), and the holding device K holding the signature B in an upright state stops at the position.

Before the operation of the add-on material attaching device 1, the vertical length and thickness of the signature B are inputted to the control section 50 of the add-on material attaching device 1 through a control panel (not shown), the initial setting of the add-on material attaching device 1 is performed based on the inputted values, and then the operation of the add-on material attaching device 1 is started.

Then, the first cutter 9 is operated and cuts the continuous sheet-like additional material Q in its width direction while winding the continuous sheet-like additional material Q having a length corresponding only to the thickness of the signature B onto the cutting station 4 by the unwinding unit 5.

The additional material S cut by the first cutter 9 is cut into a length corresponding to the length of the signature B in the up-down direction by the second cutter 11 while being delivered by the delivery mechanism 10, and is formed into a band-like additional material S. Next, the tape-shaped additional material S is delivered to the downstream side of the second cutter 11, and stops on the delivery path against the stopper 10 a.

Then, the additional material S in a belt shape is delivered from the cutting station 4 (the downstream end of the delivery path of the delivery mechanism 10) to the gripper 12 located at the retracted position via the suction head 24 (the delivery unit 23), and is delivered to the gripper 12 (refer to fig. 3A).

In the course of delivery, the suction head 24 moves in the up-down direction of the signature B based on the length of the up-down direction of the signature B and the length of the band-shaped additional material S input in advance to the control section 50 of the additional material attaching device 1 so that the band-shaped additional material S is aligned in the length direction of the spine of the signature B.

In this way, the band-shaped additional material S is delivered to the gripper 12 by the suction head 24 in a posture aligned with the longitudinal direction of the spine of the signature B.

Next, with the arm 17 maintained at the inclined position, the slider 16 slides toward the stapler M, and the gripper 12 occupies the advanced position while gripping the additional material S in the form of a strip (see fig. 3B).

At this time, the advancing distance of the gripper 12 is adjusted from the retracted position so that the band-shaped additional material S is aligned in the thickness direction of the ridge portion of the signature B, based on the thickness of the signature B and the thickness of the band-shaped additional material S inputted in advance to the control section 50 of the additional material attaching device 1.

Thus, when the gripper 12 occupies the advanced position, the strip-shaped add-on material S (gripper 12) is positioned immediately below the ridge portion of the section B applied with paste at the add-on material application position P.

Subsequently, the arm 17 swings from the inclined position to the horizontal position, and thereby the gripper 12 moves from the advanced position to the raised position (see fig. 4A). Then, the tape-shaped additional material S is stuck to the spine portion of the signature B, and after the gripper 12 releases the grip of the tape-shaped additional material S by the operation of the grip portion 12g (see fig. 4B), the arm 17 swings from the horizontal position to the inclined position, and the sticking of the additional material is completed. Then, the slider 16 moves toward the additional material application device 1, the gripper 12 occupies the retracted position, and the next additional material S in a band shape is delivered to the gripper 12 by the suction head 24 (see fig. 3A). After the gripper 12 occupies the retracted position, the additional material S is pressed by the pressing plate F1 and the pair of holding plates F2, F3 of the upper cover unit F of the binding machine M and is firmly fixed to the spine of the signature B.

Thus, according to the present embodiment, there is provided an add-on material attaching device including the gripper device 12 that supports and holds the lower side of the strip-like add-on material S, moves between the retracted position inside the casing 52 and the advanced position outside the casing 52, and moves between the advanced position and the raised position above the advanced position. Then, a band-shaped additional material S formed according to the size of the signature B is delivered from the outside of the binding machine M to the signature B on the additional material applying position P stopped inside the binding machine via the gripper 12, and is applied to the ridge portion of the signature B.

Thus, the additional material attaching device 1 can be arranged independently of the binding machine M, and it is possible to easily attach the additional material attaching device 1 to the binding machine M by providing an opening portion for accessing the attaching position P of the additional material in the machine from the outside, and supply and attach the band-shaped additional material S formed according to the size of the signature B from the outside to the spine portion of the signature B stopped at the additional material attaching position P in the machine.

Further, the user can make the perfect book by attaching the additional material attaching device 1 to the existing flush-mount binding machine without newly purchasing the binding machine M having the function of forming the perfect book.

In addition, according to the present embodiment, the cutting unit 8, the gripper 12, and the first and second gripper driving mechanisms 13 and 14 (the attaching mechanism that delivers the additional material to the spine portion of the signature in the stapler) are arranged in two upper and lower stages, and effective use of space is achieved, thereby achieving compactness of the additional material attaching device 1.

The configuration of the present invention has been described above based on the preferred embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to the configuration, and various modifications and changes can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention.

For example, although the gripper 12 for gripping the strip-shaped additional material S is provided in the above embodiment, any known unit (such as a unit with suction function) that can support the lower portion of the strip-shaped additional material S and can hold the strip-shaped additional material S at the same time may be used instead of the gripper 12.