Casing-in Machine

a machine used to assemble a book from two semifinished products—the unbound book and the cover—fastened together with a layer of glue. The operations performed by a casing-in machine include spreading the endpapers of the unbound book with glue, rounding the spine of the cover (case), aligning the cover with the unbound book, and pasting the sides of the cover to the endpapers. As a rule, casing-in machines are automatic (the unbound books and covers are automatically fed into the machine).

The most common type of casing-in machine operates according to the following system. The books (spine up), coming from either a feeding apparatus or from previous operations, enter a longitudinal trough. As the unbound book moves along the trough, a roller applies paste to the endpapers so that the gauze flaps will be securely glued to the endpapers and cover. Further along the trough the unbound book is opened by a blade and lifted by an arm that rises vertically through a notch in the blade. While the book is ascending, paste is applied to the endpapers. Then the unbound book is moved to the casing-in area, where the cover arrives simultaneously. One at a time the covers move from the feeding apparatus to a section where the spine is shaped by a heated forming iron; then they proceed to the casing-in area. As the unbound book is lifted vertically, it is brought into contact with the cover. The flaps of the cover are closed, becoming glued to the endpapers, and are pressed by rollers. The book is then lifted from the arm and enters a receiving conveyor.

There are also semiautomatic casing-in machines, used mainly to apply paste to the endpapers of the unbound book, with subsequent operations performed manually. These machines are used in small printing shops where costly, highly mechanized equipment is unprofitable.

More accurate casing-in machines are being developed by using improved systems for positioning the unbound book in relation to the cover. Productivity is being increased by using mechanisms that handle unbound books in a continually moving production line.

The production of casing-in machines in the USSR began at the end of the 1930’s. The most widely used domestic machines are the V-2 and V-2M; abroad, Smyth (USA) and Kolbus (Federal Republic of Germany) machines are used extensively. The productivity of contemporary casing-in machines is 70 books per minute.