Automatic (Fig. 4).—This machine makes 50 cuts per minute, and the boards may vary in size from 3 in. X 5 in. to 0i X 124- in., one cut being made. in each revo lution. It has an iron feed-table and an automatic feeding device working in slots through the table. By this device the strips are fed positively and squarely, thus preventing cutting out of square. When feeding whole boards or strips by hand, the feeding fingers are dropped below the table, out of the way. The table is also furnished with adjustable side guides and hand feeding device. The feeding-table is stationary, and forms a part of the of the ma chine. A delivem y-taltle, upon which the cut boards pile ellItomatically, is attached, thus making the machine complete within itself.
wing _V ch " Brehmer " wire-sewing machine sews together the sections of books on tapes or crash. It is used for lath printed and blank work. and the manufact urers claim that it makes a strong book. which can he opened flat more easily than books sewed by hand. A machine which has proved to be of great advantage to binders is the "Smyth" thread-sewing machine, described in a former volume of this work. As the ma chine is now built, the sheets are placed one at a time on radial arms which project from a vertical rod. These arms rotate, rice and adjust the signature, so as to bring it in its proper posit ion under the needles. One needle of each pahr enters the back of I he sheet, and the eye carrying the comes up through the fold, just touching the "loopers." The loopers are then tilted and thrown back, leaving loops around the point of the needles. By a simple device the threads are drawn tight : the loopers then more forward. taking the thread from the needles on the inside, neat- the eye, and as the needles withdraw, they interlock their thread through the loops of the stitches of the previous sheet. Long horizontal wires or "needles" are laid direetly in the path of the saw-ent, and the stitches made over them. The sewed mirk is pushed back automatically these needles, which are threaded with the cords or hands on which the hooks are sewed. The sewed volumes are then separated by cutting certain threads, and drawn over the cords. These cods (or bands") are cut off at lengths to suit the requirements of each book. The first and last two sheets of each book are pasted together to facilitate cutting the books apart and to prevent the cut thread, at these points, from being drawn into the center of the sheet by the subsequent process of binding. The pasting is done by a simple device consisting of two small rolls—one of which carries paste on its rim, while the other holds sheets in place. It is done before the sheet is sewed. By thus pasting these two signatures, no extra care is necessary in the further handling of the books to preserve the stitches in first and last sheets, and the same are made more secure by reason of the pasting. One, two, three. or four "band" work can be done as may be required. irrespective of thickness. Each pair of stitches being entirely independent of all
the others, a book of blank pages may be cut into as many smaller volumes as there are pairs. Thus. on a machine with three pairs of needles, diaries or other small blank-hooks may he sewed three at a time, and afterward cut apart. Some of its advantages are stated as follows: Unlike hand-sewing, each and every sheet is sewed to the preceding one. The stitches in center of the sheet are the same as at either end—practically " kettle-stitches": these stitches are shorter (about l and more numerous. Each sheet receives the same number of stitches, and forms practically what is termed "all along" or one sheet on " sewing: it is stronger even than that style of sewing. because each stitch is made independent of the bands. Every three sheets form a "lock-stitch," a distinctive feature of strength in itself. stitch is independent. The loss of one stitch in no woy affects the others. In rounding and backing the book, no strain is brought to bear on any one stitch or thread, as is the ease with kettle"-stitches by hand-work, as every stitch. it must be remembered. is practically a " kettle "-stitch ; but each sheet is brought closer together, the center tightening same as at cac•h end. and all bearing the strain alike. The process is likened to the lacing of a shoe. This gives the book a firmness and strength in the center not found in ordinary sewing. The thread enters the book with all its original strength ; it is not "frayed" away by continual use, and has in comparison no knots. The stitches alternate in every sheet, so that no unusual amount of "swell " results. As will be understood, the sheets are placed on the rotary arms. Those are four in number, which carry the signature from the operator to the needles. One is always presented to the operator, and rests while the preceding arm holds its sheet for ()Itera tion of needles. Working from left to right. the sheet is always in sight of the operator, and always under control. The machine runs easily at a speed of •15 sheets per minute. The latest improvement made upon this machine is the substitution of automatically operated knives for making the incisions in the fold, for the punches used in connection with the first ma chines. These knives lie normally within the radial arms, which are made hollow. As any arm is brought into line with the row of needles, and has risen to a point just short of contact therewith, the end of a spring-bar, to which the knives are connected inside the radial arm, comes in contact with a moving device at the side of the machine, which presses such spring-bar inward, and thus causes the connected knives to protrude from the upper edge of the arm through properly spaced apertures. The knives thus make the necessary incisions in the sheets, through which the needles work w•lhen the knives are automatically withdrawn.