Apparatus for making books

Abstract

An improved apparatus for making books and other sheet material articles includes a main conveyor for transporting groups of signatures to a covering station. A cover conveyor transports covers to the covering station where they are sequentially applied to the groups of signatures in a known manner. A first cover feed assembly sequentially feeds covers to the cover conveyor. In the event of a malfunctioning of a first cover feed assembly, a second cover feed assembly is activated to feed a cover to the cover conveyor. A detector for detecting a malfunctioning of the first cover feed assembly is capable of detecting either a failure to feed a cover or the feeding of double covers. In the event that double covers are fed, the double covers are rejected and the second cover feed assembly is activated.

Having described specific preferred embodiments of the invention, the following is claimed: 
     
       1. An apparatus for use in covering books, said apparatus comprising book conveyor means for sequentially conveying a stream of books to a covering station, cover conveyor means for sequentially transporting a stream of covers to the covering station, first cover feed means for sequentially feeding covers to said cover conveyor means, detector means for detecting a malfunction of said first cover feed means and resulting opening in the stream of covers, second cover feed means for feeding a cover to said cover conveyor means at the opening resulting from the malfunctioning of said first cover feed means, and control means for activating said second cover feed means to feed a cover to said cover conveyor means in response to detection of a malfunction of said first cover feed means by said detector means. 
     
     
       2. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said detector means includes means for detecting the feeding of double covers by said first cover feed means and wherein said apparatus further includes reject means for rejecting double covers fed by said first cover feed means. 
     
     
       3. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said detector means includes means for detecting a failure of said first cover means to feed a cover to said cover conveyor means. 
     
     
       4. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1 further including gatherer means for forming signatures into groups to make books, and reject means for rejecting a defective book, said control means including means for rendering said first and second feed means ineffective to feed a cover for association with the rejected book. 
     
     
       5. An apparatus for producing different books of different predetermined combinations of signatures for different subscribers in accordance with predetermined criteria from known subscriber information, said apparatus comprising gatherer means for forming a combination of signatures in accordance with known subscriber criteria, said gatherer means including means for defining a plurality of feed stations, main conveyor means for transporting groups of signatures, feed means at each of said feed stations for feeding signatures to said conveyor means, control means for effecting operation of said feed means to form different combinations of signatures for different subscribers, cover applicator means disposed at a covering station for applying a cover to each of the different combinations of signatures, said main conveyor means being effective to sequentially transport the different combinations of signatures to the covering station, cover conveyor means for sequentially transporting covers to the covering station, first cover feed means for sequentially feeding covers to said cover conveyor means, detector means for detecting a malfunction of said first cover feed means, and second cover feed means for feeding covers to said cover conveyor means, said control means including means for activating said second cover feed means to feed a cover to said cover conveyor means in response to detection of a malfunction of said first cover feed means. 
     
     
       6. An apparatus as set forth in claim .[.4.]. .Iadd.5 .Iaddend.further including third cover feed means for feeding covers which are different than the covers fed by said first and second cover feed means, said control means including means for effecting operation of said first cover feed means to feed covers to combinations of signatures for one group of subscribers and for effecting operation of said third cover feed means to feed covers to combinations of signatures for another group of subscribers. 
     
     
       7. An apparatus as set forth in claim .[.4.]. .Iadd.5 .Iaddend.further including reject means for rejecting defective books formed as a result of a malfunctioning of said gatherer means, said control means including means for rendering said first and second cover feed means ineffective to feed a cover for association with the rejected book. .Iadd. 8. A collating apparatus for collating first and second sheet material articles comprising conveyor means for sequentially conveying the collated article, first feed means for sequentially feeding one of said sheet material articles individually to said conveyor means, detector means for detecting a malfunction of said first feed means, second feed means adjacent said first feed means for feeding individual sheet material articles to said conveyor means as a substitute for the articles fed from said first feed means, and control means for activating said second feed means to feed a substitute article in response to detection of a malfunction of said first feed means by said detector means..Iaddend.