The next stop on the tour is our Aster 2000 Sewing machines. We currently operate three sewers. These Italian made machines are again state of the art and are equipped with on-board computers to assist in quick set up from one size or format to another.
This machine is capable of speeds up to 200 cycles per minute. The book blocks, collated at
the Kolbus Collator, are fed onto a chain with pockets that holds them at a slight angle.
The collated books are grabbed by a clamp that drags them into the feeder pocket.
The signature is extracted from the pocket with vacuum and suckers to a chain that transports it across the width of the sewer. In transit the signature is opened in the center and a finger comes around a drum and holds the bottom panel of the signature as it falls on a fixed saddle.
Now on the saddle, the signature travels along the length of the machine to the other end and is fed onto a moving saddle. The moving saddle takes the signature up into the needles where it is sewn to the previous signature. The signatures are sewn one to the other and the thread is cut at the last page of the book.
The sewn book block ejects out the back of the sewer and stacked for further processing. Any combination of signatures can be sewn, as in 16 page signatures mixed with 32 page signatures and so on. The minimum amount of signatures is two and the maximum is whatever fits in the feeder pockets.
OK the tours not over yet! We are about half done. Those of you in the back try to keep up!
