Reference Book
Adhesives used in binding
Adhesives are sticky materials which join any two surfaces. Various types of
adhesives used in book binding are vegetable adhesives, animal glues, synthetic
adhesives or hot metal adhesives.
Vegetable adhesives are of two types - paste and gum.
Paste:-Itis very cheap but best adhesive used in various operations of stationery
binding. It is prepared by fine wheat flour (maida). Water, alum, and
formaldehyde is mixed with the flour and the paste is prepared by boiling it.
Copper sulphate is also mixed as a preventive for rats, insects and fungus.
Gum:It is also a vegetable material obtained from Accasia trees. Gum is
mostly used in packaging book binding, envelopes, stickers, stamps, and labels.
Animal glue:It is prepared from the bones, skins and other parts of animals.
Synthetic glue: They are ready to use adhesives which are available in tubes
and containers. They are made from poly vinyl acetate in liquid form. These
adhevsives are used in adhesive binding, foil, lamination, back lining and
cartons.
Hot metal adhesives:- They are made from resins, waxes and polymers in
solid state. They are used in highspeed machines.Steps in Binding
Various steps in binding includes warehousing, forwarding, covering, and
finishing.
Warehousing
Operations such as counting of sheets, examining and rejecting of bad sheets,
folding, gathering, collating, sewing and stitching are done here.
Counting: Press sheets when received would be counted and compared with
the work order features. Wrongly backed sheets, sheets with smears, setoff,
smudges, tone sheets, sheets out of register, etc are to be rejected.
Jogging: This is piling the sheets into neatly laid edges, expelling air and
avoiding bulking. Jogging is done before the sheets leave the machine room.
Pressing:Without pressing the sheets will not be solid and the book cannot be
compact.
Folding: Floding can be done either by hand or on a machine. The person who
is folding should understand the imposition and the number of folds as well as
the direction of the fold. A bone or wooden stick used to strike down the
sheets in hand folding is called a folder.
Signatures are small figure or letter printed on the first page of every forum in
case of a half sheet work and first and third page of every full sheet work to
signify the number of the forum.