“Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.”
BINDING DEPARTMENT
HISTORY OF BINDING
Definition of binding: binding in an art and technique of securing printed or un-printed sheet of paper in a loose or folded form in proper sequence (if printed) with a view to protect these from dust, dirt and damages in handling.
It is called post-press printing. They are so called because all the binding operations generally start after printing.
The post-press operations are also known as ‘converting and finishing operations’.
The person who does the work of binding is called a ‘binder’.
Developments of binding material: considerable development have been made to provide variety of covering and re-Inforcing material, decoration, finishing and blocking materials and adhesives for use In the field of book binding leathers, rexin, binding cloths and synthetic covering material in different colors surface finishes, sizes, guage and qualities are available to melt the requirement of various styles of binding.
Classification of method of binding: the different methods of binding, converting and finishing these jobs are broadly divided under the following four heads.
1. Cutting, folding and trimming.
2. Folded sheet binding.
3. Adhesive binding.
4. Loose leaf binding.
Method of binding:
1. Cutting& folding and trimming:
2. Folded sheet binding:
a. Section sewing
3. Flexible binding
(1)(a) Paper cover
(1)(b) Cloth & Rexin cover.
4. Hard case binding
(2)(a) letterpress binding
(2)(b) Stationery binding
2.b.1: Account book binding
1. Cutting, folding and trimming: the large printed sheet of paper are reduced to a handy size either only by cutting and trimming or by cutting, folding and trimming.
Trimming is also called finishing process since it converts the job to a final size.
The folders having four, six or more no. of pages after cutting are folded according to the scheme of imposition and then finally trimmed to the required size at around.
2. Folded sheet binding: a folded sheet of paper with two or more folds is termed as section. The folded sheet binding is therefore, also called section binding. The sheets containing eight, sixteen or more number of pages printed on it are cut and folded in the form of sections assembled in proper sequence and then stitched or sewn according to the style of binding.
The section or folded sheet binding is further sub-divided into the following two group.
a. Stitching: it used method of holding the sheets together for ease in handling. Stitching may be done either with wire or a sewing thread.
The method of stitched by hand with wire staples is also called ‘stabling’. (Side, center stitching).
b. Section sewing: the sewing of sections one at a time done with thread in book work binding is called ‘section sewing’. The section sewn book may have a flexible cover made of some strong cover, paper, laminated sheet or binding cloth / rexine pasted on the card sheet. This is called ‘flexible binding’.
Many of the section sewn book have a hard cover make of board covered with a suitable covering material.
The hard case binding is further sub-divided into the following two group according to their actual use.
1. Letterpress binding: they are printed by letter press, photo offset or gravure process. It three kinds
a. Edition case binding: the majority of books having stiff cloth covers are bound in this style, which is also referred to as publisher’s edition case binding.
The sewn and trimmed books ready to receive cover called ‘book block’ and the hard cover also called ‘case’.
b. Extra letterpress binding: it is slightly superior class of hard case binding making use of some extra operations and extra material to give more strength to binding. It if therefore, known as ‘extra letterpress binding’.
c. Library style binding: this is an exceptionally strong and more durable binding.
2. Stationery binding: it is the name given to all books primarily meant for writing, such as account books and exercise note books. The binding of diaries, receipt books, bill books also fall under the category of stationery binding.
The pages of stationery books are generally ruled to guide the users to write in a straight line. Many account books have the index consisting of a special section. In some cases account books require to be numbered. When the pages are numbered the book is said to be paged or folio.
Bill books have invoices in duplicate, triplicate, quadruplicate each printed on paper of different color. All the bills are neatly numbered is sequence in the book. The last copy of the bill is usually fixed while remaining copies of each bill page are duly perforated in the book so that they can be detached easily.
Some of the book and exercise note books have typical styles of binding called ‘flush binding’.
Flush binding two types.
a. Quarter cut flush: the board with the covering material, and the secured pages of the book are trimmed together to the final making the edges of the cover board visible at the fore-edge, head and tail.
b. Quarter flush edges turned over: the covering material is not trimmed with the boards and pages of the book, rather it is turned-in and completely covers the edges of the board at fore-edge, head and tail.
Style of covers: it is commonly used in hard case binding.
Quarter bound: it is the style in which two different kinds of covering material are used. The one is used at the spine and back of the book and other is used to cover the top and bottom board of the book.
Cloth/rexine with leather and paper with cloth/rexine. The paper with cloth/rexine used in practical note book and exercise note book.
Half bound: it is turn used when in a hard cover, the spine back and its corners at fore-edge have a covering of one material (say leather) and the remaining portion of the case (say cloth or rexine). (Account book and library book).
Three-quarter bound: it is covering material used at the spine, three-fourth portion back and fore-edge and remaining portion cover with other covering material. (it is rarely found in actual practice book).
Full bound: it book with hard cover are covered all over with one place of the same covering material (leather/rexine) and little cheaper for used (cloth) and it have a jacket wrapped around them. It cheaper for sometimes covered with multicolor printed and laminated sheet of paper. It is for not use jacket a still cheaper called yapp binding and it used in religious book like bibles and diaries. No board used change with flexible covers. These books have extra-square of the pulp board cover, full bound full bound with round corners called ‘yapp edges’ or ‘limp edges’.
3. Adhesive binding: it called perfect binding and un-sewn binding. It is a method of binding in which the pages are helped together by a rubber type flexible adhesive at the spine of the books without any stitching or sewing. The extra thick and publications printed on coated with heavily sized paper are not preferred for adhesive binding it used sewing.
The absorbent paper with the paper grain direction parallel to the spine are more suitable for this type of binding adhesive.
The quality and life of perfect binding mainly depends:
The adhesive binding by manual process can be done by the two methods:
a. Loose sheet adhesive binding: when the pages of the book consist of loose sheets, they are jogged and knocked at the head and back spine. They are then held tight in the jaws of the laying press projecting the back of the book upward out of the jaws about 70-80mm.
The sheet at the spine are now fanned out on one side overlapping each other about half a millimeter. A thin and uniform layer of adhesive binding glue is applied with a brush at the edge. The same process is repeated for the other side of t book also. Now the back edge of the book is pressed by nipping causing every sheet at the book rooted in a film of adhesive and held together.
Fanning at spine increase the surface areas of gluing and it gives stronger grip to the sheets at the back finally the spine is again glued, smoothened and the book is pasted with a creased covered at the spine. It is then ready for trimming.
b. Folded sheet adhesive binding: the book is in form of gathered and collated sections after knocking at the head and spine is trimmed at the back edge to cut away all the folds and convert the spine into loose sheets. The book is now held tight in the jaws of laying press projecting the back of the book upward out of jaws about 10-12 mm.
The trimmed smooth spine of the book is roughened with a metal scrapper to open out fibres a paper and mild jaws cuts are made with a hack-saw blade to groove the spine and thus increase the spine area. Now the spine is cleaned with a hard brush to remove all the traces of loos paper fibres.
A thin and uniform layer of adhesive binding glue is applied at the spine. The book is removed from the laying press and pasted with a creased cover. In some cases pieces of thread are embedded in the flue saw cuts at the spine before attaching the cover to the book. It gives additional strength to binding.
4. Loose leaf binding: it is method of securing loose sheets in handy from for proper storage protection and ease in handling. The loose sheets are gripped by means of some springly or mechanical devices instead by wire stitching or thread sewing. It high important in paper management, presentation of catalogues and sales brochures, submission of reports, circulation of meeting agendas etc.
Unit - I Binding and Finishing - Introduction
1. Brief Introduction to Print Finishing.
The meaning of binding is to fasten or to attach together. The main purpose of binding is to keep the leaves of a book in order to protect them.
The term “Finishing Processes” is applied to binding. The term binding is not sufficient to express all the processes; hence the modern term “finishing” is more proper and suitable.
2. Classification of Book Binding – Quarter bound book, Half bound book – old style and new style, Full bound book.
The covering material is the first part of the book to be seen by the user and it should make a good impact. The appearance of the book varies and depends upon the material used for covering of the book.
The main three styles of covering are
1. Quarter bound book
When only the spine edge of the book is covered with calcio and rest with marble paper then it is called as quarter bound book. It is the cheapest and mostly “cut-flush” method is used. It can also be done as turned-in, i.e. the book is trimmed after attaching boards and then the covering material is turned-in. It is also called as quarter bound all-sides-turned-in (ASTI).
2. Half bound book
When the spine edge and fore-edges are covered with calico cloth and the remaining areas are covered with marble paper, it is called as half bound book. There are two kinds of half bound book. They are
If the spine edge and the fore edge corners of the board are covered with calico and the remaining areas are covered with marble paper, it is called as half bound old style.
If the spine edge and the complete fore-edge of the board are covered with calico and the remaining areas are covered with marble paper, it is called as half bound new style.
3. Full bound book
When the book is fully covered-up with only or completely calico cloth, it is called as full bound book.
3. - End Paper – Types and its use - Single End Paper, Made End Paper, Reinforced End Paper, Cloth Joint End Paper, Zig Zag End paper.
Purpose of the end paper
1. The end paper is a media in between the book and the covering material. It forms an inner joint in between book and cover.
2. The fly leaves of the end paper protect the first and last pages of the book. It also prevents the first and last pages from bad handling, stains etc.
3. It gives first good appearance as it helps to hide the constructional features of the covering. The board-sheet is pasted over the board.
4. The pasting of the end paper on board assists in counter-acting the outward warp of the board caused by the covering.
Types of end papers
1. Single end paper
2. Reinforced end paper
3. Cloth joint end paper
4. Made end paper
5. Zig zag end paper
This type of end paper is common and is used inside stitched books. It is the cheapest variety of end paper ( Blank paper,Kraft paper, Color paper or chart paper). It consists of two single leaves, one to cover the constructional features called the board leaf and the other one is the fly leaf. For making this end paper single sheet of same length and double in width of the book is needed. The end paper is made by just folding it into half.
In this kind of end paper the fly leaf is stiffened by positioning a half sheet over it (A half sheet is slightly larger than the book width). Then excess width is turned and pasted over the full sheet which is equal to the length of the book to be bound but double in its width than the book’s width.
3. Cloth-joint end paper
In this kind of end paper the fly leaf needs two full sheets and a half sheet. A strip of calico is pasted over the center fold. The two full sheets are pasted as shown in the picture. Then the half sheet is pasted over the full sheets to hide the reinforcing cloth material.
For preparing made end paper we need two full sheets and one half sheet. This end paper is similar to cloth joint end paper but the only difference is we are not using any reinforcing cloth here. The two full sheets are pasted as shown in the picture. Then the half sheet is pasted over the full sheets to give the final reinforcement.
5. Zig Zag end paper
For preparing this end paper we need two full sheets, one half sheet and one zig zag sheet. It is rarely used and especially used in heavy books having large number of pages. The two full sheets are pasted by just leaving a portion un-pasted at the spine side. Now the zig zag sheet is pasted over these pasted full sheets. After that we have to paste the half sheet.
Binding and Finishing Tools Folder
It is used for folding the papers, smoothing down the pasted paper or cloth. It is made of wood, bone or plastic.
1. Needle
The needle must be long and strong, with big eyes to take the thread freely. They must be non rusty, preferably made of steel. It is used for sewing the book.
2. Tenon Saw
The tenon saw is used to make groves in the back folds of the sections for sewing. It is a saw with thin blade, long steel back and small teeth with a wooden handle.
3. Bodkin
Bodkin is a fine thin pointed shaft with metal or wooden handle. It is used for piercing holes in paper and boards. It is mainly used in side sewing.
4. Piercer/Awl
An awl is a small pointed tool used for piercing holes, especially in leather. It is also used for piercing holes on sections of the book for centre stitching or sewing.
5. Eyelet Punch
Eyelet punch is a machine used for punching eyelet holes and fastening eyelets in paper, board or cloth.
7. Brushes
Glue brushes are round with stiff and short hairs. Paste brushes have long hairs and are flat and wide. The brushes must be of best quality.
8. Hammer
The binder’s hammer is used for many operations like knocking out the grooves. Reducing the swell, rounding and backing etc.
9. Scale
The scale rule with graduations in inches, centimeters and millimeters are used in various stages of forwarding for measuring.
Carpenter’s “L” Square
It is the most essential tool to check the squareness of the board’s trimmed books etc.
10. Scissors
It is tailor type large scissors used for cutting textile covering materials.
11. Binder’s knife
It is a long wide, thin blade with wooden handle used for cutting miscellaneous papers.
12. Spring Divider
Dividers are instruments used for measuring distances between two points, transferring or comparing measurements directly from a rule, or for scribing an arc, radius, or circle.
Finishing Tools
To carry out the finishing operations like guilding, tooling, blocking many tools are used.
1. Type Holder
Brass types are assembled into a hand held type holder. It is very useful in blocking on the spine side of the book.
2. Fillet
These are round discs of brass with metal shaft and wooden handle. On the edges of the periphery of disk, single, double or triple lines are engraved in relief. These are used to block squares with angled corners.
3. Gold Cushion
A wooden board covered with leather and is used for cutting the gold leaf or foil.
4. Finishing Stove
The finishing stove has a wider stand so that many tools can be placed for heating purpose at a time.
5. Lamination
Lamination is the process of combining together two or more plies of the same or different substrate to form a single complex material with considerably improved characteristics. The normally used combinations are:
a. Plastic and aluminum
b. Plastic and board
c. Plastic and paper There are four types of lamination
d. Dry lamination
e. Wet lamination
f. Thermal lamination
1. Dry lamination
This lamination is usually done by dry bonding technique using a resin and solvent-based adhesive. Here the cellulose film is coated with polymer on one side and the resin is applied to the uncoated side. The film is combined together by pressing between two rollers. Then it is cooled and rewound as a roll.
2. Wet lamination
Here paper and foil is laminated together by wet bonding technique. The foil is coated on one side with adhesive and passed through nip rollers. In the nip rollers the paper joins with the foil. The laminated web passes through a drying oven, where the adhesive is dried and then rewound as a roll.
3. Thermal lamination
Polymer coated films are laminated together by this process. The two substrates were individually heated by a pre-heater and passed between heated nip rollers. Due to heat and pressure the films adhere together and the laminated web is rewound as a roll.
4. Window Lamination
Window lamination is mainly used in food packaging. It provides visibility, transparency and protection. It also provides luxury high gloss and protection to the complete packaging box. Window lamination is also an economical one.
Window lamination can be applied both internally and externally to any pack and has a number of benefits over more traditional style window patching.
When applied internally the film creates a food safe barrier between the board and product so eliminating the need for bags, PE board or window patching. When applied externally the film decoratively enhances the pack and gives added protection to both product and packaging.
Benefits:
a. Reduces Packaging Waste
b. Visually Enhances Product
c. Decoratively Enhances Pack
d. Protective Barrier between Food & Packaging eliminating need for bags/PE board
e. Provides Strength & Durability
f. 100% Recyclable or Reclaimable
g. Added Security
Strip Lamination
Strip Lamination is the combination which creates a pack with the practicality of film and the tactile qualities of paper.
5. Varnishing
Varnishing is a transparent, hard, protective finish or film that is applied to a printed surface to add a clear glossy attractive appearance. Varnish is available in matte, dull or gloss and can be applied on the entire press sheet or in selected areas.
a. Full Sheet Varnishing
If the entire surface of the sheet or board is varnished, then it is called as full sheet varnishing.
b. Spot or Patch Varnishing
If the required area (or) the printed area is applied with varnish, then it is called as spot or patch varnishing.
c. Gloss varnish
Gloss varnish brings out the colors in a printing. Gloss varnish is normally used as a spot varnish to highlight images or photographs printed on an uncoated paper.
d. Matt varnish
Matt varnish is normally preferred to avoid glair due to reflection but the colors appear duller in a matt varnish.
e. Aqueous varnish
Low cost water based aqueous coatings are most commonly used today. They provide good protection from finger prints and other blemishes. Like varnishes aqueous coatings are applied in-line on the press but the aqueous coatings are shiner and smoother than varnish. They also have higher absorption and rub resistance. They are less likely to yellow and environment friendly. They dry faster than varnish.
f. Solvent based Varnish
Solvent-based varnishes are based on synthetic resins dissolved in petroleum solvents. After application the film-forming substances in varnishes harden due to evaporation of solvent.
g. UV (Ultra Violet) Coating
Extremely high gloss UV, or Ultra Violet, coating offers more protection than varnish and aqueous coating. UV varnishing is applied as liquid, using a roller, a screen or a blanket and then exposed to UV light. The UV light polymerizes and hardens the coating. UV varnish is glossier than all other varnishes. It offers best rub protection but it is costlier than all other varnishes.
h. Special Effect Varnishes
The use of varnishes for special effects is not limited merely to surface effects. Unusual designs can be achieved with inked varnishes. The best examples for special effect varnishing are pearlescent varnishing, metallic varnishing etc.
With the help of screen printing we can apply thick coating of varnish. We can feel the relief of the coating with our fingers. Special relief codes, such as Braille lettering or security features in security papers, can be created in this way. Embossed wallpapers are prepared using special effect varnishes with relief effect.
Apart from visual effects, special effect varnish can be used to stimulate the sense of smell. Scented varnishes are used for this purpose. Micro-encapsulated fragrances are embedded in the varnish. When the printed varnish is rubbed, the micro capsules burst and the fragrance is released.