PERMANENTLY ATTACHING TOGETHER SHEETS, QUIRES OR SIGNATURES OR PERMANENTLY ATTACHING OBJECTS THERETO

**Definition:** This place covers:

Machines, devices and methods for permanently attaching together all kinds of flat or folded sheets, e.g. quires or signatures, to obtain book sections, book blocks or fillings, booklets, pads or blocks.

The permanent attachment can be performed by continuous or discontinuous stitching or otherwise, e.g. by adhesive or with binding elements like clips or finger, claw, or ring-like elements passing through the sheets. Usually, continuous stitching unites several quires or signatures to a book block with a single piece of thread. Discontinuous stitching usually uses wire staples to unite a single set of flat or folded sheets, usually comprising already a back or cover sheet, to a block or booklet.

The binding of collated flat sheets is usually performed by block stitching in a binding margin, the binding of folded sheets is usually performed by saddle stitching along the fold.

Machines, devices and methods for permanently attaching objects to sheets, quires or signatures, e.g. map sections or extensions thereto.

**Glossary:** - Sheet: Piece of paper or cardboard, usually rectangular, flat and printed - Quire: Set of a predetermined number of flat or folded sheets, usually 24 or 25 flat sheets or 12 folded sheets comprising 48 print pages - Signature: Printed sheet that consists of a number of print pages of a book, so layed out, that they will fold, usually with several folds, and bind together as a section of a book