Berforts for Books

Brand spanking new litho printer at Berforts.

Being in the area of Stevenage I dropped in on Berforts Information Press. This company now prints all of my books published by Queen Anne's Fan. 

Dale, the sales and marketing manager, proudly showed me the new digital litho printer which they are in the process of commissioning. The high working speed is assisted by the ultra violet heaters which dry the ink immediately after printing. Dale says that the print quality is superb. I look forward to seeing the results.

The new binder. It extends as far as the end wall.

Just as exciting is the new binder which will bind 5,000 14-section books per hour. On the style of a production line the machine collates the sections, forms them into a block, sends the block down a line where the back of the block is notched and then runs over heated glue rollers before having the cover drawn on. The book is then automatically routed to a three-edge cutter which trims it to size.

The gluing section of the binder.

On the right is the glueing section of the binder. The block of the book, passes with its spine downwards from left to right on the silver track that you see. Below it is the gold coloured roller which is coated with hot glue. A little further on the cover is drawn onto the glued spine.

All very clever.