A device for carrying out cutting operations on an unbound formatting edge of a printed product includes a cutter to carry out edge-related cutting operations. A transporter transports the printed product from a first cutting location, at which the first cutting operation for a first formatting edge of the printed product takes place, to a second cutting location, at which a second one of the cutting operations for a second formatting edge takes place, and to a third cutting location, at which a third one of the cutting operations for a third formatting edge is carried out. The transport of the printed product from one cutting location to the next is carried out along a guide section. The transporter includes a gripper with which the printed product is gripped by the spine and conveyable from one cutting location to the next in a suspended manner.

A device for simultaneous three-sided trimming of products in a plurality of cutting stations includes a common upper knife carrier operable in a vertical motion, blades to be attached to the upper knife carrier for at least front edge trimming and top and bottom trimming of the products and a first drive for driving the upper knife carrier. A conveyor system has top-related and bottom-related pairs of conveyor belts for conveying the products through the cutting stations of the device and a second drive driving the conveyor system. The first and second drives are self-contained, mutually independent drives connected to one another by control units. The top-related and bottom-related pairs of conveyor belts of the conveyor system are each driven by self-contained, mutually independent, position-controlled drives.

A device for carrying out cutting operations on an unbound formatting edge of a printed product includes a cutter to carry out edge-related cutting operations. A transporter transports the printed product from a first cutting location, at which the first cutting operation for a first formatting edge of the printed product takes place, to a second cutting location, at which a second one of the cutting operations for a second formatting edge takes place, and to a third cutting location, at which a third one of the cutting operations for a third formatting edge is carried out. The transport of the printed product from one cutting location to the next is carried out along a guide section. The transporter includes a gripper with which the printed product is gripped by the spine and conveyable from one cutting location to the next in a suspended manner.

A device for manufacturing a book on demand, including a cover printing or receiving station designed to respectively print or receive a cover, a body printing or receiving station designed to respectively print or receive a body, a binding station designed to join together the body and the cover, a conveyor designed and/or programmed to convey the cover and/or the body between the different stations, the device is designed to deposit glue in a gluing region on the verso of the cover inside the binding station before the cover and the body are joined together by gluing, forming a book.

An image forming system is described which is capable of assembling an output product which consists of sheets having uniform sheet widths by appropriately performing a trimming process even if the output product is made from a plurality of paper types. The image forming system consists of an image forming apparatus configured to form an image on a sheet; a finisher provided with a slit unit for trimming edges of sheets and capable of assembling an output product by joining the trimmed sheets, and a control unit for controlling the image forming apparatus and the finisher. When a book cover (standard paper type sheet) is supplied, the control unit trims the paper edges by a designated trimming width. Conversely, when a book body (non-standard paper type sheet) is supplied, the control unit trims the paper edges by a designated trimming width to which an offset amount is added.

A booklet making method includes: cutting a web of paper on one side and on another side into first and second continuous sheets, alternately bonding the first and second continuous sheets widthwise with a setting paste and a throwaway paste to form a double set continuous sheet of paper, and cutting the double set continuous sheet of paper into split double sheets of a selected longitudinal length. A plurality of split double sheets is integrally bound with an integrating paste to form a booklet-like product. Portions of the booklet-like product which are pasted and bonded with the throwaway paste are cut off to provide a plurality of booklets. Thus, by the booklet making method, booklets having an odd number of leaves or pages are formed without waste of paper and with reduced paper jams.

A device for manufacturing a book on demand includes a cover printing station for printing a cover; a book block printing station for printing or receiving a book block; a binding station assembling the book block and the cover; transport structure arranged to transport the cover and/or the book block between the different stations; a trimming station trimming the book and linked to a catch tray; and the transport structure configured to transport the book block in an initial format up to the trimming station, then hold the book block in the trimming station for cutting into one part of the book block held in the transport structure and another part of the book block cut and directed towards the catch tray, then assemble the two parts of the book block to form in the transport structure a book block having a reduced format but having an increased thickness.

A device for manufacturing a book on demand includes a cover printing station for printing a cover; a book block printing station for printing or receiving a book block; a binding station assembling the book block and the cover; transport structure arranged to transport the cover and/or the book block between the different stations; a trimming station trimming the book and linked to a catch tray; and the transport structure configured to transport the book block in an initial format up to the trimming station, then hold the book block in the trimming station for cutting into one part of the book block held in the transport structure and another part of the book block cut and directed towards the catch tray, then assemble the two parts of the book block to form in the transport structure a book block having a reduced format but having an increased thickness.