The embodiment includes: a roll accommodation unit that accommodates a roll of a continuous sheet of additional member; an unwinding unit that unwinds and draws the additional member from the roll accommodation unit to a trimming station; a trimming unit that is arranged in the trimming station and cuts and trims the additional member in accordance with the size of a book block to form a strip of additional member; a gripper that grips the strip of additional member while supporting the under face thereof, moves between a retracted position inside a housing and a forward position outside the housing, and moves between the forward position and a raised position above the forward position; and a handover unit that hands over the strip of additional member from the trimming station to the gripper located in the retracted position.

The embodiment includes: a roll accommodation unit that accommodates a roll of a continuous sheet of additional member; an unwinding unit that unwinds and draws the additional member from the roll accommodation unit to a trimming station; a trimming unit that is arranged in the trimming station and cuts and trims the additional member in accordance with the size of a book block to form a strip of additional member; a gripper that grips the strip of additional member while supporting the under face thereof, moves between a retracted position inside a housing and a forward position outside the housing, and moves between the forward position and a raised position above the forward position; and a handover unit that hands over the strip of additional member from the trimming station to the gripper located in the retracted position.

A post-processing apparatus includes a paper alignment tray including a loading table on which a paper is to be loaded, and a side guide and an end guide to align a side in a width direction and an end in a longitudinal direction of the paper stack, respectively, a first binder including a binding unit to bind the paper stack on the paper alignment tray in a stapleless manner, the first binder displaceable to a binding location to bind the paper stack and to a separation location to separate the binding unit from the paper stack, and a controller to move the paper stack relative to the binding unit while displacing the first binder from the binding location to the separation location.

A post-processing apparatus includes a paper alignment tray including a loading table on which a paper is to be loaded, and a side guide and an end guide to align a side in a width direction and an end in a longitudinal direction of the paper stack, respectively, a first binder including a binding unit to bind the paper stack on the paper alignment tray in a stapleless manner, the first binder displaceable to a binding location to bind the paper stack and to a separation location to separate the binding unit from the paper stack, and a controller to move the paper stack relative to the binding unit while displacing the first binder from the binding location to the separation location.

Provided is a book block feed device capable of feeding a book block always in an aligned state to a bookbinding machine. The book block feed device comprises an alignment unit and a press unit that are adjacently arranged in order along a conveying path of the book block from an inlet to an outlet of the conveying path. The alignment unit comprises a vibrator that vibrates the book block. The press unit includes a press surface that forms a part of a conveying surface of the conveying path, and a press plate that sandwiches and presses the book block between the press plate and the press surface.

Provided is a book block feed device capable of feeding a book block always in an aligned state to a bookbinding machine. The book block feed device comprises an alignment unit and a press unit that are adjacently arranged in order along a conveying path of the book block from an inlet to an outlet of the conveying path. The alignment unit comprises a vibrator that vibrates the book block. The press unit includes a press surface that forms a part of a conveying surface of the conveying path, and a press plate that sandwiches and presses the book block between the press plate and the press surface.

A printing system includes a book body printing section including a book body printing machine and outputting book bodies sequentially, and a cover printing section including a cover printing machine and outputting covers sequentially. The book body printing machine and the cover printing machine respectively receive printing order data indicating a printing order with regard to a plurality of jobs from a print control apparatus, and perform printing in the printing order indicated by the printing order data. The print control apparatus generates the printing order data, so that an inserting order in unit of job to a bookbinding machine of the book bodies output from the book body printing section coincides with an inserting order in unit of job to the bookbinding machine of the covers output from the cover printing section.

A bookbinding machine (100) is proposed. The bookbinding machine (100) comprises a driving system (225) for driving transport elements (210a-210c) of book blocks (215a-215c) in succession across at least one engagement processing station 5 (205d) and one or more disengagement processing stations (205a,205e) which process the book blocks while stationary therein. Control means (120) stop the driving system (225) when each of the transport elements (210b) is at the engagement processing station (205d) engaged with the driving system (225) and other transport elements (210a,210c) are at the disengagement processing stations (205a,205e) disengaged from the driving system (225). A bookbinding plant comprising one or more of these bookbinding machines (100) is also proposed. Moreover, a corresponding method for operating a bookbinding machine (100), a computer program and a computer program product for implementing the method are proposed.

A bookbinding machine (100) is proposed. The bookbinding machine (100) comprises a driving system (225) for driving transport elements (210a-210c) of book blocks (215a-215c) in succession across at least one engagement processing station 5 (205d) and one or more disengagement processing stations (205a,205e) which process the book blocks while stationary therein. Control means (120) stop the driving system (225) when each of the transport elements (210b) is at the engagement processing station (205d) engaged with the driving system (225) and other transport elements (210a,210c) are at the disengagement processing stations (205a,205e) disengaged from the driving system (225). A bookbinding plant comprising one or more of these bookbinding machines (100) is also proposed. Moreover, a corresponding method for operating a bookbinding machine (100), a computer program and a computer program product for implementing the method are proposed.

A recording material processing apparatus includes: first teeth that are used for binding processing of a recording material bundle; second teeth configured to move toward the first teeth and to press the recording material bundle positioned between the first teeth and the second teeth; a first metal block configured to support the first teeth; and a second metal block configured to support the second teeth.