Method of, and apparatus for, producing multi-leaf, folded printed products, in particular periodicals and brochures

A multi-leaf, folded printed product produced by a method based on a material web which is printed in a digital printing station and has at least three printed material-web portions arranged one beside the other in its longitudinal direction, the method including:

• moving the material web in an advancement direction,
• combining a first material-web strand, which is formed by at least one printed material-web portion, with a second material-web strand, which is formed by two printed material-web portions, by connecting the first material-web strand to the second material-web strand by means of an adhesive along a connecting line running in the longitudinal direction of the material web,
• severing subproducts from the interconnected first and second material-web strands by cutting transversely to the advancement direction of the material web, the subproducts comprising a first printed sheet, severed from the first material-web strand, and a second printed sheet, connected to the first printed sheet and severed from the second material-webstrand,
• stacking the subproducts to form a stack, wherein the subproducts are connected to one another during stacking or following stacking, and
• folding the subproducts individually or as a stack about a folding line which runs between the adjacent printed portions of the second printed sheet,
• the multi-leaf, folded printed product comprising:
• a number of folded subproducts which are connected to one another in the region of their folding edges, the subproducts each including:
• a folded, outer printed sheet;
• and
• an inner printed sheet which is arranged within the outer sheet, corresponds sizewise to half the size of the outer sheet and is connected to the outer sheet in the region of the folding edge of the latter by means of an adhesive.

A multi-leaf, folded printed product produced by a method of producing a multi-leaf, folded printed product based on a material web which is printed in a digital printing station and has at least three printed material-web portions arranged one beside the other in its longitudinal direction, the method including:

• moving the material web in an advancement direction,
• combining a first material-web strand, which is formed by one of the at least three printed material-web portion, with a second material-web strand, which is formed by two of the at least three printed material-web portions, while the material web is moved in the advancement direction,
• connecting the first material-web strand to the second material-web strand by means of an adhesive being applied in the longitudinal direction of the material web in a region of a center line of the second material-web strand,
• severing subproducts from the interconnected first and second material-web strands by cutting transversely to the advancement direction of the material web, the subproducts comprising a first printed sheet, severed from the first material-web strand, and a second printed sheet, connected to the first printed sheet and severed from the second material-web strand, wherein a width of the second printed sheet is double a width of the first printed sheet,
• stacking the subproducts to form a stack, wherein:
• the subproducts are connected to one another along or in the region of the center line of the second material-web strand during stacking or following stacking,
• the first printed sheets are arranged alternatingly with the second printed sheets, the first printed sheets being severed from the first material-web strand and the second printed sheets being severed from the second material-web strand on the stack, and
• folding the subproducts as a stack about a folding line which runs between the adjacent printed portions of the second printed sheet to form an end product wherein the folding line defines a first side and a second side of the end product and wherein the end product comprises on the first side twice the number of leaves than on the second side,
• in the case of a material web which has four printed material-web portions arranged one beside the other, the material-web strands of equal width are combined either by one material-web strand being folded against the other material-web strand about the center line of the material web or by one material-web strand being severed and then the two material-web strands being positioned one above the other, and they are connected to one another along a connecting line running in the longitudinal direction of the material web,
• the multi-leaf, folded printed product comprising:
• a number of folded subproducts which are connected to one another in the region of their folding edges, the subproducts each comprising:
• a folded, outer printed sheet;
• and
• a folded, inner printed sheet which is arranged within the outer sheet, corresponds in size to the outer sheet and is connected to the outer sheet in the region of the folding edge of the latter by means of an adhesive.