US 5,216,961 AGranted

Book index notch cutter

OwnerStephen B. Grayinventor

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Abstract

A hand-held, manually operated book index notch cutter is placed in the book to be notched. The notch cutter has a cylindrical cutting member (405) which moves parallel to and rotates around its axis. The axis of the cylinder is perpendicular to the book leaves being notched. The cutting member rotates and advances within a cutter guide (200), which is attached to a thin baseplate (100). The upper surface of the baseplate is a resilient platen (102) on which rests the stack of book leaves to be cut. These leaves are adjusted in fan and lateral angle with the help of a leaf guide (300), which is movable to allow a range of notch depths. The cutting member is attached to a knob (401) which is pressed and turned. Inside this cutting member-knob assembly is a spring-loaded ejector assembly (500). After a notch is cut, the ejector button (501) is pressed, capturing the paper cuttings and raising the cutting member to the ready position. Then the entire index notch cutter is removed from the book and placed over a wastebasket, and the ejector button is released, causing the paper cuttings to fall.

Claims12

Dependent claims

A book notch cutting machine comprising:

(a) a base which is positioned between a pair of adjacent book leaves while cutting index notches in a book, said base being the bottommost part of said book notch cutting machine;
(b) a cutter guide attached to and having an axis perpendicular to said base and to said leaves;
(c) an attachment means for securing said cutter guide to said base;
(d) a cutting member which is generally circular in cross section and has a sharpened lower edge;
(e) a cutter assembly including said cutting member, said cutter assembly rotating within said cutter guide about said axis, and moving downward parallel to said axis so that said sharpened lower edge is able to cut an arcuate notch into a stack of book leaves by means of a rotary slicing action;
(f) said cutter assembly further including a knob means through which a human operator supplies torque and thrust;
(g) a size and weight of said book notch cutting machine selected such that said book notch cutting machine can be held, moved, and positioned by one of the operator's hands while being used;
and
(h) an adjustable single piece leaf alignment guide for positioning said book leaves to be notched relative to said book notch cutting machine, said leaf alignment guide further comprising:
a fan angle aligning means consisting of sloped surfaces adjacent to at least one side of said cutter guide, whereby the operator can align said book leaves so that their fore edges lie in a straight line having a predetermined acute angle to said base;
a lateral orientation means located adjacent to at least one side of said fan angle aligning means, whereby the operator can determine that said book notch cutting machine is fully seated against said book leaves, even when said book notch cutting machine is located at near the top or bottom edge of the book;
and adjustability means, whereby said leaf alignment guide can be positioned for a desired notch depth over an allowable range;
a clamping means by which said leaf alignment guide is held immovably in place after it has been positioned for said desired notch depth;
and
handling surfaces lying oppositely and rearwardly disposed on said leaf alignment guide, on which the operator's finger and thumb can conveniently be placed, thereby providing a gripping position which is stable and near the center of gravity of said book notch cutting machine.

12 more elements

A book notch cutting machine comprising:

(a) a base which is positioned between a pair of adjacent leaves while cutting index notches in a book, said base being the bottommost part of said book notch cutting machine;
(b) a cutter guide attached to and having an axis perpendicular to said base and to said leaves;
(c) an attachment means for securing said cutter guide to said base;
(d) a cutting member which is generally circular in cross section and has a sharpened lower edge;
(e) a cutter assembly including said cutting member, said cutter assembly rotating within said cutter guide about said axis, and moving downward parallel to said axis so that said sharpened lower edge is able to cut an arcuate notch into a stack of book leaves by means of a rotary slicing action;
(f) said cutter assembly further including a knob means through which a human operator supplies torque and thrust;
(g) a size and weight of said book notch cutting machine selected such that said book notch cutting machine can be held, moved, and positioned by one of the operator's hands while being used;
(h) said cutting member having a cylindrical internal cavity cooperating with said base to collect and trap paper cuttings during the cut;
and
(i) ejector means mounted in and moving relative to said cutter assembly, said ejector means movable axially within said internal cavity so that during ejection the paper cuttings are forced from said internal cavity down against said base, whereby said book notch cutting machine can be moved from the book without spilling said paper cuttings.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.