Trimmer for trimming brochures

#The invention relates to a trimmer for trimming brochures. The trimmer has lower blade holders and upper blade holders for top cutting blades and bottom cutting blades lying opposite them, a guide rail configuration, and tensioners. The tensioners are used for locking the lower blade holders on the guide rail configuration.

#Trimmers of this type have been marketed by the applicant as a respective component part of gathering and stitching machines having the type designations ST100 and ST300. The above mentioned guide rail configuration and the tensioners serve to adapt the top and bottom cutting blades to the spine length of the brochures which is to be produced. The duration of this adaptation is part of the fitting time, within which gathering and stitching machines that contain trimmers have to be changed over from one brochure format to another.

#It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a trimmer for trimming brochures which overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art devices of this general type, which keeps the time required for changing over a post-treatment printing machine having the trimmer, for example a gathering and stitching machine, from one brochure format to another, as short as possible.

#FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of upper blade holders and lower blade holders for top cutting blades and bottom cutting blades which can be placed along a guide rail configuration according to the invention;

#FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic, perspective view of a lower blade holder that has been placed on the guide rail configuration, a tensioner which is provided to lock the lower blade holder, and an actuator which interacts with the tensioner;

#FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic, perspective view of the subject matter according to FIG. 2, in a simplified illustration;

#Referring now to the figures of the drawing in detail and first, particularly, to FIG. 1 thereof, there is shown a trimmer that includes lower blade holders 1.1 and 1.2 and upper blade holders 2.1 and 2.2 for top cutting blades 3.1 and 3.2 and bottom cutting blades 4.1 and 4.2. The lower blade holders 1.1 and 1.2 are placed onto a guide rail configuration 5 and form guides 6.1 and 6.2 for the upper blade holders 2.1 and 2.2. In order to adapt the top cutting blades 3.1 and 3.2 and the bottom cutting blades 4.1 and 4.2 to the spine length of the respective brochure which is to be produced, the lower blade holders 1.1 and 1.2 can be displaced along the guide rail configuration 5, and to be precise in a state which is released from tensioners (7, not illustrated in FIG. 1) which, in a tensioned state, lock the lower blade holders 1.1 and 1.2 with regard to the guide rail configuration 5. In this locked state, the tensioners cause a tensile force between the respective lower blade holder 1.1 and 1.2 on one side and a respective clamping strip 7.1 and 7.2 (which are assigned to the guide rail configuration 5 on a side facing away from the lower blade holders 1.1 and 1.2) on the other side. The tensile force leads to a frictional connection between the guide rail configuration 5 and the respective lower blade holder 1.1 and 1.2.

#FIG. 2 shows, as a detail from a trimmer, the guide rail configuration 5 which is formed from two guide rails 5.1 and 5.2 in the present exemplary embodiment. The lower blade holder 1.1 is placed on the guide rail configuration 5 and faces an operating side of the trimmer. A tensioner 7 is configured on the guide rail configuration 5 in order to lock the lower blade holder 1.1, and an actuator 8 interacts with the tensioner 7. A substantially identical configuration is provided for the second lower blade holder 1.2 that can be seen from FIG. 1 as for the lower blade holder 1.1 which can be seen in FIG. 2. However, in the case of a separate actuator for the tensioner which is assigned to the second lower blade holder 1.2, only the length of the actuator deviates from this, as the actuator extends here from its working location on the other side of the lower blade holder 1.1 which can be seen in FIG. 2 beyond the latter as far as an actuating location which lies spatially in the vicinity of that actuating location, at which the tensioner 7 for the lower blade holder 1.1 which faces the operating side (see FIG. 2) is actuated.

#To this extent, the tensioners 7 of both lower blade holders 1.1 and 1.2, that is to say the lower blade holder for top trimming and the lower blade holder for bottom trimming, can be actuated from one and the same side of the trimmer.