Clamp for perfect binder and perfect binding method

A perfect binder for processing book blocks, comprising:

• a conveying device adapted to convey the book blocks along a closed circulating path, the conveying device including a plurality of clamping devices attached to the conveying device, each clamping device adapted to convey a book block and comprising an outside gripper and an inside gripper arranged inside the outer gripper;
• and
• a plurality of processing stations arranged successively along the closed circulating path;
• wherein one of the processing stations comprises a spine-processing station, and another one of the processing stations comprises an end sheet feed station following the spine-processing station;
• wherein the outside gripper comprises a pair of first holding elements and the inside gripper comprises a pair of second holding elements, and the pair of first holding elements and the pair of second holding elements pivot around a common rotational axis.

A method for the perfect binding of book blocks, comprising:

• conveying the book blocks around a closed circulating path with each book block clamped in a clamping device of a conveying device, wherein a plurality of processing stations are arranged successively along the closed circulating path, wherein each processing station has its own drive;
• milling the spine of each book block at one of the processing stations;
• and
• subsequently, inserting at least one end sheet into the clamping device at a downstream end sheet feed station;
• wherein the clamping devices are attached to the conveying device, and each clamping device comprises an outside gripper and an inside gripper arranged inside the outside gripper.