Disclosed are a scanner and an image reading apparatus including the same. The scanner can include a transparent plate, a scanning unit configured to scan a document on the transparent plate, a first sensor and a second sensor. The first sensor is positioned in a first document zone that is associated with an area in which a first document type is to be positioned based on a first alignment reference point provided on the transparent plate. The second sensor is positioned in a second document zone that is associated with an area in which a second document type of a different size is positioned based on a second alignment reference point provided on the transparent plate. The first document zone and the second document zone are non-overlapping zones. The document type and/or orientation can be determined based on the detection signals from the first and second sensors.

A notch forming device, comprises a notch forming section to form a notch on an edge of a sheet constituting a sheet bundle to be outputted in accordance with an execution of a job; a shifting section to shift a position of a notch to be formed on a sheet by the notch forming section; and a control section to control the shifting section. When plural sheet bundles are outputted in accordance with the execution of the job, the control section controls the shifting section to make a position of a notch on a leading sheet of each sheet bundle at the same position.

A cover applier is provided. The cover applier includes a transport system transporting a book, a cover delivery delivering a cover to a book, the cover delivery driven by a servomotor, a book sensor detecting an image printed on the book prior to the cover being delivered to the book and a cover sensor detecting an image printed on the cover prior to the cover being delivered to the book. The servomotor adjusting the position of the cover with respect to the book as a function of the book sensor and cover sensor. A method is also provided.

An information page (1) of a security document, includes: an information part (3), on the upper or lower surface of which part of the information recorded on the information page (1) can be seen; and a flexible connecting part (2) with good bending strength for attaching the information page (1) to a security document. To ensure that detaching the information part and the connecting part from each other leaves visible marks, the connecting part (2) has a netlike structure, and the connecting part (2) is arranged to penetrate into the information part (3) in the immediate vicinity of the upper or lower surface of the information part.

A machine for binding a packet of sheets of binding elements has a transfer belt designed to magnetically fix the binding elements and to move between a disengagement position in which it receives the binding elements and an engagement position in which it is positioned in a closure zone, closure devices disposed upstream of the transfer belt and designed, in the closure zone, to close the elements, a magnetic binding table disposed upstream of the closure devices, and comprising a fixing zone for holding a series of ends of the elements, and a magnetic top guide disposed upstream of the closure devices and above the binding table, and comprising a fixing zone for holding the other series of ends of the elements, the packet of perforated sheets being inserted between the table and the top guide.

A wire-bound product using a double type laminated paper board and a method for manufacturing the same are disclosed. The wire-bound product employs a structure in which inner paper sheets are turned over in the rightward and leftward directions on front plates of a frame, instead a structure in which a plurality of inner paper sheets is turned over toward the rear surface of a frame, thereby allowing a user to see both surfaces of the inner paper sheets. Further, rear plates of the frame are inserted into various positions of a spring to support the front plates, thereby allowing a standing angle of the front plates of the frame to be adjustable.

A device is provided to shape a spine of a book casing positioned horizontally spread out flat and oriented to be distributed evenly over a spine of a book block. Two fold-shaping rails are arranged extending in a direction parallel to one another. A movable, shaping tool is arranged to face the inside of the book casing spine to shape a web on the book casing spine with the aid of the two fold-shaping rails. The shaping tool includes two spaced-apart support bars that extend parallel to the fold-shaping rails and are arranged to be adjustable so that together they adjust the web width of the book casing spine in a direction transverse to the direction of extension of the fold-shaping rails.

A sheet processing apparatus which is capable of improving operability while suppressing an increase in apparatus size. In a front cover insertion mode, an insertion sheet for a front cover is inserted into a bundle of sheets on which images have been formed, and in a rear cover insertion mode, an insertion sheet for a rear cover is inserted into the bundle of sheets. Insertion sheets for the front cover and insertion sheets for the rear cover are set with the same orientation in a manual feed tray 105. An insertion sheet for the front cover stored in the manual feed tray 105 is conveyed to a finisher 500 in one of a face-down state and a face-up state. An insertion sheet for the rear cover stored in the manual feed tray 105 is conveyed to the finisher 500 in the other of the face-down state and the face-up state. The insertion sheets for the front cover and for the rear cover conveyed from the manual feed tray 105 and the sheets on which images have been formed are stacked on the finisher 500.

An adhesive applicator is disclosed for the application of a hot melt adhesive to the spine of a book block so as to adhesively bind the book block to its respective cover so as to form a perfect bound book. The applicator has a heated head in which a small quantity of a hot melt adhesive sufficient to bind at least one book block to its cover is quickly heated to a temperature such that it may be applied to the spine. The head is brought into operative engagement with the spine and is moved with respect to the spine so that the melted adhesive forced (dispensed) out of the head onto the spine. This applicator is particularly well suited for use with print on demand book printing and binding apparatus. A method of applying the adhesive to the spine of a book block is also disclosed.

In an embodiment, a booklet conveying device includes: a pair of conveying units; a positioning unit; a pressing unit; and a conveying-force changing unit. The pair of conveying units convey a booklet made of a stack of folded sheets, and change a distance therebetween. The positioning unit positions the booklet by making a leading-end portion of the booklet abut thereto. The pressing unit presses the booklet positioned by the positioning unit onto one of the conveying units in order to fix. The conveying-force changing unit changes the conveying force exerted by the conveying units.

In a cover feeding device (1) for feeding covers (13, 13.1, 13.2, 13.3) separated from a magazine (3, 3') to book blocks (14.1, 14.2, 14.3) that are transported while being clamped in book block grippers (2), it is proposed that the magazine (3, 3') features at least a first lateral stop (6.1) that is arranged such that it can be fixed transverse to the withdrawal direction (12) and against which different covers (13, 13.1, 13.2, 13.3) intended, in particular, for book blocks (14.1, 14.2, 14.3) of different thickness can be jointly placed, and that at least the magazine (3, 3') can be adjusted transverse to the withdrawal direction (12) such that an edge (17) of the spine region of the respective cover to be separated is withdrawn essentially in alignment with the rigid gripping jaw (2 a).

In a machine (1) for manufacturing perfect-bound brochures (2) that includes a book block conveying device (10) with an endless conveying means (11), a plurality of clamps (14) that are arranged on the conveying means at a fixed pitch spacing (T) and serve for clamping book blocks (3, 3.1 . . . 3.8), and of at least one processing station (25, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 30) that can be adjusted in a motor-driven fashion, the cycle time (t0) referred to the conveyance of the clamps (14) by the pitch spacing (T) defined in the at least one processing station is divided into an adjusting segment (tV1, tV2) for resetting and/or adjusting the at least one processing station (25, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 30) in accordance with changing printed product characteristics and a processing segment (tB1, tB2) for processing the book blocks (3, 3.1 . . . 3.8) and/or covers (4, 4.1 . . . 4.4). The resetting of the at least one processing station to another printed product can take place within one work cycle (t0) of the respective processing station while the conveyance of the book blocks (3, 3.1 . . . 3.8) continues.

An image forming system including a control section provides control in such a way that, the ring binder of the size determined for the first set of copies is adopted so that ring binding is performed for a second set of copies or copies thereafter in a case of executing a job for ring binding of a plurality of copies. When at least one of a status change in the sheet feed section, a main power source being turned off, or a change in a job ticket is occurred from a suspension to a resumption of the job, since the thickness of a bundle of sheets may change, the thickness measuring section is caused to measure the thickness of the bundle in a first set of copies subsequent to resumption. And the control section judges continuation or suspension of a job.

Method and device for manufacturing adhesively bound printed products composed of a book block and a cover, in which the book block is conducted past processing stations of the adhesive binding device for processing and applying glue to its back. A cover is supplied to the back to which glue has been applied in a synchronously timed controlled manner. After merging of the cover with the book block, a measuring procedure for measuring a mutual actual position of cover relative to book block. Subsequently, this actual position is compared to a predetermined desired position, and, in the case of deviations, a correction value is determined and stored. Prior to the renewed occurrence of the pairing of drive member and clamp, an appropriate change of the mutual positions of clamp and drive member is carried out.

Disclosed is an image forming system including an image forming device which includes a paper feeding tray, a print section which performs printing to papers fed from the paper feeding tray and a control section which controls so as to feed the printed papers to a post-processing device as a booklet main body to be book-bound, and the post-processing device which carries out ring-binding processing to the fed papers and book-binds a booklet, and the control section controls so as to feed a front cover paper, a back cover paper, papers for binding of the booklet to a ring-binding process section of the post-processing device along with the booklet main body, and a paper feeding order is in an order of the back cover paper, the papers for binding, the front cover paper and the booklet main body.

A method and system for on-demand book production is provided in which covers and book content are synchronized at book binding equipment. In one exemplary system and method, a single printer prints a book cover followed by its corresponding book block. The cover and book block are each sequentially staged and synchronized together for binding in the binding equipment. In another method and system for on-demand book production, covers are printed and encoded at a first printer and a book block printing instruction is initiated in response to decoding of the cover in the binding equipment. Printing of the book block is in a separate but integrated printer and the book block is fed to the binding equipment for binding with the book cover. In each instance, synchronized book covers and book blocks are bound in and output from the binding equipment.

Theres is disclosed a device (10) for manufacturing a notepad (15) comprising a stack of sheets, a first side of each sheet having an adhesive to attach the first side to a reverse face of a sheet immediately facing said first side in said stack. The device (10) including a sheet feeder (20) for loading one or more loose sheets (24) of similar dimensions with the reverse face of each sheet (24) in said stack facing in the same direction and feeding each said sheet downstream of said device (10). A cutting means (40) is provided to cut each sheet (24) or a number of said sheets (24) to predetermined dimensions. An adhesive applicator (60) applies adhesive to a portion or portions of the first side of each sheet (24). A stacking means (100) stacks the cut sheets one on top of the other whereby a forming means (120) forms the cut sheets together to form the notepad (15).

In order to form stacks, of which each forms a book block, folded sheets are provided with an adhesive application or layer of adhesive before they are placed on one another. Said adhesive application is applied to the sheets adjacent to the folded edge of said sheets and extends in the direction of said folded edge which comes to lie in the spine of the book block. The adhesive can be applied as a continuous track or as a track which is interrupted multiple times, or else in a punctiform manner. The sheets are joined to one another in the stack by means of said adhesive application, with the result that they maintain their position within the stack during further transport of the stack.

It, as shown in FIG. 11, is provided with a feed roller 31 that is movable, rotates the spiral coil 11 passing through punched holes 3a of the bundle of paper-sheets 3, and guides the spiral coil 11 to feed it toward a coil advance direction, a screw guide 49 at a movable and adjustable side that guides and conducts a forward end of the spiral coil 11 fed by the feed roller 31 toward the coil advance direction into the punched holes 3a thereof, and a control part that receives diameter-of-coil-setting information for setting a diameter of a coil of the spiral coil 11 and controls positions of the feed roller 31 and the screw guide 49 based on the diameter-of-coil-setting information. Such a configuration enables the feed roller 31 and the screw guide 49 to move to the guided positions of the spiral coil 11 indicated by the diameter-of-coil-setting information. Accordingly, it is possible to pass the spiral coils having the different diameters thereof through the holes of the bundle of paper-sheets stably.

Apparatus is disclosed for controlling the depth of a layer of a layer of adhesive on a peripheral surface of a rotary member (e.g., a wheel) for the application of the adhesive to an object. The apparatus comprises a heated reservoir containing a supply of hot melt adhesive maintained within a desired temperature range, where the rotary member is partially immersed in the adhesive and is rotated by a motor such that the as the rotary member is rotated up out of the peripheral surface of the rotary member has the layer of adhesive thereon. A computer controls system controls the motor such that the speed of the rotary member may be increased or decreased so as to vary the depth of the adhesive on the peripheral surface of the rotary member.

Disclosed is a compressive album manufacturing apparatus in that independent areas for performing an aligning process, a heat providing process, a compressing process, and a cooling process respectively are formed in the multistage compressive album manufacturing apparatus, so that each process, which is done by hand, is merged into one, thereby rapidly manufacturing the bulk of compressive albums.

Device for joining book block and book cover includes conveyor device, embodied to lift a book block from a lower position into an upper position, and an adhesive application station applying adhesive to the outsides of the book block. Conveyor device and the adhesive application station are arranged so adhesive is applied to the outsides of the book block as it is conveyed by the conveyor device. A removal station is arranged below the adhesive application station and the conveyor device is structured to reverse a direction of movement and to lift and lower the book block and cover in a same vertical plane between the lower position and the upper position. Adhesive application station deactivates adhesive dispensing during the downward movement of the book block with cover.

In a device for cutting to length and feeding spine strips (3) for a case maker (1), a center strip conveying device (30) is provided that advances the spine strip material (5, 6) by the spine width (BS) transverse to the board feed direction (23) in a cyclic fashion. The spine width (BS) can be changed from work cycle to work cycle without accumulating additional waste. This can be realized because the previously required width sizing on the material web is eliminated.

There is provided a decoloring device including a decoloring unit, a first sheet conveying unit, a first sheet feed unit, a thickness detecting unit, a decolorability determining unit, and a second sheet feed unit. The first sheet conveying unit conveys the sheet to the decoloring unit. The first sheet feed unit feeds the sheet to the first sheet conveying unit. The decolorability determining unit determines whether or not the sheet which is subject to thickness detecting is decolorable by the decoloring unit based on a detection result in the thickness detecting unit. A second sheet feed unit is disposed at a downstream side in relation to the thickness detecting unit and at an upstream side in relation to the decoloring unit in a sheet conveying path by the first sheet conveying unit and feeds the sheet to the first sheet conveying unit.

Disclosed are various embodiments relating to verifying a printed work comprises a correct number of pages. Associated with a stack comprising one or more pages is an identifier that may be used to obtain an expected thickness of the pages in the stack. A sensor may then measure an actual thickness of the pages in the stack. Before binding the pages in the stack, the expected thickness of the stack may be compared to the actual thickness of the stack in order to verify the stack comprises the correct number of pages.

A binding apparatus performs a binding process by bonding the end side of the sheet bundle, and is provided with a notch cutter that forms a notch in the end side used in the sheet binding process in the middle of the sheet conveyance path of the binding apparatus. The notch-forming unit includes a pair of sheet conveyance guides for forming a part of the sheet conveyance path, a cutter provided in a rotatably supported bracket, and a biasing means for applying a force to the cutter to face the sheet conveyance path formed by a pair of the sheet conveyance guides at all times.

A book binding machine includes a collating machine, a perfect binder and a transfer device disposed between the collating machine and the perfect binder. The collating machine and the perfect binder are actuated by a common control device. In each case, one transport segment is assigned to a respective book block clamp by the control device. The control device also has a program which, if a defective or missing book block clamp is detected, actuates the collating machine in such a way that no book block is collated for that book block clamp. A method for operating a book binding machine is also provided.

A paper sheet binding die set comprises first and second dies, each having an opposed surface comprising a plurality of tooth portions. The first and second dies face each other such that the first die and the second die are capable of meshing with each other. Each tooth portion of the first die comprises a valley-bottom portion, and a peak-top portion. Each tooth portion of the second die comprises a valley-bottom portion, a peak-top portion, and an inclined-surface portion extending at an incline from the valley-bottom portion to the peak-top portion. The peak-top portion of each of the plurality of tooth portions of the first die has a length so as to cover the inclined-surface portion of the corresponding tooth portion of the second die upon meshing of the first and second dies. The first and second dies pressurize the plurality of stacked paper sheets to bind them together.

An image reading apparatus includes a reading unit, a feeding unit, a carriage holding the reading unit, a motor, a motor-side transmission gear, a feeding unit-side transmission gear, a carriage-side transmission gear, a switching gear which switches between a meshing state of meshing with the feeding unit-side transmission gear at a feeding unit-side position and a meshing state of meshing with the carriage-side transmission gear at a carriage-side position, a restraint member which applies a restraint force for restraining the switching of the switching gear, and a motor control unit which when switching the switching gear between the carriage-side position and the feeding unit-side position, executes a large torque control of controlling the motor to generate a switching torque which is larger than a moving reading torque to be generated by the motor at a time of document reading when executing a moving reading.

The present invention relates to a binding apparatus (10) for facilitating placement of a book block (44) in relation to a cover (16). The cover (16) has front and back panels (28 and 32) for subsequent attachment of the book block (44) to the cover (16). The apparatus (10) includes a first guiding means (46), a second guiding means (56), a first positioning element (54) and a second positioning element (62). The first guiding means (46) is adapted to guide a first edge (58) of the front panel (28). The second guiding means (58) is adapted to guide a second edge (37) of the front panel (28). The first positioning element (54) is movably attached to the first guiding means (46) and is adapted in use to abut at least part of a first peripheral surface (60) of the book block (44). The second positioning element (56) is movably attached to the second guiding means (56) and is adapted in use to abut at least part of a second peripheral surface (64) of the book block (44).

In binding a cover sheet together with a sheet bundle, ever-accurate spine-creasing irrespective of bundle thickness is made possible. A sheet stacker stacks sheets into bundles, an adhesive applicator applies adhesive to a spine part of the sheet bundles, and a cover-sheet binder binds cover sheets together with the spine parts. The cover-sheet binder is constituted from a left-and-right pair of spine-creasing press members arranged free to shift between standby and spine-creasing positions; a shifter that reciprocates the spine-creasing press members between the standby and spine-creasing positions; and a controller. The controller functions to vary, in accordance with sheet bundle thickness, any of: (1) the standby position of the press members; (2) the start time of an operation whereby the press members are shifted from the standby to the spine-creasing position; or (3) the traveling speed of the press members in shifting from the standby to the spine-creasing position.

An image forming system includes: a ring bookbinding section which perform a ring bookbinding to a bundle of sheets by using a binder provided with a spine portion and a plurality of finger portions; and a judging section, wherein a last page is firstly fed immediately after job initiation and, subsequently after having fed the last page, image formation based on the image data is initiated, when the judging section judges that an image is not formed on the last page, and wherein all of the image data is firstly acquired completely after job initiation, subsequently the last page is fed and formed image thereon, and then image formation of remaining pages is carried out, when the judging section judges that image is formed on the last page.

Methods for creating customized children's storybooks with fingerprint art using fingerprint-ready templates stored in association with a software application on a desktop computer, a tablet computer, or a smart phone. The methods include the use of preconfigured templates and prompted discussions that elicit responses from the child to create text for the storybook. The text may be generated by speech recognition software processing digital audio recordings of the child's responses. A digital image of the child's fingerprint is acquired and the fingerprint image and/or the storybook scenes are scaled to fit each other. Fingerprint-ready image templates are used to facilitate the creation of fingerprint art. A completed page image is formed by digitally inserting a fingerprint into the fingerprint-shaped area, and if desired, coloring the image or drawing a scene around the image. When the scenes are completed the software application compiles the book pages and prints the same.

A device for controlling the application of glue on the spine of a book. The device consists of a computerized controller that tracks the precise location of the book in the binding system, and a servo motor that controls a doctor blade, the servo motor is connected to the controller and is instructed when to open or close the doctor blade at the precise time to precisely place the glue on the book spine. The doctor blade can also be adjusted to control the thickness of the glue on the book spine.

A measurement unit (6) is provided with a fixed body (19) which is fixed on a base (17) and has a reference surface (19a). A movable body (21) slides in the base along a guide rail, and a measurement body (22) having a measuring surface (22b) slides in the movable body along the guide rail. The measurement body is always pressed against a first side wall (21a) of the movable body by a coil spring (24). A first sensor (27) to detect the time when a book body is located on the front side of the reference surface, and a second sensor (28) to detect the time when the measurement body is separated from the first side wall of the movable body by a predetermined distance, are provided.

A machine for attachment of a cover to a book block comprises a press plate elevating mechanism for elevating a press plate 8, a nip plate drive mechanism for sliding nip plates 9 and 10, and a controller 30 controlling the press plate elevating mechanism and the nip plate drive mechanism. The press plate 8 elevates from the lower standby position to an upper press position. The press plate 8 presses the cover 12 to the book block 4 at the upper press position. The cover 12 is attached to the book block 4 by pressing the cover 12 to the lower end surface of the book block 4. The press plate 8 is elevated from the intermediate position to the upper press position, staying at the intermediate position during a waiting time for adjustment. The press plate 8 elevates from the intermediate position to the upper press position.

An image reading apparatus includes: a reading unit; a feeding unit; a carriage; a motor-side transmission gear for transmitting power from a motor; a carriage-side transmission gear for transmitting the power to the carriage; a feeding unit-side transmission gear for transmitting the power to the feeding unit; a switching gear switched between a meshing state with the carriage-side transmission gear at a carriage-side position and a meshing state with the feeding unit-side transmission gear at a feeding unit-side position; and a control device for performing: a first switching process for meshing the switching gear with the feeding unit-side transmission gear; a second switching process for meshing the switching gear with the carriage-side transmission gear; and an initialization process of the reading unit.

A method and a device for pressing a book block over the rounded back of a book block having a longitudinal axis extending in the center and along the back. The book block is clamped between two clamping jaws of a clamping device, in a region adjacent to the back of the book block, parallel to the longitudinal axis of the back. A pressing device presses a pressing member against the back, wherein the pressing member is placed approximately in the center of the back onto the book block back. At least a section of the pressing member is then moved across the back. Once the pressing member, which is oriented parallel to the longitudinal axis of the back, is placed onto the back it then moves along at least one continuously preselected movement path over the back.

A bookbinding apparatus inserts ring parts of a comb-shaped ring into binding holes of a sheet bundle and files and binds the sheet bundle, sequentially and includes a binding hole forming section configured to form binding holes in the sheet, a compiling section configured to arrange the sheet in which the binding holes are formed to make the sheet bundle, a comb-shaped ring feeding section configured to feed the comb-shaped ring piece by piece, a binding section configured to receive the fed comb-shaped ring, insert the ring parts of the comb-shaped ring into the binding holes of the sheet bundle, and bind the sheet bundle, and a bound-book discharging section configured to transfer the sheet bundle bound by the binding section to a storage stacker.

A drill bit assembly has a bit head and a pin body. The bit head comprises a cutting end, an opposite connecting end with an engagement section, and a feature facing the connecting end. The pin body comprises a tubular body with an axial bore therethrough, a connecting end with an engagement section and a feature facing the connecting end. The drill bit assembly is manufactured by positioning the pin body connecting end with the bit head connecting end such that the pin body and bit head engagement sections overlap with a gap therebetween, and the pin body and bit head features are aligned; injecting a thermoplastic or other connecting material in liquid form between the bit head and pin body engagement sections and into the gap; and solidifying the thermoplastic or other connecting material such that the bit head and pin body are mechanically coupled together at their connecting ends and their features are securely aligned.

A windshield wiper arm bracket includes a pair of side walls. Each of said side walls include at least one centrally located pin arm receiving hole formed therein. The bracket also includes a post attaching the pair of side walls together. The post is for receiving a pin arm adaptor thereon. The bracket also includes an attachment arm formed on a bottom of each of the pair of side walls. The attachment arms are for connecting the bracket to a windshield wiper assembly. An adaptor for a windshield wiper arm bracket includes a top portion and a web portion. The web portion includes a central aperture formed therein. The central aperture includes a first portion for receiving a post of the windshield wiper arm bracket and a second aperture for receiving a pin arm of a windshield wiper arm.

A female thread member capable of preventing seizing caused by inclined insertion, and being smoothly fastened from any directions in which a bolt is inserted, and a fastening member using the female thread member. A non-thread portion is formed on an inner peripheral surface of a female thread member body having a female thread for a length corresponding to at least one pitch from an end surface on a bolt-inserting side, and a projection which comes into contact with a flank surface of a male thread of an inserted bolt is formed on a line extending from a helical line of the female thread. The female thread member is used in combination with the bolt having no incomplete thread portion, and there is no adverse possibility of seizing regardless of any directions in which the bolt is inserted.

A building structure including a first building member and a second building member may be connected by a plurality of fasteners, each fastener having a head, a threaded portion having a through hardness of between HRB 70 and HRC 40, a thread-forming portion of at least HRC 50 hardness enabling the fastener to form threads in at least the second steel building member, and a fluted lead portion of at least HRC 50 hardness with a nominal diameter between 70 and 95% of major diameter, such that the fastener is capable of providing a ratio of strip torque to thread-forming torque of at least 2.7 and a ratio of strip torque to drive torque greater than 6.0 when the second steel building member having a thickness of 0.25 inch and the fluted lead portion having at least one diameter within nominal diameter between 80 and 98% of major diameter.

The blind rivet for fastening together a plurality of mounted components with mounting holes comprises a rivet body having a sleeve, a flange and a through hole; a mandrel having a slender stem and a head; and a washer. The head of the mandrel is adjacent to the sleeve-side end portion of the rivet body, the stem of the mandrel extends through the rivet body from the flange-side end portion, and the washer is mounted near the flange on the outer periphery of the sleeve of the rivet body. A portion of the outer peripheral surface of the sleeve adjacent to the flange is swaged to form a recessed portion so that the diameter in the other position is enlarged. The washer is pushed onto the enlarged-diameter portion and secured. The mounted components are fastened together between the enlarged end portion of the sleeve and the washer.

A fastening element includes a holding part with a support plate and expanding cheeks, and a locking part guidingly received in the holding part. The expanding cheeks include cantilevered walls formed adjacent the support plate, which are offset radially outwardly with respect to a guide wall of the support plate which guides the locking part. The locking part can be pushed through the support plate substantially without force until it reaches inwardly protruding ramp projections formed on the expanding cheeks, which provide a better lever ratio for spreading the expanding cheeks.

A fastening unit (1,101) for fastening an object to a profile element (80) with a longitudinal slot (85). The profile element having an upper side formed by a flanges which define between them the longitudinal slot. The fastening unit includes an oblong metal anchoring element (2) for engaging behind the flanges, a washer element (4) for engaging the upper side of the flanges and a support element. The support element (3) is connected to the anchoring element and associated with the washer element. The connection between the support element and the anchoring element includes two or more connecting legs (36) which are formed integrally with a body of the support element and extend each through an associated recess in the anchoring element. The connecting legs at their distal ends have a retaining lug (37) for preventing that the anchoring element can be released from the distal ends of the connecting legs. The support element comprises one or more spring elements (36) associated with the connecting legs and a stop surface (31a) for engagement with the upper side of the anchoring element. The one or more spring elements act to push the anchoring element from the underside away from the retaining lugs so as to bias the upper side of the anchoring element against the stop surface of the support element.

A holding dowel (10) for fastening a fastening means to a component (22), in particular to a vehicle body part, is adapted to be inserted into and arrested in an opening (20) of the component (22) and has a mount (26) for the fastening means. The holding dowel (10) has a base body (12) made from a hard material, which protrudes into the opening (20) and is adapted to fix the holding dowel (10) in place in the opening (20), and further has a sealing member (18) made from a flexible plastic material, which includes a surrounding sealing lip (38). In the installed condition of the holding dowel (10), the sealing lip (38) rests against the component (22) and seals the opening (20) of the component (22). The sealing member (18) is produced at least partly from a material which under the influence of heat establishes a substance-to-substance bond with the component (22).

An assembly comprising at least two non-metal components which are fixed to each other using at least one fixing system. The fixing system includes a fixing device with a fixing element which is provided with a head and a rod, and a crimping ring which is in contact with one of the components. A protection device is a part of the fixing system which delimits a cavity for confining gas around a portion of the device comprising the crimping ring. In order to improve the repeatability of the operation for positioning the protection device, a guiding device is provided which includes an assembly element on the portion of the fixing device, and an element for guiding the protection device.

A manufacturing method and device for supporting conductors. Using a non-metallic insulating material extending beyond one or both parallel legs of a staple the thumb and forefinger may grip this extension while the staple is being driven into a supporting structure. This finger grip allows for a small, insulated staple to be held with increased safety to thumb and forefinger during penetration of staple into support.

A generator stator core through-bolt tensioning device that automatically tightens the nut on the through-bolts that hold together and compress laminate plates of the stator core in a high voltage generator. A controller receives a signal from a measuring device, such as a fiber Bragg grating that measures the strain on the bolt, and based on that signal determines whether the nut needs to be tightened. If the controller determines that tightening is necessary, it will cause the tensioning device to automatically tighten the nut while the generator is in service, and use the measuring device to provide feedback of the tensioning of the through-bolt to know when to stop the device from tightening the nut.