Patent Model of a Machine for Rounding and Backing Books

Crawley, Edwin · ca 1876

This patent model demonstrates an invention for a machine for rounding and backing books which was granted patent number 184198. The patent detailed improved methods of guiding the book and controlling the rounding rollers. Two books could be processed at once--one being rounded while the other was backed. Edwin Crawley, a Cincinnati bookbinder, continued to work on the problems of rounding and backing, and in 1891 introduced a machine that set industry standards for many years.