Date: September 2001
Subject: Response to RepKover, Redux

Hi Sue,

Thanks for copying me with your response to Mr. Young's correspondence regarding recent changes to our RepKover (TM) binding processes. I have reviewed two documents that established the standards and specifications for RepKover/Otabind binding methods.

The first document is Patent #5,183,294, granted Feb. 2, 1993 to inventors Bero Jukola of Keuruu, Finland and Werner Rebsamen of Rush, New York, and assigned to Kustnnusossakeyhtio Otava of Helsinki, Finland. Mr. Otava is the holder of the original Otabind Patent. The patent is quite specific regarding the methodology of pre-assembling the covers with a flexible, firm, support layer that's glued to the cover; however, the particular material and the particular makeup of the adhesive used are not part of the patent description.

The second document that I reviewed is entitled "Otabind Specifications Standard for Adhesive Lay-Flat Binding," published in 1992 by Otabind International. This document does specifically address materials and adhesives to be used for Otabind and RepKover bindings. Under Specification 8.2, RepKover Bindings, it states: "Specified and approved cloth for this process shall be mounted onto the covers with PVA adhesives." Malloy does use PVA adhesives to mount the material to the covers. Further on it states: "Alternative materials for lining the covers may be used with customer's permission."

Under Specification 13.4, Adhesives for RepKover Bindings, it states:

For RepKover bound bookblocks, either adhesive bound or sewn, the adhesives specified are PVA's (Poly Vinyl Acetate), a generic name for water-based, cold emulsion adhesives, one and two shots, flexible hotmelts including PVA primers, and moisture reactive PUR's (Polyurethane resins).

After Repkover-binding over 28 million books over the past nine years using PVA spine adhesives and a woven cloth binders cambric, Malloy has recently changed to using a non-woven, latex-impregnated liner paper and moisture reactive PUR adhesive for the spine glue. The paper liner was not an option for us until recently, when we acquired a new machine that prepares the covers offline prior to being bound. The new machine can apply either the paper-based material or the woven cloth-type material. The paper-based material does offer considerable cost savings over the cloth that was previously used. The PUR adhesives provide much greater bonding strength and durability, especially on certain coated papers, than the PVA glues, with nearly the same flexibility characteristics, so the lay-flat capability is not sacrificed for the greater strength. The PUR adhesives actually add significantly to our material costs, but we feel we waste fewer books during makeready on the binder, and the product produced is stronger and more durable and, therefore, of higher quality. We have only recently gone to using the PUR adhesives because of the considerable investment in the required equipment to use PUR's, and because of the substantial improvements made recently in the working characteristics of the PUR adhesives available for book binding purposes.

I'm sorry that your customer has assumed that our current RepKover process was a knock-off or "out of spec" product just because it was different from our original books. There are binding processes that imitate the layflat binds that do use inappropriate materials or methods and produce books that don' t lay flat or are not as durable as RepKover books. This is one of the reasons we like our publishers to include the RepKover logo on their products: their customers will be able to recognize the book that has been bound according to the established standards. We are a licensed RepKover binder using materials and processes that do meet the standards and specifications established as far back as when the patent was granted and the process was first developed.

The perception of quality is often as important as the reality of quality when an individual is making a buying decision. If you receive feedback from other customers questioning the quality, appearance, or other aspects of our binding or printing, please let us know.

Thanks,
Jim Mitchell

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