Acme Binder #6

Has anyone gotten one these to work?

Does it work well & was it worth the effort?

Where can I find staples that fit it?

Thanks!

Calvert
KC

Log in to reply   21 replies so far

No, but nice french tool in the background.

Oui, d’accord.

I don’t have any experience with binders like that one, but if you decide it’s not worth it to you to fix up, I might be interested in buying it from you! :D

i think the one i have is just about like yours, but a lot newer, you had to use acme staples in it, the staples were hard to find and very expensive, the staples came in different lengths, you could get up to 5/8ths of an inch staples (i think), maybe even longer. i think i still have a box of staples around here somewhere, i remember the company i bought the staples from had their label on the box, if i can find it i’ll post the name.

I think these take what we call spotnails and in the uk they are produced by a company called known as mcgills , measure the depth of the saddle where the in feeding staples go (situated at rear , should have a spring that pushes the feed drive in as you use the staples up,) if you post the measurement on here depth and width i will put a couple in the post you can try . i have three built by english brehmer stitchers , i believe brehmer may have sold out to germany at some point or had an english factory too.

Ps i doubt if it has any thing wrong with it .I know Acme stitching heads for many kinds of modern booklet line still exist but they are a whole world different now !!!! You may want to refer to it as a booklet stapler or stitcher .I would think the wires or stitches for this are probably shorter than Dick G suggests as the operator plunger on top tells me not really what we would call a stab stitcher . they had to use stitches up to 1” inch long and as strong as i am i dont fancy trying to push one in with that wee knob , the ones i have all operate fine and the small stapler , abit like yours is handy for doing a couple of hundred booklets as they take up less room than my electric treadle operated brehmers and vickers wire stitchers .

Re tread backwards just spotted the treadle, you could use stab stitches(spot nails) get the tape out and measure up post up and i will sort some you can try . but “Mc Gills “
are certainly the people for the stitches i will ring around my suppliers and see about prices etc and who sells out there . They are usually boxed in 1000s box of 5/8 staples measures 6x2x a whisker over 5/8” set in rows laquered into a cartridge like strip 2” long .
Last purchase of these was three or four years back cost me u.k. £8.00 per box if my memory correct .!

Thanks, all.

I’ll be down at the studio later today
and will measure that slot.

cg/kc

I may have lucked out.
There was a pocket of original staples jammed inside.
It looks like a common size.

Thanks for the info and offer, Peter.
I’ll know better tomorrow if these staples
will be easy to wrangle & stock.

The original maker has a website.
They’re in New Hampshire.

More parts for this stapler turned up
in a box of linotype parts junk.
Show below.

Calvert
KC

check it out carefully, i’m sure you need to use acme staples, standard staples will jam in this machine.

That as you probably know is your saddle and you should notice it has two fixing positions flat to stab and 45 deg to spine stitch . the little block is not shown to its best view but is either a spare clincher (stitch closer ) or the alternate clencher for forcing the stitch to bend over correctly when stab stitching , this is dependant solely on the approach the designer took when it was manufactured and if the machine has parts that prescribe an up and down action beneath that former that is on the machine .
Dick g is correct that this has to be right as it is a royal pain to unblock these things .

The last time i bought these staples was in the early 1970’s, i got them from Samuel Stevens and Wickersham Quoin Company in Boston, MA, they are no longer in business so i don’t know where you could get them today.

Oh you took the stitch channel off ! that should help with the measures at least , is the flat driver in evidence ?
The driver is a strip of steel a little smaller in width and and just a wee bit thicker than one of the wires (staples ) probably three inch long or so , it operates in an up down plain and runs through the channel the stitch will come out of driving the stitch as it goes. as it rises clear of the staples in the cartridge channel the spring which should be somewhere to the rear will push the cartridge forward to the stop plate in the stitch head ready for the next pass of the flat driver . it is a simple system and quite efficient mine is best lubricated with copious rubs of candle wax as oil in just the wrong place causes a mess that has to be seen to be appreciated .
During the above process the lower portion of the tool will have the clinchers probably positevely driven by the pin raising to force two little swinging parts to lift and turn the ends of the staple legs in to close the stitch the return may operate on spring or positively driven dy a cam shape in the clincher or they may have small springs to return them to ready .

Acme staples are a different width than the standard (Swingline/Bostich) variety. You can get them through American Printing Equipment, but not in the light weight size, just in what they call medium, which is rather a heavy staple for traditional saddle stitched books. Sadly Acme has chosen to no longer make these wonderful cast iron staplers (they were til a year or two ago) and does not support them. Given the number of staplers out there, it is conceivable that somebody might be able to order some staples from China—or somewhere else.

I began pulling it apart today.
The rod that lifts the clincher pins
is jammed so I have some rebuilding to do.

Acme was closed today.

Thanks for the lead, Mike.
Larger staples will work for some projects.
Lighter staples will need to go on my “watch for” list.

Thanks, Peter for lighting up the details.

Calvert
KC

No problem guvnor, got do something while the beast is chugging away out back !!!

I just rebuilt an Acme No. 1 today. the Model 6 is the same except for the foot pedal. Were you able to get yours functioning?

I noticed your post and wondered if you are anyone has found staples for this model. I have one and it is great to use. My students at Wichita State University break into smiles when they use it. But my box of staples is down to crumbs. I have staplse for an Acme #1 but they are just slightly larger and jam the mechanism. Did you get yours working? Or, did you find a sourse of usable staples?

Jim Hellman
Kansas

to mystaplers and others

I have used office-desk staplers on my hobby work, but I have not done any work involving thousands. I bought what I thought were brass staples, they were only coated with copper or brass. In our climate the rust soon comes through, and marks the paper.

In the commercial printing department of the newspaper where I worked, there was a floor-standing power-driven stapler using a spool of wire; I never had anything to do with it, apparently the machine clipped a piece of wire, bent it, inserted and clinched. The “anvil” was v-shaped with the v inverted.

Alan.

The boston stitcher ,the vickers and the monotype stitchers all use a similar principle in that they pull a set length of wire and push it through to the trimmer wheel / sheer plate where it cuts off the length which is then held by a little sprung jaw ,a block willdrop and kick the ends to a recognisable staple shape then before the forming block raises again a guide will hold the staple whilst a slotted driver pushes the staple through the job once the staple has driven through spine and before the driver raises a block beneath the saddle will raise and in doing so will push two little slotted wings (called crimpers or closers depending what you learned on ) upwards they are hinged and as they come up they bend the ends of your wire over to crimp or close the stitch !

To get back to the original querry, the last time I bought staples for my Acme saddle-stitcher was probably a few decades ago, and at that time I was able to order them from a local paper distributor (Carpenter Papers) in Des Moines. See if any of the paper companies in the Kansas City area might be able to help you out. There are plenty of these machines (including the table-top models) still in use for small jobs. I bought a “lifetime supply” back then because I really don’t use it that often at all. But when you do need it, it becomes extremely helpful.

“Regular” staples for common office staplers are not going to work for you and will only jamb the machine.

Rick

Last time I checked they were still in business.

http://www.acmestaple.com/

DJ