Production
Braille materials were originally produced solely by slate and stylus and later also the Stainsby Braille Writer which considerably accelerated production, though still requiring the dots to be embossed downwards onto the reverse side of the paper. The advent of the Perkins Brailler in the 1950s, allowing upward embossing and faster, easier production, was a very significant development, as was the development of the thermoform Brailon Duplicator in the 1960s. This finally allowed multiple copies to be produced from one master. These developments soon became an everyday part of production processes at Braille House and the Perkins and Thermoform machines are still used for some transcription work, special requests and for the duplication of tactile designs used, for example, in the Magazine and Braille Calendars. 'Stereo copying' (producing raised graphics using heat sensitive thermal or capsule paper) is also employed, particularly for tactual maps.
Computer assisted transcription commenced at Braille House in the mid 1990s and the majority of production is now carried out using computers with Duxbury translation software and a number of interpoint embossers. The production of materials in Moon is to recommence in the latter part of 2007, using the latest Duxbury software and Everest embossers.
Education and special request materials are punched and spiral bound, while books for the library are still lovingly bound by our team of sewers and binders who maintain the unique and skilled techniques required for this purpose. Braille pages are dipped in shellac (to greatly enhance durability), then sewn into volumes and bound in hard covers. A more detailed description of sewing and binding are given below.
Sewing and binding Braille pages into a Braille volume
A specially designed wooden frame is used for the specific job of sewing Braille pages into a volume. To begin with, it is necessary to set up the frame by attaching 3 tapes to the top and bottom of the frame, spacing them approximately 6cm apart and 8cm from the ends of the page. Each Braille page has been pre-folded with a margin of just over 1cm on the left hand side. A volume of Braille is always sewn 3 pages at a time starting from the last page and finishing with the first. At least 2 plain pages of Braille paper are added at the beginning and the end of a volume to which to attach the hard cover. Once a thread has been secured to the top rail on the right hand side of the frame, the next step is to sew thread in and out along the margin crease passing around the secured tapes. After reaching the left hand side the next 3 pages are added and sewn on by working left to right. Each set of pages are secured to the previous set by tying a knot at each end. Approximately a dozen blanket stitches are done at each end of the volume to complete the process. After removing the volume from the frame, it is given to the binders to have a hard cover attached.
The binders must then complete three further stages: gluing, pressing and covering. Over the course of three working days at Braille House, volunteers open and check the book at every stage. Each volume is finished with a hard cover, brown paper and black spine and corners. The spine is then labelled in print and braille and is ready for the library shelf.