GB2304787A - A paper clip having two passing points - Google Patents

Abstract

The clip, made from a length of wire, has upper jaw 8,10,12 and lower jaws 4,5 and 15,16. The clip has two passing points 3,9 and 11,17 where one part of the clip passes close to another part and, in use, the two parts are on opposite sides of the paper sheets. In addition the clip has two wrap around sections 6,7 and 13,14 so that portions of the clip immediately adjacent to, but on either side of, the section are located on opposite facing sides of the paper.

Description

DESCRIPTION Paper fastener This invention relates to paper fasteners A range of devices exist for releasably attaching two or more sheets of paper or a similar material together (e.g. paper-clip, bulldog clip,foldback clip, butterfly clip, staple,clothes-peg type clip, treasury tag, glue, plastic extrusion margin gripper).

There is a requirement for a paper fastener which combines the following functional qualities: 1. Compact, so that sets of sheets fastened together may be stored easily in folders. Bulldog/ foldback clips, which do provide a firm grasp of the sheets are however too bulky for a number of sets of sheets fastened with them to be stored together conveniently.

2. Provides a firm fastening. Other compact paper-clips such as the conventional paper clip of figure 1 give an adequate temporary fastening. However, it would be desirable to provide a paper fastener giving a tighter grip.

3. May be easily applied by hand. It can be inconvenient to have to carry around a device for applying the fastener - e.g. a stapler with conventional staples, or a dispenser for Rapesco supaclip.

4. May be removed by hand. A special device makes it easier to remove staples from sheets of paper. However, there is still a need for a fastener which may be easily removed by hand.

5. Does not damage the paper by requiring or making a hole in the sheets. e.g. staples, treasury tags. It is important with some documents that they are not damaged by the fastener. It is useful to be able to attach papers securely, and still be able to separate them without leaving a perforation - for example when the documents are to be copied.

6. Can work well when located at the corner of sheets of paper and enable them to be leafed through with reduced risk of the fastener coming adrift. Other compact fasteners e.g.paper-clip, butterfly clip do not resist effectively the twisting forces on the sheets of paper when the sheets are leafed through by being folded over, and have a tendency to let the pages slide round the fastener and fall off.

7. Sits securely on either the corner or edge of a group of sheets joined together by the fastener and will not be dislodged when the sheets are leafed through, and, furthermore, enables the sheets to be leafed through equally well either forwards or backwards without exposing any part of the fastener in a manner that it might inconveniently catch other sheets of paper, etc. Other compact fasteners such as the plastic paper clip shown in figure 2 have upper and lower jaws of differing lengths.This reduces the security of the paper fastener when the sheets which are joined by the fastener are leafed through, does not allow a group of sheets to be leafed through equally well either forwards or backwards and has the further disadvantage of having the longer jaw sometimes exposed when the papers are being leafed through in a manner that occasionally inconveniently catches other pieces of paper and the like.

8. After recognising the possibility and desirability of developing a paper fastener satisfying the above-mentioned functional criteria a number of technical problems needed to be solved in order to provide a fastener that could be produced at a low enough cost to be commercially viable.

The present invention seeks to provide a paper fastener which satisfies the above-mentioned functional criteria.

1. According to the present invention there is provided a paper fastener characterised in that it: 1.1 has upper and lower jaws of substantially the same length, 1.2 has at least two distinct passing points and at least two discrete wrap around sections. The two sides of each passing point are connected by a separate wrap around sections.

By the term passing point is meant a region where one part of the fastener passes close to another part.

The term wrap around section refers to a part of the fastener which is so shaped as to allow one or more pieces of paper to be located in the wrap around section so that the portions of the fastener immediately adjacent to, but on either side of, the section are located on opposite facing sides of the paper.

The term passing point is meant to refer to the regions where the sheets will be gripped when the fastener is placed with the two wrap around sections around the edges of the sheet rather than a region were two parts of the fastener may happen to pass close.

At a passing point the two adjacent sections comprising the passing point will be on opposite sides of the sheets when the fastener is in place.

2. Where the fastener has two wrap around sections, part of each will preferably be disposed at 90 degrees to one another, thus enabling the fastener to work well on the corner of sheets of paper. Furthermore, they will preferably be of varying lengths depending on the thickness of a set of sheets of paper to be fastened together, with the longer wrap around sections for those fasteners which are intended to fasten thicker sets of sheets together.

3. The paper is gripped between the jaws of the present fastener in more than one place by a wire which wraps round the paper in more than one place. Such a fastener therefore exerts more force than an example which only wraps around the paper edge once (e.g. the conventional paper clip of figure 1).

4. The two wrap around sections and passing points have not previously featured in a clip that may be made from made from a length of wire-like material. Forming a fastener from wire combines simple manufacturing methods with a low cost raw material which is robust and which users of conventional paper-clips are accustomed to.

5. Having two wrap around sections rather than one provides the technical feature previously unavailable in a wire paper clip of resisting the tendency of paper sheets to rotate (in the plane of the sheets) around the paper clip and thus move from their correct position.

6. The two ends of the wire may be bent into loops to ensure that the paper will not be damaged by the ends of the wire when the fastener is applied or removed. The ends of the wire may also be rounded off by other means.

7. Preferably the fastener is made of a strand of wire which may be advantageously coated in a plastics material. Alternatively the fastener may be made of a filament comprised of a plastics material throughout.

8. Preferably the fastener is formed from a discontinuous section of a wire-like material.

9. Conveniently the fastener may be so shaped as to be aesthetically decorative or to carry information such as the logo of a company.

Some specific embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a conventional paper clip according to the prior art.

Figure 2 shows a conventional plastic paper clip according to the prior art.

Figure 6 shows the preferred embodiment of the fastener.

Figures 3,4,5,7,8,9 show alternative embodiments of the fastener.

Referring to the drawings it can be seen that: 1. Figure 1 shows a conventional paper-clip, (a planar clip formed from internesting elongate wire loops), which has only one wrap around section 1,2.

2. Forming a fastener from wire combines well known manufacturing methods with a readily available raw material. The two wrap around section and two passing points enable the clip to provide three technical features previously unavailable in clips made from wire - the ability to work when applied to the corner of sheets, to provide a firmer grip than conventional wire clips and to resist the rotation of the sheets around the clip.

3. The term passing point is meant to refer to the regions where the sheets will be gripped when the fastener is placed with the two wrap around sections around the edges of the sheet, e.g. 3,9 and 11,17 in figure 3, rather than the region 8,12 were two parts of the fastener happen to pass close. At a passing point the two adjacent sections comprising the passing point will be on opposite sides of the sheets when the fastener is in place.

4. The upper jaw of the fastener comprises of sections 7,8,9,10,11,12,13 and will be on the top of the sheets when the fastener is in position.

5. The lower jaws of the fastener comprise of sections 4,5,6 and 14,15,16 and will be on the underside of the sheets when the fastener is placed in position.

6. The upper and lower jaws are shown in the embodiments illustrated in figures 3,4,5,6,7,8,9.

7. The upper and lower jaws will have substantially the same length when measured from the line 6,7,13,14 to 4,10,16; i.e. the distances 18 and 19 to be substantially the same.

8. Having upper and lower jaws of substantially the same length is advantageous for a number of reasons, in particular when a number of sheets held together by a paper fastener are leafed through, if the jaws are of equal length the possibility of catching a protruding part of the paper fastener on e.g. other sheets of paper is greatly reduced if not altogether overcome, the papers may be leafed through equally well either forwards or backwards along a well defined line (e.g. 4,10,16 of figure 3 ); and the clip is not placed under the same jaw separating forces as is the case if the jaws are of unequal length. It is to be noted that there is no obvious or straightforward way of altering the conventional plastic paper clip (e.g. as shown in figure 2) in a manner which enables the upper and lower jaws to be the same length.By contrast the paper fasteners shown in figures 3 to 9 all have the property that the upper and lower jaws are of substantially the length in the manner discussed above. Thus by combining the features of having two wrap around sections and upper and lower jaws of substantially the same length the fasteners shown in figures 3 to 9 all have the property of being able to securely fasten a number of loose sheets together both when in transit or in storage and when the pages are being leafed through.

9. It may be noted that the present invention holds the paper more firmly than other compact devices because the paper is gripped in at least two places 3,9 and 11,17 by a wire which is bent round the paper in two places 6,7 and 13,14. The conventional paper clip in figure 1 is only bent round the edge of the sheets of paper once at 1,2.

10. In the embodiments illustrated the wire (or other material) has sufficient strength and resilience for a paper fastener of a given size so that it may be pushed into position easily and hold the papers securely, while returning to its former shape after removal.

An example of a suitable material could be non-corrosive steel or a stiff aluminium alloy, though another metal, a suitably stiff plastic or other composite material could be used.

11. The wire may be coated or encased in plastic material since this enhances the appearance, makes it easier to push into position by reducing possible friction, and reduces the possibility of the paper being marked or creased 12. This type of paper fastener may be produced with many different appearances, some of which are referred in this application, which nevertheless embody the same principle.

13. The paper fastener of figure 3 is formed from a suitable stiff wire so that the sheets of paper will be fastened by being gripped at the two passing points, between the two sections 3 and 9 and also between the two sections 11 and 17 of the wire. The wire will be folded around the paper at the two wrap around sections 6,7 and 13,14. The two sides of the passing point at 3,9 are connected by the wrap around section 5,6,7,8. The upper jaw 7,8,9,10,11,12,13 will be on the top of the sheets and the lower jaws 4,5,6 and 14,15,16 will be on the underside of the sheets.

The sheets will then be gripped between the upper and lower jaws.

14. The method of applying the present fastener differs from that used in conventional paper clips (figures 1 & 2), as there are two inverted V sections at the base.

To use the fastener, the fastener should placed with the edge of the paper inserted into the V section 10,17,16. The loop 16 should be at the back of the sheets. The fastener may then be twisted with the pointed section 3,10,17 at the front of the sheets, and loop 16 placed behind the sheets. The fastener can then be pushed down into the correct position, with the edge of the sheets adjacent to 6,7 and 13,14. This application method, using the two inverted V sections 4,3,10 and 10,17,16, differs from the method commonly used in other paper-fasteners. The upper and lower jaws need to be of substantially the same length for this method of application to work well.

15. Advantageously this fastener may be shaped so that it works well at the corner of some sheets of paper and therefore allows the user to look through several sheets of paper by folding them over.

This is achieved by having: Part of the wrap around sections 5,6 and 14,15 disposed at 90 degrees to one another as illustrated so that these sections are in line with the edges of the paper when the fastener is placed on a corner; the passing-points 3,9 and 11,17 placed far enough from the edges of the paper when the fastener is in position on the sheets, to reduce the chance of them slipping of; the wire wraps round the paper sheets on both edges at the corner of the sheets, unlike the conventional paper-clip (figure 1) which only has one wrap around section 1,2.

Figures 3,4,5,6,7,8,9 illustrate embodiments of the device which have this advantage.

16. This device sits securely at the corner and maintains itself in position by gripping the paper between adjacent sections of the wire in at least two places. It is therefore an improvement on prior art such as the conventional paper-clip (figure 1) with only one wrap around section, because it has two wrap around sections and hence a stronger grip, making it is less likely to come adrift when the pages are being looked through.

A conventional staple has the advantage of a firm fastening but it perforates the paper and requires a stapler, a bulldog clip provides a firm grip but is bulky and expensive.

17. Advantageously the parts of the fastener which wrap around the edge of the paper sheets may be shaped so that there is a reasonable distance (figure 3) 5-8, 6-7 and 12-15, 13-14. This configuration is also shown in figures 4,5,6,7,8.

It is advantageous to leave a reasonable space here so that the fastener can accommodate more sheets of paper, and wrap around the paper without causing unnecessary curvature to the sheets. It also provides the fastener with extra resilience to cope with more sheets of paper.

18. Advantageously the ends of the wire may be curved into loops (figure 3) 4,16 (figure 4) 20,21 in order to avoid the risk of a rough end of the wire damaging, tearing or catching on the paper. This can also facilitate placing the fastener on the sheets as friction between the wire ends and the paper will be reduced.

The ends of the wire should be curved round into a loop which is in the plane formed by, for example, figure 3: 5,6,8,10,12,16.

Figure 4 also demonstrates these loops orientated away from each other. The loops may also be formed out of the plane of the fastener.

19. Advantageously the ends of the wire (figure 3) 4,16 which are curled tightly may be orientated towards each other so that they help to locate the edge or corner of the sheets as the fastener is pulled into position. This is intended to facilitate the location of the edge of the paper sheets between the V sections (figure 3: 4,3,10 and 10,17,16) when the fastener is being pushed into place.

This feature is particularly useful when the fastener is being placed on the corner of sheets, because the loops can catch the underside of the paper on both edges at the corner, prior to pushing the fastener into position.

20. Advantageously the fastener may be formed so that its sections lie in a single plane. This will enable the fastener to be used with either face upwards, and therefore enhance the ease of use. The manufacturing process is also simplified if the fastener lies in one plane.

21. Advantageously the passing point section in all the embodiments illustrated may be lengthened as illustrated in figures 6,7,8. The lengthened passing point 31,32,35,36 makes it easier to apply the fastener to the sheets and can increase the grip, as the length of the passing point is increased. This feature also improves the performance of the fastener as the sheets are less likely to be creased by the fastener, because the gripping of the sheets is extended over a larger area.

22. Figure 6 illustrates an embodiment of the fastener with the shape optimised for use on the edge of sheets.

The width 34 of the loop 32,35 is maximised at the top so that there is the maximum space available for the paper.

This reduces the curl induced in the paper by the fastener.

The distance 33 from the top of the fastener to the passing points is sufficient to ensure that the loop section 32,35 is long enough to have sufficient resilience, and that the passing point will be far enough down the page to provide a stable grip.

The passing point 31,32,35,36 is long enough to work effectively.

The lower section 24,25,27,29,30 comprising two inverted 'V's is of a sufficient size to make it easy to place the fastener onto the sheets.

23. Advantageously the fastener may be formed with a lip. For example, the section 25,27,29 of figure 6 may be shaped so that it is angled up out of the plane of the rest of the fastener, and forms a small lip. This raised lip can assist with the placement of the fastener on the edge of the sheets, as it helps to locate the fastener on the edge of the sheets. The lip may alternatively be formed from a smaller section, for example 26,27,28.

This lip may advantageously be combined with having the ends of the wire or wire end loops also being angled out of the plane of the fastener in the opposite direction, so as to assist with the placement of the fastener on the sheets.

24. Advantageously the fastener may be shaped as illustrated in figure 7, with the ends of sections 37 and 38 orientated towards the wrap around section.

25. The passing points 39,40 and 41,42 of the fastener may advantageously be non-parallel as illustrated in the embodiment of figure 8. This embodiment has the added advantage of requiring the lowest number of bends if the fastener is formed from a wirelike material, with the consequent manufacturing cost savings. It also has wide wrap around sections.

If this fastener (figure 8) is placed on the edge of some sheets close to the corner, the paper will fold easily over section 41,43 when the sheets are leafed through as the convenient folding line of the sheets is parallel and adjacent to the section 41,43.

26. Advantageously the fastener may also have the features illustrated in the figure 9: The ends of the wire 44 and 47 may have bends in them orientated towards each other as illustrated, as these bends may then help to locate the fastener when it is being placed on the corner of sheets. This configuration may provide manufacturing cost savings as this small bend may be easier to produce than the loops referred to earlier in this application.

The section 45,46 may be produced as illustrated, being substantially horizontal to 48-49, this orientation making it easier to leaf through the sheets as the section 45,46 will be parallel and adjacent to the convenient folding line in the paper when the sheets are folded over.

These features may also applied to the other embodiments illustrated in this application.

27. Advantageously the outer jaws of the fastener may be made longer than the central jaw to allow for larger V-sections or they may be made shorter than the central jaw so that they do not project far from the central jaw.

28. It will be appreciated that this device allows a considerable freedom in shaping the wire and combining the features as long as the functionality referred to in this application is maintained.

29. It will be appreciated that the examples shown have only two passing points. The number of passing points may of course be increased to 3,4 or more.

Claims (10)

CLAIMS 1. According to the present invention there is provided a paper fastener characterised in that it: 1.1 has upper and lower jaws of substantially the same length,

1.2 has at least two distinct passing points and at least two discrete wrap around sections. The two sides of each passing point are connected by a separate wrap around section.

By the term passing point is meant a region where one part of the fastener passes close to another part.

The term wrap around section refers to a part of the fastener which is so shaped as to allow one or more pieces of paper to be located in the wrap around section so that the portions of the fastener immediately adjacent to, but on either side of, the section are located on opposite facing sides of the paper.

The term passing point is meant to refer to the regions where the sheets will be gripped when the fastener is placed with the two wrap around sections around the edges of the sheet rather than a region were two parts of the fastener n)ay happen to pass close.

At a passing point the two adjacent sections comprising the passing point will be on opposite sides of the sheets when the fastener is in place.

2. Where the fastener has two wrap around sections, part of each will preferably be disposed at 90 degrees to one another, thus enabling the fastener to work well on the corner of sheets of paper. Furthermore, they will preferably be of varying lengths depending on the thickness of a set of sheets of paper to be fastened together, with the longer wrap around sections for those fasteners which are intended to fasten thicker sets of sheets together.

3. The paper is gripped between the jaws of the present fastener in more than one place by a wire which wraps round the paper in more than one place. Such a fastener therefore exerts more force than an example which only wraps around the paper edge once (e.g. the conventional paper clip of figure 1).

4. The two wrap around sections and passing points have not previously featured in a clip that may be made from made from a length of wire-like material. Forming a fastener from wire combines simple manufacturing methods with a low cost raw material which is robust and which users of conventional paper-clips are accustomed to.

5. Having two wrap around sections rather than one provides the technical feature previously unavailable in a wire paper clip of resisting the tendency of paper sheets to rotate (in the plane of the sheets) around the paper clip and thus move from their correct position.

6. The two ends of the wire may be bent into loops to ensure that the paper will not be damaged by the ends of the wire when the fastener is applied or removed. The ends of the wire may also be rounded off by other means.

7. Preferably the fastener is made of a strand of wire which may be advantageously coated in a plastics material. Alternatively the fastener may be made of a filament comprised of a plastics material throughout.

8. Preferably the fastener is formed from a discontinuous section of a wire-like material.

9. Conveniently the fastener may be so shaped as to be aesthetically decorative or to carry information such as the logo of a company.

10. A paper fastener substantially as herein described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.