GB2311490A

GB2311490A - Paper clip with notepad

Info

Publication number: GB2311490A
Application number: GB9701085A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Robert Anthony Wilbert Lewis
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1997-01-20
Filing date: 1997-01-20
Publication date: 1997-10-01
Anticipated expiration: 2017-01-20
Also published as: GB9701085D0; GB2311490B

Description

"aÌN DOCUMENT fK)t1:ER sND DISPLAY DEVICE" This invention relates to a combined document holder and display device.

Of the various ways of holding papers together one of the commonest is the paper clip, and it has already been proposed to provide a giant paper clip by cutting a U-shaped slat in a generally rectangular body of a resilient plastics material so that a tongue can be pressed out of the plane of the remainder of the body to entrap papers it is desired to keep together in an impermanent way. While such a giant paper clip is sinple and cheap to manufacture it is of no greater usefulness than a oonventioaal one and it has no end advantage compensating for its bulkiness and weight.

The present invention proceeds fran the realisation that the relatively large surface area of such a giant clip affords the opportunity to use it also to present information, and moreover information which can be readily changed during use of the clip. Pads of so-called "Post-It" (RTM) notes have great usefulness in offices, because the weak adhesive holding together the pages of the pad will not harm documents to which they are applied and these notes (or notelets) can conveniently be used terporarily to "flag" documents as they are being preoessed.

An object of the present invention is to provide a device which combines the advantages of a large paper clip with a means of "flagging" the papers which it is holding together with appropriate written information which can be changed at will. Thus the "flag" of the device holding particular papers can, for example, be changed any number of times as the peppers concerned pass through different stations or different peocedures within an office.

If the clip and/or the pad which it bears is/are additionally colour-coded this will assist for example in routing or prioritising documents, but specific and detailed canents can accompany the clipped papers by being written on the uppermost sheet of the pad. This of course is discarded when it is obsolete and further information can be written on the next page of the pad thus exposed.

In acscrdbnce with the invention there is p m vi53d a carbined document holder and display device comprising a generally flat body of a stiffly resilient material having an aperture such that the body has a generally U shaped portion and a web portion joining the free ends of the limbs of the "U" and a tongue portion overlapping said aperture and having a root integral with said web portion, the arranges being such that the free end of the tongue is displeasable to entrap one or mone documents between the tongue and said U-shaped portion of the body, the body having on one side thereof means for the location and retention of a note pad made up of tearoff pages.

The aperture may be defined by a generally U-shaped slot, material of the body bounded by said slot providing said tongue. The root of the tongue may be cranked such that the tongue in its unstressed condition lies in a plane generally parallel with and spaced fan the plane of the aperture.

The said location and retention means may comprise a generally rectangular enclosure defined on three sides by ribs upstanding from one side of the body. The ribs may upstand from a front faee of the tongue.

The device may additionally be provided with a hanging tab integral with the back of the tongue such that said tab lies in generally the same plane as the U-shaped portion of the body.

The said note pad may be of the kind carprising pages held together by a strip of a weak adhesive along one edge of each page, whereby a lowermost one of said pages presents a strip of weak adhesive to the body.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of nonlimitative example with reference to the aooompanying Drawings, in Figures 1 and 2 are respectively a front and a rear perspeotive view of a device in accordance with the invention.

The configrration of the device 10 illustrated is such that it may be manufactured from a single sheet of a suitable plastics material in a single pressing/cutting operation. This of course greatly influences the cost per itan by comparison with dices of a more complex shape or those in=nrporating hinges, springs and the like. The sinplicity and hence cheapness of the device 10 adds to its versatility and usefulness, because no great care need be taken to preserve or recover it for reuse. This of course is a characteristic of the conventional paper-clip.

A central, generally reotangular area has been pressed out of the plane of the remainder of the sheet to provide a tongue 11 baed on three sides by a generally U-shaped slot formed in the body of the device 10, so that the latter has an aperture, overlapped by tongue 11, bounded by a generally Ushaped portion 12 of the body, the free ends of the limbs of the "U" being joined by a web portion 13 which is also the root of the tongue 11. This root 13 is cranked so that the tongue 11, in its unstressed condition, lies in a plane parallel with but spaced forwardly from the aperture. A hanging tab 14 is integral with the back of the tongue 11 50 as to lie generally in the plane of the aperture. This provides good balance and prevents the provision of the hanging tab 14 increasing the overall this of the device.

On the front face of the tongue 11 is a rectangular formation of three upstanding ribs 15, which jointly provide an enclosure, open downwardly, in which a pad 16 of "Post-It" notes can be closely accomodated. It is preferred to use small pads, i.e. between 35 and 50 mm in width, and the enclosure is of course appropriately dimensioned. The ribs 15 will protect the pad 16 against being accidentally brushed or scraped off the device 10, although reliance is placed mainly on the adhesive exposed by the lowerllet page of the pad 16 to keep the pad 16 on the device 10 while its pages are sucoessively removed.

Optionally and as shown the upper part of the tongue 11 may be formed with a recess 17 in which, for example, a strip may be ar--cmodated which displays information more permanent than is displayed by the exposed page of the "Past-It" pad 16.

In use of the device 10 selected papers are held together between the tongue 11 and the U-shaped portion 12 of the body and information relevant to the papers, for example vindicating what next must be done with them or where next they rmst go, is written on the exposed sheet of the pad 16. Once the task or destination thus indicated has been accomplished or reached this uppermost page of the pad 16 can be discarded and information concerning the next task or the next destination can be written on the newly-exposed page of the pad. The hanging tab 14 provides a convenient way of storing the papers without cluttering a desk, for example by passing its hole over a nail. Use of different colours for different devices 10 as well as for different pads 16 adds to the versatility of the device, as does the facility for displaying relatively permanent information afforded by the recess 17.

It is prey erred that the device 10 is made fran a plastics material but its shape lends itself to sinple manufacture fran other sheet materials such as metal.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A cnnbined document holder and display device comprising a generally flat body of a stiffly resilient material having an aperture such that the body has a generally U-shaped portion and a web portion joining the free ends of the limbs of the "U" and a tongue portion overlapping said aperture and having a root integral with said web portion, the arrangement being such that the free end of the tongue is displaceable to entrap one or more documents between the tongue and said U-shaped portion of the body, the body having on one side thereof means for the location and Invention of a note pad made up of tear-off pages.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the aperture is defined by a generally U-shaped slot, material of the body bombed by said slot providing said tongue.

3. A device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the root of the tongue is cranked such that the tongue in its unstressed condition lies in a plane generally parallel with and spaced fan the plane of the aperture.

4. A device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said location and retention means comprises a generally rectangular enclosure defined on three sides by ribs upstanding fran one side of the body.

5. A device as claimed in claim 4, wherein the ribs upstand fran a front face of the tongue.

6. A device as claimed in claim 3, or claim 4 or claim 5 as appendant to claim 3, and additionally provided with a hanging tab integral with the back of the tongue such that said tab lies in generally the same plane as the Ushaped portion of the body.

6. A device as claimed in any one of the preceding clains, wherein said note pad is of the kind comprising pages held together by a strip of a weak adhesive along one edge of each page, whereby a lawemasst one of said pages pttsents a strip of weak adhesive to the body.

7. A combined document holder and display device substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying Drawings .