GB2494205A

GB2494205A - Magnetic device to hold loose sheets of paper

Info

Publication number: GB2494205A
Application number: GB201115316A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Ardle Mcdonough
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2011-09-05
Filing date: 2011-09-05
Publication date: 2013-03-06
Also published as: GB201115316D0

Abstract

A magnetic device to hold loose sheets of paper which may be incorporated in to a book, into a folder, or onto a board. Such a device allowing for the filing and bookbinding of loose sheets of paper to be enabled using magnetic forces. Also for using magnets on a clipboard arrangement. A book cover 4 or file cover 4 may be fitted with a magnet 2 or an object that is attracted to a magnet. The magnet may be fitted to a flap 1 or a sleeve, a wire, a ring, or a cable. The magnet may be fitted to a flap fastened at the top of the folder, thus allowing the magnet to be positioned on one or other of the faces of the folder. Other features may also be included along with the magnets allowing the loose leaf pages to be neatly positioned within the folder.

Description

Title: Devices to hold loose sheets of paper

Background

The inventions in this patent application are all based on the same principle and cure a variety of problems in the filing and bookbinding sectors, as well as ancillary industries, such as clipboard making.

The problems in these sectors are as follow:

Filing

Holes need to be punched in paper that is filed. Hole punches need to be kept on desks to punch holes in paper that is to be filed. Holes punched are occasionally in the wrong place on the paper, leading to untidy files. Also, holes that are punched can subsequently rip or they can be made too large by re-punching a hole to fix a placement error.

Bookbinding

Bookbinding needs to be done by professional binders. Bookbinding needs to be performed separately on each book. With the advent of e-books or electronic books, it is possible to buy books online that can be downloaded to an e-book reader. Some people do not like to read from a computer screen and would prefer to read from paper.

Clipboard

The spring clip on clipboards can make a clipboard bulky and difficult to carry with other objects.

Statement of Invention

Filing and Bookbinding

The invention proposes magnetic attraction to be used to bind loose paper sheets together. The invention would allow for the magnets to be separated and joined at will, with or without paper between them. Magnetic pull is used to hold the pages together in the file or book.

A lever can be included to separate magnets from other magnets or objects attracted to magnets by reversing the polarity of one side of the field when the lever is pushed or pulled, which allows the magnets to be separated more easily, as in Figure 23.

The magnet or magnets would be held on a ring or wire or the like, as in Figure 11 , or in a flap or a sleeve or the like, as in Figure 14.

When removing or adding paper to a file or book or the like containing paper, a divider or a pair of dividers, as in Figure 19, that is attracted to a magnetic field is used to hold the paper in the file or book or the like with the creation of a magnetic field between the divider and the object exerting the magnetic field. The magnets or objects attracted to the magnets could be curved to facilitate easier passing of the divider, as in Figure 24 and Figure 25.

To further prevent paper slipping from the book or file or the like, a cable or wire or string or tape or band or the like can be attached to the divider, as in Figure 19 and connected to the cover of the file or book or the like to wrap around the paper, when it is being separated.

Also, a device could be added that can be pulled out to form a corner or shelf which serves to hold loose paper, if it is needed, and folded back into the cover or connected back onto the cover, as in Figure 22.

A bar or band or cable or the like can be added to the middle of the two covers of a file or book or the like to prevent paper from slipping through and hold paper uniformly as it is being inserted, as in Figure 21.

A bar could be hooked or rested on an object on the opposite cover to prevent paper slipping when it is being added on or taken off or to make the addition of paper be more uniform in terms of alignment of the paper, as in Figure 26.

It is not intended that all the various items shown in the drawings would be used on each paperholding device. Rather, varying combinations of these items that best suits the purpose for which the file or book or the like is intended would be used.

Clipboard

The invention proposes a flap or other holding device containing magnets, meaning an object that produces or is surrounded by a magnetic field and can attract a ferromagnetic substance, which secures paper to the board at the top or side of the board by attraction to another magnetic object or object attracted to a magnetic field, as in Figures 1 to 10.

The magnets would take the place of the clip, meaning that the board would become a magnetboard, rather than a clipboard, but the term "clipboard" is used for ease of understanding. Advantages

Filing

The devices in this invention retain paper through the use of a magnetic field.

The current solution in filing to holding loose sheets of paper is to punch holes in paper to hook it together, when it is not bound. This is not a feasible solution in all cases and is not desirable in some cases.

The invention allows for paper to be filed without punching holes in it, thus retaining the paper in its original condition, which can be important for legal documents, for example.

It also allows for a less cluttered work desk, removing the need for a hole punch to be used and it allows for faster filing of large amounts of paper and faster removal of large amounts of paper from a file.

Bookbinding

The invention allows people to print books themselves or to have a commercial printer print a book or similar document from an electronic document and insert the loose pages into a book cover that would hold or bind the pages together magnetically.

This allows publishers and booksellers to reduce their overheads by simply selling licences to use or print a document.

It also allows for people to buy documents, such as novels, on the internet or through other media and print them in their own house, thus saving a trip to the bookshop and minimising the delay in ordering books or other such documents to be delivered by post. It could reduce costs involved in books, since no binding is required.

A reduction in costs would be dependent on commercial printers providing a cost effective service, or paper and ink for a personal printer being at a low enough cost to make printing feasible. This should be well achieveable and perhaps even further reduce costs of paper books, with sufficient demand for the relevant paper and ink.

There is also an advantage for the environment. People who want to read from paper, as opposed to from a computer screen, must order a book that has to be brought to where they are. If paper production becomes more localised in the future as more renewable forests are developed and oil costs make transport more expensive, the paper used in the printing by an individual, as proposed above, would have a much shorter distance to travel, thus lessening the carbon footprint of books. People may also be more conscious of where their paper is coming from in the future, which would make locally sourcing more popular still.

Clipboard

The invention allows for less bulk in clipboards and easier carrying and transport of clipboards, since the clip is replaced by a flap or a sleeve or the like containing a magnet or with a magnet on it. Magnets can be used in a way that makes the clipboard or magnetboard, as it were, relatively flat, since a spring is not required, as would be required by a standard clipboard. Drawings Information

The drawings on the pages marked in handwriting Page 1 to Page 5 are not intended to be exhaustive versions of the patent claims made. They merely serve as examples of some versions of the patent claims for illustration purposes. The drawings do not represent scale versions of the patent claims. A flap could be shown as a single magnet on a ring or wire or in a variety of shapes and sizes, none of which affect the fact that the claims are intended as the true base of the patent, rather than the drawings, which are for illustration purposes only. Likewise, there are many ways of making the corner device, which could be used to hold paper as an additional aid. These are not all shown here, nor are all the ways of making the lever device to separate objects attracted by magnetic attraction, but the principle claimed as the invention in this patent application is illustrated in a basic format here.

1 - flap, sleeve, wire, ring, cable or the like holding an object exerting a magnetic field or an object that is attracted to a magnetic field.

2 - an object exerting a magnetic field or an object that is attracted to a magnetic field.

3 - a board

4 - a file cover or a book cover or the like

5 - an axis around which a magnet or object attracted to a magnetic field can move

6 - a lever allowing a magnet or magnets or an object attracted to a magnetic field to be moved on an axis

7 - a divider causing the magnetic pull between a magnet and another magnet or an object attracted to a magnetic field to be diverted to the divider

8 - a magnet placed on the cover of the file or book or the like, which is used to hold the divider by magnetic attraction

9 - a wire or cable or band or the like, elasticated or retractable or not, used to attach the divider to the cover or paper-holding mechanism

10 - a sheath used to hold the divider

11 - an object forming a corner or a shelf when pulled out from the file or book cover or the like

12 - a magnet or magnetised object used to hold the object forming a corner or a shelf when pulled out from the file or book cover or the like

13 - a sheath used to hold the object forming a corner or a shelf when pulled out from the file or book cover or the like

14 - a bar, band, cable, wire or the like, attached to the cover or the holding mechanism and placed behind the magnets or objects attracted to magnets to prevent paper slipping towards the spine and to allow paper to be placed more uniformly 15 - a protective covering to prevent magnets shattering on impact with other objects

16 - a wheel or other object which forms a fulcrum on which the lever can move

17 - a curvature on a magnet or the object attracted to it, which is used to hold paper between it and the magnet, to allow for easier passage of the divider into the magnetic field

18 - a bar which attaches to a clip or hook or the like

19 - a clip or hook or the like

Claims

Claims Claim 1 : A paper holding device which uses magnetic attraction, meaning the attraction between an object that produces or is surrounded by a magnetic field and can attract a ferromagnetic substance and an object that is attracted to a magnetic field or another magnet, between a magnet or object attracted to a magnetic field in or on a flap or a sleeve or a ring or wire or the like to hold loose sheets of paper together in a file or a book or the like or to a board by attraction to another magnet or object attracted to a magnetic field or object exerting a magnetic field. Claim 2: A paper holding device according to claim 1, in which the magnets, magnetised substance or objects attracted to a magnetic field, are contained in or on a flap, sleeve, ring, wire or the like, which is used to hold a magnet or magnets that connect(s) to another magnet or magnets or object attracted to a magnetic field on one of the covers of the file or book or board or on another flap, sleeve, ring, wire or the like. Claim 3: A paper holding device according to claim 2, in which the magnets can move on an axis, such that the north pole moves towards the position the south pole had been in and the south pole moves towards the position the north pole had been in. Claim 4: A paper holding device according to claim 3, with a lever mechanism that is capable of moving the magnet or magnets on one side of the file or book. Claim 5 : A paper holding device according to claim 1 , which involves the use of a bar or band or cable or the like behind the magnet or magnets or objects attracted to a magnetic field to place loose paper sheets in a more uniform manner. Claim 6: A paper holding device according to claim 1, which involves the use of a bar or band or cable or the like behind the magnet or magnets or objects attracted to a magnetic field to prevent paper sheets from slipping toward the spine of the cover of the file or book or the like. Claim 7: A paper holding device according to claim 1, which includes the use of an object or objects attracted to a magnetic field to split the magnetic field and to hold paper by the attraction between it and the object exerting the magnetic field. Claim 8: A paper holding device according to claim 1, which includes an object according to claim 7, with the addition of a cable or wire or string or tape or band or the like to attach the object used to split the magnetic field, as described in claim 7, to the cover of the file or book or the like. Claim 9: A paper holding device according to claim 1, which includes a magnet or magnets to adhere the object used to split the magnetic field, according to claim 7, to the cover of the file or book. Claim 10: A paper holding device according to claim 1, which involves the use of a sleeve in the cover of the book or file to sheath the object used to split the magnetic field according to claim 7. Claim 11 : A paper holding device according to claim 1, which includes an object that can be pulled out to form a corner or a shelf to hold loose paper in place and can be folded back to a relatively flat state on the cover of the book or file or board. Claim 12: A paper holding device according to claim 11, in which the object, which can be pulled out to form a comer or a shelf, can be attached to the cover of the book or file or board by a magnetic field or a hook or other holding device or sleeve or sheath. Claim 13 - A paper holding device according to claim 1 , which includes a bar or the like on one of the covers of a book or file or the like, which attaches to a hook or clip or the like on a cover on the opposite side of the book or file or the like.