US1857291A - Loose-leaf binder - Google Patents

Description

C; D. TRUSSELL LoosE LEAF- BINDR' Filed Dec. 1e, 195o um *`m| v AS?.

CLARENCE n. TEUssELL, E EOUGHKEEPSIE, NEW Yom;y Assieivon 'ro frnussELI.

Patented May 10, 1932 UNITED STATI-:s PATENT `oirilijci.

MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF POUGHKEEPSIE, NEW"YORK, A CORPORATION 0F NEW YORK j' LoosE-LEAEBINDEn Y Apvpncationiiea December 16, i930. seriaiNo. 502,63a`l f i i This invention relates to so-called ring binders for loose-leaf books. Siich binders comprise separable rings, the segments of which (hereinafter called prongs) are carried upon movablelsupports, usually in the form` of flat plates, whichhave a rocking engagement at their inner or adj aceiit edges and are pressed toward each other, their re ation being such that their movement between the closed and open positions of the rings carries them past an intermediate or neutral position or plane so that the spring stress acts through the plates to hold the prongs apart when open and to hold them pressed together when closed.- Such plates are commonly called toggle plates, because they have an effective toggle action as they'move in either direction past their neutral or mid position. The spring stress may be'variously imparted but is most commonly applied by means of a resilient sheet-metal back plate, the outer edges of which arefturned inwardly to form hoolis or concave longitudinal fianges which embrace the outer edges of the prong plates and form, in effect, rocking pivots at their engagement therewith. In some instances., however, the resilience is pro,- vided within the material of the prong plates themselves, which is to be regarded as an equivalent of the resilient back plate. In some cases, also, the structure is covered over with a top plate or cover plate which may itself be the resilient member or may, by its spring stress, supplement that of the back plate. Y

Such toggle prong plates as heretofore made have had a rocking or knife-edge engagement with one another at their meeting or adjacent edges. The present invention substitutes for this a varying rocking engagement by means of cam surfaces formed upon or projecting from the meeting or adjacent edges of the plates. These cams are so shaped that as the prongs openbytherising movement of the plates the rocking engagement of the cam faces presses'the plates `apart while causing their points of contact to descendrelatively to the plates. `The result is that their effective contact is brought much nearer to the medial line or neutral plane when the prongs -to close therings.

are opened than when they are closed. This has thefurther effect of giving a very much lighter effective spring stress to hold the prongs open than tliatwhich acts when they are closed together to hold them closed.

It is common with ring biiidersof this type to provide some sort of opener (sometimes called a booster) for forcing the plates up at their adjoining edges to open the rings. Such opener is constructed to provide an ade-l quate leverage for overcoming the stiffness vof the spring member by which the prongs are held closed together. It is desirable that the springs stress be such as to hold the hooks together with considerable firmness in order toavoid any possibility of their separating and spilling out the leaves or sheets, as well as to make provision for the gradual loss enL of spring stress which occurs in the course of time. With the ordinary binders the provision of such stiffness results in making it very difhcult to press theprongs together The present invention has the effect of greatly diminishing the eective spring stress when the prongs are opened while applying the maximum spring stress l,to hold the prongs closed. Thepreferable embodiment of the invention is that shown in thel accompanyingI drawings, wherein- Figure l is a transverse section of the loose ring mechanism in open position, taken on 'line 'l-j-lin Fig. 8, the usual cover and the vmeans for attaching the loose mechanism to the cover being omitted from the drawings. y

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal mid-section of one end portion of the binding mechanism.l j

Fig. 3 is a plan of the binding mechanism lshowing the prongs separated as in Fig. 1, a

portion of the cover plate being broken away to better show the internal construction.

4: isa transverse section similar to Fig. l but online 1 -4 in Fig. 8, `and with the prongs closed.

Figs. 5 and 6 are transverse sections much enlarged, showing, respectively, the. closed and open positions of the prongs, these views being in the plane of the line 5 6 in yFig. 3.

Fig.- 7-'is afragmeiitary plan andedge view showing'the 'cani oii one of` the prongV plates.

ioo

Y Vof the plates so as v.ment of the prong F ig. 8 is a similar plan and edge view of a modified shape of cam.

According to the drawings, A, A are the usual prongs or half-rings, sometimes called hooks, and B, B are the prong plates or toggle plates which carry them. These, as stated, have. a rocking engagement .attheir approaching edges and turn uponsubstantially -fixed axes attheir outer edges Where, in thel preferred construction, they are embraced between the inturned hook'fla'nges or channels c, c of the spring back plate C. Y. A cover a plate D is applied in such manner as to cover over and conceal the mechanism and is commonly formed with outer hooked flanges d, toembraCe the iiangesl c, c. As stated, the resilient effect may reside in the back plate C or it may be in the cover plate D, or Vit may be partly in each. Commonly, it is the back plate C which is Ymainly .relied uponr as the spring plate. In some instances in the art this back plate is so thick and stiff as to be substantially rigid, and the prong plates B, B are slotted or otherwise conformed so that theresilient effect occurs within the material of` these plates. These several constructions are regarded in the art as equivalents.

ln the particular construction shown theV prongs A, A are swaged or riveted into holes formed in the prongY plates. The inner or rocking edges of the plates are kept in alignment by being formed with lips b, b overlying one anther, this being a construction well understood in this art. The bearing engageplates is accomplished at suitable intervals by meansv of cam portions E, E which project slightly beyond the edges n to Ahold the latter apart slightly (as shown V'the cam portions E, Ey

occur. These `cam portions E, E are preferably bent down some'- .what from the main levelof theplate, as shown in Fig. 2 and in Fig. Th

.left-hand plates meet and engage Veach other with afrockingor rolling Contact. g This contact, as the plates rock, may travel from'one end of themating'cams to the other, or 'its Atravel may be in the direction of the thickness of engagement 'of the outer edges of the plates I with ithe hook flanges Y0, 0 on the back plate i' eo (or any equivalent points of .whatever lresilient'means is employed). In Fig-15, Where the prongs are closed together and-theplates lare down, the cams lengage engagementwith Y attheipoints w,rw,jwhich`points are some- :what remotely Ybelow the middle of .65

raw, whereas Vin Eig. 6, Where the prongs'are vof .the plates elsewhere,

Vin F ig. 3) except where `the prongs and diminishing n p ey are f formed in pairs so-that those on the right and the line separated to open the rings, gagement of the cams has points of contact to the points y, y, which are much closer above the. line than the points w, w are beneath that line. As the toggle action with respect to spring stress applied to the ends of the prongs is much more effective when the contact points (w, w) are remote from the neutral line than when they are, (as at y, y) close to that line, it follows that the springs stress is much more effective when the prongs are closed 'together than when theyrare opened apart.

ln action as the prongs are separated by the middle portion of the plates, the effective cam contact rolls downward, While at the same time the contact surfaces pass through the plane a2, a: between theouter pivotal edges of the plates so that when the plates reach their neutral position their Outer the rocking enbrought their the rising o .edges are materially separated, thereby forcing apart the lianges c, c of the spring plate;

`and as the plates pass this plane and move maintains nearly the entire increased Stress thus imparted tothe resilient member. In .this movement, of course, the effective contact points cross the medial line m, so that the spring .stress is .reversed in its .effective direction so that kin the position shown in Fig. l6, it is made effectivejto .hold the prongs separated. By reason of the fact that the cams are struck .downward from the -plates it is :quite practicableto carry the eifective contact points y., yv entirely below the loweredges s s .asis apparent, this rbeing .a -result .not heretofore attained.

s Thus 'this invention in .its practical applicav.tion .in effect redistributes the spring stress, .increasing its effect in the .closed position of its effect in their opened position; .the result is that .the prongs form'rnore perfect fclosedrngs whenthe book -is closed,and When the prongs-areseparated to .open the rings -it .ismuch easier to `close `them together :again .than heretofore. Y

ince the invention makes it much more Idifiicult than heretofore to separate the prongs, it is important to provide a suitable opener .affording vample leverage .for the Ipurpose. `Such .opener 4is yconstituted by 'a lever YF, as Ashown in Figs.` 2.and 3 fthe Vlong .arm

of which overhangs Vthe endof the .top plate D and the 'shortarm of which A'comes lunder Vthe adjacent edges ofthe prongplates which topry them up vand fopen .the prongs. Such Vopener v.may be variously constructed but is .preferably lofthe construction shown and described in detail .in mycompanion appli'cation'filedNovember` 26, 1930, Serial No. 4:98268-/` I Y The .shapeof vthefcams .may vbe ,greatly varied without: departing :tromlthe invention.

ig. `8 is an example wherein the Icarn, in-

l tegrally with the to apply my Sil stead of being pressed downwardly at an incline, as in Fig. 7, is embossed downwardly, its rolling surface g being suitably rounded.

This rounding may be on the same contour` shown in the cross-section Figs. 5 and 6.

rlhe cam surfaces may be considerably varied, the important thing being that the bearing contact of the plates is struck downward from the general plane of the plates so that their eifective points of Contact may vary in their relation to the neutral line'w, m during the movement of the plates, as has been described with reference to Figs. 5 and 6.

It is an important feature that there shall be a suitable relation between the effective cam surfaces in the open position (Fig. l6) and the -means for arrestingthe prong plates in that position. It is understood that the opening movement of the prongs is limited only by the internal construction of the mechanism whereby some suitable stop 1s provided to limit the upward Vmovement of the adjacent edges of the prong plates. This stop is conveniently applied to the top plate D, which is shown as having internal projections L, 7L in position to be abutted by some portion of theinner edges of one or both the prong plates, preferably by the lips b, b which, as shown, project somewhat above the top surfaces of the plates, and in the open position of the prongs strike against the stops h, as shown in Fig. 6. According to the present invention, the stops 7L are formed inplate D by swaging or cupping a portion of this plate downwardly in the proper position, as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. The positions chosenare those which coincide with the lips b, Z.

The construction may be modified to a considerable extent without departing from the invention, the scope of which is indicated by the claims. Y

In place of limiting the opening movement by the stops it, reciprocal stops may be applied to the two prong plates, an example of which is shown in my Patent No. 1,468,845, dated September 25, 1923.

The present invention does not necessitate that the bearing portions or rocking engagement of the prong plates shall be limited to projecting cam portions which force the inner edges of the plates elsewhere out of contact with one another. It is common in binders of this type to maintain an extended contact between the inner edges of the prong plates,an example being shown in my Patent No. 1,468,845, dated September 25, 1923;

present invention to that construction, the cams E, E need only come into mutual abutment as the plates in the opening movement swing to or above the neutral line While it is preferable to form the cams E, E integrally with the prong plates by suitable swaging or bending, yet it isto be Vunderstood that the invention is not limited to this integral construction, as the cam faces might be on separate pieces united to the plates.

I claim as my invention:

1. Loose leaf binding mechanism of the type comprising prong plates having a rocking engagement at their adjacent edges,

Vpressed resiliently together, andmovable to both sides of a neutral line so as to apply the resilient stress to hold the prongs in either open or closed position, characterized by the provision of said plates with cam portions acting to force themapart in moving to the open position. y

2. BindingV mechanism according to claim 1, the cam portions being bent down from the material of the plates.

3. Binding mechanism according to claim 1, the cam portions projecting downwardly from the plates and abutting at points below the center of the plates.

t. Binding'mechanism according to claim y 1, the cam portions having their engaging faces contoured to roll on each other with a rocking engagement during the opening and closing movements.

5. Binding mechanism according to claim 1, the cam portions having their engaging faces contoured to abut above such neutral line in the open position and below such line in the closed position.

6. Binding mechanism according to claim 1, the cam portions having their engaging faces contoured to abut above such neutral line in the open position and Vbelow such line in they closed position, their. abutment being nearer such line in the open position than in the closed position.

7 A loose leaf binder comprising prong plates and a spring back plate engaging their outerk edges, `the prong plates having projecting cam portions adapted, as the plates are moved to the open position, to force apart their' outer edges against Vthe stress of the my name. l

, CLARENCE D. TRUSSELL.

leaf binder comprising prong nok

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