US2024883A - Construction of bookbinding panels - Google Patents

Description

Patented Dec. 17, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CONSTRUCTION OF BOOKBINDING PANELS Frank Stanley Schade, Holyoke, Mass, assignor to National Blank Book Company, Holyoke, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application December 22, 1934, Serial No. 758,757

' These metal margins serve both to enhance the 3 Claims.

This invention relates to the manufacture of loose leaf books and the like and more particularly to the construction of decorative back panels for such books.

In the construction of the better grades of binders of the above character the casing elements are entirely, or in part, formed of real leather. Leather gives desired richness of appearance and superior wearing qualities to the binder, but lacks the stiffness and rigidity afforded by the less expensive and less attractive cloth or paper covered cardboard used in the cheaper binders. Moreover, where the construction of the binder exposes edges of the leather elements, these exposed edges tend to show wear in advance of the rest of the binder. For these, among other reasons, it has been customary in the past to employ other materials than leather in the back panels and this has detracted from the richness of the appearance of binders which were otherwise covered with genuine leather. Further difiiculty has been experienced in providing such binders with suitable means for identifying the contents of the binder without detracting from the appearance of the latter and in a manner to permit any desired change of the identifying indicia to be made without disfiguring the binder.

It is the principal object of the present invention to overcome the difficulties above set forth and provide a back panel, at reduced cost, having the advantages of an enhanced appearance due in part to the permitted use of leather in its construction, together with increased durability and improved means for supplying a changeable contents identification.

In the accompanying drawing,

Fig. l is a front view of a back panel made according to the invention, parts being broken away;

Fig. 2 is an end view of the panel shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a section substantially on line 33 of Fig. l, with parts removed;

Fig. 4 is a section substantially on line 4 l of Fig. 1, parts being shown in displaced position; and

Fig. 5 is a sectional View similar to Fig. 3 but showing an alternative construction.

Referring to the drawing, the panel is shown as comprising a strip of relatively thick leather I, reenforced and stiffened by a sheet of thin metal 2 which extends across the back of the panel and has its edge portions bent around the long edges of the leather strip and onto the face of the panel to provide narrow metallic margins 3.

appearance of the panel as a whole and to protect the edges of the leather strip. As best shown in Fig. 2 the metal member 2 is curved to give the panel a rounded book back shape. 5

As indicated at 4, the ends of the leather strip may be extended slightly beyond the ends of the metal member to carry out the limp or flexible characteristics usually associated with real leather binders and which to a degree has been destroyed by the stilf back panel necessitated by the mechanical structural requirements. The metal margins 3 may be cut back at their end portions as at 5 to further enhance the appearance of the panel.

Fig. 3 indicates one way to provide for the riveting of the back panel to the rest of the book. As is well known in loose leaf binders, the back panel rivets form the means for attaching the loose leaf structure and the back panel to the 20 book structure. This is so well known generally that I have not shown the rest of the loose leaf structure and the book in the drawing, but only the back panel which embodies my invention. The rivets, as indicated in Fig. 3, may have their 25 heads 2| lying between the leather strip and the metal holder 2. In this position they are well hidden. The shank 2!! of each rivet can then receive the loose leaf structure and when headed over will retain that and the back panel in place. 30 As will be seen, the rivets are then positioned for their complete function, not only with convenience but without marring the decorative surface of the leather. Other ways of applying the rivets can of course be used. But the decorative leather strip, its trough-shaped stiff metal holder, whose flanges contribute to the decoration, may be assembled with the rivets into a convenient and efficient back panel structure.

In one manner of constructing the panel the leather strip I is divided into two sections, as shown at l in Figs. 1 and 3, the adjacent ends of these sections being partially cut away across the width of the strip as at 8 to provide a recess having substantially vertical top and bottom walls 45 9. The sides of the recess are formed by the overhanging portions IU of the metal margins 3. The depth of the recess is made equal to the combined thickness of an indicia carrying sheet I I, formed of heavy paper or the like, and a protective sheet of transparent celluloid or other flexible transparent material indicated at I2. As shown in Fig. 4, one edge of both sheets I I and I2 is inserted under the overhanging portions I0 at one side of the recess, and the opposite edges of the sheets are then sprung under the opposite portion In so that the surface of the sheet 12 lies flush with the surface of the strip l, the stiffness of the sheets keeping them in place until intentionally removed.

There is some advantage in the facility with which the cuts 8 are made in making the strip 3 in two parts as above described. Furthermore, a large range of panel sizes, relative positions of the indicia member, and sizes of the latter may be obtained from a few standard pieces of varying length and width of cut back by variously combining the different pieces. If preferred, however, the strip I may be one piece, as shown in Fig. 5, and the indicia receiving recess is then formed by cutting a U-shaped channel I5 across the face of the strip. The overhanging portions III of the metal margin function in the same manner, and the proportions and construction of the parts are otherwise the same, as previously described.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the objects and advantages in'appearanceand construction set forth in the introduction to the specification have been attained and in a manner to reduce production costs.

I claim:

1. A back panel element in book construction for loose leaf binders and the like which comprises ,a strip of decorative leather of substantial thickness, a sheet of Vmetal extending across one face of the leather strip, the edges of the metal sheet being bent around the long edges of the leather strip'and onto the outer face of the latter to form metal margins for the decorative leather face of the panel, a recess formed in the outer surface of the leather strip and extending across the width of the strip beneath the said metal margins, and an indicia sheet and a transparent protective sheet inserted'in said recess with their outer edges releasably engaged beneath the metal margins at the ends of the recess, said recess having a depth substantially equal to the combined thickness of said indicia and protective sheets.

2. A back panel element in book construction for loose leaf binders and the like which com- 5 prises a strip of decorative leather of substantial thickness, a sheet of metal extending across one face of the leather strip, the edges of the metal sheet being bent around the long edges of the leather strip and onto the outer face of the latter 10 to form metal margins for the decorative leather face of the panel, said leather strip being formed in two pieces, the adjacent edges of said pieces being cut back to form a U-shaped recess extending across the outer face of the strip and be- 15 neath said metal margins, and an indicia sheet and a transparent protective sheet inserted in said recess with their outer edges releasably engaged beneath the metal margins at the ends of the recess, said recess having a depth substantially equal 20 to the combined thickness of said indicia and protective sheets. 7 V

3. In a book binding construction a composite outer back panel structure adapted to be secured to the inner back panel of the binder which com- 2 5 prises, astrip of decorative limp material, a transversely curved shallow trough-shaped metal hold- .er for said strip, the metal of said holder extending completely across the back of said strip and having its edges overlapping the long edges of 30 said strip and pressed against the outer surface of the strip to hold the strip in position and present a long. unbroken metallic binding along a 7 narrow margin of each long side, and rivets positioned with their heads lying between the metal 35 holder and said strip with their shanks extending outwardly from the back of the metal holder for securing the outer panel to the inner panel.

FRANK STANLEY SCHADE.

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