US2071766A - Bookbinder construction - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 23, 1937. SCHADE 2,071,766

BOOKBINDER CONSTRUCTION Filed March 23, 1954 Fig.1..

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3 INVENTORI I ATTORNE S Patented Feb. 23, 1937 T E S pairs Si BGOKBKNDEE PATENT CONSTRUCTION Application March 23,

Claims.

The present invention is an improvement in the construction and arrangement for binding sheets of paper and the like into pad formation. It is particularly useful in making up blank books 5 or pads and will be disclosed in that relation although the same structural arrangement of parts may be used to bind maps, drawings, and other types of books where hinged sheets are desired in pad form.

The kind of pad formation in the prior art to which my improvements relate, can be found in U. S. Patent #1,5l6,932 of 1924. A variation of that prior patented construction is shown. in English Patent #219,547 of 1924. and another in U. S. Patent #1342326 of 1934.

Advantages in my structure over the prior art will be referred to in connection with the accompanying drawing and description.

In the drawing Fig. 1 illustrates my invention applied to a stenographers notebook shown as it lies open;

Fig. 2 shows the book open and with part of the leaves folded back on the others;

Fig. 3 shows the book closed;

Fig. 4 is a partial section through the book at the line of perforations;

Fig. 5 is a view like Fig. 4 but of a modified end construction; and

Fig. 6 is a modified detail.

In making up my improved book I punch the sheets to be bound with a series of closely spaced holes I. Ateach end of the series I provide enlarged openings, preferably in the form of elongated slots 2. Holes l are spaced apart approximately the same distance as the distance between coils of the binding wire. And the end slots 2 are generally speaking long enough to encompass two spaced holes in the preferred form.

That is, if the sheets were punched with the 40 spaced holes I and the last two holes were joined by a slot, such slots 2 would be made to serve my purpose.

The helically coiled wire 3 with open ends as in the prior art is threaded through the spaced holes I to join all the sheets of the pad together.

The ends of the coiled wire 3 are then pushed back against the side of the next adjacent coil and preferably welded thereto as at 3' in Fig. 4. The last turn of the wire in this'arrangement starts a thread-like form of reduced pitch so as to bring the last two coils together for a joint made as shown in the cylindrical surface of the wire and without any part of the wire outside or inside such cylindrical surface. This permanently closes the ends of coil 3 and makes a perma- 1934, Serial No. 716,951

ing the ends of the coiled wire 3 into several close- 1y adjacent turns 3" of the same inside and outside diameter as the helical turns, as in Fig. 5. In this form the elongated slots will be large enough to accommodate the extra turns.

The advantages of the construction disclosed in contrast with the prior art are as follows: Considering the use of the helically coiled wire as a binder, it is apparent that as leaves are turned over in the book they will shift transversely of the book. A 360-degree turn will shift the leaves the pitch distance of the helical coil or the distance between turns. This is apparent from the offset condition of the. leaves in Fig. 1. This transverse shifting action as the leaves are turned has caused considerable trouble with this type of binder. So far as I know, the prior art type of binder has always been made up with the plan of interchanging leaves as in a loose leaf binder. The ends of the coiled wire have been leftopen for this purpose. The shift of the leaves tended to work the sheet off the end of the wire. Prior Patent #1,942,026 shows one attempt to avoid this defect. But the ends as constructed in that patent have atendency to cramp the sheets as they turn over. My improvement involves the plan of taking full advantage of the fact that this type of binder can be made at such low cost as to warrant throwing it away when the originally bound sheets are used. As long as this is commercially feasible I convert the type of binder from a loose leaf type to a permanent type where the sheets will be assembled on the binder at the factory and nowhere else. The elfect is to give all the advantages in using the book of a loose leaf binder except the interchangeability of leaves. There are many advantages in having the leaves in the book bound much looser than in the ordinary permanently bound book. They will lieflatter and can be handled easier in a great many ways. So I have discarded the plan for the user of my binder to put new sheets in the binder. Individual sheets in my permanently bound book can be removed but new sheets cannot be put in. By adopting this plan I can make the particular type of binder that was formerly a loose leaf binder a permanent binder with greatly improved end construction. This consists in the provision of a coil-closing ring at each end of the helically coiled binder forming an integral part thereof and arranging such rings one at each end so that they ride in end slots long enough to compensate for the side shift when the leaves turn on the helix binder. The end construction then gives exactly the same freedom for the leaves to turn in the book as the helix does. There is no possibility of the sheets working off the ends of the binder or of cramping on the binder, no matter in what position the binder may be. And this is not true of the prior art. One of the principal features of my improved construction is in the permanent closure of the ends of the wire cage and provision for making such closure work properly with the bound sheets.

My improvement makes a most effective book, of low cost, and presents this prior art type of sheet binder for the first time with a finished appearance and without danger of the binder construction interfering with the turning of the leaves.

Variations may be made in the construction shown. For example, the elongated holes 2 may be opened up at the top and outer side 2' to provide notches rather than perforations. Such a variation will expose the permanently closed end rings as closed ends of the binder cage.

I claim:

1. A book binder construction comprising a stack of sheets provided with small holes adjacent one edge and enlarged holes adjacent the corners of that edge and in line with the small holes, a binding wire coiled into screw thread form and threaded loosely through said holes, the last coil of said wire at each end being threaded through one of said enlarged holes, the end portions of said wire each making a turn of screw thread form of reduced pitch so as to give a closed coil at each end of the wire and with both coils threaded through the enlarged holes at the respective ends, each of said closed end coils being permanently fastened together by a joint where the respective ends of the wire contact with an adjacent coil to make the closed end coils.

2. In a book binder construction of the type in which a single wire is threaded through small openings at the edges of sheets to bind them, the combination of sheets provided with a line of holes to receive the wire and with the end holes of said line being enlarged by substantially the amount necessary to encompass two spaced holes and a helically coiled wire threaded through said holes and with the last coil at each end of the wire closed up by joining the wire end to the adjacent coil without deflection out of the cylindrical form defined by the coiled turns of the wire.

3. In a book binder construction of the type in which a, single binder wire is threaded through a row of holes at the back of the book, the combination of the book sheets with the row of holes having the end holes elongated about the length of the spacing between the other holes and the binder wire helically coiled with its turns spaced to loosely thread its way through said holes, the last turns at each end of said wire being formed into a closed ring of the same diameter as the intermediate turns, the closed ring at each end of the binder being looped only through the elongated opening of the sheets at that end whereby the binder may be closed at the ends and the sheets can be readily turned on both the helical windings and the closed end rings of the binder construction.

4. The combination of a stack of loose sheets and a binder to hold the sheets together, said binder comprising a single piece of stiff wire helically wound into cylindrical screw thread form of a diameter substantially larger than the thickness of said stack of sheets, the screw thread form at the end of the binder being reduced so as to join the last two turns of the wire at each end of the cylindrical form, the end portions of the wire being fastened to their adjacent turns to form a true cylindrical series of coils from one end of the binder to the other with closed coils at the ends and all having the same diameter, said sheets having a series of holes for loosely threading the binder before closing the ends, the end holes of said series being enlarged to permit the ends of the binder to be formed into closed rings which may shift relative to the sheets as the latter turn on the helical coils.

5. The combination of a single piece wire binder formed of two closed rings spaced apart by a series of helical coils joining the rings and forming a cylindrical cage, said coils and rings having the same inside and outside diameter in all their parts, sheets of paper having a row of perforations the end ones being elongated in the direction of the row as compared to the intermediate perforations of the row engaged by the helical coils and rings whereby the sheets can freely swing and turn on all parts of the binder.

JOHN SCHADE.

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