US2851708A

US2851708A - Binder operating machine

Info

Publication number: US2851708A
Application number: US537758A
Authority: US
Inventors: Arthur L Ruck; Richard C Layne; Ralph E Dennis
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1955-09-30
Filing date: 1955-09-30
Publication date: 1958-09-16
Anticipated expiration: 1975-09-16

Description

Sept. 16, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 50. 1955 m M L L m m K M mcN V L N v I .D L. N E O R DH RA UHA HP X T ARR P YR o C vs Sept. 16, 1958 A. L. RUCK ETAL BINDER OPERATING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 30, 1955 INVENTORS. ARTHUR L. RUCK E. DENNIS BY RICHARD C. LAYNE CORBET T- MAHONEY & M l LLEFk RALPH United States Patent ()fiice 2,851,708 Patented Sept. 16, 1958 BINDER OPERATING MACHINE Arthur L. Ruck, Richard C. Layne, and Ralph E. Dennis, Columbus, Ohio Application September 30, 1955, Serial No. 537,758

1 Claim. (Cl. 11--1) Our invention relates to a binder operating machine. It has to do, more particularly, with a machine for operating a binder of the type which is made of thermoplastic material and which consists of a longitudinally extending backbone of semi-circular form having binder rings extending from one edge thereof around into overlapping relationship to the other edge thereof. This type of binder is commonly in use as a loose-leaf binder and is disclosed in the patent to Douvry No. 1,970,285 issued August 14, 1934. v

A binder of the type indicated is of such a nature that the rings thereof tend to stay in operative position where the free ends of the rings overlap the backbone. However, the thermoplastic material has sufiicient elasticity so that the free ends of the rings can be bent away from the backbone to permit the assembly or removal of properly punched loose-leaf sheets in relationship to the binder. However, in assembling or removing the sheets, it is necessary to provide a tool or machine which will hold the backbone and spread the rings relative thereto. The present invention relates to a machine for operating a binder of this type in this manner.

There have been various binder operating machines designed for spreading the rings relative to the backbone. However, all of these machines with which we are familiar employ hooks which are inserted in the rings and are then moved in a proper direction to spread the rings. In actuating the hooks with these prior art machines, two distinct movements are necessary, namely, a movement axially of the rings to insert the hooks into the rings and a movement at right angles to the first movement so that the hooks would engage the rings and spread them or, in other words, pull the free ends of the rings away from the backbone. These two distinct movements of the hooks required complicated mechanisms to accomplish such movements, such mechanisms usually embodying a slide movable in one direction, a slide movable at right angles thereto and cams and lost motion connections for accomplishing such movements under the control of a single operating handle.

It is the main object of our invention to provide a binder operating machine in which the ring-spreading members are moved by simple mechanism yet in which the ring-spreading members are quickly moved into the rings and spread the rings effectively.

According to our invention, we provide a machine which is provided with binder-supporting fingers which engage the backbone of the binder and support it in a fixed position. Associated with the supporting fingers and closely adjacent thereto in normal position are ringengaging fingers. These ring-engaging fingers project through guide slots which are angularly disposed relative to the positions of the binder rings when the binder is supported on the machine. These guide slots, in fact, extend angularly away from the binder-supporting fingers. The ring-engaging fingers are pivotally carried by a slide or carriage disposed on the machine and movable towards and from the supported position of the binder, that is,

towards and from the binder-supporting fingers. Thus, this carriage has a simple back and forth movement. During this simple back and forth movement the ringengaging fingers are moved by a simple continuous movement into and out of the binder rings, being guided by the guide slots while pivoting on the slide or carriage. During the forward movement of the carriage the ring-engaging fingers gradually move into the rings and engage the rings to spread them before the limit of movement of the carriage is reached. During the reverse movement of the carriage the ring-engaging fingers permit the rings to return to their initial positions and finally move out of the rings before the extent of return movement of the carriage is reached.

In the accompanying drawings we have illustrated the preferred embodiment of our invention. In these drawmgs:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view taken through our machine along line 11 of Figure 2.

Figure 2 is a transverse sectional view taken at right angles to that of Figure 1 along line 22 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a broken plan view of a portion of the machine shown in Figures 1 and 2.

Figure 4 is a detail illustrating how the ring-engaging fingers engage the rings and spread them.

With reference to the drawings, we have illustrated our machine as comprising a housing or casing 10 which has an upper wall 11 that is downwardly and forwardly inclined. The general arrangement is illustrated best in Figures 1 and 2. 7

As indicated in Figures 1 and 2, towards the upper end of the upper wall 11 there are provided a series of upstanding binder supporting fingers 12. These fingers are spaced apart distances corresponding to the spaces between the rings R of the binder which is shown in Figures 3 and 4. Each upstanding finger 12, as shown in Figure 3, projects up through the space S between adjacent rings R. They engage the backbone B of the binder and prevent it from moving forwardly and downwardly when the rings R are spread, as will be clear in the following description. The fingers 12 are substan tially the width of the spaces S between the rings R. Each finger 12 is angularly disposed relative to an integral attaching plate 13 which is suitably attached to the plate 11 on a recessed surface 14. With this arrangement, as shown in Figures 3 and 4, the binder can be slipped over a the upstanding fingers 12 so that the fingers will engage the backbone B and prevent the binder from rolling down the Wall 11.

Thus, the binder is supported in a fixed position on the plate or upper wall 11. To open the binder for removal or insertion of loose-leaves, it is necessary to spread the rings R from the initial rearward position indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 4 where the free ends of the rings overlap the backbone B to the final forward position shown by the full lines in Figure 4 where the free ends of the rings are widely spaced forwardly of the backbone 13. In other words, the rings R are rolled out forwardly on the supporting plate 11. This is accomplished by the provision of a series of pusher members indicated by the numerals 16 in the drawings.

Each pusher member 16 (Figures 3 and 4) is in the form of a main arm which has its rear or upper end pivoted at 17 to a slide or carriage member 18 within the casing 10 directly below the upper wall 11 thereof. This carriage or slide 18 is tilted so that the arms 16 are parallel to the plate 11. The arms 16, therefore, extend forwardly and downwardly. At the forward end of each arm 16 it is provided with an upstanding guide finger 19 which extends upwardly through an associated slot 20 through the associated slot 20. The upper end of each finger 19 is provided with a laterally directed ring-pushing element 21. The arms 16 correspond in number to the rings of the binder so that a pusher element 21 is provided for each ring R. The slots 20 are provided in similar number and are angularly disposed but are parallel with each other. As shown in Figure 3, each slot 20 extends thelength of each space S between the rings R of the expanded binder diagonally thereof. Relating the slots 20 to the supporting fingers 12, it will be noted that they extend from the fingers downwardly and forwardly and angularly from one edge of the fingers at least through the complete width of the fingers. It will be apparent that with this arrangement a simple straight-line movement of the carriage 18 forwardly and rearwardly in the casing 10 will produce an angular movement of the ring-engaging pusher elements 21 since the upstanding guide fingers 19 will engage the sides of the slots 20. With the binder supported as in Figures 3 and 4, this simple continuous angular movement, produced by forward movement of the carriage 18, will cause the pusher elements 21 to gradually enter into the rings R, engage the rings towards their forward sides and spread the rings away from the backbone B as shown in Figure 4. Reverse sliding movement of the carriage 18 will result in the pusher elements 21 being moved out of contact with the rings R and eventually out of the rings back to their initial position where they will be just ahead of and in line with the fingers 12. Obviously, the elements 21 will be of no greater extent laterally than the width of the binder-supporting fingers 12, that is, of no greater extent than the spaces S between the rings of the binder so that the binder may he slipped into position on the fingers 12 or be removed therefrom.

The carriagelS (Figures 1 and 2) is slidably mounted on a pair of guide rods 29 which extend forwardly and rear-wardly within the casing 10 and are inclined so that they are parallel to the upper wall 11. These rods are supported within the casing by the upstanding supports 30. The carriage is moved forwardly and rearwardly along the rods 29 by means of a link 31 which is pivoted to the carriage at 32 and to the upper end of a crank arm 33 at 34. This crank arm 33 is keyed to a transverse actuating shaft 35 which is rotatably mounted in bearings 37 and extends at one end through a side wall of the casing and which has an actuating handle 36 keyed thereon. Obviously, a simple'swinging movement from the handle 36 will produce forward and rearward move ment of the carriage 18 parallel to the upper wall 11 of the casing. This simple back and forth movement of the carriage 18 will result in the proper movement of the pusher elements 21 into the rings R and in engagement therewith to spread the rings and then movement out of engagement with the rings and finally out of the rings entirely.

It will be apparent from the above description that we have provided a simple machine for spreading the binder rings of a flexible binder of the type indicated which includes a backbone and binder rings supported thereby. The mechanism is extremely simple since only a straightline movement of the carriage, which carries the ringengaging elements, is necessary to position these elements in the rings to engage the rings and then spread them. This simple movement of the carriage results in the desired movement of the ring-engaging elements because of the provision of the angular slotsdisposed relative to the supported position of the binder in the manner previously described.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is:

A machine for actuating a binder of the type which includes a longitudinally extending backbone having flexible split rings disposed in spaced relationship therealong and adapted to be spread relative to the backbone to permit insertion or removal of punched loose-leaf elements, comprising a supporting surface on which the binder is adapted to rest, supporting fingers extending upwardly from said surface and spaced apart the width of the rings of said binder so that when the binder is supported on said surface the fingers will extend upwardly between the rings ahead of said backbone, ringengaging members supported directly ahead of said fingers and being of less lateral extent than said fingers and of the spaces between said rings, said ring-engaging members having guide portions disposed in guide slots in said supporting surface, each of which extends forwardly and angularly from a point at one edge of the associated supporting finger laterally at least to a point in alignment with the opposite edge of said finger, said ringengaging members being in the form of arms pivoted to a carriage below said supporting surface for lateral swinging movement, said guide portions consisting of upstanding guide fingers which extend upwardly through said slots, and means for moving said carriage forwardly so as to move ring-engaging members forwardly and angularly relative to said supporting fingers so that said members wil move into the rings of a binder supported thereby and will engage said rings at their forward side to spread said rings forwardly relative to said backbone.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,257,714 Emmer Sept. 30, 1941 2,304,630 Emmer Dec. 8, 1942 2,334,815 Emmer Nov. 23, 1943