US3570071A - Fastener means for loose leaf holders - Google Patents

Abstract

A FASTENER MEANS FOR TEMPORARILY INSERTING INDIVIDUAL LEAVES INTO A LOOSE LEAF HOLDER. THE MEANS COMPRISES (1) A LEAF OR INSERT HAVING ATTACHED THERETO AN INSERT GRIPPING MEANS ALONG AT LEAST A PORTION OF ONE EDGE, (2) AN ATTACHMENT PIN IN THE SHAPE OF A T ANCHORED BY ITS CROSSBAR IN THE FREE END OF THE INSERT MEANS AND WITH ITS CENTRAL SHAFT EXTENDING OUT FROM THE INSERT MEANS, (3) A BACKING MEANS ADAPTED TO PERMIT PENETRATION OF ITS RESILIENT SURFACE BY THE CENTRAL SHAFT OF THE T-SHAPED ATTACHMENT PIN. THE CENTRAL SHAFT OF THE ATTACHMENT PIN MAY BE ANGULARLY DISTORTED TO ENABLE IT TO BE MORE FIRMLY RETAINED WITHIN THE GRASP OF THE RESILIENT SURFACE WHICH IT PENETRATES. THE FASTENER MEANS BINDS THE LEAF INTO A HOLDER FORMED BY THE JOINDER OF THE FRONT AND BACK RECTANGULAR COVERS WITH THE BACKING MEANS. THE BACKING MEANS MAY BE COVERED ON ITS INTERIOR FACE WITH A FREE WIRE MESH SCREEN TO ASSIST IN THE FIXATION OF THE ATTACHMENT PINS TO THE BACKING MEANS.

Description

March 16, 1971 D. L. WARDELL 3,570,071

' FASTENER MEANS FOR LDOSE LEAF HOLDERS filed Jan. 1?, 19'69 INVENTOR. 'IGHT L. WARDELL A TTORNEV United States Patent Once 3,570,071 Patented Mar. 16, 1971 Int. 'Cl. B42f 1/00 US. C]. 24-67 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A fastener means for temporarily inserting individual leaves into a loose leaf holder. The means comprises 1) a leaf or insert having attached thereto an insert gripping means along at least a portion of one edge, (2) an attachment pin in the shape of a T anchored by its crossbar in the free end of the insert means and with its central shaft extending out from the insert means, (3) a backrng means adapted to permit penetration of its resilrent surface by the central shaft of the T-shaped attachment pm. The central shaft of the attachment pin may be angularly distorted to enable it to be more firmly retained withln the grasp of the resilient surface which it penetrates. The fastener means binds the leaf into a holder formed by the joinder of the front and back rectangular covers with the backing means. The backing means may be covered on its interior face with a fine wire mesh screen to assist in the fixation of the attachment pins to the backing means.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION There are several different forms of loose leaf holders presently on the market, but the use of all of these involves the infliction of some physical injury to the charts, musical sheets or other inserted matter removably bound therein. In the most commonly employed type of loose leaf holder, several holes are punched in the inserted sheet to enable the metal jaws of the ring-type fastener to pass through and retain the sheet therein. With this type of fastener means, however, frequent usage of the holder will cause the loose leaves or sheets to rip or tear between the edge of the sheet and the hole through which the ring passes. In still other instances, repeated opening and closing of the jaws of the ring binder will catch a portion of the sheet between the jaws and rip or tear it. 4

Ultimately, this damage can result in the loss of individual sheets entirely as well as damage if the tear is detected and repaired in time. In the case of photo prints, for example, such repair of the insert itself will result in at least a partial loss of the detail of the print at the point where the reinforcement is pasted over the damaged sheet. Moreover, with the use of the conventional ring-type binder devices, each of these require holes in the matter inserted to maintain connection between the holder and the inserted matter. But the normal one, two or three hole punch will not punch holes in metal sheets or plates of felt or heavy fiber-type material or Wood grain samples. Consequently, the fastening of these inserts into a replaceable holder requires special drilling of such holes if present binder devices are to be utilized. Finally, the use of metal ring-type binders demands that the holes must be made in the insert sheets at a predetermined spot on the insert so as to exactly match up with the position of the jaws of the metal ring clamps. If this is not done with accuracy, the insert is either wrinkled or a second hole must be punched or drilled in the insert resulting in further loss of copy.

A need, therefore, exists for a means of quickly and easily inserting loose leaf elements into a holder without the need for folding, stapling, punching or otherwise altering the inserted sheet. This fastener means must be such that individual insert sheets can be added or removed from the holder without disruption or disturbance of adjacent leaf members which are also mounted in the holder. Furthermore, such fastener means must be inexpensive and free of complicated locking and opening mechanisms yet sufficiently firm in its attachment to hold removable inserts of varying weight, size and material.

It is an object of the present invention to present to the art an improved fastener means which meets all of these criteria and at the same time avoids all of the deficiencies enumerated above and found in devices of the prior art. These and other objects of the invention will become clear from a review of the following descriptive specification and several drawings which illustrate the various aspects and preferred embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention pertains to an improved fastener for attachment of removable inserts, photos, pages, charts and the like without folding, tearing or punching holes therein. The fastener is designed and constructed so as to eliminate a locking or binding ring mechanism which frequently requires a disturbance of other inserts in the common binder ring to remove a single insert from the ring binder. This of course reduces the time required to pull out a single item as well as reducing the chances of loss of individual items from the binder by ripping or tearing of the insert at the point of attachment to the ring.

The fastener essentially comprises the following parts which will be more specifically pointed out and described in the several figures of drawing. First of all, the fastener of my invention requires an insert gripping means attached at one or more points along a leading edge of the insert. This gripping means can take more than one form of attachment to the insert. A preferred mode of such attachment is by means of a metal or plastic clip into which the insert slides so as to be frictionally engaged by both arms of the clip. These clips are normally one-half to one inch long (each arm) and from about one-quarter to one-half inch wide. A second or alternate form of this insert gripping means is a fold over pad of a material known commercially as Velcro. This pad which is about 1 inch by 2 inches is adhesively engaged with the insert along its edge by attachment of approximately one-half of the pad to the insert. The other half of the pad is folded over back on the first half and the two segments are removably locked together. This locking is achieved by commingling of a series of fibrous loops on the face of onehalf the pad with a series of fibrous hooks on the other half of the pad. At the fold of the pad, there is positioned a T-shaped attachment pin which has its crossbar buried along the line of the fold between the two halves of the pad and its long shaft piercing the fold and extending out therefrom. In the case of the metal or plastic clip form of insert gripper, the T-shaped attachment pin may be either embedded into the clip or punched through the fold if the clip is plastic. In any event, the final attachment element formed has one end designed to firmly grip the individual insert, the other end available for connection with a receptacle or backing. Noticeably both ends of the device are freely removable and attachable at the will of the user.

An important aspect of the fastener means of the present invention is the simple yet efficient manner of use of the central shaft of the T-shaped attachment pin. This shaft is double bent in a serpentine shape to enable it to penetrate the resilient body of a backing means or member and once having penetrated therein to remain securely aflixed thereto. The backing means most preferred in general use is one or more blocks or elements of a resilient material such as sponge rubber or cork which is held within a three-sided housing which is itself joined to the front, back and connecting panels of a loose leaf binder. Over the surface of the backing which is penetrated is disposed a thin wire mesh screen with a mesh size sufficient to permit entry and exit of the central shaft of the T- shaped attachment pin. In actual operation, this screen exerts a lateral restraining force upon the upper portion of the shaft at a time when the distal end of the shaft is buried within the resilient element. This lateral force maintains the long axis of the attachment pin at a substantial right angle to the surface of the resilient block and enables the serpentine oriented distal end of the shaft to remain hooked into the mass of sponge rubber until a substantial pressure is introduced to induce the withdrawal of the attachment pin.

Further aspects related to the manufacture and use of the improved fastener of this invention will become clear upon the consideration of the several drawings set forth in the following description of the invention as pointed out in the following FIGS. 1 through of the drawings to Wit:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the improved attachment means as it would be employed in a loose leaf holder for photos. The outer page of the photo insert 17 illustrates the type of attachment arrangement which would be typical for each of the hundreds of insert items collected and fastened in the holder.

FIG. 2 is a cross section taken along the line 22 of FIG. 1 showing the insertion of the attachment pin into the resilient receptacle of the backing.

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view taken along the line 33 of FIG. 2 showing the detail of the fastener of the invention as applied to the preferred embodiment of the invention wherein the insert gripping means is a clip which is frictionally attached to the photo insert.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of one of the insert gripping means, namely, attachment clip 18 as described in cross section in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of an alternate gripping means employing the pad of Velcro material in place of the clip-type attachment.

In the drawing is the central panel of the binder cover. This panel affords the base for affixing the resilient backing means 14 which means is held within a metal or hard plastic channel 13. The central panel is foldably attached to both a front panel 11 and a back panel 12 to comprise the entire binder cover. These panels may be made of rigid plastic sheet, cardboard or other suitable material. The metal channel 13 is generally glued back to back with the central panel of the binder. Placed within the channel in a position opposite the attachment members are two or more resilient attachment pin receptacles 14. These may be firmly textured sponge rubber blocks about /2 inch thick and about 2 inches wide. Over the surface of these receptacles is spread a fine mesh wire screen which is compressed between the vertical wall of the channel 13 and the receptacle 14 so as to form a lip or anchor 28 which implants itself in the rubber receptacle and holds the screen in firm position. This rubber attachment receptacle may extend the entire length of the channel if desired although it is preferably glued firmly into position in a series of blocks or quadrants. In addition to the fine mesh wire screen a thin layer of polyethylene or polypropylene may if desired be interposed between the resilient receptacle 14 and the fine mesh wire screen 15. This arrangement would be in the nature of a sandwich with the plastic sheet becoming the middle element therein. The fine mesh wire screen 15 is firmly secured over the top and anchored at 28 along the side of the block by pressing the edges of the screen into the sides of the block.

When it is desired to mount a loose leaf or insert 17 in the binder cover I prefer to employ attachment pins which have a crossbar head 20 and a shaft portion 21. The shaft portion has a serpentine bend 19 which upon insertion of the attachment pin through the aperture of the wire mesh screen in a twisting motion embeds the tip and the portion of the shaft having the serpentine bend into the resilient sponge rubber receptacle 14 while the upright section of the shaft portion 21 of the attachment pin remains in contact with the wire mesh screen 15 so as to be held from lateral movement which would tend to loosen it from its base. Hence while the crossbar head 20 of the attachment pin anchors the insert clip 18 or other insert gripping means to the attachment pin the remaining portion of the attachment pin ties this assembly into a connection with the resilient attachment pin receptacle 14.

Two alternate embodiments of the invention are described in the various figures of the drawing. For example, in FIG. 3 an insert gripping means 16 is shown which employs a clip 18 into which the insert is slid between two jaws which compress lightly the insert 17 therebetween to hold by frictional attachment the insert therein. This clip preferably is covered with a heavy tape 27 which also covers the crossbar head 20 of the attachment pin with the shaft portion 21 of the attachment pin passing through the tape so as to be free for insertion in the resilient attachment pin receptacle 14. Within this tape the crossbar head is freely movable an arc of about 240 degrees to permit the leaves or inserts held within the jaws of the attachment clip 18 to be quite capable of free lateral movement within the loose leaf binder while the anchoring shaft of the attachment pin 21 remains rigid and devoid of such lateral movement.

A second embodiment of the invention which employs a variant means of connection of the insert 17 to the crossbar head 20 of the attachment pin is illustrated in FIG. 5. In this device the insert has adhesively attached thereto at one or more points along its leading edge a strip of what is commercially known as Velcro fastener. This adhesive layer 22 is located on the back of one-half of a strip of Velcro. On its opposite face this strip has a fibrous loop segment 23 on one-half divided from the other half of the face by a fold which constitutes a recess 25 for the crossbar head 20 of the attachment pin when the Velcro strip is folded over itself. On the second half of the face of the strip is located a series of fibrous hooks 24. When the crossbar head 20 is lodged in the fold recess and its shaft 21 punched through the Velcro strip is folded over itself to engage the hooks segment 24 with the loops segment 23 and firmly anchor the crossbar head 20 between the two segments while permitting its shaft portion 21 to be free for further attachment. The crossbar head is in thi form also pivotally free to move laterally at least degrees.

Regardless of which of the above means are employed to connect the insert 17 with the attachment pin head 20 the loose leaf sheets or other insert items are mounted in the loose leaf holder by pressing the shaft portion 21 of the attachment pin through the openings of the screen 15 so as to penetrate a depth of about one-half inch into the firmly textured sponge rubber blocks. The dual wing tips 26 which are found on the tip of the attachment pin contribute to arrest of rotational motion of the attachment pin shaft once it is implanted. When it is desired to subsitute or remove a particular chart, card or other insert for replacement in the holder one can either slip the insert from between the jaws of the clip 18 or else pull the attachment pin shaft 21 out of the resilient receptacle 14 leaving the insert in the grip of the clip member. Much the same is true for the Velcro-type attachment except that the only means of separation of the insert from the binder is to pull the attachment pin out of the resilient receptacle.

It can be seen from the description of the invention that the various articles inserted in the loose leaf holder will be bound in that holder to a degree sufficient to prevent accidental dislodgement of the contents from the holder. However, at the same time the attachment or transposition of the inserts within the holder is sufiiciently controllable that in a few seconds time any items mounted therein can be reoriented with ease without damage or distortion of the physical makeup of the item.

While the foregoing description of my invention sets forth the concept thereof along with several preferred embodiments it is of course recognized that several modifications can be made within the broad scope of the inventive concept and it is my intention to include such modifications within my present invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A fastener means for temporarily inserting individual leaves into a loose leaf holder which comprises:

(a) a leaf or insert member having attached thereto an insert gripping means extending along at least a portion of one edge of said member;

(b) a T-shaped attachment pin anchored by its crossbar in the insert gripping means, with its central shaft extending out and away from the said means, said shaft of said attachment pin having an angular distortion therin to enable it to be retained within the grasp of a resilient surface which it contacts;

(0) a backing member comprising a resilient penetrable element of sufiicient depth to substantially surround and bury the angularly distorted shaft of the said attachment pin;

((1) a -fine wire mesh screen extending across substantially the entire surface of the said resilient element which faces the edge of the insert to lock the penetrating central shaft of the attachment pin from lateral movement while inserted in the said resilient element; and

(e) a channel for retaining said backing member in position such that the resilient element is surrounded on three sides by the fine wire mesh screen and held in compressive relation to one another within the vertical walls of the channel, and the exterior of the base wall of the channel being adhesively attached to the central panel of a loose leaf holder.

2. A fastener means according to claim 1 wherein the insert gripping means comprises a flat clip which is frictionally engaged with the edge of the insert member.

3. A fastener means according to claim 1 wherein the insert gripping means comprises a flat sheet adhesively attached on its inner surface to the insert member and on its opposite face having a series of loops of a fibrous material on one half of the sheet, and a series of hooks of a fibrous material on the other half of the sheet, with the first half folded over the second half, a T-shaped attachment pin anchored by its crossbar in the fold with its central shaft penetrating the sheet and extending out and away from said means.

4. A fastener means according to claim 1 wherein said angular distortion of said shaft is in the form of a double bend away from and returning to the long axis of the central shaft both bends being at an angle of from about to degrees from a line drawn along the long axis of the central shaft.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,999,633 4/1935 Greenhood 2467(A) 2,510,263 6/1950 Stein 2467(A)X 3,118,689 1/1964 Jones 2467(A)X STANLEY GI-LREATH, Primary Examiner

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