Patent ID: 6964537
Filing Date: 2005-11-15
Classification: B42F,Y10T

Abstract:
1. In combination, a plurality of sheets of paper disposed one atop another to form a stack having top and bottom sheets and defining a binding edge of said stack, an opposite edge of said stack parallel to said binding edge, and a narrow binding margin on said stack adjacent to said binding edge; a document binder formed of a single sheet of flat, expansive material, folded to delineate a plurality of panels including a back binding panel located beneath said stack and extending beneath said binding margin, a narrow binding panel joined to said back binding panel and residing above said stack and said narrow binding margin thereof and having a width no greater than the width of said binding margin, a binding return panel joined to said narrow binding panel at a return fold and located beneath said narrow binding panel and projecting from said return fold back toward said binding edge of said stack, and a top binding panel located atop said stack above said top sheet thereof and beneath said binding return panel and delineated therefrom by a margin fold and extending from the proximity of said binding edge of said stack across said top sheet to at least said opposite edge of said stack, wherein said binding return panel has a downwardly facing surface secured throughout to said top binding panel in face-to-face relationship therewith between said return fold and said margin fold; and a stiff, resilient, elongated channel-shaped clasp of uniform cross section throughout formed with a pair of jaws joined together and projecting outwardly from their junction to define a gap therebetween, and at least one of said jaws terminates in a hooked lip, and said binding edge of said stack is inserted into said gap so that said hooked lip is engaged with said document binder at said return fold therein to restrict relative movement between said clasp and said stack in a direction perpendicular to said binding edge, and said clasp has sufficient stiffness so that said jaws clamp said sheets of paper together between said top and back binding panels of said document binder, and said clasp is detachable from said document binder to permit separation of said plurality of said sheets of paper from said binder.