Abstract:
A revised adhesive fastener pack, and its arrangement in a book-like ringless paper binder, enables inserted pages to be turned, and the immediate filing of a paper by eliminating a separate fastening and unfastening step.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/395,311 filed Apr. 3, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,735,872, dated Jun. 15, 2010, which is incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to a new flat ringless binder for filing papers in a book-like format and where papers can instantly be inserted or removed, as an improvement over a conventional ring-binder. 
     OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A principal object of the invention is to provide a new paper ring binder type binder that does not require any preliminary steps before a paper can be secured or removed from the binder. 
     Another object of the invention is to provide a substitute for a retaining ring assembly in a binder that does not require papers that must be modified for the binder, such as punched holes and will immediately receive a paper. 
     A particular object of the invention is to provide an adhesive binder that is flat and permits immediate placement of a paper in the file, and removal of a paper by merely lifting it out of the binder. 
     A further object of the invention is to also provide a flat ringless paper binder that is compact and less costly as well as easier to use and carry. 
     Another object is to provide a simple, fasten on contact, book-type binder, where the inserted pages can be turned as pages in a book. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the flat ringless adhesive binder; 
         FIG. 2  is a plan view of the open binder, ready to accept a paper; 
         FIG. 3  is an exploded view of one of the adhesive fastener packs of  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a sectional view along line  4 - 4  of  FIG. 2 , showing the position of the adhesive fasteners and their components as a paper sheet is added to the binder. 
         FIG. 5  is a top perspective view of an individual fastener pack such as fastener pack  30  of  FIGS. 2 and 3 ; 
         FIG. 6  is a bottom perspective view of the adhesive fastener pack of  FIGS. 2 and 5 ; 
         FIG. 7  is a cross-sectional view of the flat ringless adhesive binder, which has a notebook or textbook section; 
         FIG. 8  is a cross section of a conventional PRIOR ART ring-binder; and 
         FIG. 9  is a perspective view of another flat ringless adhesive fastener binder configuration according to the invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring particularly to the drawings,  FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the closed flat ringless adhesive binder  10 . The front cover panel  12  is a typical binder panel such as those used for ring binders. 
     A flexible bending line  13  connects the front cover panel  12  to a narrow connecting panel  14  which is slightly wider than the projected width of the binders contents. A second bending line  15  connects the other side of the narrow connecting panel  12  to the back mounting panel  16 . This is the typical binder cover, but is unique because the narrow connecting panel  14  is substantially thinner than a ringbinder connecting panel. There is no need of extra width to accommodate the retaining rings of a ring binder. 
     The adhesive fasteners are paper-thin preferably polypropylene or similar flexible plastic material (about 2 mil), to provide the essential flexibility as well as being narrow and add less, therefore, to the width of the connecting panel. 
     The adhesive binder, unlike a PRIOR ART ring binder, is thinner, flat, and book-like and can be stacked and carried easily, in contrast to the generally triangular cross section of a PRIOR ART ring binder. However, the most useful feature of the binder is the ability to directly insert or remove a paper. This is the advantage of the adhesive fastener binder over the conventional ring binder. There is no need to open and close the rings and any paper can be filed. The paper does not have to be hole-punched. Additionally, papers held with adhesive fasteners will not tear out, as papers often do with papers filed in a ring binder. Also, a multi-page document is filed as a unit and held by the last page, so that it can be filed and removed as a single page. 
       FIG. 2  shows the open adhesive fastener binder  10  opened and ready to accept a paper. The previously filed papers are opened like a book, and lay on the front cover panel  12 . The back mounting panel  16 , with the top adhesive fastener pack  30  and the lower adhesive fastener pack  50  are mounted on the inner surface  18  of the back mounting panel  16 , are spaced for stability and better flexibility, are ready to receive a paper to be filed. 
       FIG. 3  is an enlarged partial view of the open adhesive binder of  FIG. 2 . The adhesive fastener packs  30  and  50  are mounted on the mounting panel inner surface  18  next to the inner bending line  15 , and are spaced to engage a filed paper about several inches from its top and from the bottom file paper edges. A single wider adhesive fastener pack mounted centrally could be used, but the two spaced and smaller width adhesive fastener packs provide more stability and flexibility. 
     The previously filed paper  21  is supported by narrow adhesive fastener  31  and its thin approximately one-eighth inch wide medium tack adhesive strip  33 . The adhesive strip  33  can be either directly coated on the adhesive fastener or it can be an adhesive coated tape laminated to the adhesive fastener  31 . The fastener  31  is a thin 2 mil polypropylene, polyethylene, or acetate narrow fastener piece, which is about one inch wide and one and a half inch long allowing for rotatable page-like mounting. 
       FIG. 4  is a cross section view along line  4 - 4  of  FIG. 2  showing the connection of the adhesive strip  33  (about one-eigth inch wide) to the paper sheet  21 . It also shows the alignment with the non-adhereable surface  32 , such as silicone, which is disposed on the bottom of adhesive fastener  31 . The non-adhereable surface as shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4  is wider than the adhesive strip  32 , with sufficient width (about three-eigths of an inch) to assure that it will align with and cover the adhesive strip  43  on the adhesive fastener  41  below it. All of the adhesive fasteners are identical, and are aligned and superposed. 
     The adhesive fastener packs  30  and  50  are the same. The adhesive fasteners are held together at their inner end by a double-sided permanent adhesive tape  45 , preferably. The adhesive fastener  31 , as shown in  FIG. 4 , has a bending section  34  that permits the attached pages to turn over to panel  12  easily in book-like fashion. It is approximately three-eighths although this can be varied for the side edge  21   a  of previously filed paper  21 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , when the previously filed paper  21  is turned over to the front cover side of the binder, adhesive fastener  31 , shown in  FIG. 3 , to receive another paper, adhesive fastener  31  is bent away from the next unattached adhesive fastener  41 . And, the non-adhereable surface  33  separates from the thin medium tack adhesive strip  43 . 
     The adhesive fastener binder  10 , with the turning of previously filed page  21 , is immediately ready to receive the next paper to be added. There is nothing left to do, but to place the next paper  60  on the back mounting panel inner surface  18 , with the paper inner edge section on the exposed thin medium tack adhesive strips of the adhesive fastener packs  30  and  50 . 
     This illustrates the recognition of this invention, unrealized heretofore, that in a ring binder assembly, rings were not necessary because with an adhesive fastener assembly the paper can also be filed in a book-like cover binder assembly. 
     Now the previously filed page could act to separate the fasteners, and also move the non-adhereable surface  32  away from its alignment and coverage of the thin medium tack adhesive strip  43 , on the uppermost unattached adhesive fastener  41 . 
     With the combining of placing the medium tack adhesive on the top surface of the adhesive fastener that will engage the next paper to be filed, and its covering by the non-adhereable surface on the adjacent paper-attached adhesive fastener above it, the action of moving of its attached paper will bend its fastener back and up to separate the two adhesive fasteners and simultaneously uncovers the medium tack adhesive, for engagement with the next paper to be filed, as shown in  FIG. 4 . 
     In this manner, both the need to separate the next fastener, to be used, and to remove a medium tack covering strip, are both accomplished with the turning of a page. 
       FIG. 4  shows the placement of the paper  60  on the adhesive fastener pack  30 . Paper  60  is placed on the unattached adhesive fastener  41  for engagement with the uncovered medium tack (8-12 ounces) adhesive strip  43 . 
     Preferably, a commercial coated tape is used. To assure adequate bending clearance, the inner edge  61   a  of placed paper  60  extends only slightly over the medium tack adhesive strip, and will not interfere with the bending section  44 . The non-adherable surface  42  is aligned with, and is wider than, the medium tack adhesive strip  43 . 
     Double-coated very high tack adhesive strips  45  hold the adhesive fasteners together. A similar strip holds the adhesive fastener packs in position on the inner surface  18  of the back mounting panel  16 , adjacent to the second bending line  15  and the narrow connecting panel  14 . Paper  60  after engaging the unattached adhesive fastener  41  of adhesive fastener pack  50 , can be turned as a page in a book, and lie flat because of its short length binding section across the narrow adhesive fastener. 
       FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the adhesive fastener pack  30 , shown in  FIG. 2 , showing the thin medium tack adhesive strip  33  on the upper surface of adhesive fastener  31 . The basic change from applicant&#39;s previous adhesive fastener embodiment(s) was the use of the previously filed paper to present the next unattached fastener of the adhesive fastener pack, and, make it ready to receive a paper immediately. The basic change in applicant&#39;s long-standing adhesive fastener embodiment(s) where the adhesive strip was placed on the under-side to now placing the adhesive strip on the adhesive fastener upper surface, coupled with the non-adhereable silicone coating on the adjacent adhesive fastener and, a narrower more flexible adhesive fastener provided a two panel pivoting, book-like page binding, led to the present development set forth herein. 
       FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the bottom of the adhesive fastener pack  30  of  FIG. 2  showing the underside of the bottom adhesive fastener. As mentioned previously, all the adhesive fasteners are the same. The non-adhereable surface  32 , and a double-coated permanent tack strip, which adheres to the inner surface  18  of the back mounting panel  16 , are shown. 
       FIG. 7  is a cross section of a further embodiment which is a modification of the previously described adhesive fastener binder. The combination notebook and adhesive fastener binder  70  has a front cover panel  72 , a narrow connecting panel  73 , and a back mounting page  74 . The adhesive fastener pack  75 , and filed papers  76 , are the same as described above. The compact flat binder construction permits inclusion of a notebook section  77 , the pages of which are bound and connected to the narrow connecting panel  73 . 
       FIG. 8  is a cross section of a PRIOR ART ring binder, illustrating the sloped panel and triangular configuration. The PRIOR ART ring binder  80  has the conventional rigid front panel  82 , narrow connecting panel  83 , and rigid back panel  84 . The metal ring  86  engages punched hole paper sheets  88 . Note the lost space around the ring rear section  87 , and the lost space in front of and behind the ring front portion  9 . The adhesive binder according to the invention does not have these drawbacks. The substitution of a plain file folder modified adhesive fastener assembly is a new use for an adhesive fastener assembly modified for book-type pivotal page mounting. 
       FIG. 9  is a perspective view of a further embodiment showing a modification of the adhesive fastener binder of  FIGS. 1-4 , in which the papers were filed chronologically. This modification permits the most recently filed papers to precede prior filed papers. 
     The adhesive fastener binder  100  has a rigid front cover panel  102  which has an interior mounting surface and a rigid back panel  104 , both flexibly connected to a narrow connecting panel, not shown. The cover panel construction is the same as that shown in  FIGS. 1-4 . Previously filed papers  105 , and the recently filed paper  106  are connected to adhesive fasteners in adhesive fastener packs  108  and  110 . The last filed paper  106  is held by adhesive fasteners  109  and  111 . In the same manner as shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 , binder  100  is opened, and page  106  is turned over, and the non-adhereable fasteners  109  and  111  uncover the thin medium tack strips  108   a  and  110   a.    
     The paper  120  is then placed in position on the front cover panel inner surface  103  with its inner side edge aligned with and adhered to the thin medium tack adhesive strips  108   a  and  110   a  of the two top adhesive fasteners of the adhesive fastener packs  108  and  110 . 
     A very significant and distinct feature of this invention is also the simple manner of removing any one of the filed papers. The paper is simply lifted out of the binder by lifting the top edge of the paper near the fastener to peel the paper off its two adhesive fasteners. 
     A paper that has been removed from the binder, is reinserted at its prior place in the binder in the same manner as a newly filed paper. To expose the thin medium tack adhesive strips for the returned paper, the mounting panel must be positioned as the bottom panel. 
     With respect to the fastener  31  of the invention, the free end section beyond the medium tack adhesive strip  32  provides some stability to aid in separation of the fasteners, and if necessary, a pull tab for release of the fastener from a paper in the file. 
     With respect to the binder cover, the cover panels are preferably rigid panels. But this invention also can be used in a unitary, flexible binder cover. 
     These and other advantages apparent from the foregoing description and drawings are considered etc. 
     While this invention has been described as having a preferred design, it is understood that it is capable of further modifications, and uses and/or adaptations of the invention and following in general the principle of the invention and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within the known or customary practice in the art to which the invention pertains, and as may be applied to the central features hereinbefore set forth, and fall within the scope of the invention.