Seal for notebook and album rings

A seal is provided for notebooks and albums to prevent inadvertent opening of the rings and to prevent pilferage of paper, photo album insert sheets and the like. The seal is a continuous band or overlapped loop of plastic material which is heat-shrunk over the rings. In the most preferred embodiment, the material used for the seal in spot welded, such as by ultrasonic welding, to hold it in place during the heat-shrink operation.

Cross-References To Related Applications, If Any: None 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates generally to the art of notebooks and albums, 
which include rings which may be opened and closed and which are adapted 
to hold paper, photo insert sheets and the like. In its most preferred 
embodiment, the present invention relates to the use of a seal for the 
rings to prevent inadvertent opening thereof during shipment and to 
prevent pilferage of the paper or insert sheets at the retail location. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
It is well-known in the notebook and album art to use rings for holding 
punched paper, photo insert sheets and the like. When used in this patent 
application, the terms "notebook" and "album" are not to be taken as 
limiting, as a wide variety of products include such rings for holding a 
wide variety of sheet materials. For example, calendars, time organizers , 
other stationery supplies, school supplies, engineering notebooks, artist 
supplies and the like employ such rings. 
The mechanisms by which the rings of such articles are opened and closed 
are also well-known and, in and of themselves, do not form part of the 
present invention. Some rings are made to open by merely grasping the two 
rings and pulling them apart, while others are more sophisticated and are 
arranged to be opened by pressing a tab or lever associated with a metal 
or plastic spline which is encountered in numerous of such products. In 
more simple articles, the rings may be simply attached to the plastic, 
paper or other material from which the final notebook or album is made. 
In addition, a wide variety of shapes have evolved for such rings. The most 
common types of rings are mating, oppositely arranged, C-shaped rings 
which typically include teeth at their mating ends to engage one another 
when fully closed. Other types of ring systems include one C-shaped ring 
and one ring which is generally flat on one side. The present invention 
has general applicability to all such ring systems, opening mechanisms and 
ring shapes. 
One problem encountered in the manufacture and distribution of articles 
employing such rings is the opening thereof during packaging, shipment and 
in the sales environment. It would be desirable to have a system for 
preventing inadvertent opening of the rings. 
Another separate issue related to the manufacture, distribution and sale of 
articles employing such rings is the problem of pilferage. For example, it 
is frequently encountered that someone looking to purchase a photo album 
will open one album supplied with a fixed number of photo insert sheets. 
Replacement or additional sheets are typically sold by the manufacturers 
and retailers for use with such albums. By simply removing such insert 
sheets from another complete album set or by adding a replacement at and 
inserting them into the first album, a customer can effectively increase 
the capacity of the album without paying the cost of the extra insert 
sheets. The cost of such pilferage amounts to substantial dollars for the 
manufacturers and retailers in this industry. It would also be desirable 
to have a system for preventing such pilferage. 
FEATURES AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is a primary feature of the present invention to provide an inexpensive 
and easy to use system for preventing inadvertent ring opening in the 
distribution and sale of notebooks and albums. 
Another primary feature of the present invention is to provide an 
inexpensive and easy to use seal to prevent pilferage of the sheets used 
with such notebooks and albums. 
Another feature of the present invention is to provide a system which 
prevents pilferage and/or ring opening and which is readily adaptable to a 
variety of album and ring configurations and shapes. 
Another feature of the present invention is to provide a system for adding 
a seal to notebooks and albums which can be accomplished on high speed 
assembly lines, without significantly reducing the line speed or 
significantly increasing manufacturing cost. 
How these and other objects of the present invention are accomplished will 
be described in the following Detailed Description of the Preferred and 
Alternate Embodiment of the Invention taken in conjunction with the 
FIGURES. Generally, however, the features are provided by a seal for the 
rings of notebooks and albums which is in the form of a continuous loop, 
which loop may be integral or overlapped at its ends to form the loop. The 
preferred material for constructing the seal is a heat-shrinkable plastic, 
and the seal is constructed and arranged to slide easily over a ring as 
the first step in the installation process. An alternate, but preferred 
form of the invention comprises a second step of "tacking" opposing sides 
of the loop together in the area defined by the rings to hold the seal in 
place for subsequent operations. The tack may be performed by welding, 
such as by welding, most preferable ultrasonic welding. The seal is then 
constricted over the ring, preferably by heat-shrinking using a heated air 
flow or a hot environment which causes the seal material to shrink. In the 
most preferred form of the invention, the seal surrounds an arc of at 
least one ring in the notebook or album so that when it is in its 
constricted condition, it cannot be easily removed without cutting the 
plastic material. Other ways in which the features of the invention are 
accomplished will become apparent to those skilled in the art after they 
have read the following detailed description, and such other ways are 
deemed to fall within the scope of the present invention if they fall 
within the scope of the claims which follow.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED AND ALTERNATE EMBODIMENT 
Before proceeding to the Detailed Description of the Preferred and 
Alternate Embodiment of the present invention, several generally comments 
can be made about the applicability and scope of the present invention. 
First, the material used for the bands illustrated in the drawings is 
preferably PVC (polyvinylchloride) and is the same material which is 
currently used in the pharmaceutical and food industries for providing 
tamper-resistant closure of products. 
Second, the particular width of the band is not critical to the present 
invention, but in the illustrations, a band which is substantially wider 
than it is thick is employed. Such a configuration facilitates rapid heat 
shrinking and prevents a customer from readily breaking or tearing the 
seal for purposes previously discussed. 
Third, tack weld, such as by ultrasonic welding, which is disclosed in 
connection with FIG. 4, provides one technique for holding the band in 
place over the ring while heat shrinking step take place. Other techniques 
for holding the band in place could be employed, such as the use of 
adhesives, stapling and the like. 
Fourth, the illustrations show one popular form of ring configuration, but 
as mentioned above, the shape of the rings, the number thereof and the way 
in which such rings are opened do not, in and of themselves, form part of 
the present invention. The invention may be widely adapted to a variety of 
notebook and album configurations and to a wide variety of ring shapes. 
Finally, the particular materials from which the rings and bands are formed 
are not critical as long as they perform the functions required thereof in 
the following description. For example, while the rings are typically made 
of metal, plastics may be employed, and while PVC is the preferred plastic 
material for forming the band, other types of plastics, foils and the like 
may be employed. 
Proceeding now to a description of FIG. 1, an album 10 with which the 
present invention may be employed, includes front cover 12, back cover 14 
and a spline 16. A metal support 18 extends the length of the spline and 
three rings 20, 21 and 22 are illustrated. Moreover, a sheet of material, 
in this case a photo album insert sheet, is deployed over the rings, the 
sheet 24 having holes 25, 26 and 27 matching with rings 20-22 as is 
well-know. The front and back cover pivot around creases 30 and 31 as is 
also well-know. 
Proceeding next to FIG. 2, a continuous band 40, preferably made of 
heat-shrinkable PVC, is illustrated. Note in this FIGURE that the band is 
continuous, i.e. it does not include any seams around its circumference. 
Band 40 has a width which is substantially greater than the thickness of 
the material from which it is made. The band may be prepared from extruded 
tubes of the starting material or using any other band forming technique 
known to the art. 
FIG. 3 shows an alternate embodiment of a band 50 which is made from an 
elongate strip 52 of material similar or identical to that used in the 
FIG. 2 embodiment. The strip 52 has a first end 53, a second end 54, ends 
53 and 54 being overlapped and suitably attached to one another by 
adhesive, heat welding or any other suitable technique to form a 
continuous loop. 
FIG. 4 illustrates the combination of the FIG. 2 band with ring 20 shown in 
FIG. 1. Note that the band is somewhat loose around the ring to facilitate 
the ready deployment of the band 40 over ring 20, for example by using 
banding equipment available in the art. Such banding equipment is known 
and widely used in the food and pharmaceutical industries. FIG. 4 also 
illustrates that an area 57 of band 40 has been adhered to a conforming 
opposite side of band 40, such as by heat welding. The heat welding is 
indicated by the circular area 57 in this FIGURE, an area within the two 
halves 20A and 20B of ring 20. It will be apparent at this point that when 
such an attachment is made, the band 40 may not readily be removed from 
ring 20 when the halves 20A and 20B are in their closed position. 
The heat weld can be made using a jaw-like device which clamps over the 
band, forcing the two halves together under ultrasonic welding or other 
heat welding conditions until a material flow occurs to bond the two sides 
of band 40 to one another. The area of the weld is also not critical with 
respect to the area of the rings 57 in FIG. 4. It can also be noted in 
FIG. 4 that the band extends about an arc of ring half 20A and along the 
flat side of ring half 20B in such a manner that removal of the band would 
become even more difficult if the band were constricted from its position 
as illustrated in FIG. 4. 
The constricted position of band 40 is illustrated clearly in FIG. 5 where 
a heat shrinking operation has occurred to tightly confine ring halves 20A 
and 20B within band 40. Note specifically the distances marked by distance 
lines 60 and 61 and the fact that line 60 is longer than line 61. The seal 
40 cannot be readily removed from the ring, except by using scissors, a 
knife or another implement not typically available to a consumer examining 
the product for purchase. 
Heat sealing can be readily accomplished using a focused flow of heated air 
or by passing the ring and bands through an environment which is warm 
enough to cause the plastic to constrict. The selection of appropriate 
heating times and temperatures are within the bounds of routine 
experimentation, depending upon the size of the ring, the thickness of the 
band material and the like. Preferably, the time and temperature should be 
selected so that they do not interfere substantially with the normal speed 
of assembly of albums 10 or have deleterious effects on the materials used 
to construct albums 10. 
While the foregoing invention has been described in connection with a 
particular preferred embodiment, that embodiment should not be taken as 
limiting. The invention should be considered limited only by the scope of 
the claims which follow.