A document holder

Abstract: A document-holder is formed from a blank which may be made of polypropylene sheet. The document-holder comprises a front wall (1) which is pivotally connected with a rear wall(2), the front wall and the rear wall each carry at each side a triangular reinforcing element made of three inter-connected panels (10,11,13) formed integrally with the respective wall. The reinforcing elements are brought into abutment when the front wall (1) is moved to its desired position relative to the rear wall(2) and are then interconnected by means of a tab (12).

Description: THE PRESENT INVENTION relates to a document-holder according to the preamble of claim 1 (see US-A-5029709). According to this invention there is provided a document-holder comprising a front wall and a rear wall pivotally interconnected for movement relative to each other, the front wall and the rear wall each carrying at each side edge a protruding reinforcing element, the reinforcing elements being adapted to abut each other when the front wall has been moved pivotally to a position parallel to but spaced from the rear wall, means being provided to interconnect abutting reinforcing elements, the rear wall carrying a top wall and a front flap which are movable pivotally so that the front flap overlies the front wall. Preferably means are provided to secure the front flap to the front wall. Conveniently a handle is provided on the top wall. In one embodiment the document-holder is formed from a folded blank, each reinforcing element being of substantially hollow form and being comprised of a plurality of panels sequentially connected to the front wall or the back wall and folded to be re-connected to the front wall or the back wall, one reinforcing element carrying engagement means which, when the reinforcing elements lie adjacent each other, can engage the other reinforcing element to secure the reinforcing elements together. Preferably said engagement means comprise a tab carried by one reinforcing element which can be inserted into the other reinforcing element. Advantageously each reinforcing element is of triangular form. In a preferred embodiment each reinforcing element comprises three panels secured to the respective front or rear wall, the three panels being folded so that the first panel extends away from the front or rear wall, the second panel extends towards the front or rear wall, and the third panel extends in parallelism with and in contact with the front or rear wall. Preferably the third panel is provided with a plurality of fingers, the fingers being received through co-aligned slots formed in the front or back wall. Advantageously the front wall is provided with a document compressor adapted to bias documents towards the rear wall. In order that the invention may be more readily understood, and so that further features thereof may be appreciated, the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the document-holder, FIGURE 2 is a view showing the document-holder when open, FIGURE 3 is a perspective view illustrating the document-holder when even further opened, and FIGURE 4 is a plan view of a blank used for forming the document-holder. Referring initially to the drawings, and with particular regard to Figures 1 to 3, a document-holder is provided which, in the closed form, resembles an attache case. The document-holder of Figure 1 comprises a front wall 1 and a rear wall 2. A top wall 3 provided with a handle 4 is hinged to the rear wall 2 and a front flap 5 is provided of substantially triangular form, hingedly connected to the top wall 3. The front flap 5 carries a catch 6 which co-operates with a clip 7 provided on the front wall 1. As can be seen from Figure 2, the catch 6 is disengaged from the clip 7, the front flap 5 and the top wall 3 may be hinged upwardly to the position illustrated in Figure 2 thus providing access to the interior of the document-holder. However, as will now be described with reference to Figure 3, the document-holder may be further opened to gain even more access to papers within the document-holder. Referring to Figure 3 it can be seen that the back wall 2 is hingedly connected to a bottom wall 8, and the front wall 1 is hingedly connected to that bottom wall 8. The front wall 1 carries an inwardly directed document compressor 9 formed of a resilient material which is resiliently biassed towards the back wall 2 when the document-holder is in the condition illustrated in Figure 1 or in Figure 2. The document compressor serves to retain any documents in the document-holder pressed against the rear wall 2. As can be seen from Figure 3, each side of the front wall 1 and each side of the rear wall 2 is reinforced by a substantially triangular reinforcing element. The structures provided at each side of the document case are identical. As can be seen in Figure 3, the left-hand side of the front wall 1 carries a rearwardly directed panel 10 which in turn carries an angularly inwardly directed panel 11, that panel carrying, at the end adjacent the top of the front wall 1, a protruding rectangular tab 12. The panel 11 actually carries a further panel 13 which is located directly adjacent the front wall 1 extending parallel with it and in contact with it. As will be described hereinafter, the panel 13 comprises various fingers which pass through slots formed in the front wall to be visible as securing tabs 14 (see Figure 2). The triangular structure reinforces the side edge of the front wall 1. A very similar triangular structure is provided at the right-hand edge of the rear wall 2 comprising an angularly inclined panel 15 which is hingedly connected to the right-hand side of the rear wall 2, which in turn is connected to a perpendicularly extending panel 16 which carries a further panel 17 extending parallel with and in contact with the inner face of the rear wall 2. This panel 17 again has fingers which form securing tabs which pass through slots in the rear wall 2, as will be described in greater detail with reference to Figure 4. It is to be appreciated that when the document-holder is moved from the condition illustrated in Figure 3 to the condition illustrated in Figure 2, the two triangular structures provided at the sides of the front wall 1 and the rear wall 2 are brought into abutment, with the panel 11 abutting the panel 15. The tab 12 may then be folded over to pass downwardly into the interior of the hollow triangular structure provided on the rear wall 2, thus serving to interconnect the two triangular structures to form one substantially square structure which defines not only the outer side wall 10 of the document-holder (as shown in Figure 2), but which also forms a relatively rigid side piece for the document-holder. It is therefore to be understood that the document-holder may, by some people, only be used in the conditions illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, the two co-operating triangular structures providing a firm reinforcement for the side edges of the document-holder. Alternatively, if greater access is to be obtained to the contents of the document-holder, the tabs 12 provided at each side of the document-holder may be released, and the document-holder may be moved to the condition illustrated in Figure 3, thus providing greater access to the interior of the document-holder. The document-holder illustrated in Figures 1 to 3 is formed essentially from a single blank as illustrated in Figure 4, the blank being formed of an appropriate polypropylene material for example. The various panels present in the blank which constitute the walls and panels identified above with regard to particular reference numbers have been identified, in the blank, with the same reference numbers. It can be seen that the design of the right-hand side of the blank as shown in Figure 4 mirrors the design of the left-hand side of the blank, and thus only the right-hand side of the blank will be described in detail. It can be seen that the front wall 1 is provided with two pairs of co-aligned slots 20,21 adjacent the side edge which is pivotally connected to the panel 10. It can also be seen that the panel 13 is really divided into a central panel portion 22, located between two fingers 23,24, the panel terminating with two terminal pieces 25,26. The fingers 23 and 24 are aligned with the pairs of slots 20,21. The triangular structure provided at the left-hand side of the side wall 1 is formed by initially folding the panels 10, 11 and 13 in such a way that the fingers 23 and 24 are passed through the aligned slots 20 and 21. Part of each finger is thus visible on the exterior of the front wall 1, forming the tabs 14 visible in Figure 2. A protecting tab 27 formed at the lower edge of the front wall (in the orientation shown in Figure 4) and protecting tabs 28 and 29 formed at opposed ends of the panel 10 are then folded so as to lie within the triangular structure. The tab 12 is left projecting outwardly, as shown in Figure 3. It can be seen that the rear wall 2 is also provided with pairs of adjacent slots 30,31 and the panel 17 is divided into a central region 32 which is located between projecting fingers 33,34 and which has end pieces 35,36. The triangular structure on the rear wall 2 is formed in a similar way to that described above with reference to the triangular structure on Figure 1 in that the panels 15, 16 and 17 are folded so that the fingers 33 and 34 are inserted through the substantially co-aligned slots 30,31 forming securing tabs corresponding to the tabs 14 of Figure 2, these tabs being visible on the rear of the document-holder. Thus the document-holder of the present invention may be fabricated relatively cheaply by stamping a blank as described from polypropylene sheet, scoring the blank appropriate to facilitate folding of the blank, and then folding the blank in the manner described. The blank is provided with the handle, the clip and the catch. The document-holder may be fully opened to the position illustrated in Figure 3 to provide full access to documents within the document-holder or may be partially opened to the condition illustrated in Figure 2.

Claims: A document-holder comprising a front wall(1) and a rear wall(2) pivotally interconnected for movement relative to each other, the front wall and the rear wall are each carrying at each side edge a protruding reinforcing element(10,11,13), the reinforcing elements being adapted to abut each other when the front wall has been moved pivotally to a position parallel to but spaced from the rear wall, characterised in that means (12) being provided to interconnect abutting reinforcing elements, the rear wall carrying a top wall(3) and a front flap which are movable pivotally so that the front flap(5) overlies the front wall. A document-holder according to Claim 1 wherein means(6,7) are provided to secure the front flap to the front wall. A document-holder according to Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein a handle is provided on the top wall. A document-holder according to any one of the preceding Claims wherein the document-holder is formed from a folded blank, each reinforcing element(10,11,13) being of substantially hollow form and being comprised of a plurality of panels(10,11,13) sequentially connected to the front wall or the back wall and folded to be re-connected to the front wall or the back wall, one reinforcing element carrying engagement means which, when the reinforcing elements lie adjacent each other, can engage the other reinforcing element to secure the reinforcing elements together. A document-holder according to Claim 4 wherein said engagement means comprise a tab(12) carried by one reinforcing element which can be inserted into the other reinforcing element. A document-holder according to Claim 4 or 5 wherein each reinforcing element is of triangular form. A document-holder according to Claim 6 wherein each reinforcing element comprises three panels secured to the respective front or rear wall, the three panels being folded so that the first panel(10) extends away from the front or rear wall, the second panel(11) extends towards the front or rear wall, and the third panel(13) extends in parallelism with and in contact with the front or rear wall. A document-holder according to Claim 7 wherein the third panel(13) is provided with a plurality of fingers(23,24), the fingers being received through co-aligned slots(20,21) formed in the front or back wall. A document-holder according to any one of the preceding Claims wherein the front wall(1) is provided with a document compressor(9) adapted to bias documents towards the rear wall(2).

Inventors: DAWSON CHRISTOPHER, DAWSON, CHRISTOPHER
Applicants: ACCO REXEL GROUP SERVICES PLC, ACCO-REXEL GROUP SERVICES PLC
Application year: 1995
Main classification: A45C3
IPC codes: B42F7, A45C13, A45C3