BINDING SYSTEMS FOR PAPERS

Abstract: Apparatus for holding a set of punched sheets of paper or like material together consists of a foldable base member (111) with on one side of the fold (106) elongate tabs (103) which can pass through pre-punched holes in a stack of paper, and on the other side of the fold (106) channels (below 104) into which the free ends of the tabs (103) can be inserted via apertures (at 105). The tabs (103) can slide in the channels and do so as the base member is folded or opened out flat. Preferably the hinging arrangements hold the base member preferentially flat or folded over completely, rather than in any intermediate position. This can be achieved using moulded live hinges, e.g. in polypropylene.

Description: BINDING SYSTEMS FOR PAPERS This invention relates to binding systems for papers. For convenience of handling, it is often desirable to unite a set of sheets of paper into a unit where the sheets of paper are held together. A simple way of effecting this is to put a staple through the corner of the stack of sheets, but that is not always convenient for all purposes. The rear sheet may occasionally become detached, and sheets tend to tear at the stapled area. Additionally, the sheets cannot be opened out flat like adjacent sheets of a bound book. A further aspect is that a staple, even if neatly aligned with the margin of the stack of sheets, hardly looks impressive. Particularly with a view to enabling a stack of sheets to be opened out flat like a book, it is common practice to punch two or more holes adjacent the margin of the sheets and to locate the sheets on arcuate hoops of a so-called "ring binder". This keeps the sheets aligned and captive, but is not particularly suitable for small numbers of sheets. Although relatively small ring size ring binders, e.g. of ring diameter 10 mm, are known, they are not particularly easy to manipulate and a far more common size has a ring diameter of 25 to 30 mm. This thus constitutes a very bulky way of holding papers together if the papers themselves amount to only a few millimetres in thickness. Additionally, of course, the rings have to be mounted in some sort of base, and it is conventional for that base in turn to be mounted inside a foldable casing, the casing conventionally consisting of a front, back and spine and the base and ring assembly being mounted on the spine or on the back adjacent the spine. If it is desired to use a punched hole system to maintain sheets in alignment, but to avoid the volume of a conventional ring binder, it is known to use an elongated fastener bridging the holes and conventionally consisting of two parts, a first portion consisting of an elongate base member with two tabs which are designed to pass through the holes, and a second elongate member which is designed to engage with and hold the two tabs protruding through the stack of papers. Such fasteners have been commercially manufactured for decades of metal. More recently, plastics types have been developed, for example as described in British Patent Specifications 1494316 and 2257904, and International Application WO 91/04162. All of these types, however, do little to enhance the appearance of the bound stack of papers, particularly since the margin of the pack of papers adjacent the two or more punched holes is left exposed. The overall appearance may be improved by mounting such metal or plastics fasteners in a "file" binder, i.e. a foldable-in-half sheet of card or plastics, with the first portion attached to the right hand side of the file when it is open and which thus serves to hold a stack of papers adjacent that part of the file. A problem with this arrangement is that the papers can be read, if they are not first detached from the file binder, only by lifting the first pages and folding them round the fastener. This leads to undesirable creases near the left hand margin of each page and sometimes to difficulties if the text or other material on the page extends too close to the left hand margin. A further problem is the tendency for the folded back pages, unless continuously held, to spring back on to the remainder of the stack. In other words, using such file binding systems, it is not possible to lay a file down on a desk open at a given page without the risk that the pages will close back together. The advantage of the ring binder arrangement, viz. that the pages in the file open out flat and stay in position, is therefore lost. United States Patent Specifications 4192620 and 4174909 disclose loose leaf binder arrangements where a stack of papers may be held in a binder by means of a punched out tab which passes through the registered holes punched in the papers and is then locked in an aperture in the binder structure. Such a system provides a type of mini ring binder, but the ring is not of a nature to enable the papers to be opened out flat and accordingly this approach does not solve the problems of the stack of paper springing back into position if the papers are no longer held. US Specification 3362411 discloses a similar system using tabs having a base portion, which can be mounted on a binder cover, and an extending tail which can be threaded through the punch holes in a stack of papers and then re-engaged with the base portion in fixed position by means of interlocking formations. The problem underlying the present invention is to provide binder arrangements of simple construction which give the lay-flat advantages of a ring binder without the associated size disadvantages of the ring binder mechanism. In accordance with its broadest aspect, this problem is solved by providing a file binder system in which a foldable base member carries on one side of the fold a plurality of elongate tabs dimensioned to pass through holes punched in the margin of sheets of paper to be bound and formed of flexible resilient material, the tabs being associated with slots or channels located on the other side of the fold and in which the tabs can slide in the direction of their length, the base member having two sections hinged one to another at the fold and movable from a substantially coplanar position to a substantially side-by-side position hinging about substantially 180°. As the base member is opened out or folded up, the tabs may slide in the channels. Within this general approach, two cases can be distinguished. In the first, the direction of sliding movement of the tabs in the channels is substantially parallel to the direction of the hinge line between the two sections of the base member. In the second, it is substantially transverse thereto. Preferably the elongate tabs are carried permanently by part of the base member on one side of the fold, but they may, if desired, be separable therefrom. Preferably also the tabs themselves are unitary integral resilient plastics members, though, particularly in the case of channels parallel to the hinge line, bifurcated tabs may be more easily accommodated. In a particularly preferred development of the binder systems according to the present invention, the hinge arrangements between the two base portions are such that the base portions preferentially adopt one of the two end positions identified above, i.e. either substantially coplanar or one lying adjacent the other in parallel planes. This may be conveniently effected by means of a multiple hinge construction formed integrally of resilient plastics material with appropriate dimensioning of its various parts. Such preferred position hinge arrangements are known and widely used, e.g. to hinge captive closure caps to dispensing cap arrangements on the top of plastics bottles containing domestic treatment liquids such as shampoo and washing-up liquid. The base members of the file binding arrangements according to the present invention may be relatively small, constituting an essentially portable binder system for a stack of punched papers, or one or both of its sections may, for example, be attached to or integral with sheet members of size generally slightly greater than the size of the sheets to be bound. The binding system of the present invention may be constructed of suitable materials, of which most preferred are strong resilient plastics materials, for example various grades of polypropylene. The tabs and channels may be moulded using suitable moulding tools or they may, for example, be formed by cutting, e.g. die cutting from a sheet of such plastics material, optionally with the application of a cover sheet to define, with a die cut slot a channel for the sliding reception of a tab. In a particularly effective and flexible approach to manufacturing, the binder systems of the present invention may be made up of three types of component, a moulded tab and tab receiving portion constituting a paper-holding structure, a moulded foldable base member (preferably including formations defining the channels for the tabs to slide in when assembled together with the paper-holding structure) , and front or back sheets attachable to the base member to cover the stack of papers when the binder system is in use. A binder may, for example, be made up of two or three paper-holding structures attached to a foldable base member which in turn carries front and/or back cover sheets. This approach allows easy realisation of the over centre hinge action noted above by assembly together of the first two of the component types noted above if the paper-holding structure has two live hinge lines adapted when assembled to straddle the fold line of the base member component. The binder systems according to the present invention may be constructed to accommodate papers punched with two, three or more holes, either evenly spaced or in appropriate arrangements. The invention is illustrated by way of example with reference to various embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a perspective exploded view of a first embodiment of the invention in flat before-use condition. Figure 2 is a perspective view of the device of Figure 1 binding a set of sheets together. Figure 3 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the invention shown in semi-flat condition. Figure 4 is a view showing assembly of the device of Figure 3 around a set of transparent sheets. Figure 5 shows the device of Figure 3 half folded. Figure 6 shows the device of Figure 3 when the stack of sheets is opened like a book. Figure 7 shows a third embodiment of the invention in flat condition. Figure 8 the device of Figure 7 being assembled together with some transparent sheets. Figure 9 a further stage in assembly, and Figure 10 the device of Figure 7 with sheets in it opened out as when opening a bound book. Figures 11 to 14 show diagrammatic sections of the mode of operation of a further embodiment. Figure 15 shows a plan view of a preferred embodiment. Figure 16 is a perspective view of the embodiment of Figure 15. Figure 17 is an exploded perspective view of the embodiment of Figure 15, and Figure 18 is a section on an enlarged scale, transverse to the hinge line, of part of the exploded view of Figure 17. Referring first to Figures 1 and 2, these show a simple binder system in accordance with the invention made up of a plurality of sheets of material assembled together to form a binder. These are shown in exploded view in Figure 1 from which it can be seen that they consist of a foldable base sheet 1 made of plastics material, a paper sheet 2 and two plastics outer cover sheets 3 and 4. Sheets 3 and 4 are the same size as the two halves of sheet 1 while sheet 2 is slightly smaller than sheet 1 in both length and breadth. Sheet 1 has a pair of fold lines formed in it, for example by being of slightly thinner section or by moulding, scoring or the like, the fold lines being shown at 5 and 6 on the drawing. Punched or die cut from sheet 1 are three elongate U-shaped portions opposite sides of lines 5 and 6 defining three broad tabs 7 and 3 narrow tabs 8. The binder system shown in Figure 2 is made by first assembling the component shown in Figure 1 together with one long side and each of the two short sides of sheets 3 and 4 being attached at the edges of the sheet to sheet 1, e.g. by adhesion or welding. This attachment renders sheet 2 essentially captive between sheet 1 on the one hand and sheets 3 and 4 on the other albeit with the centre section of sheet 2 exposed along what will become the spine of the binder when sheet 1 is folded together. This enables, e.g. identifying data simply to be written on the underside of sheet 2 as shown in Figure 1. If sheets 3 and 4 are transparent or translucent, the underside of sheet 2 can bear further markings, e.g. a legend or patterning, which is visible when the binding system is folded. In order to use the binding system, as shown in Figure 2, each of the tabs 8 is lifted upwards and passed through one of the three pre-punched holes in a stack of paper sheets 9. The free end of each tab 8 is pushed underneath the free end of each tab 7 as shown in Figure 2 and the thickness of resilience of the material of sheet 1 is so chosen that tabs 8 will stay in the position shown in Figure 2, held down by tabs 7. If the assembly of binding system in sheets shown in Figure 2 is folded, because of the resilience of tabs 8, they slide underneath tabs 7 in the direction of their length as the two halves of sheet 1 are folded together. As can be seen in Figure 2, the resilience causes each tab 8 to arch so that individual sheets from stack 9 can be turned from the right to the left or, indeed, hold parts of stack 9 can be so manipulated. The sheets slide along tabs 8 and the overall arrangement continues to lay flat as shown in Figure 2. Referring now to Figures 3 to 5, Figure 3 shows an alternative embodiment of the invention. A bow 30 is connected via live hinge sections 31 to a second bow 32 which is in turn connected by a live hinge 33 to a generally arcuate cover flap 34. The entire unit is integrally moulded from, for example, polypropylene. Bow 32 has moulded in it two generally arcuate grooves 36 bridged by three integral bridge sections 37. The two slots formed between the three bridges are of sufficient width to allow the introduction into each slot of the hooked ends 38 of a double-ended plastics tie 40. The centre of tie 40 is bent to form a loop which can be engaged with a hook 42 integrally formed on bow 30, thus forming a bifurcated tab for passing through the perforations in the papers. As supplied for use, the integral assembly of bows 30 and 32 and section 34 may be supplied flat and two ties 40 inserted to form the assembly of Figure 3. Section 34 is then folded over as shown generally by arrow 44, so as to form a cover for groove 36. The edge of section 34 remote from bow 30 has recesses which stop the folded- over section 34 obstructing the movement of ties 40. In order to capture a stack of papers 10, pre-punched at the appropriate spacing of ties 40/hooks 42, the bows 30 and 32 are folded one on to the other as indicated by arrow 46. The sheets 10 are first threaded over ties 40 as shown in Figure 7 and bow 30 then lifted sufficiently to enable hook 42 to engage with the looped end of the tie 40. Following such engagement, continued movement of bow 30 as indicated by arrow 48 pushes tie 40 downwards with the hooked ends 38 moving along groove 36. This movement is shown by arrows 49 in Figure 5. At the end of their travel, the hooked ends 38 slip under catch pips 50 located on section 34 and shown in Figure 6 thus preventing bow 30 from springing back, and holding the stack of papers 10 together. However, if it is desired to look at one of the underneath sheets, the stack of papers 10 may merely be opened like a book, the force of opening causing the hooked ends to be pulled out from under pips 50 and moved in the direction of arrows 52, as shown diagrammatically on Figure 6. Referring now to Figures 7 to 10, this shows an embodiment of the present invention constructed with a backing to give greater rigidity to the bound set of papers. The unit consists of a backing board 60 connected by a live hinge 62 to a foldover flap 64. Moulded in backing 60 is a pair of upstanding half posts 66. Beneath each half post lies an open-ended channel 68 moulded in the base member 60 and which is sized to accommodate a flexible hooked end tab 70 which is moulded integrally with a half post 72 on strip 64. To assemble sheets 10 into the binder, they are pre¬ punched and laid over half posts 66. The hooked end of each tab 70 is then pushed through the holes in the sheets, and down into channel 68. This action is shown by arrows 76 on Figure 7. Strip 64 is then bent around hinge 62 as shown by arrow 78 on Figure 7 and 80 on Figure 8, pushing strips 70 along grooves 68. Figure 9 shows the assembly almost closed. If it desired to view the sheets like a book, they are simply pulled apart as shown by arrow 82 in Figure 10 whereupon the end of strip 70 slides back along groove 68 and through the right hand ones of the sheets 10 as shown in Figure 10. The natural resilience of the material from which strip 70 is made means that the strips are captive in groove 68 until it is desired positively to release them. This is easily done by opening the pack of papers away from base 60 thus exposing the hooked ends which can then simply be pressed down using a suitable tool, e.g. the end of a ballpoint pen or pencil, whereupon each strip 70 can be withdrawn through the hole by the half post 66. Once this has been done for both strips, the papers may be removed. In all the above drawings, the invention has been shown as applied to sheets punched with two holes. The invention may be applied analogously to sheets punched with three or four holes, or even more if desired, the devices according to the invention having correspondingly increased pairs of engagement means. Referring now to Figures 11 to 14, these show in section transverse to the hinge line, an improved binder construction including a stressed hinge area biased to urge the binder to adopt an unfolded flat or folded flat condition, and incorporating a plurality of separately moulded paper-holding structures. The binding construction shown in these Figures consists of two types of member, a paper-holding structure in the form of a tab and slot member 100 shown in Figure 11 and a spine and cover sheet member 111 shown assembled together with the tab and slot member in Figures 12, 13 and 14. Each has a hinge portion moulded from suitable plastics material for forming live hinges, for example of polypropylene. The tab member has a central short channel shaped portion 112 hinged by hinge lines 101, 102 to an elongate moulded tab 103 shown in the left of Figure 11 and an elongated undercut tab-103-receiving portion in the form of a tab 104 shown on the right hand side of Figure 11. At position 105, tab and slot member 100 has a throughhole or slot through which tab 103 may pass. The spine and cover sheet member 111 consists of a backing sheet 110 connected via a live hinge line 106 with a base strip 107 to which is attached a sheet 113 which will form the front cover of the binder in use. Tab 103 is connected via a reduced section portion 120 to the remainder of tab and slot member 100, this section 120 acting as a live hinge enabling the tab 103 to flex about the remainder of the tab and slot member. In order to bind a set of pre-punched sheets of paper, tab 103 is passed through the punched hole in each sheet and the free end of the tab then inserted into the undercut channel defined between the elongate tab- receiving portions and the base member section, i.e. between undercut portion 104 and the backing 110. As can be seen by comparing Figures 12, 13 and 14, as sheet 111 is folded over to a position where strip 107 and sheet 113 are registered with sheet 110, the tab and slot member 100 folds correspondingly, and the end of tab 103 moves slidingly in the channel between the undercut portion 104 of tab and slot unit 100 and the backing sheet 110. During such folding movement, hinge line 106 moves out from the channel between hinge lines 101 and 102, stressing and expanding the inverted U-section portion 112 between them. Once hinge line 106 moves to lie remote from the U-section portion 112, i.e. the other side of a line joining hinge lines 101 and 102 from the U-section 112, the resilience of portion 112 urges the binder to take up the position shown in Figure 14 where the resilience of portion 112 urges base strip 107 and backing sheet 110 towards one another, thus holding the filing system shown in Figure 14 tightly closed, and with the papers on tab 103 held firmly therein. To open the binder, front sheet 111 is simply pulled up and the device springs back, as soon as hinge line 106 has gone over centre between hinge lines 101 and 102, to the flat condition shown in Figure 12. Figures 15 to 18 show a practical version of the binder system shown in Figures 11 to 14 in more detail. In Figure 15, the binder is shown open flat and in plan. Like reference numbers are used for like portions and it can be seen that the tab members 100 are attached to the base member via three studs 120. Each of these studs is integrally moulded into the base member section 107 or 110 and tab and slot member 100 is attached by slipping it over the studs 120 and then thermoforming the studs to unite the tab member 100 with the base member section 110 or with the base member section 107. In the latter case, between the tab and slot member 100 and the base member 107, a front cover sheet 111 which has three pre-punched holes 121 in it which fit over the studs 120, is held captive. Also shown is the configuration of a resilient tab 122 integral with tab and slot member 100 and having its free end defining one side of the hole at position 105, through which tab 103 may pass in use. /ab 122 runs parallel to the channel into which tab 103 is inserted in use of the binder system. Figure 18 shows the detailed construction on an enlarged scale. Evident in Figure 17 are the moulded recesses 122 in which tabs 103 can slide as the assembled unit is folded closed or opened out flat.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. Apparatus for holding a set of pre-punched sheets of paper together consisting of a file binder system in which a foldable base member carries on one side of the fold a plurality of elongate tabs dimensioned to pass through holes punched in the margin of sheets of paper to be bound and formed of flexible resilient material, the tabs being associated with slots or channels located on the other side of the fold and in which the tabs can slide in the direction of their length, the base member having two sections hinged one to another at the fold and movable from a substantially coplanar position to a substantially side-by-side position hinging about substantially 180°. 2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein, as the sections of the base are folded together or opened apart, the tabs slide in the channels as such hinging movement is effected. 3. Apparatus according to Claim 1 or 2 in which the hinge arrangement between the two base sections causes them preferentially to adopt a coplanar position or a parallel adjacent planes position. 4. Apparatus according to any one of Claims 1 to 3 in which the apparatus is made of a plastics material. 5. Apparatus according to Claim 4 in which the material is polypropylene plastics. 6. Apparatus according to any of the preceding Claims, in which each of the tabs is integral with an elongate tab-receiving portion to form paper-holding structures, the tabs being fixed to one of the sections of the base member and the elongate tab-receiving portions being fixed to the other section of the base member such that the fold is bridged by the paper-holding structures, the channels associated with the tabs being defined between the elongate tab-receiving portions and the base member, each of the elongate tab-receiving portions having a slot formed therein through which the tab integral therewith slides to be received in the channel, the paper-holding structures being foldable corresponding to the folding of the two sections of the base member. 7. Apparatus according to Claim 6 in which a resilient tab is formed in each of the elongate tab-receiving portions, extending away from the slot co-linearly with the channel, the resilient tab resiliently holding the tab in the channel. 8. Apparatus according to Claim 6 or 7 in which each of the tabs is integral with the elongate tab-receiving portion and connected thereto via two spaced hinge portions, the spaced hinge portions being centred about the fold of the base member when the tabs and the elongate tab-receiving portions are fixed to the respective sections of the base member. 9. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein the tabs are bifurcated and the separable ends of each tab are arranged to be slidable in channels substantially parallel to the hinge line between the two base sections. 10. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims wherein one or both of the sections of the base member is attached to or integral with a sheet member of size slightly greater than the size of the sheets to be bound.

Inventors: HAMILTON NIALL ROBERT, RIDDIFORD MARTIN PHILIP, WITTS MARTIN PAUL, HAMILTON, NIALL, ROBERT, RIDDIFORD, MARTIN, PHILIP, WITTS, MARTIN, PAUL
Applicants: HAMILTON NIALL ROBERT, RIDDIFORD MARTIN PHILIP, THEREFORE LIMITED, WITTS MARTIN PAUL, HAMILTON, NIALL, ROBERT, RIDDIFORD, MARTIN, PHILIP, WITTS, MARTIN, PAUL
Application year: 1996
Main classification: B42F13
IPC codes: B42F13