Improvements in Clips or Binders.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Jan., 1899-Accepted, 25th Feb., 1899
Improvements in Clips or Binders.
I, URIAH DUDLEY, of Drake, in the Colony of New South Wales, Mine
Manager and Mining Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:—
The object of this invention is to produce an improved clip or binder suitable
for either permanent or temporary application for office, manufactory or domestic
use, for holding articles in the flat form or rolled up; and for either hanging up
such articles or not at will. Although clips which are composed of a spring and
gripping plates, and means for operating such plates, exist in great variety,
millions of various kinds being in use, especially for binding together documents,
samples and other things, yet there are advantages in my clip in regard to simpli-
city, cheapness, compactness and scope of utility. Superior cheapness is alone
a great advantage where clips are used in great numbers, but my clip will also
be used where, owing to their bulk or other features of their construction, other
clips are found unsuitable. For example, the documents a business man usually
carries in his pocket can be very conveniently kept together by my clip. My
clip will also distend unequally if required to grip a tapered article along the
said taper, which many clips will not do. In practice my clip is essentially
composed of a metallic body of strongly elastic material (preferably spring steel)
and a pair of stiff movable wings, which, besides being adapted for holding
articles between them, are also reversible in position, and used to distend the
spring hody, no other handles being required. I use wings which either are
quite loose and removable (suitably articulated to engage the edges of the spring
body) or are hinged to the spring or otherwise connected more or less perma-
nently. The spring body is.of cylindrical, oval, or other special section, uniform
or not in thickness at will, with edges which face one another, or meet, or even
overlap according to the use for which the clip is intended. The forms and pro-
portions of all the parts may vary considerably, the drawings being illustrative
of some forms, it being impossible to exhibit the endless designs which may be
used.
somewhat
As my clip has in form some resemblance to a butterfly, with a
similar sweeping movement of the wings, clips of my invention may be classed
As "butterfly clips."
Referring now to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows, in perspective,
and Figure 2 in end view a number of sheets of material bound together in book
fashion by my clin, the wings of which are (in this instance) large, forming covers.
A small clip. used as a book mark, is also shown in Figure 2. Figures 3 and 4
show the end view, as in Figure 2, but with one and both wings (respectively)
Iving open, it being pointed out that whether a wing is turned up into an onen
position Z, or turned down into the closed position Y, shown, it will naturally
remain where placed. Figure 5 shows the wings reversed in position, and being
used as a pair of handles or levers to distend the spring body, which is thus

page_text: parted to any desired extent at its edges by the pressure of the thumb and finger
on the outer edges of the said wings. A very wide opening of the spring (com-
pared with other clips) is obtainable, notwithstanding that the removable wings
may be plain metal sheets (except for the articulation or the like at the inner
edge). Figure 6 shows how, instead of clipping flat sheets a roll might be clipped
and hung up by the wings. Figure 7 shows in plan view a position which the
clip can assume, and how matter to be clipped (if sufficiently rigid) can be forced
into place by pushing it between the wings as indicated by the arrow. Figure 8
illustrates one way of removing the wings by drawing the spring or wings longi-
tudinally, leaving the documents or other articles held together by the spring
alone. In general use the wings are often left on. Figure 9 shows an end view
(in both firm and dotted lines) of the spring, showing that the grip thereof may
be adjusted to be either at the edge of the clipped article or not. Figure 10
shows the clip used as a pamphlet binder, with wings removed. Figure 11
shows the clip with wings removed used as a hanger of clipped material.
Figure 12 shows the clip used as a hanger without removing the wings. Figure 13
shows the spring and wings modified so that the connections between these parts
are not at the spring edges. Figures 14, 15, 16 and 17 illustrate modified forms.
of the spring, and Figures 18, 19, 20 and 21 modified forms of the wings.
In these drawings X is the material clipped, A is the spring, B are the edges
thereof which exert pressure on the wings, or on the objects clipped, C are the
wings, D is the hook-like edge or like part at the inner edge of each wing by
which articulation or engagement with the spring is effected, and E is the outer
edge of each wing.
The inner edges D of the wings C may be adjusted differently (as seen by com-
paring Figures 1 and 2), and when the inner edges D are pushed far back, ..,
away from the edges B, the pressure of the edges B of the spring is nearer the
centre of the wings, and, consequently (as the wings are rigid), the pressure is
distributed more evenly upon the clipped material, thus in some cases helping
to clip it better. The material need not be in several sheets or rigid. It might,
for example, be a piece of rubber for erasing, its edge being allowed to project
when in use, and the wings serving to keep it as rigid as may be necessary. The
various figures show perforations F in the spring and wings (to enable matter to
be read through the holes) at the side or back, respectively, of the mass clipped,
as in Figures 1 and 10; or holes F¹ are provided, as in Figures 6, 11, 12, to enable
the clips to be hung up or threaded together. The absence of such handles and
projecting parts as other clips possess enables MSS., documents, pamphlets and
newspapers of any size to be well bound, and arranged side by side or one upon
another, in such a compact manner as to serve the needs of many libraries and
offices better than the ordinary binding, having in view either the time or the
expense saved. It is a desideratum to be able to bind periodical publications
together (without damaging them by perforations) in book form and serial order
so that every page can be quickly referred to, and to be able to add to, or sub-
tract from, the mass, or to unbind the whole at will; and this binding should be
such as both to withstand considerable wear and tear, and to avoid awkwardness
of shape when filled to only a fraction of its holding capacity. I secure these
advantages, and by reason of the wings being removable, enable them to be
utilised with other springs to form clips; or reinserted at any time to distend the
original spring body; or to serve as covers, or parts of covers to the clipped mass.
In hanging up articles in various positions with my clip (vide Figures 6, 11
and 12) their compactness and the absence of objectionable projections will be
evident; also the additional advantage that if anything strikes or presses the
clip it will not press it open and cause the contents to drop out. The end of a
roll (instead of flat sheets) might be the material gripped in Figures 11 and 12.
Where thick articles are to be clipped it is not necessary that the spring edges B
should be able to quite or nearly meet, and Figure 15 shows an end view of an

page_text: undistended spring with non-meeting edges B, which are intended to receive an
object thick enough to expand the spring. There are many other applications of
my invention which need not be illustrated, such as its use as a clothes peg, or
to hold closed unsealed mail matter to be sent through the post, the addressee in
the latter case being able to re-use the clip if so disposed. As a cycle clip for
various purposes the spring may (as in Figure 14) have a barrel to grasp the tubing
of the cycle, and another part curved to hold an inflator or other article. If one
or both wings be appropriately shaped with sides, my clip becomes a kind of
box capable of gripping its contents.
An essential of my clip is distension of the spring by. using wings as levers
or handles when turned up, which when turned down, enclose the article gripped.
This essential may exist where one or both wings are articulated or hinged to the
spring in some manner more permanent than is shown, but which to a skilled
mechanic would be obvious, so that the wings would not readily fall away from
the spring when being handled.
In Figure 17, I show apertures H for the passage of the wing edges D through
the spring, as seen in end view in Figure 18. In Figure 16, I show a slot G
for allowing a clipped article to pass through the spring; the edges B are also ser-
rated. In Figure 18, I show teeth J in the wings to prevent the slipping of
articles gripped; this would he used chiefly with leather or textile material.
Although I have shown and described clips with two wings alike, there might
be within the scope of my invention clips having but one wing of the particular
construction I have explained, and in my claims by "wings
I also mean
wing."
15
5 Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is; :―
1. In a clip or binder, the combination with a distensible spring body, of wings
connected thereto for clipping purposes as set forth, and adapted to be turned up
or reversed and used as handles and levers as before set forth.
2. In a clip or binder, the combination with a distensible spring body, of loose
wings articulated thereto so as to be capable of being "turned up" or reversed
for the purpose specified and adjusted relatively to the spring body and removable
as before set forth.
3. The clip or binder wings consisting of disconnected plates of suitable form,
having a hooked or like edge adapted for articulation to a spring body as and for
the purposes set forth.
4. In a clip or binder, a distensible spring body and reversible wings, the said
body having apertures for the passage therethrough of the inner edges of the said
wings as before set forth.
5. An improved clip or binder as a whole, comprising the parts in one or other
of the forms described above with reference to the Figures 2 to 8 and 12 to 20 of
the accompanying drowings
1000
Dated this 8th day of January 1800.
CARPMAEL & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.