Patent ID: 7661899

Claim:
A ring mechanism for holding loose-leaf pages, the mechanism comprising: a housing; rings for holding the loose-leaf pages, each ring including a first ring member and a second ring member, at least one of the ring members being movable relative to the housing and the other ring member between a closed position and an open position, in the closed position the two ring members form a substantially continuous, closed loop for allowing loose-leaf pages retained by the rings to be moved along the rings from one ring member to the other, and in the open position the two ring members form a discontinuous, open loop for adding or removing loose-leaf pages from the rings; and an actuation system for moving at least said one ring member between the open and closed positions, the actuation system comprising: (a) first and second hinge plates supported by the housing for pivoting motion relative to the housing, said one ring member being mounted on the first hinge plate; (b) an actuator mounted on the housing for movement relative to the housing to cause the pivoting motion of the hinge plates; and (c) a travel bar movable by the actuator between a locked position blocking the pivoting motion of the hinge plates and an unlocked position allowing the pivoting motion of the hinge plates, the actuation system being adapted to move the travel bar from the locked position toward the unlocked position in response to movement of the actuator, the actuator being further adapted to deform while the actuation system moves the travel bar from the locked position toward the unlocked position to delay the pivoting motion of the hinge plates from the movement of the actuator, wherein the actuator comprises a first portion hingedly connected to a second portion by a living hinge and the actuator is adapted to reconfigure itself by deformation during operation of the ring mechanism in moving the ring members between the closed position and the open position.