Patent ID: 8801317

Claim:
A ring binder mechanism for retaining loose leaf pages, the mechanism comprising: a housing; a ring support supported by the housing for movement relative to the housing; rings for holding the loose-leaf pages, each ring including a first ring member and a second ring member, the first ring member being mounted on the ring support for movement relative to the second ring member between a closed position and an opened 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 opened position the two ring members form a discontinuous, open loop for adding or removing loose-leaf pages from the rings; an actuator mounted on the housing for movement relative to the housing for causing the pivoting motion of the ring support to move the ring members from the closed position to the opened position; a travel bar comprising at least one locking element and being moveable between a locked position wherein the ring members are locked in the closed position and an unlocked position wherein the ring members are capable of being moved to the opened position, the travel bar including a mounting groove having at least one narrower section and a wider section spaced inward on the travel bar from the narrower section; an intermediate connector operably connecting the travel bar to the actuator, the intermediate connector having a portion thereof captured by the wider section of the mounting groove in the travel bar, the portion of the intermediate connector being moveable within the wide section of the mounting groove so that the intermediate connector can move relative to the travel bar; and wherein the intermediate connector includes first and second ends, the second end including a neck and a head at the free end of the neck, the head being captured by the wide section of the mounting groove in the travel bar and the neck being received by the narrow section.