Hole puncher and reinforcer

Details Hole puncher and reinforcer Hole puncher and reinforcer

2002-10-29

2004-09-14

Crispino, Richard (Department: 1734)

Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture

Surface bonding means and/or assembly means therefor

With cutting, punching, piercing, severing, or tearing

C156S515000, C156S530000, C156S564000, C156S565000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06789593

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a combination hole puncher and reinforcer by means of which holes are punched in sheets of material, such as paper, and concurrently reinforced with flat, annular rings around the holes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In offices throughout the world hole punching devices have been utilized for many years so as to punch holes in sheets of paper, and sometimes plastic sheets, to allow those sheets to be secured in files. Sheets of paper are often punched at the top with a pair of holes that allow them to be secured at the top to files using pronged fasteners. Other types of hole punchers are used to punch holes in papers and other sheets of material along the sides to allow them to be secured in ring binders.
A problem that has persisted through the years is that considerable stress is often applied to the structure of papers fastened in files in the area immediately surrounding the punched holes. The papers then tear through the short distance of material between the holes and the edges of the sheets of paper near which they are formed. When this occurs the sheets will no longer remain in the file.
One system for remedying this situation that has been available for many years is the use of flat, annular reinforcing rings that may secured to the areas surrounding the punched holes. These reinforcing rings are typically formed of a material of greater strength than the paper in which the holes are punched. The reinforcing rings are coated with either a moisture-sensitive or pressure-sensitive adhesive and are applied to the sheet of paper or other material once the holes have been punched.
The principal problem with this prior arrangement is that it has historically been performed manually. The task of reinforcing punched holes in the hundreds, and even thousands, of sheets papers that are secured in files by the manual application of such reinforcing rings is often so labor intensive as to be impractical. Consequently, this system of reinforcement, while used to some extent, is not prevalent.
Various hole puncher and reinforcer devices have been created in attempts to provide alternative way of reinforcing the structure of sheets of paper around punched holes therein. Numerous machines have been fabricated that draw segments of adhesive tape from rolls and secure them to sheets of paper or plastic contemporaneously with the perforation of those sheets. When such devices operate properly, the sheets of paper are provided with short sections of tape at the edges of the papers in which the holes are formed. Holes are punched through both the segments of tape and the underlying paper or other sheet material.
These tape reinforcement devices also have, to a large extent, proved impractical. The feed mechanisms for the tape often jam and the tape often adheres to parts of the punching machines as it is fed toward the location on the sheets of paper at which it is to be applied.
Another problem with systems employing adhesive tape to reinforce the areas about punched holes is that the punch mechanism must penetrate not only the paper in which the fastening apertures are to be formed, but also the tape as well. Since the tape is coated with pressure-sensitive adhesive, articles of adhesive are transferred to the punch mechanism. This creates a certain gumminess in the punch mechanism that reduces the effectiveness of the punch in creating apertures. Also a build-up of adhesive in the punch mechanism contributes to the fouling of the tape as the tape is fed into position to be pressed against the paper.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is a hole puncher and reinforcer device that automatically applies a reinforcement about a hole that is punched in a sheet of material, but which avoids the use of adhesive tape drawn from a roll for this purpose. As a consequence, the hole punching and reinforcing device of the present invention avoids the problem of fouling of a feed system with adhesive transferred from a roll of tape.
A further feature of the invention is that the reinforcer application mechanism is extremely simple in construction. Unlike conventional combination hole punchers and reinforcers, the present invention does not require any elaborate, relative complex, and expensive tape feed mechanisms. To the contrary, the only mechanism that is required for applying reinforcement about the circumference of the holes as they are punched through the sheet material is a die punch upon which the flat reinforcement rings are stacked one atop another between a broadened punching tip located at the lower extremity of the die punch shank and a pressure plate locate above the stack of reinforcement rings.
The reinforcement rings are typically constructed as flat, annular rings having a circular outer periphery and a central opening therethrough, also circular in shape. The rings are stacked one above another and have pressure-sensitive adhesive on their lower faces and an adhesive-resistant coating on their upper faces.
Preferably, the die punch is comprised of a disposable punch and ring carrier magazine mechanism that is detachable from the lower end of a punching ram. The upper extremity of the detachable die punch and magazine may be screwed onto or otherwise removably attached to the lower end of a ram that moves through a laterally constraining guide. A plurality of reinforcement rings are stacked, on atop another, between a flat pressure plate disposed atop the shank of the die punch and magazine structure and the punching tip of the die punch. The reinforcement rings rest upon the shoulder that exists at the transition between the die punch magazine shank and the slightly broadened die punch tip. With the operation of the punch actuating lever the ram is forced downwardly. The pressure plate of the die punch presses the stack of reinforcement rings downwardly from above. Since the undersurfaces of the reinforcement rings are coated with pressure-sensitive adhesive, the sticky undersurface of the lowermost reinforcement ring is pressed against a sheet of material, such as paper, through which the slightly broadened die punch tip has just been forced.
The broadened die punch tip creates a hole through the sheet of paper, while the lowermost reinforcement ring is pressed against the upper surface of the sheet of paper. The punch ram is normally spring biased upwardly, so that when the operating lever is released, the ram is retracted upwardly, drawing with it the die punch magazine. Even though the broadened punching tip of the reinforcer magazine is slightly larger in diameter than the circular, inner circumference of the lowermost reinforcement ring, the reinforcement ring is sufficiently flexible so that it yields at its inner circumference to allow the slightly larger diameter punching tip to pass upwardly through its central opening.
The force of adhesion between the pressure-sensitive adhesive on the undersurface of the lowermost reinforcement ring and the upper surface of the paper surrounding the hole punched is sufficient to prevent the reinforcement ring from being lifted upwardly with the punching tip. However, since the upper surface of the reinforcement rings are treated so as to be resistant to adhesive, the adhesive bond between the undersurface of the reinforcement ring directly above the lowermost reinforcement ring and the upper surface of the lowermost reinforcement ring is quite weak. Consequently, as the punching tip is retracted upwardly through the central opening of the lowermost reinforcement ring, the weak bond between the upper surface of the lowermost reinforcement ring and the undersurface of the reinforcement ring located immediately thereabove is broken. The reinforcement ring located immediately above the lowermost ring, as well as all the rings stacked above that ring, are drawn upwardly clear of the lowermost ring and clear of the sheet of paper to which the lowermost ring remains attached.
With each operation of the punch and reinforcement mechanism, the

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