Binder device releasably engaging aperture or notch of sheet – Resilient sheet retainer requiring deflection for sheet removal
Reexamination Certificate
2002-06-05
2003-12-16
Carter, Monica (Department: 3722)
Binder device releasably engaging aperture or notch of sheet
Resilient sheet retainer requiring deflection for sheet removal
C281S015100, C281S021100, C281S036000, C402S008000, C402S073000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06663311
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a locking slide bar or clasp of the type used to form a stiff spine for reports, sales or marketing presentations, and other stacks of paper assembled and bound together.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Plastic spines or slide bars for use in gripping the binding edges of stacks of papers together, such as reports, proposals, briefs, and other stacks of documents fastened together along a common edge have been manufactured for many years. Conventional report cover grips or slide bars of this type are manufactured as extruded plastic structures of uniform cross section throughout. Conventional slide grips are formed with a pair of jaws joined together at a common base and forming an open slot or gap therebetween. The jaws are longitudinally elongated so as to extend the entire length of the binding edge of the stack of papers. The gap between the jaws is narrow enough so that they must be forced apart slightly to accommodate the thickness of the stack of papers. The jaws can be deflected resiliently apart to increase the width of the gap therebetween so as to receive the binding edge of the stack of papers within the gap. When the jaws are released, a clamping force is exerted by the jaws against the stack of papers as the jaws attempt to move toward each other back toward their undeformed positions.
A major problem with conventional slide grips or slide bars of this type is that the gripping force is frequently inadequate to secure the grip on the binding edge of the stack of papers. Quite often, when a user opens the report, the stress of parting the papers as the pages are opened is transmitted to the slide grip as a force directed outwardly away from the longitudinally oriented binding edge of the report in a direction perpendicular thereto. As a consequence, the slide grip is pushed laterally away from the binding edge and pops off the binding of the report. This tendency is aggravated when the report has a clear, slick, glossy cover, such as a clear plastic polypropylene cover of the type frequently used as a report or presentation cover to protect the papers therewithin. The low coefficient of friction on the surface of such a plastic cover makes it extremely easy for a conventional spine-gripping bar to pop off of the binding edge of a stack of bound papers when the pages are opened.
Attempts have been made to correct this problem. For example, the otherwise conventional sliding bar report cover grip sold by the JM Company located in Hasbrouck Heights, N.J. has a report cover gripping bar provided with a pair of opposing longitudinal ribs directed toward each other near the bases of the jaws of the grip. The concept is that the additional contact with the cover provided by the ribs will enhance the gripping force provided by the slide bar on the cover. However, this system provides no positive interlocking connection between the slide bar and the report cover so that the report cover grip still slides free from the cover when the report is opened.
The Avery Dennison Company has used a gripping report cover slide bar on which the extremities of the jaws are provided with inwardly directed hooks or tangs. This system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,865,469. A polyethylene plastic report cover is folded in half and die cut near its longitudinal center fold with a plurality of arcuate, semicircular die cuts spaced periodically along its length to create a number of tabs. The curved surfaces of the semicircular tabs are directed away from the binding center fold and toward the opposite edges of the cover and of the stack of papers encompassed therewithin. However, this system still has several problems. Because the semicircular tabs lie in the same plane as the cover sheet material from which they are cut, the hooked edges of the gripping bar will sometimes fail to engage the semicircular tabs. Also, the die cuts are through both the front and back cover of the folded polyethylene cover sheet and must be spaced quite closely to the center fold line in order to be engaged by the hooks or tangs at the extremities of the jaws of the gripping bar. There is very little structure left between the front and back die cuts adjacent the fold line. As a consequence, the material can fail at the fold line and the tabs will separate from the remaining structure of the cover as generally circular die cut punch outs.
To solve these and other problems I previously devised a different system for creating a spine for a report or other stack of papers. This system is described in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 6,270,120, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Specifically, in that system I utilize a slide bar that has a pair of jaws that terminate in hooked lips that face each other across a gap defined between the jaws. The narrow margin panel atop the binding edge of the report is captured by the hooked lip of one of the jaws throughout its length. The positive locking interengagement of the narrow binding margin panel in the hooked lip prevents the slide bar from being pulled laterally off of the binding edge of the stack. While this system works quite successfully, it's still involves the necessary step of securing the binder to the stack of papers by means of fasteners, such as staples. This involves an extra step in the preparation of reports and other documents. Where many copies of such documents are required, this extra step adds considerably to the time and expense involved in preparing bound reports and other documents for distribution.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is an improved type of document binding cover grip bar system that overcomes the deficiencies of the prior art. Specifically, I have discovered that by configuring the jaws of the slide bar so as to more directly oppose each other to form a clamp, the clasp created exerts such a firm grip on the binding and stack of papers enclosed therewithin that it is no longer necessary for the cover to be fastened to the stack of papers encompassed therebetween by any other fasteners. Moreover, with the proper orientation of the jaws, it is unnecessary to provide the distal tips of the jaws with hooked lips in order to capture both the cover and the stack of papers encompassed therebetween even without the use of other fasteners, such as staples.
By orientating the distal tips of the clamping jaws of the slide bar in direct opposition to each other at an angle of no less than about forty-five degrees, a slide bar constructed according to the present invention firmly grips a narrow margin binding panel or strip of a cover, as well as a stack of papers located within the cover, without the use of any other type of fastening system. The clamping slide bar of the present invention prevents the papers within a stack of papers folded within a document cover from pulling free from the cover and does not require a separate die cutting operation to create tabs from the cover for the clamping jaws to grip. Furthermore, the system of the present invention is not susceptible to structural failure within a plastic cover, since there are no tabs cut into the structure of the cover.
In one broad aspect the present invention may be considered to be a combination of a plurality of sheets of paper, a document cover, and a stiff, resilient, elongated channel-shaped clasp which engages the document cover. The sheets of paper are disposed one atop another to form a stack having top and bottom sheets and defining a binding edge of the stack. An opposite edge of the stack is parallel to the binding edge while a narrow binding margin on the stack lies adjacent to the binding edge. The document cover is formed of a plurality of panels, including a front cover panel located atop the stack and above the top sheet and a back cover panel located beneath the stack and residing below the bottom sheet of the stack and having a margin portion located beneath the binding margin. Another of the document cover panels is a narrow margin binding pane
Carter Monica
Thomas Charles H.
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