Binder device releasably engaging aperture or notch of sheet – Coiled spring type sheet retainer
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-15
2001-04-03
Wellington, A. L. (Department: 3722)
Binder device releasably engaging aperture or notch of sheet
Coiled spring type sheet retainer
C402S079000, C281S021100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06210065
ABSTRACT:
FILING HISTORY
This application is based upon the contents of Disclosure Document No. 441,588, recorded on Aug. 6, 1998.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of stationery, books, office and school products generally. More specifically the present invention relates to a notebook having a plurality of pages forming a pad and bound together at a page binder edge by a ring or spiral binder, and having a cover constructed to permit the sequential passage of the forward-most, or first page through a slot in or beside the cover to become the last page in the pad. The rotated page becomes the last page in the pad, rather than merely a folded back first page, because no part of the cover or binder extends between the rotated first page and the remainder of the pad. First page rotation exposes and causes the second page to become the first page, which may then be rotated to the back of the pad to expose and cause the next page to become the first page. This page rotation may be performed indefinitely.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There have long been notebooks including note pads for containing a series of bound pages and arranged so that each page can be folded behind the pad after use. A problem with these prior pads has been that the cover must be folded behind the pad, and then pages folded behind the cover, so that pages rotated behind the pad are obstructed by the cover or other notebook parts from rejoining the pad. Then, to close the notebook so that the cover is exposed outside the pad, the used pages must be folded back on top of unused pages. As a result, when the user wishes to begin writing on the next available page, he or she must flip past all the used pages to reach it.
Holton, U.S. Pat. No. 703,260, issued on Jun. 24, 1902, discloses a tablet including a stack of writing sheets and a one piece binder in the form of two spaced apart binder rings interconnected by a connecting rod. The rings have flat back portions to rest on a table and curved front portions around which the sheets are rotated after use. The sheets cannot rotate all the way around the rings to reach the back of the stack, however, because the ring connecting rod would stop them.
Hackmann, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 808,652, issued on Jan. 2, 1906, teaches a note book having a binder similar to that of Holton. Two circular binder rings are interconnected by a straight rod portion, which would prevent full sheet rotation just as in Holton.
Thaw, U.S. Pat. No. 3,108,823, issued on Oct. 29, 1963 for a paper securement device, includes binder rings mounted onto a backboard which can be opened to load and reload paper. Pianta, U.S. Pat. No. 4,239,410, issued on Dec. 16, 1980 reveals a stationary booklet having cardboard covers and a refillable binder made up of tubular rings passing through slots in the cover and sheets, which can be split longitudinally and reconnected. Zane, U.S. Pat. No. 5,503,486, issued on Apr. 2, 1996, discloses a notebook and notebook cover assembly. None of these devices appear to permit the full rotation of sheets from the front to the back of a pad.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a notebook including a pad of writing pages having a pad cover which permits sequential rotation of the forward most page past the cover to the back of the pad, to become the last page in the pad, so that the next page to be used is always the first page in the notebook.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a notebook which permits such forward most page rotation without removal of the pad cover.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a conventional notebook with a cover conversion kit including means for existing cover removal and at least one replacement cover having the characteristics of the present invention covers to permit forward most page rotation, past the cover to the back of the pad.
It is finally an object of the present invention to provide such a notebook which is simple in design and inexpensive to manufacture.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention accomplishes the above-stated objectives, as well as others, as may be determined by a fair reading and interpretation of the entire specification.
A notebook is provided including several pages each having a page binder edge and a page free edge, and having at least two page binder holes adjacent to the page binder edge, the pages being stacked sequentially face to face to form a pad so that corresponding page binder holes register with each other; a binder passing through registering the page binder holes; and a cover including a cover sheet portion with a cover free edge and with a cover binder edge having a binder engaging slat portion spaced apart and substantially parallel with the cover binder edge defining a page passing slot through which the binder passes; so that the page free edge of each forward most page can be arched over the remainder of the forward most page, fitted into and rotated about the binder entirely through the page passing slot and placed against the back of the pad.
The binder is optionally a spiral wire threaded through the registering page holes to hold the pages and the cover together while permitting page rotation. The binder alternatively includes a series of ring-shaped wires each fitted through one registering series of the page holes to hold the pages together and permit page rotation. The slat portion is optionally part of the cover sheet portion and the page passing slot is optionally cut into the cover sheet portion to define the slot portion and is adjacent and parallel to the cover binder edge through which the binder passes.
The cover alternatively includes a plate having a plate binder edge and a plate anchor edge, the plate anchor edge having punched out tabs which penetrate the cover sheet portion and are bent to hold the plate to the cover sheet portion, and the plate binder edge in this instance overhangs the cover binder edge and includes the page passing slot. The slat alternatively includes a cover mounting rod having a binder engaging segment extending parallel to and spaced apart from the cover binder edge to define the page passing slot, the cover mounting rod including at each end a rod anchor segment angled from the binder engaging segment and secured to the sheet.
REFERENCES:
patent: 703260 (1902-06-01), Holton
patent: 808652 (1906-01-01), Hackmann et al.
patent: 1516932 (1924-11-01), Staab
patent: 2091260 (1937-04-01), Farkas et al.
patent: 2194023 (1940-03-01), Kranhold
patent: 2602251 (1952-07-01), Friedman
patent: 2831285 (1958-04-01), Cross
patent: 3108823 (1963-10-01), Thaw
patent: 4176473 (1979-12-01), Rae
patent: 4239410 (1980-12-01), Pianta
patent: 5188562 (1993-02-01), Carley
patent: 5417508 (1995-05-01), Friedman
patent: 5503486 (1996-04-01), Zane
patent: 5597256 (1997-01-01), Burton et al.
patent: 5791802 (1998-08-01), Englum
patent: 5795090 (1998-08-01), Jackson
patent: 5816730 (1998-10-01), Alspaw et al.
Oltman Flynn & Kubler
Wellington A. L.
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