The present invention is directed to a tab usable in conjunction with a divider or folder, and more particularly, to such a tab that is movable to various positions on a divider or folder or movable between differing dividers or folders.
Dividers, folders, pockets and the like are widely used in notebooks, binders, etc. to divide the notebook or binder into discrete segments for quick and easy access. Such dividers may include a tab which extends outwardly from the main body of the divider so that a user can quickly identify and utilize the divider. However, many such tabs are located at a fixed, predetermined position, which limits the usefulness of a tab, and/or requires a user to obtain a replacement divider should a divider having a different tab placement be desired.
Accordingly, in one embodiment, the present invention is a tab which can be moved to various positions along a divider, pocket or folder, and which can be moved from one divider, pocket or folder to another. More particularly, in one embodiment, the invention is a tab system including a tab for attachment to a component, the tab having a display portion proximate to a first edge of the tab and a pair of laterally extending attachment portions. Each attachment portion is located on a corner of the tab along a second edge opposite from the first edge, or the attachment portion may be located to extend from the side edges between the first and second edges. Each attachment portion includes curved or angled, generally parallel upper and lower edges, or, alternately, each attachment portion includes a pair of generally parallel, spaced-apart outwardly-extending legs.
The divider 16 has an upper edge 26, lower edge 28, an inner edge 30 positioned adjacent to the binding device 20, and an outer edge 32 positioned opposite the inner edge 30. The illustrated divider 16 includes a main panel 34 and a lower panel 36 facing, and secured to, the main panel 34 to define a pocket 38 therebetween. If desired the divider 16 may have various internal pockets, or pockets on the opposite side thereof. Moreover, in some cases the divider 16 may simply be a divider and lack any pockets thereon.
The divider 16 has a plurality of slots 40 formed therein or therethrough. In the illustrated embodiment, the slots 40 are regularly spaced along the upper edge 26 and outer edge 32 of the divider 16, and extend generally perpendicular to the associated edge. In one embodiment, each slot 40 may extend entirely through the main panel 34. However, in some cases, the divider 16 may include a panel or other covering surface on the opposite side thereof to cover the opposite side of the slots 40.
By way of example,
Slots 40 may be provided as shown on only one side of the divider, for example in the main panel 34. Alternately the slots may be provided in both sides, that is, in main panels 34 and 34′. Openings 22 and holes 24 may be provided as shown on both sides of the divider, along the inner edges 30, 30′.
The divider as shown in
As can be seen in
Each laterally extending attachment portion 50 protrudes generally outwardly from the body of the tab 42, and includes curved or angled, generally parallel upper 52 and lower 54 edges extending generally upwardly and outwardly. One or both of upper edge 52 and lower edge 54 may be curved in a concave ‘downward’ shape, that is, concave in a direction away from display portion 42. Each attachment portion 50 terminates in an outer edge 56 extending generally perpendicular to the top 44 and bottom 46 edges of the tab 42. In the illustrated embodiment, each lower edge 54 of the attachment portion 50 terminates at a position proximate to the lower edge 46 of the tab, and each upper edge 52 terminates at a position proximate to a middle portion of the tab 42. A pair of relief cuts 58 and 59 are positioned where each attachment portion 50 joins the body of the tab 42 to provide increased flexibility thereto and to aid in anchoring the tab into the slots.
A pair of optional score or fold lines 60 may extend across the length of the tab 42, generally parallel to the top 44 and bottom 46 edges. The fold lines 60 can be considered a line of delineation of the display portion 48 of the tab, and provide flexibility such that the display portion 48 can flex in and out of the plane of the tab 42. However, the fold lines 60 may also be used to stiffen the tab so that any flexing in the display portion tends not to extend into the body portion, and thus the body portion may be somewhat isolated from forces that might tend to bow the body and reduce the holding strength of the attachment portions 50. Each fold line 60 can take the form of a score line in which an indentation is formed or cut in the tab 42. The fold lines 60 may both be formed in the top surface of the tab 42, although one, or both, of the fold lines 60 can be formed on the opposite, bottom surface of the tabs 42. Moreover, rather than taking the form of score lines, the fold lines 60 can take the form of creases or pre-folded lines, areas of weakness, or the like. In some embodiments fold lines 60 may be omitted. For example in a die-cutting process it may be easier to manufacture a tab without the fold lines.
In order to couple the tab 42 of
In this manner, as shown in
In order to decouple the tab 42 from the divider 16, each attachment portion 50 is backed out of the associated slot 40, while rotating/pivoting the attachment portions 50. The tab 42 can then be located at a different position on the divider 16, or used in conjunction with a different divider 16, to provide the user flexibility in the use and positioning of tabs 42.
As shown in
The relief cuts may take other shapes, including circles, ovals, and regular or irregular polygons or portions thereof.
With attachment portion 50B securely positioned in slot 40B, tab 42 may be flexed or bowed upward and out of the plane between the slots, as shown in
Flexing or bowing of the tab may then be released to allow attachment portion 50A to slide into slot 40A as shown in
The tab 42 and slots 40 are configured such that when a tab 42 is coupled to an associated divider 16, the tab 42 is held securely in place. For example, the particular motion used to decouple a tab 42 from the divider pocket 16 may involve each attachment portion 50 being pulled out while the attachment portions 50 are rotated in opposite directions. Removing the tab may involve a rotation of the tab during at least one of the steps during the removal. Although the removal motion to extract the tab 42 can be accomplished relatively easily and without much force, applying movement to tab 42 such as flexing out of the plane of the divider, or rotating the tab, during normal use of the notebook would be unusual or unexpected. Thus, although the tabs 42 can be easily manually removed when desired, they can generally be expected to remain in place during normal use.
Attachment portion 50 may have a extension width w3 (15 mm) large enough combined with dimension w1 or w2 so that the sum (about 65 mm) is sufficiently greater than slot outer spacing x2 (52 mm) such that, once a first one of the attachment portions 50 has been inserted into its associated slot, tab 42 will require some flexing or bowing in order to start the second of the attachment portions 50 into its associated slot. Thus extension width w3 may be, for example, from about 10% to 50% of width w1 or w2 (e.g., 5 to 25 mm), depending on manufacturing preference and such factors as the stiffness of the tab material. Attachment portion 50 may have a distal or outer height h3 (13 mm) that is sufficiently less than slot height y1 (16 mm) so as to enable the attachment portion 50 to be easily started into the slot. Near its proximal or inner end, attachment portion 50 may have a shoulder height h4 (18 mm) that is greater than h3 and is approximately equal to or somewhat greater than slot height y1 (16 mm), so that the shoulder height h4 causes the attachment portion 50 to encounter at least slight resistance when moving though slot 40. Slightly inward relative to the shoulder height h4, at the juncture of the attachment portion 50 with the body of the tab, the height may drop to neck height h1 (15 mm) that may be approximately equal to or slightly less than slot height y1 (16 mm). Neck height h1 may extend horizontally over a width w4 (3 mm) providing a relaxed or resting position in which attachment portion 50 rests in slot 40. Slot 40 may have a slot width x3 (3 mm) that may be just a narrow slit or may be wide enough so as to allow easily starting the distal end of attachment portion 50 into slot 40. The upper and or lower ends of slot 40 may be squared off or rounded.
When installed in slots 40, an upward portion of the attachment portion 50 may extend an upward extension distance h2 (5 mm) above the top of slot 40. For example this may represent the height of the ‘highest’ edge of attachment portion 50, relative to lower edge 58C of upper relief cut 58. The upward portion may help retain the tab in place. Upward extension height h2 may, for example, range from about 10% to about 50% of slot height y1.
Attachment portion 50 may have a curved shape. As shown in
Attachment portion 50 may have a width w3′ (15 mm) sufficiently greater than slot outer spacing x2 so that, once a first one of the attachment portions 50 has been inserted into its associated slot, tab 42′ will require some flexing or bowing in order to start the second of the attachment portions 50 into its associated slot. Width w3′ may be, for example, from 10% to 50% of width w1′ (e.g., 5 to 25 mm). Attachment portion 50 may have a distal or outer height h3′ (13 mm) that is sufficiently less than slot height y1 (16 mm) so as to enable the attachment portion 50 to be easily started into the slot. Near its proximal or inner end, attachment portion 50 may have a shoulder height h4′ (18 mm) that is greater than h3′ and is somewhat greater than slot height y1, so that the shoulder height h4′ causes the attachment portion 50 to encounter at least slight resistance—and even to require legs 66 to flex toward one another when moving though slot 40. Shoulder height h4′ may be, for example, from about 10% to about 50% larger than slot height y1 (e.g., from 18 to 30 mm). Slightly inward relative to the shoulder height h4′, at the juncture with the body of the tab, the height may drop to a radiused corner or plateau defining a height h1′ (15 mm) as shown, which may be approximately equal to or slightly less than slot height y1. Height h1′ thus may provide a relaxed or resting position in which attachment portion 50 rests in slot 40. Slot 40 may have a width x3 (3 mm) that may be just a narrow slit or may be wide enough so as to allow easily starting the distal end of attachment portion 50 into slot 40.
Lower edge 46 of tab 42′ may have a width w2′ (47 mm) between the shoulders of the lower legs 66. Width w2′ may be approximately equal to or somewhat greater than the inside distance x1 (45 ) between the associated pair of slots 40. Thus when inserted into the slots, the ends of the lower legs may expand once passing through the slots. Between each pair of upper and lower legs 66 may be provided a gap 69 which may allow the upper and lower legs to more readily flex toward one another. The gap 69 may be defined by a cutaway area as shown, or by simply a slit. The distance w4′ between opposing gaps 69 may be somewhat less than the slot width x1 or x2. However distance w4′, as well as the shape of gaps 69, may be chosen to provide the desired amount of flex between the upper and lower legs 66. Besides being less than the slot width x1 or x2, the distance w4′ may be approximately equal to or even greater than slot x1 or x2.
As shown in
In order to couple the tab 42′ of
Thus, in this embodiment, each tab 42′ is again securely coupled to the associated divider 16′ such that the tab 42′ is not easily removed. However, when it is desired to remove the tab 42′, each attachment portion 50 can be manually pulled from the slot 40, as the angled/chamfered edges 70 will allow the legs 66 to be urged together when sufficient force is applied, thereby decreasing the effective height of the attachment portion 50 and allowing the attachment portion 50 to be extracted out from the associated slot 40. Although both legs 66 are shown as having an area of increased thickness 68, if desired, only one leg 66 of each attachment portion 50 may have the increased thickness characteristics. The slots 40 of the divider 16′ may be of generally the same size, shape and spacing of the slots 40 of the divider 16 of
Tabs 42, 42′ may be made of a sturdy but resilient material such as a paperboard, cardboard, polymer, plastic and the like. The material may be flexible enough to allow bowing and flexing as described for inserting and removing the tab from the divider. However, the material may also be stiff enough or elastic enough to spring back into original shape once bowing or flexing forces are removed.
As shown in
Although the invention is shown and described with respect to certain embodiments, it should be clear that modifications will occur to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the specification, and the present invention includes all such modifications.
This application claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 61/439,506 filed on Feb. 4, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
61439506 | Feb 2011 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 13357639 | Jan 2012 | US |
Child | 16543195 | US |