This invention relates to a ring binder mechanism for retaining loose-leaf pages, and in particular it relates to an improved mechanism for reducing snapping motion of ring members as they close and for securely locking closed ring members together.
As is known in the art, a typical ring binder mechanism retains loose-leaf pages, such as hole-punched papers, in a file or notebook. It generally features multiple rings each including two half ring members capable of selectively opening to add or remove papers, or selectively closing to retain papers and allow them to move along the rings. The ring members mount on two adjacent hinge plates that join together about a pivot axis for pivoting movement within an elongated housing. The housing loosely holds the hinge plates so they may pivot relative to the housing. The undeformed housing is slightly narrower than the joined hinge plates when the hinge plates are in a coplanar position (180°). So as the hinge plates pivot through this position, they deform the resilient housing and cause a spring force in the housing, urging the hinge plates to pivot away from the coplanar position either opening or closing the ring members. Thus, when the ring members are closed, this spring force resists hinge plate movement and clamps the ring members together. Similarly, when the ring members are open, the spring force holds them apart. An operator may typically overcome this force by manually pulling the ring members apart or pushing them together. In addition, in some mechanisms the operator may move a lever located at one or both ends of the mechanism for moving the hinge plates through the coplanar position to open or close the ring members (in addition to manually pulling the ring members apart or pushing them together).
One drawback to these typical ring binder mechanisms is that when the ring members close, the housing's spring force snaps them together rapidly and with a force that might cause fingers to be pinched between the ring members. The substantial spring force required to keep the ring members closed also makes pivoting the hinge plates through the coplanar position difficult, making it hard to both open and close the ring members. Another drawback is that when the ring members are closed, they do not positively lock together. So if the mechanism accidentally drops, the ring members may unintentionally open. Still another drawback is that over time the housing may begin to permanently deform, reducing its ability to uniformly clamp the ring members together and possibly causing uneven movements or gaps between closed ring members.
To address these concerns, some ring binder mechanisms include a control slide directly attached to the lever. These control slides have inclined cam surfaces that project through openings in the hinge plates for rigidly controlling the hinge plates' pivoting motion both when opening and closing the ring members. Examples of these types of mechanisms are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,566,817, 4,571,108, and 6,276,862 and in U.K. Pat. No. 2,292,343. Some of these cam surfaces include a stop for blocking the hinge plates' pivoting motion when the ring members are closed, locking the closed ring members together.
But these mechanisms still have several drawbacks, including that when the ring members close the housing's spring force may still snap them together. The spring force may also still make both opening and closing the ring members difficult. Furthermore, the control slides in these mechanisms, specifically the inclined cam surfaces and stops, are complexly shaped and can be difficult and time consuming to fabricate. Also, since the control slides directly bias the hinge plates, they are usually relatively wide and may need to be constructed of a large gauge metal to withstand forces associated with repeated use (i.e., repeatedly biasing the hinge plates to pivot). Therefore, the openings in the hinge plates receiving these control slides may also be relatively wide, possibly weakening the hinge plates so that they too must be made of a large gauge metal. These uses of large gauge metal may make mass production more costly.
Other ring binder mechanisms attempt to address the issues of avoiding snapping motion of the ring members and positively locking the ring members in the closed position. For instance, some mechanisms arrange the hinge plates so that they never pass through the coplanar position in their pivoting motion. As a result of avoiding the coplanar position of the hinge plates, the ring members do not violently snap together upon closing. However, a closing force applied to the ring members is relatively weak so that it is necessary to provide a separate locking device to keep the ring members closed. One example of this type of ring mechanism is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,660,490. Still another solution is to arrange the hinge plates and housing so that the hinge plates are only weakly biased by the housing. This may be accomplished by adding a separate wire form spring to the underside of the hinge plates to provide a bias for pivoting the hinge plates to a position in which the ring members are open. An example of this ring binder mechanism construction is shown in U.S. Pat. Appl. Publ. No. 2003/0123923 to Koike, et al. In these types of mechanisms, the ends of the ring members are formed with hooks that are engaged upon closing to hold the ring members in the closed position. It requires some dexterity to manipulate the ring members to engage and disengage them. The manipulation becomes even more difficult if the ring members are filled with loose-leaf pages. Further, the hooks are more susceptible to forces that may unintentionally open the ring binder. Moreover, ring binder mechanisms having multiple ring members requiring simultaneous engagement or disengagement of hooks may make operation more awkward and difficult.
Consequently, there is a need for a ring binder mechanism that securely locks for retaining loose-leaf pages but has ring members that easily open and close as pages accumulate and do not snap together when the ring members close. The present invention is directed to such a ring binder mechanism.
The present invention provides a ring binder mechanism having ring members that easily open and close as pages accumulate and that securely lock together preventing unintentional openings. It also provides a mechanism that reduces the snapping motion of the ring members as they close. A ring binder mechanism according to the present invention retains loose-leaf pages. The mechanism generally comprises a housing, which has longitudinal ends, and hinge plates, which are supported by the housing for pivoting motion about a pivot axis relative to the housing. The mechanism also comprises rings capable of holding the loose-leaf pages. Each ring includes two ring members. A first ring member is mounted on a first hinge plate and can move therewith relative to a second ring member. In a 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. In an open position, the two ring members form a discontinuous, open loop for adding or removing loose-leaf pages from the rings. The mechanism further comprises a travel bar and a locking element that are movable in translation relative to both the housing and the hinge plates. The travel bar moves in translation generally lengthwise of the housing. In this mechanism, the locking element produces the hinge plates' pivoting motion when it moves from a position that is in registration with an opening in at least one of the hinge plates to a position that is out of registration with the opening. But the locking element does not produce the pivoting motion when it moves from a position that is out of registration with the opening to one that is in registration with the opening. Furthermore, the mechanism comprises an actuating lever pivotally connected to the housing for moving the travel bar in translation. As the lever pivots it does not engage the hinge plates.
In another aspect, a ring binder mechanism according to the present invention retains loose-leaf pages. The mechanism generally comprises a housing, which has longitudinal ends, and hinge plates, which are supported by the housing for pivoting motion about a pivot axis relative to the housing. The mechanism also comprises rings capable of holding the loose-leaf pages. Each ring includes two ring members. A first ring member is mounted on a first hinge plate and can move therewith relative to a second ring member. In a 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. In an open position, the two ring members form a discontinuous, open loop for adding or removing loose-leaf pages from the rings. The mechanism further comprises a travel bar and a locking element that are movable in translation relative to both the housing and the hinge plates. The travel bar moves in translation generally lengthwise of the housing. In this mechanism, the locking element is in a position in registration with an opening in at least one of the hinge plates when the ring members are in the open position. And it is in a position out of registration with the opening when the ring members are in the closed position, thereby blocking the hinge plates' pivoting motion. Furthermore, the mechanism comprises a spring for producing the hinge plates' pivoting motion when the locking element moves to the position that is in registration with the opening.
In yet a further aspect, a ring binder mechanism according to the present invention retains loose-leaf pages. The mechanism generally comprises a housing, which has a longitudinal axis, and hinge plates, which are supported by the housing for pivoting motion about a pivot axis relative to the housing. The mechanism also comprises rings capable of holding the loose-leaf pages. Each ring includes two ring members. A first ring member is mounted on a first hinge plate and can move therewith relative to a second ring member. In a 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. In an open position, the two ring members form a discontinuous, open loop for adding or removing loose-leaf pages from the rings. The mechanism further comprises a travel bar and a locking element that are movable in translation relative to both the housing and the hinge plates. The travel bar moves in translation generally lengthwise of the housing. In this mechanism, the locking element is in a position in registration with an opening in at least one of the hinge plates when the ring members are in the open position. And it is in a position out of registration with the opening when the ring members are in the closed position, thereby blocking the hinge plates' pivoting motion. Furthermore, in this mechanism the hinge plates are supported by the housing such that an angle formed by the hinge plates' exterior surfaces never passes through 180° during the hinge plates' pivoting motion.
Other objects and features of the present invention will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinafter.
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the views of the drawings.
This application contains subject matter in common with co-assigned, co-pending patent applications Ser. No. 10/870,801 filed simultaneously herewith for a Ready Lock Ring Binder Mechanism and Ser. No. 10/870,168 filed simultaneously herewith for a Positive Lock Ring Binder Mechanism, the entire texts of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Referring now to the drawings of the present invention,
Referring to
The housing 11 loosely supports two hinge plates 19, 21 for pivoting motion to either close the rings 13 or open the rings 13. Each ring 13 includes two ring members 41 mounted on adjacent hinge plates 19, 21 and movable therewith between a closed position (see
Referring now to
The interconnected hinge plates 19, 21 attach to one another in parallel arrangement along their adjoining inner longitudinal edge margins, forming a central hinge having a pivot axis. The housing 11 receives the interconnected plates 19, 21 such that each plates's outer longitudinal edge margin loosely fits in the housing's corresponding bent under rim 25 (see
The control structure 15 of this embodiment generally includes the actuating lever 31, a travel bar 65, and the three locking elements 51, 53, 55. The actuating lever 31 is formed from a suitable rigid material or combination of materials, such as metal or plastic. It includes an enlarged head 67 to facilitate gripping and applying force to the lever 31. A first hinge pin 69 received through upper openings 71 in the lever and through the housing's tabs 29, mounts the lever 31 on the housing 11 for pivoting relative to the housing 11. A second hinge pin 73 is received through lower openings 75 in the lever 31 and through openings 77 in an intermediate connector 79, transforming the lever's pivoting motion into substantially linear travel bar motion. Although the travel bar's motion is not perfectly linear, it is still considered to be translational motion for purposes of the present invention.
The intermediate connector 79 is generally an elongate beam with a flat web and two side flanges. It includes a first end that is generally wider than a second end. More specifically, at the narrower second end the intermediate connector 79 includes a projecting tab 85 with an enlarged end 87 that is received in a slot 89 in a first end of the travel bar 65. This end of the travel bar is bent down to form a shoulder 91 against one side of which the intermediate connector 79 can bear to push the travel bar 65. The enlarged end 87 of the projecting tab 85 is engageable with the other side of the shoulder 91 to pull the travel bar 65 toward the lever 31. The slot 89 in which the tab 85 is received is elongate in the lengthwise direction of the travel bar 65. Thus, the intermediate connector 79 is able to freely pivot up and down with respect to the travel bar 65. As a result, the connector 79 transmits a linear movement to the travel bar 65 from the pivoting lever 31. Moreover, the travel bar 65 is allowed to move up and down without hindrance from the intermediate connector 79. The intermediate connector 79 also includes an elongate opening 93 for receiving the first mounting post 37 through the connector and allowing the connector to move relative to the mounting post 37.
Now referring to
As particularly shown in
As shown in
Now referring to
In order to open the mechanism 1, an operator pivots the lever 31 outward and downward (
To return the mechanism 1 back to the closed and locked position, the operator pivots the lever 31 inward and upward (
The ring binder mechanism of the present invention securely retains loose-leaf pages when the ring members 41 are closed. In this position, the locking elements 51, 53, 55 and travel bar 65 generally completely occupy the area between the hinge plates 19, 21 and the housing's raised plateau 23, and the locking elements 51, 53, 55 are positioned substantially out of registration with the respective openings 45, 47, 49 in the hinge plates 19, 21. Additionally, the housing 11 encases the locking elements 51, 53, 55, providing a barrier to outside forces from unintentionally moving the locking elements 51, 53, 55 into registration with the openings 45, 47, 49. As a result, the travel bar 65 and the locking elements 51, 53, 55 fully resist any hinge plate movement tending to open the ring members 41 and positively lock the ring members 41 together, reducing the mechanism's chance of accidentally opening. Furthermore, this mechanism is easier to manipulate when the ring members 41 are full of pages. The lever 31 can move the locking elements 51, 53, 55 for unlocking the ring members 41, as opposed to prior art mechanisms where the ring members themselves directly lock together. Moreover, the locking elements 51, 53, 55 of this mechanism distribute a locking force generally uniformly to the ring members 41 and minimize gaps between the closed members 41 because the locking elements 51, 53, 55 are uniformly spaced along the length of the hinge plates 19, 21.
This mechanism 1 also reduces the undesirable snapping motion of ring members 41 as they close because the locking elements' cam surfaces 99 control the pivoting motion of the hinge plates 19, 21. As the operator pivots the lever 31 for closing the ring members 41, the locking elements 51, 53, 55 slowly move the hinge plates 19, 21 and gently bring the ring members 41 together. The wire form springs 17 cause the hinge plates 19, 21 to pivot up and through the coplanar position for opening the ring members 41. As such, the wire form springs 17 effectively perform the same functions as the housing's spring force. Consequently, the housing's spring force may be reduced, or possibly eliminated, so that only the wire form springs 17 act on the hinge plates 19, 21. This makes it easier to move the hinge plates 19, 21 down and through the coplanar position when closing the ring members 41.
Furthermore, this mechanism 1 opens more easily than prior art mechanisms. The operator need only move the travel bar 65 a short distance before its locking elements 51, 53, 55 align with corresponding openings 45, 47, 49 in the hinge plates 19, 21 and the wire form springs 17 automatically act on the hinge plates 19, 21, pivoting them to open the ring members 41. Similarly, the lever's pivoting movement reduces the magnitude of force necessary to cause this travel bar movement because of the mechanical advantage given by the lever 31.
Now referring to
The mechanism 401 of this embodiment uses no intermediate connector to transfer the lever's pivoting movement into linear movement of a travel bar. Instead, the lever's cam surfaces 525 loosely fit between opposing shoulders 529 formed in the travel bar 465 so that the lever's pivoting movement directly translates the travel bar 465 relative to the housing 411. The loose reception of each cam surface 525 between a respective pair of shoulders 529 allows the cam surfaces 525 to pivot and yet bear against one or the other of the shoulders 529 for linearly moving the travel bar 465. The shoulders 529 are located toward one end of the travel bar 465, along longitudinal edge margins of the travel bar, and are positioned so that one shoulder 529 is directly opposite the other. Each shoulder 529 is formed by bending two opposing pieces downward 90° so that a plane of each piece is perpendicular to the travel bar 465. In this embodiment the travel bar 465 does not include an end flange or a slot because there is no intermediate connector for it to receive.
Referring particularly to
Components of the mechanism of the present invention according to the several discussed embodiments are made of a suitable rigid material, such as metal (e.g., steel). But mechanisms made of a nonmetallic material, specifically including plastic, do not depart from the scope of this invention.
When introducing elements of the present invention or the preferred embodiment(s) thereof, the articles “a”, “an”, “the” and “said” are intended to mean that there are one or more of the elements. The terms “comprising”, “including” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements other than the listed elements. Moreover, the use of “up” and “down” and variations thereof is made for convenience, but does not require any particular orientation of the components.
As various changes could be made in the above without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description and shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/553,155, filed Mar. 15, 2004, the entire text of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
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