Articulated sheet binder apparatus
OwnerDavid Yooninventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A binder system is disclosed that flexibly secures one or more flat objects including by mechanical grasping of flat-shaped or sheet materials in a central spring clamp having a compact cross-sectional geometry that can adapt to several sizes of clamped materials and uses. The spring clamp comprises an elongated tri-folded spine with a flat central portion and flat side portions, and flat cover supports that are attached by hinged means to the side portions of the spine. The flat central portion aids a user in opening and keeping the system in its open configuration. In some aspects the system includes customizable covers attachable to said cover supports.
Claims7
A hinged or articulated mechanical binder for securing a stack of sheets of paper or other flat objects in a bound package, comprising:
- an elongated spine disposed along a longitudinal axis thereof and having a generally three-sided cross section in a plane perpendicular to said longitudinal axis;
- wherein said spine, in cross section, is contoured to have a central facet and a pair of opposing side facets integrally formed with said central facet from a stiff metallic sheet providing a flexible spring force under stress so as to enable a controlled temporary spreading of said side facets away from one another when stressed in an opening direction and that elastically returns to substantially its original contour when unstressed;
- wherein the opposing side facets of said spine each has a respective proximal portion integrated with the central facet at a slightly rounded bend, and the opposing side facets each has a distal edge formed into a plurality of integrally formed, co-axial cylindrical spine hinge ports of a given internal diameter, said spine hinge ports being integrally formed with said central facet and said pair of opposing side facets to define a single elongated body articulating as a single unit;
- said binder further comprising a pair of cover supports formed of a rigid material to allow mechanical attachment of the pair of cover supports to a respective pair of opposing respective notebook covers, each of the cover supports comprising an inner edge thereof and having a plurality of co-axial cylindrical cover hinge ports of said internal diameter at said inner edge;
- and
- wherein the cover hinge ports of a first one of said cover supports and the spine hinge ports of a first one of said side facets of the spine are co-axially aligned and sized to mechanically interleave into one another in a first edge-to-edge, alternating arrangement to form a first common channel through which a first hinge pin comprising a solid rod is run to form a first hinge thereof, and the cover hinge ports of a second one of said cover supports and the spine hinge ports of a second one of said side facets of the spine are co-axially aligned and sized to mechanically interleave into one another in a second edge-to-edge, alternating arrangement to form a second common channel through which a second hinge pin comprising a solid rod is run to form a second hinge thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.