US 2004/0170468 A1 · Loose-leaf binder

Abstract

A binder for releasably retaining loose-leaves. The binder has a front cover that lies flatly beneath its back cover when the binder is open 360 degrees. The rings of the binder can rotate around an edge of the flatly-folded cover to enable loose-leaves to lie flat above and below the cover. The binder also has a skeleton with a minimal cross-section spine which may be partially or completely embedded in a cover and rotates in relation to parallel front and back covers when the binder is open 360 degrees. The front cover, middle cover and back cover are connected in a way so that they do not interfere with the rotation of the rings. Mechanisms to open and close the rings of the skeleton to allow addition or removal of loose-leafs, and ring shapes to optimize or stabilize the capacity of the binder during operation are also disclosed.

Claims23

Dependent claims

A binder for releasably binding a plurality of loose-leaves comprising:

a conduit casing having a conduit;
a spine embedded within said conduit;
a plurality of binder rings attached to said spine;
each of said binder rings rotatable relative to said conduit;
a actuator for opening all of said binder rings substantially together;
an attachment means for subsequent assembly of said conduit casing with a complementary cover portion;
wherein said spine is rotatably disposed in said conduit as a pivot about which said cover is rotatable;
said conduit casing is made of a sheet of material and has a wrapping portion defining said conduit and a planar portion, thickness of said sheet when wrapping portion is unwrapped is less than diameter of said conduit;
whereby a subassembly can be manufactured independently of said complementary cover portion to facilitate efficiencies in component manufacturing, packaging, distribution and assembly.

6 more elements

A loose-leaf binder cover comprising:

a substantially planar cover portion;
a conduit casing;
an instant pivot fastening;
said conduit casing is a cover portion that defines a conduit and is connected to said planar cover portion;
said conduit casing able to receive a user-selected compatible pivot binding having an axial portion and a plurality of openable binder rings such that said axial portion of said pivot binding able to be rotatably disposed in said conduit as a pivot about which said planar cover portion is rotatable;
said conduit casing defines a plurality of slots, each of said slots intersecting said conduit and able to receive at least a portion of one of said openable binder rings of said pivot binding;
said conduit casing is integrally formed with said instant pivot fastening;
said instant pivot fastening comprises a flexible material adjoining an aperture to said conduit, said flexible material yields sufficiently under manual manipulation without tools to open said aperture wide enough to receive said axial portion of said pivot binding into said conduit;
said instant pivot fastening has a ready closure means to narrow or close said aperture enough to securely fasten said axial portion of said pivot binding within said conduit while accommodating rotation of said binder rings;
said conduit is sized to snugly hold said axial portion of said pivot binding such that translational motion of said axial portion is restricted without hindering preset range of rotational motion of said binder rings;
said planar cover portion substantially wider than said conduit;
width of said slot not more than five times largest interspacing between said slots;
whereby at the time of binding loose-leaves, a user is provided with valued flexibility to choose appropriate said pivot binding especially with regard to ring-size and optional actuator.

10 more elements

A loose-leaf binder cover comprising:

a substantially planar cover portion;
a conduit casing;
an instant user-sealed wrap-flap closure;
said conduit casing defines a conduit and is connected to said planar cover portion;
said conduit casing able to receive a user-selected compatible skeleton having a spine attached to a plurality of openable binder rings such that said spine is able to be rotatably disposed in said conduit as a pivot about which said planar cover portion is rotatable;
said conduit casing defines a plurality of slots, each of said slots intersecting said conduit and able to receive at least a portion of one of said openable binder rings;
said conduit casing is integrally formed with said instant user-sealed wrap-flap closure;
said instant user-sealed wrap-flap closure is made from a sheet of flexible material and comprises a wrapping portion and an adjoining substantially planar free end;
said planar free end having a ready closure means for securely closing said conduit casing;
said ready closure means selected from the group consisting of self-adhesive, water-activated adhesive, removable adhesive, restickable adhesive, plastic zipper-lock, hooks and loops, tab and slot, flatly-spreadable two-prong fasteners and snap fasteners;
each of said plurality of slots has a closed perimeter when said wrapping portion is flatly unwrapped prior to assembly such that said conduit casing has continuous longitudinal portions one and two that are on opposite sides of said plurality of slots and that are parallel to longitudinal dimension of said conduit;
unwrapped length of said slots at least as long as an outer diameter of said plurality of binder rings;
whereby each of said continuous longitudinal portions one and two of said conduit casing are much easier to manipulate during assembly with said user-selected skeleton than an alternative comb-like portion with a discontinuous edge interrupted by numerous said slots especially when working with said flexible material.

10 more elements

A binder for releasably binding a plurality of loose-leaves comprising:

a cover having a conduit;
a skeleton having a spine and a plurality of binder rings;
each of said binder rings is openable and is attached to said spine;
said skeleton is a single piece of molded plastic;
each of said binder rings is substantially constrained to rotate with said spine when said binder rings are closed;
said cover defines a plurality of slots, each of said slots intersecting said conduit and receiving at least a portion of one of said binder rings;
said spine is rotatably disposed in said conduit as a pivot about which said cover is rotatable such that each of said binder rings is rotatable relative to said conduit;
said cover comprises a back cover with a planar portion alongside a wrapping portion, said wrapping portion defines said conduit;
said wrapping portion is made of a sheet of soft flexible material of substantially uniform thickness when flatly unwrapped;
said wrapping portion has end one and end two that are broad and parallel to the longitudinal dimension of said conduit;
both said end one and said end two of said wrapping portion are smoothly and rivetlessly attached to said planar portion of said back cover to structurally support said conduit.

8 more elements

A binder for releasably binding a plurality of loose-leaves comprising:

at least one ring that is openable and closable;
an orthogonal base;
a closure to secure ring closed;
said ring has an oblong perimeter;
said ring has a minor diameter defining an upright ring position when said minor diameter is substantially vertical;
said ring has roughly-vertical column-like thick portions when situated in said upright ring position;
said ring has a roughly-horizontal bow-like thin upper portion when situated in said upright ring position;
said ring has a roughly-horizontal extendable lower portion when situated in said upright ring position;
each of said column-like thick portions are on average thicker than said bow-like thin upper portion;
said orthogonal base perpendicularly intersects said lower portion of said ring;
said ring is reversibly compressible relative to a moderate compressive force roughly exerted in the direction of said minor diameter such that said column-like thick portions resist permanent buckling while said bow-like thin upper portion and said extendable lower portion more readily flatten and widen outward to provide most of desired reversible vertical compressibility and spring back to resume relaxed expanded form of said ring upon removal of said moderate compressive force.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Loose-leaf binder

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Loose-leaf binder

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Abstract

Claims23