US 4,060,330 AGranted

Loose leaf binder locking device

AssigneeBuchan Industries, Inc.

InventorAnthony Baccile

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Abstract

A loose leaf binder having a pair of separable front and back cover members respectively hinged to relatively rigid interconnecting numbers of L-shaped cross-section adatped to be interfitted in overlapped relation to provide an expansible back for the binder. The L-shaped back-forming members are respectively provided with a lock post and a lock mechanism adapted to be interengaged by rectilinear insertion of the post into the lock mechanism, which latter is provided with a pair of coacting cylindrical rollers designed to frictionally engage and wedge therebetween opposite sides of the post inserted into the lock mechanism. One of said rollers is held rotatably captive in an axially fixed position while the other roller is movable into and out of wedging engagement with said lock post. The lock mechanism is provided with a swingable lever arm connected to a draw bar which acts to draw said movable roller out of its wedging engagement with the lock post, both the lever and the draw bar being normally biased by a single compression spring to hold said one roller in its wedged position against said post. The said roller is released from its wedging, i.e. post locking position, upon simple shifting of said lever in opposition to its biasing spring.

Claims7

Dependent claims

In a loose leaf binder of the type having separable front and back cover members having coacting telescopically extensible posts which project through perforations in the loose leaf sheets for holding the same positioned between said cover members, a locking mechanism for releasably securing said cover members together comprising in combination a locking post on a first one of said cover members and a lock device on the other one of said cover members adapted to telescopically receive said locking post, said lock device including an elongated main body part having an elongated guide channel conforming to the shape of said locking post and extending substantially the entire length of said main body part into which said locking post is rectilinearly insertable, a pair of post-clutching roller elements respectively disposed at opposte sides of said channel adjacent the entrance thereto and adapted to frictionally engage diametrically opposite sides of said locking post at any point along the length of the portion of the post which is received in said channel, one of said elements being held in a fixed position for constant frictional engagement with one side of said post and the other of said elements being shiftable relatively to said channel for movement thereof into and out of locking engagement with the opposite side of said locking post, said shiftable element being normally biased into a position wherein it coacts with said axially fixed element to automatically clutch said locking post against withdrawal from said channel, means operative to positively draw said shiftable element out of clutching engagement with said locking post whereby to release the same for its partial or complete withdrawal from said lock device, said means including a rectilinearly shiftable elongated draw bar which is disposed in closely spaced parallel relation to only one side of said locking post guide channel and is operatively connected at its outer end to said shiftable roller element for moving the latter into and out of said locking engagement with said locking post, spring means acting on the inner end of said bar to normally bias the same outwardly whereby the automatically effect clutching engagement of said shiftable roller element with said locking post, and an operating lever wholly confined between the covers of said binder, said lever being pivoted within said locking device and connected to said bar cross-wise thereof for limited swinging movement through an arc of very small degree in a plane extending parallel to the path of movement of said bar and the expansible back of the binder, said operating lever being manually actuatable against the bias of said spring means to draw said bar into its post unlocking position and automatically shiftable into inactive position solely under the biasing effort of said spring means.

A lock mechanism for a loose leaf binder having a pair of separable cover members respectively provided with overlapping expansible back-forming sections, in combination, a cylindrical locking post on one of said covers extending freely therefrom in spaced parallel relation to the back-forming section of said one cover member, and a coacting locking device secured to the other of said cover members for telescopically receiving said locking post for releasably securing said cover members together, said locking device including an elongated box-like structure having a pair of longitudinally spaced end walls, a pair of longitudinally extending sidewalls and top and bottom closure walls, said structure being internally provided with a body part having an elongated groove of arcuate cross-section conforming to the shape of said locking post and extending substantially the entire length of the structure disposed in axial alinement with said locking post, the free outer end of said groove being in registry with an entrance opening provided in the outer one of said end walls for holding said locking post seated in said groove in coaxial registry therewith upon insertion therein of said post, a pair of cylindrical elements respectively socketed within said structure upon opposite sides of said groove adjacent its entrance opening, said elements having wall portions thereof adapted to engage diametrically opposite sides of the locking post along vertically extending parallel lines respectively extending tangent to the circumference of said locking post, one of said elements being socketed in an elongated recess extending at an angle with respect to the longitudinal axis of said groove whereby to permit movement of said one element into and out of wedging engagement with said locking post, the outer wall of said recess serving as a surface for camming the element socketed therein into wedging engagement with the locking post, means engagable with said movable element for positively drawing the latter out of its wedging engagement with said locking post, said means including an elongated substantially flat draw bar rectilinearly shiftable in the plane thereof along a line closely adjacent to and paralleling said groove, the outer end portion of said draw bar having its bottom edge notched to captively engage said movable element, spring means acting on the inner end of said draw bar for normally biasing said movable element held captive by said draw bar along said cam surface into wedging position against the locking post, and an operating lever internally pivoted within and extending externally of said structure and swingable in a plane parallel to the back-forming sections of the binder for manually retracting said draw bar against the biasing effort of said spring means to release the movable element from its wedging position and so permit complete or partial withdrawal of said locking post from said locking device, said operating lever being automatically shiftable into inactive position under the sole influence of said spring means.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.