US 7,802,938 B2Granted

Resilient rod feature in hanging file folder

AssigneeEsselte N.V.

InventorsAndrew Goodfellow, David Gruza, Christopher Holman, Candie Harris, Braden Jones

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Abstract

A binder for holding documents is disclosed. The binder has a spine with a pair of cover flaps attached to each side of the spine. Attached to the spine is a latching device, also referred to as a locking device, that includes a first retaining member, a latching member, and a second retaining member. The first and second retaining members are parallel to each other and extend perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the spine. The binder is configured to hold a plurality of document modules, each of which hold a set of documents, which are flexible sheets of material, such as paper or plastic. Each module has first and second ends. The first end is contoured to mate with a portion of an external profile of the first retaining member. The second end attaches to the second retaining member. The latching member moves between a latched position where it engages the first end of the module and an unlatched position where it is not engaged to the first end of said module.

Claims38

Dependent claims

A system for holding a plurality of loose leaf sheets, comprising:

a spine having top and bottom ends;
a plurality of latching devices connected to the spine, each latching device comprising:
a first retaining member,
a latching member, and
a second retaining member, said first and second retaining members being spaced from each other along a longitudinal axis of said spine;
and
a plurality of modules each adapted to attach to a respective one of the plurality of latching devices, each module being configured to releasably hold a plurality of the loose leaf sheets, each module comprising
a first portion contoured to mate with a portion of an external profile of said first retaining member of said respective one of the plurality of latching devices, and
a second portion contoured to mate with a portion of an external profile of said second retaining member of said respective one of the plurality of latching devices,
wherein each said latching member is movable between a latched position that prevents a respective one of said modules from separating from the respective latching device, and an unlatched position where the respective one of said modules may be removed from said binder,
wherein each latching member of said plurality of latching devices is independently movable between its latched and unlatched positions such that each module can be removed or attached to said spine independent of every other module attached to said spine.

8 more elements

A binder for holding loose leaf sheets, comprising:

a binder spine;
a retaining member supported by the binder spine and projecting along a longitudinal axis;
a module configured to releasably hold a plurality of the loose leaf sheets, the module being movable relative to the retaining member between a retained position and a released position, the retained position comprising a position in which the retaining member engages the module and prevents the module from separating from the retaining member perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis, the released position comprising a position in which the module can move away from the binder spine perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis;
and
a latch movable relative to the binder spine between locked and unlocked positions,
wherein the latch is positioned and configured such that in its unlocked position, the module is movable into and out of its released and retained positions, and
wherein the latch is positioned and configured such that in its locked position, the latch prevents the module in its retained position from moving into its released position.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.