CA1195360A

CA1195360A - Binder construction

Info

Publication number: CA1195360A
Application number: CA000393608A
Authority: CA
Inventors: George Olah
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1982-01-05
Filing date: 1982-01-05
Publication date: 1985-10-15

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
The invention provides improved binder constructions incorporating improved means for releasably securing books or booklets therein and which securing means is free from complicated locking and opening mechanisms but yet provides sufficient securing force as to enable relatively heavy books, directories, or groups of booklets to be firmly secured therein.
The binder construction includes a binder cover having an elongated spine which includes inner and outer major surfaces.
A fastener means is affixed to the inner major surface of the spine, which fastener means comprises two separable strips, each defining an inner and an outer major surface. The inner major surfaces of the strips are releasably secured together in mating face-to-face relationship by interengaging hook means and loop means defined on their inner major surfaces. The outer major surface of one of these separable strips is permanently affixed to the inner major surface of the spine. The outer major surface of the other one of these strips is arranged to be adhesivly secured to the spine of a book or a booklet carrying device.

Description

BINDER CONSTRUCTION
B~CI~GROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an improved binder construction incorporating improved means for releasably securing books or booklets therein.
Ring-type binders have been known for many years.
However, they are of limited use in cases where a relatively large book, such as a thick directory or the like is to be attached to the binder. In this case the directory would have to be provided with pre-drilled holes matching the rings on the binder. This is often not practical and the thickness of the boo~let which can be secured in this way without incurring excessive binding or friction between the directory and the rings is fairly limited.
United States Patent No. 3,96~,770 to ~bildgaard issued June 2~nd, 1976 discloses a hard cover binder having a layer of foam material extending along the interior surface of the spine. This foam material has a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive on its exterior surface which, in turn, ~0 is covered by a protective release sheet. In use, the release sheet is stripped off to expose the pressure sensitive adhesive layer. The spine edge of an uncased book is then forced against the pressure sensitive adh~sive to provide a connection between them. Once the uncased book ~5 is connected to the binder there appears to be formed a more or less permanent connection. If one wishes to remove ~he Si36~

book it would have to be torn free of the binder with the result being that the foam material and/or the spine of the binder would be damaged. Thus, this form of connec-tion is not well suited for use in cases where one wishes to periodically replace the book or directory while at the same time reusin~ the hard cover binder.
An alternative form of structure is shown in the Wardell U.S. Patent No. 3,570,~71 issued March 16th, 1971.
In this patent, blocks of rubber material covered with fine wire mesh are connected to the spine of the binder. Attach-ment pins having a crossbar head and a shaft portion are inserted into the blocks of rubber material. As best seen in Fig. ~ of the patent, a clip arrangement i5 connected to the crossbar head so that a sheaf of material may be held in such clips with a hinge point being defined at the crossbar.
pair of such clips are req~ired for each sheaf o~ material and, because the rubber blocks have a substantial width, a number of such sheafs may be po~itioned side-by-side.
However, because of the relatively large number of different components involved, and because of the complexity of same, the overall arrangement is quite complicated and relatively expensive to produce. The patent also illustrates at Fig. 5 an alternative arrangement wherein the clips 18 are replaced with pad arrangements incorporating "Velcro" fastening means with portions of the Velcro fasteners bein~ connected to the paper inserts.
The United States Patent to Nugent No. 3,785 r013 e~

5i3613 issued January 15th, 1974 and its Canadian counterpart Patent No. 947,175 issued May l~th, 197~ disclose a binder construction having a matted surface defining a plurality of loops on same connected to the inwardly facing surface 5 of the binder spine. This matted surface cooperates with fasteners for small booklets and the like, each fastener comprising a flat strip having a substantially two-dimensional row of hook-like elements projecting outwardly from same and adapted to engage with the matted surface. Each fastener 10 strip is adapted to be connected to a respective booklet by means of a strip of adhesive material, with the locus of hinging between the matted surface and the fastener being substantially one-dimensional, e.g. linear. However, the matted surface provided in the Nugent structure serves simply 15 as a connection and hinge region, i.e. the locus of hinging lies directly in the matted surface. The relatively small two-dimensional rows of hook~like elements provided by Nugent would not be suitable for attaching relatively heavy booklets such as directories and the like.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is a hasic object of the invention to provide improved binder constructions incorporating improved means for re]easably securing books or booklets therein and which securing means is free from complicated locking and opening ~echanisms but yet provides sufficient securing force as to enable relatively heavy books, directories, or groups of booklets to be firmly secured therein. A general objective is 536~

to provide an improved binder construction incorporating improved releasable securing means which substantially avoids the various deficiencies enumerated above in conjunction with various ones of the prior art devices.
S Accordingly, the present invention in one aspect provides a binder construction including a binder cover having an elongated spine which includes inner and outer major surfaces. A fastener means is affixed to the inner major surface of the spine, which fastener means comprises two separable strips, each strip defining an inner and an outer major surface. The inner major surfaces of the strips are releasably secured together in mating face-to-face relationship by interengaging hook means and loop means defined on their inner major surfaces. The outer major surface of one of these separable strips is permanently affixed to the inner major surface of the spine. The outer major surface of the other one of these strips is arranged to be adhesively secured to the spine of a book or a booklet carrying device.
In a preferred form of the invention, the outer major surface of said other one of these strips has a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive thereon. This enables the spine of a book or booklet carrying device to be readily engaged therewith by effecting pre~suri~ed contact between them. Thus, on subsequent removal of the book or booklet carrying device from the bin~er cover, these strips are separated from one 36~

another with the other strip remaining on the spine of the book or booklet carrying device. Reattachment is very simple as it simply involves bringing the above noted strips back together into mating face-to-face relationship.
The above-noted fastener means preferably comprises a fastener tape with one of such separable strips having a loop pile fabric extending over its inner major surface and defining the above-noted loop means. The inner major surface of the other o~ the strips has a multiplicity of discrete 10 hooks formed thereon defining the hook means and adapted to engage with the loop pile fabric but being releasable there-from upon application of a selected force.
In the case where a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive is provided on one of the strips, it is typically 15 covered with a release paper which is stripped off by the user immediately prior to use thus ensuring a clean fresh adhesive surface capable of providing a strong bond with the spine portion of a book which is brought into pressurized contact therewith.
While the preferred form of the invention contemplates the use of the binder for holding soft covered books such as directories and the like, it was noted above that a booklet carrying device could be adhesively secured to the outer major surface of said other one of the fastener strips. The 25 ~ooklet carrying device conveniently comprises a strip of material formed into a plurality of pleats so as to define, in use, a plurality of pockets extending lengthwise of the spine~

~S;3~

A suitable adhesive, preferably a pressure sensitive adhesive is disposed on the interior portions of such pockets for securing individual booklets or leaflets within the respective pockets.

-The present invention and the advantages associated with same will be better understood from a review of the following description of a preferred embodiment of same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in ~hich:
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a hard cover binder employing the releasable fastening means of the present invention and showing a soft coyer book being advanced towards the spine of the binder for engagement therewith;
Fig. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a portion of the binder spine with the fastener means connected thereto and a portion of the protective overlay being peeled back to expose the pressure sensitive adhesive layer;
Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view of a portion of the binder spine and illustrating the inner major surface of one of the fastening strips;
Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of a soft covered book illustrating the inner major surface of the other one of the fastener strips attached to the spine of the book;
~ ig. 5 is a fragmentary end elevation view of the binder cover in combination with a book and illustrating the manne~ in which the several components interengage and cooperate with one another;

36~

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a booklet carrying device releasably attached to the binder spine by way of the fastening means of thepresent invention;
and Fig. 7 is a fragmentary end elevation view further illustrating the structure shown in Fig. 6 and its manner of cooperation with the other components of the structure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFER~ED EMBODIMENTS
Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a binder lO cover 10 of ~enerally conventional construction having an elongated spine 12, to the opposing longitudinal edges of which are hingedly attached front and rear covers 14 and 16 rPspectively. The binder cover, per se, may be of any desired conventional construction and may, for example,,comprise 15 sections of semi-rigid cardboard sheathed ~n inner and outer layers of thermoplastic material, such sheets of thermoplastic material being heat sealed to one another all along the outer edge of the binder cover and also along the hinge lines defined between the binder spine 12 and the front and rear 20 covers l~ and 16.
The above-noted binder spine 12 defines inner and outer major surfaces, the inner major surface keing designated by reference 18 with the fastener means provided by the present invention being designated by reference 20 and being 25 affixed to the inner major surface 18 of the spine.
The fastener means 20 comprises two separable strips ~s~

22 and 2~. Each such strip has an inner major surface and an outer major surface. The inner major surfaces of strips 22 and 24 are releasably securable together in mating face-to-face relationship by means of interengaging hooks and loop means defined on such inner major surfaces. As illustrated in the drawings, the strip 22 is provided on its inner major surface with a loop pile fabric construction the latter extending over substantially its entire inner major surface.
The other of such strips 24 is provided with a multiplicity 10 of discrete hooks thereon and extending substantially over its entire innex major surface. These discrete hooks are adapted to engage with the loop pile fabric defined on the other strip 22 but the strips are separable from one another upon application of a selected force.
Fastening strips of the nature described above are generally well known in the art and are co~ercially available under the trademark "Velcro". Since such fastener strips are commercially available and since the manufacture and construction of such strips is well known, having been 20 described in numerous patents of d~ Mestral et al and assigned to Velcro, S.A., a further discussion of the nature and pxoperties of such strips is not required here.
The outer major surface of strip 22 is permanently affixed to the inner major surface 18 of the binder spine.
25 This permanent connection may be made in any suitable manner such as by the use of suitable solvent-type adhesi~es compatible with the surface 18 of the binder spine and with ~S36~

the outer major surface of fastener strip 22.
The outer major surface of the other strip 24 is provided with a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive 26, such adhesive being again of any well known commercially 5 available variety. This layer of pressure sensitive adhesive extends over the entire outer major surface of the fastener strip 24. In order to protect this layer of pressure sensitive adhesive, the latter is covered with a release strip 28 which typically may be a thin layer of polyethylene coated with silicone to facilitate stripping. Figure 2 shows this release strip 28 as being partially peeled away from pressure sensitive adhesive layer 26.
The manner in which the above-described construction will be used will be readily apparent to those skilled in this art. The binder will be initially shipped and marketed substantially in the form illustrated in Fig. 2. The ultimate ser, having selected the book to be bound, first peels away the protective overlay strip 28 thus exposin~ the pressure sensitive adhesive layer 26 on the fastener strip 24. The book ll is then grasped firmly and moved to~ard the outer major surface of fastener strip 24 thus bringing the spine of the book or directory into firm pressuri~ed contact with pressure sensitive adhesive layer 26. In this fashion, the fastener strip 2~ thus becomes securely adhered to the spine of the book or directory. Because of the substantial area of the mating fa~e~to face surfaces of fastener strips 22 and 24, a substantial amount of force is needed to separate the ~S;3~

-- 10 ~
same and thus the book or directory is relatively firmly secured to the spine 12 of the binder. However, should one wish to replace the book or directory, the latter is firmly grasped by the hand and drawn away from the binder spine 12 5 with the result being that the fast~ner strips 24 and 22 separate from one another with the strip 22 remaining permanently secured to the binder spine as noted above and the other strip 24 separating therefrom and remaining on the spine of the book or directory. In order to attach another 10 book or directory to this same binder 10, a further fastener strip 24 is secured to the spine of the new book or directory;
such fastener strips, as noted above, are commercially available and can be provided with any suitable adhesive means for providing the connection to the spine of the book or 15 directory. Once the fastener strip 24 has been suitably affixed to the spine of such book, the latter is advanced toward the other fastener strip 22 on the spine of the binder and the two brought into firm pressurized engagement with one another so that the hook means on the one fastener strip 20 interengages with the loop pile fabric on the other strip in a manner well known in the art.
It will be appreciated that the above-described structure is particularly use~ul and convenient in the case of books which must be periodically replaced such a5 telephone 25 books and other forms of directories and indexes~ The binder can be used over and over again thus reducing costs to the user substantially.

;i36g:~

A modified form of construction is illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7. :[n this case the binder 10 as described above again is provided with a fastener tape exactly as described above comprising separable fastener strips 22 and 24 as described previously. The outer major surface of fastener strip 24 is again provided with an adhesive layer.
However, in the structure illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7, a booklet carrying device 30 is provided, the latter comprising a strip of flexible material, such as heavy paper or thin lO iApla6tic, formed into a plurality of pleats 32 thus defining a plurality of generally U-shaped pockets 34 extending lengthwise of the binder spine 12. Each o~ these pockets 34 is provided with a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive on its inner surfaces and such layers of adhesive are typically 15 initially covered with suitable strips of release material o the type described previously. In use, should one desire to secure small booklets or pamphlets within the binder, the appropriate number of release strips are peeled off thus exposing the pressure sensitive adhesive within the U-shaped 20 pocket or pockets following which individual booklets are positioned in these pockets thus becoming adhered to the pressure sensitive adhesiveO When one wishes to remove the booklets thus held from the binder 10, outward forces are exerted thereon with the result being that the fastener

2; strips 22 and 24 separa-te from one another in the fashion described above thus enabling the binder 10 to be reused for ~S3~i~

other purposes.
Preferred embodiments of the invention have been described above by way of example. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that numerous changes and modifications 5 to the specific structures described above may be made while still remaining within the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims appended hereto.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A binder construction comprising: a binder cover including an elongated spine having inner and outer major surfaces; a fastener means affixed to said inner major surface of the spine, said fastener means comprising two separable strips, each strip having an inner major surface and an outer major surface, said inner major surfaces of the strips being releasably secured together in mating face-to-face relation by interengaging hook means and loop means defined on their inner major surfaces; the outer major surface of one of said separable strips being permanently affixed to said inner major surface of said spine, and the outer major surface of the other of said strips arranged to be adhesively secured to the spine of a book or booklet carrying device.

2. The binder construction of claim 1 wherein said outer major surface of said other of said strips has a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive thereon to enable the spine of a book or booklet carrying device to be readily engaged thereby by effecting pressurized contact therebetween, so that on subsequent removal of said book or booklet carrying device from the binder cover, said strips are separated from one another with said other strip remaining on the spine of the book or booket carrying device.

3. The binder construction of claim 1 or 2 wherein said outer major surface of the other of said strips is adhesively secured to a booklet carrying device, the latter comprising a strip of material formed into a plurality of pleats to define a plurality of pockets extending lengthwise of said spine, and adhesive means on said material disposed on the pocket interiors for securing booklets or leaflets within the respective pockets.

4. The binder construction of claim 1 or 2 in combination with a book, said book having a spine portion adhesively secured to said outer major surface of the other of said strips.

5. The binder construction of claim 1 or 2 wherein said fastener means comprises a fastener tape, one of said separable strips having a loop pile fabric extending over its inner major surface defining said loop means, and the inner major surface of the other of said strips having a multiplicity of discrete hooks formed thereon defining said hook means and adapted to engage with said loop pile fabric but being releasable therefrom upon application of a selected force.