GB2277484A

GB2277484A - A lever-arch file

Info

Publication number: GB2277484A
Application number: GB9407296A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Jacques Treillet
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1993-04-16
Filing date: 1994-04-13
Publication date: 1994-11-02
Anticipated expiration: 2014-04-13
Also published as: GB2277484B; CH689276A5; EP0620126A1; FR2703952A1; GB9407296D0; FR2703952B1

Description

1 2277484 A LEVER-ARCH FILE The invention relates to lever-arch files

designed to receive perforated sheets or separators.

This type of file is in very wide use for filing purposes, and it essentially comprises a cover made up of two lateral portions hinged on either side of a central portion by associated fold lines, together with a lever mechanism having a baseplate fixed to one of the lateral portions of the cover, in general the back portion of the file so that the sheets or separators in the file are presented flat when the file is laid down and opened. The lever mechanism always includes two retaining arches which are opened under the control of a lever hinged to the baseplate.

Traditionally, the cover is made of cardboard and the lever mechanism is fixed to the cover by rivets.

Manufacture thus comprises successive operations of: cutting out a cardboard blank using a guillotine (and additionally cutting out a circular finger hole from the central portion); binding (with paper and/or cloth being glued to the cardboard); scoring to form the fold lines; riveting (after piercing four holes and installing four fixing eyelets for the mechanical baseplate); and final reinforcement (putting metal reinforcing parts onto the edges, and putting a metal ring into place in the circular hole for grasping purposes).

That amounts to about a dozen successive handling operations, and at least eight different types of component, thereby giving rise to high manufacturing costs in spite of the ordinary nature of the materials used. Another drawback lies in the volume taken up because of the lever mechanism when the file is not yet in use or is no longer in use. 35 To mitigate that drawback, proposals have been made to rivet a mechanism backing plate on the cover, as shown in FR-A-2 291 042 so that the lever mechanism is mounted 2 on its backing plate in situ. This achieves a space saving compared with files having a permanently fixed mechanism, but to the detriment of manufacturing costs because of the additional component (metal backing plate), and without achieving any simplification in manufacture since the four rivets of the backing plate are riveted in exactly the same way as is the mechanism plate for files that have a permanently fixed mechanism.

Various solutions have also been proposed for fixing the lever mechanism in removable manner, via its baseplate, on one of the lateral portions of the cover.

Initially proposals were made to fix a ring mechanism via self-fastening means using a strip fixed to the cover and a strip fixed beneath the mechanism, as illustrated in EP-A-0 185 634. Such fastening is quick and simple, but it must be restricted to small files, and in addition the reliability of the fastening can decrease over time due to its being disassembled on many occasions (deliberately or accidentally).

In order to fasten the baseplate of a lever mechanism more securely, solutions have been proposed based on snap-fastening catches and abutments projecting from the inside (DE-A-3 013 310), or using an assembly plate applied to the outside of the cover (EP-A-0 482 354).

The solution using catches and projecting abutments, as illustrated in DE-A-3 013 310, makes it possible to fix the lever mechanism quickly. However, for large files containing a large number of sheets, retention at three points (two lateral catches and a central abutment at right angles) runs the risk of being inadequate given the forces concerned. In addition, disassembly is difficult since it is necessary initially to disengage the lateral catches before the baseplate can be rotated so as to disengage the central abutment.

The solution using an add-on mounting plate as shown in EP-A-0 482 354 makes it necessary to provide three 3 openings through the cover to pass the two slidewayforming rails and the central abutment, which is expensive and which locally weakens the cover of the file, and said openings must also be cut out accurately in order to ensure that the mounting plate is easy to put into place. Furthermore, the mounting plate constitutes an add-on element which needs storing separately and which is also visible from the outside of the cover, thereby spoiling the appearance of the file.

A particular object of the invention is to solve that problem by designing a lever-arch file whose structure makes it possible to avoid the above-specified drawbacks and/or limitations.

An object of the invention is thus to provide a lever-arch file having a removable mechanism which is both simple and rational in design and which facilitates storage of files before and after use thereof.

More particularly, the present invention provides a lever-arch file, comprising a cover made up of two lateral portions hinged on either side of a central portion via associated fold lines, and a lever mechanism that is removably fixed via its baseplate to one of the lateral portions of the cover, the file being characterized in that the inside face of one of the lateral portions of the cover presents firstly a slideway formed by two parallel rails into which the baseplate of the lever mechanism is inserted, thereby enabling the mechanism to be removably mounted on the cover, and secondly at least one projecting lug serving to lock the baseplate of the lever mechanism once said mechanism has been put into place, the cover together with its slideway and its lug(s) being made in the form of a single piece of plastics material.

Preferably, the cover has a first lug for locking purposes which cooperates with an associated opening in the baseplate of the lever mechanism and a second lug for 4 end-of-stroke abutment purposes which co-operates with an edge of said baseplate.

In a preferred embodiment, the two rails forming the slideway are essentially parallel to the fold lines of the cover. It is then advantageous for each slideway rail to be in the form of an angle section member, and to present a chamfer at the inlet to the slideway and/or transverse reinforcement at the other end of said slideway.

It is also advantageous for the cover also to present a second slideway on the inside face of its central portion and in the vicinity of the abovespecified slideway, which second slideway is likewise formed by two parallel rails in which the baseplate of a perforator is inserted so as to enable the perforator to be removably mounted on the cover, said second slideway likewise being integrally formed with said cover.

It is then preferable for the two rails forming the slideway for the perforator to be of angle section and to extend essentially perpendicularly to the fold lines of the cover. In particular, the perforator may be positioned in its slideway by an end-of- stroke abutment or by transverse reinforcements provided at the ends of the rails of said slideway that are furthest from the slideway for the lever mechanism. It is also possible to provide for the central portion of the cover to present at least one through opening between the two rails forming the slideway for the perforator, which opening enables an external label-carrier built into the back of said central portion to be disengaged, said opening being masked on the inside when the perforator is in place in its slideway.

Finally, it is advantageous for the cover together with its lever mechanism slideway and its associated lugs, and together with its optional perforator slideway and its associated end-of-stroke abutment to be made out of injected plastics material, preferably polypropylene.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly in the light of the following description of the accompanying drawings, that relate to a particular embodiment, with reference being made to the figures, in which:

Figure 1 shows a lever-arch file of the invention in the closed position, the back of the file additionally being fitted with an in-built labelcarrier and having a cutout for grasping purposes; Figure 2 shows the same file in the open position, revealing the lever mechanism in place in its slideway, and in this case together with a perforator that is likewise in place in an associated slideway; Figure 3 shows the cover of the file without the two above-mentioned mechanisms, in the configuration it takes up in the form of a single piece obtained by a single manufacturing operation, being made of injected polypropylene, for example; Figure 4 is a fragmentary plan view of the cover showing the slideway for the lever mechanism and the associated locking lugs on a larger scale; and Figure 5 is an associated end view, and Figures 6 and 7 are sections on VI-VI and VII-VII of Figure 4 showing the structure of the above- mentioned slideway more clearly.

Figure 1 shows a lever-arch file C of the invention in its closed position, the file comprising a cover 10 comprising two lateral portions 11 and 12 hinged to opposite sides of a central portion 13 via associated fold lines 14. The cover 10 together with its mechanism slideways and its projecting locking lug(s) as described below with reference to Figures 2 to 7, is made as a single piece of plastic, preferably injected polypropylene. The cover 10 therefore has sufficient inherent stiffness to avoid any need for reinforcing elements to be added thereto: thus, the edges of the lateral portions 11 and 12 are free from any metal 6 reinforcing strips, and the finger hole is implemented in this case in the form of a lozenge 15 which likewise has no metal reinforcing ring.

Figure 1 also shows a label-carrier 16 built in to the back of the cover 10, associated with a housing 17 formed in the central portion 13 of the cover, which housing communicates in the present case with a small housing 18 that is deeper and that is designed to receive an electronic chip associated with automatic recognition of the file. The label-carrier 16 is made of transparent material to provide a magnifying glass effect, and looking through it there can be seen two through openings 19 formed in the central portion 13, thereby enabling the label-carrier to be removed when it is desired to install or replace a label in the associated housing 17.

Figure 2 shows the file C in the open position, and in the figure there can be seen the lever mechanism 12 of the file installed in its slideway 50, and in this case there can also be seen a perforator 30 likewise disposed in its own associated slideway 60.

The lever mechanism 20 is of entirely conventional design, and it comprises a baseplate 21 of rectangular shape with two arches 22 mounted thereon, which arches are opened under the control of a lever 23 that is hinged to a tab 24. More particularly, each arch 22 is constituted by a stationary portion 22.1 rigidly secured to the baseplate 21, and by a moving portion 22.2 that forms part of a pivoting assembly that cooperates with the lever 23 via a presser wheel 25, contact with said wheel being ensured by a resilient bottom tab 26 carried by the baseplate 21.

According to a characteristic of the invention, the lever mechanism 20 is inserted in a slideway 50 integral with the cover 10 and constituted by two parallel rails 51, and in this case the rails are essentially parallel to the fold lines 14 of the cover 10. This disposition of the rails 51 appears to be the most advantageous in 1 I- 7 that when the file is full of perforated sheets or separators, the forces exerted by the bundle of sheets or separators on the supporting arches 22 are themselves optimally supported over the entire length of the rails 51 of the slideway 50 that is integral with the cover 10. Nevertheless, in a variant, it would be possible to provide two slideway rails that extend perpendicularly to the fold lines 14, however that disposition would appear to be less favorable insofar as the lever mechanism 20 would then be supported by the short sides of its baseplate 21, and it would be more likely to become disengaged from the slideway in the event of the file being grasped via the opening provided for that purpose in the file.

With reference to Figures 3 to 7, the organization of the slideway 50 associated with the lever mechanism 20 can be seen more clearly. In this case, each rail 51 is right-angled in shape, thereby enabling the long sides 28 of the baseplate 21 to be clamped.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the inside face of the lateral portion 12 of the cover 10 also presents at least one projecting lug, likewise integrally formed therewith on the inside of the cover and serving to lock the baseplate 21 of the lever mechanism 20 once said mechanism has been put into place.

A locking lug 54 is thus provided that co-operates with an associated opening 27 in the baseplate 21 of the lever mechanism 20. One of the faces of the lug 54 slopes in the insertion direction X for the lever mechanism 20 so that when the lever mechanism is being put into place, the baseplate 21 of the mechanism can go past the projecting lug 54 until it reaches a snap-fastening position where one of the edges of the opening 27 cooperates with the edge 54.1 of the projecting lug 54. A second lug 55 is also provided to act as an end-of-stroke abutment, and the short edge 29 of the baseplate 21 comes into abutment thereagainst when the lever mechanism is 8 put into place in its slideway 50. In Figure 3, chaindotted lines show the outline XX of the baseplate of the lever mechanism. These two lugs 54 and 55 thus serve to lock the lever mechanism in place once it has been put into position, while nevertheless making it possible for the lever mechanism to be removed easily by flexing the lateral portion 12 of the cover 10 a little and then extracting said mechanism in a direction opposite to the direction of above-mentioned arrow X. To facilitate insertion, a chamfer 52 is provided in this case at the inlet to the slideway 50.

The rails 51 of the slideway 50 may be of rightangled section over their entire length, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, or else they may have transversely- extending reinforcement 53 at their ends remote from the inlet chamfer 52, as shown in Figures 4, 5, and 7. Under such circumstances, the short edge 29 of the baseplate 21 does not project beyond the ends of the rails 51 of the slideway 50. It would naturally be possible to provide for the transverse reinforcements 53 to act as end-ofstroke abutments, by co-operating with the short edge 29 of the baseplate 21, in which case it would be possible to omit the projecting end-of-stroke lug 55.

According to another advantageous characteristic of the invention, the cover 10 also has a second slideway 60 on the inside face of its central portion 13 in the vicinity of the above-described slideway 50. The second slideway 60 is likewise constituted by two parallel rails, into which the baseplate 31 of a perforator 30 is inserted so as to enable the perforator to be removably mounted on the cover 10, said second slideway 60 likewise being integrally formed with said cover.

If reference is made to Figure 2, there can be seen the structure of such a perforator 30 which is constituted by a baseplate 31 having a pivoting plate 32 hinged thereon via hinge brackets 33, with perforation being performed by means of projections 34 carried by the e 9 baseplate 31 co-operating with corresponding openings 35 in the pivoting plate 32.

As can be seen more clearly in Figure 3, the slideway 60 for the perforator is constituted by two rails 61 of right-angled section, which in this case extend essentially perpendicularly to the fold lines 14 of the cover 10. The perforator 30 is then installed by inserting its baseplate 31 laterally between the rails 61 of the associated slideway 60 in the direction of arrow Y. The perforator 30 may be positioned in its slideway 60 by an end-of-stroke abutment 65 as represented by the chaindotted outline XXX of the baseplate of said perforator, with one of the long sides 37 of the baseplate 31 coming into thrust contact with the endof- stroke abutment 65. This disposition of the slideway 60 is advantageous insofar as it is easy to insert the elongate baseplate 31 in a small slideway via the short sides 36 of the baseplate 31. The perforator can then easily be removed, since the removal stroke corresponds to the length of the slideway 60 and is extremely short. It would naturally be possible to replace the end-ofstroke abutment 65 by transverse reinforcement provided at the ends of the rails 61 of the slideway 60 that are furthest from the slideway 50 of the lever mechanism, in which case said transverse reinforcement is implemented in the same manner as the transverse reinforcement 53 for the rails 51 of the slideway 50.

As will easily be understood, when the file is closed, the perforator 30 is held closed by direct contact between its hinged plate 32 and at least one of the arches 22 of the lever mechanism 20, thereby avoiding any need for snap-fastenings that are awkward to use when handling the file. In the other lateral portion 11 of the cover 10, it is also possible to provide locking openings that receive and co-operate with the tops of the arches of the lever mechanism when the file is closed. Making the cover out of an injected plastics material facilitates the provision of such locking openings (not shown herein).

In addition, as can be seen more clearly in Figure 3, the central portion 13 of the cover 10 has at least one through opening 19 between the two rails 61 that form the slideway for the perforator (in this case there are two such openings), which openings enable the outside label-carrier 61 that is built into the back of said central portion to be removed, said openings being masked on the inside of the back once the perforator 30 is in place in its slideway 60. Thus, when it is desired to remove the label-carrier 16, it suffices to remove the perforator 30 from its slideway 60 to gain access to the openings 19 that enable a finger to be inserted to push the external label-carrier 16 out from the opening in which it is received.

The cover 10 together with its lever mechanism slideway 50 and its projecting lugs 54 and 55, and in this case also together with its perforator slideway 60 and the associated projecting abutment 65 is made of injected plastics material in the form of a single piece, and is made preferably of polypropylene. Thus, it is possible to make a cover in a single injection operation that directly presents its slideway(s) for receiving the lever mechanism and the perforator, which has not been done before without providing a separate assembly plate having a slideway and an abutment that pass through associated openings in the cover.

The corresponding piece can be stored flat, thereby occupying minimum volume. Thereafter, it suffices to insert the lever mechanism (and optionally the perforator) which can be done by untrained personnel and without any kind of tooling. As a result the riveting operations of conventional lever-arch files are eliminated. In addition, the rigidity specific to the present cover of injected polypropylene avoids any need to provide add-on reinforcing elements, be they at the 4 R 11 edges of the lateral portions of the cover or around the edge of the finger hole 15.

The structure of a lever-arch file has thus been considerably simplified since apart from its mechanisms and its label-carrier, it comprises a single component only, such that manufacture of such a lever-arch file is reduced to a single operation of injecting a plastics material. This considerably reduces manufacturing costs. It may also be advantageous to make the cover by flat injection, while providing a small amount of reduced thickness at the fold lines 14, thereby avoiding any subsequent scoring operation to facilitate hinging of the cover at its fold lines.

Covers are thus made storable both on initial delivery and when recycled (after removing the corresponding mechanisms), thus making it possible to remove the cover when archiving its contents, thereby reducing bulk.

It would naturally be possible to provide other integrated features that are not shown herein, e.g. means for mechanically locking the file by mere internal snapfastening (using a spring clip) when the file is closed, or by providing an integral carrying handle level with the label-carrier, i.e. formed in the back of the central portion. It is thus possible to make a lever-arch file which is both simple and rational in design and which considerably facilitates storage of files both before and after use thereof. 30 The invention is not limited to the embodiment described above, but on the contrary covers any variant that may use equivalent means to reproduce the essential characteristics specified above.

12

Claims

1/ A lever-arch file, comprising a cover made up of two lateral portions hinged on either side of a central portion via associated fold lines, and a lever mechanism that is removably fixed via its baseplate to one of the lateral portions of the cover, the file being characterized in that the inside face of one of the lateral portions (12) of the cover (10) presents firstly a slideway (50) formed by two parallel rails (51) into which the baseplate (21) of the lever mechanism (20) is inserted, thereby enabling the mechanism to be removably mounted on the cover (10), and secondly at least one projecting lug (54, 55) serving to lock the baseplate (21) of the lever mechanism (20) once said mechanism has been put into place, the cover (10) together with its slideway (50) and its lug(s) (54, 55) being made in the form of a single piece of plastics material.

2/ A lever-arch file according to claim 1, characterized in that the cover (10) has a first lug (54) for locking purposes which co-operates with an associated opening (27) in the baseplate (21) of the lever mechanism (20) and a second lug (55) for end-of-stroke abutment purposes which co-operates with an edge (29) of said baseplate.

3/ A lever-arch file according to claim 1, characterized in that the two rails (51) forming the slideway (50) are essentially parallel to the fold lines (14) of the cover (10).

4/ A lever-arch file according to claim 3, characterized in that each slideway rail (51) is in the form of an angle section member, and presents a chamfer (52) at the inlet to the slideway (50) and/or transverse reinforcement (53) at the other end of said slideway.

13 5/ A lever-arch file according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the cover (10) also presents a second slideway (60) on the inside face of its central portion (13) and in the vicinity of the above- specified slideway (50), which second slideway is likewise formed by two parallel rails (61) in which the baseplate (31) of a perforator (30) is inserted so as to enable the perforator to be removably mounted on the cover (10), said second slideway (60) likewise being integrally formed with said cover.

6/ A lever-arch file according to claim 5, characterized in that the two rails (61) forming the slideway (60) for the perforator are of angle section and extend essentially perpendicularly to the fold lines (14) of the cover (10).

7/ A lever-arch file according to claim 6, characterized in that the perforator (30) is positioned in its slideway (60) by an end-of-stroke abutment (65) or by transverse reinforcements provided at the ends of the rails (61) of said slideway that are furthest from the slideway (50) for the lever mechanism.

B/ A lever-arch file according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the central portion (13) of the cover (10) presents at least one through opening (19) between the two rails (61) forming the slideway for the perforator, which opening (19) enables an external label- carrier (16) built into the back of said central portion to be disengaged, said opening (19) being masked on the inside when the perforator (30) is in placein its slideway (60).

9/ A lever-arch file according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the cover (10) together with its lever mechanism slideway (50) and its associated lugs 14 (54, 55), and together with its optional perforator slideway (60) and its associated end-of-stroke abutment (65) is made out of injected plastics material, preferably polypropylene.

10/ A lever-arch file substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

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