US3368445A - Staple - Google Patents

Description

1968 J. J. TRZESNIEWSKI 3,368,445

STAPLE Original Filed Oct. 6, 1964 IN VENTOR JOSEPH! ikzssmswsm United States Patent Ofifice 3,368,445 Patented Feb. 13, 1968 3,368,445 STAPLE Joseph J. Trzesniewski, 1711 W. Lincoln Ave., Milwaukee, Wis. 53215 Continuation of application Ser. No. 401,859, Oct. 6,

1964. This application Dec. 2, 1966, Ser. No. 607,109 6 Claims. (Cl. 85-49) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLGSURE A staple for fastening sheets of material together and formed of a leg having a penetrating point at one end and two diverging arms branching from the opposite end. The penetrating point is forced through the sheets of material and the leg is bent into engagement with one side of the material. The two arms are bent relative to the leg into engagement with the opposite side of the material with the leg being disposed between the two arms to cooperate with them for firmly clamping the sheets of material between the pair of arms on one side and the leg on the other side.

This is a continuation of patent application Ser. No. 401,859, filed Oct. 6, 1964.

This invention relates generally to staples and more particularly to an improved staple for stapling paper or other similar thin sheet material.

The conventional wire paper staple is furnished with its two ends bent 90 from the central length or bridge and the two ends are disposed parallel to each other. The two ends are forced through. the paper that is to be clipped together and then bent another 90 against the bridge. As a result, the two ends are then bent 180 toward each other to underlie the bridge which is then disposed on one side of the papers while the two ends are on the opposite side of the papers that are being clipped together. Since the two ends are tightly bent against the bridge of the staple it is troublesome to engage these ends and bend them backwardly for removing the staple. In removing such staple a person will normally attempt to insert a fingernail between the underlying ends and the bridge for the purpose of prying them apart. Such procedure may result in a broken fingernail or other dis comfort to the person and usually the paper becomes torn in the process. In order to avoid these difficulties various instruments have been made available to facilitate the removal of such staples.

It is therefore a general object of the present invention to provide an improved paper staple that is especially adapted to facilitate its manual removal from the paper.

Another object is to provide an improved paper staple that may be conveniently removed from the paper without the use of special instrumentsfor this purpose.

Another object is to provide a paper staple that may be manually removed from the paper to which it is attached without tearing the paper.

A further object is to provide a paper staple that is easy to remove from the paper to which it is attached but which will firmly engage the paper and hold it together until the staple is removed.

A further object is to provide a paper staple that is of simple and inexpensive construction but efiicient in operation.

According to this invention the improved paper staple comprises a wire formed into the shape of a Y. Prior to attachment to the paper, the two arms of the V portion of the Y are bent into a plane that is displaced approximately 90 from the vertical leg of the Y. Thus, when the two arms of the V are in a horizontal plane the leg of the Y will be substantially vertical. The staple is attached to the paper by simply inserting the leg of the Y through the several sheets of paper that are being clipped together and the leg is then bent into the same plane that contains the two arms of the V portion with the leg being centrally disposed between the two arms. With this arrangement the paper is securely held together by the two arms engaging the top sheet of paper and co.- operating with the single leg of the staple which is contacting the bottom sheet of paper.

The staple of the present invention can be very readily removed without a special instrument and without harming the fingernails of the person or the paper by simply placing a finger between the two arms of the staple over the leg and forcing the leg away from the two arms to release the paper. The leg is then withdrawn through the same hole in the paper through which it was inserted. In this manner the staple is readily detached from the paper without causing any tears in the paper during its removal.

The foregoing and other objects of the invention which will become apparent from the following detailed specification setting forth an illustrative embodiment, may be achieved by the particular article depicted in and described in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of a staple incorporating the features of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the staple depicted in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective exploded view illustrating sequentially the relative positions of the staples, paper and matrix when applying a staple to the paper for clipping the latter together;

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view of a staple applied to several sheets of paper for clipping the latter together;

FIGURE 5 is a bottom view of a punch employed to detach a staple from a stack of staples, force the staple through the paper and reform the staple for attaching it to the paper;

FIGURE 6 is an exploded view illustrating the staple and paper and the punch and matrix mostly in vertical section and in side elevation showing the punch depicted in FIG. 5 in operating relationship with a matrix for operating on a staple to attach the staple to paper with the staple and paper being depicted in the proper relationship between the matrix and the punch; and v FIGURE 7 is a side elevational view of the parts depicted in FIG. 6 but the punch being shown in engagement with the matrix with the staple and paper between them, the staple being reformed and attached to the paper for clipping the sheets of paper together.

Reference'is now made more particularly to the drawings and specifically to FIGS. 1 and 2 thereof which illustrate a paper staple incorporating the features of the present invention. The staple 10 is formed of a strand of wire that is bent at substantially its midpoint to form a double stranded rectilinear leg portion 11 in which the two strands of wire are in juxtaposition along their entire length. The two ends of the strand of wire are bent away from each other to form two single strand arms 12 and 13 that cooperate with each other to form a V with the juncture of the two arms corresponding to their .point of connection to the leg 11 as clearly illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. The staple 10 is actually shaped in the form of a Y with the V portion being formed of the arms 12 and 13 and the leg of the Y corresponding to the leg 11 of the staple. However, instead of the V portion and the leg being in the same plane, the illustrated emvertically while'the arms 12 and 13 arein a substantially horizontal position.

The 180 bend of the strand of wire at the bottom of the leg 11 forms a point 15 for penetrating the paper or other material that is to be stapled together. The top of the exploded perspective view in FIG. 3 illustrates a plurality of staples stacked in a manner for packing in an appropriate stapling machine. The initial movements of a punch 20, shown in FIG. 6, separates the first staple 10 from the stack in the manner represented by the second view of the solitary staple 10 in FIG. 3. The punch 20 continues the movement of the staple 10 downwardly to penetrate two sheets of paper 21 and 22 that are to be stapled together by the staple 10. The point of the staple 10 will enter the sheet of paper 21 at a point 23 and proceed through the sheet of paper 22 into a recess 24 formed in a matrix 25. As the point 15 enters the recess 24 it passes along the curvilinear bottom surface of the recess 24 while the arms 12 and 13 are rigidly secured by the punch 20. Accordingly, as the punch progresses, the point 15 passes along the bottom surface of the recess 24 and the leg 11 is bent upwardly along the underside of the sheet of paper 22 until it is substantially in the same plane as the arms 12 and 13 and centrally disposed between the two arms 12 and 13 as clearly shown in FIG. 4. The arms 12 and 13 are then on the top surface of the sheet 21 while the leg 11 is disposed in engagement with the undersurface of the sheet 22 with the two sheets 21 and 22 being located between the leg 11 and the arms 12 and 13. With this arrangement, the two sheets of paper 21 and 22 are securely stapled together.

Although the staple 10 serves to firmly secure the two sheets of paper 21 and 22 together, the staple may be readily removed without the assistance of a special tool for this purpose. Since the leg 11 extends in substantially the same plane as the arms 12 and 13 but in the space between them it is a simple matter for a person to place his fingers on either side of the leg 11 underneath the arms 12 and 13 and then place another finger between the arms 12 and 13 over the leg 11 and bend the leg 11 outwardly away from the arms 12 and 13. After the leg 11 has been bent outwardly a sufiicient distance it may be conveniently withdrawn from the paper through the same hole that it penetrated the paper. The staple can be thus removed simultaneously bend the leg 90 upwardly into the plane of the arms 12 and 13 as previously described.

When the punch 20 has completed its downward movement toward the matrix 25 the several parts shown in FIG. 6 are finally in the position depicted in FIG. 7. As there shown, the leg 11 has been bent upwardly approximately 90 toward the arms 12 and 13 and the sheets of paper 21 and 22 are tightly sandwiched between the bottom surface of the punch 20 and the upper surface of the matrix 25. The leg 11 has penetrated both sheets of paper 21 and 22 and entered the recess 24 so that it is disposed on the underside of the sheet of paper 22. On the other hand, the arms 12 and 13 have been moved into engagement with the upper surface of the sheet of paper 21. If the punch 20 is now removed from the matrix 25 the staple 10 will remain attached to the two sheets of paper 21 and 22 for clipping them together by reason of the fact that the arms 12 and 13 are on one side of the paper and the leg 11 is on the opposite side of the paper.

It will be noted that the recess 27 is provided with arcuate surfaces 30 to form an arcuate configuration at the ends of each of the arms 12 and 13 to cause their outer extremities to bend downwardly into engagement with the surface of the paper as clearly shown in FIG. 7. This is complemented by the arcuate configuration of the bottom surface of the recess 24 in the matrix 25 with the are being formed in the opposite direction so that the point 15 is bent upwardly as viewed in FIG. 7 into enwithout producing any tears in the paper or in any way injuring the person.

FIGURE 6 illustrates the punch and matrix that are utilized for actuating the staple 10 into clamping engagement with the sheets of paper with the staple and paper being illustrated as disposed between the punch and matrix. The punch 20 includes an actuating knob 26 that may be grasped for actuating the matrix. A V shaped recess 27 is formed in the bottom side of the matrix 20 with the V being formed along the edge of the matrix as illustrated in FIG. 5 for receiving the arms 12 and 13 of the staple 10.

As the punch 20 is moved downwardly by the operator, it engages the arms 12 and 13 in the V shaped recess 27 and detaches the first staple 10 from the stack which is shown at the top of FIG. 3. The single staple is then moved downwardly with the leg 11 being disposed substantially 90 to the sheets of paper 21 and 22. The sheets of paper 21 and 22 are shown in FIG. 6 above the top surface of the matrix 25 since the view has been exploded for the sake of clarity. However, it should be understood that in actual practice the two sheets of paper 21 and 22 would be lying on top of each other with both sheets being disposed upon the top surface of the matrix 25. Accordingly, the point 15 is moved downwardly by the operation of the punch 20 until it penetrates the paper and enters the recess 24 of the matrix 25. It will be noted that the leg 11 is located relative to the recess 24 as illustrated in FIG. 6 so that the point 15 will enter the recess 24 at one end thereof. Continued pressure by the punch 20 upon the arms 12 and 13 causes the point 15 to pass along the bottom surface of the recess 24 and to gagement with the underside of the sheet of paper 22. With this arrangement, the extremities of the arms 12 and 13 make a slight dent in one side of the paper while the point 15 makes a similar dent in the opposite direction and on the opposite side of the paper with the dent formed by the point 15 being between the two dents formed by the extremities of the arms 12 and 13. This produces a firm gripping of the surfaces of the paper to prevent any inadvertent twisting of the staple 10 relative to the paper.

The arcuate configuration formed at the ends of the arms 12 and 13 by the arcuate surface 30 of the recess 27 forces the extremities of the arms 12 and 13 beneath the upper surface of the matrix 25. In order to accommodate for these bent extremities of the arms 12 and 13, a pair of semispherical recesses 31 and 32 are formed in the matrix 25 on each side of the recess 24 as best seen in FIG. 3. With this arrangement, the dents formed in the papers by the extremities of the arms 12 and 13 can likewise enter the recesses 31 and 32 so that there is no interference with the formation of these arcuate ends on the arms 12 and 13.

From the foregoing detailed description of the illustrative embodiment of the present invention, it will be apparent that a new and improved staple has been provided which is especially shaped into a configuration that will firmly secure the material that is being stapled together but which may be readily disengaged from the material by a simple manipulation of a persons fingers without in any way utilizing the fingernails for this purpose and without damaging the stapled material.

Although the illustrative embodiment of the invention has been described in considerable detail for the purpose of making a full disclosure of a practical operative arrangement by means of which the invention may be practiced, it is to be understood that various novel features of the invention may be incorporated in other arrangements without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the subjoined claims.

The principles of the invention having now been fully explained in connection with the foregoing description of embodying structure, I hereby claim as my invention:

1. In a staple for fastening sheets of material together; a strand of wire bent at substantially its midpoint defining two connected strands of wire with a portion thereof in juxtaposition to form a rectilinear leg of double stranded wire having a penetrating point at one end and a pair of arms extending from said leg and formed by branching the extremities of the wire from the end of said leg opposite said penetrating point, said arms diverging relative to each other from their juncture with the end of said leg and being located in a plane that is disposed at an angle to said leg; whereby said penetrating point and its associated leg are inserted through the sheets of material being fastened and bent relative to said arms into engagement With one side of the material while said arms are in engagement with the opposite side of the material with one arm on each side of said leg for fastening the sheets of material together.

2. A staple according to claim 1 wherein said arms extend from said leg at substantially right angles thereto and form a V with each other with the juncture of said arms with said leg being the base of the V and each arm being formed of a single strand of wire.

3. In a staple fastening sheets of material together that lie flat against each other; a leg having a penetrating point at one end that is inserted through the sheets of material being fastened together with the leg and its penetrating point being in engagement with the first side of the material; and a pair of arms branching from the end of said leg opposite the penetrating point, said arms diverging relative to each other from their juncture with said leg and being in engagement with the second side of the material for cooperation with said leg to retain the several sheets of material together.

4. In a staple according to claim 3 wherein said leg extends between said two arms with the sheets of material firmly clamped between said pair of arms on one side and said leg on the opposite side.

5. In a staple according to claim 3 wherein said leg comprises a strand of wire bent substantially 180 at its midpoint defining two connected strands of wire with a portion thereof extending parallelly and in engagement with each other through the length of said portion to form said leg of double stranded wire with the 180 bend constituting said penetrating point at one end of said leg; said two strands of wire branching outwardly from the end of said leg opposite said penetrating point to form said pair of diverging arms.

6. In a staple according to claim 3, wherein the extending extremity of said leg is bent toward said material to securely engage the one side of the material and form a first indentation therein and the extending ends of each of said arms is bent toward said material to securely engage the opposite side of the material and form two indentations therein in a direction opposite to the direction of the first indentation formed by the bent extremity of said leg.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 718,649 1/1903 Morehouse 49 767,512 8/ 1904 Bronson et al 24-67 1,789,936 1/1931 Clifford 85-49 1,799,934 4/1931 Strid 85-83 2,620,832 12/1952 Alix et al. 85-7 CARL W. TOMLIN, Primary Examiner.

R. S. BRITTS, Assistant Examiner.

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