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(11) | EP 1 837 199 A3 |
| (12) | EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION |
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| (54) | Ring binder mechanism |
| (57) A ring binder mechanism (100) for retaining loose-leaf pages, comprising: a housing
(101); hinge plates (105) supported by the housing (101) for pivoting motion; a plurality
of rings each comprising two ring members, at least one of two ring members being
mounted to the corresponding hinge plate and moveable with pivoting motion of the
corresponding hinge plate relative to the other ring member between a closed position
and an open position; and a rotatably mounted control means; wherein each of the ring
members comprises a ring section for retaining loose-leaf pages and a ring section
for mounting to the hinge plates (105) or the housing (101), and the ring sections
for mounting to the hinge plate (105) or the housing (101) of the two ring members
of at least one of two rings mounted near the longitudinal ends of the housing form
respectively an inside angle of no more than 90° with respect to a plane on which
the ring sections for retaining loose-leaf pages of the two ring members locate. Furthermore,
two hinge plates have different widths. According to the invention, the raw materials
used for producing the ring binder mechanism may be decreased remarkably, thereby
lowering the cost for production, package and shipment. The opening between the free
ends of the two ring members is also enough to facilitate adding or removing loose-leaf
pages from the rings.
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