COVER FOR BINDER, BINDING METHOD AND USE THEREOF

Abstract

 The invention relates to a cover comprising a front cover, a rear cover and a spine for binding documents by means of binding elements, and is characterized in that the cover is formed by a sheet comprising at least:
- longitudinal slit (5) located in the center of the spine (4),
- longitudinal outer fold slit (6) and longitudinal inner fold slit (7) for folding the front cover (2), forming therebetween a spine-guiding surface (10),
- longitudinal outer fold slit (6a) and longitudinal inner fold slit (7a) for folding the rear cover (3), forming therebetween a spine-guiding surface (10a),
- plurality of pairs of holes (8) on either side of the longitudinal inner fold slit (7) for folding the front cover (2),
- plurality of pairs of holes on either side of the longitudinal inner fold slit (7a) for folding the rear cover (3) ;

wherein when the sheet is positioned with the document to be bound, both the front cover (2) and the rear cover (3) are folded respectively along the axes of their longitudinal slits, while the respective holes are essentially adjacent to the edge of the binding and receive the binding elements.
The invention also relates to a binding method using the present cover and the use thereof for binding pages, documents, manuals, books and others.

Description

Object of the Invention

[0001] The object of the invention is a cover comprising a front cover, a rear cover and a spine for binding documents, manuals, books and others, by means of the binding elements, a binding method using said cover and use thereof.

Background of the Invention

[0002] Many binding systems, both for binding books and notebooks, manuals and other stationery elements are known. These systems generally incorporate binding elements such as flaps, sewing or stitching, wires or by simply using adhesives. However, these types of solutions do not satisfactorily gather the pages. All of them show some drawbacks in their appearance, complexity, usefulness or use; and also on their cost or assembly.

[0003] Although the permanent binding of printed matter with a spine and using adhesive and/or stitching for the pages shows a professional looking finish, it is expensive as it is essentially done in small amounts and does not easily allow a total opening of 180°, and much less a complete opening of 360°.

[0004] Meanwhile, the bindings of loose perforated pages with covers can have several designs: with wire making rings according to patent GB 8707843, with disks according to patent US 6074152, with plastic loops according to patent US 6270280 or other similar ones. Nevertheless, these types of bindings have the drawback of not being able to be bound with a spine informing of the content thereof, of the pages not being kept together and of not being provided with a better final appearance.

[0005] Although known ring binders both made from wire and plastic or disks, are practical, light weight, compact and inexpensive, they remain flat when they are open and allow total opening of 360°, which is very useful for their handling, and they keep the content well secured without losing any pages; their appearance is still not ideal, because when they are closed and filed on a shelf, the rings are shown, which rings on many occasions may be hooked to other objects and furthermore, they can not be labeled with their corresponding title.

[0006] In addition, since the rings or disks joining the pages are not protected, they easily bend or deteriorate since they do not have any type of protection. This problem is even more serious in the corners of the binding wherein more involuntary bending or blows occur, and where the binding system is the weakest. In some case, since the binding loops bend so much, they make it difficult to open the document or notebook.

[0007] Other types of known covers with a spine do not allow total opening of 360°, they also make it difficult to open them 180°, or the content of the pages does not fully contact the covers which gather and protect them. In addition, the process for including them in the automation of covers in professional binders of the market is considerably complicated, making it commercially unviable and in some cases even impossible.

[0008] The cover according to the present invention solves all the previous drawbacks and provides an economical system and a suitable finish.

Description of the Invention

[0009] The cover according to the present invention comprises a front cover, a rear cover and a spine for binding documents by means of binding elements, characterized in that it is formed by a sheet comprising at least:

• longitudinal slit located essentially in the center of the spine,
• longitudinal outer fold slit and longitudinal inner fold slit for folding the front cover, forming therebetween a spine-guiding surface,
• longitudinal outer fold slit and longitudinal inner fold slit for folding the rear cover, forming therebetween a spine-guiding surface,
• plurality of pairs of holes on either side of the longitudinal inner fold slit for folding the front cover,
• plurality of pairs of holes on either side of the longitudinal inner fold slit for folding the rear cover;

wherein when the sheet is positioned with the document to be bound, both the front cover and the rear cover are folded respectively along the axes of their longitudinal slits, while the respective holes are essentially adjacent to the edge of the binding and receive the binding elements.

[0010] The invention also relates to the binding method using the present cover, wherein the sheet is folded along its longitudinal inner fold slit for folding the front cover, holes forming a plurality of pairs of holes are perforated on either side of the longitudinal inner fold slit for folding the front cover, the sheet is then folded along its longitudinal inner fold slit for folding the rear cover, holes forming a plurality of pairs of holes are perforated on either side of the longitudinal inner fold slit for folding the rear cover, the sheet is then folded along the longitudinal slit located essentially in the center of the spine towards the outside of the binding elements, matching up the respective longitudinal slits and the previously perforated pages for binding are then attached, matching up its respective perforated holes with those of the sheet and in the next step, the binding elements are introduced for joining the folded sheet with the pages, the binding elements are closed, the front cover or rear cover is moved in the direction for closing the document, thus pulling and moving the spine material and covering the binding elements.

[0011] The invention also relates the use of the cover for binding pages by using binding elements, such as loops, disks, rings, wire or other such binding elements.

[0012] The system according to the present invention provides a cover which can be a single sheet and is perfectly adapted to the document being bound, providing it with a professional finish. It can be easily attach to the binding systems which use binding elements, such as loops, disks, rings, wire or other such binding elements. It provides protection for these binding elements and allows positioning on the part of the spine, the title of the content of the document for example, both before the cover manufacturing process and after the binding. It further allows an easy opening of 180° and even an opening of 360°. Its construction allows obtaining a very useful system and at a reduced cost.

[0013] For the purpose of aiding to better understand this specification and forming an integral part thereof, a set of drawings is attached in which the object of the invention has been depicted with a non-limiting illustrative character.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0014] 

Figure 1a shows a perspective view of the document bound with the cover, while figure 1b shows its side view.

Figure 2 shows the folded sheet which forms the entire cover.

Figures 3a and 3b show a side view of the document bound with the cover in the partial or flat opening position of 180°.

Figure 4 shows a side view of the document bound with the cover in the opening position of 360°.

Figure 5 shows the folding of the sheet along the longitudinal inner fold slit for folding the front cover and the subsequent perforation of pairs of holes located on the front cover and on the spine guide.

Figure 6 shows the folding of the sheet along the longitudinal inner fold slit for folding the rear cover and the subsequent perforation of pairs of holes located on the rear cover and on the spine guide.

Figure 7 shows the folding of the sheet along its longitudinal slit of the front cover, along its longitudinal slit of the rear cover and at the same time the folding of the sheet along the central longitudinal slit of the spine towards the outside of the binding elements, locating the folded spine between the front cover and rear cover, making the simultaneous perforation of either pairs of holes possible.

Figure 8 shows a view of the cover and the perforated pages, where the spine is folded along its center and is folded towards the outside of the binding elements between the front cover and rear cover, with the binding elements in the open state.

Figure 9 shows a view of the cover and the perforated pages, where the spine is folded along its center and is folded towards the outside of the binding elements between the front cover and rear cover, with the binding elements in the closed state.

Figure 10 shows a view of the rear cover upon closing, pulling the final rib of the binding element.

Figure 11 shows a view of the document bound with the cover, the spine of which covers the binding elements essentially in their entirety.

Figure 12 shows different types and distances of perforations that can be used with the binding system.

Figures 13a and 13b show side views of the spine, and also how the same size of the cover adapts to the different thickness of the document to be bound.

Figure 14 shows a side perspective view of a model of a document bound with one of the known conventional systems.

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0015] As shown in Figures 1a, 1b and 2, the cover, according to the present invention for binding documents by means of perforating the pages and the binding elements, comprises a front cover 2, a rear cover 3 and a spine 4, which are formed by a sheet 1. Said sheet 1 comprises at least one longitudinal slit 5 located essentially in the center of the spine 4, a longitudinal outer fold slit 6 for folding the front cover 2 and a longitudinal outer fold slit 6a for folding the rear cover 3, as well as a longitudinal inner fold slit 7 for folding the front cover 2 and a longitudinal inner fold slit 7a for folding the rear cover 3, which allow the desired folding of the sheet in an easy, flexible and repetitive manner.

[0016] The longitudinal outer fold slit 6 and the longitudinal inner fold slit 7 for folding the front cover 2 form therebetween a spine-guiding surface 10, just as the longitudinal outer fold slit 6a and the longitudinal inner fold slit 7a for folding the rear cover 3 form therebetween a spine-guiding surface 10a. Said spine guides join the front page and the final page with the spine and act as hinges of the adjacent panels facilitating the movement thereof upon opening or closing the bound document.

[0017] A plurality of pairs of holes 8 on either side of the longitudinal inner fold slit 7 for folding the front cover 2 and a plurality of pairs of holes 8a on either side of the longitudinal inner fold slit 7a for folding the rear cover 3 then allows the binding with the binding elements 11.

[0018] The spine-guiding surface 10 of the front cover 2 is joined to the spine 4 along the longitudinal outer fold slit 6 and contains a plurality of longitudinally perforated holes, and the spine-guiding surface 10a of the rear cover 3 is joined to the spine 4 along the longitudinal outer fold slit 6a and contains a plurality of longitudinally perforated holes.

[0019] As shown in Figure 1a, when the sheet 1 is positioned with the document to be bound during the binding process, both the front cover 2 and the rear cover 3 are folded respectively along the axes of their longitudinal slits, while the respective holes are essentially adjacent to the edge of the binding and receive the binding elements. As shown in Figure 1b, said longitudinal inner fold slits 7 and 7a are on the inner part of the binding elements, while said longitudinal outer fold slits 6 and 6a are on the outer part of the binding elements.

[0020] Even though the invention allows including a variable number of additional slits, in one embodiment of the invention, the cover can have two more pre-marked longitudinal slits such as the additional longitudinal slits 9 and 9a on the part of the spine 4, as shown in Figure 1b. The number of additional slits and the size of the spine will essentially depend on the number of pages which form the document to be bound, especially the thickness thereof, the thickness of the binding elements and the final desired appearance thereof.

[0021] According to the invention, each pair of holes 8 of the front cover 2 and similarly each pair of holes 8a of the rear cover 3, receives a binding element so that each binding element secures the cover at four points, which allows suitable securing of the parts forming the cover with the bound document, facilitates the movement of the front cover and rear cover upon opening and closing the document and provides a great mechanical strength to the binding.

[0022] Therefore, both the pairs of holes and the respective longitudinal slits allow, upon opening the front cover of the bound document, the latter to easily slide along the binding elements, and it makes all the surfaces which form the spine fold down along their axes.

[0023] The longitudinal center slit 5 ensures that the spine is not completely flat and is outside the binding elements without complicating the movement of the pages for reading, because the central longitudinal slit 5 facilitates the opening and the binding of the document upon folding towards the outside of the binding elements. Nevertheless, the surfaces which form the spine, cover the binding elements 11 which, as demonstrated in Figure 1a or 1b, are concealed, on one hand protecting said binding elements and on the other hand providing a free space where the title or another type of marking can be positioned according to the existing demand, both before and after the binding process.

[0024] The cover design according to the invention further allows, upon being positioned together with the document to be bound, the front cover 2 and the rear cover 3 to be essentially parallel to the bound pages. This allows suitable securing of the pages, providing them with a correct consistency. Similar securing was not possible with other binding systems or with the known binding elements, as shown in Figure 14.

[0025] The binding elements preferably comprise loops, disks, rings, wire or other such elements and can be made from plastic, metal or another material suitable for this purpose.

[0026] The materials of the sheet that can be used preferably comprise semi-rigid materials, such as plastic-coated paper, board, polypropylene or other such materials, so the cover can be manufactured at a low cost and with the material which is considered suitable for each situation. These materials facilitate sliding along the binding elements.

[0027] In a possible embodiment of the invention, a front cover 2, a rear cover 3 and/or a spine 4 of the cover can be made from different materials, however they are joined to form the sheet 1.

[0028] As demonstrated in the corresponding Figures 3a, 3b and 4, the design and the material of the cover according to the invention also allow an easy opening of the bound document with said cover of 180° and even 360°. Said opening is made possible as a result of the spine being easily folded along the pre-marked slits and adjusting to opening the document. With the opening of 180°, the spine is folded down along its folding slits and can remain in the two different ways shown as displayed in Figures 3a and 3b for example, while with the opening of 360° the spine is completely folded along its longitudinal center slit 5 towards the outside of the binding elements and remains between the front cover and rear cover as seen in Figure 4, such that the pages, front cover and rear cover are on a single side of the binding elements 11. In addition, to close the front cover again from the open state of 360°, said front cover is easily located through the configuration that the spine has when it is folded onto itself, which allows easily locating it between the bound pages.

[0029] As shown in the corresponding Figures 13a and 13b, the cover according to the present invention further adapts to the different thickness of the document to be bound. The cover of the same size is supported on the binding elements, adjusting to the size of the binding elements and to the thickness of the pages to be bound. This possibility is due to the flexibility of the folded pre-marked slits, thus allowing easy sliding along the binding elements. Therefore both the front cover and the rear cover, regardless of the thickness of the document to be bound, are essentially parallel to the bound pages, providing their suitable holding and giving them suitable consistency.

[0030] As shown in Figures 5 to 7, the binding method using a cover according to the present invention comprises the steps in which the sheet 1 is folded along its longitudinal inner fold slit 7 for folding the front cover 2 and the holes are perforated with a conventional perforation system, such as, for example, with a standard office punch, forming a plurality of pairs of holes 8 on either side of the longitudinal inner fold slit 7 for folding the front cover 2 (Figure 5). Similarly, the sheet 1 is folded along its longitudinal inner fold slit 7a for folding the rear cover 3 and the holes are perforated, forming a plurality of pairs of holes 8a on either side of the longitudinal inner fold slit 7a for folding the rear cover 3 (Figure 6). The sheet 1 is then folded along the longitudinal slit 5 located essentially in the center of the spine 4, towards the outside of the binding elements, matching up the respective longitudinal slits 7 and 7a (Figure 7).

[0031] According to Figure 8, the pages previously perforated for binding are then attached, matching up their respective perforated holes with those of the sheet and the binding elements for joining the sheet of the folded cover with the pages are introduced. Preferably, the binding elements are first introduced in the folded sheet and then in the pages to be bound. The binding elements are then closed in a traditional way as seen in Figure 9. As seen in Figure 10, the rear cover is moved in a rotating direction (or the front cover and the pages in the opposite direction) to complete the process, pulling (if there is any) the final rib 12 of the binding element and thus moving the spine material and covering the binding elements essentially in their entirety and obtaining the final result which is shown in Figure 11.

[0032] The spine is designed such that a reinforcement is provided for the binding elements such as loops, disks, rings or wires, which prevents their deterioration or crushing it during use or transfer, protecting the users from being possibly hooked to the binding elements, for example through clothes or other surfaces.

[0033] The perforation of the cover can be carried out in the aforementioned way, but in the case where a suitable machine is available, the perforation can be carried out a single time and simultaneously with the pages to be bound. Generally, the type of perforation will depend both on the binding system and the binding elements. Holes in different shapes and distances for different binding systems are shown in Figure 12.

[0034] Through an embodiment of the method of the invention, all the pairs of holes 8, 8a are simultaneously obtained by folding the sheet 1 along its longitudinal inner fold slit 7 for folding the front cover 2, folding the sheet 1 along its longitudinal inner fold slit 7a for folding the rear cover 3, folding the sheet 1 along the longitudinal slit 5 located essentially in the center of the spine 4 towards the outside of the binding elements, matching up the respective longitudinal slits 7, 7a and then perforating the holes thus forming the pairs of holes 8, 8a.

[0035] Therefore, the binding method according to the invention can be easily incorporated into the already existing manual and automated binding systems using the already known elements and manufacturing means.

[0036] The use of the cover according to the present invention consists of its application for easily binding pages, documents, manuals, books or others using the binding elements, such as loops, disks, rings, wire or other such binding elements conventionally used in this field.

[0037] In addition, it must be taken into account that the details, shapes, sizes and other accessory elements, such as the materials used for manufacturing the cover of the invention or in the binding method, can be conveniently replaced with other elements which are technically equivalent and do not depart from the essence of the invention or from the scope defined in the claims included below.

Claims

1. A cover comprising a front cover, a rear cover and a spine for binding documents by means of binding elements, characterized in that it is formed by a sheet (1) comprising at least:

- longitudinal slit (5) located essentially in the center of the spine (4),

- longitudinal outer fold slit (6) and longitudinal inner fold slit (7) for folding the front cover (2), forming therebetween a spine-guiding surface (10),

- longitudinal outer fold slit (6a) and longitudinal inner fold slit (7a) for folding the rear cover (3), forming therebetween a spine-guiding surface (10a),

- plurality of pairs of holes (8) on either side of the longitudinal inner fold slit (7) for folding the front cover (2),

- plurality of pairs of holes (8a) on either side of the longitudinal inner fold slit (7a) for folding the rear cover (3) ;

wherein when the sheet (1) is positioned with the document to be bound, both the front cover (2) and the rear cover (3) are folded respectively along the axes of their longitudinal slits, while the respective holes are essentially adjacent to the edge of the binding and receive the binding elements.

2. The cover according to claim 1, characterized in that the spine-guiding surface (10) of the front cover (2) is joined to the spine (4) along the longitudinal outer fold slit (6) and contains a plurality of longitudinally perforated holes, while the spine-guiding surface (10a) of the rear cover (3) is joined to the spine (4) along the longitudinal outer fold slit (6a) and contains a plurality of longitudinally perforated holes,
and wherein said longitudinal inner fold slits (7, 7a) are on the inner part of the binding elements, while said longitudinal outer fold slits (6, 6a) are on the outer part of the binding elements.

3. The cover according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it comprises at least two more pre-marked longitudinal slits on the spine part (4).

4. The cover according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that upon positioning with the document to be bound, the front cover (2) and the rear cover (3) are essentially parallel to the bound pages.

5. The cover according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that each pair of holes (8) of the front cover (2) and each pair of holes (8a) of the rear cover (3) receives a binding element so that each binding element secures the cover at four points.

6. The cover according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the binding elements comprise loops, disks, rings, wire or others of this type.

7. The cover according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the materials of the sheet preferably comprise semi-rigid materials, such as plastic-coated paper, board, polypropylene or other such materials.

8. The cover according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the front cover (2), the rear cover (3) and/or spine (4) can be made of different materials, all of them joined together forming the sheet (1).

9. A binding method using the cover according to any of the previous claims, comprising the following steps:

- folding the sheet (1) along its longitudinal inner fold slit (7) for folding the front cover (2),

- perforating holes, forming a plurality of pairs of holes (8) on either side of the longitudinal inner fold slit (7) for folding the front cover (2),

- folding the sheet (1) along its longitudinal inner fold slit (7a) for folding the rear cover (3),

- perforating holes, forming a plurality of pairs of holes (8a) on either side of the longitudinal inner fold slit (7a) for folding the rear cover (3),

- folding the sheet (1) along the longitudinal slit (5) located essentially in the center of the spine (4) towards the outside of the binding elements, matching up the respective longitudinal slits (7, 7a),

- attaching the previously perforated pages for binding, matching up their respective perforated holes with those of the sheet,

- introducing the binding elements for joining the folded sheet with the pages,

- closing the binding elements,

- moving the front cover or rear cover in the direction for closing the document, thus pulling and moving the spine material and covering the binding elements.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that the pairs of holes (8, 8a) are simultaneously obtained, folding the sheet (1) along its longitudinal inner fold slit (7) for folding the front cover (2), folding the sheet (1) along its longitudinal inner fold slit (7a) for folding the rear cover (3), folding the sheet (1) along the longitudinal slit (5) located essentially in the center of the spine (4) towards the outside of the binding elements, matching up the respective longitudinal fold slits (7, 7a) and perforating the holes thus forming the pairs of holes (8, 8a).

11. Use of the cover according to any of the previous claims for binding pages, documents, manuals, books or others using the binding elements, such as loops, disks, rings, wire or other such binding elements.

Drawing