US1257631A - Paper-clip. - Google Patents

Description

J. P. & K. K. NIELSEN.

PAPER CLIP.

APPLICATION FILED'JULY 24,1916.

Pmmd Feb. 26,191.

726672227 F* f M M TENS 1. NIELSEN AND KARL NIELSEN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS; 'SAID KARL K. NIELSEN ASSIGNORTO SAID 'JENS l. NIELSEN.

PAPER-GIMP.

retreat.

Specificationof LettersPatent.

Applicationfled July 24, 1916. Serial No. 110,866.

will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to makeanduse the same.

Our invention relates to metallic fasteners or so-called clips for securing a number of papers to each other, its general objects being to provide a simple, cheap and .easily applied fastener which will lock with sub.- stantially equal firmness in either thin or thick bunches of papers and which will effectively prevent a relative shifting of the papers fastened, by .it. More particularly, our invention aims to provide a single-piece fastener which may easily be applied merely by a pressure of the fingers and which the fingers will be effectively shielded against contact with theprong or tang passing through the adjoiningpapers; to provide simple and eflective means for frictionally locking the said prong or tang regardless of the thickness or number of the papers connected by the fastener; and to provide effective means for preventing a rotation of the connected papers about the said prong or tang. appear from'the following specification and from the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a plan view showing a fastener embodying our invention and used at the corner of overlapped papers.

Fig. 2 shows a similar fastener applied to a lateral edge of the papers united by it.

Fig. 3 is a side view of the fastener and papers of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the blank from which the fastener of Figs. 1 and 2 was folded.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary section showing the anchoring of the papers by the tang or prong of the fastener.

Fig. 6 shows another shape of fastener embodying our invention.

Fig. 7 is a plan view of the blank from which the fastener of Fig. 7 was folded.

In accomplishing the purpose of our invention, we employ a metal blank weakened at its center so as to be easily folded across Further objects will the latter to afi'ord a transverse hinge. This weakenlng we preferably accomplish by equipping the blank at its center with a perforation separating relatively narrow straps 1, which straps, when the blank is folded upon itself, afford a pair of U-shaped elements connecting the end portions of the fastener. In one of these end portions we form a sharply pointed tang or prong 2 projecting (when the fastener is folded) toward an aperture 3 in the other end portion, this aperture being preferably made wider at each end than atits middle, as for example by bowing the sides of the aperture toward each other as in Fig. 4. In using .such a fastener, the same is left with its end portions sprung slightly apart and is slipped over an edge portion of the overlapped papers. Then, upon pressing the end portions of the fastener toward each other, the tang 2 will pierce the papers and enter the aperture 8, forcing adjacent portions of the papers into this aperture also. By suitably proportioning the minimum width of the said aperture to the thickness of the tang or prong, we can readily cause the latter to wedge-even a pair of quite thin papers between itself and the sides of the aperture 3, while parts of thicker or more numerous papers when adj oined by the same fastener would be crowded into the enlarged end portions of the said aperture. Consequently, the tang of our fastener will wedge itself tightly between parts of the'papers regardless of their thickness or number.

To avoid injury to a finger of the hand affixing our fastener, we preferably shield the aperture 3 by a bridge 4: formed integral with the rest of the fastener and arching over the tip of the tang 2 when the fastener is in use. We also preferably so shape the fastener during the operation of folding the same that the bends of the U-shaped straps 1 at each side of the central perforation will be out of alinement with each other, thereby making our fastener equally serviceable for use along any edge portion of the papers to which it is applied (as for exlffatented Feb. 26, 1 91.

ample in Fig. 2), or at a corner of the Pit-.-

pers, in which latter case these corners may project through the said central perforation as shown in Fig. 1. In either case, it will be obvious that by providing U-shaped straps affording relatively widely spaced bends, we can obtain two bearings at edge portions of the adjoined papers, which bearings will prevent the fastener from rocking about the tang as afpivot and hence will avoid a gradual loosening of the fastener in case the ,handling of the papers places any consider? able strain on the fastener. Thus our simplefand SlnglPlGCG fastener not only assures the we'dging of the tang (and consequent locking of the latter against accidental retraction by the resiliency of the metal from which the fastener was made), but

also affords a three-point anchoring against a lateral shifting of the papers which would disturb the desired alinement of the papers and Which might gradually loosen the fastening.

ter could be modified in many ways without departing from the spirit of our invention. For example, instead of so disposing the bends as to make them equally suitable for edge or corner uses (as shown respectively in Figs. 1 and 2) we may dispose these bends r at right'angles to each other, as in Fig. 7

thereby particularly adapting the fastener for use at the, corners of the papers by enabling the sand bends to aline respectively with relatively transverse edges of the papers. I So also,.the folding of the fastener of our inventlon may be effected along lines which are in; alinement with eachother in the blank, by so arranging the tools that they will spread the shanks farther apart than they were in the blank. Thus, in forming the fastener of. Figs. 1 and2 from the blank of Fig. 4, the shanks 1 are spread apart, thereby carrying the bends out of alinement with each other. Likewise, in forming the blank of Fig. 7 into the fastener of Fig. 6,

the shanks are partly stretched so as to bring their bends substantially at right angles to each other. However, we do not wish to be limited to this distorting of the shanks during the manufacture of our fasteners.

We claim as our invention:

1. A paper fastener including a pair of ends equipped with opposed tang and aperture formations, the tang being pointed and substantially flat and adapted to enter the aperture, when the fastener is in use, the aperture presenting opposed side portions bowed toward each other and disposed for clamping portions of the papers between the tang and said bowed portions, the ends of the aperture presenting relatively wider portions into which thicker portions of the papers to which the fastener is affixed may be forced by the tang.

2. In a paper fastener formed from a blank bent upon itself, a tang formed from one of its free end portions and facing the other end portion, and a bridge punched from the last named portion at a point opposite said tang, the perforation produced by forming said bridge having sides bowed toward each other, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. A paper fastener including a pair of ends equipped with opposed tang and aperture formations, the tang being pointed and substantially fiat, the aperture being elongated substantially axially of the tang when the fastener is in operative position, and the aperture being enlarged in width at its ends. 1Signed at Chicago, Illinois, July 19th, 19 6.

JENS P. NIELSEN. KARL K. NIELSEN.

I Copies of this patent may be'obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

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