Snap Ring assemblies have been used for many years for holding papers together. Most familiar are the two and three-ring looseleaf notebooks and binders utilizing such snap ring assemblies. Generally, the snap rings comprise two arcuate spaced apart ring halves that are in substantial registration with each other and that can be pivoted from an open condition toward each other and, at some predetermined position, are caused to snap together to provide closed condition. The papers characteristically include perforated holes adjacent one end that are positioned so that one of the ring halves can be received therethrough before the ring halves are piloted into the closed condition. Although snap rings of the type hereinbefore described have for many years been made from metal, more recently many have been made from molded plastic polymer such as the one-piece binder disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,607,970 and the one-piece ring binder molded from polypropylene polymers disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,295,747, the disclosures of both of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The snap ring assembly readily lends itself to preferably being made as a one-piece molded construction from suitable plastic polymers rendering it economical to manufacture, yet highly effective in operation.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds