Title of Invention

"STAPLER"

Abstract

A stapler (1) comprising a magazine (2) including a staple containing portion (9) for containing staples and a discharge groove (3) formed at a front end portion of the magazine (2). A pusher (10) for pushing the staples in the containing portion (9) toward the discharge groove (3), wherein the pusher (10) is slidably accommodated in the magazine (2). An operating handle (5) including a driver (4) for striking out a front end staple of the staples in the containing portion (9) from the discharge groove (3). A clincher arm (7) including a clincher groove (6) for folding to bend a leg of the staple struck out from the discharge groove (3) along a rear face of sheets to be bound and a staple cover (14) for covering an upper face of the staple containing portion (9) having a flexible strap (17) for connecting the pusher (10) and the staple cover (14), wherein the pusher (10) is moved to retract toward a rear side of the magazine (2) by operating the staple cover (14) and attaching members (20), for attaching end portions (19) of the flexible strap (17) to the pusher (10) and the staple cover (14), respectively including attaching pieces (21) for interposing the flexible strap (17) between the attaching pieces (21) and respective attaching faces of the pusher (10) and the staple cover (14).

Full Text

The present invention relates to stapler. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a stapler for binding sheets of paper to be bound by striking out a staple loaded in a magazine by operating to press an operating handle, and relates to a one touch open mechanism of the stapler for operating to retract rearward a pusher for pushing staples in the magazine by operating to pivot an operating handle for charging the staples into the magazine. In a background art, there is known a stapler constituted by a magazine portion containing a number of staples, an operating handle portion including a driver for striking out a staple at inside of the magazine portion to sheets to be bound, and a clincher arm formed with a clincher groove for folding to bend legs of the staple penetrating the sheets along a rear face of the sheets, the magazine portion of the stapler is formed with a staple containing portion for containing the number of staples adhered to connect to each other, one end side of the staple containing portion is formed with a discharge groove for striking out the staple to the sheets arranged on a lower face side of the magazine, further, inside of the staple containing portion is slidably accommodated with a pusher urged by a spring for pushing the staples loaded in the staple containing portion toward the discharge groove. An upper face side of the magazine portion of the background art is arranged with a. staple cover to cover an upper face of the staple containing portion/ and the staple cover is constituted to be engaged with the operating handle and operated to pivot along with the operating handle. When staples are charged into the staple containing portion of the magazine, it is needed to open an upper face of the staple charging portion of the magazine by operating to pivot the staple cover via the operating handle and to move the pusher arranged at inside of the staple containing portion toward a rear side of the staple containing portion against a spring urge force. In JP-Y-06-016666, a one touch open mechanism of a stapler is proposed. In the one touch open mechanism, the staple cover and the pusher are connected by a pusher link made of a metal, and when the operating handle portion axially supported by a rear end portion of the magazine portion is operated to pivot so that the staple cover is opened, the pusher is automatically actuated via the pusher link to retract toward a rear side of the staple containing portion. According to the one touch open mechanism of the background art constituted by the pusher link, one end of the pusher link is axially supported to the staple cover, and the other end of the pusher link is slidably supported along both side walls of the magazine and engaged with the pusher in the staple containing portion. Thereby, when the operating handle is pivoted and the staple cover is pivoted in a direction of separating from the magazine portion, the pusher is moved toward the rear side of the staple containing portion by the pusher link. According to the one touch open mechanism of JP-Y-06-016666 using the pusher link made of a metal between the staple cover and the pusher, when staples having long legs are charged in the magazine, or charged staples overlap at inside of the magazine to project upward, there is a case in which the pusher link is engaged with the staples to hamper from being moved forward, and when a large load is applied by the operating handle in this case, there is a case of destructing the pusher link, the staple cover or the pusher or the like. Hence, in JP-A-2003-220573, in order to resolve such a problem, there is proposed a one touch open mechanism for connecting the pusher and the staple cover by a flexible strap and the pusher is operated to retract to the rear side of the staple containing portion by operating to pivot the staple cover via the flexible strap. According to the one ' touch open mechanism of JP-A-2003-220573, the pusher and the staple cover are connected by connecting one end side of the flexible strap to the pusher, forming an enlarged portion at the other end side of the flexible strap and arranging the other end side to a rear face side of the staple cover by penetrating an opening formed at the staple cover, and engaging the enlarged portion to the rear face side of the staple cover. When the staple cover is operated to pivot via the operating handle, the pusher is operated to retract toward the rear side of the staple containing portion by moving the one end side of the flexible strap to upper and rear sides by the staple cover. According to the one touch opening mechanism of JP-A-2003-220573, the other end side of the flexible strap is inserted to penetrate the opening formed at the staple cover, the enlarged portion formed at the other end of the flexible strap is engaged to connect with the rear face side of the opening, and when a large amount of staples are charged into the staple containing portion of the magazine and the pusher is placed in the rear side, an extra length portion of the flexible strap is contained on the rear face side of the staple cover. However, in a stapler which is made to be able to charge a large amount of staples by forming to prolong the length of the magazine portion, since a sliding stroke of the pusher for pressing the staples at inside of the magazine is also set to be large, an urge force operated to the pusher by a pusher spring is set to be large. Therefore, there poses a problem that a sufficient strength is not achieved by the connecting structure for engaging with the enlarged portion formed at the end portion of the flexible strap. Hence, there is needed to connect to move the pusher rearward by operating to pivot the staple cover by coupling both ends of the flexible strap arranged to bend in a U-like shape respectively to the pusher and the staple cover. However, th« flexible strap is constituted by a thin material because the flexible strap needs to be bent in the U-like shape, and there poses a problem that operation of attaching the end portions of the flexible strap to the pusher and the staple cover becomes extremely difficult. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is a problem of the invention to provide a stapler with a one touch open mechanism capable of easily carrying out an operation of connecting end portions of a flexible strap to a pusher and a staple cover and sufficiently maintaining a strength of a connected portion by resolving the above-described problems. In order to resolve the above-described problem, a stapler with a one touch open mechanism according to the invention is characterized in that the stapler comprising a magazine forming a staple containing portion and containing a pusher for pushing staples contained in the containing portion to a discharge groove formed at a front end portion thereof, an operating handle including a driver for striking out a front end staple of the staples contained in the staple containing portion from the discharge groove/ a clincher arm formed with a clincher groove for folding to bend legs of the staple struck out from the discharge groove along a rear face of sheets of paper to be bound, and a staple cover arranged to cover an upper face of the staple containing portion, wherein the pusher and the staple cover are connected by a flexible strap and the pusher is moved to retract toward a rear side of the magazine by operating to pivot the staple cover, attaching members for attaching end portions of the flexible strap to the pusher and the staple cover include attaching pieces for interposing the flexible strap between the attaching pieces and respective attaching faces of the pusher and the staple cover and constituted by forming locking claws formed to project from the attaching pieces in directions of faces thereof for interposing the flexible strap and projected portions fitted into engaging holes formed at both end portions of the flexible strap for holding ends of the flexible strap, the end portions of the flexible strap are held by the projected portions and the locking claws of the attaching members are attached to be fitted to locking holes formed at the pusher and the staple cover. According to the stapler of the invention, the attaching members for attaching end portions of the flexible strap to the pusher and the staple cover include attaching pieces for interposing the flexible strap between the attaching pieces and respective attaching faces of the pusher and the staple cover, locking claws are formed to project from the respective attaching pieces in directions of faces of the attaching pieses for interposing the flexible strap, projected portions are fitted into engaging holes formed at both end portions of the flexible strap for holding ends of the flexible strap, the end portions of the flexible strap are held by the projected portions, and the locking claws are attached to be fitted to locking holes formed at the pusher and the staple cover. Therefore, the flexible strap which is thin and elastic can simply and easily be assembled. Thereby, man-hour of assembling steps can be reduced and the cost can be reduced as well. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a vertical side sectional view of a stapler. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a stapler the same as that of Fig. 1 in a state of mounting staples. Fig. 3 is a plane view of a flexible strap used in the stapler of Fig.l. Fig. 4 is a vertical side sectional view showing a state of assembling the flexible strap to a pusher and a staple cover. Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing a state of arranging an attaching member for attaching the flexible strap to th« pusher. Fig. 6 is a perspective view showing a state of arranging an attaching member for attaching the flexible to the staple cover. Fig. 7 (a) to Fig. 7 (d) illustrate sectional views showing a procedure of attaching the attaching member to the pusher, Fig. 7 (a) shows a state of inserting a locking claw on a front side into a locking hole, Fig. 7 (b) shows a state of rotating the attaching member centering on the locking claw on the front side/ Fig. 1(c) shows a state of inserting a locking claw on a rear side into the locking hole, and Fig. 7 (d) shows a state of sliding the attaching member to the rear side and engaging a jaw portion to the locking hole. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Fig. 1 is a sectional view showing a stapler with a one touch open mechanism of the invention. A stapler 1 comprises a magazine 2 formed in a shape of a box to be able to contain staples. A discharge groove 3 is formed at a front end portion of the stapler 1. The stapler 1 further comprises an operating handle 5 that holds a driver 4 for striking out the staple charged in the magazine 2 from the discharge groove 3 to sheets of paper to be bound. The stapler 1 further comprises a clincher arm 7, and a clincher groove 6 is formed on the clincher arm 1, The clincher groove 6 folds to bend legs of the staple, that is struck out from the magazine 2 and penetrating the sheets, along a rear face of the sheets. The magazine 2, the operating handle 5, and the clincher arm 7 are pivotably supported by an axially supporting shaft 8 at respective rear portions thereof. A staple containing portion 9 is formed in the magazine 2, and having a box shape with an opening on an upper face. Inside of the staple containing portion 9, a pusher 10 is slidably disposed, and the pusher 10 is urged to press the staples in the staple containing portion 9 in a direction of the discharge groove 3. Further, bearing portions 11 are formed in the staple containing portion 9 by raising upward a front portion and rear portion of a bottom wall of the staple containing portion 9. A guide rod 12 arranged along a longitudinal portion of the staple containing portion 9 is supported by the bearing pieces 11. The pusher 10 is disposed in the staple containing portion 9 by being slidably supported by the guide rod 12. The pusher 10 is urged toward the discharge groove 3 by a pusher spring 13. The pusher spring 13 is outwardly fitted to the guide rod 12. The staples charged in the staple containing portion 9 of the magazine 2 is pushed toward the discharge groove 3 in order to be supplied. The operating handle 5 is pivotably connected with a rear end portion of the magazine 2 by the axially supporting shaft at a rear end portion thereof. Further, the driver is formed at a lower face side of the operating handle 5. The driver 4 is made of a metal piece in a thin plate shape to correspond to the staple at the discharge groove 3 of the staple containing portion 9 of the magazine 2. The operating handle 5 is pivoted centering on the axially supporting shaft 8 when an upper face side of the operating handle 5 is pressed. When the operating handle 5 is operated, the driver 4 attached to the operating handle 5 strikes out the staple at the discharge groove 3 from inside of the staple containing portion 9. Further, at a lower side of the operating handle 5, a Staple cover 14 is provided and covers an opened upper portion of the staple containing portion 9 of the magazine 2 to prevent the staples charged in the staple containing portion 9 from jumping out from the staple containing portion 9. A front end of the staple cover 14 is supported by the driver 4 and a rear end thereof is supported by being engaged with the axially supporting shaft 8. Further, a rear end portion of the driver 4 formed by the metal piece in the thin plate shape is formed as a spring piece 4a, and the spring piece 4a is brought into contact with a rear face of the staple cover 14 to thereby urge the staple cover 14 and the operating handle 5 to normally repulse to each other. The clincher arm 7 is disposed under a lower face side of the magazine 2. The clincher groove 6 is formed on the clincher arm 1, and the clincher groove 6 is engagable with the legs of the staple penetrating the sheets to guide the legs to bend along the rear face of the sheets. The clincher arm 7 is pivotably supported by the axially supporting shaft 8 at the rear end portion of the clincher arm 7. The clincher groove 6 formed at an upper face of a front end portion of the clincher arm 7 is arranged to be opposed to the discharge groove 3 formed at the staple containing portion 9 to be able to be engaged with the legs of the staple struck out from the discharge groove 3 and penetrating the sheets. A spring 15 is arranged between the clincher arm 7 and the magazine 2, and normally gives an urge force therebetween. Thereby, an upper face of the clincher groove 6 and a lower face of the magazine 2 arepositioned to form an opening between bo thmerabers, so that the sheets of paper to be bound can be inserted in the opening. The pusher 10 slidably arranged at inside of the staple containing portion 9 of the magazine 2 and the staple cover 14 are connected by a flexible strap 17, and when the staples are charged in the staple containing portion 9, as shown by Fig.2, the operating handle 5 is operated to pivot relative to the magazine 2 by a large amount centering on the axially supporting shaft 8. Thereby, the upper face of the staple containing portion 9 is opened by pivoting the staple cover 14 by following the operating handle 5, and the staple can be charged in the staple containing portion 9 by retracting the pusher 10 to a vicinity of a rear end portion of the staple containing portion 9 via the flexible strap 17 connecting the staple cover 14 and the pusher 10, The flexible strap 17 is f ormedby a plastic in a t i Im-like shape which is sufficiently flexible to be able to be flexed freely and having a sufficient tensile strength. As shown in Fig. 3, both ends of the flexible strap 17 are formed with locking end portions 19 width dimensions of which are widely formed and which are formed with engaging holes 18 at center portions thereof. The locking end portions 19 at the both ends of the flexible strap 17 are attached to an inner side face of the staple cover 14 and an upper face of the pusher 10 via attaching members 20 having the same shape. As shown in Fig. 4, Fig. 5 and Fig. 6, the attaching member 20 is integrally molded by a plastic material/ the attaching member 20 is formed with an attaching piece 21 for interposing the locking end portion 19 of the flexible strap 17 between the attaching piece 21 and the upper face of the pusher 10 or the inner side face of the staple cover 14. Further, the attaching member 20 is formed with locking claws 22, 23 projected from four corners of the attaching piece 21 in a direction of a face thereof on one side. The attaching members 20 are attached to the pusher 10 and the staple cover 14 by engaging the locking claws 22, 23 into locking holes 24, 25 formed at the upper face of the pusher 10 and aJi inner wall of the staple cover 14. A center portion of the attaching piece 21 is formed with a holding piece 27 one end side of which is connected to the attaching piece 21 and which is separated from the attaching piece 21 via slits 26 formed on both sides thereof, and the holding piece 27 is formed with a projected portion 28 for holding the locking end portion 19 of the flexible strap 17 by being inserted into the engaging hole 18 formed at the locking end portion 19 of the flexible strap 17. The pusher 10 and the staple cover 14 are formed with the locking holes 24, 25 for engaging the locking claws 22, 23 of the attaching members 20 to be opposed to the respective locking claws 22, 23 and are fixed to the upper face of the pusher 10 and the inner face of the staple cover 14 by inserting the respective locking claws 22, 23 into the respective locking holes 24, 25 and engaging jaw portions 22a, 23a with rear faces of the locking holes 24, 25. The jaw portion 22a of the locking claw 22 formed on a front side of the attaching member 20 (a first jaw portion 22a of the first locking claw 22} is formed to direct to a front side of the attaching member 20, and the jaw portion 23a of the locking claw 23 formed on a rear side of the attaching member 20 (a second jaw portion 23a of the second locking claw 23) is formed to direct to a rear side of the attaching member 20. Further, the jaw portion 22a on the front side is formed to be longer than the jaw portion 23a on the rear side. Further, the staple cover 14 is formed with an opening 29 for containing the projected portion 28 formed at the holding piece 27 of the attaching member 20, further, the pusher 10 is formed with a projected piece 30 engaged with an end portion of the holding piece 27 of the attaching member 20. An explanation will be given to a procedure of mounting the attaching member 20 to the upper face of the pusher 10 in reference to Figs. 7 (a) to 7 (d) . The flexible strap 17 is temporarily held by the attaching member 20 by engaging the engaging hole 19 formed at the locking end 19 of the flexible strap 17 to the projected portion 28 formed at the holding piece 27 of the attaching member 20. With regard to the attaching member 20 temporarily holding the flexible strap 17, as shown in Fig. 7(a), the jaw portion 22a directed to the front side of the locking claw 22 formed on the front side of the attaching member 20 is inserted into the locking hole 24 formed on the front side of the pusher 10 by inclining the attaching member 20. Thereafter, as shown in Fig. 7(b), the attaching member 20 is pivoted in an arrow mark direction in the drawing centering on the front engaging claw 22 of the attaching member 20. Thereby, as shown in Fig. 7(c), the jaw portion 22a of the locking claw 22 on the front side of the attaching member 20 is engaged with the lower face side of the locking hole 24, and the locking claw on the rear side is inserted into the locking hole 25 formed on the rear side of the pusher 10. At this occasion, the holding piece 27 of the attaching member 20 is engaged with an upper end of the projected piece 30 formed to project at the upper face of the pusher 10 to be elastically deformed to direct to the upper side. Further, thereafter, as shown in Fig. 7(d), the jaw portion 23a formed at the locking claw 23 on the rear side is engaged with the lower face of the locking hole 25 on the rear side of the pusher 10 by sliding to move the attaching member 20 to the rear side. The length of the jaw portion 22a formed at the locking claw 22 on the front side is formed to be larger and therefore, the jaw portion 22a is not detached from the locking hole 24 on the front side of the pusher 10 and the attaching member 20 is fixed to the upper face of the pusher 10 by the locking claws 22, 23 on the front side and on the rear side. By sliding to move the attaching member 20 to the rear side, the holding piece 27 which has been engaged with the projected piece 30 of the pusher 10 to elastically deform upward is detached from the projected piece 30 and the end face of the holding piece 27 is arranged to a position of being opposed to a face on the rear side of the projected piece 30. By the projected piece 30 and the holding piece 27, the attaching member 20 is hampered from being slid to move to the front side and the attaching member 20 can be prevented from being detached from the pusher unpreparedly. With regard to the flexible strap 17, the projected portion 28 is fitted to the engaging hole 18 and the flexible strap 17 is held by being interposed between the upper face of the pusher 10 and the attaching piece 21 of the attaching member 20. Also when the attaching member 20 is attached to the staple cover 14, the attaching member 20 can be attached to the staple cover 14 by a procedure quite similar to the above-described procedure of attaching the attaching member 20 to the pusher 10. Further, the staple cover is formed with i the opening 29 for containing the projected portion 28 formed at the holding piece 27 in place of the projected piece 30 formed to project from the upper face of the pusher 10, when all of the locking claws 22, 23 are inserted into the locking holes 24, 25, the projected portion 28 of the holding piece 27 is brought into contact with an edge of the opening 29 to elastically deform the holding piece 27 upward and thereafter, by containing the projected portion 28 of the holding piece 27 into the opening 29 when the attaching member 20 is slid rearward, the attaching member 20 is hampered from being moved frontward. Further, thickness dimensions of attaching faces of the pusher 10 and the staple cover 14 for attaching the attaching member 20 differ from each other. Therefore, there is formed a stepped portion 22b having a dimension the same as a difference between the thickness dimensions of the two members at a base portion of the locking claw 22 on the front side of the attaching member, the locking hole 24 of the staple cover 14 having a thick dimension in the thickness of the attaching face is formed in a shape of penetrating the stepped portion 22b, and the locking hole of the pusher 10 having a thin dimension is formed in a shape of not penetrating the stepped portion 22b. By forming the stepped portion 22b at the base portion of the locking claw 22 and changing the shape of the locking hole i 24 opposed to the locking claw 22 in this way, attachment to parts having different thicknesses can be carried out by the attaching member 20 having the same shape and cost can be reduced. In this way f by holding the locking end 19 of the flexible strap 17 by the projected portion 28 formed at the holding piece 27 of the attaching member 20 and attaching the attaching members 20 to the pusher 10 and the staple cover 14 by the locking claws 22, 23 and the locking holes 24, 25, the end portions of the flexible strap 17 are attached to the pusher 10 and the staple cover 14 and therefore, assembling the flexible strap 14 is easily carried out and a number of assemble steps can be reduced and cost can be reduced. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the described preferred embodiments of the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that thepresent invention cover all modifications and variations of this invention consistent with the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents. WE CLAIM: 1. A stapler (1) comprising: a magazine (2) including a staple containing portion (9) for containing staples and a discharge groove (3) formed at a front end portion of the magazine (2); a pusher (10) for pushing the staples in the containing portion (9) toward the discharge groove (3), wherein the pusher (10) is slidably accommodated in the magazine (2); an operating handle (5) including a driver (4) for striking out a front end staple of the staples in the containing portion (9) from the discharge groove (3); a clincher arm (7) including a clincher groove (6) for folding to bend a leg of the staple struck out from the discharge groove (3) along a rear face of sheets to be bound; and a staple cover (14) for covering an upper face of the staple containing portion (9); characterised by: a flexible strap (17) for connecting the pusher (10) and the staple cover (14), wherein the pusher (10) is moved to retract toward a rear side of the magazine (2) by operating the staple cover (14); attaching members (20), for attaching end portions (19) of the flexible strap (17) to the pusher (10) and the staple cover (14), respectively including attaching pieces (21) for interposing the flexible strap (17) between the attaching pieces (21) and respective attaching faces of the pusher (10) and the staple cover (14); locking claws (22, 23) formed to project from the respective attaching pieces (21) in directions of faces of the attaching pieces (21) for interposing the flexible strap (17); and projected portions (28) fitted into engaging holes (18) formed at both end portions (19) of the flexible strap (17) for holding both ends (19) of the flexible strap (17), wherein the end portions (19) of the flexible strap (17) are held by the projected portions (28), and the locking claws (22, 23) are attached to be fitted to respective locking holes (24, 25) respectively formed at the pusher (10) and the staple cover (14). 2. The stapler as claimed in claim 1, wherein the flexible strap (17) is formed by a plastic material in a film-like shape. 3. The stapler as claimed in claim 1, wherein each attaching member (20) has a first and a second locking claws (22, 23), the first locking claw (22) is formed on a front side of the attaching member (20), and the second locking claw (23) is formed on a rear side of the attaching member (20), wherein the first locking claw (22) has a first jaw portion (22a) and the second locking claw (23) has a second jaw portion (23a), wherein, when the first and second locking claws (22, 23) are fitted to respective locking holes (24, 25), the first and second jaw portions (22a, 23a) engage with rear faces of respective locking holes (24, 25), and wherein the first locking claw (22) is formed to direct to the front side to the attaching member (20) and the second locking claw (23) is formed to direct to the rear side of the attaching member (20). 4. The stapler as claimed in claim 3, wherein the first jaw portion (22a) is formed to be longer than the second jaw portion (23a).

Documents:

2281-DEL-2004-Abstract-(04-09-2008).pdf

2281-del-2004-abstract.pdf

2281-DEL-2004-Claims-(04-09-2008).pdf

2281-del-2004-claims.pdf

2281-DEL-2004-Correspondence-Others-(04-09-2008).pdf

2281-del-2004-correspondence-others.pdf

2281-del-2004-description (complete)-04-09-2008.pdf

2281-del-2004-description (complete).pdf

2281-DEL-2004-Drawings-(04-09-2008).pdf

2281-del-2004-drawings.pdf

2281-del-2004-form-1.pdf

2281-del-2004-form-18.pdf

2281-DEL-2004-Form-2-(04-09-2008).pdf

2281-del-2004-form-2.pdf

2281-DEL-2004-Form-3-(04-09-2008).pdf

2281-del-2004-form-3.pdf

2281-DEL-2004-Form-5-(04-09-2008).pdf

2281-del-2004-form-5.pdf

2281-DEL-2004-GPA-(04-09-2008).pdf

2281-del-2004-gpa.pdf

2281-DEL-2004-Others-Document-(04-09-2008).pdf

2281-DEL-2004-Petition-137-(04-09-2008).pdf

2281-DEL-2004-Petition-138-(04-09-2008).pdf