Holding Clip

The device consists of counterbalancing cantilever beams connected at each end to torsion bar members which form the sides of front and rear frames, said side members connected at the bottom to form the bases of the front and rear frames, all members being part of one continuous wireform.

The front and rear frames act as jaws to hold the stacked material. The angularity of the cantilever beams, relative to the front and rear frames, changes with the thickness of the material being held. The "wind up" in the torsion bar members keeps the front and rear frames under "load" against the stacked material. Because the torsion bars are relatively long, and there are no points of stress concentration, the cantilever beams are capable of considerable angular rotation without excessive stress in any parts of the device. Since the torsion bars are "prestressed" with the front and rear frames in contact at the base, the device is capable of handling material from a few sheets thick, to much thicker stacks. The clip is so designed that the cantilever beams rotate in opposite directions, hence the torsional "wind up" in the torsion bars on opposite sides of each frame are also in opposite directions. This tends to balance the resulting forces and acts to hold the frames flat against the material stack.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will in part be evident to those skilled in the art and in part pointed out hereinafter in the following descriptions taken in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein there is shown by way of illustration and not of limitation, some of the more obvious variations of functionally acceptable designs, FIG. 1 showing the preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 1 shows the wireform holding clip (1) consisting of a front frame (2) and a rear frame (3) connected at the top with mirror image cantilever beams (4). The front frame (2) consists of a base member (5) connected to two torsion bar side members (6) which are angled upward and inward towards the center at the top. The front frame (2) is then connected to the two mirror image cantilever members (4) located in horizontal plane extending outward and slightly backwards to join the rear frame (3) outer ends. The rear frame (3) consists of torsion bar side members (7) projecting downward and angled inward slightly to join with a base member (8) of the rear frame (3) held against the front frame (2) near the base under tension. All parts of the device are made from one continuous piece of wire bent as required and joined at the center of the base member (5) of the front frame (2) by welding or other suitable means.

FIG. 2 shows the holding clip (1) graphically in position on a stack of papers on other materials.

FIG. 3a is a side view of the holding clip (1) showing the angular relationship of the front frame (2) to the rear frame (3) due to the rearward canting of the centilever members (4).

FIGS. 3b, 3c and 3d are side views showing the holding clip (1) as it automatically adjusts for broadly varying thickness of material.

FIG. 4a is a top view of the holding clip (1) showing the angularity of the cantilever members (4).

FIGS. 4b, 4i c and 4d are top views showing changes in angularity of the cantilever members (4) as the holding clip (1) adjusts to broadly varying thicknesses of material.

FIGS. 5 through 11 are variations in design, all of which employ the principle of counterbalancing cantilever beams (4) and torsion bar side members (6), (7) of the front and rear frames.