Loose leaf page fastener

Claim 1

In a fastener for holding a stack of loose leaf pages, each having a pair of openings near one edge, said fastener having: a base piece with an elongated base portion and a pair of elongated prongs fixedly attached to said base portion at spaced locations along the latter's length and extending outward from the base portion for insertion through said openings in the pages; and an elongated top piece having a pair of longitudinally spaced openings for passing said prongs, a longitudinal channel on top between said openings for receiving the prongs folded down on said top piece, and sliders for holding the prongs folded down in said channel on the top piece; the improvement wherein: each of said prongs is of manually flexible and resilient material, is oblong in cross-section with a width several times its thickness, and has a substantially uniform thickness throughout its extent; each prong at its attachment to said base portion of the base piece has its width extending substantially longitudinally of said base portion and its thickness extending transversely of said base portion in a direction from one longitudinal edge of said base portion toward the opposite longitudinal edge, whereby the prong is easily flexible longitudinally transverse to its thickness; each prong is twisted longitudinally through 90° and inserted through the corresponding opening in the top piece and is folded down into said channel in the top piece beneath said sliders to hold a stack of pages in the fastener; each prong near its outer end away from said base portion has its width enlarged transversely to form shoulders engaging the top of the top piece next to the corresponding opening therein to retain the top piece assembled to the base piece of the fastener when the prongs are flexed longitudinally transverse to their thickness, after being disengaged from beneath said sliders on the top piece, by the slidable displacement of one or more pages in the top of the stack outward along the prongs to a folded-out position; each opening in said top piece is wider transversely of the top piece than the width of the corresponding prongs at said shoulders whereby to pass said shoulders when the top piece is inserted onto said prongs; and each opening in said top piece is smaller longitudinally of the top piece than the width of the corresponding prongs at said shoulders, whereby said shoulders engage the top of said top piece when the prongs are flexed longitudinally transverse to their thickness.