Thank you once again for another guest post from Hans, this time delving deeper in to different A5 ring formats.
Below are four A5 Organisers.
Although they are ring binders designed to hold standard A5 sheets of 210x148mm, you'll be surprised to see what's inside.
Top left: This is considered to be the "Standard" A5 ring spacing with two groups of three rings with 2.3/4" (~70mm) center spacing.
Top right: The alternative 6-Ring "Personal" ring spacing of 2" (~51mm) center spacing as for Personal Organisers. The inserts are punched to match both spacings.
Bottom left: The German(?) A5 4-Ring standard with 45 + 65 + 45mm ring spacing.
Bottom right: The Japanese ring spacing standard of 9.5mm, 20 Rings for A5.
Below is an example for a Standard A5 Organiser.
If you look at the plate between the push-buttons, you can see that the center gap is about twice the top or bottom gap.
Below is an example for a "Personal" spaced A5 Organiser.
If you look at the plate between the push-buttons, you can see that the center gap is about the same as the top or bottom gap.
The well known companies using this spacing are Mulberry, Quo Vadis and Tempus.
Below is an Organiser using the German A5 4-Ring Standard.
The 4-Ring standard is very popular for small volume A5 binders, mostly for address or phone registers. It is also used for large-volume (2-3") binders, mostly for stamp and coin collecting purposes.
The use for Organisers is less known. I am very impressed about the rich features and the manufacturing quality, including Krause rings.
Below is an example for a Japanese Standard A5 ring binder.
The Japanese Multi-Ring Standard is based on a pitch of exactly 9.5mm. The regular ring binders in portrait orientation use an even count of rings, keeping a solid margin to the edge. This leads to a standard count of 20 rings and holes for A5. However, for Zip-Bind using plastic spines that can be cut to any length, a count of 22 rings can be used as well. Paper punched with 22 holes will fit 20-Ring binders, but not vice-versa.
Other popular ring counts with this standard are 26 for JIS-B5 and 30 for ISO-A4.
Landscape or square formats usually use an odd ring count, sometimes skipping one or two ring positions. A popular variant are 3-Ring Organisers with 28.5mm ring spacing, omitting two positions. These were originally designed for 80x80mm inserts, but there are portrait formats of 80x60mm and 80x44mm available. The latter are available as Miniature-Malden Lookalikes, but the 20mm diameter rings create a very strange look.
The Japanese pitch is exactly 9.50mm, not 3/8" (9.525mm). But two units of 19.0mm are very close to the 3/4" (19.05mm) Organiser ring spacing. Punched paper will fit for Mini, Pocket and A6 (1.1/2" center spacing) format, if the paper is aligned accordingly. Larger formats use a 1/4" pitch center spacing, making them incompatible with the almost 3/8" pitch.
Here are my questions:
- Who is the originator of the Personal spaced A5 rings, and why? Mulberry, Quo Vadis, Tempus? Are there any other companies using this spacing?
- Does anyone know what DIN or ISO standard that German 4-Ring standard is? It must be from the 1960s or earlier. I only see it referenced as "45-65-45".
- The "System" brand Organiser is very impressive. Does anyone know anything about the brand/manufacturer of this "System" binder? A Google search is pointless for obvious reasons.
I'd be happy about any kind information. And as usual: Feel free to comment or ask, if you want to know more about the ring binders or their ring spacings.
Hans
