Ring binder mechanism with operating lever and travel bar

A ring mechanism for retaining loose-leaf pages having a housing, hinge plates, and ring members. The housing supports the hinge plates for pivoting motion relative to the housing to open and close ring members mounted thereon. The mechanism includes a travel bar mounted for translational movement along the longitudinal axis of the housing. An actuating lever is provided secured for pivotal movement to the housing. The actuating lever has a handle portion projecting above the housing for manually pivoting movement of the actuating lever. An actuator portion which extends through an opening in the central top portion of the housing is engageable with the hinge plates to pivot them between the open and closed positions and further is engageable with the travel bar to move it between locked and unlocked positions.