AU2004200723A1 - Stationery Item - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT STATIONERY ITEM BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to stationery items for home or office use, and in particular to a document holder or a document or stationery tray.

Document trays have a floor, a pair of upstanding opposed side walls and a rear wall, defining a generally rectangular space adapted to retain a stack of paper or documents.

The front and top of the tray are open to allow insertion and removal of the documents. Usually, such trays are formed of moulded plastics materials, and include a small transverse flange at the top of the side and rear walls, with matching tabs and recesses in the transverse flanges and the tray base to facilitate stacking of two or more of the trays. Some tray designs are formed from sheet plastics material, but these trays typically are quite basic in design and do not allow for stacking. Overall, the design of prior art stationery items such as document trays has suffered from a lack of innovation in appearance, functionality and manufacturing technique.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a new construction for a document tray or other stationery item.

In one form, the present invention provides a document tray having a floor, and one or more upright walls defining a document receiving a cavity, said tray being formed of folded sheet plastics material and being substantially transparent when viewed transversely across the plane of the sheet and having substantially opaque edges.

In the context of the present specification the term "substantially transparent" will be understood to include transparent, tinted and translucent materials.

Preferably, the transverse transparency and edge opacity are inherent properties of the sheet material from which the tray is formed.

Preferably the opaque edges of the sheet material are intensely coloured.

Preferably said sheet plastics material is acrylic sheeting.

Preferably the front edge of said floor has a cut-away portion to facilitate grasping of documents in the tray.

A further form of the invention provides a stationery tray formed of folded sheet plastics material and adapted for stacking with a similar tray, said tray including a floor, one or more substantially upright peripheral walls and fold lines between the floor and respective of said walls, further including one or more apertures in said floor adjacent a said fold line for receiving a upper portion of a wall of an underlying similar tray, and a tab extending downwards from the fold line adjacent said aperture for engaging an outer surface of the wall of said underlying tray.

Preferably said peripheral walls are inwardly angled.

Preferably said tray is made of a resilient material.

Preferably, the upper portion of said wall of said underlying tray includes a tab which is received in said aperture of the next-above tray.

The invention also provides a method of forming a stationery tray from a sheet of plastics material, including the steps of cutting a blank from the sheet material, said blank including a generally rectangular floor portion adapted to form a floor of the stationery tray and a pair of opposite peripheral wall portions adjoining opposite sides of the rectangular floor portion along notional fold lines, said blank further including one or more cut-outs in the floor portion defining respective tab portions at the edge of the rectangular floor portion adjacent the notional fold line, and folding the blank at said fold lines such that the peripheral wall portions form opposite peripheral walls of the tray and each said tab portion folds with the peripheral wall portion to form an aperture in the floor adjacent the fold line and a tab extending downwards from the fold line adjacent said aperture for engaging an outer surface of a peripheral wall of an underlying tray.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Further preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig 1 is a perspective of a document tray configuration according to a first embodiment of the invention; Fig. 2 is a front view of the tray of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a front view showing two of the trays of Figs 3 and 4 when stacked; Fig. 4 is a partial side view of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a schematic plan of a sheet plastics blank for manufacture of the document tray of Fig 1; Fig. 6 is a schematic plan of a plurality of the blanks of Fig. 5 being formed from a sheet of plastics material; and Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a document tray of Fig. 1 having opaque edges according to a second embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate a document tray 10 adapted for use in a home or workplace for holding documents or other stationery items.

The tray 10 is generally in the shape of a rectangular prism, and has a rectangular floor 12, a rear wall 14 along a minor side of the rectangle and opposed side walls 16 along both major sides. The rear and side walls are of substantially the same height, and are angled in slightly from the vertical, as will be discussed further below.

The tray will typically be sized to receive documents and folders of standard A4 and foolscap sizes, although the construction principles of the invention may be utilised to make trays of other shapes and sizes. The front and top of the tray are open to allow insertion and removal of the documents, and the front edge of the floor may have a cut-away portion 17 to facilitate grasping of documents in the tray.

The tray construction of Figs. 1 and 2 is adapted to be made by bending of sheet plastics material such as acrylic sheeting, and therefore the tray has fold lines 18, 20 at the junctions of the floor and the respective upright walls 14, 16. Adjacent each of the side wall fold lines 20 are cut-out portions 22 in the floor, with tabs 24 extending down from the base of the side wall at the fold lines adjacent each cut-out.

The top edge of each side walls 16 has tabs 26 extending upwards at positions corresponding to the downwards tabs 24 and cut-outs 22. Preferably, the tray has at least three, and more preferably four of these tab and cut-out formations one each at the front and rear of each side wall 16 to facilitate stacking with similar trays as will be described below with reference to Fig. 3.

Figs. 3 and 4 show the manner of connection of two similar trays to form a stack of trays.

With reference to Figs. 3 and 4, it can be seen that an upper tray 10a is positioned over the lower tray 10b so that the cut-outs 22 in the floor of the upper tray align with respective upper tabs 26 of the lower tray. Due to the slight inwards angle of the side walls, and preferably with a little additional resilient flexing of the side walls, the upper tabs 26b of the lower tray 10b are guided along the inside surface of the lower tabs 24a of the upper tray 10Oa and through the cut-out portions 22. The top edge of the lower tray side wall supports the upper tray along the side wall fold line 20, and the rear of the upper tray is supported by the top edge of the lower tray rear wall. The outer surface of the upwards tabs 26b and upper portion of the side walls 16 of the lower tray 10b bear resiliently against the inner surface of the lower tabs 24a and bottom portion of the side walls 16 of the upper tray 10a, to provide a firm engagement between the trays.

Additional trays may be added to the stack in the same manner.

Fig. 5 shows a flat blank cut from acrylic sheet or other suitable material, for manufacture of the tray of Fig. 1. Fig. 6 shows the arrangement of several such blanks to be cut from a sheet of material.

With reference to Fig. 5, it can be seen that the lower tabs 24 and cut-outs 22 of the tray are formed by cutting a squared C-shape line in the floor portion of the blank, adjacent the fold line 20 between the floor and side wall. As the side wall portions of the blank are folded up along the fold lines 20 to form the side walls of the tray, the tab portions defined by the C-shape cut fold with the side walls to form the lower tabs 24 and leave the cut-outs 22 in the floor.

As shown in Fig. 6, the blanks fit compactly together on the sheet material, with minimal wastage, as the rear wall portion of one blank corresponds to the cut-away portion in the front of the floor portion of the adjacent blank.

With reference to Fig. 7, the tray is desirably formed of sheet material which is substantially transparent, for example lightly tinted, when viewed in a direction through the sheet but opaque, and desirably intensely coloured, when viewed along the plane of the sheet. In this way, the resultant tray is substantially transparent so as to allow the user to see through the peripheral walls 14, 16 of the tray to see documents within a stack of the trays, while the edges 30 and fold lines 18, 20 of the trays are highlighted to assist assembly and to prevent users from misjudging the position of the edges. Trays manufactured in this way also have a considerable degree of aesthetic appeal.

A preferred sheet material for manufacture of the trays is PMMA sheeting of the type sold under the name Edge Tint by Year Long Industrial Co. Ltd. of Taiwan.

In an unillustrated modification, the trays may come in two slightly different variants: a "starter" tray which is adapted to be the top tray of a stack of trays in which the top edges of the side walls 16 are straight, without upper tabs 26, and "extender" trays adapted to be used as bottom or intermediate trays of a stack, which do have upper tabs 26.

While particular embodiments of this invention have been described, it will be evident to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiments and examples are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, and all modifications which would be obvious to those skilled in the art are therefore intended to be embraced therein. It will further be understood that any reference herein to known prior art does not, unless the contrary indication appears, constitute an admission that such prior art is commonly known by those skilled in the art to which the invention relates.

Claims (14)

1. A stationery tray formed of folded sheet plastics material and adapted for stacking with a similar tray, said tray including a floor, one or more substantially upright peripheral walls and fold lines between the floor and respective of said walls, said tray further including one or more apertures in said floor adjacent a said fold line for receiving an upper portion of a wall of an underlying similar tray, and a tab extending downwards from the fold line adjacent said aperture for engaging an outer surface of the wall of said underlying tray.

2. A stationery tray according to claim 1 wherein said peripheral walls are inwardly angled.

3. A stationery tray according to claim 1 wherein said tray is made of a resilient material.

4. A stationery tray according to claim 1 wherein said peripheral walls include two opposite side walls, and said tray has at least four of said tab and cut-out formations, including one tab and cut-out formation at each of the front and rear of each said side wall of the tray, to facilitate stacking with similar trays.

A stationery tray according to claim 1 wherein said upper portion of said wall of said underlying tray includes a tab which is received in said aperture of the next- above tray.

6. A method of forming a stationery tray from a sheet of plastics material, including the steps of: cutting a blank from the sheet material, said blank including a generally rectangular floor portion adapted to form a floor of the stationery tray and a pair of opposite peripheral wall portions adjoining opposite sides of the rectangular floor portion along notional fold lines, said blank further including one or more cut-outs in the floor portion defining respective tab portions at the edge of the rectangular floor portion adjacent the notional fold line, and folding the blank at said fold lines such that the peripheral wall portions form opposite peripheral walls of the tray and each said tab portion folds with the peripheral wall portions to form an aperture in the floor adjacent the fold line and a tab extending downwards from the fold line adjacent said aperture for engaging an outer surface of a peripheral wall of an underlying tray.

7. A document tray having a floor and one or more substantially upright walls defining a document receiving cavity, said tray being formed of folded sheet plastics material and being substantially transparent when viewed transversely across the plane of the sheet and having substantially opaque edges.

8. A document tray according to claim 7 wherein said transverse transparency and said edge opacity are inherent properties of the sheet material from which the tray is formed.

9. A document tray according to claim 7 wherein said opaque edges of the sheet material are intensely coloured.

A document tray according to claim 1 or 7 wherein the front edge of the floor portion has a cut-away portion to facilitate grasping of documents in the tray.

11. A document tray according to claim 1 or 7 wherein said tray is made of a transparent material.

12. A document tray according to claim 1 or 7 wherein said tray is made of a tinted material.

13. A document tray according to claim 1 or 7 wherein said tray is made of a translucent material. 9

14. A document tray according to claim 1 or 7 wherein said sheet plastics material is acrylic sheeting. DATED this 24 th day of February 2004 CYPLEX PTY LTD Patent Attorneys for the Applicant: HALFORD CO