AU603554B2 - Document wallet - Google Patents

Description

P/00/ 011 ZA_ W-h &US, IA(A Form PATENTS ACT 1952-1973 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION

(ORIGINAL)

FOR OFFICE USE Class: Int. CI: Application Number: Lodged: Complete Specification-Lodged: Accepted: Published: Priority: .Related Art: ,j'U -_w TO BE COMPLETED BY APPLICANT 'Name of Applicant: EAST-BIND INTERNATIONAL LIMITED, a British company, of tc Adams Close, Heanor, Derbyshire, DE7 7GX England.

Address of Applicant: 6Actual inventor: HARRY JOHN SKIDMORE SEAN DEAN SKIDMORE Address for Service: Care. of; COWIE, THOMSON CARTER, Patent Attorneys, 71 Queens Road, Melbourne, Vic., 3004.

Australia.

Complete Specification for the invention entitled: DOCUMENT WALLET The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me:- I *Notet The description is to be typed in double spacing, pica type face, in an area not exceeding 260 mnm in depth and 160 mm in width, on tough white paper of good quality end it is to be Inserted inside this form.

11710/76-L 1 1710/76-L C. I. TIitomION. onunonwedlth Oovern' IC nt Prinir, CCCCICr 1. i DOCUMENT WALLET The present invention relates to a folder, in particular a folder for the loose storage of documents.

Folders for retaining loose documents are known but are usually in a preassembled condition when supplied to the user. Accordingly such folders take up a large amount of storage space which is undesirable particularly in an office where 1 space is limited.

In addition, for presentation purposes, it is desirable for folders to have a j maximum of flat space on which printing may be performed. Accordingly the use of glue lines, rivet holes etc. used in prior art constructions for assembling a folder are undesirable as such use restricts the available space for printing. Folders for long term storage have also been proposed as described in DE 2258250.

I ,c The present invention aims to reduce the above drawbacks and also provide i other advantages. The present invention also aims to provide a blank for a folder which can be folded into an erected folder without the need for separate fixing means.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a blank for a folder including a front wall spaced from a rear wall by a pair of side walls and a Sbottom wall, the blank being formed from a single sheet of a stiff but resilient synthetic plastic or synthetic plastic laminated material which is cut and provided with fold lines to define a first wzil panel connected to a second wall panel by an I intermediate bottom wall panel, the first and second wall panels in the erected folder defining either the front and rear walls or the rear and front walls of the folder respectively, a pair of side wall panels foldably connected to o',posite sides of the second wall panel, and an attachment panel foldably conne'ced to each side wall panel, each attachment panel in the erected folder residing in face to face contact with the first wall panel and being connected thereto by co-operable latch means, the co-operable latch means for connecting each attachment panel to the first wall panel comprising at least one tongue engageable with a co-operating tongue accommodating opening, the tongue being formed either on the first wall panel or the attachment panel and the co-operating opening being formed on the attachment panel or the first wall panel respectively, the fold lines between the second wall panel, side wall panels and attachment panels together with the resilience of the synthetic plastic or synthetic plastic laminated material in which the fold lines are provided are such that, after folding along these lines, the side wall panels and attachment panels are biased to return toward their unfolded positions, so that, in the erected folder, each tongue is urged into engagement with its cooperating tongue accommodating opening to thereby maintain the folder in its erected condition.

In the erected folder each tongue of the co-operable latch means is maintained in engagement with the associated opening by said outward bias of he sidewalls which is created by the inherent resilience of the sheet material when folding the blank. This engagement is also assisted by the weight of documents contained within the erected folders.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a folder formed from a blank as defined above.

S Various aspects of the present invention are hereinafter described with 1.3 reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of a folder according to the present invention.

Si Figure 2 is a plan view of a blank suitable for forming the folder illustrated in i Figure 1.

The folder illustrated in Figure 1 includes a rear wall 11, a front wall 12, a pair I of side walls 14, 16 respectively, a bottom wall 18, a top wall 20 and a closure f flap 22 attached to the top wal 20. The upper sides of the rear, front and side walls define a mouth 24 'h provides access into the interior of the folder. The mouth 24 is conveniently enhu 6 zcd as shown by forming a recess 25 in the upper portion of the 23 front wall 12.

a The flap 22 is provided with one part of a catch 28 and the front wall 12 is provided with a co-operating part of the catch 28 so that the top wall 20 and flap 22 may be moved to close the mouth 24 and be releasably retained in that position. The catch 28 may be of any conventional construction, but is preferably of a type that can be readily attached manually. If desired more than one catch 28 may be provided.

The blank 3 for forming the folder of Figure 1 is shown in Figure 2 and is conveniently formed in a single operation from a suitable sheet material. Suitable 0 qsheet materials include plastics sheet such as polypropylene of say a thickness between to 1.5mm or card which may be laminated with a plastics film on one or both sides of the card.

In forming the blank, the blank is cut and is provided with various fold lines FL to define the following, a rear wall forming panel 40, a pair of side wall forming panels 42, 43 respectively, a bottom wall forming panel 46, a main front wall forming panel 48, a top wall forming panel 50, a closure flap forming panel 52, sidewall attachment panels 53, 54, a pair of co-operating latch formations 56, 57 and reinforcement tabs 58.

10 The attachment panels 53, 54 have formed therein a latch formation 56 in the t form of a slit 60 having inwardly directed end portions 62 which define a tongue receiving opening. The main front wall panel 48 is provided with a latch formation 57 in the form of a tongue 65 which is defined by a shaped slit 66.

To erect a folder from the blank 30, the tabs 58 are folded toward the attached sidewall forming panel 42, 43 respectively, the sidewall forming panels 42, 43 are then folded toward the rear wall panel 40, and the attachment panels 53, 54 are folded toward the attached sidewall panel 42, 43 respectively.

The bottom wall panel 46 and main front wall panel 48 are folded toward the rear wall panel 40 to thereby overlap the folded attachment panels 53, 54.

The tongues 65 are then introduced through the tongue receiving opening in the underlying attachment panel 53, 54 respectively to achieve a folder as illustrated in Figure 1.

Formation of at least the fold lines defining the sidewalls and attachment panels 42, 43, 53 and 54 is performed so that after folding, those panels are biased to return toward their unfolded positions.

Accordingly, as seen in Figure 1, sidewalls 14, 16 are biased outwardly and so urge the latch formations 56, 57 into engagement to thereby maintain the folder in its erected condition. It follows therefore that the latch formations 56, 57 may be in the form of a simple tongue and accommodating slit, the tongue and slit not requiring additional formations for restraining removal of the tongue from the slit. Accordingly engagement of a tongue into a co-operating slit is easily achieved.

It will be appreciated that the folders of the present invention may be stored _il~L in a flat condition, which minimises the amount of storage space required, and that a folder is simply and quickly erected when required. The blank is also preferably provided with apertures 70 to enable the catch means to be attached in the correct position. Such catch means can be conveniently stored separately and attached to the blank prior to erection.

The front wall 12 is preferably formed as illustrated in Figure 1, namely from a main panel 48 and the upper portions of attachment panels 53 and 54. In this way it is possible to locate the latch formations 56, 57 near to the upper edge of the front panel 48 and yet at an intermediate position between the ends of each side wall.

It is envisaged that the side wall and associated attachment panel for each side wall may be attached to the front panel 48.

The material chosen for the blank should have sufficient stiffness to maintain ,reasonable rigidity in the side walls and bottom wall to restrain collapse of the folder.

The reinforcement tabs 58 serve to restrain collapse of the folder at the bottom corners thereof.

If necessary, the tabs 58 may be extended in length as illustrated in broken lines in Figure 2 so that in the erected folder the terminal end portions 58a of the tabs 58 overlap one another. The overlapping end portions 58a are provided with lee* SG co-operating latch means, in the form of slits 58b, to restrain longitudinal separation of the tabs 58. In this way the tabs not only serve to provide reinforcement for the bottom wall 46 but also act to restrain outward movement of the sidewalls 42, 43 at the bottom region thereof.

In view of the absence of fixing means for creating an erected folder large C t runimpeded surfaces are present on the folder which enable printing of promotional t matter to be provided.

It will be appreciated that the above construction of blanks also conveniently enables a variety of sizes of folders to be produced simply by altering the dimensions of the blanks during manufacture. In addition, particularly for larger folders it is envisaged that the top wall forming panel 50 may be adapted, for instance by the provision of suitable apertures, for the attachment of a carrying handle.

Claims (10)

1. 3. A blank according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein each tongue is defined by a U shaped slit formed in the first wall panel.
2. 4. A blank according to claim 3 wherein each tongue accommodating opening is in the form of a slit formed in the attachment panel and which extends substantially r i parallel to the fold line between the attachment and the side wall panels. A blank according to claim 4 wherein each slit defining a tongue accommodating opening has inwardly directed end portions which extend toward the fold line between the attachment and side all panels.
3. 6. A blank according to any one of the preceding claims wherein in the erected folder the first wall panel overlies each attachment panel to leave the upper j portions thereof exposed so that the front wall of the folder is defined by the first wall panel and the exposed upper portions of the attachment panels, the co-operable latch 1 means being located near to the upper edge of the first wall panel.
4. 7. A blank according to any one of the preceding claims wherein a reinforcement tab is foldably attached to each side wall forming panel at a bottom edge thereof. I
5. 8. A blank according to claim 7 wherein the reinforcement tabs are of I extended length so as to have overlapping terminal end portions in the erected folder. i 9. A blank according to claim 8 wherein the overlapping terminal end portions T have co-operable latch means which when engaged restrain longitudinal separation of I1 the reinforcement tabs. A blank according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the sheet material is a plastics sheet. S11. A blank according to claim 10 wherein the plastics is polypropylene.
6. 12. A blank according to claim 10 or 11 wherein the thickness of the sheet is between 0.5 and 4g3- A blant aIEorng to a-1ny on-eofclams 1 to- v.r4ein huCheet m-t r I L I *CI-PI-CIOII i 13. A blank according to claim 12 wherein the sheet material is card laminated on one or both sides with a plastics film.
7. 14. A blank according to any one of the preceding claims wherein a top wall panel is connected to the second wall panel, and a closure panel is connected to the j top wall panel.
8. 15. A blank according to claim 14 wherein the closure panel is provided with catch means and the first wall panel has a co-operating part to releasably engage the 't catch means.
9. 16. A blank according to claim 14 or claim 15 wherein the first wall panel has a surface area greater than half the surface area of the second wall panel.
10. 17. A blank according to any one of claims 14 to 15 wherein the closure panel has a surface area greater than one half the surface area of the second wall panel. i 18. A document folder constructed from a blank according to any one of the i .preceding claims. i 19. A blank substantially as described with reference to and as illustrated in i "Figure 2 of the accompanying drawings. jI 20. A document folder substantially as described with reference to and as illustrated in Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings. il DATED this 23rd day of August, 1990. EAST-BIND INTERNATIONAL LIMITED. "I A *D7 i sTA i MciB c 1 L 4