GB1599493A

GB1599493A - Container for stack of sheets

Info

Publication number: GB1599493A
Application number: GB21517/80A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co
Current assignee: 3M Co
Priority date: 1977-01-14
Filing date: 1978-01-13
Publication date: 1981-10-07
Also published as: FR2377348B1; SE425843B; GB1599492A; IT7847634A0; AU3242278A; FR2377348A1; CA1118461A; SE7800290L; NL7800322A; AU520069B2; IT1102259B; CH628592A5

Description

PATENT SPECIFICATION

( 11) ( 21) Application No 21517/80 ( 22) Filed 13 Jan 1978 ( 62) Divided out of No 1 599 492 ( 31) Convention Application Nos.

7 701 020 U ( 32) Filed 14 Jan 1977 in 2 701 454 ( 33) Fed Rep of Germany (DE) ( 44) Complete Specification published 7 Oct 1981 ( 51) INT CL 3 B 65 H 1/00 ( 52) Index at acceptance B 8 R 723 AJ 9 ( 54) CONTAINER FOR STACK OF SHEETS ( 71) We, MINNESOTA MINING AND MANUFACTURING COMPANY, a corporation organised and existing under the laws of the State of Delaware, United States of America, of 3 M Center, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55101, United States of America, do hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement:-

This invention relates to a container for keeping ready a stack of sheets in a sheet dispensing device for use in office machines.

It is particularly suited for use with a dispensing device comprising a space defined inside a housing by lateral guides for inserting the container containing a stack of sheets and being open at one of its end faces as well as at least at a portion of its surface extending parallel with respect to the sheets, further comprising a conveyor designed to take along the uppermost sheet, and a separator designed to retain all sheets with the exception of the uppermost sheet, wherein conveyor and separator can be raised and lowered for adaptation to the height of the stack of sheets Sheet dispensing devices of this kind can be used in addition to their use with copying machines for instance also with microfilm apparatuses, daylight projectors and other apparatuses which use up or use sheets, films or the like, fed individually from a stack.

A container according to the present invention comprises an upper and a lower cover face to be parallel to the sheets of a stack of sheets, two longitudinal side faces joining the upper and lower faces, a front and a rear face, the front face and part of the upper cover face and the front part of the side faces being removable along a parting line in said longitudinal side faces and in the upper cover face, one of said cover faces having a flange-like projection extending laterally beyond at least one longitudinal side face This projection is disposed so as to afford the lifting of the conveyor and separator of the sheet dispenser thereby facilitating the loading of the container into the sheet dispenser Preferably, said projection extends alongside the entire removable portion and alongside half the remaining portion of the upper cover face of the container 55 The container may for example be made of carton board, wherein removing the end face and the portion adjacent thereto of the upper side is effected readily by tearing it off, and the container is discarded when its 60 content has been used up The container may be designed also for repeated use and manufactured then for instance of plastics sheet material In this case, its one end face and the portion adjacent thereto of its upper 65 side may be connected to the main portion of the container by means of a tear-open or tear-off strip for example It is essential that the container in its closed condition protects the stack of sheets contained in it against 70 damage being caused e g, by light or moisture, and that when the container is opened and inserted into the sheet dispensing device the stack of sheets and the separator can cooperate and the uppermost sheet sheet 75 can in each case be gripped by the conveyor.

The container described herein is especially suited to the sheet dispensing device described and claimed in our copending Application No: 1486/78 to which reference 80 is directed Serial No 1599492.

A container according to the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawing which shows a perspective view of a 85 container with a stack of sheets therein.

The drawing shows a container 11 of carton board containing a stack of sheets 12.

The uppermost sheet 12 ' of the stack of sheets 12 is partly exposed since the origi 90 nally completely closed container 11 has been torn open along a prepared tear line 13, whereby its front end face 14 as well as the front part 16 ' of its longitudinal side faces 16 as well as a front part 17 ' of its 95 upper side 17 have been removed The removed parts are indicated in the drawing by dash-dotted lines The container 11 has at each of its two longudinal side faces 16 one lateral projection 18 The projection 18 100 1 599 493 1 599 493 is formed by a flange-like enlargement of the upper side 17 Each of the projections 18 has in the closed condition of the container 11 a front part 18 ' which extends from the front end face 14 to the tear line 13 and is removed when the container is torn open The remaining projections 18 are a little shorter than the region without projections adjacent thereto to the rear, i e, to the right.

Claims

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:-

1 A container for keeping ready a stack of sheets in a sheet dispensing device for use in office machines, which container comprises an upper and a lower cover face to be parallel to the sheets of a stack of sheets, two longitudinal side faces joining the upper and lower faces, a front and a rear face, the front face and part of the upper cover face and the front part of the side faces being removable along a parting line in said longitudinal side faces and in the upper cover face, one of said cover faces having a flange-like projection extending laterally beyond at least one longitudinal side face 25

2 A container as claimed in Claim 1 wherein said projection extends alongside the entire removable portion and alongside substantially half the remaining portion of the upper cover face of the container 30

3 A container as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein the projection extends beyond at least one longitudinal side of the upper cover face.

4 A container as claimed in any preced 35 ing Claim wherein a said projection extends beyond both longitudinal sides of said one cover face.

A container for keeping ready a stack of sheets in a sheet dispensing device sub 40 stantially as described herein with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

For the Applicants, LLOYD WISE, BOULY & HAIG, Norman House, 105-109 Strand, London, WC 2 R OAE.

Printed for Her Majesty's Stationery Office by The Tweeddale Press Ltd, Berwick-upon-Tweed, 1981 Published at the Patent Office, 25 Southampton Buildings, London, WC 2 A l AY, from which copies may be obtained.