GB2030074A - Book reinforcing - Google Patents

Abstract

A book spine reinforcing strip is of rigid plastics material and has elongate removable edge portions 12, 13 defined by lines of reduced strength in the plastics material. When it is to be used the edge portions are removed to leave bevelled edges, the strip is folded about a book spine by bending at hinges 23, 24, 25 and panels 14 and 15 are adhered to the front and rear faces of the book by adhesive 30. Corners 50 may be removed. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Book Reinforcing This invention relates to reinforcing strips for reinforcing the spine regions of books, to a method of reinforcing the spine regions of books and to books so reinforced.

According to one aspect of the present invention a book reinforcing strip comprises an elongate sheet of rigid plastics material having elongate removable edge portions defined by lines of reduced strength in the plastics material. The lines may comprise elongate grooves or notches either formed in the plastics sheet material e.g. in an extrusion process, or cut pressed or stamped into the surface of the sheet material. A cutting operation may preferably be carried out at an early stage of the formation of the reinforcing strip e.g. on the sheet feedstock before other operations are carried out. A pressing or stamping operation may preferably be carried out as a final stage of the formation of the reinforcing strip. The grooves or notches may be on either side of the sheet.

The term "rigid" is used herein to refer to sheets of plastics material which are substantially form retaining so as to be able to provide both protection and strengthening to a book reinforced with the material. The plastics material may be transparent, translucent or opaque and may be of polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene, polyester or any other suitable plastics material available in sheet form of appropriate dimensions.

The strips of the invention are intended more particularly but not exclusively for application to hard- or board-covered books. The covers of these books usually comprise a spine region free of direct attachment to the pages of the book. These spine regions tend to be weaker and more vulnerable to damage than the rest of the covers. It is an object of the invention to protect these regions cheaply and satisfactorily against damage.

The lines of reduced strength are preferably such that removal of each of said edge portions leaves a new edge at an angle, through the plastic, in the range from 10 to 60 to the surface of the strip which will, in position on a book, face the book. When the lines of reduced strength are constituted by grooves or notches, they may be formed or cut pressed or stamped to such a depth and with walls suitably angled to produce the said angle. The lines of reduced strength are preferably such as to enable the said edge portions to be removed manually, with or without hand tools.

The strip may further comprise modified spine portion located intermediate the said edge portions adapted for convenient application of the strip around the spine region of a book. The spine portion may comprise an area of reduced thickness, the plastics in the reduced thickness area being less form retaining than the remainder of the strip, thus enabling the strip easily to be wrapped around the spine region of a book, the spine portion being thin enough to be flexible and pliable, but strong enough to make the strip durable during application and use. In these covers the spine portion may comprise an area recessed from the plane of one surface of the strip when flat or an area recessed from the respective planes of both surfaces of the strip.

Such recessed areas may be formed in the plastics sheet material e.g. in an extrusion process, or may be cut, pressed or stamped in the surface of the sheet material. The edges defining the area of reduced thickness may be bevelled or rebated.

In a further form of the invention the spine portion may comprise a pair of elongate hinges separated by distance corresponding to the width of the spine of the book to be covered, the hinges being grooves or-notches formed or cut pressed or stamped in the plastics material. There may furthermore be a further two grooves or notches, one being located between one of the first pair of grooves and its nearest line of reduced strength and the other between the other of the first pair of grooves and its nearest line of reduced strength. These further grooves enable the strip to conform more closely to the configurations adopted by a book when opened or closed.

With the lines of reduced strength, the pair of grooves or notches forming the said hinges, and the said two further grooves or notches may be formed by a pressing or stamping operation preferably carried out as a final stage of the formation of the reinforcing strip.

The hinge grooves or notches and the said two further grooves or notches are preferably of lesser depth than grooves or notches forming the said lines of reduced strength.

The strip of the invention is preferably adhered to a book cover by adhesive applied to the portions of the strip located against the front and back of the book. The adhesive may be a pressure sensitive adhesive material (PSA) or may be applied by the user of the strip. The portion of the strip defined by the hinges and, if present, the two further grooves is preferably wholly free of adhesive material.

The four outer corners of the reinforcing strip may be mitred, chamfered or otherwise cut to remove the right angle corner and thus reduced the tendency of users to pick at the corners thus removing them from the book covers. The removal of the corners may be complete, i.e. the strips are supplied with the corners removed or the corners may themselves be provided with lines of reduced strength for ease of removal thereof by users.

These lines of reduced strength may as before, be cut, pressed or stamped in the strip.

In the absence of lines of reduced strength for removal of corners the user may of course cut off the corners, e.g. with scissors. As an alternative or in addition the user may be provided with strong self-adhesive tape such as that sold in the United Kingdom under the trade mark MELINEX to be applied over the edges and corners of the strip and onto the inside of a book cover to prevent "picking".

The strip may be provided in discrete lengths or may be provided in bulk roll from which lengths can be cut for use.

According to a further aspect of the invention, a method of reinforcing the spine regions of a book comprises adhering a book reinforc ing strip as defined above around the spine region of the book, and removal of said elongate edge portions.

The provision of the edge portions enables ashesive to be applied over the whole area of the strip which will be applied to the book without fear of over-run of adhesive material onto work surfaces or manufacturing machinery and moreover it also makes it easier to produce the bevel or rebate at the outer edge of the strip as applied to a book. The combined features of adhesive right to the edge of the strip and the bevel of the edges are expected to provide a product of enhanced durability and consumer acceptability.

The invention also relates to books reinforced by the strip and/or method of the invention.

The invention may be embodied in many forms and a specific embodiment will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a book reinforcing strip according to the invention; Figure 2 shows a section along the line A-A of Fig. 1, the right handed removable edge portion, having been removed; Figure 3 shows a section of the spine region of a book reinforced with the strip of Figs. 1 and 2; and Figure 4 is a detail plan view of the book and strip of Fig. 3, but with the book fully open.

Referring to the drawings, Fig. 1 shows at 10 a book spine region reinforcing strip of transparent polypropylene having removable edge portions 1 2 and 13, side portions 14 and 15, and a hinge portion 16.

The removable edge portions 1 2 and 1 3 are separated from the side portions 14 and 15 by grooves or notches 21 and 22 cut, drawn, pressed, stamped or otherwise formed in the surface of the plastics material, the depth of the grooves 21 and 22 being such as to allow easy manual removal of the edge portions 1 2 and 1 3.

The grooves 21 and 22 are formed with side walls such as to leave an angle alpha (See Fig. 2) from 10 to 60 such as 35 , when the edge portions 1 2 and 1 3 are removed.

A hinge portion 1 6 of the strip 10 is defined by a pair of grooves 23 and 24, the side portions 14 and 1 5 thus being defined by the end edges of the strip 10 the grooves 21 and 23 and 22 and 24 respectively.

Between the grooves 23 and 24 are disposed two grooves 25, the distance between the two grooves 25 being substantially the width of the spine of the book to which the strip is to be applied. The grooves 23, 24 and 25 are of lesser depth than the grooves 21 and 22.

The strip 10 is provided with an area of pressure sensitive adhesive material (PSA) 30 which extends over the whole of the portions 1 4 and 1 5 terminating substantially at the grooves 21 and 22 and leaving the hinge portion 1 6 free of PSA. There may be a slight surplus of PSA on the edge portions 1 2 and 13 immediately adjacent the grooves 21 and 22 as is shown in Fig. 2.

In Fig. 2 the edge portion 1 3 is shown removed from the strip 10.

In order to use the strip 10 the edge portions 1 2 and 1 3 are removed from the strip, and the area of the hinge portion 1 6 between the two grooves 25 is located against the spine of a book 35 (see Fig. 3).

The strip is then folded about the grooves 25 so that the portions of the strip between the grooves 25 and the grooves 23 and 24 respectively are located against the front and back of the book 35 adjacent its spine. The portions 14 and 1 5 are then adhered to the book front and book back respectively.

The strip may be provided with further lines of reduced strength 50 at its corners, to ease removal of the corners by the user to help avoid "picking" of the corners from a book to which the strip is adhered. The lines 50, which may be on any or all of the four corners may be cut, pressed, stamped or otherwise formed in the strip.

The strip 10 is provided with a layer of release sheet to protect the PSA before it is required for use.

Fig. 4 shows more clearly the effect of absence of adhesive from the hinge portion 1 6. When the book 35 is opened the portion 1 6 lifts away from the spine region of the book as shown to leave a gap 40.

Claims (11)

1. A book reinforcing strip comprising an elongate sheet of rigid plastics material having elongate removable edge portions defined by lines of reduced strength in the plastics material.

2. A strip as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the lines of reduced strength comprise grooves or notches formed in the plastics material.

3. A strip as claimed in Claim 2 wherein the lines of reduced strength comprise grooves or notches cut pressed or stamped into the surface of the plastics material.

4. A strip as claimed in any of the preceding claims wherein removal of each of said edge portions leaves a new edge surface at an angle in the range from 10 to 60 to the surface of the strip which will, in position on a book, face the book.

5. A strip as claimed in any of the preceding claims comprising an elongate flexible spine portion being an area of reduced thickness intermediate the said edge portions.

6. A strip as claimed in Claim 5 wherein the said area is recessed from the plane of one surface of the strip when flat.

7. A strip as claimed in Claim 5 wherein the said area is recessed from the planes of both surfaces of the strip when flat.

8. A strip as claimed in any of the Claims 1 to 4 having a pair of spaced apart elongate hinges being grooves or notches formed in or cut, pressed or stamped into the plastics material.

9. A strip as claimed in Claim 8 comprising a further elongate groove or notch located between each of the lines of reduced strength and the grooves or notches comprising the said hinges.

10. A strip as claimed in Claim 8 or Claim 9 wherein the lines of reduced strength comprise grooves or notches of greater depth than the grooves or notches comprising said hinges.

11. A strip as claimed in Claim 8 to 10 wherein the lines of reduced strength comprise grooves or notches of greater depth than said further grooves or notches.

1 2. A strip as claimed in any of the preceding claims wherein the four outer corners of the strip are mitred, chamfered or otherwise removed.

1 3. A strip as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 11 having removable mitred or chamfered corners defined by lines of reduced strength in the plastics material.

1 4. A book reinforcing strip substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 5. A method of reinforcing the spine region of a book comprising adhering a book reinforcing strip as claimed in any of the preceding claims around the spine region of the book, and removal of said elongate edge portions.

1 6. A method of reinforcing the spine region of a book substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.