GB2071569A - Improvements relating to book coverings - Google Patents

Abstract

A protective backing for a book cover, comprising an adhesive-backed film (10) having a backing sheet (20) the film having length and breadth greater than the corresponding dimensions of the cover of the book to which it is to be applied, and having the corners cut away by two non- aligned cuts to define vertices (12, 14, 16, 18) for registering with the corners of the cover (26, 28, 30, 33). The backing sheet is cut through at 24 parallel and close to the edge of the film which is to overlie the spine (34) of the book, to allow the strip of backing sheet between the cut and the adjoining edge to be removed to expose the adhesive backing and allow the exposed strip of film to be applied to the book spine first, to hold the backing film in place while the remainder of the backing is removed to allow the rest of the film to be applied to the cover. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements relating to book coverings Field of Invention This invention concerns the protective binding of books and periodicals. In particular the invention is concerned with the provision of a binding kit by which standard sized books such as paperback volumes can be bound with a protective covering which will increase the effective life of the book particularly when subjected to considerabie use as in a library.

Object of Invention It is an object of the invention to provide not only the materials required for binding standard sized volumes but also a method of applying the said materials evenly and simply without the need for any particular skill other than lining up straight edges and centering a sheet of backing material relative to convenient points of reference.

The Invention According to one aspect of the present invention a protective backing for covering a cover of a book or periodical comprises an adhesivebacked film having a protective backing sheet having length and breadth somewhat greater than the corresponding dimensions of the cover of the book to which it is to be applied and having the corners cut away by two non-aligned cuts so that when located centrally on the cover, the extreme points of the four corners of the cover are just visible at the vertex of each cutaway section (defined by the point of intersection of the two non-aliged cuts) wherein the protective backing sheet is cut through parallel and close to the edge of the film which will overlie the spine of the book and the strip of protective backing sheet between the cut and the said edge is removable prior to the remainder of the protective backing sheet to enable the film to be secured to the spine of the book, thereby enabling the film to be accurately held in place while the remainder of the protective backing sheet is peeled from the film to allow the latter to be smoothed down into place over the surface of the cover.

The film is preferably of a clear plastics material such as P.V.C. and preferably a semi-nonmigratory plasticised clear polyvinylchloride is used.

Preferably a specially formulated non-yellowing acrylic adhesive having low initial tack is used as the self-adhesive backing for the film.

Preferably the protective backing sheet comprises siliconised polythene coated M.G.

bleached kraft paper which may be printed on the reverse side with a rectangular grid to assist in cutting and squaring the edges.

Preferably the adhesive achieves maximum adhesion after 24 hours and with low initial tack re-positioning of the film can be accommodated without undue damage to the surface of the cover.

Preferably the film and combination of film and adhesive has a low shrinkage factor so that shape and size changes are reduced to the minimum after the film has been cut to size.

According to another aspect of the invention, a kit for covering a standard sized book comprises two sheets of adhesive-backed film each having a protective backing layer having an edge strip which can be peeled away from the adhesive backed film and from the remainder of the backing sheet so as to expose an adhesive strip for securing to the spine of the book to be covered and one such film is located and stuck to one cover of the book, the over-hanging section along the three exposed edges of the cover being turned around through approximately 1 800 to be stuck onto the inside surface of the book cover after which the second film is treated in a similar manner and first of all stuck along one edge to the spine of the book and then smoothed around the other cover whilst its backing sheet is peeled off and lastly the overhanging edge regions of the second mentioned film are bent through approximately 1 800 to stick to the inside peripheral regions of the other cover of the book which is then completely encased both top and bottom by the said-protective film.

According to the preferred method of securing a protective film covering to the covers of a book, the book is placed on a flat surface, a first sheet of film in accordance with the first aspect of the invention is selected the size of which is appropriate to the size of the cover of the book, the peeling of the edge strip of the backing sheet defined by the cut in the backing sheet adjoining the edge of the protective film which is to overlie and adhere to the spine of the book, positioning the sheet of protective film with the film side up, so that the cutaway portions at the corners of the sheet align with the corners of the book so that the four extreme corners of the book cover can just be seen to a similar extent at all four corners, smoothing the strip of film with the exposed adhesive into contact with the spine of the book, holding the sheet at right angles to the book and peeling the protective backing sheet from the centre with a firm continuous pull so that the film falls flat and in the correct position on the external surface of the cover after which it can be pressed down firmly from the centre and the three overlapping edges turned in and around the three exposed edges of the book cover for securing on the underside thereof.

The procedure for covering the other cover of the book is the reverse of the precedure for covering the first cover of the book.

Whilst the film may be of clear plastics material circumstances may arise when it is advantageous for the film to be coloured or semi-transparent or translucent or printed with a design or wording or any combination thereof. It is to be understood that the invention is not iimited to any particular form of the protective film and any form of film which is sufficiently pliable to allow it to be pulled around the contours of the edge of a book and to remain in place by means of a self-adhesive backing layer could be used.

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a sheet of book covering film having the shape required by the invention and including a tear-off backing strip, Fig. 2 is a similar perspective view to that of Fig. 1 in which the film has been reversed and the edge strip of protective backing material has been partly removed, Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the sheet of backing material with the edge strip fully removed laid flat on the cover of the book to which it is to be applied, Fig. 4 is a similar perspective view to that of Fig. 3 in which the edge strip has been turned down and stuck to the spine of the bQok and Fig. 5 illustrates how the remainder of the protective backing sheet can be peeled away from the underside of the remainder of the protective film to allow the latter to be stuck to the cover of the book.

Description of Illustrated Embodiment Fig. 1 of the drawings shows a sheet of semi non-migratory plasticised clear 50 micron polyvinylchloride sheet 10 cut away at the corners 12,14,16 and 18 so that if the sheet 10 were placed and centred on the flat cover of a book which is to be protected, the extreme tips of the four corners of that cover of the book could be seen just protruding into the four cutaway sections 12 to 1 8.

The underside of the film 10 is coated with a non-yellowing acrylic adhesive having a low initial tack and to protect the adhesive layer there is applied thereto a sheet of siliconised polythene coated M.G. bleached kraft backing paper. This is designated by reference numeral 20 as being on the reverse side of the sheet of film.

The backing paper is more clearly seen in Fig. 2.

More particularly Fig. 2 shows clearly how an edge strip 22 of the backing sheet 20 can be peeled away from the remainder of the backing sheet along a perforation or cut 24 which is shown dotted in Fig. 1.

Peeling the strip 22 away from the film 10 reveals the adhesive layer.

The strip 22 is completely removed from the edge of the strip and as shown in Fig. 3, with the sheet once more positioned as in Fig. 1 but this time with the strip 22 removed, the sheet 10 is positioned relative to the cover of the book so that the four extreme corners 26, 28, 30 and 32 protrude equally and centrally into the four cutaway sections 12 to 1 8. When the four corners 26 to 32 can be seen equally and centrally in this way the strip of sheet 10 with the backing strip removed is carefully smoothed down onto the spine of the book 34 to which it sticks. When this step is completed, the protective sheet is fully secured along the rear edge to the spine of the book as shown in Fig. 4.

The remainder of the protective backing layer 20 can then be removed as shown in Fig. 5 by first of all folding back the flap of the sheet 10 which still bears the protective backing sheet on the other side thereof so that the edge left by the cut 24 can be lifted with the fingernail and pulling from the centre with a steady pull the backing sheet can be peeled from the underside of the sheet 10 with one hand and the other hand can smooth the sheet onto the surface of the book in a follow-through motion as shown in Fig. 5.

The overlapping flaps which can be seen in Fig.

4 at 36, 38 and 40 can then be tucked around the edges of the cover of the book and stuck to the inside surface thereof.

The other cover of the book is protected in exactly the same way except that this time the exposed strip of the sheet left after the strip 22 has been removed from the other sheet is this time stuck partly over the already stuck down layer of film 10 which is adhering to the spine of the book from the opposite cover.

Although no dimensions have been given in the drawings, in a preferred embodiment the size of the sheet of film 10 is such at to allow the sheet to be applied to one cover of a standard sized paperback book.

Claims (18)

1. A protective backing for covering a cover of a book or periodical, comprising a generally rectangular sheet of adhesive-backed foam with a removable protective backing sheet, the length and breadth of the sheet of film being somewhat greater than the corresponding dimensions of the cover of the book or periodical to which it is to be applied, and each corner of the sheet of film having a cutaway portion defined by two cuts, the external angle between the cuts being at least 900, so that when the sheet of film is located centrally on the cover the extreme points of the four corners of the cover are just visible at each cutaway portion, wherein the protective backing sheet is cut through or perforated along a line parallel to and spaced slightly inwardiy from the edge of the sheet of film which will overly the spine of the book or periodical so that the strip of protective backing sheet between the cut-through region and the said edge is removable prior to removal of the remainder of the protective backing sheet to enabie the sheet of film to be firstly secured to the spine of the book or periodical, thereby enabling the sheet of film to be accurately held in place while the remainder of the protective backing sheet is removed from the film to allow the latter to be smoothed down into place over the surface of the cover.

2. A protective backing according to claim 1, wherein the film comprises plastics material.

3. A protective backing according to claim 2, wherein the film comprises polyvinylchloride.

4. A protective backing according to claim 3.

wherein the film comprises a semi-non-migratory plasticised clear polyvinylchloride.

5. A protective backing according to claim 1,2 or 3, wherein the film comprises coloured material.

6. A protective backing according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a non-yellowing acrylic adhesive having low initial tack is used as the selfadhesive backing for the film.

7. A protective backing according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the protective backing sheet comprises siliconised polythene-coated M.G. bleached kraft paper.

8. A protective backing according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the backing sheet is printed with a rectangular grid.

9. A protective backing according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the adhesive of the film achieves maximum adhesion about twentyfour hours after removal of the backing and has low initial tack.

10. A protective backing according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the film and combination of film and adhesive have low shrinkage factor so that shape and size changes are reduced to a minimum after the film has been kept to size.

11. A protective backing according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the two cuts at each corner are non-lined.

12. A protective backing for covering a cover of a book or periodical, substantially as herein described with reference to, and as shown in, the accompanying drawings.

13. A kit for covering a book or periodical, comprising two similar protective backings in accordance with any one of the preceding claims.

14. A kit for covering a book or periodical, substantially as herein described with reference to, and as shown in, the accompanying drawings.

1 5, A method of covering a cover of a book or periodical with a protective backing in accordance with any one of claims 1 to 12, comprising removing from the film the strip of protective backing sheet between the cut-through region and said edge to expose an adhesive strip; positioning the sheet of film, film-side outermost, over the cover to be protected with the extreme points of the four corners of the cover just visible at each cutaway portion and the adhesive strip overlying the spine of the book or periodical; smoothing the strip of film with the exposed adhesive into contact with the spine; removing the remainder of the protective backing sheet from the film; smoothing the film onto the cover; turning the three remaining edge strips of the film in and around the three exposed edges of the cover; and smoothing these three strips of film into contact with the inner surface of the cover.

16. A method according to claim 15, wherein said remainder of the protective backing sheet is removed from the film by peeling the backing sheet outwardly commencing adjacent to the spine, with the film held substantially at rightangles to the book or periodical cover; and then smoothing the film onto the cover, working outwardly from the spine.

17. A method according to claim 1 5 or 16, further comprising covering the other cover of the book or periodical in a similar manner.

18. A method of covering a cover of a book or periodical, substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.