GB2081204A - Display token holder - Google Patents

Abstract

A display token holder may be adhesively secured to a glass surface and is provided with an aperture 5 whereby a token or licence can be introduced into and removed from the holder when the latter is in an operative position on the glass surface. The holder comprises a sheet of flexible material having a peripheral region 4 provided with adhesive and a slit 5 for placing the token in position between the glass surface and a central region 3 of the holder. After insertion of the token, the flap 6 formed by the slit 5 is held closed by tabs 7 which may be bent back and introduced into slots 9 in the flap. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Display token holder This invention relates to display token holders of the type generally utilized for holding licence and insurance tokens against the inside of a motor vehicle window, for example.

Whilst the above-mentioned purpose is, in general, the only purpose to which display token holders are put, it must be recognized that the use as specified is not to be interpreted as limiting the scope of this invention but as indicating most clearly the subject matter to which the invention relates.

Display token holders of the general type under consideration are generally made of inexpensive sheet material which may be either a paper product or a plastic sheet or the like. Metal foils can be utilized as well as laminated sheet materials.

Usually such display token holders are provided around their periphery with a zone of pressure sensitive adhesive material or sometimes of a rubber or rubber-like material which cures over prolonged exposure to the sun. As a result these holders are substantially impossible to remove in one piece from a windscreen and in fact, often great difficulty is experienced in removing them at all and replacing them with a new holder.

In order to avoid the above-mentioned problems certain holders have been made which are composed simply of a sheet of special soft plastics material which adheres to a windscreen by means of simple physical sources. Such holders depend for their successful operation on the cleanliness of the glass to which they are adhered and often, after an initial removal thereof from the glass, will not re-adhere properly to the glass.

There are also available permanent type token holders wherein the peripheral region of the holder is an elastomeric ring adapted to be permanently secured to a windscreen and supporting a releasable backing. However, such display token holders are costly and, as is often the practice, cannot therefore be practically used as give-away items having advertising matter usually applied to the rear surface thereof.

It is the object of this invention to provide a display token holder which will enable the tokens displayed therein to be changed as and when required without necessitating the removal of the holder from a windscreen and wherein the holder can be manufactured from substantially conventional or at least inexpensive sheet materials as in the case of the traditional giveaway type of holders.

In accordance with this invention there is provided a display token holder comprising a sheet of material having at least reasonable flexibility and wherein a peripheral region of the holder is provided with a suitable adhesive whereby it can be secured to a windscreen or other glass sheet, a central region adapted to accommodate a predetermined size of display token and wherein an access aperture or slit is provided in the sheet of material whereby a display token can be introduced into and removed from the holder when the latter is in an operative position on a windscreen.

Further features of the invention provide for the display token holder to be adapted to house two or more display tokens adjacent each other, for the access to be provided by a slit suitably positioned in the sheet material, for the slit to extend either in a straight line across a part of the holder adapted to accommodate one extreme edge region of a display token or alternatively for the slit to extend around approximately one half of the peripheral central region in which case there may be provided tabs extending from the edge of the holder and which can be bent back over the holder and introduced into a suitable receiving slot in the flap defined by the slit, and for the holder to be made of a suitable plastics material.

There is also provided for pull-tags to extend away from the edge of the access aperture being integral with the major portion of the central region. Further, portions of the peripheral region may be made wider to receive advertising material on one or both surfaces thereof.

In order that the invention may be more fully understood three different embodiments thereof will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which each of Figures 1 to 4 illustrate a different form of display token holder according to this invention.

As shown clearly in Figure 1 a display token holder 1 is composed basically of two identical parts joined along a centre line 2 so as to be capable of housing two display tokens in a neat manner next to each other.

For simplicity of description each half will now be described as though it were not joined to the other half.

Each display token holder is of a basically octagonal shape in elevation and has a central circular area indicated by numeral 3 adapted to receive between it and a windscreen to which the holder is secured, a display token.

The area 4 between the outer periphery of the holder and the inner circular area 3 is provided with a suitable adhesive on the surface thereof to be applied to a windscreen in use. Such adhesive may be of a pressure sensitive type and may also be of the elastomeric type which cures upon exposure to the sun. The sheet of material itself from which the display token holder is cut conveniently by the use of suitable dyes, may be any suitable plasticised or paper material or in fact a laminate or foil. Also the conventional printing and advertising material may, if required, be applied to the rear face of the holder.

Extending around the periphery of one half of the central circular area is a slit 5 arranged such that a display token can be easily introduced by way of the resulting flap 6 into the required position between a windscreen and the holder once the latter is installed on a windscreen. It will be understood that this central region will either have the adhesive which, as a result of the method of manufacture, would often be present over this entire area covered by means of a suitable sheet of material or alternatively no adhesive would be present in either of which cases the token can be slid in and out of the space provided.

In order to ensure that the flap 6 of material defining the access and which is itself formed as a result of the presence of the slit 5, may be held in its closed position by means of tabs 7 of material extending out of the outermost periphery of the holder in the region of the slit 5. In this particular case two tabs 7 are provided in each of two of the octagonal edges 8 which are symmetrically disposed relative to the slit 5. Each of these tabs 7 has an enlarged and pointed end region 8 which can be introduced into a slot 9 specially provided in the flap defined by the slit 5. By foiding these tabs back upon themselves and introducing the headed ends into the slot 9 the flaps 6 of material defining part of the back of the licence can be maintained in a closed position with a suitable display token contained therein.

It willbe understood that the above described display token holder can be manufactured substantially according to conventional practice by a printing, glueing and die cutting operation.

The display token holder 10 illustrated in Figure 2 is similar to that described above except for the fact that a single tab 11 having an enlarged arrow shaped head 12 is provided for maintaining the flap 13 in the closed position. In this case the slot 14 and tab 11 are arranged along one entire side of the octagon defining the outer periphery of the holder and the slot 14 is located centrally across the access aperture defined by the flap 1 3.

The licence disc holder as shown in Figure 2 operates in exactly the same way as that illustrated in Figure 1 apart from the fact that only the one and somewhat iarger tab 11 need be folded back upon the licence holder and introduced into a single slot 14 in the flap 1 3 defined by the semi-circular slit 1 5.

As shown in Figure 3 the licence disc holder according to this invention need not necessarily have a tab which can be folded over and introduced into a slot in a flap in the back of the holder assembly. Thus for example a single straight line slit 1 6 may be provided across a region of the display token holder 1 7 towards the peripheral region of a display token to be housed therein. As shown clearly in Figure 3 the central circular region 1 8 adapted to back up display token overlaps the slit 1 6 only to a small extent and preferably in the upper region of the holder.

Clearly this holder cannot be of an octagonal shape and is preferably of a square shape at least in the upper region optionally with the lower corners cut off as indicated clearly by numeral 1 9.

This construction enables the slit 1 6 to extend to the full diameter of the display token as is necessary.

It will be understood that the peripheral region of the holder assembly indicated by numeral 20 will again have the adhesive or elastomeric material applied thereto and the non-adhesive area is such that a display token, which is often of circular shape, can be introduced through the slit 1 6 and the portion protruding from the slit after fully introducing the display token into the space provided can then be slipped under the material of the holder opposite that forming a backing for the major area of the diplay token.

Figure 4 illustrates a licence disc holder 21 which is very similar to that of Fig. 3. In this case the middle regions of slits 22 are not straight, but each has a concave deviation 23 extending away from the main portion of the holder covering a disc in use.

The concave section of the slit defines the edges of a pull-tag 24 for enabling a user to more easily insert a disc in use into the holder.

A peripheral region of the holder, in this embodiment the uppermost peripheral region 25 of the disc in its operative condition, is extended to be wider than the remainder of the peripheral region of the holder 21.

Apart from the edge surfaces 26 on each side of this extended region 25, the surface of this region is not provided with adhesive. The space between these edges on the side of the holder which faces a windscreen in use, is used for the placement of advertising material thereon.

This allows advertising material to be seen not only from the inside of a vehicle but from the outside. Since most disc holder are given away by organisations which place their advertising material thereon, it is important to obtain the maximum exposure of such material. Clearly the surface of the extended region visible from inside a vehicle may also be used as advertising space.

It will be understood that many variations may be made to the above described embodiments of the invention without departing from the scope hereof.

It will therefore be understood that the invention provides a simple yet effective display token holder which can be manufactured according to commonly accepted principles and of relatively inexpensive sheet materials so as to be capable of being manufactured as give-away articles optionally with advertising matter on the face thereof.

Claims (12)

1. A display token holder comprising a sheet of material having at least resonable flexibility and wherein a peripheral region of the holder is provided with a suitable adhesive whereby it can be secured to a windscreen or other glass sheet, a central region adapted to accommodate a predetermined size of display token and wherein an access aperture is provided in the sheet of material whereby a token can be introduced into and removed from the holder when the latter is in an operative position on a windscreen.

2. A display token holder as claimed in claim 1 which is adapted to house two or more display tokens adjacent each other.

3. A display token holder as claimed in claim 1 or 2 in which the access aperture is a slit in the sheet material.

4. A display token as claimed in claim 3 in which the slit extends in a straight line across a part of the holder adapted to accommodate one extreme edge of a display token.

5. A display token as claimed in claim 4 in which the middle region of the line of the slit has a concave deviation therein, the deviation defining the edge of a pull-tag which extends away from the main area of the central region.

6. A display token as claimed in claim 3 in which the slit extends around approximately one half of the periphery of the central region to form a flap in this region.

7. A display token holder as claimed in claim 6 in which at least one tab extends from the edge of the holder and can be bent back over the holder and introduced into a receiving slot in the flap defined by the slit.

8. A display token holder as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which a portion of the peripheral region is wider than the remaining peripheral region, having advertising material on at least one side thereof, the said remaining region having adhesive thereon.

9. A display token holder as claimed in any of the preceding claims in which the holder is manufactured from a suitable plastics sheet material.

10. A display token holder substantially as herein described with reference to and as exemplified in Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings.

1 A display token holder substantially as herein described with reference to and as exemplified in Fig. 2 of the accompanying drawings.

12. A display token holder substantially as herein described with reference to and as exemplified in Fig. 3 of the accompanying drawings.

1 3. A display token holder substantially as herein described with reference to and as exemplified in Fig. 4 of the accompanying drawings.

1 4. Any novel feature or combination of features described herein.