GB2144371A - Greetings cards - Google Patents

Abstract

A greetings card is combined with a ball puzzle game and comprises a blister pack formed of a plastics cup member 20 secured to a base 12 of two plies 14,16 of card material. The upper ply 16 is apertured to provide targets 18 for the balls. The card may be adapted as a postcard, with indicia and a writing area on the rear side. For strength, the cup member 20 may have a peripheral flange 22 flush with the card face 12 and heat sealed thereto, and a peripheral wall portion of the cup member may have corrugations 25. Alternatively (Fig. 3) the card base may have two card portions hinged together so that they are movable to overlie one another with the cup member between them. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Greetings cards The present invention relates to greetings cards, which term is intended to cover items such as postcards and folding cards (such as birthday or christmas cards) which are intended to be sent by post. Of course the use of such cards is not restricted to private correspondence, but also includes advertising and promotional use, e.g. for direct mailing shots.

Broadly, the present invention stems from the realisation that it is possible to construct a ball puzzle as a blister pack, and this can be made sufficiently light and strong to be suitable to be sent by post.

Thus, a greetings card embodying the invention comprises a plastics cup member secured to a base of card material to enclose a volume, and at least one mobile element within that volume; there being at least one target for at least one said mobile element defined on the card base; the base and cup member being provided by a blister pack.

In one aspect, the invention provides a greetings card which comprises an assembly as just defined, adapted as a postcard. Generally, the card base will have the cup member secured on a front side and indicia on the rear side to indicate that it is a postcard, and possibly to indicate regions for correspondence and for an address. Since a postcard is generally sent by post without further packaging, the assembly must be made strong enough for it to have a good chance of surviving the journey unscathed. The types of damage that may be envisaged are the detachment of the cup member from the card, the cracking of the cup member, and the buckling or bowing of the card base.Preferably a postcard has at least some of the following features; the cup member has a peripheral flange flush with the card base and heat sealed thereto; a peripheral wall portion of the cup member has formations such as corrugations to give strength; and the base comprises two plies of card material adhered together.

In another aspect the invention provides a method of making a greetings card (e.g. a postcard as just described) comprising collating loosely together a plastics cup member and two plies of card, the cup member having a peripheral flange; and heat sealing at least in the area of the peripheral flange so that the cup member is secured to one ply of card, and the two plies are mutually sealed together.

In a third aspect, the invention provides a greetings card comprising two card portions which are mutually hingedly connected so that they are movable to a configuration in which one overlies the other and is spaced therefrom; one of said card portions having a plastics cup member secured thereto to enclose a volume, there being at least one mobile element within the volume and at least one target for at least one said mobile element defined on the card portion within the volume; the arrangement being such that the card portions can be brought into overlying relationship with the cup member sandwiched between them. The greetings card will generally comprise a blister pack. It may consist essentially of a postcard generally as described above, with the card base extended to one side and provided with two fold lines.

Some embodiments of the present invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of a post card embodying the invention; Figure 2 is a section along line ll-ll in Fig. 1; and Figure 3 is a plan view of an unfolded greetings card which is a second embodiment of the invention.

Figs. 1 and 2 show a postcard 10. This has a composite base 12 comprising lower and upper pieces of card 14,16. The upper piece 16 is apertured so as to define recesses 18 in the upper surface of the composite base 12. A shell 20 of clear plastics material has the form of a trough having a base 21, a peripheral wall 23, and an outwardly extending peripheral flange 22 around the mouth.

The peripheral wall 23 has corrugations 25 for strengthening the wall portion 23. The shell 20 is adhered to the base 12 around the flange 22, so as to enclose all of the recesses 18. Also enclosed are a plurality (here four) of balls 24, dimensioned so that a ball 24 can be retained by a recess 18, but not very stably. The balls may be made of plastics.

The upper surface of the base 12 is provided with pictorial and/or verbal and!or symbolic material, generally by printing prior to the attachment of the shell 20. The illustrated unit 10 is for a game simulating naval combat. It therefore has a number of representations 26,28 of naval vessels (The representations 28 are very schematic in the diagram, whereas the representation 26 is comparatively realistic. Of course, in practice any desired degree of realism may be employed.) Each representation 26,28 is associated with one or more recesses 18.

As shown, the actual representations are penetrated thereby.

In addition to the "target" representations 26,28, there are"trap"representations 30, each enclosing a single recess 18. They may represent shells exploding harmlessly in the sea.

At one corner of the area of the base 12 enclosed by the shell 20, there is a "start" area 32, not penetrated by any recesses 18.

There may be an area of the base 12 which is not covered by the shell 20. Thus in the illustrated unit, there is an upper area 34, which bears printed explanatory and/or advertising and/or pictorial matter 36. It may also be provided with means for attaching the units 10 to a display stand, here constituted as an aperture 38.

The rear face of the base 12 (not shown) is printed as a conventional postcard. Thus, there are indicia indicating areas for the address of a recipient, for receiving a stamp, and for a message written by the sender. There may be further printed matter, e.g. comprising instructions for playing a game using the postcard 10.

The postcard 10 may be manufactured as fol lows. The two card layers 14,16 are provided with thermosealable surface layers on respective surfaces or surface portions. The upper layer is apertured. The two layers 14,16 and the shell 20 are loosely collated and passed to a thermosealing machine which applies heat and pressure at least to the region of the peripheral flange 22 of the shell 20, and the corresponding region on the underside of the base. Thus in a single operation the shell 20 is adhered to the upper layer 16 of the base, and the two layers 14,16 are mutually connected.

Of course, much variation is possible. The two layers 14,16 of the base need not be of the same size. For example, the upper layer 12 may extend only beneath the shell 20, whose flange 22 may be stepped to accommodate it stably. The shell need not be of generally rectangular form as shown.

It should be understood that the thickness dimensions in Fig. 2 are exaggerated. Typically, the total height may be about Icm, the other dimensions being conventional for a postcard. The corrugations 25 can give a very robust unit which can withstand postal franking, and the two-ply base construction can give a good measure of resistance to warping.

Turning now to Fig. 3, a greetings card 110 has a base 112 of card. This is generally rectangular, and has a pair of fold lines 114,116 extending across it symmetrically. They are parallel, and their spacing is slightly greater than the depth of a clear plastics shell 120 which is adhered to the card 112 to one side of the fold lines 114,116. The shell 120 and the portion of card enclosed thereby and balls 124 enclosed therein constitute a puzzle, which may be similar to that provided by the postcard 10 of Figs.

1 and 2. By folding on the lines 114,116 a slim, book-like assembly results, with the shell 120 sandwiched between two card portions. In this form it may be placed into an envelope for mailing. Since it has the protection of the extra cardboard extend ing up one side and over the top, and will gener ally be mailed in an envelope, it may not be necessary for the puzzle to be formed as stoutly as for the postcard embodiment. However, it may be still be desired to use an analogous construction, at least including a corrugated shell 120.

It will be appreciated that respective parts of the card 112 may be printed with appropriate verbal and pictorial matter. For example, the puzzle may have a picture relating to christmas, e.g. compris ing a christmas tree with recesses for location of the balls 124 in place of candles. An appropriate seasonal message and further picture may then appear on that portion of the card which presents the front face in the folded article.

It will be appreciated that, with either type of embodiment, it will generally be necessary for there to be at least one surface portion of the card material suitable for receiving written or printed material to be applied by the user. Thus for exam ple the rear face of a postcard will generally have a white or pale surface suitable for receiving writing, as opposed to the grey or brown absorbent rear face of a conventional blister pack.

Claims (11)

1. A greetings card which comprises a plastics cup member secured to a base of card material to enclose a volume, and at least one mobile element within that volume; there being at least one target for at least one said mobile element defined on the card base; the base and cup member being provided by a blister pack; said card base being adapted to provide an area for receiving writing.

2. A card according to claim 1 which is a postcard, said cup member being secured to one face of the card base whose other face bears indicia appropriate to its use as a postcard and provides said writing area.

3. A card according to claim 1 wherein the card base provides two card portions which are mutually hingedly connected so that they are movable to a configuration in which one overlies the other and is spaced therefrom; one of said card portions having said plastics cup member secured thereto; the arrangement being such that the card portions can be brought into overlying relationship with the cup member sandwiched between them.

4. A card according to any preceding claim wherein the cup member has a peripheral flange flush with the card base and heat sealed thereto.

5. A card according to any preceding claim wherein a peripheral wall portion of the cup member has formations such as corrugations to give strength.

6. A card according to any preceding claim wherein the base comprises two plies of card material adhered together.

7. A card according to claim 6 wherein the upper ply has at least one aperture to provide said at least one target.

8. A greetings card substantially as any herein described with reference to or as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

9. A method of making a greetings card comprising collating loosely together a plastics cup member and two plies of card, the cup member having a peripheral flange; and heat sealing at least in the area of the peripheral flange so that the cup member is secured to one ply of card, and the two plies are mutually sealed together.

10. A method of making a greetings card substantially as any herein described with reference to or as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

11. A greetings card made by a method according to claim 9 or claim 10.