GB2306125A

GB2306125A - Mounts for postage stamps etc

Info

Publication number: GB2306125A
Application number: GB9521127A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Richard Dudley Hawkins
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1995-10-16
Filing date: 1995-10-16
Publication date: 1997-04-30
Also published as: GB9521127D0

Abstract

A mount for attaching a postage stamp, ticket, postcard or other collectable sheet-like item to a page in an album comprises a tab 1, the surfaces 2, 2' of which are partially coated with an adhesive 3, 3'. The adhesive coatings may be of differing extents to allow the mount to remain preferentially attached to the item or the page when the item is detached from the page. The mounts can be cut from a roll of tape which is partly coated with adhesive on both sides. Alternatively, if the coatings are self-adhesive, the mounts can be packaged in blocks with the exposed adhesive surfaces of the uppermost and lowermost mounts protected by a flexible flap.

Description

MOUNTS FOR POSTAGE STAMPS AND THE LIKE The present invention relates to mounts for postage stamps and like collectable items, and in particular to such mounts for enabling postage stamps and the like to be detachably mounted on an album page.

Conventional stamp mounts are in the form of small rectangular tabs which are coated on one side with an adhesive which is rendered operative by moistening. In use, the tab is folded about a line one third of the way along its length to form a smaller portion which is to be attached to the stamp and a larger portion which is to be attached to the album page. Alternatively, the mounts may be pre-folded. The smaller portion is moistened and attached to the stamp with the fold of the hinge adjacent the top of the stamp. The other end of the tab is then moistened and the stamp is then affixed to an album page by placing the stamp at a desired position on the page and applying pressure to the front surface of the stamp.

Although such mounts have the advantage of being inexpensive and provide a means of viewing the reverse of the stamp when mounted, for example to inspect a watermark, these mounts suffer from the following disadvantages: (1) Exact positioning of the stamps is difficult, since the end of the larger portion of the tab may become attached to the album page before the stamp is in the desired position: this problem is particularly acute when mounting large stamps or blocks of stamps which may require more than one stamp mount; (2) To enable the reverse of the stamp to be inspected, it is necessary that only the edge of the larger portion of the mount be moistened, so that the stamp can effectively be lifted from the page by a small amount; this gives rise to a degree of play which, over time, can cause the mounted stamps to rotate to a small extent from their desired orientation, resulting in an untidy appearance; and (3) The method of attachment is cumbersome and often results in the front of the stamp being unintentionally coated with the adhesive; (4) When mounting triangular stamps, it is difficult to ensure that the mount does not extend below the bottom edge of the stamp which would create an untidy appearance.

A further major disadvantage of such mounts is that they cannot be used directly to mount mint stamps without damaging the stamps by partially removing the gum. As a result of this, stamps collectors now tend to use a relatively expensive mount in the form of a black backing sheet and a front transparent sheet attached to the backing sheet along a lower edge. The mint stamp to be mounted is placed between the two sheets and the mount is attached to an album page using the conventional stamp hinge arrangement referred to above. Not only are such mounts expensive, but they have to be cut to the appropriate length and width for each particular stamp. Thus such mounts are typically sold in strips of a given width, and the user cuts a mount of the desired length.Stamp collectors are thus faced with the burden of requiring a stock of such mounts for each width likely to be required, in addition, of course to requiring the conventional stamp hinges.

It would therefore be desirable to provide a stamp mount which is inexpensive and which overcomes, or at least mitigates, the above-mentioned problems associated with conventional stamp mounts.

In this connection, the present inventor has appreciated that a large number of stamp collectors are not concerned with the watermarks of stamps, and indeed, many stamps do not have any watermarks. Thus, there is, in many cases, no need to view the reverse of mounted stamps.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a mount for a postage stamp, the mount being in the form of a tab, each of the two surfaces of the tab having a portion coated with an adhesive layer and a portion which is not adhesive.

The invention extends to a roll of tape from which such mounts may be cut by a user.

Such a mount can be attached firstly either to the reverse side of a stamp or to the position on the album page where the stamp is to be mounted, and the stamp with the mount attached thereto can then be mounted in the desired position.

With no hinging arrangement, it is not possible for the stamp, once mounted, to rotate. However, the stamp can be detached, if desired, simply by engaging the stamp with a pair of tweezers. The mount will either be detached with the stamp or remain on the album page. The mount can then be detached, if desired, by engaging with tweezers that portion of the mount where the surface facing either the stamp or the album page is non-adhesive.

With such an arrangement, the mount is substantially flush with the surface of either the stamp or the album page at the time of mounting, thereby facilitating correct positioning of the stamp. Furthermore, the stamp remains correctly oriented on the album page once mounted and cannot rotate.

The arrangement has particular advantage when mounting large stamps or block of stamps, since more than one mount can readily be applied to appropriate positions on the reverse side of the stamp or stamps.

Such an arrangement additionally overcomes the problems associated with mounting triangular stamps, since the mount may be positioned freely within the area of the stamp so that it does not extend beyond the edge thereof.

The mount is preferably substantially rectangular, the first portion extending from a boundary line to one end of the tab and the second portion extending from the boundary line to the other end of the tab, the boundary line running substantially parallel to the ends of the tab. Such a mount can readily be manufactured from a large sheet.

The area of adhesive on the one surface may advantageously be less than the area of adhesive on the other surface. By attaching the surface having the greater area of adhesive to the stamp, this will tend to cause the mount to remain with the stamp, when detached from the album page, permitting remounting in a different position.

However, for ease of manufacture and ease of mounting, it may alternatively be preferred for the areas coated with the adhesive layers to be equal and in the same position on each side of the mount, i.e. a first portion of the tab comprises the two coated areas and the remaining portion of the tab comprises the two non-adhesive areas. Thus, mounts which require moistening can be moistened simply by the user licking both sides of the adhesive end of the mount.

In a first preferred embodiment, the adhesive is one which requires moistening, as in conventional stamp hinges.

This results in a particularly inexpensive mount which is suitable for used, i.e. cancelled, stamps, or other items which do not have a coating on the reverse side which would be damaged by contact with moisture.

In a second preferred embodiment, the coatings are self-adhesive and therefore do not require moistening. The adhesive may be that typically used on memo paper designed for temporary attachment to surfaces, as widely used in offices. Although this results in a mount which is more expensive than in the first embodiment, such a mount is particularly suitable for mounting mint stamps, i.e.

uncancelled stamps with a coating of gum on the reverse side, and is therefore intended to replace the conventional combination of the relatively expensive double-sheet mount and the stamp hinge.

To assist the user, a visible indicator of the adhesive areas is advantageously provided on the mount, either on one or both sides. This may take the form of the adhesive areas being of a different colour from that of the non-adhesive areas, and this may be effected by colouring the adhesive, either before or after application to the surfaces of the tab.

These preferred embodiments will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 represents schematically both first and second embodiments of the mount of the present invention, with the thickness of the mount being exaggerated; Figure 2 represents schematically an alternative arrangement of the two embodiments shown in Figure 1, again with the thickness of the mount being exaggerated; Figure 3 illustrates a roll of tape from which mounts of the present invention may be cut; and Figure 4 illustrates a block of mounts according to the second embodiment.

With reference to Figure 1, a stamp mount is in the form of a tab 1, both surfaces 2, 2' of which have areas coated with adhesive layers 3, 3'. In the arrangement shown, the coated areas are the same size and are in the same position. In the first embodiment, the adhesive requires moistening. In the second embodiment, the layers are self-adhesive and do not therefore require moistening.

Such mounts may therefore be suitable for mounting mint stamps where the layer of gum on the reverse would become damaged by contact with moisture.

With reference to Figure 2, in an alternative mount, the area of adhesive 3 on one surface 2 of the tab 1 is larger than the area of adhesive 3' on the other surface 2'.

When the reverse of a stamp is adhered to the larger layer 3, with the smaller layer 3' being adhered to an album page, this will tend to cause the mount to be lifted from the album page with the stamp when the stamp is subsequently detached from the page using, e.g. a pair of tweezers, since the adhesion between the stamp and the mount will be greater than that between the mount and the album page.

Figure 3 shows a roll of tape from which mounts according to either the first or the second embodiment may be cut. This enables a desired width of mount to be selected by a user. The adhesive portion of one side of the tape is indicated by the reference numeral 3.

Figure 4 shows a block of mounts of the self-adhesive type, wherein the same reference numerals as in Figures 1 and 2 are used. A cover flap 4 of flexible material is provided to protect the uppermost and lowermost exposed adhesive areas 3, 3' of the tabs 1.

Although the present invention has been described in its application to the mounting of postage stamps, mounts according to the present invention can also be used for attaching other collectable sheet-like items, such as tickets and postcards, to an album page, especially where the items would be damaged by the permanent application of an adhesive to the reverse surface thereof and where it may be desired subsequently to detach such items from the album page.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A mount for a postage stamp or the like, the mount being in the form of a tab, each of the two surfaces of the tab having an area coated with an adhesive layer and an area which is not adhesive.

2. A mount as claimed in claim 1, wherein the adhesive requires moistening.

3. A mount as claimed in claim 1, wherein the adhesive layers are of self-adhesive material.

4. A mount as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein a first portion of the tab comprises the two coated areas and the remaining portion of the tab comprises the two non-adhesive areas.

5. A mount as claimed in claim 4 and having a substantially rectangular shape, the first portion extending from a boundary line to one end of the tab and the second portion extending from the boundary line to the other end of the tab, the boundary line running substantially parallel to the ends of the tab.

6. A mount as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the area of the adhesive layer on one surface is less than the area of the adhesive layer on the other surface.

7. A mount as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the areas coated with the adhesive layer are visibly distinct from the non-adhesive areas.

8. A roll of tape substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 3 of the accompanying drawings.

8. A mount as claimed in claim 7, wherein the adhesive areas are coloured differently from the non-adhesive areas, thereby to provide the visible distinction.

9. A roll of tape having a first area on each surface of the tape coated with an adhesive and a second area on each surface which is not adhesive, from which a mount as claimed in any preceding claim may be formed by cutting a length of the tape from the roll.

10. A block of mounts, each mount being as claimed in claim 3 or any one of claims 4 to 8, when dependent on claim 3, each mount in the block being attached to one or more adjacent mounts in the block by the adhesive coatings thereon.

11. A block of mounts as claimed in claim 10, further comprising a cover flap for protecting the exposed adhesive surfaces of the uppermost and lowermost mounts within the block.

12. A mount substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

13. A roll of tape substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 3 of the accompanying drawings.

14. A block of mounts substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 4 of the accompanying drawings.

Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows CLAIMS: 1. A mount for a postage stamp, the mount being in the form of a tab having first and second portions, the two surfaces of the first portion being coated with a layer of adhesive which is rendered operative by moistening, the two surfaces of the second portion being non-adhesive.

2. A mount as claimed in claim 1 and having a substantially rectangular shape, the first portion extending from a boundary line to one end of the tab and the second portion extending from the boundary line to the other end of the tab, the boundary line running substantially parallel to the ends of the tab.

3. A mount as claimed in claim 1, wherein the area of the adhesive layer on one surface is less than the area of the adhesive layer on the other surface.

4. A mount as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the areas coated with the adhesive layer are visibly distinct from the non-adhesive areas.

5. A mount as claimed in claim 4, wherein the adhesive areas are coloured differently from the non-adhesive areas, thereby to provide the visible distinction.

6. A roll of tape having a first area on each surface of the tape coated with an adhesive and a second area on each surface which is not adhesive, from which a mount as claimed in any preceding claim may be formed by cutting a length of the tape from the roll.

7. A mount substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.