GB2316359A

GB2316359A - A combined greeting and cheque

Info

Publication number: GB2316359A
Application number: GB9717168A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Ivor Selman Cole
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1996-08-19
Filing date: 1997-08-13
Publication date: 1998-02-25
Anticipated expiration: 2017-08-13
Also published as: GB9617369D0; GB2316359B; GB9717168D0

Abstract

A greetings card (Fig 1) includes a removable cheque portion 1c. A cheque book includes a cheque (Fig 5) bearing greetings 9A, optionally with a removable portion 12 as a reminder or record of the gift.

Description

CARD WITH DETACHABLE CHEOUE This invention relates to greetings cards, to cheques, to cheque books and to money orders.

On special occasions, it is common for a person to receive a greetings card enclosing a monetary gift in the form of cash, a cheque, or a postal order. In the following specification, including in the claims, references to cheques include postal orders, money orders, travellers cheques, discount certificates, tokens, points (for example in retail promotions), commercial vouchers, tickets and the like.

According to a first aspect of this invention, a greetings card includes a removable portion in the form of a cheque.

According to a second aspect of this invention, a cheque includes a removable portion in the form of a greetings card.

According to a third aspect of the invention, a cheque has at least one face which is marked with a greetings message, salutation or indication of greetings.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, a cheque includes a tear-off or tear-out greetings message or salutation portion.

According to a fifth aspect of the invention, a cheque book includes a plurality of cheques each having a removable portion in the form of a greetings card.

This invention reduces the likelihood that a person sending a cheque with a greetings card will omit to place a cheque in the card, thus saving the embarrassment of discovery that no gift has been sent. In addition, if a thief intercepts the card and cheque before it has been received by the person to whom it has been sent, he cannot remove the cheque and let the card be delivered without it being obvious, upon delivery, that a cheque has been detached. The thief might normally allow the card to be delivered without the cheque in the hope that the delivery of the card will prevent or delay the discovery of the theft.

Conventional cheques can easily be lost from a greetings card. The card might be removed from its envelope by the recipient and the loose cheque placed separately from the card. The cheque can then be lost unless it is immediately placed in a safe place such as a purse or wallet. If the cheque is attached to the card, it can't easily be lost.

Preferably, the removable cheque portion is a tear-off, or a tear-out portion, and is joined to the rest of the greetings card by a line of weakness, such as a line of perforations. The greetings card may then be removed easily.

The greetings card preferably includes two regions separated by a fold whereby the two regions are placeable at an angle to each other to enable the card to be stood upright The removable cheque portion is arranged so that the card may still be stood upright after removal of the cheque portion.

The cheque book may contain several cheques all having the same greetings message, or may contain cheques having different greetings messages. For example, a cheque book could have several groups of cheques, the cheques of one group having a different greetings message or salutation from those of another group. A cheque book could have five or six different groups. A cheque book could include a group of standard cheques and separate group, say at the back of the book, of cheques having additional information in the form of a greetings message or salutation.

A cheque in accordance with the invention has a mechanical purpose in that it can be used in a computerised banking operation. This is therefore a way of combining the functions of a greetings type card and a cheque to ensure that the cheque is used through a banking system. It enables a person having a bank account to make a monetary gift, and to accompany it with an appropriate greetings message or salutation. The greetings card may be a "Happy Birthday" greeting or a "21st Birthday" greeting, or simply a "Congratulations" greetings card.

A bank account holder could obtain from a bank a special cheque book which would have groups of cheques with greetings cards having various messages so that the account holder could select and use an appropriate cheque when an occasion arises. This "special occasion" cheque book would be held additionally to the account holder's normal cheque book.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a view of a first embodiments of greetings card shown opened out; Figure 2 is a front view of the card of Figure 1 when closed; Figure 3 is a view of a second embodiment of greetings card shown opened out; Figure 4 is a front view of the card of Figure 3 when closed; Figure 5 is a view of a cheque and stub; Figure 6 is a perspective view of a partly open book of cheques; and Figure 7 is a view of another cheque and stub.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 shows an opened out greetings card having two regions 1A, 1B separated by a fold 2. In addition, the region 1B includes a removable portion 1C which can be torn off from the remainder of the region 1B along the scored or perforated line 3. The other face of region 1A constitutes the front 1D of the greetings card and is seen in Figure 2. As will be seen, both the front 1D and the region 13 carry a greetings messages at 4 and 5 and the removable portion 1C includes a cheque printed thereon.

This cheque includes the usual banking particulars, the coded information for computerised handling being indicated at 6. Also, the tear-off cheque portion 1C includes greetings information and printed ornamentation as shown.

Figures 3 and 4 show another embodiment of the greetings card, for which the same reference numerals have been used, since it is generally similar to the embodiment of Figure 1.

It differs, however, in that it is printed so that the two regions 1A, 1B may be disposed at such an angle about the fold 2 that the card stands upright with the fold line vertical, and also in that the removable cheque portion 1C is a tear-out portion which, when removed leaves a portion 1E remaining, so that the card can continue to be stood upright.

Figure 5 shows a cheque. It includes a main region 7A and a normal stub region 7B separated by a tear-off line 8 which might be a line of perforations or other line of weakness.

In addition to the normal bank information including the computerised coded information 6, the cheque includes additional printed information 9A in the form of a greetings or salutation. The cheque also has an additional tear-off portion 12 which the payee or recipient can retain as a reminder or record of the gift. The tear-off portion includes a greetings or salutation printed thereon. A tearoff line is shown at 12A, and might be a line of perforations, a scored line or other line of weakness.

Figure 6 shows a cheque book, partly open. It has a front cover 10 with printed information as to its contents. A "Christmas Greetings" cheque 11 is shown having a tear-off stub region 7B and a tear-off portion 12 which acts as a reminder or record of the gift. The cheque 11 is similar to that of Figure 5, except that it is a "Christmas Greetings" cheque.

As indicated on the front cover 10, this cheque book includes four groups of cheques, each with a different type of cheque. Larger numbers of cheques in a group could be provided, or a cheque book could include only one type of greetings or salutation cheque.

In addition, a cheque book (not shown) containing standard cheques could include a group of greetings or salutation cheques bound in at the back.

Figure 7 shows another kind of cheque 7. This cheque 7 is similar to the cheque described with reference to Figure 5 except that it does not include the additional tear-off portion 12. It does include a main region 7A and a stub region 7B separated by a tear line 8, such as a line of perforations or other line of weakness. In addition to the normal banking information including computerised coded information 6, the cheque includes additional printed information at 9A and 9B. The information at 9A is a salutation or greetings message, and the information at 9B is ornamental. Such a cheque 7 may also be bound into a cheque book in the manner described above.

As will be appreciated, the cheques described in the above embodiments may be replaced by postal or money orders, travellers cheques, discount certificates, tokens, points (for example in retail promotions), commercial vouchers, tickets and the like. Thus, references to cheques include these other forms of gifts.

Claims

1. A greetings card including a removable portion in the form of a cheque.

2. A greetings card according to claim 1, wherein the removable cheque portion is a tear-off or tear-out portion.

3. A greetings card according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the removable cheque portion is joined to the rest of the greetings card by a line of weakness.

4. A greetings card according to claim 3, wherein the line of weakness includes a line of perforations.

5. A greetings card according to any one of claims 1 to 4, the card having two regions separated by a fold whereby the two regions are placeable at an angle to each other to enable the card to be stood upright.

6. A greetings card according to claim 5, wherein the removable cheque portion is arranged so that the card may continue to be stood upright after removal of the cheque portion.

7. A greetings card according to claim 6, wherein the card includes one or more edges on which the card stands when it is stood upright, and the said edge or edges are not formed wholly or in part by an edge of the removable cheque.

8. A greetings card according to claim 7, wherein the region of the card which includes the cheque is generally Lshaped once the cheque has been removed.

9. A cheque including a removable portion in the form of

10. A cheque having at least one face which is marked with a greetings message, salutation or other indication of greetings.

11. A cheque including a tear-off or tear-out greetings message or salutation portion.

12. A cheque according to claim 11, wherein the tear-off or tear-out greetings message is located at the end of the cheque remote from a cheque stub.

13. A cheque according to claim 11 or claim 12, wherein the cheque includes at least one face which is marked with a greetings Inessage, salutation or other indication of greetings.

14. A cheque book including a plurality of cheques each according to any one of claims 9 to 13.

15. A cheque book according to claim 14, wherein all the cheques have the same greetings message.

16. A cheque book according to claim 14, wherein different cheques have different greetings messages.

17. A cheque book according to any one of claims 13 to 15, wherein the cheque book includes a plurality of standard cheques.

18. A greetings card constructed and arranged substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 and 2, or Figures 3 and 4.

19. A cheque constructed and arranged substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 5, Figure 7, Figures 1 and 2 or Figures 3 and 4.

20. A cheque book constructed and arranged substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 6.