GB2407550A

GB2407550A - Device for attaching a document to a vehicle windscreen

Info

Publication number: GB2407550A
Application number: GB0325506A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Derek Edward Lake
Original assignee: THAMES LOOSE LEAF Ltd
Current assignee: THAMES LOOSE LEAF Ltd
Priority date: 2003-10-31
Filing date: 2003-10-31
Publication date: 2005-05-04
Also published as: GB0325506D0

Abstract

A document holder 10 for attaching a document such as a tax disc to a vehicle windscreen, the holder comprising a single sheet of plastics material one face of which has an adhesive coating, and a plurality of backing parts 1 to 4 attached to the adhesive coating, which backing strips are to be peeled off from the adhesive coated sheet successively during use of the holder. After backing part 1 has been removed and a document applied to the exposed adhesive area, a second part 2 surrounding the document can be removed and a flap from which third part 3 has been peeled off can be folded up onto the uncovered areas to enclose the document. Part 4 can be removed to expose adhesive whereby the holder can be attached to the windscreen.

Description

Device for attaching a document to a Vehicle Windscreen This invention

relates to a device for attaching a document to a vehicle windscreen. The document could be a vehicle road tax disc, an insurance certificate, or a certificate of roadworthiness. The nature of the document is immaterial to the present invention.

Tax disc holders usually consist of two sheets of a plastics material secured together, for example by plastics welding to define a pocket into which a tax disc fits.

The known holders are expensive to manufacture and difficult to use. It is an aim of this invention to provide a document holder which is simple to manufacture and is easy to assemble.

According to the invention there is provided a document holder for attaching a document such as a tax disc to a vehicle windscreen, the holder comprising a single sheet of plastics material one face of which has an adhesive coating, and several backing strips attached to the adhesive coating, which backing strips are to be peeled off from the sheet successively during assembly of the of the document to the holder.

In order that the present invention may be more readily understood a tax disc holder according to the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:- Figure 1 is a plan view of the tax disc holder as it will be sold to a customer, and Figures 2 to 7 are a sequence of views of the tax holder of figure 1 showing the progressive steps in the use of the holder to attach a tax disc to the inside of a vehicle windscreen.

Referring now to the drawings, figure 1 shows the tax disc holder 10 which consists of a thin flat body made of a suitable plastics material. One face of the plastic body has an adhesive coating, and a series of four backing strips numbered I to 4 adhered to the adhesive coating.

As can be seen in figure 1, each of the four backing strips, which are to be peeled off from the holder 10 in a specific sequence, carries printed instructions which a user of the tax disc is to follow. The backing strip 1 is circular in shape, and bears the instructions "Step 1 remove this circle and place the tax disc face up here".

Figure 2 shows the tax disc holder 10 after the circular backing strip 1 has been peeled off to expose a circular adhesive coated region 12 of the single sheet of plastics material of the holder 10. This circular region 12 will be generally the same size as a tax disc.

Figure 3 shows the tax disc holder of figure 2, but with a vehicle tax disc 14 placed on the region 12 of the single plastics sheet of the holder according to the instructions. The disc will be arranged with its information-bearing face facing the user of the holder. The tax disc will be pressed firmly in place and smoothed over by hand so that it adheres firmly to the holder 10. The backing strip 2, which is to be removed next has printed on it "Step 2 remove this surrounding paper".

Figure 4 shows the holder of figure 3 but with the backing strip 2 peeled away to expose an adhesive coated region 16 of the holder. This region 16 entirely surrounds the tax disc 14. The next backing strip which is to be peeled off is strip 3. This strip 3 bears the instructions "Step 3 Remove this paper and fold the adhesive flap along the line shown, so that it folds back onto the tax disc". Strip 3 indicates a fold line 18.

Figure 5 shows the holder of figure 4, but with the backing strip 3 removed to expose a flap 20 coated with adhesive.

Figure 6 shows the holder of figure 5, but with the adhesive coated flap 20 of the holder folded over to overlie the tax disc entirely. The flap 20 will be pressed firmly into place, and then smoothed over by hand. It will be appreciated that the flap adheres both to the tax disc, and also to the adhesive coated region of the holder which surrounds the tax disc. The final backing strip 4 bears the instructions "Step 4, remove this surrounding paper, and fix holder to the windscreen with tax disc facing outwards.

Figure 7 shows the holder of figure 6, but with the strip 4 removed to expose an adhesive coated region 22 ready to be affixed to the inside of a vehicle windscreen.

It will be understood that at least the flap 20 of the holder which overlies the tax disc should be sufficiently transparent for the information on the tax disc to be viewed.

It sometimes happens that a tax disc is stolen, and the information on the tax disc is altered so that it can be used on another vehicle. If a thief were to steal a tax disc displayed in a holder according to the present invention, the disc and its information are likely to be damaged if an attempt is made to separate as the disc from the two adhering faces of the holder.

It will be appreciated that various modifications can be made to the tax disc holder of figures I to 7. For example, the holder could be designed to display more than one document, such as an insurance document and a certificate of roadworthiness.

The holder shown is designed to display a circular document, and of course it could be modified to display documents of any shape.

The holder just described has four backing strips, but this is not essential to the invention. For example, backing strips 2 and 3 could be combined into a single

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backing strip. However, the advantage of using two separate backing strips 2 and 3 is that the presence of strip 3 assists in centring the tax disc as it is positioned.

Although one entire face of the holder described is coated with adhesive, it would be possible to omit some adhesive in certain regions. In the case of the holder described, the instructions for use of the holder are printed on the backing strips as this makes assembly very easy indeed. However, this feature is not essential.

In order to manufacture the holder as it is shown in figure 1 the holder will first be produced as shown in figure 1, but with a single backing strip which will subsequently be divided into four pieces by a suitable cutting tool which is able to cut through the backing material without significantly damaging the single plastics material sheet.

Claims

1. A document holder for attaching a document such as a tax disc to a vehicle windscreen, the holder comprising a single sheet of plastics material one face of which has an adhesive coating, and a plurality of backing strips attached to the adhesive coating, which backing strips are to be peeled off from the sheet successively during assembly of the document to the holder.

2. A document holder according to claim 1 in which one of the backing strips, when peeled off, exposes an adhesive coated area to which the document is to be adhered.

3. A document holder according to claim 1 or claim 2, in which one of the backing strips, when peeled off exposes an adhesive coated area which surrounds the area which receives the document to be displayed.

4. A document holder according to claim 2 or claim 3, in which one of the backing strips, when peeled off, exposes an adhesive coated flap which is to be folded about a fold line to overlie and adhere to both the document to be displayed, and also a region of the holder that surrounds the document.

5. A document holder according to any preceding claim in which instructions for assembling the holder are displayed on the backing strips.

6. A document holder substantially as described herein with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.