GB2410923A

GB2410923A - A business card holder

Info

Publication number: GB2410923A
Application number: GB0403392A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Steven Robert Boys; Steve Boys
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2004-02-16
Filing date: 2004-02-16
Publication date: 2005-08-17
Also published as: GB0403392D0

Abstract

A holder for holding and presenting one or more business cards 34 compromises a single piece of sheet material 10. The sheet has first and second folds 12,14 across its width to define a central portion 20 dimensioned to be larger than the business cards to be held, an upper portion 18 above first fold 12, and a lower portion 22 below the second fold 14. Card retaining means such as slits 24,26 are provided in the lower portion 22. Closing flap 28 is formed from an elliptical slit. It engages with an edge of a business card 34 to close the holder when in use. The card retaining and closure means may be adhesive or hook and loop. The outwardly facing surface of the central and upper portions carries textual information 36. When the holder is opened, text is revealed on the upper and central portions.

Description

24 0923 1 Holder 3 The present invention relates to a holder, and

particularly, but not exclusively, to 4 a holder for holding and presenting one or more business cards.

6 In the majority of business situations, it is customary to exchange or give 7 business cards so that if a recipient feels inclined to contact the other person 8 involved, they have the contact details to be able to do so. Some business cards 9 may have contact details on them but may not explain satisfactorily what the person or company is offering as a product or a service.

12 The giver of the business card may well have spent time and effort extolling the 13 virtues of themselves, the company and/or the produces, or may have had limited 14 time to be able to do this.

16 The recipient may at some stage be in a position whereby they can no longer 17 recall or are unsure of the reason why the business card was given to them or of 18 its relevance, particularly if they are one of many indistinguishable business cards 19 competing for a potential customer's attention.

21 According to the present Invention there is provided a holder for holding and 22 presenting one or more business cards, said holder comprising a single piece of 23 sheet material, said material having first and second folds across its width to 24 define: (I) a central portion between the first and second folds which is dimensioned to be larger than the business cards to be held; (ii) an upper portion 26 above the first fold extending above said central portion; and (iii) a lower portion 27 below the second fold extending below said central portion; wherein the height of 28 the lower portion is less than the height of both the upper and central portions 29 and wherein card retaining means are provided on the lower portion for holding the one or more business cards.

32 Preferably the holder will be known as the Bizcard booster.

34 Preferably, the sheet material, and hence the upper, central and lower portions, are substantially rectangular in shape.

2 Alternatively, the sheet material, and hence one or more of the upper, central and 3 lower portions, are non-rectangular in shape.

Preferably, the holder is moveable between a closed position in which the 6 business card is concealed and an open position in which the business card is 7 exposed.

9 Alternatively, the holder is moveable between a closed position in which the business card is partially concealed and an open position in which the business 11 card is exposed.

13 Preferably, the holder is moved to its closed position by firstly folding the lower 14 portion, holding the one or more business cards, at the second fold such that the both lower portion and the one or more business cards overlap the central portion 16 and subsequently folding the upper portion at the first fold to overlap both the 17 lower and central portions such that the lower portion is interposed between the 18 central and the upper portions and the business card is interposed between the 19 lower portion and the upper portion.

21 Preferably the card retaining means comprises one or more card retaining slits.

23 Alternatively, the card retaining means may be an adhesive.

Preferably, the card retaining slits are adapted to enable a portion of the business 26 card being retained to extend beyond the edge of the lower portion opposite the 27 second fold.

29 Preferably, the card retaining slits are adapted to retain standard sized business cards having a length of 88mm.

32 Preferably, the height of the upper portion is the same height of the central 33 portion.

1 Preferably, the upper portion is provided with a retaining means adapted to utilise 2 the lower edge of the retained business card to retain the holder in its closed 3 position.

Alternatively, the upper and lower portions are provided with one or more 6 corresponding retaining means adapted to retain the holder in its closed position.

8 Preferably, the retaining means comprises one or more slits on the upper portion, 9 said one or more slits being received by the lower edge of the business card retained on the lower portion.

12 Alternatively, the retaining means comprises Velcro, stud, tabs inserted into slits 13 or adhesive fasteners adapted to retain the holder in its closed position.

Preferably, the outwardly facing surface of the upper portion of the holder has 16 textual information administered thereto.

18 Preferably the textual information on the outwardly facing surface of the upper 19 portion is an introductory message or a design.

21 Preferably, the outwardly facing surface of the central portion has textual 22 information administered thereto.

24 Preferably the textual information on the outwardly facing surface of the central portion is contact information.

27 Preferably, when the holder is moved to its open position, the revealed surfaces 28 of the upper and central portions of the holder have textual information 29 administered thereto.

31 Preferably the textual information on the revealed surfaces of the upper and 32 central portions is a personalized message.

34 Preferably, the sheet is a uniform piece of card material.

1 Alternatively, the sheet material may comprise cut-out portions or transparent or 2 translucent portions. 3 '

4 Preferably, the card material Is coloured with pantone ink.

6 Alternatively, the card material is coloured with ink in a four colour process.

8 Preferably, the length and width of the substantially rectangular sheet material is 9 149mm x 100mm with the first fold being made at a distance of 62mm from the upper transverse edge of the sheet material and the second fold being made at a 11 distance of 124mm from said upper transverse edge.

13 An embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of 14 example only, with reference to the following drawings wherein: 16 Fig.1 is a plan view of the holder in an unfolded state (without the business card); 17 Fig. 2 is a plan view of the holder in a partially folded state corresponding to the 18 open position (holding the business card); and 19 Fig. 3 is a plan view of the holder in a folded state corresponding to the closed position.

22 Fig. 1 shows a sheet material 10 having a first fold 12 and a second fold 14. The 23 first fold 12 is made along the width of the sheet material 10 at a distance of 24 62mm from the upper trarisverse edge 16 of the sheet material 10 (i.e. the edge of the sheet material lying the opposite the first fold 12). The second fold 14 is 26 made along the width of the sheet material 10 at a distance of 124mm from the 27 upper transverse edge 16.

29 The first and second folds 12,14 define an upper, central and lower rectangular portions 18, 20 and 22 of differing surface area.

32 Diagonal card retaining slits 24, 26 are formed in the lower portion 22 for holding 33 a business card 34 (see Fig. 2).

1 An elliptical slit 28 is formed in the upper portion 18 which corresponds with the 2 lower edge of the retained business card 34.

4 Textual information 32 is administered to the surfaces of the upper and central portions 18,20 of the sheet material.

8 Textual information 36 is also applied to the outwardly facing surface of the upper 9 portion (see Fig. 3) when the holder is in its closed position. Further textual information is applied to the outwardly facing surface of the central portion (not 11 shown) when the holder is in its closed position. In use, as shown in Fig. 2, the 12 lower portion 22 is folded along the second fold 14 such that it overlaps the 13 central portion 20. The lower corners of a business card 34 are then inserted into 14 the diagonal card retaining slits 24,26. When retained within the card retaining slits 24, 26, an upper portion of the business card 34 extends beyond the edge of 16 the lower portion 22 lying opposite the second fold 14.

18 Once the business card 34 is retained within the card retaining slits 24,26 of the 19 lower portion 22, the upper portion 18 is folded along the first fold 12 such that it overlaps both the lower and central portions 20, 22. The lower portion 22 is 21 therefore interposed between the central and upper portions 18, 20 and the 22 business card 34 is interposed between the lower portion 22 and the upper 23 portion 18. Once the upper and lower portions 18,22 are folded in this way, the 24 holder is in its closed position concealing the business card 34 from view.

26 The holder is retained in its closed position by the elliptical slit 28 catching the 27 lower edge of the business card 34.

29 The holder now resembles a gift and can be personalized by addressing it.

31 The sheet material 10 is made from a smooth surfaced, high quality paper such 32 as Antalis Cyberstar(g). It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the 33 nature and aesthetics of the holder will increase its visual impact and increase the 34 chances of it being accepted and retained by its intended recipient.

1 Once it has been accepted by its intended recipient, the aforementioned qualities 2 increase the chances that the recipient will accept and retain the holder and by 3 doing so at some point either by choice or chance, revisit it and therefore will be 4 reminded or understand the nature of the product or service being offered.

6 The business card 34 is retained within the holder in a way which allows it to be 7 easily removed from the lower portion 22 of the holder.

9 Modifications and improvements may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

12 The sheet material may be made of paper or any other suitable foldable 1 3 substrate.

The card retaining slits may be semicircular instead of being straight cuts in the 16 sheet material angled at 45 degrees with respect to the second fold.

Claims

6 Claims 8 1. A holder for holding and presenting one or more business

cards and the like, said holder 9 comprising a single piece of sheet material, said material having first and second folds across its width to define.

11 (i) a central portion between the first and second folds which is dimensioned to be larger than the 12 business cards to be held; 13 (ii) an upper portion above the first fold extending above said central portion; 14 (iii) a lower portion below the second fold extending below said central portion; wherein the height of the lower portion Is less than the height of both the upper and central portions and wherein card 16 retaining means are provided on the lower portion for holding the one or more business cards, the 17 holder also comprising a holder closing flap in said upper portion, which flap engages with an edge 18 of a business card held in said holder to close the holder when in use 2. A holder as claimed in claim 1, the sheet material, and hence the upper, central and lower 21 portions, are substantially rectangular in shape.

23 3. A holder as claimed in either claim 1 or claim 2, is moveable between a closed position in which 24 the business card is concealed and an open position in which the business card is exposed.

26 4. A holder as claimed in any either claim 1, claim 2 or claim 3, is moved to its closed position by 27 firstly folding the lower portion, holding one or more business cards, at said second fold such that 28 both the lower portion and one or more business cards overlap said central portion and 1 subsequently folding the upper portion at the first fold to overlap both the lower and central portions 2 such that the lower portion is interposed between the central and upper portions and said business 3 card is interposed between the lower portion and the upper portion.

5. A holder as claimed in claim 4, said lower portion card retaining means comprises substantially 6 one or more card retaining slits.

8 6 A holder as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein card retaining slits are adapted to 9 enable a portion of the business card being retained to extend beyond the edge of the lower portion opposite the second fold.

12 7. A holder as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein card retaining slits are adapted to 13 retain standard sized business cards having a length of 88mm.

8. A holder as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the height of the upper portion is the 16 same as the height of the central portion.

18 9. A holder as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the retaining means comprises one 19 or more slits on the upper portion, said one or more slits being received by the lower edge of the business card retained on the lower portion.

22 10. A holder as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the outwardly facing surface of the 23 upper portion of the holder has textual information administered thereto.

11. A holder as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the outwardly facing surface of the 26 upper portion is an introductory message or a design.

1 12. A holder as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the outwardly facing surface of the 2 central portion has textual information administered thereto.

4 13. A holder as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the outwardly facing surface of the central portion has textual information administered thereto.

7 14. A holder as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein when the holder is moved to its 8 open position, the revealed surfaces of the upper and central portions of the holder have textual 9 information administered thereto.

11 15. A holder as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the textual information on the 12 revealed surfaces of the upper and central portions is a personalised message.

14 16. A holder as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the sheet material is substantially a uniform piece of card or plastics material.

17 17. A holder as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the sheet material may comprise 18 cut-out portions or transparent or translucent portions.

18. A holder as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the card material is coloured with 21 pantone metallic ink.

23 19. A holder as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the card material is coloured with 24 ink in a four colour process.

26 20. A holder as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the length and width of the 27 substantially rectangular sheet material is 149mm x 100mm with the first fold being made at a 1 distance of 62mm from the upper transverse edge of the sheet material and the second fold being 2 made at a distance of 124mm from the said upper transverse edge.

4 21. A holder substantially as described herein with reference to the Figures of the accompanying drawings.