GB2477150A

GB2477150A - Re-usable Envelope

Info

Publication number: GB2477150A
Application number: GB1001166A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Rasim Huseynov
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2010-01-25
Filing date: 2010-01-25
Publication date: 2011-07-27
Also published as: GB201001166D0

Abstract

The present invention provides a substantially conventional mail envelope for receiving mail correspondence inserted therein and that comprises: at least a front panel 1a and a back panel 1b that are linked at a fold line 2 and which define a pocket; and a closure panel 1e to releasably seal closed the pocket characterized in that substantially the whole of one or both of the front and back panels of the envelope is provided with a tear outline 2, 3, 4 to be detached from a remainder of the envelope. The tear outline may include one or more score-lines, perforated or micro-perforated lines, the detached panel may be used as note paper, or may have an adhesive to be secured to other such sheets as a notepad.

Description

Re-usable Envelope

Field of the Invention

The present invention concerns improvements in and relating to envelopes that are adapted to be used subsequent to their initial use as an envelope for the postage of mail.

Background to the Invention

With the rise in concern for the environment and legislation to reduce carbon footprint as well as reducing land-fill of waste that is both costly and environmentally damaging there is an ever greater focus nowadays on making repeat uses of items that are otherwise viewed as single-use! disposable items. One such item is the envelope. This is an item that is used and discarded in massive volumes annually. In the UK alone there will be several hundred thousand tones of such waste, some of it business and personal but also much of it as unsolicited/junk mail. If only a fraction of this were re-used the benefit would be considerable.

Since the integrity and re-closeability of envelopes is generally compromised after a first use, once received they are generally all discarded as paper waste to be consigned to land-fill or at best re-cycled into re-cycled paper. Whereas re-cycling of paper as pulp in a paper processing plant is far more energy efficient than making virgin paper from wood pulp not all local authorities have access to suitable processing plants and especially where the more awkward junk mail and windowed envelopes are concerned. Furthermore, even when re-cycled into paper pulp the once only use of the envelope before turning it into pulp is still a major waste.

It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a re-usable envelope that can be used again subsequent to its initial use as an envelope, for greater environmental benefit and cost efficiency.

Sum mary of the Invention According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a substantially conventional mail envelope for receiving mail correspondence inserted therein and that comprises at least a front panel and a back panel that are linked at a fold line and a closure panel to releasably seal closed a pocket defined by the front panel and back panel characterized in that substantially the whole of one or both of the front and back panels of the envelope is provided with a tear outline to be detached from the remainder of the envelope.

Suitably the tear outline is a score-line, perforated or micro-perforated outline to aid detachment. This preferably is provided as a tear line extending down the lateral edges of the front panel and! or rear panel and optionally also along the fold line between the front panel and back panel.

Indeed a tear line may also be provided along the fold lines where the side is flaps! side wings of the envelope (if present) extend from the front panel or back panel. Thus all flaps on the front panel and! or back panel may be removed and the panel effectively turned into a sheet of paper that may be used as note paper or writing or drawing paper. The tear lines can only readily be torn along once the envelope is opened at the closure flap and so the integrity of the envelope in use is not compromised by the tear lines.

As a refinement to facilitate accumulation of such panels! sheets of paper, the panels! sheets may be provided with an area, eg perimeter band, of adhesive to be secured to other such sheets as a note-pad or to be used in the manner of Post-it Notes®. The adhesive used for the purpose may be a low tack adhesive that is re-adherable for re-positioning and the same or similar to that used on Post-it Notes®. This area or band may be covered by a peel-off strip to be exposed once the envelope has finished serving its initial envelope function.

The detachable panel is preferably substantially clear! blank on its inner face better adapting it to be used as note-paper once detached.

In the present invention the existing envelope is not augmented with extra tear-away panels for extra functionalities unlike, for example, the specially adapted envelopes of POT WO/Ol 25100 (Flynn), POT WO/20071 18283 (Oameron Troy), or of POT WO/2008070109 (Richard Keefe), since that would defeat the purpose of the invention, which fundamentally seeks to re-use the existing envelope materials more effectively rather than add significantly to the cost and material for making them by adding structures to them. Furthermore, the invention is quite distinct from the security envelopes for wage slips etc that have tear off ends. Those have no utility for re-use though they have integral content. They are highly specialised in design and intent, their configuration tends to cause them to be damaged on opening and they are generally useless for any purpose other than as secure envelopes.

is By way of further commercial variations to this product the envelope may be modified to incorporate information on the detachable panel. It may, for example, serve as; i) an Important Events Guide; ii) a List of Important Oontacts; iii) an Image or Description of A New Product; iv) a Olaim Voucher; or even as a Letter-less envelope where the inside of the rear panel is used for sales promotion

Brief Description of the Drawings

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be further described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is an elevation view of the internal faces side of a standard DL size envelope blank prior to assembly of the envelope and showing the respective panels and fold lines and with the perforated tear-lines shown as dotted lines.

Description of the Preferred Embodiment

Referring to Figure 1, the standard DL size self-sealing envelope blank thereshown comprises a front panel la (that is intended to carry the address on its obverse face) and a rear panel 1 b hinged to the front panel la about fold-line 2. The side edges of the front panel la each carry a respective side flap ic hinged to the front panel la by a respective fold line 3. The top edge of the front panel la carries a first closure! sealing flap id hinged to the front panel la about fold-line 4. Finally, the rear panel lb carries on its bottom edge a second closure! sealing flap le hinged to io the rear panel panel lb about fold-line 5.

The envelope is assembled in manufacture by folding the rear panel lb up about the fold-line 2 and folding in the side flaps lc to adhere to the outside of the rear panel 1 b to hold it in place forming the pocket of the envelope. The envelope is marketed substantially in this form and the is sender simply places their letter in the envelope's pocket and removes a silicone cover strip from an adhesive band on the first closure! sealing flap ld and folds this down to adhere onto the second closure! sealing flap le.

As thusfar described the envelope is standard in form and function.

However, the envelope incorporates a unique arrangement of perforations or micro-perforations extending along the fold lines 2, 3, 4 delimiting the perimeter of the front panel la. These are actually along those fold lines 2, 3, 4 or close to and substantially parallel to them and allow the front panel 1 a to be cleanly and easily detached from the other parts of the envelope once the envelope has been used for its primary purpose.

The thus detached panel Ia can then serve as a sheet of note paper or writing! drawing paper assuming that it is substantially fee of ink! dye! markings on the inner face. Indeed, it could remain attached to the rear panel I b for those that do not mind having a folded sheet of paper. This is better still if the envelope is not of self-seal form or otherwise does not have the second closure! sealing flap le, since then the sheet can be isolated from any peripheral flaps by only three tearing actions rather than four (ie the absence of any second closure! sealing flap le on the envelope saves need of having to remove it if the rear panel I b is to form part of the detached sheet).

For note pad usage the detachable sheet may optionally be provided with a band of adhesive, suitably across the upper edge of the inner face of front panel la to adhere to other such sheets for storage in a pad for later use or to be treated in the manner of Post-it Notes®. We prefer that the band of adhesive be internal to protect it in transit of the envelope, though it could even be provided as a secondary sealing feature on the inside of the closure flap id if the closure flap id were to be left attached to the note sheet.

In alternative embodiments the envelope form may be of any standard type, not just DL, for example to include 03 to C6 or even bespoke sizes is and may include end-opening envelopes too. The manufacturer may select for detachment of different ones of the panels! flaps to leave the detached sheet having the desired configuration for re-use. Furthermore, the manufacturer may elect to print information on one or both of the inside front face of the front panel la and rear panel lb to serve, for example, as an Events Guide; a List of Important Contacts; an Image or Description of A New Product; a Claim Voucher; or even as a Letter-less envelope where the inside of the rear panel is used for sales promotion

Claims

Claims 1. A substantially conventional mail envelope for receiving mail correspondence inserted therein and that comprises: at least a front panel and a back panel that are linked at a fold line and which define a pocket; and a closure panel to releasably seal closed the pocket characterized in that substantially the whole of one or both of the front and back panels of the envelope is provided with a tear outline to be detached from a remainder of the envelope.
2. An envelope as claimed in claim 1, wherein the tear outline comprises one or more score-lines, perforated or micro-perforated lines to aid detachment.
3. An envelope as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the tear out-line comprises a tear line extending down (at or near) each of the lateral edges of the front panel and! or rear panel.
4. An envelope as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the tear out-line comprises a tear line along (at or near) the fold line between the front panel and back panel.
5. An envelope as claimed in claim 1, 2, 3 or 4, wherein the tear out-line comprises a tear line along (at or near) a fold-line where the closure panel hinges to the front or back panel.
6. An envelope as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the tear lines can only readily be torn along once the envelope is opened at the closure panel.
7. An envelope as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the panel to be isolated and re-used is provided with an area, eg perimeter band, of adhesive to be secured to other such sheets as a note-pad or to be used in the manner of Post-it Notes®.
8. An envelope as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the panel to be isolated and re-used is substantially clear! blank on its inner face to be used as note-paper once detached.
9. An envelope as claimed in any of claims 1 to 7, wherein the panel the to be isolated and re-used is modified to incorporate information.
10. An envelope substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.