GB2542750A

GB2542750A - Rectangular-faced enclosures

Info

Publication number: GB2542750A
Application number: GB1510383.1A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Cameron Robert
Original assignee: Futo Ltd
Current assignee: Futo Ltd
Priority date: 2015-06-13
Filing date: 2015-06-13
Publication date: 2017-04-05
Also published as: GB201510383D0

Abstract

A process for producing rectangular-faced enclosures, such as stationery envelopes, by (i) cutting plural same-size rectangular sheets from a foldable material, and (ii) folding each rectangular sheet to form a rectangular-faced enclosure, without cutting the sheet any further, wherein the width of the foldable material is a multiple of the width or length of the sheet. Generation of scrap material is thereby minimised or even eliminated. The foldable material may be paper or plastic, e.g. made of split polyethylene or polyethylene fibres. It may come in the form of rolls or big sheets, preferably of a size in accordance with an international standard, e.g. A0, A1 or A2. Printing 14 on the foldable material may take place before cutting. Preferably marks are made on each rectangular sheet to indicate lines for folding and scoring is applied to facilitate folding. Furthermore, adhesive may be applied in between cutting and folding, so that the shape of the rectangular-faced enclosure or envelope is maintained after folding. An apparatus suitable for implementing the aforementioned process, comprising a cutting apparatus 16 and a folding apparatus 20, is also claimed. The apparatus may be computer controlled and the computer program for controlling it is also claimed.

Description

Title of Invention: Rectangular-faced enclosures

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a process for producing rectangular faced enclosures, such as envelopes, and in particular but not exclusively oblong rectangular faced enclosures and apparatus therefor.

Background Art

During mass production of envelopes scrap material generated during the cutting of blanks is collected and removed. In some factories the scrap material is collected periodically in a large container until the container is full whereupon the container is moved elsewhere in the factory for baling pending recycling. In other factories the scrap material is removed continuously, for example by sucking up the scrap material as the scrap material is generated into an overhead pipeline for delivery to a baling station. A means of measuring the efficiency of a production run and the process as regards the use of paper up to the point where the blanks are cut and presented for folding and gumming is provided by measuring the weight of the scrap material and expressing the weight as a percentage of the known weight of paper introduced into the process. In addition, dividing the difference between the measured weight of the scrap material and the weight of paper introduced to the process by the number of blanks yields an estimate of the weight of a single blank. In principle the weight of a single blank should vary with the shape of the blank of which there are three types commonly used in the industry. The three types are referred to here as the diamond shape, the cross shape and the kite shape. However on the basis of practical comparison tests there is little, if any, difference in weight between the different shapes of blank for the same size of envelope. Nonetheless from an environmental viewpoint and more particularly in the interests of sustainable forests and responsible governorship of natural resources, there is a motivation to determine if the basic geometrical shape of any one of the three shapes is inherently more efficient as regards use of paper than the other shapes, i.e. the shape uses a smaller area of paper than any other for a particular size of envelope.

When the weight of the paper is known efficiency of paper use could be settled directly by measuring the area of the blank. However the diamond shape is the only one of the three shapes that can be so assessed by way of a simple geometric formula; the cross shape and the kite shape are too complex to lend themselves to a simple geometric approach. It is to be noted that there are no restrictions on the shapes of blank used in envelope manufacture or any stipulation that the diamond shape, the cross shape and the kite shape only should be used. Experimentation yields various shapes that can be folded to form an envelope. Unsurprisingly the simpler the geometry of the blank the easier it is to prepare.

Perhaps the simplest such shape is the rectangle prepared in accordance with the method of US 6,056,192. Manufacture of envelopes according to known methods that make use of the method of US 6,056,192 involves generation of waste material which is collected and removed for recycling as described above. The present inventor has appreciated that the manufacture of envelopes may be improved upon whereby the generation of waste material may be reduced if not substantially eliminated to thereby improve upon efficiency of production.

The present invention has been devised in the light of the inventor’s appreciation. It is therefore an object for the present invention to provide an improved process for producing rectangular faced enclosures. It is a further object for the present invention to provide improved apparatus for producing rectangular faced enclosures.

Statement of Invention

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a process for producing rectangular faced enclosures, the process comprising: cutting plural rectangular sheets of substantially the same size from foldable material; and folding each of the plural rectangular sheets to form a rectangular faced enclosure, the rectangular faced enclosure being formed without cutting of the rectangular sheet further to the cutting of the rectangular sheet from the foldable material, in which a width of the foldable material is a multiple of one of a width and a length of a rectangular sheet.

The process for producing rectangular faced enclosures according to the invention comprises cutting plural rectangular sheets of substantially the same size from foldable material, such as a sheet of paper. The rectangular sheets may be oblong rectangular or square. Then each of the plural rectangular sheets is folded to form a rectangular faced enclosure, such as an envelope. The rectangular faced enclosure is formed without cutting of the rectangular sheet further to the cutting of the rectangular sheet from the foldable material. The rectangular faced enclosure may be formed according to the process of US 6,056,192 or indeed any other known process involving folding of a rectangular sheet to form a rectangular faced enclosure. Furthermore a width of the foldable material is a multiple of one of a width and a length of a rectangular sheet. For example and where the rectangular sheet is an oblong rectangular sheet the width of the sheet of foldable material may be a multiple of the width of the oblong rectangular sheet or the length of the oblong rectangular sheet depending on orientation of the oblong rectangular sheet in relation to the foldable material. There may be thus no need for cutting of each rectangular sheet before folding to form a rectangular faced enclosure further to cutting of the rectangular sheet from the foldable material. Waste of the foldable material is therefore reduced.

The foldable material may be continuous in a direction orthogonal to the width of the foldable material. The foldable material may therefore be fed from a roll of the foldable material, the cutting of the plural rectangular sheets taking place after foldable material is fed from the roll. The process may further comprise the step of feeding foldable material from a roll.

In a more typical form, the foldable material may be a sheet of foldable material, such as an oblong rectangular sheet. In this form, an aspect ratio of the sheet of foldable material may be the same as an aspect ratio of the rectangular sheet. More specifically a ratio of the length to the width of the sheet of foldable material may be the same as a ratio of one of the length to the width and the width to the length of the rectangular sheet. Matching of aspect ratios may avoid waste of the sheet of foldable material when cutting rectangular sheets from the sheet of foldable material. The present invention may also obviate cutter dies used to form rectangular sheets or indeed dies used to form sheets of a form other than rectangular and thereby simplify the production process and make the production process less expensive.

The process may further comprise feeding each of plural sheets of foldable material in turn for cutting plural rectangular sheets from each fed sheet of foldable material.

The present invention is based in part on an appreciation that rectangular faced enclosures, such as envelopes, are typically of a standard size. Rectangular sheets from which rectangular faced enclosures are formed are typically of a standard size. Although the process of US 6,056,192 affords flexibility of size of rectangular faced enclosure the flexibility is not without limit. The rectangular sheet may be of a size in accordance with a standard and more specifically an international standard for paper. The international standard may be a standard established by the

International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO). More specifically the standard may be one of: ISO 216; ISO 217; and ISO 269. Alternatively the standard may be a national standard such as a standard according to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

The rectangular faced enclosure may be of a standard size and more specifically in respect of width and length. The rectangular sheets may be of a size in accordance with a standard and more specifically a national or an international standard, such as ISO 269, for envelopes. As described above, the approach of US 6,056,192 provides for formation of a range of sizes of envelope from one size of rectangular sheet. Thus a range of differently sized rectangular faced enclosures each in accordance with a standard may be formed by the approach of US 6,056,192 from one size of rectangular sheet. Hence the aspect ratio of the rectangular sheets may be matched to the aspect ratio of the foldable sheet material in accordance with the invention, where the foldable material is foldable sheet material, and the approach of US 6,056,192 may be applied to form one of a range of rectangular faced enclosures of different size with each enclosure being in accordance with the standard.

The foldable material may be of standard size and, where the foldable material is a sheet of foldable material, of a standard width and length. The sheet of foldable material may be of a size in accordance with a standard and more specifically an international standard for paper. The international standard may be a standard established by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO). More specifically the standard may be one of: ISO 216; ISO 217; and ISO 269. For example and in a typical application of the process of the invention, the sheet of foldable material may be one of an AO size, an A1 size and an A2 size. Alternatively the standard may be a national standard such as a standard according to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

Alternatively or in addition and where the foldable material is a sheet of foldable material, the sheet of foldable material may be determined so that the aspect ratio of the sheet of foldable material matches the aspect ratio of rectangular sheets to be cut from the sheet of foldable material. The sheet of foldable material may be determined in respect of aspect ratio by selection from available sheets of different aspect ratio. Alternatively the sheet of foldable material may be determined in respect of aspect ratio by cutting. Similarly and where the foldable material is continuous, such as may be fed from a roll, the width of the foldable material may be determined such that it is a whole number multiple of one of a width and a length of rectangular sheets to be cut from the foldable material.

The step of cutting plural rectangular sheets from the foldable material may comprise cutting the plural rectangular sheets such that they form a rectangular matrix when cut from the foldable material. For example fifteen rectangular sheets may be cut from the foldable material such that the fifteen rectangular sheets form a matrix of three rectangular sheets across the width of the foldable material and five rectangular sheets along the length of the foldable material.

The process for producing rectangular faced enclosures may further comprise a step of marking each rectangular sheet. Marking may indicate where the rectangular sheet is to be folded to form the rectangular faced enclosure. Marking may comprise marking an outline of what is to be the rectangular face of the rectangular faced enclosure. The step of marking may be carried out by hand by way of a guide arrangement, such as a template, which provides guidance for marking of the rectangular sheet. Alternatively or in addition the step of marking may be carried out by a printer, for example a printer under control of a computer such as a Personal Computer (PC). By way of example, the marking may correspond to the rectangular outline delineated by way of the dashed lines in Figure 1A of US 6,056,192.

The process for producing rectangular faced enclosures may further comprise a step of scoring the rectangular sheet. The step of scoring may be carried out after the step of marking each rectangular sheet. Scoring may comprise applying pressure to the rectangular sheet to thereby deform the rectangular sheet and aid subsequent folding. Scoring may comprise at least one of: scoring along marking on the rectangular sheet; and scoring from an end of a mark towards an edge of the rectangular sheet.

The process for producing rectangular faced enclosures may further comprise a step of applying adhesive material to each rectangular sheet. The adhesive material may be of a form which requires moisture to be operative. Alternatively the adhesive material may be of a form which is operative upon pressing together of two surfaces bearing the adhesive material. The step of applying adhesive material may be after the step of cutting plural rectangular sheets from foldable material. More specifically the step of applying adhesive material may be after at least one of: the step of marking the rectangular sheet; and scoring the rectangular sheet. The step of applying adhesive material may be before the step of folding each of the plural rectangular sheets to form a rectangular faced enclosure. The adhesive material may be applied to at least one part of the rectangular sheet to maintain the form of the rectangular faced enclosure after being formed initially by folding.

The process for producing rectangular faced enclosures may further comprise a step of applying plural designs to the foldable material. The plural designs may be substantially the same. Each design may be applied to the foldable material at a location corresponding to a location of a respective one of the plural rectangular sheets to be cut from the foldable material. The designs may be of a form chosen by the user of the process according to the invention. The step of applying plural designs to the foldable material may comprise printing the designs on the foldable material. The designs may be printed on the foldable material by a printer, for example a printer under control of a computer such as a PC. Sight of the design when a rectangular sheet has been folded into a rectangular faced enclosure may be useful. Therefore a computer such as a PC may be configured to display a design applied to the foldable material when applied to a rectangular sheet and perhaps also after folding into a rectangular faced enclosure.

The step of cutting plural rectangular sheets from foldable material may comprise operation of cutting apparatus. The cutting apparatus may be hand operated. For example the cutting apparatus may be a hand operated guillotine. Alternatively or in addition the cutting apparatus may be machine controlled, such as cutting apparatus controlled by an industrial process controller or a PC.

The step of folding each of the plural rectangular sheets to form a rectangular faced enclosure may comprise folding each of the plural rectangular sheets by hand. Alternatively the step of folding each of the plural rectangular sheets to form a rectangular faced enclosure may comprise operating folding apparatus which is operative to fold each of the plural rectangular sheets.

The process for producing rectangular faced enclosures may be a process for producing envelopes and more specifically stationery envelopes.

The foldable material may be thin relative to its width such that it is sheet like albeit in one form a continuous sheet such as may be fed from a roll. The foldable material may comprise paper and more specifically may consist of paper, such as paper formed from wood pulp, rags, straw or other fibrous material such as glassine. Alternatively or in addition, the foldable material may comprise plastics material.

More specifically the foldable material may consist of plastics material. The plastics material may be one of high-density and low-density. The plastics material may comprise polyethylene. Foldable material comprising polyethylene may be formed by splitting of the polyethylene or spinning of the polyethylene into fibres followed by bonding.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a computer program comprising program instructions for causing a computer: to provide for cutting of plural rectangular sheets of substantially the same size from foldable material; and to provide indications, such as markings, for folding of each of the plural rectangular sheets to form a rectangular faced enclosure and such that the rectangular faced enclosure is formable without cutting of the rectangular sheet further to the cutting of the rectangular sheet from the foldable material, in which a width of the foldable material is a multiple of one of a width and a length of a rectangular sheet.

The program instructions may be for causing the computer to provide indications, such as markings, on the foldable material. The plural rectangular sheets may then be cut from the foldable material using the indications as a guide for cutting. The plural rectangular sheets may be cut, for example, by a guillotine. Alternatively the program instructions may be for causing the computer to control cutting apparatus to cut the plural rectangular sheets from the foldable material. Indications as a guide for cutting therefore may not be required.

The computer program may be one of: embodied on a record medium; embodied in a read only memory; stored in a computer memory; and carried on an electrical carrier signal.

Further embodiments of the second aspect of the present invention may comprise one or more features of the first aspect of the present invention.

According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided apparatus for producing rectangular faced enclosures, the apparatus comprising: cutting apparatus configured to cut plural rectangular sheets of substantially the same size from foldable material; and folding apparatus configured to fold each of the plural rectangular sheets to form a rectangular faced enclosure, the rectangular faced enclosure being formed without cutting of the rectangular sheet further to the cutting of the rectangular sheet from the foldable material, in which a width of the foldable material is a multiple of one of a width and a length of a rectangular sheet.

Embodiments of the third aspect of the present invention may comprise one or more features of the first aspect of the present invention.

Brief Description of Drawings

Further features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following specific description, which is given by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a block diagram representation of apparatus according to the invention; and

Figure 2 is a flow chart representation of process steps according to the invention.

Description of Embodiments

Apparatus 10 according to the invention is represented in block diagram form in Figure 1. The apparatus 10 comprises a sheet feeder 12, which contains a stock of rectangular parent sheets, a printer 14, which receives one rectangular parent sheet at a time from the sheet feeder 12 and a guillotine 16, which receives one rectangular parent sheet at a time from the printer 14. The sheet feeder 12, the printer 14 and the guillotine 16 are all under control of a Personal Computer (PC) 18 operative in accordance with the process according to the invention. The apparatus 10 further comprises gumming and folding apparatus 20 which receives rectangular sheets cut by the guillotine 16 from rectangular parent sheet. The gumming and folding apparatus 20 is also controlled by the PC 18. In another form the parent material is not in sheet form but is instead fed continuously from a roll of parent material to the printer 14 and thereafter to the guillotine 16. In yet another form, the apparatus 10 lacks gumming and folding apparatus 20 with gumming and folding being carried out manually instead and yet in accordance with the process described below.

The rectangular parent sheets consist of paper such as glassine. Alternatively the rectangular parent sheets are formed from a plastics material, such as Tyvek (RTM).

The process according to the invention will now be described with reference to Figure 2 which is a flow chart representation of process steps according to the invention. By way of software running on the PC 18 the user selects the size and shape of envelope he or she wishes to form from rectangular parent sheets 32. The software stores available envelope sizes and shapes in accordance with requirements, such as envelopes according to an ISO standard such as ISO 216 or according to the ANSI standard. The software also stores dimensions of the different sizes of rectangular parent sheets that can be accommodated and operated upon by the sheet feeder 12, the printer 14 and the guillotine 16.

By way of the process according to US 6,056,192, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference, the software is operative to determine the range of dimensions of cutouts (which constitute rectangular sheets) that can be folded to produce the selected size of envelope. Having regard to the different sizes of rectangular parent sheets that can be accommodated and operated upon and the determined range of dimensions of cutouts, the software is operative to determine at least one combination of particular sizes of cutouts and rectangular parent sheet such that the aspect ratio of the cutouts matches the aspect ratio of the rectangular parent sheet 34. For example, there may be three combinations determined for which the cutout is 203 mm by 279 mm: a first combination in which the rectangular parent sheet is 609 mm by 837 mm and yields nine cutouts; a second combination in which the rectangular parent sheet is 812 mm by 1116 mm and yields sixteen cutouts; and a third combination in which the rectangular parent sheet is 1015 mm by 1395 mm and yields twenty-five cut kite shaped sheets.

The user selects one of the combinations presented by the software in view of requirements and practical considerations 36. Here, the user selects the second combination as yielding the largest number of cutouts per rectangular parent sheet but without the impracticality of manually handling the large rectangular parent sheets of the third combination. According to the second combination, the area of one rectangular parent sheet is 0.906 m2 For a production run of 200,000 US #10 envelopes, 12,500 large rectangular parent sheets are required where sixteen cutouts are cut from one rectangular parent sheet. This represents a total area of 11,327 m2 By way of comparison, according to a known approach eight cutouts are cut from each rectangular parent sheet of 609.6 mm by 965.4 mm. For the same production run 25,000 rectangular parent sheets are required. In view of the area of each rectangular parent sheet being 0.588 m2, a total area of 14,710 m2 is required.

It can thus be appreciated that the process according to the invention affords an appreciable reduction in material consumed.

The user selects a design to be printed at each location on the rectangular parent sheet corresponding to a rectangular sheet to be cut from the rectangular parent sheet. The design may be created by the user himself or herself on the PC 18 or may be obtained from an Internet source of third party designs. The design is then printed by the printer 14 on a rectangular parent sheet fed from the sheet feeder 12, 38. In the form of the invention in which folding is performed manually instead of by way of the PC controlled gumming and folding apparatus 20 of Figure 1, the software is also operative to control the printer 14 to mark an outline of what is to be the rectangular face of the envelope at each of the required number of plural locations on the rectangular parent sheet. Such marking corresponds to the rectangular outline delineated by way of the dashed lines in Figure 1A of US 6,056,192. Thereafter cutting apparatus is selected and prepared for use in the following step 39.

The PC 18 is then operative to move the rectangular parent sheet from the printer to the guillotine 16 with the guillotine being operative to cut the rectangular parent sheet into plural cutouts (which constitute rectangular sheets) in accordance with the selection made previously by the user 40. Thereafter each cutout moves to the gumming and folding apparatus 20. The gumming and folding apparatus 20 is first operative under PC 18 control to score the rectangular sheet to define the rectangular outline of the face of the envelope and such that the scoring extends from each corner of the rectangular outline to an edge of the cutout and such the extended scoring is a continuation of the scoring defining a side of the rectangular outline 42. Then the gumming and folding apparatus 20 is operative to apply adhesive material to parts of the cutout sufficient to maintain the cutout in a folded disposition after the subsequent folding step 44. The adhesive material is of a form which requires moisture to be operative or is of a form which is operative to adhere upon pressing together of two surfaces bearing the adhesive material. Finally the gumming and folding apparatus 20 is operative to fold the cutout such that it forms the selected size and shape of envelope with the adhesive being operative to maintain the cutout in its now folded disposition 46.

As mentioned above, a form of the apparatus 10 of Figure 1 lacks the gumming and folding apparatus 20. According to this form, the steps of scoring, gumming and folding are carried out manually by relying on the markings made on the cutout by the printer 14 as described above.

Claims

1. A process for producing rectangular faced enclosures, the process comprising: cutting plural rectangular sheets of substantially the same size from foldable material; and folding each of the plural rectangular sheets to form a rectangular faced enclosure, the rectangular faced enclosure being formed without cutting of the rectangular sheet further to the cutting of the rectangular sheet from the foldable material, in which a width of the foldable material is a multiple of one of a width and a length of the rectangular sheet.

2. The process according to claim 1 in which the foldable material is continuous in a direction orthogonal to the width of the foldable material.

3. The process according to claim 1 or 2 further comprising feeding foldable material from a roll of the foldable material.

4. The process according to claim 1 in which the foldable material is a sheet of foldable material.

5. The process according to claim 4 in which an aspect ratio of the sheet of foldable material is substantially the same as an aspect ratio of the rectangular sheet.

6. The process according to any one of the preceding claims in which the rectangular sheet is of a size in accordance with an international standard for paper.

7. The process according to any one of the preceding claims in which the foldable material is a sheet of foldable material, the sheet of foldable material being of a size in accordance with an international standard for paper.

8. The process according to any one of the preceding claims in which the step of cutting plural rectangular sheets from the foldable material comprises cutting the plural rectangular sheets such that they form a rectangular matrix when cut from the foldable material.

9. The process according to any one of the preceding claims further comprising a step of marking each rectangular sheet to indicate where the rectangular sheet is to be folded to form the rectangular faced enclosure.

10. The process according to claim 9 further comprising a step of scoring each rectangular sheet after the step of marking each rectangular sheet.

11. The process according to any one of the preceding claims further comprising a step of applying adhesive material to each rectangular sheet after the step of cutting plural rectangular sheets from foldable material and before the step of folding each of the plural rectangular sheets to form a rectangular faced enclosure, the adhesive material being applied to at least one part of the rectangular sheet to maintain the form of the rectangular faced enclosure after the folding step.

12. The process according to any one of the preceding claims further comprising a step of applying plural designs to the foldable material, the plural designs being substantially the same with each of the plural designs being applied to the foldable material at a location corresponding to a location of a respective one of the plural rectangular sheets to be cut from the foldable material.

13. The process according to any one of the preceding claims being a process for producing stationery envelopes.

14. The process according to any one of the preceding claims in which the foldable material consists essentially of paper

15. The process according to any one of claims 1 to 13 in which the foldable material consists essentially of plastics material.

16. The process according to claim 15 in which the foldable material comprises polyethylene, the foldable material being formed by one of: splitting of the polyethylene; and spinning of the polyethylene into fibres followed by bonding.

17. A computer program comprising program instructions for causing a computer and computer controlled apparatus controlled by said computer to carry out the process according to any one of the preceding claims.

18. The computer program according to claim 17 which is one of: embodied on a record medium; embodied in a read only memory; stored in a computer memory; and carried on an electrical carrier signal.

19. Apparatus for producing rectangular faced enclosures, the apparatus comprising: cutting apparatus configured to cut plural rectangular sheets of substantially the same size from foldable material; and folding apparatus configured to fold each of the plural rectangular sheets to form a rectangular faced enclosure, the rectangular faced enclosure being formed without cutting of the rectangular sheet further to the cutting of the rectangular sheet from the foldable material, in which a width of the foldable material is a multiple of one of a width and a length of a rectangular sheet.