IE921271A1

IE921271A1 - Improvements in mailers

Info

Publication number: IE921271A1
Application number: IE921271A
Authority: IE
Inventors: Conor Kavanagh
Original assignee: Conor Kavanagh
Priority date: 1992-04-22
Filing date: 1992-04-22
Publication date: 1993-11-03
Also published as: GB2272862B; IE70428B1; GB2272862A; GB9325478D0; AU3903693A; WO1993021022A1

Abstract

The object of the invention is to provide a multiple ply free insert mailer which is easier to open than conventional mailers, and in which the extracted insert has a clean substantially jagged-free edge. The mailer has a tear-off portion (3) on the sealed envelope for opening the envelope to extract the sheet insert (8) which is separable from the remainder of the envelope (1) along a line of weakness (4) formed in each ply by means of a rotary die cutting apparatus. The line of weakness (4) is comprised of a plurality of linear cuts through each ply, which are separated by alternate shorter ties. The ties and cuts in one ply (7) are aligned with the corresponding ties and cuts in the other ply (9). In a second aspect the extractable insert sheet (8) is separable from the remainder (27) of the envelope construction (1) by a continuous line of weakness (25) extending across the insert sheet and also made by means of a rotary die-cutting apparatus. The line of weakness (4) comprises a plurality of linear cuts (25) through the sheet (8) which are separated by alternate ties (26), the lengths of the cuts (25) being substantially greater than the length of the ties (26).

Description

~ ’MT it OPEN I C rLALJA IN-- 2 ’LOTION SECTION 2: AAA HULE 23 JNL No'W'.....Or 3/ COMPLETE SPECIFICATION IMPROVEMENTS IN MAILERS Λ -al -ιι* Λ ID CONOR KAVANAGH, an Irish Citizen, of Rathmore, Adelaide Road Glenageary, Co. Dublin, Republic of Ireland. •Ε 921271 - 2 10 This invention relates to an envelope assembly hereinafter referred to as a mailer. Particularly, this invention relates to a mailer which is simple to open.

Various types of mailers are known comprising an envelope and a free insert or inserts in a multiple ply format openable by some means at one edge. Typically, the mailer is constructed from continuous stationery or business forms collated to form a multiple ply, which is adapted to incorporate information printed by a computer, and folded and glued at its edges to produce an envelope. These mailers are typically used in the issuing of payslips, bills, invoices and the like and in some cases may incorporate a return envelope in which the inserts can be returned to the original sender if required. The inserts may include confidential information such as in the case of a payslip, or a notification of a PIN number for a cash dispenser card issued by a bank. The insert may be derived from continuous stationery, with sprocket margins removed to reduce its size, in what is known as a free insert mailer.

Typically, the opening means comprises a tab portion or portions, - 3 defined by perforations or lines of weakness, which is stripped from one or more plies of the mailer to reveal a portion of the insert which may be gripped by the thumb and forefinger in order to pull the insert from the envelope. However, conventional constructions have not always been easy to open and frequently lead to damage to the insert or improper functioning of the opening means.

The prior art opening means shown schematically in Figure 1 is constructed using a two-step process comprising a run perforation step, forming a linear perforation along and parallel to one edge of the mailer, in combination with a punch step, which superimposes a semi-circular thumb notch perforation on the linear perforation.

This process has several disadvantages; primarily it requires two pieces of machinery which must be accurately aligned to produce a product of sufficient reliability, and secondly the superimposition of two sets of perforations frequently leads to problems in the functioning of the opening means, for example if both sets of perforations were formed under different pressure. When the strip portion 30 is torn along the linear perforation 40 it is a common occurrence that the tear continues the full length of the side of the mailer 10 leaving the semi-circular tab portion 30a in place (when it is desired that this be removed with the rest of the strip portion 30). This is a direct result of the superimposition of the two perforations which can cause the tear to continue along the linear perforation at 60 instead of tearing along 50 removing the semi-circular tab portion.

Thus two tearing steps may be required in opening the envelope. The first to remove the strip portion 30 defined by the linear perforation, and the second to remove the semi-circular tab 30a defined by perforation 50 with the thumb and forefinger. However, this second tearing step may cause damage to the insert 80, and is particularly difficult to perform. The insert lies below the tab portion 30a and so a tearing action aimed at removing the tab may also damage the insert 80 below. If the tab portion 30a is successfully removed with the strip portion 30 then no such damage occurs.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a mailer with - 4 an opening means which is effective and reliable in use and which seeks to overcome the above problems. It is a further object of the invention to provide a process for the manufacture of such a mailer.

Hitherto, it has not been possible to include an indent in the run perforation wheel so as to produce a thumb-notch at intervals as the wheel rotates, because at high speed, the wheel tends to wobble or vibrate, adversely affecting the precision of the perforation produced.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a method of producing a multiple ply envelope construction or mailer including an insert sheet accessible by removing a tear-off portion from at least one side or face of the construction, wherein the tear-off portion is defined by a contiguous strip and/or tab arrangement delimited by a continuous perforation or line of weakness, comprising the step of applying the said perforation or line of weakness by means of rotary die cutting apparatus in a single step.

The invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of a typical conventional mailer; Figure 2 is a plan view of a mailer according to the present invention; Figure 3 is a cross-section showing the multiple ply format of the mailer of Figure 2; Figures 4 to 6 are plan views of mailers in accordance with alternative embodiments of the invention; Figure 7 is a side view of a magnetic cylinder assembly with an attached die plate; - 5 Figure 8 is a side view of a rotary shear cutting assembly; Figure 9 is an enlargement of the area defined by circle A in Figure 8, and Figure 10 is a partial end view of Figure 8.

The mailer according to the present invention as shown in Figure 2 comprises a single continuous perforation line 4 which extends along one side 2 of the mailer 1. The perforation line 4 may be applied to either or both the front and back plies of the mailer which constitute the envelope. According to the present invention the removal tab portion 3 is a single integral unit defined by the continuous perforation 4. This substantially reduces or eliminates the risk of incomplete removal of the tab portion 3.

The opening means of the present invention is operated in a similar manner to conventional means i.e. the tab portion 3 is removed from the envelope by tearing along perforation 4 thus revealing a portion of the insert 8 which may be gripped in order to pull the insert 8 from the envelope.

Since the tab portion 3 is a single piece there is substantially less chance of some part of the tab remaining attached to the body of the envelope as is the case with conventional opening means where the two superimposed perforation lines effectively divides the tear-off tab into two-pieces. Thus the reliability of the tear-off tab is increased and accordingly the subsequent risk of damage to the insert is greatly reduced.

The present invention also provides a process for the manufacture of the improved mailer. The mailer with conventional opening means is the product of a two-step process which involves separate application of two superimposed perforations. The process for producing mailers of the present invention comprises applying a single continuous perforation along at least one side of either or both the front and back plies of the mailer by means of a rotating cylinder die cutting machine. - 6 Suitable means based on the rotary die cut principle include for example a rotating magnetic cylinder having a suitably shaped die plate, or plates, attached; or complementary cylinders which act in conjunction with each other to effect the desired perforation, by means of a shear cutting action.

The use of rotary die cutting technology produces a high precision finished product, reduces the construction of the opening means from a two-step to a single-step process disposing of the requirement to accurately align machine components involved in the two steps and generally increases the speed and efficiency of the manufacturing process.

Magnetic cylinder die cutting systems are well known, such as those of Gerhardt International, and are used for example in carton cutting, window cutting and perforations. In Figure 7 a magnetic cylinder die cutting apparatus consists of a rotating magnetic drum 11 or cylinder onto which flexible sheet steel die plates 12 are attached and an anvil cylinder 13 typically made of hardened steel. The die plate 12 fits around the cylinder 11 and is magnetically attached to the cylinder. The die plate has a raised cutting die of suitable configuration etched on the surface thereof. As a web is fed through the die cutting machine the rotating cylinder 11 periodically engages and cuts the web (not shown) according to the configuration of the magnetically attached die.

In an alternative arrangement shown in Figures 8, 9 and 10 a rotary shear cutting assembly, such as those available from Bernal Rotary Systems, Incorporated also described as rotary pressure tools, is used. The rotary shear cutting assembly comprises two cylinders 14 each with identical cutting dies 15 which are displaced laterally from one another, on the respective cylinders, by a small distance. As a web 16 (Figure 9) is fed through the assembly the pressure action caused by the engaging dies 15 cuts the web 16. However, the dies 15 are located in such a way as to prevent metal-to-metal contact between them. Figure 10 is a partial end view of the engaging dies 15 and indicates the direction of rotation of the two cylinders. - 7 Both of the above techniques based on the rotary die cutting principle make economical reuse of the cutting edge by repeating the cutting configuration around the circumference of the cylinders.

Preferably, the perforation lines are applied to both the front 7 and back 9 of the mailer (see Figure 3) so that when the tab portions 3 on the front 7 and back 9 plies are removed a section of the insert 8 extends beyond the remainder of the envelope.

The conventional run perforation wheel applies perforations to the front and back plies before collation and/or in a manner which is unrelated to the length of the ply, depending on the wheel diameter, which may result in the ties between each perforation slit or cut not lining up when the plies are overlaid. In contrast, the die on the rotating cylinder is related to the length of the ply, such that sprocket pins which hold the plies together by the margin sprocket holes automatically line up the ties and cuts slits exactly, which makes the tear-off portion considerably easier to separate from the mailer, especially in multiple ply mailers.

The ties and cuts on the insert side perforation may be aligned with those on the front and back plies by engaging a rotating die plate in which the thumb notch perforation is replaced with a continuous straight perforation with a similar number of cuts per inch and similar tie lengths prior to collating the various plies. The alignment of the ties and cuts of the perforations throughout the various plies of the mailer assists opening.

The mailer shown in Figures 2 shows a tab portion 3 which is substantially rectangular in shape with a semi-circular thumb notch.

The mailer of the present invention may comprise a tab of such a shape, but the use of rotary die cutting technology facilitates the application of a wide variety of shaped perforation lines, so that tabs of almost any desired shape may be incorporated into the mailer (see for example Figures 4 and 5). For example, a shape suggesting the edge of a cloud with a cloud depicted on the tear-off margin portion may be used (See Figure 6).

Claims

1. A method of producing a multiple ply envelope construction or 5 mailer including an insert sheet accessible by removing a tear-off portion from at least one side or face of the construction, wherein the tear-off portion is defined by a contiguous strip and/or tab arrangement delimited by a continuous perforation or line of weakness, comprising the step of applying the said perforation or line of weakness by means of rotary die cutting apparatus in a single step.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the rotary die cutting 15 apparatus comprises a die mounted and positioned on a rotatable magnetic cylinder.

3. A method according to claim 1 wherein the rotary die cutting apparatus comprises a complementary pair of rotary shear 20 cylinders.

4. A method according to claims 2 or 3 wherein the circumference of the rotary die cutting cylinder is a multiple of the length of the envelope construction, whereby ties and cuts defining the said 25 perforation in the plies are in alignment.

5. A method of producing a multiple ply envelope construction or mailer, substantially as described herein. 30

6. A multiple ply envelope construction or mailer, whenever produced by a method according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

7. A multiple ply envelope construction or mailer, substantially as described herein, with reference to, and as shown in, any of Figures 2 to 6 of the accompanying drawings.

8. A multiple ply envelope construction or mailer including an 5 insert sheet accessible by removing a tear-off portion from at least one side or face of the construction, wherein the tear-off portion is defined by a contiguous strip and/or tab arrangement delimited by a continuous perforation in which the ties and cuts defining said perforation in the plies are in alignment.