NZ504999A - Printed sheet foldable into an envelope for securing information - Google Patents

Abstract

A second sheet 13, with fold and tear lines, is stuck, though removably, to the adhesive-coated rear side 12 of a first sheet 11. Portions of the second sheet can be removed to expose the adhesive on the rear face of the first sheet, and the sheet assembly can be folded along the fold lines and formed into an envelope.

Description

PATENTS FORM NO. 5 Patents Act 1953 No AU - PQ0430, Date: 18th May, 1999 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION ENVELOPE WE, Moore Business Systems Australia Limited, an Australian company (ACN 008 430 662) of Level 2, 810 Whitehouse Road, Box Hill. Victoria 3128. Australia, hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: 1 ENVELOPE The present invention relates to a printable sheet assembly which can be folded and adhered to itself to form an envelope or other similar container, which in at least one preferred embodiment, may be substantially sealed for securing 5 information printed on inner surface regions of the envelope or container.

United States Patent Specification Nos. 5,370,304, 5,360,160, 5,360,159, 5,193,850, 5,174,491, 4,638,940, 4,706,877, 4,809,906, 4,896,823, 5,201,464 and 5,294,041 all disclose forms of single web sheets which are configured with fold lines, perforation or separation lines and adhesive lines or patterns in 10 particular configurations that allow envelopes of various styles to be produced. Several of these disclosures demonstrate how a secure envelope can be produced which may be relatively easily opened, but when opened, it is evident that this has occurred. The adhesive of the adhesive lines or patterns used in these disclosures are typically dry to touch such that they will not damage printing 15 equipment when they are passed through same and moreover, they will not themselves be damaged when passing through printing equipment including non impact printing equipment such as laser printers now commonly in use in office environments. The adhesive materials used, however, have been heat activated or pressure activated of the type requiring more than manual touch pressure, thus 20 requiring specific machinery to effect the folding and sealing of the envelopes produced. While these arrangements have been commonly in use and work quite satisfactorily, they do have the disadvantage of requiring reasonably high capital cost for the machinery required to fold and seal the envelopes. They therefore have had less acceptance in small business environments. Australian Petty 25 Patent No. 690062 discloses another foldable single web sheet arrangement capable of being formed into an envelope but which does not require machinery to effect the folding and sealing of the envelopes. In this case, the adhesive lines are covered by a removable liner strip when they are passed through printing equipment with the liner strips being removed when the sheet is folded and 30 formed manually into an envelope. Arrangements of the type disclosed in Australian Patent No. 690062 work quite satisfactorily, however, the required manufacturing methods for locating the adhesive lines and covering same with 2 removable liner strips is relatively expensive. The objective therefore of the present invention is to provide a relatively inexpensive printable sheet assembly which may be folded and adhered to itself manually to form an envelope or other similar container, which in at least one preferred form, may be substantially 5 sealed for securing information printed on inner surface regions of the envelope or container.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a printable sheet assembly formed from a first sheet with an adhesive covering a rear face thereof and a second sheet adhered to said adhesive covering the rear face of said first sheet 10 but being releasable therefrom, the second sheet having an outer face which is printable, at least on regions thereof, and being cut at least partially along separation lines in a predefined pattern to allow a portion or portions of said second sheet to be selectably removed to expose the adhesive on the rear face of said first sheet, said printable sheet assembly further including a plurality of fold 15 and/or severing lines enabling said sheet assembly to be folded and formed into an envelope. Preferably, the first and second sheets of the assembly are initially formed as label stock whereby a relatively cheap starting assembly is possible.

Preferably, the separation lines are die cut through the second sheet in said predefined pattern. Conveniently, when formed, the envelope includes a 20 substantially sealed zone whereby printed material can be placed on inner surfaces thereof. By "sealed zone" what is meant is that the zone is sufficiently sealed to prevent access to the printed material unless the envelope is at least partially broken into, that is, any tampering is externally evident. The word "envelope" used throughout this specification is intended to identify any container, 25 wrapper or similar arrangement.

Conveniently the sheet assembly of the present invention may include at least one fold line and several said severing lines, each said severing line including frangible means capable of being broken to separate one region of the sheet assembly from another. In another possible arrangement at least some of 30 the severing lines may also act as a said fold line. Conveniently, the sheet assembly has a single transverse said fold line so as to V-fold said assembly about said transverse fold line to form said envelope. Alternatively, the sheet 3 assembly may have two spaced transverse said fold lines so as to enable to assembly to be C-folded or Z-folded about said fold lines.

Preferably, the printable sheet assembly is configured such that a said severing line is located inwardly relative to at least some of the separation lines 5 formed in said second sheet. Such severing lines are conveniently positioned so as to readily and easily open the envelope when it is intended to do so. In one preferred arrangement a U-shaped adhesive strip is formed when the portion or portions of the second sheet is/are selectably removed. In another preferred arrangement a plurality of U-shaped adhesive strips are formed when the portion 10 or portions of the second sheet is/are selectably removed. Conveniently, a said severing line extends longitudinally of the sheet assembly between adjacent said U-shaped adhesive strips. The U-shaped strip or strips may be either continuous or discontinuous and moreover, may be defined after the envelope is formed by separate strips of adhesive on opposite sides of a said fold line.

Several preferred embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which :- Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of a first possible embodiment; Figure 1a is a partial perspective view of a corner region of Figure 1 with one sheet lifted to illustrate the construction of the printable sheet assembly; and 20 Figures 2 and 3 are views similar to Figure 1 showing possible alternative arrangements.

Referring now to Figures 1 and 1a, the printable sheet assembly 10, may for example be label stock initially, with a first sheet 11 coated on its rear or inner face 12 with an adhesive material and a second sheet 13 having a rear or inner 25 face 14 which adheres to the adhesive material but is releasable therefrom when desired. The second sheet 13 includes a number of die cut separation lines 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 to allow portions 20, 21, and 22 of the second sheet to be manually removed when desired. Alternatively these die cut separation lines may be a continuous line such that one U-shaped strip of the second sheet may be 30 manually removed. A pair of spaced transverse fold lines 23, 24 are provided to allow the sheet assembly to be folded thereabout either to form a C-folded shape or a Z-folded shape. The fold line 23, however, separates two opposed panel 4 faces 25 and 26 which will become "secure" sealed faces carrying printed material when the envelope is formed. The third panel face 27 is potentially a free or accessible face carrying non-sensitive printed material as may be desired. Alternatively, this panel face 27 may be secured, at least partially, by forming a 5 die cut line 28 and removing the strip portion 29 of the second sheet 13 to expose an adhesive material edge strip. If desired, edge strip portions 30, 31 might also be made removable by providing additional die cut lines such that a U-shaped strip of adhesive material is revealed when the edge strip portions are removed, either as individual strip sections or as a complete U-shaped strip. In such a case 10 the envelope might first be formed by removing the edge strip portions of the second sheet 13 and folding panel face 25 about the fold line 23 to adhere the exposed adhesive material zones to the second sheet 13. Similarly the panel face 27 may be folded about the fold line 24 with the exposed adhesive strips being adhered to the opposite face to the panel face 25, to the exposed face of 15 sheet 12.

A number of severing lines 32, 33, 34 and 35 are provided which may be formed as lines of perforations leaving frangible parts which may be broken by a person who wishes to open the envelope. The perforations conveniently extend through both sheets 12, 13 and are located adjacent to but inwardly of the die cut 20 separation lines 16, 17, 18 and 28. It should of course be appreciated that in an alternative arrangement, the upper edge of the sheet assembly 10 may be at or adjacent the fold line 24 whereby the panel face 27 simply is not provided.

Referring now to Figure 2, a further possible arrangement is provided which is similar in construction to the arrangement shown in Figure 1 whereby like 25 features have been given the same reference numerals. In this case, however, the fold lines 23, 24 of Figure 1 are replaced by perforation lines 36 and 37 which act both as a fold line and severing line if required. Again the portions of the sheet assembly above the severing line 37 may be removed to form a V-fold envelope if desired.

Referring now to Figure 3, a further possible variation of the arrangements shown in Figures 1 and 2 is illustrated. In this case a central severing line 38 is provided that allows the printable sheet assembly to be divided, when desired, into two parts, each of which is capable of forming a separate envelope. Relative 5 to Figure 2, the sheet assembly 10 includes die cut separation lines 39, 40, 41 and 42, 43, 44 to allow further strip portions 45, 46 of the second sheet 13 to be selectably removed. In this way it is possible to expose two adjacent U-shaped strips of adhesive material. In addition, two further severing lines 47, 48 are provided inwardly of the V-shaped formations but adjacent to the die cut lines 39 10 and 44. The sheet assembly may be separated into two parts along the line 38 either before or after forming of the envelopes. Again of course, the portions above the line 37 may be removed to allow a V-folded envelope to be produced.

It will of course be appreciated from the foregoing that the upper face (in the drawings) of the second sheet 13 needs to be printable, preferably by 15 commonly available printing equipment utilised in most small office environments. Similarly the lower or unseen (in the drawings) face of the first sheet 11 may also need to be capable of being printed, for example, when the assembly is used to produce an envelope which may need to be mailed or delivered and therefore require address details to be placed thereon. ' 6

Claims (15)

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A printable sheet assembly formed from a first sheet with an adhesive covering a rear face thereof and a second sheet adhered to said adhesive covering the rear face of said first sheet but being releasable therefrom, the second sheet having an outer face which is printable, at least on regions thereof, and being cut at least partially along separation lines in a predefined pattern to allow a portion or portions of said second sheet to be selectably removed to expose the adhesive on the rear face of said first sheet, said printable sheet assembly further including a plurality of fold and/or severing lines enabling said sheet assembly to be folded and formed into an envelope.

2. A printable sheet assembly according to Claim 1, wherein the first and second sheets of the assembly are formed as label stock.

3. A printable sheet assembly according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein said separation lines are die cut through said second sheet in said predefined pattern.

4. A printable sheet assembly according to any one of Claims 1 to 3, wherein the envelope includes a substantially sealed zone.

5. A printable sheet assembly according to any one of Claims 1 to 4, wherein the assembly includes at least one said fold line and several said severing lines, each said severing line including frangible means capable of being broken to separate one region of the sheet assembly from another.

6. A printable sheet assembly according to any one of Claims 1 to 4, wherein at least some of the severing lines also act as a said fold line. 7

7. A printable sheet assembly according to Claim 5 or Claim 6, wherein the assembly has a single transverse said fold line so as to V-fold said assembly about said transverse fold line to form said envelope.

8. A printable sheet assembly according to Claim 5 or Claim 6, wherein the assembly has two spaced transverse said fold lines so as to enable to assembly to be C-folded or Z-folded about said fold lines.

9. A printable sheet assembly according to any one of Claims 1 to 8, wherein a said severing line is located inwardly relative to at least some of the separation lines formed in said second sheet.

10. A printable sheet assembly according to any one of Claims 1 to 9, wherein a U-shaped adhesive strip is formed when the portion or portions of the second sheet is/are selectably removed.

11. A printable sheet assembly according to any one of Claims 1 to 9, wherein a plurality of U-shaped adhesive strips are formed when the portion or portions of the second sheet is/are selectably removed.

12. A printable sheet assembly according to Claim 11, wherein a said severing line extends longitudinally of the sheet assembly between adjacent said U-shaped adhesive strips.

13. A printable sheet assembly according to any one of Claims 10 to 12, wherein said U-shaped strip or strips is are continuous.

14. A printable sheet assembly according to any one of Claims 10 to 12, wherein said U-shaped strip or strips is or are discontinuous. 8

15. A printable sheet assembly according to Claim 13 or Claim 14, wherein said U-shaped strip or strips of adhesive are defined when the envelope is formed by separate strips of adhesive on opposite sides of said fold line. MOORE BUSINESS SYSTEMS AUSTRALIA LIMITED by their Patent Attorneys WATERMARK PATENT & TRADEMARK ATTORNEYS