US3297341A

US3297341A - Book protector

Info

Publication number: US3297341A
Application number: US390537A
Authority: US
Inventors: Reed Stanley Foster; Fred P Andrews
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1964-08-19
Filing date: 1964-08-19
Publication date: 1967-01-10
Anticipated expiration: 1984-01-10

Description

' Jan. 10, 1967 s. F. REED ETAL BOOK PROTECTOR 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 19, 1964 nvvewrons STANLEY FOSTER REED FREDERICK e ANDREWS B) 42 4f ATTORNEY Jan. 10, 1967 s. F. REED ETAL BOOK PROTECTOR 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 19, 1964 Jan. 10, 1967 Filed Aug.' 19, 1964 S. F. REED ETAL BOOK PROTECTOR 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Iva Jan. 10, 1967 s. F REED ETAL BOOK PROTECTOR 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Aug. 19, 1964 mmii\iii\iiiiiiiiwi"" FIG/0 United States Patent 3,297,341 A BOOK PROTECTOR Stanley Foster Reed, 4005 Brookside, McLean, Va. 22101, and Fred P. Andrews, 2924 McKinley St. NW., Washington, D.C. 20015 Filed Aug. 19, 1964, Ser. No. 390,537 2 Claims. (Cl. 28134) This invention relates to book protectors. More particularly, this invention relates to a book cover protector formed from a sheet or sheets of suitable pliable and foldable material, such as plastic, paper treated or untreated.

In the last twenty-five years there has been an everincreasing outpouring of soft-cover books, also known as paper backed books, of a handy size. These books by their very nature are relatively inexpensive. When these soft-cover books first came on the market, they represented titles which already had made a splash as hard cover books; so for the most part they were reprints. Due to the tremendous increase in the costs attendant the printing and binding of hard cover books which are reflected in the high costs of books, the softcover book has become exceedingly popular by reason of its lower cost and handy convenient form. As a matter of fact many new titles are now first printed in the soft-cover form prior to hard-cover printing, if in fact it is printed in hard form at all.

In other words, at the present time, the soft cover book, also known as paper-backed or pocket book is becoming more and more popular and publishers are printing not only current fiction in this manner but also famous works, technical books and the like which the buyer will tend to retain and possibly place with his hard-cover books or standard bound books.

While the printing of these soft-cover books are usually of excellent quality, the covers in many cases do not lend themselves to incorporation in a permanent book collection, both from the point of appearance and resistance to handling.

The present invention recognizes this problem and aims to providea book cover protector that is adapted to be quickly and easily mounted on a standard paper-backed book and which will give a book of this nature an appearance and quality approaching those of a standard bound volume.

Accordingly, one embodiment of the invention comprises a book cover protector adapted for use in covering books of varying sizes which consists of an outer cover of suitable flexible material which can be adjusted to suit books of varying thicknesses also provide additional reinforcement. It will be appreciated that the cover of the present invention may be applied not only to soft-cover books but also in covering hard cover books. By applying the book protector of the present invention to hard cover books it is possible to repair, renovate and preserve such books. The protector also fills the low cost function of covering magazines, trade and technical periodicals. In a modification of the invention techniques are employed which produce a square book, meaning that the edges of the covers project beyond the edges of the pages as opposed to a book where the covers are flush with respect to the edges of the pages. More about the techniques will be set forth supra.

In particular, the invention sets forth a flexible substantially rectangular shaped, self-supporting web material having adhesive on one surface thereof. The adhesive can be applied as needed or can be previously applied heat sealable or pressure sensitive adhesive material. When employing pressure sensitive adhesive it is necessary to protect the pressure sensitive adhesive surface with a peelable protective sheet. The sheet is suit- 3,297,341 Patented Jan. 10, 1967 ably kiss die cut so that sections thereof may be removed from the web. Indicia is printed on the sheet as guide lines for cuts and folds as hereinafter illustrated. After suitable cutting and folding the book cover is encompassed with the web and is secured thereto by suitable adhesive. In a preferred embodiment, the inside of the book cover is given further security by adhesively applying an inner sheet of suitable material to each inner side of the book cover. This sheet is of a size so that a small portion of the first page of the book along the binding is also covered by the applied sheet.

Having thus generally described the nature of the invention, particular reference will be made to the accompanying drawings illustrating the invention, and in which:

FIGURE '1 is a plan view of the sheet as manufactured and before being .cut and folded, but indicating the cutting lines and fold lines.

FIGURE 1A is a fragmentary portion of another embodiment of the sheet.

FIGURE .2 is a perspective view of the flattened blank from which the protector is made, with a book, to which the blank is to be fitted, in place, and showing the first step of fitting the blank of the book.

FIGURE 3 is a similar perspective view with the book in a horizontal position to show the second step.

FIGURE 4 is a plan view of the cut protector.

FIGURE 5 is a plan view showing the first sections of the peelable sheet being removed.

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view showing the positioning of the book as the second sections of the peelable sheet is removed.

FIGURE 7 is an exploded perspective view showing the inner cover after application of the protector and inside liner.

FIGURE 8 is a cross-sectional view of one side of the cover, protector and liner.

FIGURE 9 is a perspective of a square book having a protector in place.

FIGURE 10 is illustrative of unusual effects that may be given in utilizing the protectors of the present invention.

In the drawings, wherein for the purpose of illustration is shown a preferred embodiment of the invention and wherein similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, the numeral 10 designates, generally, a book and the numeral 11 the novel protector cover therefor.

Prior to covering the book 10 it is preferred to make a score line along the upper surface of the back of the covers along the bound edge thereof indented approximately one-eighth to one-fourth of an inch. After the book has been covered the score lines act as hinges and in effect relieve stress from the spine of the book when the covers are flexed. Additionally, the score lines tend to inhibit What is known as flying covers, that is, covers which are spaced away from the leaves of the book due to flexing the covers of the paper backed book and because of the relative light weight character of the cover.

Now, turning to the drawings for a more detailed consideration of one embodiment of the invention, attention is directed to FIG. 1. The book protector, indicated, generally, as 11, of the present invention comprises a self-supporting flexible web which may be suitably grained and colored to give a pleasing appearance. The web may be .plastic film, either opaque or trans parent, paper and especially of latex impregnated heavy kraft paper with or without an additional resinous coating, such as pyroxylin. The web can be of suitably tanned animal skins and textiles of the woven and nonwoven type. The surface of the web can be given conventional flock treatment. In this embodiment, on one surface of the sheet a pressure-sensitive adhesive is applied in a conventional manner. In order to provide protection of the pressure-sensitive material a peelable protective sheet 9 is secured thereto. The peelable sheet may be made of paper. It is pointed out that this peelable sheet has suitable indicia printed thereon to assist in determining the places for cutting and for folding. By means of FIG. 1, a clear view of the peelable paper sheet is obtained showing the indicia thereon. In other words, the plan view shows a rectangularly shaped laminated material which has a size sufficiently large to accommodate most of the paper-backed books usually sold. However, since these books do vary in size, suitable provision has been made by means of the printed indicia employing solid lines for cutting purposes and broken lines as fold guide lines. For instance, by positioning the book 10 as shown in FIG. 2, outline marks are made along appropriate lines 20 as indicated by scribing means 14 to account for the width of the book. After the marks have been made to outline the width of the book, cuts are made from the top and bottom edges of the protector along the selected lines 20 coincidin with the outline marks to said outline marks. Then cuts are made from points 22 to the outline marks. It will be seen that the cuts along lines 20 and from points 22 will result in four V-shaped cuts to provide tabs J and L.

Then the book 10 is laid on one of its sides as in FIG. 3 to mark off the corners as indicated. It is then turned to the other side and two additional corners are marked off. These outline marks, when made, will be somewhere, for instance, along line 15 at each of the four corners, but specifically shown by an asterisk (for illustrative purposes) in the upper right hand corner of FIG. 1. After a mark has been made in all four corners a portion of the protector is cut out along suitable solid lines 17 and 19. The cutting lines are selected to intersect at the asterisk placed along line 15.

The result of cutting the book protector in accordance with the outline marks can be seen from FIG. 4 where the four corners have been conformed and V-shaped cuts have been made to account for the spine of the book.

In FIG. 1 the broken lines 24, 26 and 27 are selective fold lines as are the other broken lines in the figure.

The fold lines selected depend upon the positioning of the cuts so that if one were to draw an imaginary line from all of the confluences of each of the double cuts at the corners along the top, bottom and sides a rectangle would result which would have the outer dimensions of the

book cover parts

12 and 13.

In FIG. 4

broken lines

30, 31 and 32 are kiss die cuts in the peelable sheet 9 to provide weakened perforated lines. These lines have not been shown in FIG. 1 in order to avoid obscuring the printed indicia.

The peelable sheet 9 is removed from the book cover protector in sections through operation of the kiss die cuts. It will be appreciated that the kiss die cuts as shown is an important feature of the present invention and lends itself to more easily position the book and to cover same during the operation of applying the book cover protector to a book.

Attention is directed to FIG. which clearly shows removing the left central portion A in order to expose a portion of the pressure sensitive adhesive 34. As stated, the central panel A is easily removable due to the

perforations

30 and 31 of the kiss die cut operation. Once the left central panel has been removed, tab portions J and L are freed of the right A panel and are then folded over as shown in FIG. 6 where one tab L is shown in broken lines under book 10. Preferably the tabs J and L are folded over upon themselves several times or even rolled to provide a plurality of thickness, thereby providing an upper and lower reinforcement.

The book is then positioned as in FIG. 6 and the pressure-sensitive material 34 which has now become exposed adheres the protector to one-half of the spine portion of the book. Once this has been accomplished the upwardly extending book provides a good hold-down element so that the right central panel A can then be easily removed to expose yet additional pressure sensitive adhesive 34 on the protector so that the entire spine is now covered with the adhering protector. The reason for not removing greater portions of the panel at any one time is to prevent exposing too much of the pressure sensitive adhesive which has a tendency to curl the web. Additionally, it has been found to be much easier to smooth only small portions of the web at any one time.

Then left panel B is removed exposing additional adhesive surface of the protector. The book is turned to a horizontal position so that a portion of the outside surface of the book cover part 13 is in contact with the pressure sensitive adhesive and the protector adheres to this portion of the book cover part 13. Suitable smoothing operation in order to remove air blisters and wrinkles to secure the protector further is a wise operation to achieve good adhesion. Then, the right panel B is removed and the book is turned so that additional protector may be adhered to book cover part 12. Thereafter, a portion of left panel C is removed making available complete tabs K and D which are folded over book cover part .13. The rest of panel C is then removed and tab G is folded over book cover part 13. The sequence of steps is repeated with respect to book cover part 12 and right panels B and C. Then tabs E, F and finally I are folded over the book cover part 12 as shown in FIG. 7. It will be seen that tab E of FIG. 1 covers one upper edge portion, tab F covers the lower edge and tab I covers a side edge. The inner folds as shown in FIG. 7 due to the unique corner cutting achieved produce relatively smooth edges at the corners which proceed somewhat diagonally from the corners of the book cover part 12.

In order to complete the securement of the folded portions E, F and I as shown in FIG. 7, the folds are smoothed down to insure that the pressure-sensitive adhesive material firmly grasps the inside of the book cover part 12. Further, an inside liner 40 having approximately the rectangular dimensions of the book cover part 12, but sufiiciently larger to cover a small strip of an end page 29 along the binding edge, is laminated to the folds and inside of the book cover 12 by means of suitable adhesive material applied to the underside of the inside liner 40. The adhesive may also be pressure sensitive adhesive. The inside liner 40 may be of the same material as the book cover protector to provide yet further rigidity to the book, when it is a paperbacked book, or may be composed of light paper or cardboard. When of fairly stiff material the liner must be scored at the junction with the book. The liner 40 should be tucked into the joint as at 28 of FIG. 8.

FIG. 8 shows a cross sectional view of a portion of the book cover protector as applied to a paper backedbook cover. It will be seen that the protector 11 embraces the under portion of the book cover and then enfolds to cover a part of the inside of the book cover part 13. The inside liner 40 then secures the folded protector 11 and provides further rigidity and strength characteristics of a hard back book cover by picking up a portion of the end page 29.

In FIG. 1A an arrangement is provided which is utilized when the corners of the books are rounded. In other words in place of lines 17 and 19, guide line 40 for the cut lines are used. In the cutting operation, narrow V-shaped cut-outs are effected by cutting along lines 40. The resulting tabs M1, M2 and M3 are folded in sequence inwardly over the inner surface of the book.

It is also within the purview of the present invention to provide precut blanks for utilization to cover books of the same size, in this way it is unnecessary to provide outline marks and cuts. The adhesive in such cases may be applied just before utilization of the protector.

In the foregoing a general description of the invention has been set forth. However, it is contemplated that many modifications will come to mind within the purview of the invention. For instance, when a heat sealable adhesive is employed on the protector cover, the adhesive is not tacky at room temperature so that no peelable protection sheet need be employed. The protector covers can be mass cut for utilization in covering books of the same size on an assembly line basis. Suitable heating irons may be employed to tackify the adhesive to secure the protector cover to the book cover. It has been found to be unnecessary to secure the protector cover to the spine of the book; the previously mentioned scoring technique along With no adhesion of the protector cover to the spine of the book insures that little stress is placed on the spine of the book.

In another modification, a head and tail band can be secured to the outside of the book prior to the application of the cover. On the other hand the head and tail band can be applied over the folded or rolled tabs I and L prior to utilization of the protector cover. Suitable adhesive is employed to secure the head and tail bands.

It will be appreciated that as far as soft-cover books are concerned, the books offer perfect binding, that is, do not possess a square edge as defined in the above. In the foregoing, primary concern was with merely setting forth the fact that the tabs E, F, I, D, K and G were folded over the edges of

cover parts

12 and 13. A folding step carried out to tightly follow the contours of the edges of

cover parts

12 and 13 produces more or less a flush surface with respect to the edges of the book cover and pages. On the other hand by grossly folding, that is, by moving the fold line away from the edges of the cover there results a double folded extension thereby providing a book cover which extends beyond the edges of the pages. The result is closely akin to a hard cover book.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention a square edge and a finger grip is provided. Attention is directed to FIG. 9 where a book is shown which has already been covered by any of the methods set forth in the foregoing. However, it will be seen that along the free' edges of the pages they have been planed or cut back to form a recess or set back except along the top section 42 and a similarly positioned bottom section (not shown). This small area provides a finger hold when removing the book 10 from a shelf.

In most instances the protector cover will be of an opaque material. Rather than print or write a title on the already covered book, an opening or window can be made in the protector cover to coincide with the title printed on the book. This opening can be along the spine or front of the protector cover.

To provide multi-colored effects, a central portion of one colored protector may be combined with two outer portions of one or more other protector covers having different colors. Attention is directed to FIG. 10 which illustrates techniques applicable to producing a multicolored protector. Prior to removing the peelable sheets 9 of two differently colored protectors they cut along lines 31, that is along the kiss die cuts. The central portions are applied to each of two books. Then difierent colored protectors are used to cover the rest of the book covers. The general effect of the operation is shown in FIG. 10, having the pleasing appearance of a quarter bound .book. By cutting up the protectors of the present invention other modifications can be made resulting in, for instance, half bound books, etc.

In providing for the multi-colored effects as outlined in the preceding paragraph, it will be appreciated that the invention as set forth herein also includes the concept that the materials from which the covering material is fabricated may also differ.

The present invention must also include covering materials not yet presently developed inasmuch as the invention resides primarily as set forth herein above rather than in the specific materials used in fabricating a cover.

It will be recalled that the peelable sheet contains kiss die cuts for easy removing of strips as desired and as set forth in the above. While kiss die cuts are preferable, that is not to say that the present invention does not include other means for achieving weakened tear lines such as scoring and the like.

Many adhesives may be utilized in affixing the cover to the book. It is entirely possible to utilize means for applying an adhesive just prior to application of the cover to the book. In other words, a multiplicity of covers may be cut by means of suitable dies in order to cover a multipilicity of books having identical dimensions. In other words, the present invention may be easily set up for assembly line production so that the peelable sheet may be avoided.

It has been found that greater rigidity can be provided by employing stiffening boards which are applied to the outside of the

book cover parts

12 and 13 prior to covering with the protector cover.

It will be observed that many changes modifica tions of the several features described herein may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is therefore apparent that the foregoing description is by Way of illustration of the invention rather than limitation of the invention.

What is claimed is: v

1. A book cover protector comprising a self=supporting flexible web having ends, a top and a bottom; said web being coated with adhesive; a peelable protecting cover positioned over said adhesive coating; said peelable cover having spaced weakened tear lines across the width of the cover defining specific portions of the peelable protecting cover to be sequentially removed; each of the corners having cut-outs along lines which make a small angle with an imaginary perpendicular line with respect to each end, top and bottom and the cut-outs defining obtuse angles; substantially mid-way between the ends, the top and bottom each having two spaced V-shaped cutouts thereby producing tabs.

2. A book cover protector comprising a self-supporting flexible web having ends, a top and a bottom; said web being coated with adhesive; a peelable protecting cover positioned over said adhesive coating; said peelable cover having spaced weakened tear lines defining specific portions of the peelable protecting cover to be sequentially removed; each of the corners having a plurality of small angle V-shaped cut-outs thereby producing a plurality of a first set of tabs; substantially mid-way between the ends, the top and bottom of each having two spaced V-shaped cut-outs thereby producing a second set of tabs; and a third set of tabs between each of the first set and second set of tabs.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 210,711 12/1878 Reynolds 28134 560,323 5/1896 Norton 281-15 X 1,284,896 11/1918 Holden et a1. 281-34 1,354,354 9/1920 Toland 281-34 1,618,733 2/ 1927 Shar-rard 28 l-34 2,057,986 10/1936 Walraven 28134 2,145,098 1/1939 Sharp 281-34 2,145,099 1/1939 Sharp 28134 3,080,178 3/1963 Brody 28134 3,133,750 5/1964 Gerald 281-34 3,222,085 12/1965 Young 281-34 LAWRENCE CHARLES, Primary Examiner;

Claims

1. A BOOK COVER PROTECTOR COMPRISING A SELF-SUPPORTING FLEXIBLE WEB HAVING ENDS, A TOP AND A BOTTOM; SAID WEB BEING COATED WITH ADHESIVE; A PEELABLE PROTECTING COVER POSITIONED OVER SAID ADHESIVE COATING; SAID PEELABLE COVER HAVING SPACED WEAKENED TEAR LINES ACROSS THE WIDTH OF THE COVER DEFINING SPECIFIC PORTIONS OF THE PEELABLE PROTECTING COVER TO BE SEQUENTIALLY REMOVED; EACH OF THE CORNERS HAVING CUT-OUTS ALONG LINES WHICH MAKE A SMALL ANGLE WITH AN IMAGINARY PERPENDICULAR LINE WITH RESPECT TO EACH END, TOP AND BOTTOM AND THE CUT-OUTS DEFINING OBTUSE ANGLES; SUBSTANTIALLY MID-WAY BETWEEN THE ENDS, THE TOP AND BOTTOM EACH HAVING TWO SPACED V-SHAPED CUTOUTS THEREBY PRODUCING TABS.