US3658240A - Gift wrapper - Google Patents

Abstract

A gift wrapper which is preformed so that it can be immediately used for gift wrapping a given article. The gift wrapper includes an elongated sleeve of flexible sheet material having a size and configuration conforming to that of an article which is to be gift wrapped. Therefore, all that is required is for the article to be slipped into the sleeve which then can be closed at its ends to complete the gift wrapping.

Description

[451 Apr. 25, 1972 United States Patent Stoll GIFT WRAPPER [72] Inventor:

M t e g r e m u C [22] Filed:

Primary Examiner-Joseph R. Leclair Assistant Examiner- Steven E. Lipman [21] Appl. No.:

Attorney-Blum, Moscovitz, Friedman & Kaplan 1y used for gift wrapping a given article. The gift wrapper includes an elongated sleeve of flexible sheet material having a size and configuration conforming to that of an article which is UNITED STATES PATENTS to be gift wrapped. Therefore, all that is required is for the article to be slipped into the sleeve which then can be closed at a r u b F 2. g .m .m p p w a r. I D w 5 m s be e l l 6 C M 5 p m 0 C O t S d n. e s t. .1 FEAR mm 8 WWW 222 21 n "S L 1 5k uom MVS 360 453 999 111 //l 22 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to gift wrapping. In particular, the present invention relates to the gift wrapping of articles such as rectangular boxes or the like which may contain any desired merchandise.

At the present time considerable inconvenience is involved in carrying out gift wrapping operations. For example, it is therein. All of the operations involved in connection with this conventional gift wrapping of an article result in considerable inconvenience and considerable labor costs.

Attempts have already been made to alleviate these conditions by providing preformed gift wrappings. However, these preformed wrappings are all made of a size larger than the articles which are to be gift wrapped so that the articles are initially placed within wrappings which extend loosely around the articles. Therefore, even with these attempted solutions to the problem it is necessary to shape the wrapping to the article so as to conform to the configuration and size of the latter, and this again involves considerable inconvenience since part of the wrapping must be pleated and folded in order to take up the excess amount of wrapping material. Not only do these latter operations involve a waste of wrapping material and considerable inconvenience as well as extra labor, but in addition the appearance of the final gift wrapping is in no way enhanced by such features.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is accordingly a primary object of the present invention to provide a gift wrapping which will avoid the above drawbacks.

In particular, it is an object of the invention to providea gift wrapping which can be quickly and conveniently placed around an article which is to be gift wrapped while avoiding all the waste and inconveniences of the known gift wrappings.

In addition it is an object of the invention topiovidea. gift wrapping which will protect the article which isgiftrwrapped against injury.

Also, it is an object of the invention to provide a preformed gift wrapping which before it is used occupies an-extremely small amount of space enabling a large number of the wrappings to be stacked one upon the other.

At the same time, it is an object of the invention to provide relatively inexpensive gift wrappings which can "be easily manufactured at minimum costs.

The gift wrapping of the invention includes'an elongated sleeve of flexible sheet material having a size and configuration which conforms to that of the article which is to be gift wrapped. Thus, with this construction it is only required to slip the article into the sleeve which then can be closed at its ends in order to complete the gift wrapping.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accom- I panying drawings which form part of this application and in which:

FIG.'l illustrates a blank from which the gift wrapper of the invention is formed;

FIG. 2 illustrates the gift wrapper of the invention in acon- 5-5 of FIG.'2 in the direction of the arrows and showing the structure. at a scale which is considerably enlarged as compared to FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings, the gift wrapper 10 of the invention is formed from a blank 12 of a sheet material which in the illustrated example is a rectangular piece of gift wrapping paper having the configuration shown in FIG. I. This gift wrapping paper 12 is provided with transversely extending score lines 14 so that it can be conveniently folded along these lines. Also, at its end 16 the sheet material 12 is provided with a coating 18 of a pressure-sensitive adhesive. Thus, it will be seen that two pairs of score lines 14 are provided, and the end regions of spaces between the pairs of score lines 14 are delimited by the dot-dash lines 20 shown in FIG. 1. These lines thus provide areas 22 at the ends of the spaces between the pairs of fold lines 14, and these areas 22 are adapted to receive reinforcements 24, the size of which correspond to the size of the areas 22. These reinforcements 24 are simply in the form of pieces of cardboard which are glued or otherwise adhered to the inner surface of the wrapping which is visible in FIG. 1, so that the reinforcements 24 will simply cover the areas 22 shown in FIG. 1.

After the cardboard reinforcements 24 are thus glued or otherwise adhered to the sheet material 12, this sheet material, paper in the illustrated example, is folded, for example, first along the left score line 14 of FIG. 1 and then along the second score line 14 from the right in FIG. I so that the pressure-sensitive adhesive 18 will extend over and engage the exterior surface of the left end of the paper 12, as viewed in FIG. 1 where this exterior surface is not visible. In this way an elongated sleeve 26 will form the wrapper 10 shown in FIG. 2. In the flattened condition of FIG. 2 a large number of the wrappers 10 can be stacked one upon the other.

The particular wrapper 10 shown in the drawings is designed to wrap an article 28. This article is in the form of a rectangular box which may contain any desired merchandise. In order to wrap the article 28 the wrapper is first placed in the condition shown in FIG. 3 where the spaces between the pairs of score lines 14 extend vertically. Thus, the width of these spaces corresponds to the depth of the article 28. The distance between the inner two score lines 14 of FIG. 1 corresponds to the width of the article 28, and of course in the completed sleeve 10 of the invention when the sleeve is set up to have the condition shown in FIG. 3 the distance between the outer score lines will provide the sleeve with the illustrated top wall '30 also corresponding to the width of the article 28. However,

the length of the gift wrapper sleeve 10 of the invention is greater than that of the article 28. The distance between a pair of cardboard reinforcements 24 respectively at the opposed ends of the wrapper. 10 corresponds to the length of the article 28 Therefore,.all that is required, as shown in FIG. 3, is to set the flat sleeve .of FIG. 2 up into the open tubular condition shown in FIG. 3, whereupon the article 28 need only be 5- slipped into the gift wrapper sleeve 10 in the direction of the .arrow 32 shown in FIG. 3. The article 28 is readily and easily slipped into the interior of the sleeve 10 and is situated midway between the ends thereof with the reinforcements 24 projecting beyond the article 28 at the opposed ends of the latter. Then the portions of the wrapper which carry the reinforcements 24 are folded inwardly against the opposed ends of the article 28, whereupon the upper and lower walls of the sleeve are folded against the ends of the article to close the ends of the sleeve and thus complete the gift wrapping as by placing a transparent adhesive tape over the folded ends of the wrapper. FIG. 5 illustrates how the flat wrapper of FIG. 2 has the reinforcements24 located therein. The right reinforcement 24 of FIG. 5 is adhered to the top wall of the wrapper of FIG. 5

while the left reinforcement 24 of FIG. 5 is adhered to the bottom wall of the wrapper of FIG. 5. Thus, the reinforcements 24 of FIG. 5 will be swung in a clockwise direction about their right edges when setting the wrapper up to assume the conditionillustrated in FIG. 3.

It is apparent that with this simple and inexpensive gift 5 wrapping of the invention an article ,28 can be rapidly and conveniently gift wrapped with a minimum of manipulations. Moreover, when the wrappings initially have the configuration shown in FIGS. 2 and 5 they may be conveniently stacked one upon the other, occupying a minimum amount of space.

What is claimed is:

1. As a new article of commerce, a gift wrapper for use with parallelepiped-shaped articles having a pair of spaced endwalls and two pairs of facing substantially parallel side walls connecting said endwalls, comprising an elongated, prefabricated sleeve of flexible non-self-supporting sheet material, said sleeve having a length as measured along its longitudinal axis greater than the distance between said article endwalls, and having a perimeter dimensioned to extend about and receive the perimeter of said article defined by said two pairs of side walls so that said article may be inserted into said sleeve for covering thereby; and a pair of reinforcing sheets dimensioned to correspond in width to the width of one of said pair of opposed sides of said article as measured along a line defined in said reinforcing sheets by a plane passing therethrough, said plane extending substantially perpendicular to said longitudinal axis, said reinforcing sheets being secured in the interior of said sleeve at spaced positions selected for registration with said one pair of sides of said article when said article is received in said sleeve, said sleeve being scored to facilitate placing the sleeve in a condition conforming to the configuration of said article, while permitting said sleeve to be folded flat for storage, said reinforcing sheets supporting portions of said sleeve in its open position to permit insertion of said article therein.

2. A gift wrapper as recited in claim 1 and wherein said sheet material is paper.

3. A gift wrapper as recited -in claim 2, and wherein said reinforcing sheets are formed from cardboard.

4. A wrapper as recited in claim 1 and wherein said sleeve consists of a blank of said sheet material having opposed end regions overlapping and adhering to each other.

5. The wrapper of claim 1 and wherein at its opposed ends which extend beyond the article the sleeve fixedly carries in its interior at its regions conforming to the depth of the article reinforcements having a size corresponding to the depth of the article and adapted to be folded with portions of the sleeve which carry the reinforcements against opposed sides of the article when the latter is positioned within the sleeve substantially midway between the ends thereof.

Claims (5)

1. As a new article of commerce, a gift wrapper for use with parallelepiped-shaped articles having a pair of spaced endwalls and two pairs of facing substantially parallel side walls connecting said endwalls, comprising an elongated, pre-fabricated sleeve of flexible non-self-supporting sheet material, said sleeve having a length as measured along its longitudinal axis greater than the distance between said article endwalls, and having a perimeter dimensioned to extend about and receive the perimeter of said article defined by said two pairs of side walls so that said article may be inserted into said sleeve for covering thereby; and a pair of reinforcing sheets dimensioned to correspond in width to the width of one of said pair of opposed sides of said article as measured along a line defined in said reinforcing sheets by a plane passing therethrough, said plane extending substantially perpendicular to said longitudinal axis, said reinforcing sheets being secured in the interior of said sleeve at spaced positions selected for registration with said one pair of sides of said article when said article is received in said sleeve, said sleeve being scored to facilitate placing the sleeve in a condition conforming to the configuration of said article, while permitting said sleeve to be folded flat for storage, said reinforcing sheets supporting portions of said sleeve in its open position to permit insertion of said article therein.

2. A gift wrapper as recited in claim 1 and wherein said sheet material is paper.

3. A gift wrapper as recited in claim 2, and wherein said reinforcing sheets are formed from cardboard.

4. A wrapper as recited in claim 1 and wherein said sleeve consists of a blank of said sheet material having opposed end regions overlapping and adhering to each other.

5. The wrapper of claim 1 and wherein at its opposed ends which extend beyond the article the sleeve fixedly carries in its interior at its regions conforming to the depth of the article reinforcements having a size corresponding to the depth of the article and adapted to be folded with portions of the sleeve which carry the reinforcements against opposed sides of the article when the latter is positioned within the sleeve substantially midway between the ends thereof.

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