US3759372A

US3759372A - Glueless envelope blank and pad thereof

Info

Publication number: US3759372A
Application number: US00131751A
Authority: US
Inventors: F Venema
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1971-04-06
Filing date: 1971-04-06
Publication date: 1973-09-18
Anticipated expiration: 1990-09-18

Abstract

A glueless envelope blank comprises a main body panel with side flaps along two opposite edges and two subsidiary panels along two other opposite edges; one of the subsidiary panels has slits therein for co-operation with mechanical interlocking means on another panel joined to one of the subsidiary panels. A pad of such envelope blanks can be formed by providing each blank with a readily separable attachment panel, the attachment panels of a pad of the blanks being fastened to one another and to a backing and facing sheet.

Description

United States Patent 1191 Venema I GLUELESS ENVELOPE BLANK AND PAD THEREOF [76] Inventor: Frank Venema, 479 Graycourt Drive, Ancaster, Ontario, Canada a [22] Filed: Apr. 6, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 131,751

52 Us. (:1 206/57 R, 229/84 229/875 51 Int. (:1 865d 82/08, B65d 27/22 [58] Field of Search 220/84, 87.5, 75; 206/57 R [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,042,488 10/1912 Shafferm, 229/84 x 2,803,338 8/1957 15111011 206/57 R 1,690,883 11/1928 Ziegler 220/87 A X 461,000 10/1891 Thacher.. 229/84 1,453,756 5/1923 Dewey 229/875 Sept. 18, 1973 2,520,449 8/1950 Allen 229/71 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 67,594 2/1914 Switzerland 229/875 Primary Examiner-Leonard Summer Attorney-Church & Rogers [57] ABSTRACT A glueless envelope blank comprises a main body panel with side flaps along two opposite edges and two subsidiary panels along two other opposite edges; one of the subsidiary panels has slits therein for co-operation with mechanical interlocking means on another panel joined to one of the subsidiary panels. A pad of such envelope blanks can be formed by providing each blank'with a readily separable attachment panel, the attachment panels of a pad of the blanks being fastened to one another and to a backing and facing sheet.

5 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEH SEP I 81973 1o- FIGZ 25 25 J -TL PATENT AGENTS INVENTOR. FRANK VENEMA GLUELESS ENVELOPE BLANK AND PAD THEREOF FIELD OF THE INVENTION REVIEW OF THE PRIOR ART Many different forms of envelope blank have been proposed hitherto to perform various specific purposes. An early example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Ser. No. 649,768, issued th May, 1900 to T.M. Sherriff having the form of an envelope with two closure flaps that are alternatively uppermost so that it can be used for two separate mailings; the resultant envelope does not provide positive retention of the contents (e.g. for heavy objects such as coins), and it is only intended to enclose written materials. U.S. Pat. Ser. No. 2,520,449, issued 29th Aug. 1950 to A. F. Allen shows a form of transparent enclosure envelope which is folded from a blank; the various side flaps of the blank are secured to the body panels by cement, and there is no provision for its functioning as a glueless envelope. U.S. Pat. Ser. No. 3,482,765, issued 9th Dec. 1969 and assigned to Postal Church Inc., shows various forms of contribution envelope blanks wherein the contents can be seen through apertures provided therein.

There are special problems involved in the provision of church envelopes intended for periodic contributions, in that they should be made as inexpensively as possible, and yet be able to retain coins safely. Another problem arises in the provision of a return envelope in an item such as a mailing catalogue; advantageously, it should be possible to incorporate such an envelope easily into the-catalogue during its assembly and binding. A glueless envelope will avoidthe problem of the blank adhering to an adjacent page. The general consumer would also appreciate an inexpensive envelope that could be stored in pad form.

DEFINITION OF THE INVENTION It is an-object of the presentinvention to provide a glueless envelope blank that can be folded to provide a secure envelope.

It is another object of the invention to provide a glueless envelope pad blank'such that a plurality thereof can readily be formed into a pad thereof.

In accordance with the present invention there is provided a glueless envelope blank comprising a main body panel forming one side of the resultant envelope and having joined thereto two oppositely-extending subsidiary body panels each foldable about a respective fold junction to be parallelto the main body panel, the main body panel also having joined thereto tow oppositely-extending side flaps foldable about a respective fold junction to be parallel to the main body panel so as to over-lay the respective edges ofa first-folded subsidiary panel and to be over-laid by the second-folded subsidiary panel, the subsidiary body panel constituting the said second-folded subsidiary panel having slits or slots therein and having joined thereto extending oppositely from the main panel a locking panel having two oppositely-extending side flaps foldable about respective fold junctions to embrace the respective edges of the body panels and the junctions of the side flaps with the main body panel and shaped to mechanically interlock in respective slits or slots inthe said second-folded subsidiary panel to oppose sideways opening movement of the side flaps as well as holding the panels in closed relationship.

An envelope pad blank may comprise an attachment panel joined to the envelope blank along a readily separable junction for detachment of theen velope-forming blank from the attachment panel. A plurality of such envelope pad blanks provided with attachment panels can be gathered into a pad and secured e.g. by staples, to suitable backing and facing sheets.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A glueless envelope blank in accordance with the invention comprises a main body panel 10 of rectangular shape and having joined thereto along its two shorter edges, by being integral therewith, two

oppositelyextending side flaps

11 and 12, the respective junctions l3 and14 between the main panel and the side flaps being scored for ease of subsequent folding. Each of the side flaps is somewhat tapered so that itdecreases in length as it extends away from its junction with the main body panel. The main body panel also has joined thereto along its two longer edges, by being integral therewith, two oppositely-extending first and second

subsidiary body panels

15 and 16, each having respective scored junctions 17 and .18 with the main panel edges. The subsidiary panel 16 is of slightly tapered form, decreasing in width away from its junction 18. The subsidiary panel 15 has joined! thereto, and extending oppositely from the main panel, a locking panel 19 foldable relatively to the panel 15 about a junction 20, the locking panel in turn having joined thereto tow oppositely-extending

side flaps

21 and 22 foldable about respective scored

fold junctions

23 and 24.

The panel 15 is provided adjacent its respective side edges with two parallel longitudinal slits 25, which cooperate-with the

side flaps

21 and 22 to constitute me chanical interlocking means for holding the envelope securely closed. Thus, in this particular embodiment the outer edge portions of the flaps 21. and 22 are of ment panel is joined to the envelope blank by being integral with the subsidiary body panel 16, being con nected thereto along a readily-separable junction 27, such as a perforated tear line, to permit ready detachment of the envelope-forming blank from its attachment panel. plurality of such envelope pad blanks are gathered into a pad provided with a stiff rectangular backing sheet 28 (e.g. of cardboard) of size and shape corresponding to that of the envelope pad blanks. The pad is also provided with a face sheet 29, which is of the same size as the backing sheet, but will generally be of thinner material. The pad of envelope blanks is thus enclosed between the facing and backing sheets with its edges protected.

It is a particular advantage of envelope blanks of the present invention that a pad thereof may be produced on conventional printing, cutting/scoring and padding machines such as are found in an average wellequipped printing shop, and do not require special envelope-making machines. For example, the envelope blanks are cut from rectangular sheets, the slits 25 being formed simultaneously therein. The various score lines l3, 14, 17, 18, 20, 23 and 24 may be formed simultaneously, or at some other station of the machine. The sheets may be preprinted with information required thereon, depending upon their particular application, such as a return address, a Church name, an account number, a date for payment, etc. A gathered'pad of the envelope pad blanks is applied to a stiff cardboard backing sheet 28, the cover sheet 29 is applied thereover, and the whole is fastened together by a glue line, or an edge tape, or staples or some other convenient means. The cover sheet conveniently is printed with instructions for folding the envelopes into the required from and spaces for desired information, such as a diary for recording offerings in the case of a church envelope. 7

It is found that by this use of conventional printing and padding machines for the production of these envelope blanks, they can be made very inexpensively and, for example, supplied to Churches in pad form at lower cost than has been possible hitherto for conventional types of offering envelopes. Moreover it is possible to incorporate envelopes into printed matter such as catalogues much more inexpensively than has been possible hitherto.

In other embodiments of the invention the attachment panel may, for example, be connected to the'freewhere the connection into the volume must bealong the longer edge. Any number of such blankscan be included in the bound volume and, in the absence of any glue, there is absolutely no'possibility'that the envelope blanks will stick to one another, or to the adjacent pages, despite the conditions volumes are stored.

in forming an envelope from an envelope pad blank in accordance with the invention, the envelope blank is separated from the attachment panel by careful tearing and then has the appearance illustrated by FIG. 2. The items to be enclosed within the envelope are laid on the main bodypanel l0 and the subsidiary panel 16, comprising a first-folded subsidiary panel, is folded about the junction 18 until his parallel with and overlies the main panel 10. The two

side flaps

11 and 12 are now folded inwards about their junctions until they are also parallel to the main panel and overlie and embrace the subsidiary panel 16; the blank now has the appearance shown in FIG. 3. The subsidiary panel 15 comprises the second-folded subsidiary panel and is now folded parallel to the main panel 10; thereafter the under which the pads orlocking panel 19 is folded about its junction 20 until it also is parallel to the main panel 10. The panel 15 now overlies the panel 16 and the

side flaps

11 and 12 are interposed between them. The

locking flaps

21 and 22 are then inserted in their respective slits 25. Since the side flaps l1 and 12 are over-laid by the locking flaps, there is no possibility that they will break out from the envelope, and the contents spilling, unless the force applied thereto is sufficient to mechanically tear the locking flaps from the slits 25. The paper from which the blank is formed will of course be made sufficiently. strong in the case of a coin envelope to ensure that this does not happen except under exceptional circumstances.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A glueless envelope blank comprising a main body panel forming one side of the resultant envelope and having joined thereto two oppositely-extending subsidiary body panels each foldable about a respective fold junction to be parallel to the main panel, the main body panel also having joined thereto .two oppositelyextending side flaps foldable about respective fold junctions to be parallel to the main body panel so as to overlie the respective edges of a first-folded subsidiary panel and to be over-laid by the second-folded subsidiary panel, the subsidiary body panel constituting the second-folded subsidiary panel having slits or slots therein and having joined thereto extending oppositely from-the main panel a locking panel having two oppositely-extending side flaps foldable about respective fold junctions to embrace the respective edges of the body panels" and thejunctions of the side flaps with the main body panel and shaped to mechanically interlock in respective slits or slots in the said second-folded subsidiary panel to oppose sideways opening movement of the side flaps as well as holding the panels in-closedrelationship.

2. The invention-as claimed in claim 1, wherein the said subsidiary body panels are of. shorter width parallel to their fold junctions with the main panel than the main and locking panels.

3. The invention as claimed in claim 1, wherein the subsidiary panel constituting the first-folded such panel is tapered in width from its fold junction with the main panel to its opposite edge. I

I 4. The invention as claimed in claim 1, wherein the said slits or slots in the second-folded subsidiary panel extend parallel to the sides thereof and the said-side flaps of the locking panel have their outer edge portions of greater length than the slits, each saidouter edgeportions being connected to the remainder of the respective sideflap by'a portion of length' just shorter than the length of the slits or slots.

5. The invention as claimed in claim 1, wherein the envelope blank includes an attachment panel joined thereto along a separable junction to. constitute therewith an envelope pad blank, the said separable junction permitting detachment of the envelope blank from the said attachment panels. t 0 I

Claims

1. A glueless envelope blank comprising a main body pAnel forming one side of the resultant envelope and having joined thereto two oppositely-extending subsidiary body panels each foldable about a respective fold junction to be parallel to the main panel, the main body panel also having joined thereto two oppositely-extending side flaps foldable about respective fold junctions to be parallel to the main body panel so as to overlie the respective edges of a first-folded subsidiary panel and to be over-laid by the second-folded subsidiary panel, the subsidiary body panel constituting the second-folded subsidiary panel having slits or slots therein and having joined thereto extending oppositely from the main panel a locking panel having two oppositely-extending side flaps foldable about respective fold junctions to embrace the respective edges of the body panels and the junctions of the side flaps with the main body panel and shaped to mechanically interlock in respective slits or slots in the said second-folded subsidiary panel to oppose sideways opening movement of the side flaps as well as holding the panels in closed relationship.

2. The invention as claimed in claim 1, wherein the said subsidiary body panels are of shorter width parallel to their fold junctions with the main panel than the main and locking panels.

3. The invention as claimed in claim 1, wherein the subsidiary panel constituting the first-folded such panel is tapered in width from its fold junction with the main panel to its opposite edge.

4. The invention as claimed in claim 1, wherein the said slits or slots in the second-folded subsidiary panel extend parallel to the sides thereof and the said side flaps of the locking panel have their outer edge portions of greater length than the slits, each said outer edge portions being connected to the remainder of the respective side flap by a portion of length just shorter than the length of the slits or slots.

5. The invention as claimed in claim 1, wherein the envelope blank includes an attachment panel joined thereto along a separable junction to constitute therewith an envelope pad blank, the said separable junction permitting detachment of the envelope blank from the attachment panel, and comprising a plurality of such envelope blanks disposed in register with one another, a face sheet of size corresponding to the outer dimensions of said envelope blanks, a stiff backing sheet of size corresponding to the outer dimension of said envelope blanks, and means fastening together the attachment panels of the said plurality of envelope blanks and fastening the face sheet and the backing sheet to the said attachment panels.