US476549A - Island - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DESIRE NORMAND, OF PROVIDENCE, RIIODE ISLAND.

ENVELOPE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 476.549, dated June 7, 1892.

Application filed January 2 1,18. Serial No. 418,804. (No model.)

dence and State of Rhode Island, have in' vented certain new and useful Improvements in Envelopes; and I hereby declare that the following, isa full, clcar,nnd exact description of the same, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specilleation.

This invention has reference to an improved device adapted to be secured to envelopes and to facilitate when secured the openingof the same.

The invention consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of the device in connection with an envelope, as will he more fully sctforth hereinafter, and more particularly pointed out in the claim.

Figure 1 is a view of an envelope such as is usually used for mailingletters,showing the flap which covers the opening into which the let ter is inserted opened outward and astring, cord, or wire secured to the envelope by a metallic fastening. Fig. 2 is a view of a blank which when bent over is used forseeuring the cord, thread, or wire to the envelope. Fig. 3 is a slightly-modified form of a sheet-metal blank adapted to secure the cord or wire to the envelope. Fig. 4 is a view of a parcel, which may be a newspaper, partiallyinclosed in a wrapper or envelope to which a cord, thread, or wire is secured by the metallic fastening device.

The object of the invention is to produce a device provided with a cord, thread, or fine wire that may be readily secured to an envelope so that one end will project beyond the envelope sufficiently to allow the hand to grasp it and by which the envelope may he quickly and neatly torn open.

Similar numbers of reference designate corresponding parts throughout.

In the drawings the numeral 5 indicates the envelope or wrapper; 6, the cord, thread, or tine wire; 7, the thin sheet-metal blank, having a. central portion 7', on opposite sides of which the prongs 7 and 7 are formed, so that they may be readily bent at or nearly at right angles to the plane of the central portion 7', inserted through the paper forming the envelope or wrapper, and after inserting one endof the cord, thread, or fine wire under or between the portions 7' and 7 may be firmly secured by doubling up and pressing the prongs '7' and 7 against the central portion 7' in a suitahlepress, and thus securethe cord or fine wire 6, at one end firmly to the envelope.

In Fig. 3 the blank 7 isshown provided with the notches 7. This construction is peculiarlyadapted for use on letter-cnvelopes,tlie cord (3 being secured at these notches 7, so that when the prong 7 is bent over and pressed on the inside of the envelope the cord or fine wire 6 will lie exactly in the fold of the flap 5' which covers the opening of the envelope, as is shown in Fig. 1.

-It is obvious that various modifications may be made in the form of the metallic fastening device; but the essential featuresnamely, the central portion 7' and the prongs 7 and 7 -are required to carry out this invention in its most perfect form.

The operation of the device is as follows: The metallic fastening device 7, having the prongs 7 and 7 bent at or nearly at right angles with the surface of the central portion 7', is inserted through the envelope or wrapper so that the central portion bears against the outer surface of the envelope or wrapper. The cord, twine, or fine wire 6 is laid on the inside of the envelope or wrapper,preferably so that the end 6' when the prong 7 is bent over and clinched will extend beyond the metal of the prong and when by a blow the prong is firmly clinched the cord, twine, or fine wire 6 will pass over the prong 7 as is shown in Fig. 1. When the envelope or wrapper, having been scaled, arrives at its destination, the same can be quickly and neatly torn open by exertinga quick and sudden strain on the cord, thread, or fine wire 6, and thus the openingof the mail in large business-houses is greatly facilitated.

Iirthe Government Postal Department and the railroad service large numbers of envelopes and wrappers have to be quickly opened at stations by cmploys under conditions where such a device by which the opening of the envelope is facilitated isvery desirable, as by its use not only is time saved, but the envelope is practically preserved intact, so that it may receive again its contents and by the usual stump itbears become a voucher as to the time of its mailing and delivery.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to Secure by Letters lutent The combination, with an envelope having the flap 5 and the cord (3,0f the metallic fastening device consisting of a central portion T'and the prongs Wand 7, and the notches 7',

adapted to secure one end of the cord to the [0 envelope on the line of the fold of the flap 5, substantially as described.

In witness whereof I have hercuutosct my hand.

DESIRE NORMANI). Witnesses:

JosErn A. MILLER, JOSEPH A. MILLER, Jr.

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