Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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BACKGROUND OF I~VEI~TION:
(a) Field of the Invention
The presen-t invention relates to an irnproved
mailer and method of makiny same, wherein the front sheet
of an envelope is provided with a window area whereby
information is prln-ted over the envelope wi-th a non-
carbonizing ribbon -to reproduce inforrnation on a sel-f-
reproducing surface in the envelope w;.th the information
being visible only in the window area of the envelope.
(b) Description of Prior Art
Mailer envelopes are known wherein an envelope
is provided with a front sheet having a carbon backing
and wherein on the front of the envelope a particular area
is coated with a material which will reproduce printed
information when a special coated ribbon is used in a prin~
ter and applied against the coated front portion of the
envelope. However, the coated ribbon will not reproduce
information on the non-coated areas of the front sheet of
the envelope. On the non-coated areas of the envelope,
printed information will be transferred, by the carbon
backing, to a sheet interposed between the front and back
sheets forming the envelope and not be visible on the
outsi.de of the envelope.
This type of known mailer and method of making
same has been found expensive in that a special type coated
ribbon is required in the printer to imprint information on
the mailer envelope and it is further necessary to treat
specific areas of the front sheet of the envelope with a
reproducing coating material to reproduce information on
the front sheet. Furthermore, some of the known mailers
utilize a front sheet with carb,n backing in order to
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transfer the printed information on an interior sheet of the
envelope. A further disadvantaye of this prior art is that
the printer ribbons, having the special coating, ar~ difficult
to obtain due to the limited appli.cation of the ribbons, are
not made for all types of printers and have a relatively
short shelf life~
SUMMARY OF_T~ INVENTION
It is a feature of the present invent.ion to provide
a mailer form and method of mak.ing same which overcomes the
~ above disadvantages of the prior art.
It i5 a further feature of the present invention
to provide an improved mailer form wherein information is
printed on a self-reproducing surface inside the envelope by
uti.lizing a printer with a plain noncarbonized ribbon and
wherein information is visible in a window area on the front
of the envelope and not visible in other areas~
A further feature of the present invention is to
provide a novel method of producing a mailer form wherein
information is printed on an envelope and reproduced on a
self-reproducing surface inside the envelope with information
being visible in a window area on the front sheet of the
envelope and not visible in other areas.
According to the above features, from a broad aspect,
the present inYention provides a continuous mailer form compris-
ing an envelope having a front and backing sheet glued together
along marginal edges by glue strips, said front sheet having
a wi.ndow area, at least one sheet located between said front
and backing sheets and having a self~reproducing surface
facing said window area whereby a printer having non-
carbonizing ribbon can pri.nt directly over any portion of
said front sheet without reproducing printed information on
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said front sheet but reproducing said printed in~ormation on
said self-reproducing surface and wherein such printed
information would be visible in said window area and not
visible in other areas of the envelope, a tear strip having
a perforated line on an edge of said envelope to detach at
least one of said glue strips for access to the interior oE
said envelope, a plurality of envelopes attached together
in side-by-side relationship by perforated tear lines, and
a feed strip detachably secured al,ong opposed end edges of
said plurality of envelopes for feeding sai,d envelopes through
said printer after said mailer has been completely assembled
without cover sheets and just prior to rnailing.
According to a further broad aspect of the present
invention there is provided a method of making a continuous
mailer form comprising the steps of (i) positioning at least
one sheet having a self-reproducing surface between a front
and back sheet of a mailer en.velope without the need of a
carrier or record sheet, said front sheet having a windo~
area and said self-reproducing surface facing said window
area, (ii) glueing said front and back sheet along marginal
edges by glue strips; (iii) providing a tear strip to detach
at least one of said glue'strips by providing a perforation
through said front and backing sheets inwardly of said glue
strip for access to the interior of said envelope, (iv~
providing a plurality of envelopes in side-by-side relationship
and attached together by tear lines perforated along the
opposed longitudinal edges of said envelopes, (v~ feeding
said envelopes through a high-speed printer by feed strips
provided along opposed end edges of said ~nvelopes, said
printer having a noncarbonizing ribbon; (vi) printing
information directly over any portion of said front sheet
through said noncarbonizing ribbon whereby no printing
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information appears on said front sheet bu-t reproduces only
on said self-reproduclng surface of sai.d at least one
interior sheet and which is visible in said window area
and not visible in other areas of the envelope, and (vii)
detaching said plurality of envelopes prior to rnailing
without the need of perorming other envelope construc-tion
operations n
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF_ AWINGS:
A preferred embodiment of the present invention
will n~w be described with reference to the exc~lples thereof
illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which~
FIGURE 1 is a fra~mented front view showing one
form of mailer adapted to be fed through a printing machine
FIGURE 2 is a fragmented front view of a mailer
envelope; and
FIGURE 3 is a front view of a further mailer form
having a differ~nt envelope construction~
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMæNTS:
Referring now to the drawings 7 and more particularly
to Figure 1, there is shown generally at 10 the mailer form
of the present inventionO The mailer form comprises an
envelope 11 formed by a front sheet 12 and a backing sheet
13 secured together along marginal edges thereof by glue
strips 14 as is commonly known in the art. The front sheet
is provided with a window area 15 and a self-reproducing
surface is provided in the envelope facing the window area.
The self-reproducing surface is constituted in
Figure 1. by providing in the envelope one or more information
sheets treated with a substance wherein the sheets 16 has a
self-reproducing surface 16to This self reproducing surface
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faces the window area 15 of the front sheet 12. The windo~
area 15 may be an open area or rnay be provided with a trans-
parent film material 17 (see Figure 2).
As shown in Figure 1, a plurality of forms 10 are
attached together in side-by-side relationship by perforated
lines 18 whereby each of the envelopes 11 is separable from
one another. A feed strip 19 is detachably secured ~long
opposed end edges of the envelopes 11 whereby the envelopes
can be ~ed through a high-speed printer. The printer is
provided with a noncarbonizing ribbon for imprinting infor
mation on the front sheet 12 of the envelope. The printed
information is reproduceable on the self-reproducing surface
16l on the information sheet 16 and visible in the window
area 15n Information printed on other areas is not visible
as it is concealed by the front sheet 12. It is pointed out
that in the prior art it is necessary to utilize cover sheets
over the front sheet or portions thereof, not to reproduce
printed information thereon which is confidential and which
is to be transferred by pressure to sheets inside the
envelopeO
In order to have access to the information sheet 16,
the envelope 11 is provided with a tear strip 21 along an
end edge thereof. A thumb notch 22 is also provided along
the inner perforated line 21S of the tear strip for grasping
the information sheets 16 at the interior of the envelope 11.
As shown in Figure 19 the glue strip 14 is located in the
tear strip 21 and is removed from the envelope 11 by detaching
the tear strip 21 along perforated line 21'.
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AS shown in Figure 2 the envelope i9 a
standard-type envelope having a flap 23 along the
marginal top edge 2~ thereof to seal the open top edye
of the envelope. The information sheet 16 is also
provided inside the envelope and the information
imprinted on the envelope is only visible in the
window area 15, as above described.
Referring now to Figure 3 there is shown a
modified form of the type described in Figure 1 and
as herein shown the backing sheet 13 o~ the form is
treated with a self-reproducing material whereby the
information imprintèd over the front sheet 12 will repro-
duce on the inner surface of the backing sheet. Accord-
ingly, there is no information sheet 16 provided within
the envelopeO In order to have access to the backing
sheet the envelope 12, as shown in Figure 3, is provided
with opposed tear strips 25 along the longitudina~
marginal edges thereof and a further tear strip 26 along
one end edye thereof. The opposed end edge is provided
with a peel-off glue along a glue portion 27 thereof.
Perforations 25' and 26' permit detachment of the tear
strips 25 and 26, respectively. mhus, the front sheet
12 can be easily separated from the backing sheet 13
whereby the backing sheet constitutes the information
carrying sheet. The front sheet is also provided with
one or more window areas 15 for the same purpose as
hereinabove defined.
In a further modification of Figure 3 the
peel-off glue area 27 may also be constituted by a tear
strip having a perforated edge for the removal thereof.
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It is within the arnbit of the present
invention to cover any obvious modifications of the
examples of the embodiment described herein, provided
such modifications fall within the scope of the
appended claims.
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