Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Background of Invention
This invention pertains to sealed documents, and how
they may be made and used.
It is often desirable to provide a way to provide
information on a sheet of paper or the like and have a self-
contained means to seal the document. Moreover, it is desirable
to have the sheets readily available, as in the form of a pad
of the sheets. This invention meets these demands in a novel
manner.
Objects of Invention
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to
provide a sheet, and a pad of sheets, that may be rapidly sealed
by self-contained means, to be sealed along at least one edge, or
along all edges.
In one aspect, the invention resides in a sheet of
foldable material having at least one area of reusable adhesive
on one side thereof and an area on the other side on which
information may be recorded, and indicia on said other side
denoting where the sheet may be folded to use the adhesive to
affix the ends oE the folded sheet together.
In a further aspect, the invention resides in a
method of providing a sealed document including the steps of
providing a sheet of material with at least one area of reusable
adhesive in a strip along one edge of one slde of the sheet,
folding the sheet to place the adhesive strip on the outside of
the folded document and adjacent to the opposite edge of the
sheet, and folding the opposite edge of the sheet over the strip
of adhesive to seal the document.
The invention may be best understood by reference to
illustrative embodiments, which will be described by reference to
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the accompanying drawings.
Description of Drawinqs
Figure 1 shows one surface of a sheet of material
for the invention.
Figure 2 shows the reverse side of the sheet of
Figure 1.
Figure 3 shows the sheet of Figure 1 after a first
fold.
~ Figure 4 shows the sheet of Figure 1 after a second
10~ fold.
Figure 5 shows a sheet prepared for a second
embodiment of the invention.
Figure 6 shows the sheet of Figure 5 after a second
fold.
Figure 7 shows the sheet of Figure 6 after a third
fold.
Figure 8 shows a set of sheets prepared for still
another embodiment of the invention.
Figure 9 shows the sheets of Figure 8 after an
initial folding operation.
Detailed Description of Illustrative Embodiments
In Figure 1 reference character 10 designates a
sheet of paper or like material on the surface 12 of which a
message or other information may be recorded. Sheet 10 has top
edge 14~bottom edge 16, right side edge 18 and left side edge 20.
Side 12 also has indicia marks 22 for a purpose described below.
The opposite side 24 of sheet 10 is shown in Figure
2. A strlp of reusable or releasable adhesive 26 (hereafter,
"reusable") is provided along edge 14 of side 24. Reusable
adhesives are well known in the art~ Spaces also are provided for
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2a
"To" and "From" information at positions 28 and 30 on side 24.
For purposes of creating a sealed document the user,
facing side 12, folds the document along fold line 32 (Figure 3)
which could be perforated to facilitate folding at the proper
place. When folded, edge 14 is placed at the indicia marks 22.
The user then folds the document along fold line 34 (Figure 4)
at the indicia marks to place the area between the fold line 34
and edge 16 over the adhesive strip 26. Pressing the parts
together secures the folded document.
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The document may be opened simply by peeling
apart the areas held by the reusable adhesive. A
perforation line 35 (FIGS. 1-3) may be located at the
inner edge of the adhesive strip to allow the user to
remove the adhesive or fold the adhesive strip over
to eliminate the exposed adhesive surface. The
exposed strip would not be desirable if the document
was filed.
If more security is desired the
configuration of reusable adhesive areas shown in
FIG. 5 may be used. Here side 24 of sheet 10 not
only has strip 26 but also strips 36, 38, 40 and 42
of reusable adhesive. "To" and "From" spaces also
are provided at the locations 44 and 46.
In use the sheet 10 of FIG. 5 r ' which has a
side 12 like that of PIG. 1, is folded over and
secured by strip 26 of adhesive as was the case in
FIGS. 1-4. Adhesive strip 26 is now covered, but the
other adhesive strips 36, 38, 40 and 42 appear as
shown in FIG. 6. Now a third fold is accomplished by
the user, along a line lndicated by chain line 48, to
bring the adhesive strips together, and provide the
document shown in FIG. 7. In this way the document
is sealed along all four edges. It may be opened by
peeling the sealed areas apart.
Adhesive may exist along all of the edges as
shown in FIG. 6 to bring adhesive on two surfaces
together for added strength. However, one coat of
adhesive will do, in which case only one-half of
strips 40 and 42 need by used, and only one of strips
36 and 38. Indeed, if the manufacturer feels it can
save on adhesive and remain competitive, only spots
of adhesive are necessary.
In another embodiment of the invention the
shee~ 10 may be one of a number of such sheets, with
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carbon paper (not shown) or carbonless transfer
materials between them for making multiple copies of
a given ~essage. For example, these could be of the
"To/From/Reply" memo format. The sheets would be
held together by the adhesive strips 26. A set of
three such sheets, here lOa, lOb and lOc, are shown
in FIG. 8, already once folded as the single sheet as
shown in FIG. 3 has been folded.
In order to seal the set of sheets (FIG. ~)
the bottom edges 16 of sheets lOa and lOb are folded
under edges 14 of the three sheets as shown in FIG.
9, leaving the edge 16 of sheet lOc to be folded over
to be secured to the adhesive strip 26 of sheet lOc,
in the manner shown in FIG. 4.
The multiple sheet set of FIG. 9 may also be
provided with the additional adhesive areas (FIGS. 5-
7) and again folded, as explainad in connection with
FIGS. 6 and 7.
Upon reading the foregoing descriptions of
illustrative embodiments many other embodiments will
occur to the reader. Therefore, the scope of the
invention is to be determined from the appended
claims.
