ENVELOPPE DE PAPIER MATELASSEE

PADDED PAPER ENVELOPE

Abrégé français

Une enveloppe de papier rembourrée et recyclable comprend une paroi avant, une paroi arrière, un bord ouvert pour accéder à un compartiment intérieur de lenveloppe et un rabat de fermeture pour fermer le bord ouvert. Un carton ondulé est fixé de manière adhésive sur une face intérieure des parois avant et arrière pour protéger un élément disposé dans le compartiment intérieur entre les surfaces du carton ondulé. Lenveloppe est formée à partir dun seul flan en papier auquel le carton ondulé est fixé de manière adhésive. Lenveloppe et le carton ondulé sont constitués dun matériau recyclable.

Abrégé anglais

A padded and recyclable paper envelope is comprised of a front wall, a rear wall, an open edge for access to an interior compartment of the envelope, and a closure flap to close the open edge. A corrugated board is adhesively secured over an inner face of the front wall and rear wall to protect an item disposed in the interior compartment between the reinforcing corrugated board surfaces. The envelope is formed from a single paper blank on which the corrugated board is adhesively secured. The envelope and the corrugated board are formed from recyclable material.

Revendications

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CLAIMS
1. A padded composite and recyclable envelope comprising a front
wall, a rear wall, an open edge for access to an interior compartment
of said envelope, and a closure flap to close said open edge; a
corrugated board adhesively secured over an inner face of each said
front wall and said rear wall to protect an item disposed in said
interior compartment between said corrugated board disposed over said
inner face of said front and rear walls, said envelope being formed
from a single paper blank defining said front wall and said rear wall
interconnected together by a fold line, said front and rear walls
having opposed parallel edges, said closure flap extending from a free
edge of said front wall which is parallel to said fold line, and
securing flaps extending from opposed parallel side edges of said
front wall for adhesively connecting said rear wall over said front
wall when folded thereon about said fold line, said fold line
constituting a closed lower edge of said envelope, wherein said
closure flap is provided with an adhesive strip and a release
protective liner removably secured over said adhesive strip.
2. The padded composite and recyclable envelope as claimed in claim
1 wherein said corrugated board disposed over said inner face of said
front and rear walls are corrugated board panels.
3. The padded composite and recyclable envelope as claimed in claim
2 wherein each of said corrugated board panels has a plurality of
elongated flutes extending in side-by-side parallel relationship.
4 . The padded composite and recyclable envelope as claimed in claim
3 wherein said flutes extend parallel to said open edge.
5. The padded composite and recyclable envelope as claimed in claim
2 wherein said envelope and corrugated board panels are recyclable.

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6. The padded composite and recyclable envelope as claimed in claim
3 wherein said elongated flutes are formed by undulations in a face of
said reinforcing corrugated board panels, said undulations forming
flat hollow channels providing shock absorbing properties on opposed
faces of said interior compartment and extending to outer edges of
said envelope.
7. The padded composite and recyclable envelope as claimed in claim
1 wherein said paper blank and said corrugated board are formed from
recycled paper and corrugated board.
8. The padded composite and recyclable envelope as claimed in claim
7 wherein said padded paper envelope is a recyclable padded envelope.
9. The padded composite and recyclable envelope as claimed in claim
1 wherein said item is an item vulnerable to bending forces or impact.
10. The padded composite and recyclable envelope as claimed in claim
9 wherein said item has a substantially flat outline.
11. The padded composite and recyclable envelope as claimed in claim
2 wherein said corrugated cardboard panel is a thin flat corrugated
board panel having flat elongated flutes.
12. The padded composite and recyclable envelope as claimed in claim
1 wherein said item is masked by said corrugated board.
13. The padded composite and recyclable envelope as claimed in claim
1 wherein said corrugated board secured over said inner face of said
front and rear wall are each provided with a longitudinal score line
formed in an inner surface thereof facing said compartment and spaced
closely a predetermined distance from opposed side edges thereof and
extending transversely to said open edge, said score lines permitting
said inner face of opposed corrugated boards to move away from one
another causing said compartment to expand for placing said item.

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14. The padded composite and recyclable envelope as claimed in claim
13 wherein said score lines provide for outer edge portions of said
corrugated boards to fold in to provide edge protection of said item.
15. The padded composite and recyclable envelope as claimed in claim
1 wherein said securing flaps are provided with three spaced-apart
longitudinal score lines to permit expansion of said compartment.

Description

CA 02736284 2011-04-04
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PADDED PAPER ENVELOPE
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present invention relates to a padded paper
envelope.
BACKGROUND ART
Won] It is known to provide envelope structures for
shipping documents or fragile objects of substantially flat
outline and which are vulnerable to impact when forwarded
through the postal services. An example of such envelope is
one in which the interior surfaces are provided with a
"bubble-wrap" sheet of plastic material having air pockets
therebetween to provide shock absorbing. It is also known to
use sheets of Styrofoam or felt material inside an envelope
to provide added protection.
[0003] It is also known to fabricate an envelope wrapper
or package formed entirely of corrugated cardboard and such
is described in U.S. Patent 3,743,173. More complex envelope
structures using a cardboard insert and a fortified margin
using metal clamps or folds are described in U.S. Patent
1,486,154. These envelopes are not recyclable and destroyed
when opened. They also do not resemble a standard envelope
construction. These prior art envelope structures are also
relatively bulky, are expensive and need to be discarded
after use for the reason that the non-recyclable protective
material is glued to the paper. It is also known to provide
envelopes formed of very stiff and heavy cardboard with some
of the cardboard also being waterproofed by a plastic film
layer adhesively secured thereover. These envelopes are also
non-recyclable due to the plastics material used in its
fabrication.

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SUMMARY OF INVENTION
[0004] It is a feature of the present invention to provide a
padded paper envelope which overcomes the above disadvantages of the
prior art.
[0004A] According to one broad aspect of the invention, there is
provided a padded composite and recyclable envelope comprising a front
wall, a rear wall, an open edge for access to an interior compartment
of said envelope, and a closure flap to close said open edge; a
corrugated board adhesively secured over an inner face of each said
front wall and said rear wall to protect an item disposed in said
interior compartment between said corrugated board disposed over said
inner face of said front and rear walls, said envelope being formed
from a single paper blank defining said front wall and said rear wall
interconnected together by a fold line, said front and rear walls
having opposed parallel edges, said closure flap extending from a free
edge of said front wall which is parallel to said fold line, and
securing flaps extending from opposed parallel side edges of said
front wall for adhesively connecting said rear wall over said front
wall when folded thereon about said fold line, said fold line
constituting a closed lower edge of said envelope, wherein said
closure flap is provided with an adhesive strip and a release
protective liner removably secured over said adhesive strip.
[0005] Another feature of the present invention according to its
embodiments is to provide a padded paper envelope formed of recycled
paper and recycled corrugated board material and wherein the envelope
is totally recyclable.
[00061 Another feature of the present invention according to its
embodiments is to provide a padded paper envelope formed from a single
paper blank and one or more corrugated board panels which are secured
inside opposed faces of the envelope.
[0007] According to the above features, from a broad aspect, the
present invention according to its embodiments provides a padded paper
envelope comprising a front wall, a rear wall, an open edge for access
to an interior compartment of the envelope, and a closure flap to
close the open edge. A corrugated board is adhesively secured over at
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least one of the inner face of the front wall and over the inner face
of the rear wall to protect an item disposed in the interior
compartment. The envelope is formed from a single paper blank defining
the front wall and the rear wall interconnected together by a fold
line. The front and rear walls have opposed parallel edges. The
closure flap extends from a free edge of the front wall which is
parallel to the fold line. Securing flaps extend from opposed parallel
side edges of the front wall for adhesively connecting the rear wall
over the front wall when folded thereon about the fold line. The fold
line constitutes a closed lower edge of the envelope.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0008] An illustrative embodiment of the present invention will
now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
[0009] FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the padded paper
envelope of an embodiment of the present invention in blank form
before being assembled;
[00010] FIG. 2 is a fragmented plan view showing the padded
envelope assembled and illustrating the component parts thereof as
well as a flat article positioned within the envelope;
[00011] FIG. 3 is a fragmented transverse section view illustrating
the construction of the padded envelope;
[00012] FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the flat corrugated board
panel secured to the inner face of one of the front or rear walls;
[00013] FIG. 5 is a fragmented transverse section view illustrating
the expandable feature of the envelope;
[00014] FIG. 6A is a fragmented plan view showing a flap with three
score lines;
[00015] FIGs. 62 and 6C are cross-section views of flaps with
different combination score lines; and
[00016] FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a method of manufacture.
DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS
[00017] Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to
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Figures 1 and 2, there will be described the construction of the
padded paper envelope 10 of the present invention according to its
embodiments. As shown in Figure 1, the padded paper envelope 10 is
formed from a single flat paper blank sheet 11 of recyclable paper and
it defines a front wall 12 and a rear wall 13 of the envelope. The
front and rear walls 12 and 13 are interconnected together by a fold
line 14. The envelope as hereinshown is of substantially rectangular
shape and the front and rear walls 12 and 13, respectively, have
opposed parallel side edges 12' and 13', respectively.
[00018] A closure flap 15 extends from a fold edge 16 of
the front wall 12 and is parallel to the fold line 14. A flat
rectangular corrugated board panel 17 is adhesively
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CA 02736284 2011-04-04
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secured over the inner face 18 of the front wall 12 using a
suitable glue. A further corrugated board panel 19 of the
same size as the panel 17 is adhesively secured to the inner
face 20 of the rear wall 13, as shown in Figure 3. The
panels 17 and 19 extend close to the outer edges of the
envelope front and rear walls 12 and 13. The panels 17 and
19 may be constituted by a single folded piece of corrugated
board having a bottom fold line.
[00019] As shown
in Figure 1, the front wall 12 is further
provided along the opposed parallel side edges 12' with
securing flaps 21 and 21' for adhesively connecting the rear
wall 13 over the front wall 12 when folded thereon about the
fold line 14. The bottom portion of Figure 2 illustrates the
interconnection of the rear wall 13 over the front wall 12 by
the securing flaps 21 using a suitable glue. The fold line
13 forms a closed lower edge 22 when the envelope is formed
as shown in Figure 2.
[000240] As shown
in Figure 2, the closure flap 15 is
provided with an adhesive strip 23 over which is removably
secured a release protective liner 24 to expose the adhesive
strip for securing the flap 15 over the rear wall 13 to close
the open free edge 16 for access to the compartment 25 (see
Figure 3) formed between the corrugated board panels 17 and
19. The protective liner 24 is discarded when the envelope
is used. Any adhesive, such as remoistable glue, pressure
seal adhesive, cohesive adhesive, etc. is suitable.
(00021] As shown
in Figures 3 and 4, each of the corrugated
board panels 17 and 19 define a plurality of elongated flutes
26 which extend in a side-by-side parallel relationship. The
panels 17 and 19 are formed with an undulated thin paper
sheet 27 sandwiched between outer sheet layers 28 and 28'
with the undulated sheet defining flat hollow channels or
flutes 26, as shown in Figure 4, providing shock absorbing
properties while being relatively thin. These
corrugated
board panels are secured to the panels 13 with their flutes
26 extending transverse to a longitudinal axis of a

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rectangular-shaped envelope as shown in Figures 1 and 2, with the
flutes extending parallel to the open edge 16. The flutes 26 may also
extend parallel to the longitudinal axis of the envelope.
Alternatively, the flutes of one of the panels 17 and 19 may extend
longitudinally to the longitudinal axis and the other transversely.
With the flutes oriented in this fashion, it provides more rigidity
to the envelope against bending moments. Also, illustratively, but
not exclusively, the padded envelope 10 utilizes paper and corrugated
board which is recycled, thus making the padded envelope totally
ecological.
[00022] Referring again to Figures 1, 2 and 5, there is shown
longitudinal score lines 31 and 31' formed longitudinally and closely
spaced from the opposed side edges 17' and 19' of respective
corrugated boards 17 and 19. These score lines 31 are formed on the
inner surface of the corrugated boards 17 and 19 and cause the boards
to fold inwards along their outer longitudinal edges causing the
boards to move away from one another opening the mouth of the
envelope at the free edge when pressure is applied between the outer
longitudinal edges of the envelope in the direction of arrows 32 as
shown in Figures 2 and 5. Accordingly, the envelope is expandable to
facilitate the positioning of thick items in the envelope with the
folded-in outer edge portions of the corrugated boards providing edge
protection.
[00023] Figure 6A illustrates a modification of the securing flap 21.
As hereinshown, the securing flap 21 is provided with three score
lines 35, 36 and 37 on the inner surface 38 thereof whereby the
securing flap 21 can provide expansion for the compartment 25, as
shown in Figure 68. The center score line 36 may alternatively be
made on the outer surface 38', as shown in Figure 6C, to provide a
gusset flap also providing for expansion of the compartment 25.
[00024] An example of the method of manufacture is schematically
illustrated by the block diagram in Figure 7. A roll of pre-printed
envelope 40 is fed into a machine where
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it is unwound. A roll of corrugated padding material 41' is unwound
and cut to the correct size on a vacuum cylinder 42 and transferred at
43 to the web of paper on which glue has been applied at station 44.
The vacuum cylinder 42 releases the corrugated board panels 17 and 19
at the correct position over the glue. A strip of adhesive with a
protective liner can also be applied on a separate unit of the same
machine for the closure flap 15. Alternatively, the glue for the
flap can be applied with an off line process. The web along with the
glued panels 17 then pass through a rotary die-cutting unit 45 that
creases and die-cuts the outer shape of the envelope 10. The cut
envelope then goes through a folder 46 that does both the cross-fold
and the folding of the flap. The finished envelope is delivered at the
end of the process.
[00025] It can be appreciated that the padded envelope
constructed in accordance with the embodiments of the present
invention is very economical to produce and provides excellent
stiffening characteristics against bending and protecting its contents
against impact forces. It is also entirely ecological for the reason
that it uses recycled paper and corrugated board for its construction.
As shown in Figure 2, the padded envelope resembles a standard type
envelope, such as a white postal envelope commonly used but which is
specifically suitable to protect items of substantially flat shape
such as printed documents 30 as shown in Figure 2 or any other article
of flat outline, such as memory cards, circuit boards, or flat brittle
objects which are vulnerable to impact or bending forces. The
corrugated board panels 17 and 19 also mask the item secured in the
envelope.
[00026] It is within the ambit of the present invention to
cover any obvious modifications of the present invention, provided
such modifications fall within the scope of the appended claims.
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