Abstract:
A greeting card which comprises a main panel having a front surface and a rear surface, the front surface having a message containment area. The greeting card further comprises a sleeve member overlapping at least a portion of the rear surface of the main panel. The sleeve member includes a bottom edge, a top edge and two side edges. Each of the two side edges and the bottom edge are engaged to the rear surface of the main panel. The sleeve member and the rear surface define a sleeve having an opening defined by the top edge of the sleeve member and the rear surface adjacent thereto. The sleeve constructed and arranged to receive and removably retain at least a portion of at least one stationary item.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
         [0001]    Not Applicable  
         STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH  
         [0002]    Not Applicable  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0003]    Envelopes, greeting cards, notes, invitations and other stationary products, hereinafter referred to collectively as paper products, may be designed with features designed to capture attention as well as to convey a message.  
           [0004]    In some paper product applications it is desirable to not only provide a card, letter or other document which bears a message, but to also provide a ready available means for the recipient of the card, letter or document to respond to the message contained thereon. For example, in many business applications, an envelope containing a request for information, a solicitation, or a bill, may also contain a return postcard or a second envelope with which the recipient may send a response to the original sender. In another example, some wedding invitations may comprise a relatively large envelope, which contains the invitation itself; an RSVP, including an envelope; and in many cases other miscellaneous documents, including maps, registries, personal notes, etc.;.  
           [0005]    Clearly such combinations of paper products may be complex. In some cases, depending on how the individual paper products are arranged, one or more of individual products, including the messages that they may be attempting to convey, may be misunderstood, lost, or simply ignored.  
           [0006]    Where a large number of mailings rely on a combination of paper products as have been described above, an unprofessional, inefficient, or merely sloppy arrangement of cards, documents and return envelopes, in an invitation or other mailing may result in a poor rate of response, and may further result in a significant waste of time, money and resources, by the sender and/or the recipient.  
           [0007]    In light of the above there remains a need in the paper products art, to provide an assembly of paper products, that may be suitable for mailing, is convenient to use, easy to arrange and includes features which attract attention to help ensure that a recipient does not ignore the assembly or its individual components.  
           [0008]    In at least one embodiment, the present invention addresses this need by providing an assembly which comprises at least one card panel that is equipped with at least one panel member for containing a response envelope, card or other paper product item.  
           [0009]    While there exists greeting cards that have been combined with sleeves, pouches, pockets or other devices for containing objects, such prior greeting card/device combinations do not address the need for providing an assembly of paper products, that may be suitable for mailing, is convenient to use, easy to arrange and includes features which attract attention to help ensure that a recipient does not ignore the assembly or its individual components as embodiments of the present invention do.  
           [0010]    Some examples of these greeting card/container combinations are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,003,254, which describes a combined greeting card and record sleeve; U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,496, which describes a combined greeting card and gift pouch; U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,384, which describes a combined greeting card and item carrier; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,148,550, which describes a money pocket that can be placed on the inside surface of a greeting card.  
           [0011]    The entire content of all of the patents listed within the present patent application are incorporated herein by reference.  
           [0012]    Without limiting the scope of the invention a brief summary of the claimed embodiments of the invention is set forth below. Additional details of the summarized embodiments of the invention and/or additional embodiments of the invention may be found n the Detailed Description of the Invention below.  
           [0013]    A brief abstract of the technical disclosure in the specification is provided as ell only for the purposes of complying with 37 C.F.R. 1.72. The abstract is not intended to be used for interpreting the scope of the claims.  
         BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0014]    Without limiting the scope of the invention in any way, the invention is briefly summarized in some of its aspects below.  
           [0015]    The present invention may be embodied in a variety of forms. In at least one embodiment the invention is directed to a trisectioned member, herein after referred to as a card in which the folds are above and below the main body of the card. The main body of the card includes a front surface and a back surface. The back surface further comprises a retaining member engaged to the back surface, the back surface and the retaining member define a retaining slot or sleeve in which other paper products, such as return envelopes, thank you notes, business reply letters, RSVP&#39;s or others may be placed.  
           [0016]    In at least one embodiment the invention is directed to an assembly comprising the trisectioned card and the associated paper products for placement in the retaining sleeve.  
           [0017]    In at least one embodiment, the invention is further directed to an envelope opened from the narrow end, and which is constructed and arranged to contain the trisectioned card and any paper products contained within the sleeve.  
           [0018]    Additional details and/or embodiments of the invention are discussed below. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0019]    A detailed description of the invention is hereafter described with specific reference being made to the following drawings.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the invention.  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 2 a  is a frontal view of an embodiment of the invention in an open position.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 2 b  is a frontal view of an embodiment of the invention in a closed position.  
         [0023]    FIGS.  3 - 5  show a rear view of an embodiment of an inventive card and further illustrate one manner in which a return envelope or other item may be inserted into a sleeve defined by the inventive card.  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 6 is side view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 wherein the return envelope or other item is shown in an inserted position with in the sleeve of the inventive card.  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 7 is frontal view of an embodiment of the return envelope or other item suitable for insertion into the sleeve of the inventive card shown in FIGS. 1 and 3- 6 .  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 8 is a frontal view of an embodiment of the invention which includes the inventive card of FIG. 1 and a unique sending envelope. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0027]    While this invention may be embodied in many different forms, there are described in detail herein specific preferred embodiments of the invention. This description is an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the particular embodiments illustrated.  
         [0028]    As may be seen in FIG. 1, an embodiment of the invention comprises a card, indicated generally at  10 . The card  10  may be constructed from any material suitable for stationary or document applications. Some examples of suitable construction materials include card stock, card board, paper or parchment of any weight or consistency, fabric or any material suitable for use in stationary products.  
         [0029]    Card  10 , is a trisectioned card in which two folds  12  and  14  occur above and below the main section or panel  16 . The main panel  16  includes a front surface  18 , best shown in FIG. 2 a  and a rear surface  20 .  
         [0030]    As is shown in FIG. 2 a , at least a portion of the front surface  18  of the main panel  16 , includes a message containing portion  34 . The message containing portion  34  may be defined by the front surface  18  and/or may include a separate piece of stationary material engaged to the front surface  18 . By engaging multiple pieces of material to the front surface  18 , multiple pages, of text  36 , pictures or other communications may be included in the message containing portion  34 .  
         [0031]    As is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 a - 2   b , adjacent to main panel  16  is an upper flap or panel  15  and a lower flap or panel  17 . Upper panel  15  may be folded along fold  12  between the open position shown in FIG. 2 a  and the closed position shown in FIG. 2 b. Lower panel    17  may be folded along fold  14  between the open position shown in FIG. 2 a  and the closed position shown in FIG. 2 b . In the closed position the upper and lower panels  15  and  17  substantially overlap the front surface  18  of the main panel  16 .  
         [0032]    When in the closed position one of the panels  15  or  17  overlaps the other panel. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 b , the upper panel  15  includes a lip portion  19  which overlappingly engages a lip portion  21  of the lower panel  17 . As is shown in the FIGS. 1 and 2 a - 2   b , at least a portion of the panels  15  an  17  are tapered in shape having a substantially frustoconical appearance. By providing panels  15  and  17  with such a shape, at least a portion of the message containing portion  34  is visible even when the panels  15  and  17  are in the closed position. Throughout this application the term frustoconical will be defined as a shape like that of the cross-section of a frustoconical body. A frustoconical body is one in which the tip of a conical solid is removed.  
         [0033]    In some embodiments, the upper panel  15  may include a member  23  which may be threaded through openings  25  in the main panel  16  (shown in FIG. 2 a ) and openings  27  in the upper panel  15 . Ends  29  of member  23  may extend from the upper panel  15  to at least partially overlap the lower panel  17  when in the closed position. Member  23  may be any material including lace, ribbon or other fabric. Member  23  aids in identifying which panel  15  or  17  must be unfolded first in order to fully expose the message containing portion  34 . In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the ends  29  may be removably engaged to the lower panel  17 .  
         [0034]    Turning to the rear surface  20  of the main panel  16 , attached to the rear surface  20  is a sleeve member  22  which in combination with the rear surface  20  defines a containment slot or sleeve  24 .  
         [0035]    Sleeve member  22  may be comprised of an elongate piece of stationery material having ends  26  and  28  which are at least partially engaged to the rear surface  20 , or may be a portion of the main panel  16  folded back upon the rear surface  20 . The ends  26  and  28  of the sleeve member  22  may be engaged to the rear surface  20  by any suitable means including adhesive engagement. Other mechanical means can be used as well to secure the member  22  to the rear surface  20 . For example, ribbon, twine or other pliable materials can be used to lace the ends  26  and  28  to the main panel  16  to create the slot  24 .  
         [0036]    In addition to engaging the ends  26  and  28  to rear surface  20 , where sleeve member  22  is a separate member from the main panel  16 , at least a portion of bottom edge  30  of the sleeve member  22  is also engaged to the rear surface  20  to form the sleeve  24  between the sleeve member  22  and the rear surface  20 .  
         [0037]    As is shown in FIG. 1, the sleeve  24  is defined by the sleeve member  22  and the rear surface  20  of the main panel  16 . The sleeve  24  is sized to receivingly and removably engage a return envelope, postcard, photo, document or other item of stationary, herein after collectively referred to as return card  40 .  
         [0038]    When inserted into the sleeve  24 , such as in the manner shown in FIGS.  3 - 5 , a portion  42  of return card  40  remains visibly exposed above sleeve member  22 . In some embodiments, the portion  42  left exposed by the sleeve member  22  will be equal to about half of the height of the return card  40 , such as is shown in FIG. 6. In some embodiments more than half of the surface of the return card  40  may covered by the sleeve member  22 , such as may be seen in FIG. 5. By leaving a portion of the return card  40  exposed, the return card may be easily inserted and/or withdrawn from the sleeve  24 . The sleeve  24  provides other functional benefits as well. First, engagement of the return card  40 , within sleeve  24  helps to ensure that the return card  40  is not lost or misplaced upon receipt of the trisectioned card  10 . Second, the use of the sleeve  24  ensures that the primary message or image of the trisectioned card is not distracted from by secondary items, such as the return card  40 .  
         [0039]    As indicated above return card  40  may be a variety of different paper product or stationary items. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, return card  40  comprises a return envelope  46  in which an RSVP or other type of card or note  48  may be contained. Envelope  46  may by any type of envelope, but in some embodiments includes a unique tapered flap  50  which is similar in shape to the upper panel  15  or lower panel  17  of the trisectioned card  10 , such as is shown in FIGS. 2 a  and  2   b.    
         [0040]    In another aspect of the invention shown in FIG. 8, a sending envelope  52  is utilized with card  10  and return card  40 , the combination of at least these three components comprises a mailing unit  54 .  
         [0041]    In at least one embodiment of the invention, the sending envelope  52  comprises a body portion  56  and a securement flap  58 . Flap  58  is foldable relative to the body  56  along fold  60 . The body portion  56  defines an envelope chamber or sleeve  62  into which the card  10  and associated return card  40  may be inserted or removed. In some embodiments of the invention, the body  56  defines a notch  64 . Notch  64  allows a portion of the card  10  to be visible and easily graspable once the flap  58  is folded into the open position shown. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that in the closed position the flap  58  may be adhesively or otherwise engaged to the body portion  56  to secure the card  10  within the sleeve  62 . In at least one embodiment the flap  58  defines a frustoconical shape similar to either the upper panel  15  or lower panel  17  of the card  10  as is shown in FIGS. 2 a  and  2   b.    
         [0042]    As is shown in FIG. 8, the body portion  56  of the sending envelope  52  has a height  68  and a width  70 . In at least one embodiment, width  70  is less than height  68 . In at least one preferred embodiment the width  70  is less than about half of the height  68 . The opening  66  of the sleeve  62  is defined by the width  70 .  
         [0043]    In addition to being directed to the specific combinations of features claimed below, the invention is also directed to embodiments having other combinations of the dependent features claimed below and other combinations of the features described above.  
         [0044]    The above disclosure is intended to be illustrative and not exhaustive. This description will suggest many variations and alternatives to one of ordinary skill in this art. All these alternatives and variations are intended to be included within the scope of the claims where the term “comprising” means “including, but not limited to”. Those familiar with the art may recognize other equivalents to the specific embodiments described herein which equivalents are also intended to be encompassed by the claims.  
         [0045]    Further, the particular features presented in the dependent claims can be combined with each other in other manners within the scope of the invention such that the invention should be recognized as also specifically directed to other embodiments having any other possible combination of the features of the dependent claims. For instance, for purposes of claim publication, any dependent claim which follows should be taken as alternatively written in a multiple dependent form from all prior claims which possess all antecedents referenced in such dependent claim if such multiple dependent format is an accepted format within the jurisdiction (e.g. each claim depending directly from claim  1  should be alternatively taken as depending from all previous claims). In jurisdictions where multiple dependent claim formats are restricted, the following dependent claims should each be also taken as alternatively written in each singly dependent claim format which creates a dependency from a prior antecedent-possessing claim other than the specific claim listed in such dependent claim below.