Bonded lottery stamp ticket book

A bonded lottery stamp ticket book having a plurality of stiff tickets secured to each other, each ticket having a first layer, the first layer having an upper surface and a binding region, the upper surface having indicia, the indicia being numbers, letters, symbols, figures or combinations thereof. Each ticket also has a second layer wherein the second layer has a border, a tab and a lower surface. The lower surface of the second layer is attached to the upper surface of the first layer at the border. The tab is frangibly attached to the border covering the indicia so that opening the tab reveals the indicia. The tickets are stacked upon and bonded to each other at the binding region to form the ticket book. The tickets are sufficiently flexible so that each ticket may be bent away from adjacent tickets.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The invention is directed to bonded lottery stamp tickets having the 
appearance of a book and a method for preparing such a bonded lottery 
stamp ticket book where the bonded lottery stamp ticket book has at least 
two or more tickets stacked upon and bonded to each other, and each ticket 
has a peel-away tab. Peeling away the tab will expose symbols, numbers or 
other indicia. Each ticket in the book of bonded lottery stamp tickets has 
sufficient flexibility so that it may be bent away from adjacent tickets 
in the ticket book and the tab of each underlying ticket may be bent back 
to reveal the symbols, numbers or other indicia without separating the 
tickets. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
A number of patents have issued disclosing a variety of articles of 
multi-ply construction having an interior exposable indicia. However, the 
previous embodiments do not disclose a plurality of multi-layered tickets 
stacked one upon another and bonded in the form of a ticket book with the 
features herein described. 
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,398,708 to Goldman et al., 4,270,774 to Barnes and 
3,956,049 and 3,940,124 to Johnsen disclose singular multi-ply lottery 
tickets joined to each other end-to-end to form a sheet of lottery 
tickets. The lottery tickets may be then either separated or stored in an 
accordion-like manner. None of these patents discloses dispensing the 
lottery tickets in a book form wherein each ticket is flexible and is 
stacked upon the next ticket front-to-back. 
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,930,673 to Sanden, 4,099,721 to Logander, 5,125,689 to 
Heninger and 5,253,899 to Greenwood disclose single lottery tickets having 
multiple sections folded upon each other. The folding and printing of the 
indicia in each case allow a person opening the ticket to reveal indicia 
in a unique manner. 
The prior art, as disclosed by these patents, discloses multi-layered 
tickets, folded tickets and groupings of these tickets formed on a single 
sheet and folded in an accordion-like manner. None of these prior art 
patents describes books of multi-layered tickets, each ticket being 
flexible so that it may be bent away from adjacent tickets and the tab of 
each identifying ticket may be bent back to reveal underlying symbols, 
numbers or other indicia without separating the tickets. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention is directed to bonded lottery stamp tickets having 
the appearance of a book and a method for preparing such a book. The 
bonded lottery stamp ticket book is constructed of two or more, say up to 
eight, tickets. Each ticket is formed in two layers and has sufficient 
stiffness so that it will not curl or droop under its own weight. The 
first layer has an upper surface having symbols, numbers or other indicia. 
The second layer has a border and a tab attached frangibly to the border. 
The border of the second layer is attached to the upper surface of the 
first layer. The tab is oriented over the symbols, numbers or other 
indicia so that the tab may be broken away to reveal the underlying 
symbols, numbers or others indicia. Each ticket in the plurality of 
tickets used to form the ticket book has a binding region. The tickets are 
stacked onto each other front-to-back and the tickets are fastened to each 
other at the binding region. 
The tickets have sufficient flexibility so that each ticket may be bent 
away from adjacent tickets so that the tab of the underlying ticket may be 
removed to reveal the symbols, numbers or other indicia. Flexibility of 
the ticket is conferred upon the ticket via the structure of the ticket 
which involves the combination of materials used to produce the ticket and 
the physical dimensions of the ticket. Alternatively, flexibility may be 
conferred upon the ticket by engineering a crease between the binding 
region and the indicia of each ticket to create a hinge upon which the 
ticket may be folded back. On the other hand, the individual tickets must 
have sufficient stiffness to avoid curling apart until manually bent to 
expose the tab. 
Lottery tickets are commonly provided in the form of single tickets or 
groups of tickets attached to one another in accordion-like fashion. Such 
tickets are dispensed either manually or mechanically by dispensation off 
of a continuous roll or a strip which is folded in an accordion-like 
manner. The bonded lottery stamp ticket book according to this invention 
offers an alternative to the traditional roll or strip form of tickets 
that can be easily dispensed either automatically or manually. 
The bonded lottery stamp ticket book according to this invention also 
offers an alternative method of playing lottery ticket games. Many lottery 
ticket games include a plurality of indicia on the same ticket. The prior 
art lottery game may be played by revealing one or more of the hidden 
indicia on the same ticket. The present invention provides a new manner 
for playing such lottery games wherein one or more symbols, numbers or 
other indicia on each ticket of a lottery book may be revealed to indicate 
whether the player has uncovered a desired symbol, number or other indicia 
or combination thereof. 
Other objects and features of the invention will be readily apparent from 
the following detailed description.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
The bonded lottery stamp ticket book of the present invention defines a 
plurality of flexible multi-layer lottery tickets, each ticket having a 
tab which will reveal symbols, numbers or other indicia upon removal. The 
tickets are stacked and bonded to each other to form a book or booklet of 
lottery stamp tickets. 
As shown in FIG. 1, a bonded lottery stamp ticket book 8 is shown having a 
plurality of tickets 10. The tickets 10 have sufficient flexibility so 
that each ticket 10 may be bent away from adjacent tickets 10 in the 
bonded lottery stamp ticket book 8. The tickets 10 are shown stacked upon 
each other, bonded at a binding region 16. As shown in FIG. 2, each ticket 
10 has a first layer 12 and a second layer 20. 
As shown in FIG. 3, the first layer 12 has indicia 14 located on the upper 
side of the first layer 12. The first layer 12 also has a binding region 
16. FIG. 4 depicts the second layer 20 of the ticket 10. The second layer 
20 has a border 24 frangibly attached to a tab 22, the second layer 20 
having, optionally, a binding region 16. The tab 22 may be frangibly 
attached to the border 24 by any means known to those skilled in the art. 
Preferably, the tab 22 is frangibly attached to the border 24 by 
perforations 26, as shown. 
The ticket 10 shown in FIG. 2 and the second layer 20 shown in FIG. 4 show 
perforations 26 frangibly attaching the tab 22 to the border 24. The 
perforations 26 or other means for frangibly attaching the tab 22 to the 
border 24 do not completely surround the tab 22 so that when the frangible 
attachments or perforations 26 are broken, the tab 22 remains attached to 
the ticket 10 and may be bent back to reveal the underlying indicia 14. 
The indicia 14 can be numbers, letters, symbols, figures or combinations 
thereof. 
In an assembled ticket 10, the second layer 20 is attached to the first 
layer 12 by an adhesive or by other means, for instance, the border 24 may 
be attached to the first layer 12 using an adhesive, staples, crimping, 
heat sealing, or by treating the edge of the first layer 12 and the second 
layer 20 with a suitable adhesive or binder. The second layer 20 is 
attached to the first layer 12 at the border 24. The tab 22 is not 
attached to the first layer, allowing the tab to be opened as shown in 
FIG. 5, discussed in detail below. 
The first layer 12 and the second layer 20 may be composed of paper, 
cardboard, plastic, metal foil, combinations thereof or any other suitable 
sheet material. The indicia 14 may be a number, a letter, a design or 
combinations thereof and may be printed directly on the lower layer or 
attached thereto. It will also be appreciated that other indicia may be 
printed on the outer surface of the ticket 10 as desired. 
FIG. 5 depicts a ticket 10 wherein the frangible attachment of the tab 22 
to the border 24 has been broken and the tab 22 opened to reveal the 
underlying indicia 14. 
FIG. 6 shows a second embodiment of a bonded lottery stamp ticket book 8 
having a plurality of tickets 10 stacked upon and bonded to each other at 
the binding region 16. In FIG. 6, the tabs 22 of the top two tickets 10 of 
the bonded lottery stamp ticket book 8 have been opened to reveal the 
underlying indicia 14. The tabs 22 of the remaining bottom tickets 10 have 
not been opened. 
FIGS. 7 and 8 show a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 
shows a ticket 10 having a tab 22 that is frangibly attached to the border 
24, preferably by perforations 26 depicted in the Figure. The perforations 
26 cover all sides of the tab 22 so that when the tab 22 is removed, as 
shown in FIG. 8, the tab is completely separated from the ticket 10. This 
is in contrast to the ticket shown in FIG. 2 wherein the perforations or 
other means of frangibly attaching the tab 22 to the ticket 10 do not 
completely surround the tab 22 so that when the frangible attachments or 
perforations 26 are broken, the tab 22 remains attached to the ticket 10 
and may be bent back as opposed to the complete removal of the tab as 
shown in FIG. 8. 
The bonded lottery stamp ticket book 8 may be of varying dimensions, 
depending upon the number of tickets in the bonded lottery stamp ticket 
book 8, the thickness of each ticket 10, and the length and width of each 
ticket 10. On assembly of the bonded lottery stamp ticket book 8, each 
ticket 10 is stacked upon another, front to back, and the tickets 10 are 
bonded at their binding region 16. Alternate methods may be used to bind 
the tickets 10 to one another at the binding region 16, thus defining the 
nature and location of the binding region. In a first binding method, the 
binding region may include sufficient surface area of each of the tickets 
10 so that a staple may be used to fasten the tickets 10 to one another. 
In a second binding method, the tickets 10 may be bonded by an adhesive 
painted on one side of a stack of tickets 10. In such a method, the 
binding region 16 may comprise a side of each ticket 10 rather than the 
upper or lower surface of the ticket 10. Other binding means known to 
those skilled in the art may be employed, therefore differentially defined 
depending upon the chosen binding means. 
Flexibility and stiffness of the tickets 10 may also be achieved by various 
means. A first means for achieving an acceptable degree of flexibility and 
stiffness of the tickets 10 so that each ticket 10 may be bent away from 
adjacent tickets 10 in the bonded lottery stamp ticket book 8 is by 
constructing the tickets 10 from a material having a given degree of 
flexibility, such as paper, cardboard, paper board or foil and ensuring 
that the ratio of the thickness of the ticket 10 to the length of the 
ticket 10, as depicted by the L in FIG. 7, is sufficiently large to ensure 
the flexibility of the ticket 10. Generally, a ratio of length of the 
ticket 10 to thickness of the ticket 10 of 50:1 will confer sufficient 
flexibility to the ticket 10 so that it may be bent back away from 
adjacent tickets 10 in the bonded lottery stamp ticket book 8. The tickets 
may be 0.006 to 0.044 inch thick. In a preferred embodiment, the tickets 
are 0.015 to 0.044 inch thick. 
As shown in FIG. 9, a second means of conferring flexibility upon the 
tickets 10 is by providing a crease 28 between the binding region 16 and 
the tab 22. Providing such a crease 28 would allow the tickets 10 to 
naturally fold along the crease 28 so that each ticket may be bent away 
from adjacent tickets 10 in the bonded lottery stamp ticket book 8. The 
top ticket 10 in FIG. 9 is bent back along the crease 28, the second 
ticket 10 is not folded back, showing the crease 28 prior to folding. 
The bonded lottery stamp ticket book 8 described herein allows a person to 
play a unique lottery game wherein a bonded lottery stamp ticket book 8, 
substantially as described, is provided and the person playing the lottery 
game would displace the tabs 22 to reveal the indicia 14. A player may 
"win" by holding a bonded lottery stamp ticket book 8 containing indicia 
14 that provide a predetermined pattern. Bonded lottery stamp ticket books 
8 can be printed with only a defined percentage of the bonded lottery 
stamp ticket books 8 providing the predetermined pattern. Alternatively, a 
player of the lottery game would be required to match one of the indicia 
14 of the bonded lottery stamp ticket book 8 with an externally provided 
indicia. 
Having thus defined my invention in the detail and particularity required 
by the Patent Laws, what is desired to be protected by Letters Patent is 
set forth in the following claims.