A mailing envelope for being stuffed with a bulky insert comprising a rectangular envelope having cutouts formed in the bottom two corners, the cutouts being cut in a straight line at a 45 degree angle to an edge, and the depth measured along an edge from the corner being no more than 0.158 of the height of the envelope. In another embodiment of the invention, slits along a diagonal are utilized instead of the cutouts.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to a mailing envelope and more particularly to a 
mailing envelope with improved stuffing characteristics. 
Machine enclosing of large quantities of mail requires envelopes of 
sufficient capacity. Some envelopes are made considerably larger than the 
media planned for enclosure while others provide pleated ends to allow for 
greater opening of the envelope to accommodate larger contents due to the 
difficulty of opening the conventional mailing envelope wide enough to 
receive the inserts. As size and complexity increase, the cost increases 
accordingly. 
The stuffing of bulky material into envelopes for mailing is generally done 
by hand because the corners of the envelope tend to resist full opening of 
the envelope, and a positive effort is required to make the insertion of 
the contents to overcome the friction present since gravity or other 
conventional mechanical means can not be relied upon for consistent, 
complete insertion of the contents. 
The presence of the corners of the envelope interferes with the use of 
suction on the sides of the envelope to fully open the envelope so that 
machine filling of the envelopes is not practical. As a result of the 
preceding, manual stuffing of envelopes with bulky material is still in 
general use with the consequence that such activity is expensive and not 
efficient. 
In U.S. Pat. No. 753,943 there is shown a mailing envelope with a corner 
missing to permit the use of two envelopes to prevent the exposure of the 
name of the writer. 
U.S. Pat. No. 897,778 discloses an envelope with a notch to permit the 
envelope to be used for both mailing and filing. 
U.S. Pat. No. 2,356,078 shows an envelope for holding metallic objects for 
dipping into rust-resisting solutions, open corners being provided to 
permit the excess solution to run out. The patented envelope is not a 
mailing envelope. 
U.S. Pat. No. 2,949,223 illustrates a file and mail envelope. In this 
arrangement, the flaps are designed so that when the envelope is opened it 
can be used as a folder for filing. 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,578,791 discloses an envelope with a triangular cutout at 
one corner so that when the insert is removed it will slice open the 
envelope. 
None of the preceding patents teaches or suggests the present invention. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In the present invention there is provided a mailing envelope constructed 
in a manner to facilitate the machine filling or stuffing of the envelope 
with bulky inserts. 
An envelope constructed according to the principles of this invention 
provides an inexpensive envelope which for its size provides a much larger 
opening from top to bottom of the envelope for enclosure, with the opening 
at the lower extremity of the envelope equal to the opening at the top of 
the envelope so that no resistance however slight is encountered by the 
entering media. 
A preferred embodiment of the invention consists of an envelope having a 
closed bottom and side edges and an open top with a flap. The bottom two 
corners at the ends of the bottom edge are cut away so that the side walls 
of the envelope are more readily separated to permit the bulky insert to 
be dropped or placed into the envelope. 
In another embodiment of the invention the mailing envelope is provided 
with oppositely facing, diagonally arranged slits on both sides of both 
bottom corners. This arrangement also facilitates the filling of the 
envelope with a bulky insert. 
It is thus a principal object of this invention to provide a mailing 
envelope which is machine stuffable with bulky inserts. 
Other objects and advantages of this invention will hereinafter become 
obvious from the following description of preferred embodiments of this 
invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Referring to FIG. 1, envelope 5 is of conventional design made of paper 
having a flap 6 which is open at the top in preparation for inserting a 
bulky package of material (not shown). It will be noted that the bottom of 
the envelope at 7 is pushed up to accomodate the separation of the side 
walls which narrow down to corners 8. 
It has been found that in the use of envelope 5 to receive a bulky insert, 
such insert has to be pushed in manually because the material will not 
drop by gravity all the way into the envelope due to resistance around the 
bottom corners of the envelope. Consequently, it is not feasible to employ 
machine filling of such envelopes. 
Referring to FIG. 2, envelope 10 embodying the principles of this invention 
is identical to envelope 5 except that the lower corners are cut off 
forming cutouts 12 at 45 degree angles to the sides. Envelope 10 is 
provided with a flap 14 foldable along fold line 16 to close the envelope 
as is understood in the art, with closed side edges 17 and a closed bottom 
edge 18. It will be seen that the corners of the contents 19 protrude from 
cut outs 12. 
As seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, when the top of envelope 10 is opened to receive 
its insert, bottom edge 18 remains straight instead of being distorted as 
shown for the conventional envelope seen in FIG. 1, but is raised 
slightly. Side edges 17 move slightly inwardly so that the opening of the 
envelope at the bottom adjacent edge 18 is equal in width to the opening 
at the top, the entry point of the insert. 
The presence of cutouts 12 permits the bottom and side edges 18 and 17 to 
tend to flatten out as seen in FIG. 4 to produce an opening into envelope 
10 which accomodates the insert without the need for any pushing to 
overcome frictional resistance. 
In FIG. 4 is shown schematically the use of vacuum tubes 24 and 26 which 
can be conveniently used to open envelope 10 uniformly for machine 
loading. 
It has been found that for the use of cutouts 12 to work effectively, they 
must be at or about 45 degrees as illustrated (that is, the removed edge 
along the side must equal the removed edge along the bottom) and the ratio 
of the distance A to B, seen in FIG. 2 must be at least 0.158. 
In those situations where it may not be desired to expose the corners of 
the inserted material, the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 may be employed. 
Envelope 30 similar to envelope 5 shown in FIG. 1 is provided with a pair 
of slits 32 at each of the bottom corners as illustrated. Slits 32 are 
straight, aligned with each other at each corner, and placed at a 45 
degree angle as are cutouts 12 previously described. The same minimum 
ratio of at least 0.158 applies in this embodiment as well. This 
arrangement provides an improved opening over that of the conventional 
envelope shown in FIG. 1 although not obtaining the full advantages 
obtained from the use of the cutouts. 
There has thus been described and illustrated a new and novel envelope 
design of inexpensive and economical construction which for a given size 
provides a much larger opening from top to bottom of the envelope for 
enclosure. 
While only certain preferred embodiments of this invention have been 
disclosed, it is understood that many variations are possible without 
departing from the principles of this invention as defined in the claims 
which follow.