Method of making promotional pop-up

Promotional pieces including pop-up structures and methods for mass production on a web press or the like are disclosed. After manipulating the web to create a double thickness in a region of two pop-up panels, die-cutting of the double-thickness region creates an identical pattern along edges of these panels which creates a desired artistic effect found earlier in hand-assembled items. These pieces may have a pop-up structure which includes a tunnel-like construction having apertures formed along a hinge line between two panels. Die-cutting may also be performed along both edges of a pair of folded-over pop-up panels.

This invention relates to the printed paper novelty items of various types. 
It more particularly relates to promotional items and to methods of making 
printed pieces on a web-press or the like, which pieces contain pop-ups of 
particular designs that move away from the plane of the piece upon 
opening. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Pop-ups have fairly recently become frequently used in advertising and in 
other promotional endeavors, whereas they had been used in the greeting 
card field and in children's books for a number of years. Such pop-up 
pieces have become generally available to the advertising field as a 
result of the developments shown in several earlier patents, particularly 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,995,388, issued Dec. 7, 1976, which discloses methods for 
making pop-up paper products having significant advantages over 
hand-assembly methods that had been generally theretofore employed. U.S. 
Pat. No. 4,146,983, issued Apr. 3, 1979, discloses other methods for 
making novel promotional items, particularly those which are designed to 
present a plurality of coupons or the like to a recipient upon the opening 
of a folder. U.S. Pat. No. 4,337,589 discloses manufacturing techniques 
specifically suited for mass production on a web-press or the like for 
making pop-up advertising pieces and the like. 
Although the foregoing patents describe workable manufacturing techniques 
for making such advertising and promotional pieces on a web-press or the 
like, die-cutting of such pieces has been restricted to areas of the blank 
set apart from lines along which creasing or folding occurs so as to avoid 
interfering with such folding operations. Development work has continued 
with respect to improving manufacturing methods and to providing other 
novel pop-up arrangements which are capable of manufacture on a web-press 
or the like, thus facilitating economical mass production at prices 
feasible to accommodate large-scale advertising or promotional 
presentations. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention provides promotional pop-up pieces of this general 
character which are attractive and unusual in design and which are adapted 
for fabrication by mechanical mass production, particularly as part of a 
web-press operation or the like. More particularly, the invention provides 
methods for printing a series of structurally identical blanks as a part 
of a continuous web of paper being fed through a web-press, each of which 
blanks following completion of fabrication, produces a structurally 
identical piece containing a pop-up of particularly artistic design. By 
the application of adhesive to selected locations on the web and by 
manipulation of various segments of the web, pieces are created having a 
pop-up structure formed of pop-up panels which are die-cut along one or 
both edges and move into a protruding posture upon opening of the piece. 
More specifically, the methods allow an aperture to be formed in both 
panels of a pop-up structure along a hinge line therebetween and also 
allow panels which form an interconnected pop-up structure to be die-cut 
at the same time to thus permit more elaborate contouring. The 
double-thickness web allows greater tension to be maintained on the 
individual folded ribbons and increases the overall running speed. Opening 
of the piece causes the artistically aesthetic pop-up structure to rise up 
and away from the planes of a pair of the basepieces.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a promotional piece 9 which can be formed 
from a continuous web 11, and FIG. 2 shows a region of the continuous web 
11, as it may be running on a web-printing press or the like, which region 
depicts a single printed blank 13 that has been appropriately 
preliminarily die-cut and which will eventually form the promotional piece 
9 that is illustrated in FIG. 1. The blank 13 is demarcated, for purposes 
of illustration, by a pair of dot-dash lines 17 that extend transversely 
to the direction of movement of web which is shown by the arrow, and which 
indicate the lines along which each folded blank will be severed from the 
next adjacent blank after fabrication is complete. Also shown in FIG. 2 is 
a dot-dash line 15, along which a longitudinal severing will occur during 
the handling of the blank, and five dotted lines 16a-16e along which 
folding of the web will occur. Such dotted lines may be actually be formed 
as lines of weakness in the web, as for example by pressing, scoring or 
slightly perforating as a part of the die-cutting operation; 
alternatively, they may be omitted and left to be formed as a result of 
the subsequent folding operations. It is generally satisfactory to simply 
rely upon the natural resiliency of the paper web to effect appropriate 
bending as a result of the placement of an adjacent line of adhesive 
without actually providing any line of weakness; however, lines of 
weakness are generally preferred because of the creation of a neater 
appearance in the final product. 
The same die-cutting and adhesive application steps are effected with 
respect to each of the successive blanks 13 of the continuous, sheet 
material web, which is preferably made of a suitable paper or paperboard 
material, glossy or matte finish as desired, but which might possibly be 
an appropriate plastic sheet material. As a part of the adhesive 
application step, a glue line 19a which generally extends longitudinally 
of the web is preferably applied to the upper surface of the web, as 
illustrated in FIG. 2. If desired, one or more of such glue lines could be 
applied to the undersurface of web, or they could be applied at a later 
stage during the fabrication process, as is done in this case. Although 
these are commonly referred to in the trade as glue lines, any suitable 
adhesive can be used in the fabrication process, such as a hot-melt or a 
solvent-based adhesive. Moreover, a heat-activated adhesive or an 
ultrasonic-activated adhesive or even a water-based adhesive might instead 
be applied, either before or after die-cutting, as by printing onto the 
continuous web, and in such an instance, the adhesive character of such 
printed glue lines may be sequentially activated, if desired, to effect 
specific attachment between specific parts by subjecting one or more of 
such glue lines to heat or ultrasonic energy or moisture spray, as 
appropriate, to activate such previously-applied adhesive. Alternatively, 
a final activation step could be carried out to finalize attachment at all 
lines of heat or ultrasonic activated adhesive. Although the glue line 19a 
is shown in FIG. 2 as having been applied to the web either before, during 
or after the die-cutting operation but before further manipulation takes 
place, this is optional, and it is acceptable for the glue line 19a to 
also be applied at a later stage of the fabrication process after the web 
has been slit into multiple ribbons. 
More specifically, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 a die-cutting 
operation is employed to create a first die-cut 21 which forms the upper 
edge of what will constitute a hidden pop-up panel 23 in the ultimate 
promotional piece 9. 
As will be explained hereinafter, a second die-cutting step is carried at a 
later stage after severing and folding a section of the web. The initial 
die-cut occurs along the left-end edge of the web and creates a series of 
spaced head parts 25 along a free edge of the pop-up panel 23, which head 
parts are separated from one another by short shoulder portions 25a which 
are aligned generally parallel to direction of the longitudinal movement 
of the web. Located in the web adjacent the right hand edge of the hidden 
pop-up panel 23 are two additional pop-up panels 27 and 29 which are 
hinged to each other along the dotted line 16c. The wider pop-up panel 27 
is divided by the dotted line 16b to include a subpanel 27a, and the 
narrower pop-up panel 29 is divided by the dotted line 16d to include a 
subpanel 29a. The right hand section of the web forms a pair of basepieces 
31 and 33 which are hinged to each other along a line 16e. The glue line 
19a, which is shown in FIG. 2 as a speckled representation, is exaggerated 
and depicted in solid black in FIGS. 3A through 3E so that this and the 
other glue lines will better stand out in these diagrammatical 
illustrations. 
As shown in FIG. 3A, the integral web 11 is slit longitudinally along the 
line 15 to form two ribbons using conventional slitting techniques. The 
left hand ribbon constitutes the three pop-up panels, and the right hand 
ribbon constitutes the two basepieces. The left hand portion of the pop-up 
ribbon constituting the series of pop-up panels 23 is folded onto the 
remainder of the ribbon as depicted. The folding can be carried out 
simultaneously with the slitting operation, or the slitting can either 
precede or follow the folding step. 
Next, as depicted in FIG. 3B, the once-folded pop-up ribbon is further 
manipulated so as to fold the superimposed panels 23 and 27 along the line 
16c so they overlie the remainder of the ribbon which constitutes the 
series of pop-up panels 29. Alternatively, the right hand portion of the 
ribbon constituting the pop-up panel 29 could be folded over the 
superimposed panels 23 and 27, and the twice-folded ribbon either turned 
180.degree. during the next step or placed upon the other basepiece. 
Following this folding step, a die-cutting step is carried out along the 
edge of the folded ribbon as illustrated in FIG. 3C, which die-cutting 
removes four sets of interconnected rectangles from panels 27 and 29 (as 
indicated in dotted outline in FIG. 2). This results in the creation of 
four spaced-apart apertures 35, which apertures are centered precisely 
along the line 16a and are aligned with the four head parts 25 of the 
hidden pop-up panel 23. 
As earlier indicated, if the line of adhesive 19a was not earlier applied, 
it should be applied to the panel 31 at this point. The twice-folded and 
die-cut pop-up ribbon is then shifted to the right into its desired 
position upon the basepiece 31, with the line of adhesive 19a in alignment 
with the subpanel 29a of the narrower pop-up panel 29. Once the folded 
ribbon is in place, an additional two lines of adhesive 19b and 19c (or a 
proportionally thicker line of adhesive) are applied to the upper surface 
of the subpanel 27a of the wider pop-up panel 27, as shown in FIG. 3D. 
Alternatively, the lines of adhesive 19b and 19c could have been applied 
to the basepiece 33 at the time of the application of the line of adhesive 
19a, preferably while it was still a part of the integral web. 
Thereafter, the portion of the ribbon constituting the basepiece 33 is 
folded over the pop-up ribbon to sandwich the pop-up structure between the 
two basepieces as depicted in FIG. 3E. If desired, the completely folded 
continuous web is then passed through compression rolls or the like to 
assure that a strong adhesive joinder is obtained. The left hand edge of 
the folded web can than be trimmed, as illustrated in FIG. 3E, by a 
suitable blade so that the two free edges of the basepieces are in clean 
alignment with each other. Finally, the web 11 is severed transversely, as 
diagrammatically indicated in FIG. 3F, to separate the continuous web into 
a plurality of structurally identical, flat-folded, promotional pieces of 
identical construction. Optionally, the left hand edges could be trimmed 
following severing into individual promotional pieces to provide the 
desired smooth edge which the recipient will usually grasp to open the 
piece. 
From comparing FIGS. 1 and 4A, it can be seen that, upon the opening of the 
promotional piece 9, an attractive pop-up structure is displayed, with the 
initial view being of the printed scene on the two basepieces plus the 
tunnel-like construction that is presented by the hinged together wide and 
narrow pop-up panels 27, 29, with the four sharply defined apertures 35 
prominently in view along the hinged edge therebetween. As the opening 
movement of the two basepieces continues, which is a relative pivoting 
movement along the straight hinge line 16e, the four head parts of the 
hidden panel 23 protrude through the apertures, changing the scene in an 
attention-attracting display. This protruding movement is halted when the 
shoulders 25a engage the hinge line 16c between the two panels, as seen in 
FIG. 4B, and any further relative movement that would tend to increase the 
amount of protrusion is simply taken up by bowing in the main body portion 
of the hidden panel 23. 
By die-cutting the apertures along the edge of the folded web, a 
tunnel-like construction having attractive apertures which extend into two 
hinged panels becomes possible whereas it would not have been possible to 
fold along a notched edge using conventional means. Thus, the invention 
provides a fabrication method for producing an attractive promotional or 
advertising piece or the like from a continuous web of sheet material from 
a web printing press which is particularly efficient and which allows the 
mass production of a complicated, multi-panel pop-up structure in an 
extremely economical manner, using manipulative operations which have 
become quite reliable and precisely reproducible and which can be carried 
out as a part of a web-press operation. 
Instead of locating the two basepieces adjacent each other in the blank and 
utilizing the natural hinge line that is provided by folding the web 
material along the straight line that demarcates the two basepieces to 
create the straight hinge line along which the two basepieces are swung 
open in the finished promotional piece, a false backbone can be created to 
provide such a hinge line or axis. Depicted in FIG. 5 is a web 51 printed 
to contain a plurality of blanks 53 adapted to form promotional pieces 55 
wherein the basepieces are interconnected by a false backbone to provide 
the straight hinge line or axis along which opening movement occurs. The 
blank 53 is laid out with basepieces 61 and 63 located generally 
centrally, and it is designed to be cut into three ribbons along the lines 
57a and b where longitudinal severing occurs. The blank is provided with 
three continuous lines of weakness 59a, b and c, as shown in FIG. 5. The 
false backbone is preferably defined by a transverse line of weakness 59d 
which extends completely across the web, although if desired, this line of 
weakness could be omitted; however, its presence provides a sharper, 
ultimate design by precisely defining the straight hinge line along which 
the basepieces pivot upon opening of the ultimate piece. The blank 53 
includes two pairs of pop-up panels 65, 67 and 69, 71, respectively, which 
are arranged in flanking relationship to the basepieces 61 and 63. The 
line of weakness 59a defines a hinge line between the pop-up panels 65 and 
67, and the line of weakness 59c defines a hinge line between the pop-up 
panels 69 and 71. For purposes of illustration, each of the pairs of 
pop-up panels is imprinted with a symmetrical object which, in this 
instance, is a tree, the outlines of which are shown in broken lines in 
FIG. 5. Glue patterns 73a through 73e are laid down at this time, although 
as earlier indicated, all or some of the adhesive can be applied at later 
stages of the manipulation process if desired. For example, the four 
triangular glue patterns, or lines along each hypotenuse thereof, might be 
applied at a later stage of fabrication. 
As shown in FIG. 6A, the web is slit along the lines 57a and 57b to create 
the three ribbons which respectively include a left hand ribbon containing 
the pop-up panels 65 and 67, a central ribbon containing the basepieces 61 
and 63, and a right hand ribbon containing the pop-up panels 69 and 71. As 
depicted in FIG. 6B, the right hand and left hand ribbons are folded in 
half, respectively along the lines of weakness 59c and 59a, to create 
ribbons of double thickness. Alternatively, if desired, the folding could 
be effected prior to the severing step. At the time of the folding of the 
ribbons along the common centerlines, the pop-up panels 65 and 67 and the 
panels 69 and 71, respectively, become affixed to each other as a result 
of the presence of the glue pattern 73a in the region of the false 
backbone. Next, as diagrammatically depicted in FIG. 6C, a die-cutting 
operation is carried out along the free edges of the narrower ribbons 
opposite from folded edges, i.e., along the outer edges of both of the 
folded, double-thickness ribbons. This die-cutting is carried out along 
the outline of the tree so as to create a symetrical pop-up structure in 
which the panels 69 and 71, for example, are mirror images of each other. 
The trim from the die-cutting is stripped from the outer edges of the 
right hand and left hand ribbons, and the double thickness of the ribbon 
permits greater tension to be maintained in the web which allows for 
higher running speed. 
As depicted in FIG. 6D, the ribbons are then displaced onto the central 
ribbon and located atop the portion thereof which constitutes the 
basepiece 63. Moreover, the panel 71 of the right hand ribbon is aligned 
with the triangular-shaped adhesive pattern 73e, and the left hand ribbon 
is aligned so that the underlying pop-up panel 65 is placed atop the 
triangular-shaped adhesive pattern 73d. As a result, there is adhesive 
joinder between the basepiece 63 and the pop-up panels 65 and 67 by the 
adhesive in the pattern 73a in the region of the backbones and by the 
triangular-shaped patterns 73d and 73e. 
Next, as depicted in FIGS. 6D and 6E, the basepiece 61 is folded about the 
central line of weakness of the web, the line 59b, so as to superimpose it 
atop the basepiece 63, sandwiching both of the pop-up structures 
therebetween. If the glue patterns 73b and 73c were not earlier applied to 
the basepiece 61, they could optionally be applied at this time to the 
pop-up panels 67 and 69. As a result of this final folding step, the false 
backbone is completed by the adhesive pattern 73a along the trailing edge 
of the basepiece 61, and there is a further interconnection established 
between the basepiece 61 and the pop-up panels 67 and 69 by means of the 
triangular glue patterns 73b and 73c, respectively, which are carried by 
the basepiece 61. Next, as depicted in FIG. 6F, the left hand edge of the 
folded web is trimmed or severed to remove the hinge line 69b, and 
preferably, a cleanup trim is effected along the right hand edge. An 
optional compression step may be carried out to assure strong joinder is 
achieved at the regions of adhesive, and the folded web is then cut 
transversely to produce the structurally identical promotional pieces 55. 
When the piece 55 is opened, as shown in FIG. 7, by pivoting the basepieces 
61 and 63 relative to each other along the composite straight line 
provided by the line of weakness 59d at the edge of the false backbone the 
two pop-up structures move away from the respective planes of the 
basepieces as a result of their affixation by the triangular glue patterns 
73b-e and are prominently displayed, extending, as shown in FIG. 7, in 
slightly diverging relationship to each other. The pop-up panels 69 and 71 
illustrate symmetrical halves of a tree, and the ability to contour both 
edges of the ultimate structure provides a striking artistic effect. 
Moreover, using conventional mass production methods, it is not possible 
to fold a ribbon having a width of about 2 inches or less, which the 
present invention avoids. Furthermore, folding of a ribbon becomes 
difficult when die-cutting produces regions where there is a transition 
from a narrow region to a wide region wherein the width of the wide 
region, measured from the line along which folding is to occur, is 2 or 
more times the width of the narrow region; again, the present method 
avoids such complications which would otherwise necessitate running at 
substantially slower speeds. 
FIG. 8 is a perspective view, generally similar to FIG. 7, showing still 
another alternative version of a promotional piece. The item 75 includes a 
pair of basepieces 77 and 79 and a pop-up structure 81 in the form of a 
pair of hinged together panels 83 and 85. The pop-up structure 81 is of 
particularly unusual artistic design for a piece 75 that can be produced 
on a mass production basis from a continuous web. A suitable web 87 is 
illustrated in FIG. 9 wherein a series of blanks 89 of similar structural 
configuration are formed, which web is laid out so that the pop-up panels 
83 and 85 are located to the left of the basepieces 77 and 79. A typical 
manufacturing method might sever the web into two ribbons along the line 
91 and then fold the narrower ribbon containing the pop-up panels 83 and 
85 along the line of weakness 93a so that the panel 83 is superimposed 
upon the panel 85. In this position, the two panels are interconnected by 
an adhesive pattern 95a either having the general configuration of the 
outline of the head portion of the pop-up structure or a plurality of 
strategically located individual strips, which pattern 95a is applied to 
the pop-up panel 85. The folded left hand ribbon, which has been folded 
along the line of weakness 93a, is then die-cut along both of its edges, 
i.e., the folded edge and the opposite edge, to produce the artistic 
figure outlined in broken lines in FIG. 9. Following such die-cutting and 
the removal of trim, the narrowed ribbon is displaced to a location over 
the wider ribbon, and again the double thickness of the die-cut narrower 
ribbon allows a greater tension to be maintained in the web. The die-cut 
ribbon is placed on the basepiece 79 with the hinged edge of the pop-up 
structure 81 that is defined by the fold line 93a being aligned with the 
line of weakness 93b. As a result, there is an affixation of the pop-up 
panel 85 to the basepiece 79 by the generally triangular adhesive pattern 
95c. Thereafter, the wider ribbon is folded along the line of weakness 93b 
so that the basepiece 77 is superimposed atop the basepiece 79 sandwiching 
the pop-up structure therebetween and effecting the further adhesive 
attachment between the basepiece 77 and the pop-up panel 83 by the 
generally triangular glue pattern 95b. As in the case of the other 
manufacturing methods described above, the right hand or free edge of the 
ribbon can be trimmed to present a clean appearance, and the usual 
compression and transverse severing steps can be effected to cut the 
continuous web into a plurality of identical promotional pieces 75. 
When the basepieces 77 and 79 are opened by pivoting along the hinge line 
93b, the pop-up structure 81 rises up from the planes of the basepieces to 
present a striking artistic appearance which is particularly designed to 
attract the attention of the recipient who opens the piece and thus cause 
the promotional message that is carried by the piece to be read and 
remembered. 
Although the invention has been described in respect of a number of 
preferred embodiments, which constitute the best mode known by the 
inventor for carrying out the invention, it should be understood that 
changes and modifications as would be obvious to one having the ordinary 
skill in this art may be made without deviating from the scope of the 
invention which is defined by the appended claims. Although reference has 
been frequently made to web-press operation as indicating that the design 
is capable of fabrication of a continuous web as it comes from a web 
press, if desired, the web could be re-rolled and then fabricated at a 
later time and, optionally, at a different speed. The series of blanks in 
each web are described as being structurally identical because, if 
desired, alternating blanks, for example, could be printed differently and 
possibly slightly different shaped head parts could be die-cut. Moreover, 
it should be understood that various of the folding operations that are 
illustrated could be replaced by severing a ribbon and then displacing it 
laterally. Furthermore, some die-cutting of one or both of the pop-up 
panels, in regions other than along the fold line, can be carried out 
before the initial folding step. Particular features of the invention are 
emphasized in the claims which follow.