A photo album assembled with the minimum use of machinery. Making use of a special designed multipurpose plastic holder, a stack of paper or a stack of plastic pockets, a plurality of posts and two pieces of special designed cover panels. By using the multipurpose plastic holder and special designed cover panels, the photo album may appear in different structural looks.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to a book system and, more particularly, 
pertains to maximizing the convenience and aesthetic appearance of 
photograph albums and like books while minimizing costs. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
Photo albums are commonly known to have a few binding methods which give 
different structural looks to the photo album. The most commonly used 
binding methods are: 1) binding with metal rings; 2) binding with spiral 
rings; 3) binding with nuts and screws; 4) binding with adhesive material; 
and 5) book binding. Most of these binding methods require expensive metal 
components to bind the covers and pages together such as metal rings, 
copper nuts and screws. These components add significant cost to 
production and inventory. Secondly, in order to apply these methods to 
produce photo albums, manufacturers have to invest more capital to 
purchase machinery as these binding methods require machines such as 
coiling machines, heat sealing machines, perfect binding machines, sewing 
machines, and the like. 
All of these methods create three similar problems to the manufacturers: 1) 
high cost of production; 2) low productivity; and 3) high capital 
investment for machinery. In order to have profit in the market, 
manufacturers have to think of ways to reduce their overheads either by 
using cheaper quality raw materials or by cutting wages on workers. 
Cutting wages on workers produce low morale and create poor incentives to 
produce any good quality products. 
One other hindrance exists besides the traditional binding methods 
hindering the development of the manufacturers in the photo album 
industry. This hindrance is the process of making the cover panels. 
Traditionally, cover panels are produced by wrapping printed paper to 
paperboard with adhesive material. This way of making the cover panel will 
incur massive work load which will increase production cost and high 
capital investment in machinery. But the most significant hindrance in the 
development for any innovative photo album is not just the cost but the 
designing structure of the photo album being produced. 
To most of the general public, a photo album is common and yet important. 
During the life of most of the consumers, there are hundreds of events of 
times they will take pictures, such as on weddings days, new birth of a 
child, birthdays, graduations and so forth. Every single photograph taken 
must be meaningful and precious to them. Therefore, it is very often and 
common for them to buy photo albums to store their memories which thy 
cherish. But an album that has high quality and yet is inexpensive to 
purchase is not commonly found in the market for their satisfaction. 
Thus, there exists a need in the market for a more versatile photo album 
that features high quality, elegance, economy and suitability for all 
occasions. In this regard, consumers need a novel album to help them 
cherish their photographs. The manufacturing form cover making to the 
binding of the album, a way that will benefit the manufacturers and the 
consumers. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In summary, the present invention essentially comprises a book comprising a 
spine formed of a plurality of walls including a front wall and a rear 
wall, each with an axial recess therewithin, the spine also having a 
plurality of panels including a top panel and a bottom panel with the top 
panel and bottom panel being in parallel relationship with each other 
adjacent to the top of the walls and adjacent to the bottom of the walls, 
the walls and panels being in a rectilinear configuration with an open 
planar face from which pages may extend and a closed face opposite 
therefrom, and with the walls being formed with circular apertures for the 
receipt of pins therethrough; a plurality of pins passing through at least 
some of the side walls to retain the pages in position; and a plurality of 
pages positioned within the spine and extending outwardly in a direction 
away from the closed face for the removable receipt of photographs and 
like image-bearing documents for maximized convenience and aesthetic 
appearance with minimized cost. 
The principle objective of the invention, therefore, is to provide a new 
and improved album that is totally different from the traditional album, 
one that is simple and inexpensive to manufacture, one that has supreme 
quality yet reasonable price to the consumers, and one that may be 
versatile in accommodating photographs of all occasions. 
In general, the invention of the photo album is comprised of: 1) a 
specially designed multipurpose plastic spine; 2) a plurality of posts; 3) 
a stack of plastic pockets filled with printed paper or blank paper; 4) 
two pieces of specially designed cover panels; and 5) design materials for 
cover. 
The binder of the album is an important part to a photo album as it 
functions very much like the spine of the human being. It is the main 
component holding the member parts of the photo album together. 
Traditional photo albums are comprised of two cover panels, album pages as 
a means of storage of photographs, and a means of connection such as metal 
rings, nuts and screws, adhesive material, and/or spiral rings to hold the 
parts together. The present invention is a new concept relating to the 
means of connecting the panels and the album pages together. Instead of 
utilizing the above mentioned traditional connection means, the present 
invention uses a plastic spine as a means of connection. This new means of 
connection will give the photo album industry a new method of production 
by providing different structural looks to the photo album and, most 
importantly, an improved new product to the consumers. 
To produce photo album pages for the storage of photographs, the present 
invention uses a stack of transparent plastic pockets and a plurality of 
posts. The transparent pockets are first filled with printed papers. They 
are then aligned. The stack of plastic pockets are folded symmetrically 
face to face and hung on the posts. Next, the posts are pushed into the 
slots located in both ends of the specially designed holder that serves as 
the spine of the photo album and then are locked tight. Photo albums 
produced by using this method will be similar in appearance to those 
produced by using the ring binding, spiral binding and the heat sealing 
binding. 
Another type of album page that can be utilized with the plastic spine is a 
transparent plastic sleeve which has the left and right sides open thus 
allowing photographs to insert from the side farthest from the spine. The 
advantages for photographs inserting from the side farthest from the spine 
will help manufacturers save a lot of material. This orientation also 
provides more convenience for consumers when inserting photographs as 
opposed to most of the photo albums found in the market which are designed 
for inserting photographs from the side nearest to the spine. 
The cover panels are made of a plastic molding skeleton. The skeleton 
basically consists of two frames connected by supporting bridges. The 
outer frame is shorter than the inner frame which, when adhered with cover 
materials such as printed paperboards, produces a sloping effect on the 
cover. The edges of the outer frame are very special, as there are grooves 
created. The purpose of the groove is to give the edges a very unique 
finishing. 
By using the present methods to produce cover panels, such as using printed 
paper wrapping onto paperboard, much work is involved and material is 
wasted. But the most important disadvantage as mentioned previously is 
that designers are limited only to the changing of artwork designs with 
printed paper and cannot go beyond this concept. In the present invention, 
the designers are provided an opportunity to go beyond the traditional 
way. Now there is a wild and wide sky for them to realize their creation. 
Designers can now employ different materials such as fabric, embossed 
cardstock, metal plates and even actual ornamental materials and 
three-dimensional designs to create the cover. One of the advantages of 
this multipurpose specially designed cover panel is consumers are given an 
option to put their own favorite design or photograph in the front cover. 
This is accomplished by simply compressing the sponged area in the cover 
panel and placing their desired artwork or material over the original 
design. 
Once the album pages are installed into the multipurpose spine, the two 
cover panel hinges and the spine cover are next simply installed to the 
gaps provided in the multipurpose spine, then retained and locked tightly 
in the spine by the use of the posts. In this manner, the assembly of the 
photo album is completed. 
In view of the foregoing, the invention may be summarized as a book system 
with pages comprising an album for the removable receipt of photographs 
and like image-bearing documents. The book system includes a spine formed 
of a plurality of walls including a front wall and a rear wall. Each front 
and rear wall has an axial recess therewithin. The spine also has a 
plurality of panels including a top panel and a bottom panel with the top 
panel and bottom panel being in parallel relationship with each other 
adjacent to the top of the walls and adjacent to the bottom of the walls. 
The walls and panels are in a rectilinear configuration with an open 
planar face from which pages may extend and a closed face opposite 
therefrom. The walls are formed with circular apertures for the receipt of 
pins therethrough. A plurality of pins pass through at least some of the 
side walls to retain the pages in position. A plurality of pages are 
positioned within the spine and extend outwardly in a direction away from 
the closed face. 
These together with other objects of the invention, along with the various 
features of novelty which characterize the invention, are pointed out with 
particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this 
disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating 
advantages and the specific objects attained by its uses, reference should 
be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which there 
is illustrated preferred embodiments of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to FIGS. 1 through 11 
thereof, the preferred embodiment of the new and improved book system 
embodying the principles and concepts of the present invention will be 
described. 
The present invention, the new and improved book system with pages 23, is a 
system comprised of a plurality of components. Such components, in their 
broadest context, include a spine including four walls, two panels and an 
arcuate face, cylindrical posts, spine pins, an outboard spine pin, a 
plurality of pages, front and back covers, and a flexible sheet. Each of 
the individual components is specifically configured and correlated one 
with respect to the other so as to attain the desired objectives. 
The present invention is essentially a book or album system with pages 23 
for the removable receipt of photographs and like image-bearing documents. 
The system as set forth hereinbelow is designed for maximized convenience 
and aesthetic appearance with minimized manufacturing cost, thus lowering 
the purchasing cost to the consumer. 
The first component of the system is a spine 1. The spine includes four 
walls, an interior front wall 3 and an exterior front wall 4 and an 
interior rear wall 6 and an exterior rear wall 5. All of the walls are 
planar in essentially parallel relationship with each other. The interior 
and exterior front walls are closely spaced and the interior and exterior 
rear walls are closely spaced. An enlarged opening is formed therebetween 
for the receipt of pages 23,. The spine includes two panels, a top panel 7 
and a bottom panel 8. The top panel and bottom panel are in parallel 
relationship with each other and coupled at the top of the walls and at 
the bottom of the walls for the receipt of pages 23 therebetween. The four 
walls and two panels are in a rectilinear configuration with an open 
planar face from which pages 23 may extend and a closed arcuate face 
opposite therefrom. The arcuate face includes three sets of curved fingers 
14, 15 on each interior wall to define a curvature opposite from the open 
planar face. The interior faces of the panels are formed with a 
rectilinear section with indentations 13 opening toward the arcuate face 
for the receipt of ends of posts 22 therewithin. The walls are formed with 
circular inboard apertures 12 and outboard apertures 11a, 11b for the 
receipt of inboard spine pins 21a and at least one outboard spine pin 21b 
therethrough. 
Next provided as a major component of the system are a plurality of 
cylindrical posts 22. The cylindrical posts have opposite ends adapted to 
be received in the indentations 13 of the rectilinear sections for the 
receipt of pages 23 therearound. 
The third major component of the system is a pair of inboard spine pins 
21a. The spine pins pass through the side walls to retain the posts in 
position within the recesses. The present invention contains at least one 
outboard spine pin 21b. This spine pin passes through the side walls and 
through apertures 32 in the pages 23. 
Further provided as a major component of the system are a plurality of 
pages 23 of an extended length. The pages are formed with a central fold 
line adapted to be positioned over the posts and to extend outwardly in a 
direction away from the arcuate face. The pages have apertures 32 for the 
receipt of the outboard spine pins 21b. 
Next provided are a front cover 17 and a back cover 18. The front and back 
covers are formed each in a generally rectangular configuration with an 
inner edge adapted to be received between an interior wall and an exterior 
wall at the open face. 
Lastly provided as a component of the system is a flexible sheet 16. The 
sheet is in a semi-cylindrical configuration having free parallel edges 
positioned between the interior and exterior walls at the closed face and 
overlying the curved fingers. The sheet functions as a cover for the 
spine. 
Function of the Spine 
Referring now to the figures in general, FIG. 1 is the outlook of the 
assembled photo album. FIG. 2 shows a specially designed plastic holder, 
which will be described as the spine 1 throughout the following text. With 
the use of the spine 1, manufacturers are able to produce different 
structures of photo albums. Manufacturers can either produce photo albums 
with transparent plastic pockets filled with printed paper and hung onto 
posts and locked to the spine, or transparent plastic pockets filled with 
printed paper and locked to the spine 1 with the use of a specially 
designed plate 2. 
According to FIG. 2, the spine 1 is a plastic injection molding in a 
rectangular shape. There are four panels of plastic paired up to make up 
two plastic walls 3,4 and 5,6 facing opposite each other pair. The main 
function of the plastic walls 3,4 and 5,6 is to hold the spine 1 together 
and to hold the other members of the photo album together. There are three 
types of holes or apertures, 11a, 11b, and 12, punched in the plastic 
walls 3,4 and 5,6. The holes or apertures 11a, 11b are for the posts 21a 
to lock the album pages from outside. The holes or apertures 12 are 
provided for the posts 21b to lock the album pages from the inside and 
will be penetrating the album pages as well so that the album pages are 
basically unmovable and stay within the spine 1 as shown in FIG. 3. If 
this is not accomplished, there is a possibility that the posts 22 will 
get curved or bent by the force created by flipping the album pages filled 
with photographs. The holes or apertures 11a, 11b, and 12 punched in the 
plastic walls 5,6 are penetrated completely. As for the holes or apertures 
11a, 11b, 12 punched in the plastic wall 3,4, they penetrate the inner 
panel 3 completely, but only half of the outer panel 4. The major use of 
these holes or apertures 11a, 11b, and 12 is to allow the posts 21a, 21b 
as shown in FIG. 3 to lock the album pages 23 hanging onto the posts 22 to 
the spine 1. The post 21b inserting into the aperture 12 is only 
applicable to the album pages hanging onto the posts 22 and is not used 
for any other types of album pages bound to the spine 1 with at least two 
posts 21a vertically inserted. This type of album pages are first 
installed to a plate 2 with two tubes 41 standing in the front surface as 
shown in FIG. 7 then locked to the spine 1 by inserting the posts 21a into 
the hollow tubes 41 provided in the plastic plate 2. 
On the two opposite ends of the spine 1, there are two pieces of curved 
plastic panel 7,8 serving to hold the plastic panel walls 3,4 and 5,6 
together to form the spine 1. Another use of these two pieces of curved 
plastic panel 7,8 is to act as a stopper to retain the album pages within 
the spine 1 as shown in FIG. 8. There are two gaps or apertures 9, 10 
created in between the two pairs of plastic walls 3,4 and 5,6. The main 
use of these two apertures 9, 10 is to allow the front cover hinge 19, the 
back cover hinge 20, and the spine cover sheet 16 to insert inside with 
the posts 21a going through the apertures in the hinges 19, 20 and spine 
cover sheet 16. The cover hinges 19, 20 and the spine cover sheet 16 are 
retained to the spine 1 by the posts 21a, since the apertures 11a, 11b in 
one of the plastic panel 4 is only penetrated halfway. The posts 21a can 
lock into the spine 1 firmer. The diameter of the posts 21a, 21b should be 
slightly less than the diameter of the holes 11a, 11b, 12 in the spine 1. 
The length of the posts 21a, 21b should be less than the width of the 
spine 1. 
There are a plurality of indentations 13 in each end of the spine 1. The 
indentations 13 are for the use of placing the album pages 23 hanging onto 
the posts 22. The number of indentations 13 in the spine 1 will be 
determined by how many photographs the photo album will accommodate. There 
are some supporting bridges 14, 15 in the spine 1. The bridges 14, 15 are 
not connected as shown in the illustration because the album pages 23 
hanging on posts 22 are to be placed to the indentations 13 from the front 
through the openings of the bridges 14, 15, as placing the album pages 23 
from the back of the spine 1 is not possible. The main function of the 
connecting bridges 14, 15 is to give the spine cover sheet 16 support and 
help keep the proper shape. 
It is important to mention that the drawings and the descriptions of the 
spine above merely serve as an example of the invention to the concept of 
using a spine as a new means of binding the member parts of a photo album 
together. Therefore, it is not limited to the material and shape mentioned 
above. 
PHOTO ALBUM PAGES 
There will be three types of album pages introduced. These three types of 
album pages are designed to accommodate to the spine 1. Basically two 
types of the album pages are hung onto the posts and one type of album 
page is inserted into a specially designed plastic plate 2 and locked to 
the spine 1 with at least two posts 21 that function like a ring binder. 
1) TRANSFORMING A THREE-SIDED SEALED DUAL LAYER PLASTIC INTO TWO SHEETS OF 
ALBUM PAGE 
FIG. 4A shows a single pocket slot-in photo album page. Two pieces of 
identical size printed paper 25 are inserted into a transparent plastic 
pocket 24. The length from top to bottom of the transparent plastic pocket 
24 should be equal to the length of the printed paper 25 from top to 
bottom, the combined width measured left to right of the two printed paper 
25 should be less than the width of the transparent plastic pocket 24 
measured from left to right and as a result there will be a gap 26 created 
in between the two printed papers 25. The gap 26 has two main functions: 
one of the functions is acting as a divider when the transparent plastic 
pocket 24 is folded in half symmetrically creating two album pages 23; and 
the second function is to allow the album pages 23 to hang onto the post 
22. There will be two holes 32 drilled in the center of the plastic pocket 
24 opposite each other using the gap 26 as a divider which are used for 
the insertion of a post 22 to lock the album pages firmly to the spine 1. 
The holes 32 must be in accordance with the hole 12 in the spine 1. When 
the transparent plastic pocket filled with printed papers is folded 
symmetrically into two halves, two sheets of album pages or four pages of 
album pages 23 with four pockets are created. The photographs are inserted 
into the album pages 23 from the top. A plurality of album pages 23 may 
hang to one post 22 depending on how many photographs the photo album is 
designed to accommodate. The last step is to install the posts 22 with 
album pages 23 to the indentations 13 in the spine 1 and lock tight with 
at least two posts 21a in the outside and one post 21b in the inside as 
shown in FIG. 3. 
2) HEAT-SEALING TRANSENT PLASTIC TO MAKE PHOTO ALBUM PAGES AS A MEANS OF 
STORAGE 
Referring now to FIG. 8, one piece of printed paper 37 is inserted into a 
transparent plastic sleeve 36 with the left and right being open, the top 
and bottom sealed. The height of the printed paper 37 should be equal or 
less than the height of the transparent plastic sleeve 36 measuring from 
top to bottom. Two strips of thicker paper 34,39 are adhered in the two 
extreme left and right sides of the printed paper 37, the left will be the 
page hinge 39 and the right will be the memo writing strip 34. The 
combined width of the transparent plastic sleeve 36, the memo writing 
strip 34 and the page hinge 39 should be less than the width of the 
printed paper 37 measuring left to right. FIG. 8 is an example of a double 
pocket page, and therefore one row of at least two round holes 40 are 
drilled and acts as a boundary to divide the printed paper 37 into two 
equal halves. When the album page is designed to accommodate three photos, 
then there will be two rows of round holes to divide the album page into 
three equal parts. There will be two holes 38 punched in the page hinge 
39, the holes 38 should be in accordance to the holes 11a, 11b in the 
spine 1 and the hollow tubes 41 in the plate 2 as shown in FIG. 7. When 
assembling the album pages to the spine 1, the album pages are inserted 
into the plastic plate 2 first as illustrated in FIG. 7, then the plastic 
plate 2 will lock to the spine 1 by inserting posts 21a through the hollow 
tubes 41. 
Another function of the memo writing strip 34 is to act as a stopper that 
prevents the photographs from falling out since the photographs are 
inserted from the side farthest from the spine or in the side where the 
memo writing strip 34 is. The advantage of inserting from this side is 
making insertion of the photographs easy and smooth in comparison to the 
existing products on the market. In most of the photo albums on the market 
photos have to be inserted from the side nearest to the spine which is 
very difficult because the album pages near the spine will be bulging up 
and making the insertion difficult. The only way to make insertion easy 
from the side closest to the spine is to use a wider space which means 
more raw material and in turn higher material cost. 
The major reason why this invention is using circular apertures instead of 
rectangular holes used in the market is because circular apertures could 
be drilled, which means a big pile of paper can be drilled at one time. As 
for the rectangular holes seen in the market, these would have to use a 
metal die to cut. Die-cutting will only die cut a few pages at one time 
which is a very expensive part of the production process. 
One of the special features will be introduced at the back of the cover 
panels, either in the front panel or in the back cover panel, or even on 
both cover panels. A piece of printed paper 66 with specific contents will 
be adhered to the back of the cover panel as shown in FIG. 8. A plurality 
of photo covers will be supplied with each photo album. The contents such 
as the name of the owner, special occasions, address and so forth will be 
included. The photo covers are used to retain the owner's selected 
photograph. In one of the backs of the cover panel, a pouch for the 
storage of negatives will be provided. The first page of the photo album 
is a full color printing illustrating the effect of the photo album page 
when filled with photographs. This page is used as a decoration to the 
photo album and as a guideline as illustrated in FIG. 8. 
COVER PANELS/FRONT COVER PANEL 
In this invention, there are two types of cover panels to be introduced. 
Both types can be used as the front cover panel and/or the back cover 
panel. FIG. 9 is an illustration of a plastic injection molding which is 
the skeleton of the front cover panel in this example. The skeleton is 
basically plastic molding and consists of two frames connected by a number 
of bridges 54 to give sufficient support for the two frames to hold to 
each other and to have enough support to be a cover panel. The front of 
the inner frame 57 should be slightly taller than the front of the outer 
frame 58 which gives the cover panel a sloping effect, but the back of 
both the inner frame 57 and the outer frame 58 is even or flat. When a 
backing paperboard or cardboard is adhered to the back of the plastic 
molding, some space in the form of a tray 53 is created as shown in FIG. 9 
and FIG. 9A. In FIG. 9B and FIG. 9C the tray 53 is for the display of a 
selected design or a display of an actual ornamental object or some kind 
of three-dimensional design, which will be described in detail later. 
One of the very special features of the front cover panel is that as 
illustrated in FIG. 9A, FIG. 9B, and FIG. 9C, the three edges that are 
farthest from the spine 1 are made round and curving inward up and down 
which creates a groove 55. The purpose of designing such groove 55 in the 
front cover panel is to give the front cover panel a very unique look. As 
there will be designed or printed paperboards 61 adhering to the front of 
the front cover panel in order to complete the making of the front cover 
panel, the edges of the printed paperboards 61 will somehow fit into the 
groove 55 and give the cover panel a natural and smooth finishing look. 
There must be some kind of hinge that permits the spine 1 to connect the 
cover panel together. As shown in FIG. 9C and FIG. 10, the side closest to 
the spine 1 has no groove 55, and the printed paperboard 61 in this side 
is designed to be longer and will eventually meet up and seal together to 
become one piece that serves as a cover hinge 19 as outlined in FIG. 9C. 
At least two holes or apertures 67 are punched in the cover hinge as 
illustrated in FIG. 10. These apertures 67 must be in accordance with the 
holes 11a, 11b punched in the spine 1 so that the posts 21a will be able 
to retain the cover hinge 19 within the apertures 9,10 provided in the 
spine 1. 
There are three different structures to the front cover, which will give 
the front cover three different appearances when completed. One of the 
structures is two pieces of well die-cut and designed paperboards 
cardboard adhered to both sides of the skeleton of the cover panel. In 
this case, the paperboards or cardboard will be covering the outer frame 
58, inner frame 57, and the tray 53 as well. In this manner, the edges of 
the paperboards or cardboard 61 are hidden within the groove 55. As 
mentioned above, the side closest to the spine 1 has no groove 55 in which 
case the paperboards 61 are designed to be longer for the creation of the 
cover hinge 19. The front covers produced with this method will be similar 
to the front covers commonly found in the market except the groove 55, 
which is a special feature in this invention. 
Producing a totally different structural look of the front cover with the 
same piece of plastic molding M is possible with the method describe 
below. As described above, the plastic molding M is basically formed by 
two frames 57,58 and connected by a number of supporting bridges 54, and 
the inner frame 57 is taller than the outer frame. Therefore, designers 
will make use of the height difference to place a piece of design in the 
tray space 53. In FIG. 9, there are two horizontal plastic bars 56 in the 
top and bottom of the plastic molding M. These two plastic horizontal bars 
play a very important role in this method of making the front cover. FIG. 
9A is a cross-sectional view of the plastic molding M. As shown, the 
horizontal bars 56 are actually in a lower position than the inner frame 
57, the supporting bridges 54 in the top and bottom are made differently 
than the other supporting bridges in the left and right side, a portion of 
the supporting bridges 54 are eliminated in the lower portion and create 
some empty space inbetween the inner frame and the supporting bridges 54 
as illustrated in FIG. 9A. A similar length of sponge 62 is adhered along 
the horizontal bars 56, and the height of the sponge 62 is taller than the 
horizontal bars 56 as shown in FIG. 9A. A piece of cardboard 59 with 
designs will be slotted within the inner frame and supported by the sponge 
62. In instances when consumers want to place their own favorite design 
all they need to do is just simply place their design on top of the 
original design and compress to allow the design to slot within the space 
between the inner frame 54 and the horizontal bars 56. In this manner, the 
design should be retained within the space between the inner frame 54 and 
the horizontal bars 56 by the natural elasticity of the sponge 62 and the 
inner frame 54 and the horizontal bars 56 acting as a stopper leaving no 
empty space for the design to move. This is best illustrated in FIG. 9B. 
Printed cardboard 61 will be adhered to the front and back of the plastic 
molding M as shown in FIG. 9B. As in the method described above, the hinge 
19 will be made by the same way. 
Designers are allowed to make the best use of the tray space 53 created by 
the height difference between the two frames 57,58. An actual ornamental 
object or three-dimensional design according to the size of the tray space 
53 can be displayed within and protected by a piece of clear glass or a 
rigid clear plastic. 
It is very necessary to point out why the invention for the cover panel 
uses two frames 54,55 with supporting bridges 54 connected together 
instead of using a complete piece of plastic panel. There are three major 
reasons. The first reason, of course, is because of the different changes 
that can be done with such plastic molding M. The second reason is to 
minimize the usage of raw material such as the amount of plastic to 
minimize cost. The third reason relates to the weight of the photo album 
which could be very heavy when filled with photographs. Therefore 
manufacturers should make use of any opportunity to produce a lighter 
photo album whenever possible by using less raw material or lighter raw 
material. FIG. 16 is the appearance of the front cover when completed. 
KAGING & LABELING 
Packaging is usually the final stage in production. There are many types of 
packaging for the photo album. One of the most expensive ways is by 
packing each photo album in a box thereby protecting each individual photo 
album from being scratched and damaged. In addition, all the advertisement 
and particulars are printed on the individual boxes creating one of the 
best packaging methods but also one of the most expensive. One of the most 
economical ways of packaging is by shrink wrapping. A piece of styrofoam 
will be placed inside the photo album for cushioning and protection, a 
piece of paper printed with all the particulars and advertisements will be 
placed together with the photo album and shrink wrapped together. A 
drawback to the shrink wrapping method is that it does not give the 
packaging an elegant look and sometime even makes the photo album less 
elegant. The reason is because there will be gaps uncovered along the 
three sides other than the side with a solid spine, and therefore when the 
photo album is being shrink wrapped with heat, the photo album may be 
damaged or become uneven. 
FIG. 11 illustrates the method of packaging in this invention. It will be 
more or less the combination of the two methods described above by taking 
the advantages of these two methods. A piece of corrugated cardboard 75 
will be used here, all the advertisements will be directly printed on this 
corrugated cardboard 75 or adhered to a piece of printed paper adhered to 
the corrugated cardboard 75. This piece of corrugated cardboard 75 will be 
folded into three parts which will look very much like a U shape. As there 
are four sides to a photo album, one side with a spine and the other three 
sides empty or open without support, the U-shaped corrugated cardboard 
will be placed to cover these three sides and making every side of the 
photo album with a solid support. Then the whole piece will be shrink 
wrapped. The advantage of this method is that the photo album will be well 
protected and looks as elegant as packaging with an individual box, but 
the cost is very economical and without blocking the original designs in 
the cover of the photo album. 
FIG. 12 illustrates an alternate form of a page. The page 76 of FIG. 12 is 
adapted to be folded along a central fold line 77. It has transparent 
plastic sheets 78 top and bottom with an opaque paper 79 therein. The 
paper extends beyond the free edges of the transparent plastic to provide 
a region 80 on both sides for writing notations. In addition, circular 
holes 81 are formed in the paper whereby the plastic above and below may 
be heat sealed together to generate four pockets on each side of each 
sheet for a total of eight pockets. 
FIGS. 13 through 16 are directed to embodiments employing an integrally 
formed spine 82. Such spine has integrally molded side walls similar to 
the separate side walls of the prior embodiments and with arcuate supports 
83 bridging the opposed side walls. The arcuate supports provide greater 
support for the spine cover sheet 84. In such embodiment, the spine cover 
sheet 84 is preferably formed integrally with the front cover 85 and back 
cover 86. This allows the interior edges of the pages to form a convex 
cross section conforming to the curvature of the supports 83. As can be 
seen in FIGS. 15 through 19, this presents the appearance of an expensive 
bound book with a concave edge 85 formed by the exterior free edges of the 
pages. 
In these embodiments, the recesses 86 in the side walls are formed on the 
lateral faces and take a dove-tail configuration. By constructing the 
spine cover and front and back covers integrally, a flexible linear extent 
thereof front and back may be positioned within the recesses with a 
supplemental cylindrical rod 87 positioned within the recess to hold the 
entire assembly together during operation and use. In such embodiment, the 
page pins 88 extending through apertures in the pages functions to hold 
the pages in their proper orientation. In these embodiments, it is 
preferred that the page pin extend through an aperture in one side wall of 
the spine into a cylindrical recess on the opposite side thereof. 
Minor modifications of these embodiments can be seen in reference to FIGS. 
16, 17, 18 and 193. In such embodiments, the front cover, back cover and 
back spine are shown to appear essentially integral in the embodiments of 
FIGS. 16 and 17. In the FIG. 18 embodiment, the top and bottom plates are 
formed integrally with the side walls whereas in FIG. 19, the top and 
bottom plates are eliminated to show the full extent of the top and bottom 
of the sheets. 
As to the manner of usage and operation of the present invention, the same 
should be apparent from the above description. Accordingly, no further 
discussion relating to the manner of usage and operation will be provided. 
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the 
optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the invention, to 
include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of 
operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to 
one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those 
illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are 
intended to be encompassed by the present invention. 
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the 
principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and 
changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired 
to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and 
described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may 
be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.