ARTICLES OF STATIONERY

Abstract: An article of stationery (1) comprises a card (2), a layer of adhesive (3) on the card, and a sheet of protective material (4) covering the adhesive and separable therefrom by means of an intervening layer of releasable material (5). The sheet of protective material (4) is divided into at least two separable areas (7, 8, 9) within one another which can be removed separately to expose separate areas of the adhesive layer.

Description: ARTICLES OF STATIONERY. The present invention relates to articles of stationery on which photographs or the like can be mounted, and in particular, although not exclusively to postcards and frames for photographs. It is known to provide an article of stationery in the form of a card with areas of protective material which are removable to expose one or more areas of adhesive on the card, to which a photograph can be adhered. H owever, this arrangement has certain disadvantages in that photographs come in a number of sizes and the size of the photograph to be attached to the card may be other than that of the exposed adhesive region so that the photograph may be inadequately adhered to the card or adhesive may be exposed about the edges of the photograph. The present invention seeks to provide an article of stationery in which the size of exposed adhesive region may be selected by a user. According to the invention there is provided an article of stationery comprising a card, a layer of adhesive on the card, and a sheet of protect i ve material covering the adhesi ve and separable therefrom by means of an intervening layer of releasable material, the sheet of protective material being divided into at least two separable areas within one another which can be removed separately to expose separate areas of the adhesive layer. By virtue of the invention it is possible to provide an article of stationery which has a first central area of protective layer which is removeable to expose an area of adhesive for securing a first size of photograph or the like, and, further, has a strip of separable material about the central part of the protective layer which can be removed to expose more of the adhesive so that a larger photograph or the like can be mounted on the card. Preferably the strip of separable material completely circumscribes the said central area to form a ring. The strip may be subdi vided into separately removeable parts or, as is preferred, be a continuous ring. Preferably there are a num ber of ri ngs, one wi thin another, wh i ch may be rem oved separately to expose successively greater and greater areas of the adhesive and thereby allow a larger or yet larger photograph to be mounted on the card. A preferred em bodiment of the invention will now be descri bed by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: F igure 1 is a cross-section through an arti cle of stat ionery; Figure 2 is a plan view of the article; and Figure 3 is a rear perspective view of the article with a rear support prop extended. Referring to Figures 1 and 2, an article of stationery 1 comprises a sheet of card 2 pre-printed on one side in any desired manner, a layer of adhesive 3 covering the other side of the sheet of card, and a sheet of protective material 4 covering the adhesive 3 and separated therefrom by a layer of releasable material 5. The term "releasable material" is intended to cover materials, such as silicone, which when coated on paper adheres the paper to certain adhesives slightly, while allowing removal of the paper to expose the adhesive for further use. Referring to Figure 2 in particular, the protective layer and layer of releasable material 5 are cut through to form a first, central area 7 which is independently removable to expose the adhesive beneath. Concentric rings 8 and 9 about the central area 7 are also cut into the protective layer and layer of releasa ble material. These cuts may be complete i.e. so that the areas 7, 8 and 9 are not connected or small, spaced apart tabs may be left joining the areas 7, 8 and 9 together. It will be appreciated that even when cut so that they are ' separated, the areas 7, 8 and 9 of the protective layer will be held in place by releasable contact of the protective layer 5 with the adhesive 3. The upper surface of the protecti ve layer 4 may be printed in any desired manner and may for example have details of the method of fixing a photograph to the card. Further, the sheet 4 may have printed thereon a gri d 10 for aligning a photograph with the removeable areas 7, 8 and 9 of the protective layer 4. In use, a user wishing to mount a photograph on the card would align the photograph on the grid 10 so that the photograph is centralised. The user would then note which of the grid lines was outside the photograph and having removed the photograph then remove the central area 7 and those rings of protective material 4 up to but not including the ring beneath the guideline noted as being outside the area of the photograph. The photograph can then be attached to the card by the maximum area of adhesive compatible with the area of the card while not exposing undesirable adhesi ve outside of the edges of the photograph. E ven without the grid 10 , a photograph can be compared with the card, and those areas 7, 8, 9 less in area than the photograph, can be removed. The grid 10, may be dimensioned to correspond to, or more particularly the areas 7, 8, 9 can be dimensioned to be just less than, the standard sizes of photographs, for example the width A may correspond to the standard size of 3i" width and the size B may correspond to the standard size of 4i" width, the central area 7 may correspond in size to the size of a standard instant photograph. It will be thus appreciated that the card can accommodate the standard photograph sizes and that by suitably selecting the size of the central areas 7 and the concentric rings 8 and 9 to be just less than the area seq uentially of the i nstant photograph, 3i" photograph, and 4έ" photograph, the card can be made adapted to securely carry any of the standard sizes of photograph. To form a support prop for the card so that it can be free standing, the cut about the inner area 7 may pass through the card along all but part of one side (7a ), and the central portion 7 can have a central fold-line 7b (see Figure 3 ). By pushing the area 7 out from the front of the card (before attaching a photograph ) and foldi ng the card as shown a bout the foldl i nes 7a and 7b, a rearwardly extending right-angled prop will be provided. As will be appreciated this is only suitable for use with the larger sizes of photograph and could not be used if the photograph were attached to the card by means of the adhesive on the central area 7. The protective material 4 covering that control area 7, is therefore left-in place if the support prop is to be used. The photograph can still be sufficiently secured to the card by means of one or more of the outer concentric ring means 8,9.

Claims: CLAIMS: 1. An article of stationery comprising a card, a layer of adhesive on the card, and a sheet of protective material covering the adhesive and separable therefrom by means of an intervening layer of releasable material, the sheet of protective material being divided into at least two separable areas within one another which can be removed separately to expose separate areas of the adhesive layer . 2. An article of stationery as claimed in claim 1, wherein each separable area of protective material about an inner most central ar ea of protecti ve material , circumscribes that central area. 3. An article of stationery as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein there are t wo or more separable concentric rings of protective material about a central area of separable, protective mater ial . 4. An article of stationery as claimed in claim 3, wherein the concentric rings are each continuous. 5. An article of stationery as claimed in claim 3, wherein the concentric rings are subdivided into separately removable parts. 6. An article of stationery as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the card is cut through about a portion of the card which can thus be bent away from the card to form a support prop for the card. 7. An article of stationery as claimed in claim 6, wherein t he portion bent away from the card is adapted to be folded to form a substantially right angled support prop.

Inventors: BILLINGHAM PAUL RICHMOND, BILLINGHAM, PAUL, RICHMOND
Applicants: PHOTOGRAPHIC STATIONERY CO, THE PHOTOGRAPHIC STATIONERY COMPANY LIMITED
Application year: 1985
Main classification: B42D15
IPC codes: B42D15, B42F5