IMPROVEMENTS IN WAGE ENVELOPE ASSEMBLIES

Abstract: A continuous wage envelope assembly (1) comprising a plurality of webs (2,7,8) capable of being divided into envelope lengths and so that the assembly (1) may be processed in a print unit of for example a computer to have details of the employees' wages recorded but so that details of such wages are hidden.

Description: This invention has reference to Wage Envelope Assemblies. It has been known for employees to receive their wages together with a wages slip (giving details of the employees wages together with deductions, bonuses, final payment etc.) contained in a wage envelope. Such wage envelopes sometimes contain a compartment of a suitable size to contain bank notes and the envelope has a printed surface on which details of the wages etc. can be recorded. It is also known to provide a stationery assembly of continuous envelopes which assembly is processed by a data processing machine and this consists of a compartment for bank notes and a surface to receive details of the wages. It is also known for employees to be paid by the employer notifying the bank of a payment due to the employee and to have the bank credit the employee for the amount due and to debit the employer's account. Also in each of British Specifications Nos.1148833 and 2151550 there is described a wage envelope with a pocket for receiving notes and a second pocket for containing coins with a channel between the pockets through which coins can pass. In such wage envelopes details of the wages or salaries are printed on the envelope or on separate pay slips be placed in the pockets which to contain the notes and coins (or cheques) and this is not convenient as some employees wish to retain details of their wages secret. It is also known for example from British Specifications Nos 1416409 and 1565093 provide an envelope assembly with a front sheet which serves as a record sheet. It is also known from US Specification No 4435001 and French Specification No 2177681 to provide a continuous envelope assembly including an outside envelope housing and including a return envelope and a record part. It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved wage envelope assembly construction. It is a further object of the invention to provide a construction of wage envelope assembly which is capable of being fed through a print unit of for example a computer to receive details of the wages or salary of an employee to be recorded but that details of such wages or salary are hidden. It is another object of the invention to provide a construction of wage envelope assembly which is suitable for effecting payments to the employee by cash or cheque or by notification to the bank. According to the present invention a continuous wage envelope assembly comprises a first web to receive data concerning an employee's wage or salary; a second web constituting a backing web for the rear face of a series of envelopes; a third web constituting a front face of a series of envelopes and the second and third webs being secured together at each envelope length on three sides thereof to form an envelope with an open mouth and a line of adhesive on a flap part of the second web to close the respective envelopes containing the wages or salary of the employee; and a fourth web detachably secured to the rear face of the second web and bearing on its front face transfer material to permit the data to be reproduced on the respective sheets of the fourth web but bearing on its rear face masking to hide the data recorded on its front face. Preferably the third web is of transparent or translucent material to permit the value of coins located within the envelope to be ascertained. A wage envelope assembly in accordance with the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:- Fig. 1 is a front view of the assembly with the front web turned back; Fig. 2 is a view of one envelope length of the assembly with the front sheet removed; Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 with the front sheet removed and other sheets cut away; Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are detailed views, and Fig. 7 is a rear view of the assembly. As shown in Figs. 1 to 3 a wage envelope continuous web assembly 1 comprises a front web 2 which constitutes a file copy web and is divided up into data areas defined by transverse and longitudinal panel lines into data areas whereon different data relating to an employees wage or salary (hereinafter referred to as wages) may be recorded (Fig. 1). Thus for example data may be recorded in an appropriate data area relating to hours worked, rate of pay, additional payments and deductions. Additional areas may refer to deductions such as pensions and additional voluntary contributions, tax and National Insurance contributions. The web conveniently has a width of 13½ inches (343 millimetres) and bears marginal feed apertures 3 as well as cross perforations 4 and optional longitudinal perforations 5. The web 2 is also secured to the other parts of the assembly (to be hereinafter described) by paper staples 6. The rear face of the front web 2 bears transfer material (preferably carbon copy transfer material) at specific areas (as shown at 5a, 5b on Figs. 1 and 2) to enable reference data to be reproduced on an under sheet (to be hereinafter described) to indicate on the outside of the envelope assembly a reference number and an indication to the eventual user of the net pay. The assembly also includes a second web part 7 (Fig. 5) which has the same width as the file copy web 2 and also bears marginal feed apertures 3 and longitudinal perforations 5 and cross perforations 4 to divide the assembly into envelope lengths. The feed apertures 3 are in register with the feed apertures in the front web 1. Similarly the longitudinal perforations 5 and cross perforations 4 in the respective webs are in register. A third web 8 which is of less width than the webs 2 and 7 (as shown best in Fig. 3) is of transparent or translucent paper and is secured to the first face of the second web part 7 by transverse lines of adhesive 9a and a longitudinal line of adhesive 9b. The lines of adhesive 9a and 9b define the sides and bottom of an envelope made in one envelope length to contain notes and coins. An additional line of adhesive 10 is located about two-thirds of the distance across the envelope extending from each side of the envelope towards the centre but leaving a gap at the centre. This line of adhesive 10 is arranged to divide each envelope length into a note compartment and a cash compartment and permits coins (as shown at 11) to fall between the lines of adhesive into a cash compartment at the bottom of the envelope but prevents any bank notes (as shown at 12) being pushed towards the bottom of the bag but retained in the note compartment when inserted into the bag. A line of adhesive 13 is provided on the web 7 between the open mouth of the envelope and the marginal lines of feed apertures 3 and serves to secure the envelope closed when notes are contained therein. This line of adhesive 13 is covered by a strip of barrier material 14 to prevent the adhesive sticking to other parts of the assembly during processing and until the barrier material strip is removed. A line of weakening 15 consisting of perforations is provided adjacent to the mouth of the envelope formed by the parts of the webs 7 and 8 to permit the outer end of the assembly beyond the line 15 which constitutes a flap 16 to be folded about the line 15 over the mouth of the envelope to secure the notes and coins in the envelope. As shown in Fig. 3 the notes 12 are inserted into the bag formed by the webs 7 and 8 with the notes projecting out of the mouth of the bag. The flap is provided with a transverse line of perforations 17 between the longitudinal perforation line 15 and the edge of the web. The rear face of the web 7 of the assembly is coated with transfer material for example one constituent of self copy transfer material and is also provided with masking 18 to hide information. A fourth web 20 (see Figs. 5 and 7) extends to the right hand edge of the second web (as shown in Fig. 5) but is not so wide as the second web 7 and extends to the position of the longitudinal line of perforations 15 so that its edge is overlapped by the line of perforations 15. This web also bears on its front face printing having the same format as that printed on the front face of the web 2 and is shown at Fig. 2 and also bears the other constituent of self copy transfer material capable of acting with the transfer material on the back of the second web which transfer materials together constitute the effective constituent for recording data typed or written information. The fourth web is secured as by spots of adhesive 21 and a line of adhesive 22 to the second web (see Fig. 7) provided between the rear face of the web 7 and the front face of the web 20 to detachably secure the envelope lengths of the webs 7 and 20 together and so that part of the rear fourth web of each envelope length may be detached to reveal details of the employees wages. As the format of the webs 2 and 8 are the same information recorded on the front web 2 is readily recorded on the web 8 by virtue of the transfer material on the adjacent faces of the webs 7 and 20. The web 20, with the webs 7 and 8 when divided into envelope lengths serves to provide a plurality of envelopes with wage etc. information recorded on the envelope and also to contain notes and coins. The information recorded on the part of the web 8 is hidden on the inside face of the web 8 because of the masking 23 on the rear of the web 20. Referring to Figs. 4, 5 and 6 there is shown part of the envelope adjacent the mouth of the envelope with the flap 16 folded over to contain the notes 12 (and coins 11 (not shown)). Referring to Fig. 4 the outer ends of the respective notes 12 have been folded about the perforation line 15 over the edge of the web 8 with the folding over of the flap 16. As shown in Fig. 6 the perforation line 17 and part of the perforation line 15 have been torn across to reveal the outer ends of the notes 12 inserted into the envelope so that the number of notes can be counted and confirmation of the content of the wage can be made. As shown in Fig. 5 the web 8 is shown folded back to reveal the fourth web so bearing a duplicate copy of the information or data printed on the front web 2 and also shows the masking 18 on the rear of the web 7. Referring to Fig. 6 there is shown the assembly with the notes inserted with part of the flap detached by the perforation line 17 to reveal the turned over ends of the notes for counting. The coins are visible through the transparent or translucent web 8 so that the value of the coins in the envelope may be ascertained. Fig. 7 is a rear view of the assembly showing the masking 23 on the rear of the web 20 to hide the information about the employees wages duplicated on the web 20. The adhesive spots 21 and line of adhesive 22 are also shown. When a wage envelope assembly in accordance with the present invention is to be used the assembly is passed through a print unit of for example a computer and details of the wages of the respective employees are applied to the front web 2 which constitutes a file copy web and which information is also duplicated on the fourth web of the assembly which is secured by the adhesive spots 21 to the rear of the second web 7. The assembly is passed to a decollator when the front web 2 is separated from the rest of the assembly. The envelope parts of the assembly are then processed and the wages consisting of coins and notes are inserted into the envelope parts of the assembly as shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings. The barrier material 14 is then removed from the envelope part of the assembly and the flap part 16 is folded over so that the notes are also folded around the edge of the web 8. The envelopes containing the wages are then distributed to the employees in the respective envelopes. First of all the employees can check their wages by detaching the rear sheet by breaking the adhesive spots 21. Also by tearing along the perforation line 17 the folded ends of the notes are visible as shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings. Also the coins in the envelope are visible through the transparent or translucent web part 8 so that the employees wages can readily be checked. Of course if the wages are incorrect the matter can be dealt with without actually opening the envelope. It will be apparent that details of the employees wages especially relating to additions, deductions etc. are not apparent to anyone seeing the unopened envelope. It is also apparent that the same construction of wage envelope assembly described may also in addition to payment by cash have the capability of being used as a notification to the bank for crediting the employees account and debiting the employers account.

Claims: A continuous wage envelope assembly (1) comprising a first web (2) to receive data concerning an employee's wage; a second web (7) constituting a backing web for the rear face of a series of envelopes; a third web (8) constituting a front face of a series of envelopes, and the second (7) and third (8) webs being secured together (9a, 9b) at each envelope length on three sides thereof to form an envelope with an open mouth and a line of adhesive (13) on a flap part of the second web (7) to close the respective envelopes containing the wages or salary of the employee, and a fourth web (20) detachably secured to the rear face of the second web (7) and bearing on its front face transfer material to permit the data to be reproduced on the respective sheets of the fourth web but bearing on its rear face masking (23) to hide the data recorded on its front face. A continuous wage envelope assembly according to claim 1 wherein the third web (8) is of transparent or translucent material to permit the value of coins located within the envelope to be ascertained. A continuous wage envelope assembly according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the envelope formed by the second (7) and third (8) webs is divided into a cash compartment and a note compartment by adhesive (10) joining the said second (7) and third (8) webs. A continuous wage envelope assembly according to claim 3 wherein the second web (7) has a perforation line (17) to enable part of the web when processed to be detached to reveal the notes contained in the envelope. A continuous wage envelope assembly according to any one of the preceding claims wherein lines (22) and spots (21) of adhesive are applied between the fourth web (20) and the second web (7) to enable the fourth web (20) to be detached from the second web (7) and details of the employees' wages ascertained.

Inventors: PERRIMAN, VICTOR HERBERT
Applicants: MOORE BUSINESS FORMS, INC.
Application year: 1987
Main classification: B65D27
IPC codes: B42D5