Abstract:
Transparent sheets of acetate carrying a band of adhesive on the reverse side adjacent to one edge can be used for making notes on text and illustrations. Preferably provided in a tablet of plural, stacked sheets and most preferably provided in a kit form with erasable markers adapted for marking on acetate, the sheets may be applied to a whole page of text or to a drawing. The markings can interact with the text and drawings because the underlaying surface is visible through the sheets. Thus, the user may make annotations exactly where and how desired.

Description:
1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to releasible note pads. 
     2. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The use of releasible note pads such as those sold by Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company under the brand name POST-IT has increased significantly from the time these sheets were first introduced. They have become a staple of the office. These note pads are simply small pieces of paper arranged in tablet form with a band of low-tack pressure sensitive adhesive applied to one side of each near one of its edges. By pressing that edge against a surface, the user secures the note to that surface in a releasible, peelable manner and may then write on the note. The note may be removed when no longer needed, thus avoiding the need to write on the surface itself or the use of thumb tacks, push pins, paperclips, staples or other temporary fasteners to secure a note thereto and that would mar a surface. These note pads enjoy a wide variety of uses, such as bookrmarkers and line markers and may carry instructions and information for the user or for others. POST-IT notes can also be used to give others instructions or information about files and documents by simply sticking one on a file or documents and writing the relevant text on the note. 
     A releasible note can be applied anywhere on a surface. Therefore, the user will often locate the note adjacent to the portion of the underlying surface containing the text or illustrations the note applies to. 
     However, releasible notes are not practical for every marking application. For example, if a student wants to highlight key facts on a page of a text book, releasible notes are simply impractical. The student has little choice but to either mark directly on a book with a highlighting marker or keep separate notes. Releasible notes are also not reusable for notations once they are marked on. 
     To illustrate another application where conventional releasible notes are not practical, making temporary changes to a portion of an illustration is not easily done without marking directly on the illustration or making a photocopy and marking on the copy. 
     It will be seen that conventional releasible note pads provide a convenient means to convey information and instructions relating to text, a drawing, a document or a file, and to identify the specific location of the text or the illustration of interest. However, conventional releasible note pads are inadequate for making comments that interact with text or illustrations. 
     For these and other reasons, there remains a need for a better releasible notes for certain applications, particularly those where the user wants to make comments or highlight text or illustrations. 
     Erasmus Darwin, Charles Darwin&#39;s learned father, astonished his friends by the way he handled the books in his considerable library. In a day when books were expensive and rare, he would annotate them and write in the margins and sometimes cut large books in half so as to be able to handle them more easily. His books were, in his estimation, his tools. They were to be used in whatever way worked best for his needs. 
     Erasmus Darwin would have found the present invention very useful, and his friends would have approved as well. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According to its major aspects and briefly recited, the present invention is a transparent releasible note sheet for making notations on text, illustrations, etc., that appear through the sheet. The sheet may be larger than conventional note sheets because it can be positioned over text and not adjacent to it. Thus, the present sheets can be dimensioned to cover a full page of text or an illustration. 
     Each sheet has a band of a low tack, pressure sensitive adhesive applied to one side and near an edge. Plural sheets made of a suitable transparent material such as acetate may be arranged in a tablet form so that each adheres to the one below it and the bottom one is adhered to a releasible backing. Preferably, the present invention is also a kit that includes at least one tablet of transparent releasible sheets and at least one suitable marker, and may also include a cloth or felt eraser and perhaps a scissors to trim sheets for particular uses. 
     In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, the present transparent sheets may have a mechanical or static electrical attachment rather than a chemical, adhesive, attachment. As an example of a mechanical attachment, to releasibly fasten a transparent sheet to a spiral notebook so that temporary notations can be made on a page, a transparent sheet may have a series of “T” tabs along one side that can be pushed between the spirals. Alternatively, holes may be punched along one side for use in a ringed binder. On a plastic surface, where the static electric attraction with a transparent sheet of acetate would be strong, no adhesive or mechanical attachment would be required. 
     An important feature of the present invention is the fact that the releasible notes are made of a transparent material. Because the material is transparent, text and illustrations underlaying the sheet are visible through the sheet. Thus, the sheets may be marked to highlight or annotate an underlaying surface without making permanent markings on the surface. The user&#39;s comments may then interact with the text or illustrations in a way not practical with conventional releasible note pads. 
     Another important feature of the present invention is the size of the sheets. Because the sheets do not have to be positioned next to and not covering the text but rather can be placed over the text without obscuring it, they need not be small. Therefore, the size of the present sheets can be large to facilitate marking or highlighting an entire page of text or a drawing. 
     Yet another important feature of the present invention is that, because, in a preferred embodiment, the releasible sheets are made of acetate and because erasable markers exist for acetate surfaces, the present releasible note sheets can be reused. 
     Still another important aspect of the present invention is the fact that it can be assembled in the kit that includes at least one tablet and at least one marker so that the user can make the desired notations on a variety of surfaces using contrasting colors for example. 
     Other features and their advantages will be apparent to those skilled in the art from a careful reading of the Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments, accompanied by the following drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     In the drawings, 
     FIG. 1 is a front view of a transparent sheet according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a side view of the transparent sheet taken along lines  2 — 2 ; 
     FIGS. 3A and 3B are detailed views of alternative embodiments of the sheet of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a tablet of transparent sheets made according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and 
     FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a kit including transparent sheet tablets, markers, an eraser and a scissors. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     As illustrated in FIGS. 1-3, the present invention is, in one embodiment, individual sheets of a transparent material that carry means for releasibly attaching the sheets to a surface. In an alternative embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, plural sheets are arranged in a convenient tablet where each can be removed one at a time for use. In a third embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the present invention is a kit that includes at least one tablet of releasable, transparent sheets, at least one marker suitable for marking on the transparent sheets, and, optionally, an eraser and scissors. 
     The present invention is useful in making non-permanent, erasable annotations and highlights on text and illustrations, and many other uses. 
     The present transparent sheets  10  are made of a transparent, flexible material suitable for marking. “Transparent” may also include materials that, while not completely transparent, are sufficiently transparent to allow text or drawings can be seen through it. Polymeric materials are of the type having the requisite flexibility to be bent into an arc without cracking. Bending a sheet would be necessary to remove a sheet of material from a tablet and applying it to a surface. Furthermore, polymeric materials may be transparent. Acetate is such a flexible, transparent, polymeric material and will serve the present purpose well. 
     The sheets may be of any shape or size but are preferably in sizes that correspond to full pages or at least the full surface to be marked, such as 5 inches by 8 inches, 8½ inches by 11 inches, and 8 inches by 14 inches, and be at least approximately 3 mils thick. Each page may be tinted slightly to increase its visibility on white paper (or blueprints) but without obstructing the reading of text or drawings therethrough. 
     Transparent sheets  10  of the present invention are adapted to be releasibly attachable to a surface  12 . Preferably, a low tack, pressure-sensitive adhesive  14  is applied in a thin band on one side of the sheet near at least one edge  20 , preferably the top edge. The term “low tack” and “pressure sensitive” adhesive refers to adhesives that are slightly sticky but, when applied to paper with text on it, do not cause the paper to tear or the ink to lift when a substrate carrying the adhesive is pulled from the paper. In short, they are not “aggressive” adhesives. Furthermore, they adhere when the substrate to which they are applied (here, the acetate sheet), is pressed to a surface. These types of adhesives are elastomeric copolymer microspheres disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,961140 and 3,857,731, and are well known. 
     As an alternative to a band of low-tack, pressure sensitive adhesive, transparent sheets  10  may be modified to attach to the rings  24  of a ring binder or spirals  26  holding the underlaying surface. For example, and as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, one edge of a sheet can have holes  28  formed therein for rings  24  of a binder or “T” shaped tabs  30  that can be forced between spirals  26  of a spiral binder. For certain applications, static electricity may provide sufficient attachment depending on the underlaying surface, but a mechanical or adhesive attachment is preferred to maintain orientation. 
     In addition to individual sheets, the present invention can be in the form of a tablet  40  (FIG. 4) comprising plural sheets  42  in a stack  44 , with each sheet  42  having adhesive on its reverse side. The adhesive serves to hold it to the underlaying transparent sheet  46  until it is needed for use. Then sheet  42  is peeled from stack  44  and applied to another surface. The final sheet is adhered to a releasible backing  48  so that it can be peeled from the backing and used, and the backing discarded. Of course, individual sheets may also be provided with a peelable, releasible backing, such as a strip covering the adhesive band. 
     In the present preferred embodiments, having a marker pen that can mark the transparent sheets is essential. Preferably, the ink from the pen is not permanent and can be erased. Also, most preferably, the ink is water-soluble and fast drying and available in a range of colors. The pen should be of the type that can be made in varying widths so that both highlighters and writing pens can be fashioned. Suitable pens are available under the mark Staedtler. 
     In kit form, as illustrated in FIG. 5, the kit  60  includes at least one tablet  62  of transparent note sheets and a set of marker pens  64  in varying sizes and colors, preferably carried by and organized on a tray  70 . The colors would preferably include, but not necessarily be limited to black and blue for writing and black, yellow, green, pink, pale blue and orange for highlighting. 
     Also, in the kit embodiment of the present invention, an eraser  66  suitable for the removal of ink from acetate can be provided in the form of a small felt or foam pad or a washable cotton or cotton blend cloth for water soluble inks. Alternatively, for inks that cannot be simply wiped by a dry eraser, an applicator bottle containing ink solvent or small towels a few inches square moistened with a suitable quantity of an ink solvent can be provided. 
     With a kit  60  is made according to the present invention, the user can mark, annotate, correct, comment, edit, revise, alter, illuminate and highlight underlaying information and illustrations on a surface in a non-permanent manner simply by (1) peeling a transparent sheet from a tablet  62  of transparent sheets; (2) applying the transparent sheet from tablet  62  to the surface; and (3) marking on it with the marker pen  64  from kit  60 . If the user wishes to change a marking or remove them, the user may simply wipe the sheet clean with eraser  66  from kit  60 . If the user wishes to apply a sheet to a surface for a special application where the dimensions of the area to be marked on are smaller than the dimensions of a sheet, the user can use scissors  68  provided optionally with kit  60  to trim the excess material from the sheet. 
     The present kit is most useful in marking books, especially library and reference books, text books that a student would want to resell after a course, school workbooks, manuals, scripts, music scores, blueprints, maps, diagrams, charts, graphs, x-rays, important documents, calendars, journals, and daily planners. 
     It will be obvious to those skilled in the art of office supplies that many changes and substitutions may be made to the present preferred embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, which is defined by the appended claims.