Patent Publication Number: US-6340512-B1

Title: Integrated card form with intermittent securement

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention concerns a business form which has one or a plurality of cards integrated within a surrounding ply, the card being held in position by intermittent and discrete tape segments. More particularly, the intermittent tape sections are positioned between continuous tape strips to inhibit deflection of the card relative to the surrounding ply. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     Recent developments in business forms have led to improved options for manufacturers to provide more economical business forms which include a durable card carried by or as a part of a surrounding ply. Examples of such business forms are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,403,236 and 5,702,789, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference. These forms enable the user to have a single ply form providing an opening into which a card of the same or different material is placed. In the case of the U.S. Pat. No. 5,403,236, the card may be secured either by application of adhesive around the opening so that the card overlaps the opening, or by applying two continuous, spaced and parallel tape strips along two edges of the opening so that the tape holds the card in position. With regard to the U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,789, the cards may share common boundaries within the form and be held by two continuous, spaced and parallel tape strips along the card boundaries with the surrounding form. 
     While these forms have provided the ability to integrate a card into a surrounding ply of a form so that for the majority of the form, only a single thickness is presented, there are circumstances where during manufacture, printing or use, the forms need to bend. Often, especially when the card is of a different material than the surrounding ply, the card deflects relative to the ply, and in some instances separates. This deflection and separation process becomes more acute as the speed of the form through the manufacturing, printing, or processing stages is increased, thus rapidly moving the form around rollers. Thus, there has developed a need for an economical means of securing the card to the surrounding ply more completely to resist deflection or separation without the necessity of overlap between the card and the surrounding ply. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     These objects have largely been met by the business form of the present invention which provides not only continuous tape strips having adhesive which extend along two parallel, opposed margins of the card, but also intermittent application of tape patches with adhesive intermediate the two parallel strips so as to hold the card along margins extending between the spaced parallel strips. The intermittently applied intermediate tape segments are positioned to overlap a portion of the margin of the card intermediate the two parallel strips without completely covering the card, thus avoiding unnecessary bulk and thickness for the form, and permitting both sides of the form including the majority of the surrounding ply and the inlaid card to be imprinted with indicia. The tape is preferably thin cellophane or similar tape with an adhesive which remains with the tape rather than transferring to the card. The card may be of the same, or more preferably a different material, than the surrounding ply. The form itself may be provided in individual cut sheets or adjacent sheets may be joined along a line of weakening such as a perforation or score line to provide for fan folding of the joined sheets. The adjacent sheets may be provided as part of a roll in addition to fan folding. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of the form of the present invention, showing the continuous tape strips and the intermittent intermediate tape patches in dotted lines; 
     FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary rear elevational view of the form of FIG. 1 showing the positioning of the intermittent intermediate tape patches along the side margins of the inlaid cards; 
     FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken along line  3 — 3  of FIG. 2 showing the tape and adhesive for securing the inlaid cards along their side margins within the surrounding ply, the thicknesses being exaggerated for clarity; 
     FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken along line  4 — 4  of FIG. 2 showing the two spaced parallel tape strips and the intermittent intermediate tape patch for holding a card within the surrounding ply, the thicknesses being exaggerated for clarity; and 
     FIG. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of an alternate embodiment of the invention wherein the form includes individual sheets joined along a side margin for providing continuous fan-folding capability. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring now to the drawing, FIG. 1 shows a business form  10  in accordance with the present invention wherein a ply  12  of paper or the like includes two openings  14  and  16  therein for the receipt of cards  18  and  20  respectively. The ply  12  may be a sheet of any suitable, preferably printable material, while the cards  18  and  20  may be of a heavier paper, cardstock or plastic. Both the ply  12  and the cards  18  and  20  may be imprinted with indicia thereon. The cards  18  and  20  are secured within the openings  14  and  16  by elongated, continuous, spaced parallel strips  22  and  24  and intermittent patches  26 ,  28  and  30 . 
     In greater detail, the ply  12  has a surrounding margin  32  which, as illustrated in FIG. 1, includes a top margin  34 , a bottom margin  36  spaced therefrom and parallel thereto, and side margins  38  and  40  which are perpendicular to and extend between the top and bottom margins  34  and  36 , although it may be appreciated that the margin  32  may be of any desired shape. Openings  14  and  16  are preferably die cut and are located interiorly of the surrounding margin  32  so that the ply  12  surrounds the openings. The openings  14  and  16  are most preferably substantially rectangular, each presenting a top edge  42 , a bottom edge  44 , and side edges  46  and  48 , with the top edges  42  of the opening  14  being substantially co-linear with the top edge  42  of the opening  16  and the bottom edge  44  of the opening  14  being substantially co-linear with the bottom edge  44  of the opening  16 . Further, the side edges  46  and  48  of the openings  14  and  16  are substantially parallel and in horizontal alignment across the ply as shown in FIG. 2. A barrier  50  separates the openings  14  and  16  one from another, so that each opening is discrete and not coextensive with any other opening or the surrounding margin  32 . It may be appreciated, however, that multiple openings may be provided in any ply  12 , so that the number of openings is not limited to the two illustrated herein. The ply  12  also presents a top surface  52  and a bottom surface  54 . 
     The cards  18  and  20  may be of paper, cardstock, or plastic and are cut into a shape and size to correspond to and fit just within the openings  14  and  16 , thereby avoiding any overlap of the cards  18  and  20  onto the ply  12 . The cards  14  and  16  are thus separate from the ply  12 , and of slightly smaller dimensions. The cards  14  and  16  are thus preferably of the same shape and positioned adjacent one another, although multiple cards can be positioned in multiple openings. Each card has a front side  56 , a back side  58 , and a perimeter  60  which includes top border  62 , a bottom border  64  spaced and substantially parallel thereto, and side borders  66  and  68  which are parallel to one another and substantially perpendicular to the top and bottom borders  62  and  64 . 
     The cards  18  and  20  are held within the respective openings by strips  22  and  24  and intermittent patches  26 , 28  and  30 . The strips  22  and  24  are preferably thin, elongated and continuous and provided by tapes of cellophane or similar synthetic resin material which is tough and tear resistant. The tape strips  22  and  24  are in parallel alignment as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, and are positioned on the bottom surface  54  of the ply  12 . The tape strips  22  and  24  are provided with adhesive  70  on one side thereof so that the adhesive is between the tape strips  22  and  24  and the bottom surface  54  of the ply  12  and the back side  58  of the card. Tape strip  22  extends over both the top edge  42  of the openings and the top border  62  of each of the cards  18  and  20 , while the tape strip  24  extends over both the bottom edge  44  of the openings and bottom border  64  of each of the cards  18  and  20 , thereby providing an adhesive securement between the top and bottom edges of the openings and the cards by two parallel, spaced, continuous strips of tape. The tape strips  22  and  24 , being thin and spaced apart, do not substantially interfere with either the ability to imprint indicia  72  on the front side  56  or indicia  74  on the back side  58  of the cards  18  and  20 . 
     In the present invention, the patches  26 ,  28  and  30  are preferably of somewhat wider cellophane or other tape than strips  22  and  24  so as to overlie and adhesively couple the ply  12  to the cards  18  and  20  along the side edges  46  and  48  of the openings  14  and  16  and the corresponding side borders  66  and  68  of the cards. The intermittent tape patches  26 ,  28  and  30  are discrete from one another and preferably in alignment between the tape strips  22  and  24  on the bottom surface  54  of the ply  12  and the back side of the cards  18  and  20 . Tape patch  26  extends to the side margin  40  and across the side edge  46  and the side border  66  to overlie and adhere to a portion of the back side  58  of card  18 . Tape patch  28  extends from the side margin  38  and across the side edge  48  and the side border  68  to overlie and adhere to a portion of the back side  58  of card  20 . However, it may be appreciated that the tape patches  26  and  28  need not necessarily extend to the side margins  40  and  38 , respectively, but may of a smaller length which simply spans the side borders  66  and  68  and the side edges  46  and  48  to attach the cards  18  and  20  to the ply  12 . Tape patch  30  is positioned over and adheres to the bottom surface  54  of the barrier  50  to extend across the side border  68  of card  18  and side border  66  of card  20 . The tape patches  26 ,  28  and  30  are thus positioned in substantial horizontal alignment as shown in FIG. 2 to hold the side borders  66  and  68  close to the side edges  46  and  48 , respectively, but not only do not cover the top surface of the ply  12  but leaves open and uncovered substantial portions at the center of the back sides  58  of the cards  18  and  20 . 
     An alternative embodiment of the form  10 A is shown in FIG. 5, wherein the side margins  38  and  40  of adjacent plys  12 A and  12 B are connected by tabs  76  left along a line of weakness  78  created by perforations  80 . This arrangement provides for continuous manufacture and fan-folding of the plys  12 A and  12 B, but in all other respects the form  10 A is the same as described above. Alternatively, the forms  10 A may be provided in continuous form on a roll, either with or without perforations. 
     The form  10  of the present invention may be readily prepared by die cutting the openings  14  and  16  in the ply  12 , removing the portion of the ply within the opening and placing therein cards  18  and  20 , dimensioned complemental to the openings  14  and  16 . Tape strips  22  and  24  are then continuously applied transversely across the bottom surface of the ply and the back sides  58  of the cards as described above. Further, tape patches  26 , 28  and  30  are applied at transversely spaced intervals as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 and spaced to be discrete from and intermediate the tape strips  22  and  24  as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4. The tape patches and tape strips may be manually cut and placed, or applied by a machine. When the continuous form  10 A of FIG. 5 is produced, the tape strips  22  and  24  may be continuous to extend across several plys, e.g.  12 A,  12 B, etc. The indicia may be imprinted on the cards and the surrounding plys either before or after the insertion of the cards into the openings and the application of the tape strips and tape patches, or both. As the form  10  bends during passage through a printer or typewriter, the cards resists separation or deflection from the surrounding ply  12  because the intermittent tape patches  26 , 28  and  30  couple and span the gap present between the cards  18  and  20  and the ply  12 . The user may graps the card from the front side of form  10  and remove either card from the ply  12 , with the adhesive remaining on the tape strips and tape patches so that the card is substantially free of adhesive. 
     Although preferred forms of the invention have been described above, it is to be recognized that such disclosure is by way of illustration only, and should not be utilized in a limiting sense in interpreting the scope of the present invention. The orientation of the cards, or their number or positioning within corresponding openings of the ply, and the shape of the cards and openings may be varied, or tractor feed strips applied to the continuous form  10 A. Further, a film could be applied instead of tape strips and patches to secure the cards as illustrated. Obvious modifications to the exemplary embodiments, as hereinabove set forth, could be readily made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the present invention. 
     The inventors hereby state their intent to rely on the Doctrine of Equivalents to determine and assess the reasonably fair scope of their invention as pertains to any apparatus not materially departing from but outside the literal scope of the invention as set out in the following claims.