Patent Publication Number: US-10308061-B2

Title: Book with greeting card cover

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This Patent Application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application, Ser. No. 62/116,180, filed on 13 Feb. 2015. The Provisional Patent Application is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety and is made a part hereof, including but not limited to the following. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to a book having a cover movable with respect to a body of the book, to expose a writing surface and/or another suitable printable surface, displayable surface and/or other surface that can be used to write and/or otherwise display information, such as greeting information. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The book and cover of this invention can be combined into a fully functional book and also a greeting card, such as a birthday card, a shower card, a graduation card, a sympathy card and/or any other suitable card or other similar apparatus or device for conveying and/or displaying information, including but not limited to text and/or images, for example, which can be used to convey a message. The book and cover of this invention can be used, for example, to combine a book gift with a greeting card, to eliminate the need to buy a greeting card and a separate gift, such as a separate book. The combined book and greeting card of this invention can be used to keep or maintain the communicated message as part of the gift, such as the book, so that in the future when reading the book the communicated message or greeting card is always accessible as an integral part of the book. 
     The cover, such as the greeting card cover, of this invention can be added to or used with many different conventional books, such as books having conventional board pages, paper pages, fabric pages and/or any other suitable material pages known to those skilled in the art of publishing and printing. In some embodiments of this invention, the cover and the book pages are bound or otherwise connected or integrated together. In other embodiments of this invention, the cover, such as a greeting card cover, can be added or retrofitted to an existing book, for example, to convert the existing book into a combined book and greeting card cover. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Features of this invention can be better understood when this specification is read or taken in view of the drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a top front perspective view of a book with a greeting card cover, according to one embodiment of this invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a bottom front perspective view of the book with a greeting card cover, as shown in  FIG. 1  but with a flap of the cover in a different position; 
         FIG. 3  is a front view of the book with a greeting card cover, as shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a rear view of the book with a greeting card cover, as shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a side view of the book with a greeting card cover, as shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 6  is a side view, opposite the side view shown in  FIG. 5 , of the book with a greeting card cover, as shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 7  is a top view of the book with a greeting card cover, as shown in  FIG. 1 ; and 
         FIG. 8  is a bottom view of the book with a greeting card cover, as shown in  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       FIGS. 1 and 2  show front perspective views of book  10  with cover  20 , such as a greeting card cover, according to one embodiment of this invention. As shown in  FIGS. 1-8 , book  10  has a generally rectangular or square overall shape of the periphery of book  10 . In other embodiments of this invention, book  10  can have any other suitable overall shape. As shown in  FIG. 1 , book  10  has a plurality of individual pages  15 . In other embodiments of this invention, book  10  can have a single page  15  or a different number of multiple pages. 
     Each page  15  can be bound by any suitable binding structure and/or binding method known to those skilled in the art of publishing and printing. In some embodiments of this invention, pages  15  are bound so that they can open with respect to each other to show or reveal content on the different pages  15 . As shown in  FIGS. 1 and 6-8 , each page  15  is relatively thick, which is commonly found in books for children. In other embodiments of this invention, page  15  can have any other suitable thickness, depending upon the particular use for book  10 . Each page  15  can be constructed of paper, cardboard, polymeric material, fabric material and/or any other suitable material for book  10 . 
     Each page  15  can have a similar overall or peripheral shape to the overall or peripheral shape of cover  20 , or can have a different overall or peripheral shape. In some embodiments of this invention, the thickness of cover  20  is approximately the same as the thickness of each page  15 , but in other embodiments of this invention the thickness of cover  20  and/or of back  40  can be different. 
     As shown between  FIGS. 1 and 2 , cover  20  comprises or includes flap  30  which is movable with respect to cover  20  and/or with respect to body  18  of book  10 .  FIG. 1  shows flap  30  opened at a first distance from cover  20  which is relatively closer than a second distance shown in  FIG. 2  between flap  30  and cover  20 . In moving from the position shown in  FIG. 1  to the position shown in  FIG. 2 , flap  30  opens with respect to cover  20 . In some embodiments of this invention, flap  30  opens with respect to cover  20  to expose or reveal all or at least a portion of message surface  25  which is attached to, connected with and/or integrated with cover  20 . 
     As shown in  FIGS. 1-3 , hinge  35  is used to movably connect or attach flap  30  with respect to cover  20 . In other embodiments of this invention, any other suitable hinge element, hinge structure and/or structure, such as known to those skilled in the art of publishing and printing, that allows movement of flap  30  with respect to cover  20  can be used in addition to or in lieu of hinge  35  as shown in  FIGS. 1-3 . In other embodiments of this invention, flap  30  can be movably mounted with respect to cover  20  in a sliding manner and/or in any other suitable structural arrangement that allows movement of flap  30  with respect to cover  20 . 
     In some embodiments of this invention, a magnet, which is not shown in the drawings, can be used to secure flap  30  with respect to cover  20 , for example in the position as shown in  FIGS. 3 and 5-8 , so that flap  30  does not inadvertently move with respect to cover  20 . In some embodiments of this invention, an adhesive material, such as fugitive glue or another suitable low-tack adhesive, can be used to secure flap  30  with respect to cover  20 , for similar reasons. In other embodiments of this invention, any other suitable material and/or structural element, including but not limited to hook-and-loop fasteners, can be used to secure flap  30  with respect to cover  20 , again for similar reasons. 
     As shown in  FIG. 3 , at least a portion of a gap, a void or a space between flap  30  and cover  20  forms channel  28 . In some embodiments of this invention, channel  28  is formed by a channel cut between flap  30  and cover  20 . Channel  28  can have any suitable shape, dimension and/or thickness. In some embodiments of this invention, a dimension of channel  28  is relatively large and thus allows flap  30  to move relatively easily with respect to cover  20 . In other embodiments of this invention, all or at least a portion of channel  28  can have a relatively small dimension which can make it more difficult to open flap  30  with respect to cover  20 . In still other embodiments of this invention, all or at least a portion of channel  28  forms an interference fit between flap  30  and cover  20 , for example, so that a fictional fit between flap  30  and cover  20  can be used to maintain flap  30  in a closed position with respect to cover  20 . 
     As shown in  FIGS. 3 and 5-8 , flap  30  is in a closed position with respect to cover  20  when flap  30  is secured with respect to cover  20 . In the closed position, flap  30  can cover all or at least a portion of message surface  25 , which in some embodiments of this invention relates to or corresponds to a greeting card which is in a closed position. Some embodiments of this invention, which allow flap  30  to be secured with respect to cover  20 , allow a message written on message surface  25  to be hidden from outer view until flap  30  is moved with respect to cover  20  into an open position which reveals all or at least a portion of message surface  25 . 
     In some embodiments of this invention, message surface  25  comprises or includes all or at least a portion of message surface  25  having a face surface that accepts or accommodates written text or any other suitably applied message or signal. For example, message surface  25  can be structured to accept pencil lead, pen ink, crayons, chalk and/or any other suitable material used to print, write and/or otherwise suitably transfer a message into a visual format. In some embodiments of this invention, message surface  25  comprises paper, cardboard and/or any other suitably durable material. Message surface  25  may or may not have preprinted subject matter, for example, text and/or images conveying a greeting or another suitable message, such as similar to a conventional birthday card. 
     In some embodiments of this invention, cover  20 , back  40  and/or any page  15  comprises or includes at least a portion of the corresponding face surface to have glitter, foil and/or any other suitable art and/or visual material applied and/or fixed with respect to cover  20 , back  40  and/or any page  15 . 
     In some embodiments of this invention, although not shown in the drawings, book  10  including cover  20 , which can be a greeting card cover, can be housed within an envelope, for example, and/or any other suitable structural enclosure for protecting, moving and/or delivering book  10  and cover  20 . In some embodiments, the envelope can be maintained, such as a keepsake, and in other embodiments the envelope can be discarded. Any portion or all of book  10  can fit within or be housed within an envelope or another suitable structure. In some embodiments of this invention, the envelope can have expandable capabilities, such as side gussets or other similar movable and/or returnable structural features. The envelope may or may not have a decorative sealing or closing element, such as an adhesive tape or other suitable securing element. 
     In some embodiments of this invention, although not shown in the drawings, back  40  also comprises or includes a movable flap  30  that moves in a similar fashion with respect to back  40  rather than cover  20  discussed in the above specification. 
     While in the foregoing specification this invention has been described in relation to certain preferred embodiments, and many details are set forth for purpose of illustration, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that this invention is susceptible to additional embodiments and that certain of the details described in this specification and in the claims can be varied considerably without departing from the basic principles of this invention.