Patent Abstract:
A jigsaw puzzle has a blank and computer-printable face. The jigsaw puzzle has a thick substrate which forms a thick substrate sheet. The thick substrate sheet has been die-cut, into thick puzzle pieces. The thick puzzle pieces are joined together by uncut lands between the thick puzzle pieces. The cuts and said lands are in such proportions as to allow users to separate the thick puzzle pieces from each other. The thick substrate is at least 0.020″ thick.

Full Description:
This application takes priority from Provisional Application 60/803,830, filed Jun. 2, 2006. 
    
    
     Not federally funded. 
     No microfiche appendix. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of Invention 
     The present invention relates to jigsaw puzzles. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     One of the present co-inventors was awarded U.S. Pat. No. 5,988,687 on Nov. 23, 1999 for a Computer Printable Jigsaw Puzzle. That disclosure is incorporated herein by reference. 
     A later reference may be found at
         http://www.tdcgames.com/myopuzzle.htm       

     TDC Games claims to have developed a puzzle in 2002, see 2002  Make Your Own Jigsaw Puzzle , Balsamo, Clark;
         http://www.tdcgames.com/factsht03.htm       

     The creation of our computer printable jigsaw Puzzle Clōnzz® was a project long in the making, before we actually received a utility patent back in 1999. Seven years have passed since that original patent was issued for the C.A.P. version of computer printable jigsaw Puzzle Clōnzz®. During this time we have desired to make a thicker substrate (thickness) board, to be used with the invention of the Krisch &#39;687 patent. 
     However, if a thicker jigsaw puzzle evolved, it would exceed the maximum caliper allowances of most desktop printers . . . and the resultant product would be too rigid to traverse such printers&#39; feed rollers. 
     Since 1999 there has been a movement in the digital printing field for the creation of machinery for the seamless imprinting of heavier and/or larger substrates. Large/wide format printers are now available for the printing of billboards, point of purchase displays, posters, etc. . . . on paper, showcard, wood, rubber, glass, etc., up to 1, 2, 3 inches thick. Desktop ink jets are now coming into fashion, as well, enabling rigid substrates to be printed under one&#39;s own roof, on one&#39;s own tabletop printing equipment. Epson, for example, has introduced photo quality ink-jets with straight through paper paths, accepting thicker media. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a plan view of a thin and a thick puzzle. 
         FIG. 1A  is an elevation thereof, sectioned through plane  1 A of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 2  is an elevation of the thin puzzle atop the thick puzzle, sectioned through plane  2  of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a plan view of the package. 
         FIG. 4  is an elevation of a registration pin. 
         FIG. 5  is a plan view of a puzzle showing a bleed area. 
         FIG. 6  is an oblique view showing a registration pin, not in section, on which two puzzles, shown in section, are registered. 
         FIG. 7  is a front elevation of a thick and a thin puzzle in one shrink wrap package. 
         FIG. 8  is an oblique view of two compatible thin and thick puzzles in separate coded packages. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The present invention introduces physical jigsaw puzzle improvements, whereby identically configured thinner Puzzle Clōnzz® jigsaw puzzles  2  can be melded onto the thicker  4  variety. This invention benefits computer users in the following synergistic way: 
     The present invention provides jigsaw puzzles that can be imprinted under one&#39;s own roof. Said puzzles are a “stand alone” product, available for use with newly developed straight path printers accepting thicker digital media for imprinting. 
     As in  FIGS. 1 and 1A , the present invention provides thick jigsaw puzzles  4 , in a range of 0.020″ to 0.090″. At the time of this application&#39;s provisional application, we preferred a thickness  6  of 0.030″. 
     But after further experimentation we now prefer a presently preferred thickness  6  of 0.050″, which 0.050 puzzles  4  are five times heavier (thicker), than the optimal thickness taught by Krisch&#39;s earlier specification: (0.010″) thick 8 jigsaw puzzles  2  ( FIG. 1A ) which 0.010″ is basically the thickness of a normal business card. 
     Presently, thickness  6  of puzzle  4  is limited by the thickness limitations of the manufactured printers. This is expected to increase as printers advance. 
     The 0.090″ limitation is dictated by the users&#39; ability to separate die-cut puzzle pieces of very thick cardboard, which becomes difficult above 0.090 inches. 
     In one embodiment of the present invention, cardboard puzzles  4  are lined/mounted (glued), both top  10  and bottom  11 , with an ink-jet printable surface such as a high quality, high brightness white, ink-jet compatible paper  14 - 15 . Krisch&#39;s previously preferred embodiment 2 was composed of cast coated on one side  16 , non-porous, non-absorbent, solid white card stock  18 . 
     We envision embodiments having other surface materials than paper or cardboard, as such other materials become available with ink-jet printable surfaces. 
     As in the previous Krisch embodiment, both sides  10 - 11 , of the jigsaw puzzle&#39;s  4  substrate  20  can be imprinted, to create and implement dual sided  10 - 11  puzzle projects. 
     Children can comfortably conjoin 0.030″ thick jigsaw puzzles  4  of the present invention. Said puzzles afford the appropriate thickness  6 , in and of themselves, to give a child the feeling of an interlocking sensation, when they place one interlock  21 - 22  into it&#39;s corresponding piece . . . thereby assisting them with the development of their motor coordination and manual dexterity abilities. 
     Where a thick-substrate printer is unavailable to a user, the earlier Krisch thin (approximately 0.010″) substrate  2  can be printed on by a conventional curved path printer. By package  30  coding  32  ( FIG. 3 ), and by the coordination of strategically located registration pin holes  41 - 43 ,  47 - 49  ( FIG. 1 ) and pins  45  ( FIG. 4 ), thick puzzles  4  and correspondingly compatible thin puzzles  2  may be pasted or glued together. Both thin jigsaw puzzles  2  and thick jigsaw puzzles  4  are identically configured and can permanently adhere to one another through a gluing application. 
     One distribution embodiment is in  FIG. 7 , a front elevation of a thin puzzle  2  and a thick puzzle  4  in one shrink wrapped package  50 , which includes registration pins  45 . 
     An alternate embodiment, with a novel business method, is shown in  FIG. 8 , an oblique view of two compatible puzzles: thin puzzle  2  and thick puzzle  4  in separated coded packages  51 - 52 . Each compatible package bears the same human readable code  32 , enabling buyers to determine which thin puzzles  2  are compatible with which thick puzzles  4 . 
     In either distribution scheme, the package or packages may contain several puzzles. 
     A novel business method is provided where thin puzzles  2  and thick puzzles  4  are given different coordinated brand names. The thin puzzles  2  have already achieved secondary meaning under the trademark Puzzle Clonzz® 61. The business method calls for coordinated advertising to promote a compatible trademark such as: Sub-Straightzz™ 62, to designate the thick puzzle  4  of the present disclosure. 
     Our strategically placed, frame-hole  41 - 43  and  47 - 49  pin  45  registration system assures perfect piece alignment, during the adherence process, of the jigsaw puzzle of one brand to the other brand . . . in every instance from Puzzle Clonzz®, to Sub-Straightzz™. 
     Said frame-hole registration system, comprises three strategically placed quarter-inch (0.25″) diameter holes  41 - 43  and  47 - 49  punched into every frame . . . one hole  41  and  47  at each feed end  65 ,  66  of the puzzles, during the printing process, and two holes  42 - 43  and  48 - 49  in the trailing border  104  of the puzzle, once imprinted. 
     Accompanying the puzzles  2 ,  4  are three (3) quarter-inch (0.25″) metal pins  45  ( FIG. 4 ), upon which the thick “Sub-Straightzz” jigsaw puzzle  4  must be placed (impaled)  FIG. 6 . Once positioned, brush or spray a glue adhesive onto the thicker Sub-Straightzz surface  10  ( FIG. 1A ), including the entire frame  78  ( FIG. 1 ). Then place the imprinted thinner card Puzzle Clōnzz® puzzle  2  onto the pins, one hole upon another, the bottom of puzzle  2  to the top of puzzle  4 , as shown in  FIGS. 2  and  6 . Press the puzzles together and completely flatten the surface . . . then wait for them to dry (a function of the adhesive administered) before disassembling the pieces. 
     As in  FIG. 1 , there are frames  77  and  78  around the both puzzles  2  &amp;  4 , represented in  FIG. 5  by puzzle  4 :
         0.75″ from the feed end  81  to puzzle edge  91 ,   0.75″ from card edges  82 - 83  to puzzle sides  92  and  94 , and   1.25″ from the card trailing edge  84  to puzzle trailing edge  93 ,
 
because most printers will not allow for imprinting on the first 0.5″ from all edges  65 ,  192 - 194  and  81 - 84  of  FIG. 1 .
       

     As shown in  FIG. 5 , our 0.75″ borders  85  provide additional clearance on all edges for the user to print a true “bleed”  86 , where desired. A bleed  86  functions as a waste area, permitting one to actually print an image off all four sides  91 - 94  of the puzzle  4 , so as not to see any white edges in the finished puzzle product, once removed from the frame  78 . This also applies to the thin puzzle  2 , not shown in  FIG. 5 . 
     The frames  77 ,  78  ( FIG. 1 ) also provide a bottom border  104  of the puzzles  2  &amp;  4 , which bottom border  104  measures 1.25″. This waste area  104  may appear to be unnecessarily wide. However, that border  104  protects the integrity of the final rows of pixels, actually laid down by a printer. In most instances, any attempt to print beyond the trailing edge  194  or  84  of a sheet, would destroy the appearance of that entire sheet (by providing lines of crooked type and/or misaligned pixels) . . . due to slippage, a phenomenon evidenced by a printer&#39;s inability to continually control the feed of the sheet during the printing function. You can prove that fact on your own printer by attempting to print off the bottom of an 8.5″×11″ letter-sized sheet, using an 8.5″×14″ legal-sized paper setting. That very same 1.25″ selvage edge  104  permits a printer to steadily control slippage on every puzzle  2 , 4 , since the ejection rollers remain in full contact with the traversing boards  2  &amp;  4 , through the finalization of the ink affixing process. 
     When the puzzle assembly  204  ( FIG. 2 ) is ready to be dismantled, the user gently removes the frame border  77  or  78  of  FIG. 1 , and disposes of the frame border in the trash since it no longer functions in any relevant way to the use of the final jigsaw puzzle product.

Technology Classification (CPC): 0