Improvements in Envelopes for Enclosing Letters or other Articles, applicable also to Letter Cards or Letter Paper and Envelopes Combined, and for Securing Lids on Boxes.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Mar., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 7th Dec., 1894-Accepted, 12th Jan., 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Envelopes for Enclosing Letters or other Articles,
applicable also to Letter Cards or Letter Paper and Envelopes
Combined, and for Securing Lids on Boxes.
I, PERCY JOHN OGLE of 4 Bishopsgate Street Within in the City of London
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of my invention to be as follows:-
The object of my invention is to provide means whereby envelopes or letter
cards or letter paper and envelopes combined can be opened with great ease and
without injury to the letter or to enclosures or other contents thereof the invention
being also applicable to securing the lids on boxes by means of paper gummed or
otherwise secured thereto. According to my invention provide a double row of
slits or equivalent slots cuts or the like (I will refer to them as slits) so arranged
that they include between them a strip. The slits are so disposed relatively to
each other that when the strip is to be removed this can be readily done by tearing
in the direction of the length of the strip the slits being arranged at such an
angle and being of such a length that in tearing the strip the line of tear from
the end of any slit will run into and be intercepted by the next slit so that the
tendency of the tear to take an irregular direction is constantly counteracted by
the slits throughout the length of the strip as the tearing proceeds. When the
invention is applied to an envelope or letter card or envelope and letter paper
combined the two rows of slits can be disposed on the fold which is turned over
and gummed down so that the outer ends of one row of slits are preferably next
the folded edge. Instead of the single slits in each row there may be pairs of slits
in each row or in one of the rows one slit of each pair sloping in one direction and
the other slit of each pair sloping in the other direction so as to counteract
tendency of the line of tear deviating from the proper course.
When the invention is applied to the securing of the lids on boxes the paper
which is used to secure the lid and box by gumming or otherwise affixing over the
place where the edge of the lid meets the body of the box is provided with two
rows of slits as described the parts outward of the rows of slits being secured by
gumming or otherwise to the lid and the box respectively so that on removing the
strip by tearing it from the rest of the paper the lid and box are disconnected.
Dated this 21st day of March 1894.
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Envelopes for Enclosing Letters or other Articles,
applicable also to Letter Cards or Letter Paper and Envelopes
Combined, and for Securing Lids on Boxes.
I, PERCY JOHN OGLE, of 4 Bishopsgate Street Within, in the City of London,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
My invention consists in the application to envelopes, or letter cards, or letter

page_text: paper and envelopes combined, of slits, or equivalent slots, cuts, or the like,
arranged as described with regard to wrappers for periodicals in the Specification
of Letters Patent No. 20241, dated 26th October 1893; so that the said envelopes,
or the like, can be opened with great ease, and without injury to any enclosures.
I also apply the said arrangement of slits to securing the lids on boxes by means
of paper gummed, or otherwise secured, thereto. According to my invention I
provide a double row of slits or equivalent slots, cuts or the like (I will refer to
them as slits) so arranged as shewn in Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings of the
Specification of my aforesaid Patent, that they include between them a strip. The
slits are so disposed relatively to each other that when the strip is to be removed
this can be readily done by tearing in the direction of the length of the strip the
slits of each line being arranged at such an angle and being of such a length and
distance apart that in tearing the strip the line of tear from the end of any slit
will run into and be intercepted by the next slit so that the tendency of the tear
to take an inward direction is constantly counteracted by the slits throughout the
length of the strip as the tearing proceeds. The slits are applied to an envelope
or letter card or envelope and letter paper combined, by disposing two rows of
slits on some convenient part of the envelope most conveniently on the fold which
is turned over and gummed down so that the outer ends of one row of slits are
preferably next or near to the folded edge. Instead of the single slits in each row
there may be pairs of slits in each row or in one of the rows one slit of each pair
sloping in one direction and the other slit of each pair sloping in the other direction
as shewn in Figure 3 of the drawings of the Specification of my aforesaid Patent,
so as to counteract tendency of the line of tear deviating from the proper course.
An envelope or the like made according to my invention is shewn in Figure 1 of
the accompanying drawing. The slits are of the simple form as this will be found
most convenient in practice. They are marked a. There is a tab formed at b,
by which the severance can be properly started. The top side of the tab should
be lower down than the top edge of the envelope so as to leave a part at 6³
sufficient to enable the envelope to be folded in its manufacture and for this reason
the slit at a² is preferably longer than the others to facilitate the commencement
of the severance of the strip.
When the invention is applied to the securing of the lids on boxes the paper
(which is used to secure the lid and box by gumming or otherwise affixing over
the place where the edge of the lid meets the body of the box) is provided with
two rows of slits a as described and as shewn in Figure 2, the parts e e outward
of the rows of slits a being secured by gumming or otherwise to the lid and to the box
respectively so that on removing the strip by tearing it from the rest of the paper
by pulling the tab b the lid and box are disconnected.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what 1
claim is :-
1. An envelope, letter card or letter paper and envelope combined provided
with a double row of slits or their equivalents, so as to form between them a strip
which can be severed by tearing for the purpose of opening the envelope or the
like substantially as herein before described.
2. The means for securing lids to boxes consisting of a strip to be secured to
the box and lid respectively at its opposite edges and with two rows of slits or
their equivalents enclosing between them a strip which can be secured by tearing
for opening the box substantially as herein before described.
Dated this 7th day of December 1894.
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
Agents.