Patent ID: 7172107

Claim:
An envelope comprising: a front panel having a generally rectangular shape and forming an envelope front surface, the front panel defining opposite first and second side edges of the envelope; a rear panel interconnected with the front panel along a common bottom edge, the rear panel having a top edge and first and second side edges, the first and second side edges having a rapidly tapering region defining an area of panel width proximal to the bottom edge that is reduced from the panel width along the bottom edge, a portion of the rear panel first and second side edges above the rapidly tapering region extending substantially parallel to the respective first and second side edges of the envelope; first and second side flaps interconnected with the front panel along common opposite side edges, the side flaps being fixedly joined to the rear panel to form an envelope rear surface positioned opposite of the envelope front surface; and a closure flap interconnected with the front panel along a common top edge and having an outer edge forming a set of shoulder areas proximal to the top edge; and wherein the rear panel is fixedly joined to the first and second side flaps at least proximal to an inside edge of the side flaps, the side flaps being exposed along the envelope rear surface as to define a first overlap transverse dimension from the rear panel first side edge to the first side flap side edge and a second overlap transverse dimension from the rear panel second side edge to the second side flap side edge, both the first and second overlap transverse dimensions comprising a width greater than 3/16 of an inch for at least sixty percent of the longitudinal dimension from the rear panel bottom edge to the rear panel top edge.