Patent Application
20140261150
This application concerns stationery products, specifically bookmarks.
Bookmarks are very useful devices, but the traditional flat bookmark, made to be placed between the pages the user wants to mark, has disadvantages. When a user picks up a book to read, which has a bookmark in it, she has to find a place to put the bookmark while she's reading. If she puts it in unread pages of the book being read, it has a tendency to fall out. In any case, it often gets lost.
Some books, most notably many Bibles, have built-in ribbon bookmarks for marking a page. These are very convenient. They're always there, they don't get lost, and they're easy to use.
But few books come with built-in bookmarks. So, for readers who appreciate ribbon bookmarks, there is clearly a need for a ribbon-style bookmark that can be acquired separately and added to books.
The present invention is a new kind of bookmark. This bookmark attaches the ribbon to an anchor in such a way that the ribbon is moveable in a vertical direction (that is, parallel, or close to parallel, to the spine of the book). Preferred embodiments accomplish this by having the ribbon run between two slits in the anchor, each close to the left hand side of the anchor and perpendicular to the book spine. In those preferred embodiments, the anchor is intended to be placed in the upper left-hand corner of the inside back cover of a book.
The anchor is flexible (made of paper or some other flexible material) and has a non-aggressive adhesive on one side such that it can be attached to a page or cover of a book, and be moved to other books if desired. As mentioned above, the preferred mode of use is to place the anchor against the inside back cover of a book, in the upper left-hand corner of that cover. Not only is an inside placement less likely to fall off because of being disturbed by rubbing against some other object, but also, every time the book is closed, the anchor is pressed against the surface it's attached to, reinforcing the bond. And it does not disturb the look and feel of the outside of the book.
An example of an existing article of manufacture that can be used for the anchor is a 3M Post-it note, preferably the “full adhesive” type where one side is completely covered by adhesive except for the area near one edge, which is adhesive-free in order to facilitate easy removal by lifting at that edge.
In the preferred embodiment, two slits are cut into the anchor, such that a ribbon can be run through it.
Since the ribbon is partly under the anchor and partly above it, the adhesive could interfere with movement of the ribbon. One or more pieces of single-sided adhesive tape are placed in such areas, with the tape adhesive joined to the Post-it adhesive, such that the tape separates the ribbon from the Post-it adhesive. Thus the ribbon can flow freely.
In the preferred embodiment, the user places the anchor against the upper left-hand side of the inside back cover of the book. Since the ribbon is positioned through the slits on the left side of the anchor, the ribbon is near the spine of the book. The user can pull the ribbon through the anchor so that the portion that is used to mark pages is the desired length. It is expected that most users will want the ribbon through the marked pages and protrude a bit past the bottom of the book. Setting this up at the start of reading a new book can be an enjoyable part of the user's new-book experience.
And in preferred embodiments the anchor enough contains space for graphic designs to be displayed that are attractive and/or useful. For example, there is a very long history of people using “bookplates” to indicate book ownership. These are usually paper sheets, a few inches in width and height, with permanent adhesive on the back, which contain a space for the owner to write (at least) his name. Often, bookplates have very attractive, artistic designs—in fact there is at least one web site devoted to the latest developments in bookplate graphic design. In preferred embodiments, the anchors used in the present invention have those characteristics.
One unique opportunity for fun with graphic design is to print on the anchor the image of an animal with a long tongue, such as an aardvark. (Or, equivalently, an animal with a long tail.) The animal's tongue can be printed so that it extends to the slit nearest the top of the book, so that it appears that the tongue extends right onto the ribbon. The ribbon is printed with a line in the matching position, that extends for a substantial portion (or all) of the ribbon's length. In this manner, it appears that the animal has an extremely long tongue that gets longer as one pulls the ribbon to find the best length for the present book.
A key aspect of the present invention is the way it addresses the following facts:
The present invention improves on bookmarks such as the one found at the following web address: http://www.instructables.com/id/Ribbon-Markers-for-a-Reference-Book/ (retrieved on Mar. 13, 2014). The linked bookmark affixes ribbons in an immovable way to a plastic anchor which is placed into the spine of a book. It can only readily be pushed to one unobtrusive position, where the top of the anchor is even with the top of the spine. The bookmarks have a fixed length. If it were to be moved to a different book requiring different lengths, the bookmark would have to be inconveniently reconfigured, possibly with new ribbons.
One possible solution to this problem is the following. With a simple ribbon of predetermined length, one can adjust how much the ribbon protrudes from the bottom of the book by changing the placement of the anchor, if the anchor is of a type that can be placed in multiple book locations. This is true of patent application DE4125234 A1, and patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,439,254. The ribbon extends from the anchor to the top of the book, and then down between the pages that are being marked. So, if the anchor is moved toward the bottom of the book, the part protruding from between the pages must go up. If it protrudes too much, move the anchor down; if it doesn't protrude, or protrudes too little, move the anchor up.
However, there is a subtle problem with that approach, which the present invention addresses, while also adding an element of fun. The following few paragraphs describe that problem.
When the user is reading the book, the anchor is attached near the bottom of the book, the ribbon may be in one of two states:
Dangling freely down is ungainly and unattractive. People don't tend to use it that way. Looping over the top is better.
However, if the anchor is near the bottom of the cover, there is almost as much ribbon on the inside of the book going up as there is on the outside going down, interfering with the tendency of gravity to keep the ribbon somewhat taut inside the cover, so that the ribbon remains straight and attractive instead of bunching up.
Also, to the degree that the ribbon is unconstrained from lateral swing in the portion between the anchor and the top of the book, the ribbon will again tend to move out of its straight and attractive positioning near the spine, and has a significantly greater possibility of falling off the back cover entirely.
Enjoyment of a bookmark is largely determined by a combination of ease of use and aesthetics. Bookmarks that try to solve practical problems such as denoting the exact line the user stopped reading haven't been successful in the marketplace, because, even though they solve a problem, they tend to require more effort of the user, lowering the ease of use. Rather, winners in the marketplace have tended to improve the aesthetic experience (such as by placing 3D images on the bookmark) without making any new demands of the user.
The present invention actually improves ease-of-use, by eliminating the possibility of the bookmark falling out of the book, and by eliminating the need to remove the bookmark while reading, and to find and place it back in the book again when done. And it does this while avoiding the ungainly, inconvenient aspects of other ideas inventors have tried, while offering a potential aesthetic experience at least as good as traditional bookmarks—it can take advantage of technologies like 3D images while adding the fun of an image that appears to elongate as the ribbon is pulled up.
Thus, unlike earlier attempts to make a better bookmark such as those described above, the present invention has characteristics necessary to potentially make a major impact on the market.
The drawings referred to herein are for the purpose of illustrating the various aspects of the present invention and are not meant to limit its scope.
Referring now to the embodiment depicted in
The adhesive is used to bond the anchor to a book cover or page. Pressure-sensitive adhesives such as those used in 3M's Post-it notes products are ideal, as they are formulated to allow notes to be removed from a surface without leaving residue and without damaging the surface, and subsequently used again on another surface. In particular, preferred embodiments equal or approximate the degree of adhesiveness used in 3M's Super Sticky Post-it notes. The adhesive may or may not cover the entire back of the anchor, consistent with the needs of the embodiment.
The embodiment of
A ribbon 3 is attached to anchor 1 by two slits 2 configured so that the ribbon can be pulled toward the top or bottom of the book. While the ribbon can be any of numerous materials, the preferred embodiment uses a type of ribbon that is used in existing built-in ribbon bookmarks, such as in Bibles. The ribbon can be used to mark the position in the book. To do this, the user drapes the ribbon over the top of the book and between two pages, of which one is the last one she was reading.
The reader will often want the ribbon to protrude a bit from the bottom of the book, and in that case she pulls the ribbon up toward the top of the book from the anchor to extend the bookmarking portion, or down toward the bottom to make it shorter.
The ribbon has a length configured to be approximately twice the height of a book that is relatively small with respect to a target market. For example, textbooks tend to be larger than novels. So embodiments targeted to the textbook market will include a ribbon whose length is twice that of the height of a relatively small textbook. In the preferred embodiment, the ribbon is more twice as long as the height of about 20% of textbooks, and less than twice as long as the height of about 80% of textbooks. Other lengths may be chosen as necessary.
The preferred embodiment shown in
The ribbon is folded over 4 and glued at the end toward the bottom of the book, forming a ribbon stop, so that it is unlikely to be inadvertently get pulled so far by the user that it no longer runs through bottom slot (and, if pulled even father, the top) slot.
In
In
An alternative embodiment to the mechanism in
Glues used in forming ribbon-guiding tunnels are typically not the weak, pressure-sensitive glue used for anchors. The glue should be strong; its pressure-sensitivity is not important. Rubber cement is one appropriate glue.
When slits are used, it is usually the case that making the slits slightly wider than the ribbon, and covering as much of the back of the anchor with adhesive as possible (while separating the ribbon from the adhesive, and preferably leaving a small portion of the anchor adhesive-free), creates a situation where there is an amount of friction that is close to ideal. It is easy for the user to pull the ribbon when she wants to change the length while the anchor is attached to a cover or page, but the ribbon rarely or never moves without being purposefully pulled by the user.
This is harder to achieve with ribbon-guiding-tunnel-based embodiments. In such embodiments the tunnel has to be designed so that there is enough friction with the ribbon. The tunnel tops have to push the ribbon into the anchor. Or, in embodiments where there is a cutaway in the anchor such that the ribbon touches the book cover or page, the ribbon must be pushed against that. Those skilled in the art will readily see how to provide the necessary pressure through tautness of the tunnel materials. But the fact that this issue is virtually automatically solved with the slit-based embodiment is one reason that is the preferred embodiment.
Since ribbon ends typically fray, preferred embodiments include aspects for stopping fraying. The preferred embodiment uses a synthetic ribbon, such as nylon, and heat to cause the threads to run together to stop fraying. In conjunction with a folded-back ribbon stop, heat to stop fraying is preferably applied before the folding operation is undertaken.
The bookmark of the present invention can be manufactured in many ways that will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Once manufactured, and acquired by the user, the user takes the step of opening the book to the location where he desires to place the bookmark. In the preferred embodiment, the anchor is configured so that the ribbon is attached to the left side of the anchor when the anchor is oriented so that the ribbon is vertical, and the user affixes the anchor to the upper left of the inside back cover. In the preferred use she applies some pressure to activate the pressure-sensitive adhesive; in other use, pressure is applied as a side-effect of closing the book.
For further description of certain embodiments, provisional patent applications 61/800,664 and 61/925,569 are hereby incorporated by reference.
Instead of making the anchor of paper, other flat materials that are thin and flexible may be used. Examples include flexible plastic sheets, cloth, aluminum foil and DuPont's Tyvek.
The anchor can have any desired shape as long it is flat and fits within the book. For example, if the anchor is to be printed with the image of an animal, it could be shaped like that kind of animal. It can have cut-out areas.
The ribbon may be made of any material that is traditionally used for ribbons. Synthetic materials such as nylon or polyester, or silk, cloth, or any other natural material that may be fashioned for use as a ribbon may be used.
Ribbons may be of any length in a range of reasonable lengths that is determined by the target market. A ribbon is out of that range if, with the upper and lower portions of the ribbon laid out such that the lower portion is laid straight down from the ribbon guide and the upper portion is laid so that it runs up to the top of the book and draped over the back half of the book's pages, and furthermore runs down over the first of the back half of the book's pages, then there is no way of adjusting it so that it protrudes about ½ inch below that page.
Any pressure-sensitive adhesive which has the appropriate degree of adhesiveness (in the range of adhesives used on 3M Post-it notes; this will imply removability) and the ability to not leave significant residue can be used. One example is SmartAdhesives P1 Removable PermaTack.
Some embodiments may have pressure-sensitive adhesive on both sides of the anchor if, for example, it is desired to be able to temporarily attach something to the front of the anchor. Permanent adhesive could also be used on the anchor front to, for instance, attach a personal photo to the anchor.
Decorative items such as picture holders, metallic stars, and anything else that doesn't have a shape or weight that substantially hinders the functionality of the invention as a bookmark can be added to either the ribbon or anchor. Functional embellishments can also be added, such as the adhesive dot taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,515,809 or the sliding tab taught in U.S. Pat. No. 6,205,947.
There are many ways to attach the anchor such that it can be moved in a vertical direction when the anchor is placed a book, while restricting its movement in other directions. The figures contain examples. Some slit-based embodiments may have more than two slits. Tunnel-based embodiments may have more than one tunnel and if there are multiple tunnels, the tunnels can be so “short” that they are actually loops of string or thread rather than a flat material. When multiple tunnels (or more than two slits) are used in the guiding of a single ribbon, they together comprise the ribbon guide for that ribbon.
Tunnel-based embodiments can attach the tunnel using other means than glue or folding. Other examples include staples, and cutting tabs on the edges of the tunnel covering material which may be inserted into slits cut into the anchor for that purpose. Such tabs may be specially glued in place, or rely on the anchor's adhesive. One or more folds may be used.
Various embodiments may or may not contain graphics which may or may not contain animals, and the ribbon may or may not contain graphics. Graphics may connect the image on the anchor to artwork on the ribbon (as with the aardvark image in
While preferred embodiments the graphics will include text such as “This book belongs to” or “ex libris” and a line for the user to write his name, other embodiments may have space for more or less such information, or none. Embodiments can have text for any purpose a manufacturer or user wishes, such as a list of conversion measures for a cookbook or electrical formulas for an engineering book, or a list of pages where various characters are first mentioned for a novel.
Ribbon stops may include a folded-back and glued portion of ribbon, or folded-over with the folded-over portion attached to the main portion by means of glue, glue dots, heating, staples or other methods. In preferred embodiments the folded-over portion is approximately ⅓ inch, but this can vary. The ribbon may be folded back, or folded at an angle. Additional mechanisms that may be used instead of folding include attaching an object to the ribbon that is too wide to fit through either end of the ribbon guide. Practitioners of the related arts and crafts will readily see how to attach metal, plastic, cardboard, or other objects, typically flat, that accomplish the stopping purpose to a useful degree, and which would not be too large or heavy to work with the bookmark.
Glues used in making the ribbon stop are stronger adhesives than used for attaching the anchor to the book, and do not need to be pressure-sensitive. Glue dots, epoxy, contact cement, E-6000, and cyan-acrylate glue are examples.
Ribbon stops may be used on either or both ends of the ribbon, although preferred embodiments have them only at the end that is associated with the lower part of the ribbon.
Some embodiments have multiple ribbons, running through the same or different ribbon guides.
Ribbons may include graphics which may include text for any purpose.
Anti-fraying can be achieved by a large number of ways. Heating has been mentioned above. It can also be accomplished by painting the ribbon ends with clear nail polish, or applying glue such as a cyan-acrylate glue. There are also products made specifically for this purpose, such as Stop Fray and Fray Check. Other techniques are well-known in the art of working with ribbons, and may be referenced at many web sites such as https://www.theribbonretreat.com/custom/modules/FreeProjects/PDFSealingRibbonEnds.pdf, http://store.scrapbook.com/fc-10574.html, http://www.weddingcrafter.co.uk/tips-and-techniques/10/your-questions-answered/51/how-do-i-stop-ribbon-from-fraying. (Retrieved on Mar. 13, 2014.)
Tunnel materials can be the same or different from the anchor, and include similar choices of materials.
Glue used in forming tunnels can be any strong glue which is appropriate for the materials being used to form the tunnels. Rubber cement, glue sticks such as Uhu and Tombo, white glues such as Delta Sobo or Talas Jade PVA, and other glues can be used.
Where there is the potential for the ribbon to get stuck in the adhesive on the back of the anchor, the figures show using tape, such as a pressure-sensitive adhesive tape with its adhesive facing the anchor adhesive, as a separating material. This can be accomplished in a number of other ways, including using a length of paper, foil, or ribbon, or coating the anchor in that area with substance such as non-pressure-sensitive adhesive, such as an air-drying one, which, after drying, would provide a coating separating the ribbon from the anchor adhesive. While the figures show the ribbon positioned vertically, on the left side of the anchor, it could be positioned vertically, toward the center or on the right side. The left side is most appropriate when, in the expected use, the left side of the anchor would be near the book spine, such as when the anchor is to be placed on the inside back cover. Similarly, the right side is most appropriate when it is expected that the right side of the anchor may be near the book spine. But other embodiments are possible, including, but not limited to, positioning the ribbon vertically, near the middle of the anchor.
While preferred embodiments involve placing the anchor on the inside back cover of the book, in other embodiments it can be positioned on the inside front cover, or the outside of either cover or the spine, or on a book page.
Preferred slit-based embodiments have slits that are the same length (slightly wider than the ribbon) and which are positioned such that, when the anchor is in place in a book, a line drawn through the center of one slit to the center of the other would be parallel to the book's spine. But that does not have to be exactly the case. They may have different lengths and it may be that the line drawn through the slit centers would not be quite parallel, as long those they are close enough to the ideal of the preferred embodiment that ribbon movement is still essentially constrained to the vertical direction.
Additional modifications and improvements to the present invention may also be apparent to those skilled in the art. Thus the particular combinations of parts and steps described herein are intended to represent only certain embodiments of the present invention, and are not intended as limitations of alternate devices or methods within the spirit and scope of the invention.
This non-provisional application claims the benefit of the priority date of U.S. provisional application 61/800,664, filed Mar. 15, 2013, and also claims the benefit of the priority date of U.S. provisional application 61/925,569, filed Jan. 9, 2014.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61925569 | Jan 2014 | US | |
| 61800664 | Mar 2013 | US |
