Patent Application
20080153699
Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
The present invention relates generally to a carbonless copying system, and more specifically to a carbonless copying system adapted to transfer images from a notepad sheet to a single calendar sheet without permitting the image to be transferred to adjacent calendar sheets, if so desired.
Carbonless copying systems are well known in the art. While such carbonless copying systems according to the prior art provide a number of advantageous features, they nevertheless have certain limitations. The present invention seeks to overcome certain of these limitations and other drawbacks of the prior art, and to provide new features not heretofore available. A full discussion of the features and advantages of the present invention is deferred to the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The present invention generally provides a customizable carbonless copying system whereby notes can be transferred from a notepad sheet to a single sheet of paper by writing the information on the notepad sheet while the notepad sheet is positioned on the paper. A separator or other backing board is not needed to ensure that the information is not transferred to additional pages in the stack.
According to one embodiment, the carbonless copying system comprises a first grouping of flexible sheets and a second grouping of flexible sheets. The flexible sheets of the first grouping have a first surface and a second surface, and preferably both the first surface and the second surface of these sheets have a carbonless developer material thereon. Conversely, the flexible sheets of the second grouping have a first surface and a second surface, but only the second surface of the flexible sheets of the second grouping has a carbonless color-former material thereon.
According to another embodiment, the carbonless color-former material on the second surface of the flexible sheets of the second grouping is adapted to interact with the carbonless developer material on an adjacent first surface of one of the flexible sheets of the first grouping to enable an image to be transferred from one of the flexible sheets of the second grouping to one of the flexible sheets of the first grouping when pressure is applied on the first surface of the flexible sheet of the second grouping having a second surface that is in contact with a first surface of the adjacent flexible sheet of the first grouping.
According to another embodiment, the flexible sheets of the second grouping further have a removable and repositionable pressure sensitive adhesive on at least a portion of the second surface thereof. Further, in another embodiment the flexible sheets of the second grouping are separably connected to one another by the removable and repositionable pressure sensitive adhesive.
According to another embodiment, the first surface of the flexible sheets of the second grouping is generally free of any carbonless color-former material.
According to another embodiment, the first and second surfaces of the flexible sheets of the first grouping are generally free of any carbonless color-former material.
According to another embodiment, the carbonless developer material is provided only on select areas of the first surface of the flexible sheets of the first grouping, and other select areas of the first surface of the flexible sheets of the first grouping are free from the carbonless developer material.
According to another embodiment, the carbonless color-former material on the second surface of the flexible sheets of the second grouping of flexible sheets comprises a layer of microcapsules containing an encapsulated dye dissolved in a solvent.
According to another embodiment, the carbonless developer material of the first surface of the flexible sheets of the first grouping of flexible sheets comprises a layer of color developing material.
Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following specification taken in conjunction with the following drawings.
To understand the present invention, it will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
While this invention is susceptible of embodiments in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail preferred embodiments of the invention with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the broad aspect of the invention to the embodiments illustrated.
Referring now to the Figures, and specifically to
In one embodiment the first grouping 12 of flexible sheets 16 comprises a calendar planner, wherein each calendar sheet 16 is provided for a different day, different week, different month, etc. In a preferred embodiment, each sheet 16 of the first grouping 12 represents a different day of the year. Each sheet 16 of the first grouping 12 generally has a first or top surface 20 and a second or bottom surface 22. Further, in one embodiment the sheets 16 of the first grouping 12 are generally not connected directly together, but rather are bound in a grouping, such as in a spiral or three-ring binder, or some other type of notebook.
Similarly, in one embodiment the second grouping 14 of flexible sheets 18 comprises a notepad, such as a Post-It® notepad or other pad of adhesive note paper, wherein the sheets 18 of the second grouping 14 are separably connected to one another by a removable and repositionable pressure sensitive adhesive 24 as shown in
As explained herein, to allow images that are written on a sheet of one of the groupings of paper 12, 14 to be transferred to a sheet of the other grouping of paper 14, 12, various carbonless image transfer materials and/or carbonless copying materials are provided on the different surfaces of the sheets 16, 18 of the groupings of paper 12, 14. Carbonless copy papers are those which are capable of producing an image on a second sheet upon the application of pressure. Products employing this technology generally contain at least two substrates (i.e., sheets of flexible paper), and involve coatings on the various surfaces of the substrates. In one process a first reactant, known as a color-former material 30, is provided or coated on at least one surface of the sheets or substrates, and a second reactant, known as a developer material 32 is provided or coated on at least one surface of another of the sheets or substrates. The two different sheets or substrates are often referred to as a donor sheet and a receptor sheet.
Typically, the donor sheet has the color-former material 30 comprising, in one embodiment, a layer of microcapsules encapsulated with a solution of the color-former that is dissolved in an appropriate hydrophobic solvent, and then coated with a suitable binder onto a surface of a flexible sheet to form the donor sheet. Because the color-former material 30 is typically provided on the back side of the appropriate flexible donor sheets the donor sheet is often referred to as having the “coated back” or CB surface or sheet. In one embodiment each CB surface generally contains rupturable capsules which, when ruptured, release reagents to produce a color-changing reaction at the adjacent receptor sheet. The microcapsules serve the purpose of isolating the reactants from one another and preventing reaction prior to pressure being applied to the paper.
Similarly, the receptor sheet typically has a developer material 32 thereon, also optionally in a suitable binder such as a starch or later, that is generally coated onto a surface of a flexible sheet to form the receptor sheet. The term “suitable binder” generally refers to a material, such as a starch or latex, which allows for dispersion of the reactants in a coating on a substrate. The receptor sheet having the developer layer 32 is often referred to as the “coated front” or CF sheet because the developer layer is typically provided on the front side or surface of such a flexible sheet. While it is customary to coat the color-former capsules on the back surface and to coat the developer on the front surface, this procedure can be reversed or modified, as desired.
As shown in
Also as shown in
To transfer an image from the notepad sheet 18 to a sheet 16 of the first grouping 12 in a preferred embodiment, a flexible notepad sheet 18 is first separated from the second grouping 14 of flexible sheets 18 (see
Further, even though the sheets 16 of the first grouping 12 may be coated on both surfaces 20, 22 with the carbonless developer 32 material (i.e., CF), the writing from the adjacent second grouping 14 sheet 18 is only transferred to the single adjacent surface of the calendar sheet 16 (see
Alternatively, it is understood that the configuration of the carbonless color-former material 30 (CB) and the carbonless developer material 32 (CF) may be reversed on the different groupings 12, 14 without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Similarly, when a user writes on one of the daily calendar pages 16 in the stack 12 without utilizing a notepad sheet 18, no carbonless image transfer will occur because the interaction of each page is merely a CF to CF interaction—resulting in no chemical reaction. Conversely, when the user desires to write a note on a notepad sheet 18, and to have the information be transferred on a page 16 of the daily calendar without having to write the note twice (once on the note paper 18 and once on the daily calendar page 16), the user places the note paper 18 in the proper location on the calendar page 16 and writes on the note paper 18. Because of the chemical interaction between the back surface 28 of the note paper 18 (CB coated) with either the front or rear surface 20, 22 of the adjacent daily calendar page 16 (CF coated), a carbonless copy will be provided on the immediately adjacent surface of the calendar page 16. The carbonless copy will not transfer to any other page or surface, however, because all other surface of the daily calendar pages 16 have a CF to CF interaction, resulting in no chemical reaction. Accordingly, this system allows for perfect management of carbonless copies without the need for cardboard inserts to block the transfer of pressure. Typically, the user will maintain possession of the daily calendar page 16 with the copied information, and can provide the note paper 18 to an assistant, such as a secretary, for further recording or for placement as desired.
Several alternative embodiments and examples have been described and illustrated herein. A person of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate the features of the individual embodiments, and the possible combinations and variations of the components. A person of ordinary skill in the art would further appreciate that any of the embodiments could be provided in any combination with the other embodiments disclosed herein. Additionally, the terms “first,” “second,” “third,” and “fourth” as used herein are intended for illustrative purposes only and do not limit the embodiments in any way. Further, the term “plurality” as used herein indicates any number greater than one, either disjunctively or conjunctively, as necessary, up to an infinite number. Additionally, the term “having” as used herein in both the disclosure and claims, is utilized in an open-ended manner.
It will be understood that the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or central characteristics thereof. The present examples and embodiments, therefore, are to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, and the invention is not to be limited to the details given herein. Accordingly, while the specific embodiments have been illustrated and described, numerous modifications come to mind without significantly departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of protection is only limited by the scope of the accompanying Claims.
