Patent Application
20060255057
This application claims priority from European Application No. 05104056.6, filed May 13, 2005.
The present invention relates to a dispenser apparatus for individually dispensing sheet material, such as notepaper or the like, wherein the sheet material is disposed in a Z-fold manner within the stack. The sheets having a band of adhesive layer coated on one surface along one edge by which the sheets are adhered together with the sheets being stacked with a band of adhesive of adjacent sheets at alternate opposite edges of the stack, wherein removal of one sheet withdraws one end of the next sheet which can be then separated without withdrawing the following sheet.
The present invention in particular relates to sheets that can be adhered to and removed from a substrate such as written documents without damaging this substrate, wherein said sheets can have a portion coated with an adhesive layer to provide secure engagement with a substrate until it is intentionally removed. The adhesive layer comprises a repositionable adhesive, i.e. while the adhesive allows for the sheets to be sufficiently adhered such that they can withstand normal handling without being removed from the substrate, upon removal, the sheets do not destroy or damage the substrate, which may be for example a paper sheet.
The present invention is further related to a cover device for a file folder, a loose leaf, a book, a notebook, a file wrapper or the like.
In the course of reviewing and studying printed material it is common and convenient for individuals to write down short notes on a note paper and/or to use small flags to identify a position of a book or a file wrapper which is deemed to be important. Especially for locating passages within a book or a file wrapper often a search of several marked-up pages is required. One product that facilitates locating a particular page or a section of a page is a tape flag such as those manufactured by the 3M Company, St. Paul, Minn. under the trademark “Post-it®”. The material of these flags may be an elastic or flexible material, such as plastics, or a writeable sheet, such as paper.
The prior art is provided with structures for the sheets adapted to mark positions of substrates such as written documents and dispenser packages for such sheets. Sheets from “Post-it®” note paper available from the 3M company are used extensively as such sheets and are particularly useful for that purpose because a repositionable pressure sensitive adhesive layer with which they are coated allows them to be placed and also to be removed from a document without damaging the document.
It is known that a plurality of these flexible sheets having the same size are disposed in a stack and each of them comprising a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive on a back side of the sheet. The sheets have first and second ends and are adhered to each other within the stack with the first and second end of successive sheets in the stack and have first end portions adjacent their first ends that are not adhered to (or can be easily separated from) the underlying sheet in the stack to facilitate removal of the uppermost sheet in the stack. This arrangement of the sheet material or the note papers, respectively, disposed within a stack and adhered to each other with a releasable adhesive layer along alternating opposing edges is hereinafter referred to as an arrangement of sheet material in a so-called Z-fold manner.
A typical manner of packaging this stack is to use a dispenser package for at least holding and covering the stack of sheets.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,770,320 describes a dispenser package including such a stack of sheets—which is commercially available from 3M, St. Paul, Minn. under the trade designation “Post-it®” tape flags—wherein the layers of pressure sensitive adhesive extend only over a portion of the back sides of the sheets and wherein the single sheets are disposed within the stack in a Z-fold manner. The packaging dispenser has a box-like structure. For dispensing a single sheet or note paper, respectively, the housing of the dispenser package contains a slot on top of the dispenser package for dispensing one single sheet after the other through the slot.
Various other dispenser packages containing and covering a stack of sheet material—such as the above-mentioned stack having Z-folded sheets—are widely known in the art, including WO 92/12072, WO 96/00659, EP 345 057 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,392, U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,946, U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,666, EP 157 628 A1 and WO 03/002357 A1.
In WO 03/002357 the packaging of the dispenser and device is incorporated inside a pencil. In WO 96/00659, WO 92/12072, EP 345 057 A1 the packaging of the dispenser is made out of one piece having a slot on the top of the piece, whereas in EP 157 628 the packaging of the dispenser is made out of a sheet or a plate which can be folded to construct a box-like structure for enclosing and surrounding the stack of sheet material.
In all above referenced applications the dispenser package forms a box-like structure in which the stack of sheet material is almost covered completely. This box-like package structure has the function to cover the stack and therefore to serve as a housing to prevent that the sheets are dispensed in an uncontrolled manner. Therefore, the box-like structure of the packaging not only holds and covers the stack but also surrounds the stack.
The problem of nearly all dispenser package applications mentioned in the above reference documents is that the stack is surrounded completely and covered by a single-piece box-like housing structure. As a consequence of this it is not or at least with some effort possible to refill the dispenser apparatus if it is empty and if there is no sheet material left in the dispenser package. An empty dispenser apparatus is often not any more re-useable and, therefore, is thrown away. Furthermore, in case a sheet fails to dispense from such a closed dispenser, it is generally difficult or sometimes even impossible to restart the dispensing of sheets therefrom.
Another problem being inherent to the dispensers referenced above is the more or less complicated fabrication and manufacturing of said devices. Especially, with the single-piece box-like housing structure of the dispenser it is rather difficult and complex and thus costly to fabricate the box like package having a slot for dispensing the sheet material on the top of the package. Especially, if the package is made of a coherent, non-detachable material, such as plastics, several process steps are necessary. In addition to that, more or less complex and thus expensive machines are necessary to fabricate the dispenser packages.
It would now be desirable to provide a further dispenser device, in particular an improved dispenser device preferably having a construction as simple as possible. It would further be desirable to provide a dispenser device which can be fabricated in a more easy way. Furthermore, it would be desirable to provide a refillable dispenser device, wherein the refill process is as easy as possible. Desirably, the dispenser device can be readily combined or provided in for example a notebook.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a dispenser apparatus having the features of claim 1 and/or a cover device having the features of claim 11.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a dispenser device for holding and retaining a stack of sheets and for individually dispensing the sheets, wherein the sheets are arranged in a Z-fold manner within the stack, comprising a single dispenser platform having clamping means being integral with the dispenser platform for as well holding and clamping the stack in the dispenser apparatus.
Accordingly, the present invention further provides a cover device for a file folder, a loose leaf, a book, a notebook, a file wrapper or the like, comprising at least one first cover sheet having at least one dispenser apparatus according to the present invention.
In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the dispenser apparatus comprises on one hand a generally planar contact area for holding and carrying the stack. In addition to that, the dispenser apparatus comprises on the other hand at least two tongue-shaped devices for putting pressure on the top of the stack which is lying at least partially on the planar contact area. In this dispenser apparatus the contact area and the two tongue-shaped devices are arranged in such a way that the stack is clamped between those parts of the dispenser apparatus. The contact area and the two tongue-shaped devices of the dispenser apparatus therefore have a function of a clamping means. By clamping a stack between two tongue-shaped devices and a more or less planar contact area the stack is at least fixed within the dispenser apparatus.
It has thus been found that for implementing a simple and easy manufactured dispensing apparatus it is not necessary to cover the stack almost completely by means of a housing or the like. It is only necessary to provide a contact area to place the stack with its bottom portion on and to provide any means for exerting some force or pressure on top of the stack at opposite ends of the stack (i.e. the opposite ends between which the repositionable adhesive on the sheets of the stack alternate) in a way that the stack is fixed between the contact area and the means. With the dispenser apparatus according to the present invention the stack is not covered completely, but is fixed in a way that a movement of the stack is not possible at normal conditions when no force is impinged on the stack.
However, the contact area and the two tongue-shaped devices which are putting force or pressure on the top of the stack and thus are pressing the stack against the contact area advantageously allows dispensing a single sheet on top of the stack one after the other. The sheet on the top of the stack therefore can be easily removed out of the dispenser apparatus since the two tongue-shaped devices are impinging a force on the stack only at the end portions of the stack with the consequence that single sheets can be taken out of the dispenser apparatus one after the other.
A particular advantage of the dispenser resides in the simplicity of the whole construction of the dispenser apparatus since it may be constructed only out of one single page, sheet, leaf, foil or the like comprising as well the contact area and the tongue-shaped devices for putting force or pressure on the top of the stack and clamping the stacks.
A further advantage of the dispenser is the simplicity of its manufacturing process since only very simple process machines are necessary for making cuttings or slittings to create the contact area and the tongue-shaped devices. In a very simple process these features are just cut, punched, rotary-grinded and/or lasered out of a planar sheet-like base material. These process steps may also be applied for producing the other parts of the dispenser apparatus and especially to set the outer shape of the dispenser apparatus.
A further advantage is the refillable functionality of the dispenser apparatus. If the dispenser apparatus is empty, that is, if the last sheet is withdrawn from the dispenser apparatus a new stack may be clamped between the contact area and the tongue-like apparatus. With this smart and useful functionality the dispenser apparatus does not have to be thrown away after it is empty. Advantageously, the dispenser apparatus consequently has a significantly longer life time. This is especially very attractive for those individuals who do not want to exchange the dispenser device after every stack especially for economic reasons.
Embodiments and improvements can be found in the dependent claims and in the description, with reference to the drawings.
In one embodiment the stack contains a plurality of repositionable sheets wherein each sheet having a band coated (e.g. a narrow band) with a pressure sensitive adhesive layer on a back surface along one edge portion of the sheet by which the sheet is adhered together with a sheet below, with the sheets being stacked with a band of adhesive layers of adjacent sheets at alternating opposite edges of the stack, wherein removal of a first sheet withdraws one end of a second sheet below which then can be separated from the first sheet without withdrawing the second sheet.
In a particular embodiment the clamping means comprise at least one contact area and at least two first tongue-shaped devices arranged opposite to each other for putting pressure on top of the stack and thus clamping the stack between the contact area and the first tongue-shaped devices.
Generally the at least two first tongue-shaped devices are distanced from each other to allow to individually remove single sheets, wherein the distance is in the range of one quarter to one half of the width of the first tongue shaped devices.
In the at least two first tongue-shaped devices are distanced from each other forming a bridge-like structure in the dispenser platform, wherein the bridge-like structure is part of the contact area.
In an embodiment the contact area is at least partially planar and/or the at least two first tongue-shaped devices are at least partially rectangular shaped.
In an embodiment the dispenser apparatus comprises at least one dispenser platform having at least partially a flexible and elastic material.
In an embodiment the dispenser apparatus comprises at least partially a material which consists at least partially of a polymer, such as plastics.
In an embodiment the dispenser apparatus comprises at least partially a transparent material and/or a semi-transparent material. The thickness of the dispenser platform is generally in a range between 0.01 mm and 2 mm, for example in a range between 0.05 mm and 0.5 mm. The number of sheets in the stack may vary widely but is typically not more than 50 sheets, for example not more than 25 sheets.
In a particular embodiment at least one second tongue-shaped device is provided forming part of the contact area. The second tongue-shaped device may function as a supporting means for preventing that the stack is slipping through a recess in the dispenser platform which is generated by lifting off the respective first tongue-shaped devices and/or functions as a stop means to provide a stop position for preventing a horizontal movement of the stack within the dispenser apparatus.
Generally the second tongue-shaped device is smaller than the respective one of the first tongue-shaped devices and/or is at least partially arranged inside the respective one of the first tongue-shaped devices.
The first and/or the second tongue-shaped devices may be constructed by means of slittings and/or slots and/or cuttings within the dispenser platform wherein the slittings and/or slots and/or cuttings are arranged so as to allow the tongue-shaped devices to be lifted from the dispenser platform along one connecting side where the tongue-shaped device is connected to the dispenser platform. Typically but not necessarily, a first and/or second tongue shaped device has four sides wherein the slittings and/or slots and/or cuttings are arranged on three sides of the first tongue-shaped devices and wherein the first and/or second tongue-shaped devices are connected on their fourth sides to the dispenser platform.
Typically the fourth side of a first tongue-shaped device and the connecting side of the respective one of the second tongue-shaped device are positioned on the same side.
In an embodiment the at least two first tongue-shaped devices which are arranged opposite to each other are of the same size and/or the at least two second tongue-shaped devices which are arranged opposite to each other are of the same size.
In a further embodiment the first tongue-shaped devices have a lateral first width which is defined by the length of the bridge-like structure wherein the first width is greater than a second width which is defined by the sides of the stack and the stack is clamped between the first tongue-shaped devices and the contact area.
In a particular embodiment the width of the adhesive layer on the sheets in the stack for use with the dispenser is not greater than one half of the length of a single sheet and typically is not greater than one fourth of the length of a single sheet.
In a particular embodiment a single cover sheet is provided having holes on one edge of the cover sheet for use in a loose leaf and/or in a file folder. In accordance with the invention, the cover sheet comprises at least one dispenser in accordance with the invention.
In a further embodiment adjacent first and second cover sheets are connected with each other by fold means formed by a flexible interface, wherein the flexible interface has the function of a rotating axis allowing to clap at least one of the first and/or the second cover sheet on top of the respective other cover sheet. The dispenser may be arranged on either or both of the first and second cover sheets. The first and second cover sheets may be of the same or different size and/or shape and may have more than one dispenser.
In a further embodiment at least two cover sheets are provided wherein at least a first one of these cover sheets comprises at least one tuck in flap and at least a second one of these cover sheets comprises at least one recess means wherein the number of the recess means corresponds with the number of the tuck in flaps. One or both of the cover sheets may have one or more dispenser in connection with the invention.
In a particular embodiment the recess means and the tuck in flaps are arranged at the same position within a respective one of the cover sheets such that, when the first one of the cover sheets is clapped on the respective second one of the cover sheets the tuck in flaps may be inserted into the recess means to enable the first one of the cover sheets and the respective second one of the cover sheets to be connected with each other.
The tuck in flaps may be tongue-shaped and/or the recess means may be made of a slitting and/or a slot and/or a cutting.
Exemplifying embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
a, 1b show a top view of back side (a) and a side view (b) of a single sheet of a stack of single sheets having an pressure adhesive layer at its back side;
a, 2b, 2c shows a side view of a stack comprising a plurality of flexible repositionable sheets disposed within the stack in a Z-fold manner;
In the drawings identical and/or similar features are—as far as nothing else is set forth—indicated with the same reference numerals.
Referring now to
The sheet 10 comprises an elongate preferably rectangular shape having a front side 11 and a back side 12 and first and second opposite ends 13, 14. The sheet 10 typically comprises a single layer of transparent, semi-transparent or non-transparent flexible material. The sheet 10 may be of any sheet material, such as paper, polymeric material or any other more or less flexible material. The sheet 10 further can be designed to be a writeable note paper or an index for the marking of portions of documents (such as the “Post-it® Index” or the “Post-it® notes”).
The sheet thickness D5 depends on the sheet material and the desired application and is conveniently between 0.01 mm and 0.2 mm.
The sheet 10 further comprises a coating layer 15 on its back side 12. The coating layer 15 comprises a repositionable pressure sensitive adhesive such as described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 3,691,140 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,166,152. The coating layer 15 is applied on a second end portion 16 of the back side 12 adjacent the second end 14 while the sheet 10 is free of the coating layer 15 of pressure sensitive adhesive as well at the whole front side 11 surface and at a first end portion 17 of the backside 12 adjacent the first end 13. In the embodiment of
Generally, the width L1 of the coating layer 15 is significantly smaller than the length L2 of said sheet 10.
Referring now to
The stack 20 comprises a plurality (e.g. 10, 15, 50, 100, etc.) of flexible similar or equal sized sheets 10 such as those illustrated with respect to
The dispenser apparatus 30 is made out of a generally flexible sheet material 31, for example plastic, hereinafter referred to as dispenser platform 31. The thickness of the dispenser platform 31 is referenced by the reference numeral D1 in
The dispenser apparatus 30 comprises two (first) tongue-shaped devices 32 being connected with the dispenser platform 31. In the embodiment as shown in
Both tongue-shaped devices 32 are connected to the dispenser platform 31 at their respective back end sides 33 for example by means of a folding line 33 (dotted line in
The dispenser apparatus 30 further comprises a (generally planar) contact portion 37 for bearing and carrying the stack 20 of sheet material. This contact portion 37 is a integral part of the dispenser platform 31. The contact portion 37 is formed on the one hand by a bridge-like structure 38. The bridge-like structure 38 is defined by those parts of the dispenser platform 31 being arranged right between two adjacent tongue-shaped devices 32. Additionally, the contact portion 37 may be formed on the other hand by those parts 39 of the dispenser platform 31 which are basically arranged adjacent to the lateral sides 34, 35 of a respective tongue-shaped device 32. In general, in the embodiment illustrated in
Typically, the width L3 of a stack 20 (see
However, the dispenser apparatus 30 according to the present invention is not limited to this application. Especially, the functionality of the dispenser apparatus 30 is also fulfilled if the width L3 of a stack 20 is greater than the length D3 of the front end side of the tongue-shaped devices 32; that is in other words, if the width L3 of the stack 20 is wider than the width D3 of a tongue 32. In this case, when a stack 20 is clamped between the tongue-shaped devices 32 and the remaining parts of the dispenser platform 31 the stack 20 is laterally overlapping parts 39 of the dispenser platform 31. These lateral parts 39, which are arranged lateral to the lateral sides 34, 35 of the tongue-shaped devices 32 then also have the function of bearing and carrying the clamped stack 20. Therefore, in this case these parts 39 together with the bridge like structure 38 are part of the contact portion 37.
The functionality of the dispenser apparatus 30 is hereinafter described with respect to
In the starting position when the dispenser apparatus 30 is empty it does not contain any stack 20 of sheet material. In this empty state the dispenser platform 31 of the dispenser apparatus 30 forms a basically flat, planar surface wherein the contact portion 37 as well as the tongue-shaped devices 32 are arranged more or less in the same plane. The dispenser apparatus 30 according to the present invention contains a fillable and/or refillable functionality. For this the both tongue-shaped devices 32 are lift off from the dispenser platform 31 in directions X, Y as shown in
For achieving the dispensing functionality of the dispenser apparatus 30 it is necessary that the sheet 10′ on top of stack 20 is positioned such that after release of the tongue-shaped devices 32 a free end 40 of this sheet 10′ is sticking out of an opening 41 of the dispenser apparatus 30. When this free end 40 is grasped and pulled in a direction Z to dispense the sheet 10′ its coating layer (not shown in
At the beginning the stack 20 has a stack thickness D4. By withdrawing sheets 10′, 10″ through the opening 41 of the dispenser apparatus 30 the stack thickness D4 decreases. However, although the stack thickness D4 decreases the stack 20 is well positioned and fixed within the dispenser apparatus 30 since the elastic tongue-shaped devices 32 follow the decreasing stack 20 and thus continue to put pressure on top of the stack 20 i.e. at thick stacks 20 as well as at thinner stacks 20. That means that the stack thickness D4 advantageously does not affect the functionality of the dispenser apparatus 30. Consequently, the dispenser apparatus 30 is not restricted (of course within a given range) to a specific number of sheets 10 within the stack 20. This opens a rather wide range of applications of the dispenser apparatus 30 according to the present invention.
At this point it is necessary to mention that for the function of the dispenser apparatus 30 in the basic application according to
The length of a front end side 33 of the tongue-shaped device 32 is referenced by the reference numeral D3 in
Referring now to
Different to the dispenser apparatus 30 the dispenser apparatus 50 in FIG. S additionally comprises two second tongue-shaped devices 51 each being assigned to a first tongue-shaped device 32. In the embodiment in
The two second tongue-shaped devices 51 are arranged within the dispenser platform 31′ such that the two front end sides 52 quasi extend into the respective tongue-shaped device 32 such that the second tongue-shaped devices 51 are at least partially arranged inside the first tongue-shaped devices 32. The fold line of the second tongue-shaped devices 51 are preferably (but not necessarily) arranged outside the first tongue-shaped devices 32. Typically, both second tongue-shaped devices 51 have a similar shape compared to the first tongue-shaped devices 32, however, both second tongue-shaped devices 51 are smaller than the respective ones of the first tongue-shaped devices 32.
The second tongue-shaped devices 51 forms part of the contact portion 37 and thus has the function of carrying the stack 20. The second tongue-shaped devices 51 additionally act as a stopping point such as to prevent the stack 20 sliding through the portions of the dispenser platform 31′ after being clamped between the first tongue-shaped devices 32 and the contact area 37.
In
The dispenser apparatus 50 in
One cover side 61 of the cover 60 according to the present invention contains in this embodiment three dispenser apparatuses 50, e.g. such as the ones shown in
In addition to the two dispenser apparatus 50 this cover side 81 contains further means for collecting other dispenser apparatus or utensils. These further means which hereinafter are not described in more detail are designated in
In the embodiment shown in
The other cover sides 83, 84 also contain respective tuck-in flaps 89, recess means 90 and flaps 91 to fix the two cover sides 83, 84 to each other.
The so-constructed cover 80 may then be used for a ring binder, a writing pad, a book or the like whereas the front side and the back side of these tools each may be stuck between two fixed cover sides 81, 82 and 83, 84, respectively. Especially, when using a writing pad or a ring binder these tools gain a new functionality since in addition to their typical functionality with the new implementation having dispenser apparatus 50 according to the present invention the user now has a possibility also to use notes for writing down short messages or use index flags for marking several pages within the writing pad, the ring binder or any other book or document.
If the used writing pad or the ring binder inside the cover 80 is empty, that is if there is no more paper within the writing pad or the ring binder, the cover 80 may be easily removed and can be used for a new writing pad or ring binder.
Another aspect of this improved application in
Above, embodiments of the dispenser apparatus and especially embodiments of covers having those dispenser apparatuses have been described. However, this should be seen as merely non-limiting examples. Many modifications are possible within the scope of the invention as defined in the claims and the description without deviating from the scope of the present invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 05104056.6 | May 2005 | EP | regional |
