Patent Application
20060000134
The present invention relates to an adhesive planar article. More specifically, the present invention relates to an adhesive coated planar article having a cut-out flap and an upper portion that is folded to form a tab extension when the adhesive coated planar article is attached to sheet material.
In working with large stacks of documents, it is often desirable to categorize the documents or to flag a document that is of particular importance. Tabs are useful to categorize documents by signaling when one category ends and another begins or to highlight a page of particular importance. In addition to flagging a page, it is often desirable to also make notes on that page. However, depending on the importance of maintaining the original document, marking directly on the flagged page may not be desirable.
To flag a page of paper from a stack or binder of papers, typically a separate tab page is inserted into the binder or an adhesive backed paper is attached to the flagged paper. Adding a separate tab page adds to the bulk of the stack of papers. Further, a separate tab page does not allow notes to be placed in direct connection to a document because the tab page precedes the related documents.
Using an adhesive backed paper to flag a page can be useful in flagging the page and providing a writing surface. However, the use of an adhesive note such as a 3M Post-it® brand note for this purpose may not properly align the note with the flagged paper, resulting in nonuniform tabs extending from the page (e.g., tabs of different lengths, tilted tabs, etc.). Marked documents with nonuniform tabs may make the collection of papers appear unorganized and unprofessional.
A tab for attaching to sheet material comprises a substrate including a front side, a back side opposite the front side, an upper portion, a middle portion, and a lower portion. The tab includes a cut through the middle portion of the substrate to form a flap, an adhesive along the upper portion of the back side and along the lower portion of the back side of the substrate, and a fold-line through the middle portion which allows the substrate to be folded. When the substrate is folded along the fold-line, the flap extends beyond the fold-line and the back side of the upper portion faces the back side of the middle portion.
While the above-identified figures set forth several embodiments of the invention, other embodiments are also contemplated, as noted in the discussion. In all cases, this disclosure presents the invention by way of representation and not limitation. It should be understood that numerous other modifications and embodiments can be devised by those skilled in the art, which fall within the spirit and scope of the principals of this invention. The figures may not be drawn to scale. Like reference numbers have been used throughout the figures to denote like parts.
The substrate 102 in the embodiment shown in
The cut 120 is through the middle portion 109 of the substrate 102. The cut has a first end 121 and a second end 123. Overall, the cut 120 has a width 118, a first length 116, and a second length 117. The cut 120 is shown as being symmetrical or a mirror-image about the longitudinal axis 112, so that the portion of the width 118 and the length 116 and 117 of the cut 120 on each side of the longitudinal axis 112 are the same. The cut 120 is shown as an inverted U-shape but may be any suitable shape for forming a page marking tab having a desired shape.
The cut 120 through the substrate 102 forms a flap 114. When the first length 116 and the second length 117 are equal and a line passing between the first end 121 and second end 123 is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis 112, then the flap 114, which is ultimately a tab extension 136 (see
A crease or fold-line 126 is formed, which allows the upper potion 108 of the substrate 102 to fold relative to the middle portion 109 and lower portion 110. The fold-line 126 extends on either side of the cut 120 and is adjacent to the first end 121 and second end 123 of the cut 120. The fold-line 126 is substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis 112 and passes through the first end 121 and second end 123 of the cut 120.
The first adhesive strip 122 and second adhesive strip 124 may be a permanent adhesive or any suitable pressure sensitive adhesive or repositionable pressure sensitive adhesive such as the repositionable pressure sensitive adhesives used on Post-its notes, manufactured by 3M Company, St. Paul, Minn. Exemplary repositionable pressure sensitive adhesives comprising solid microspheres are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,571,617 (Cooprider, et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,824,748 (Kesti, et al.). Other pressure sensitive adhesives can also be used. While any adhesive can be used, the preferred adhesive for the current invention is a repositionable type, making tab 100 “repositionable” itself.
When the tab 100 is attached to a sheet of paper 130, the first adhesive strip 122 on the upper portion 108 of the back side 106 of the substrate 102 is adhered to a first side 130a of the sheet of paper 130. The second adhesive strip 124 on the lower portion 110 of the back side 106 of the substrate 102 is adhered to a second side 130b of the sheet of paper 130, opposite the first side 130a. The back side 106 of the substrate 102 is opposite the front side 104 and is shown in
When the upper portion 108 is folded over the sheet of paper 130 and the flap 114 continues to extend in the plane along the front side 104, the flap forms a tab extension 136. The tab extension 136 is the portion of the tab 100 extending beyond the top edge 132 of the sheet of paper 130. The tab extension 136 shown is generally rectangular shaped, however the tab extension 136 may be any shape so long as it is capable of extending beyond the top edge 132 of the sheet of paper 130.
The tab 100 shown in
When repositionable adhesive is used for first and second adhesive strips 122 and 124, the tab 100 provides a tab that can be positioned on a sheet of paper and then removed and repositioned on a different sheet of paper. The “repositionable” tab 100 may provide a traditionally shaped rectangular tab along the top edge of a sheet of paper that is properly aligned with the top of the sheet of paper to give the tab a uniform and professional appearance (so long as the top edge of the sheet of paper abuts the fold-lines).
Further, the tab 100 may be of different shapes and sizes and may be positioned at a corner or bottom of a sheet of paper. The tab 100 may be large enough such that a writing surface is provided which gives an area for making notes relating to the flagged page without marking directly on the flagged page.
“Repositionable” tabs 100 may be packaged such that they are stacked on one another with the adhesive strips on the back side 106 adhering to the front side 104 of the next repositionable tab 100 similar to a pad of Post-it® brand notes available from 3M Company of St. Paul, Minn. Further, repositionable tabs 100 may be provided on a continuous liner with the adhesive strips facing the liner.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, workers skilled in the art will recognize that changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
