Patent Application
20170096270
This invention pertains generally to protective card holders and more particularly to a card holder having a multilayered extruded plastic backing.
Game cards are well known. Individuals can collect a number of cards for use in playing a competitive card game. These games are normally role playing games where individuals can use cards that represent different characters in the game. These card based characters can have different attributes based on information printed on the face of the card.
Many cards used also have special value to players of the game. Specific cards are rare or are not as common as other cards, giving them a higher value to the user. Users protect these cards by placing them in plastic sleeves. These protective sleeves are composed of a completely translucent plastic. This presents a problem. As cards get used, minor imperfections may be seen on the back of the card even though the card is protected by plastic. This may permit the competitor to recognize a card before the user plays it. What is needed is a plastic card holder with a colored backing to prevent the back of a card from being recognized.
Colored plastic is known. However, obtaining the specific color or vibrancy desired by users is complicated, difficult, or sometimes impossible. To obtain a bright color, more pigment is required. However, adding pigment to a translucent plastic alone does not solve the issue as the result is a colored translucent plastic. User's desire a colored opaque plastic. However, adding enough pigment to an opaque plastic is insufficient. A large amount of pigment must be added to a plastic resin to result in a colored opaque plastic.
Many plastic card sleeves are formed by heat sealing plastic layers together. Difficulties are encountered when attempting to heat seal a layer of colored opaque plastic with a layer of translucent plastic. The amount of pigment required to form a colored opaque backing affects the physical properties of the colored opaque plastic, resulting in uneven or ineffective seals between the layer of colored opaque plastic and the layer of translucent plastic. What is needed is a plastic card sleeve with a colored backing which is opaque to prevent the passage of light and utilizes a series of colors.
The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the disclosed innovation. This summary is not an extensive overview, and it is not intended to identify key/critical elements or to delineate the scope thereof. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.
The invention is directed toward a card holder comprising a translucent plastic sleeve front and a multilayered card sleeve backing The multilayered card sleeve backing comprises an inner layer of thermoplastic containing a black pigment, a middle layer of thermoplastic containing a white pigment, and an outer layer of thermoplastic containing a predetermined color pigment. The middle layer of thermoplastic is disposed between the inner layer of thermoplastic and the outer layer of thermoplastic. The translucent plastic sleeve front is heat sealed to the multilayered card sleeve backing. The translucent sleeve front is disposed adjacent to the inner layer of thermoplastic of the multilayered card sleeve backing
In another embodiment, the inner layer of thermoplastic contains eight percent by weight of black pigment, the middle layer of thermoplastic contains eleven percent by weight of white pigment, and the outer layer of thermoplastic contains twelve percent by weight of the predetermined color pigment. The inner layer of thermoplastic is opaque and the outer layer of thermoplastic is translucent. In addition, the inner layer of thermoplastic, the middle layer of thermoplastic, and the outer layer of thermoplastic are coextruded to form a single melted web of polymers. The card holder may further comprise a graphic design disposed on the outer layer of thermoplastic of the multilayered card sleeve backing The card holder may be composed of polypropylene, polyethylene, or polystyrene.
In another embodiment, the card holder is substantially rectangular in shape, having two long sides extending the length of the card holder and two short sides extending the width of the card holder. In one embodiment the translucent plastic sleeve front is heat sealed to the multilayered card sleeve backing along one of the short sides and two of the long sides. In another embodiment the translucent plastic sleeve front is heat sealed to the multilayered card sleeve backing along one of the long sides and two of the short sides.
Still other embodiments of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in this art from the following description wherein there is shown and described the embodiments of this invention, simply by way of illustration of the best modes suited to carry out the invention. As it will be realized, the invention is capable of other different embodiments and its several details are capable of modifications in various obvious aspects all without departing from the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the drawing and descriptions will be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.
Various exemplary embodiments of this invention will be described in detail, wherein like reference numerals refer to identical or similar components, with reference to the following figures, wherein:
The claimed subject matter is now described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the claimed subject matter. It may be evident, however, that the claimed subject matter may be practiced with or without any combination of these specific details, without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention and the claims.
Referring to
To achieve the vibrant color desired by consumers in the card sleeve backing 150, a specific configuration is used for the multiple layers. Each of the three layers comprise one-third of the thickness of the total card sleeve backing 150. Each of the three layers is composed of a thermoplastic. The inner layer 100 is composed of a thermoplastic with a black pigment. The inner layer 100 has a pigment load of eight percent (8%). This percentage is calculated as eight percent (8%) by weight of black pigment as mixed with the base resin polymer before heating to form the inner layer 100 during the extrusion process. The middle layer 110 is composed of a thermoplastic with white pigment. The middle layer 110 has a pigment load of eleven percent (11%). This percentage is calculated as eleven percent (11%) by weight of white pigment as mixed with the base resin polymer before heating to form the middle layer 110 during the extrusion process. The outer layer 120 is composed of a thermoplastic with the desired colored pigment. The outer layer 120 has a pigment load of twelve percent (12%). This percentage is calculated as twelve percent (12%) by weight of the desired colored pigment as mixed with the base resin polymer before heating to form the outer layer 120 during the extrusion process. In other embodiments a range of percentages may be utilized while effecting substantially the same results. For instance, the inner layer 100 may have a pigment load ranging from six percent (6%) to ten percent (10%). The middle layer 110 may have a pigment load ranging from nine percent (9%) to thirteen percent (13%). The outer layer 120 may have a pigment load ranging from nine percent (9%) to thirteen percent (13%).
The black inner layer 100 is opaque and prevents the passage of light through the card sleeve backing 150. The white middle layer 110 presents a background for the color of the outer layer 120. The colored outer layer 120 is composed of translucent colored plastic to avoid the problems presented by opaque colored plastic.
To make the card sleeve, as illustrated in
As illustrated in
The card sleeve 300 may be any shape, size, or configuration. As illustrated in
The polymer utilized to form the card sleeve 300 and all of its parts may be any thermopolymer. In the preferred embodiment the card sleeve 300 comprises polypropylene. In other embodiments the card sleeve 300 may be manufactured from polystyrene, acid-free polypropylene, ABS, polyethylene, or any combination of commercially available polymers. All parts of the card sleeve 300 may be made out of the same or different polymers.
What has been described above includes examples of the claimed subject matter. It is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components or methodologies for purposes of describing the claimed subject matter, but one of ordinary skill in the art can recognize that many further combinations and permutations of such matter are possible. Accordingly, the claimed subject matter is intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Furthermore, to the extent that the term “includes” is used in either the detailed description or the claims, such term is intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as “comprising” is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in a claim.
The foregoing method descriptions and the process flow diagrams are provided merely as illustrative examples and are not intended to require or imply that the steps of the various embodiments must be performed in the order presented. As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art the order of steps in the foregoing embodiments may be performed in any order. Words such as “thereafter,” “then,” “next,” etc. are not intended to limit the order of the steps; these words are simply used to guide the reader through the description of the methods. Further, any reference to claim elements in the singular, for example, using the articles “a,” “an” or “the” is not to be construed as limiting the element to the singular.
The preceding description of the disclosed embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present invention. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the following claims and the principles and novel features disclosed herein.
