The present invention relates generally to folders, and in particular to a presentation or pocket folder having attachable pockets for insertion of loose papers, fliers and brochures for use in various business establishments. The invention also relates to a method of making such presentation folder which because of its simplicity to assemble, it can be referred to as “Do It Yourself Presentation Folder With Attached Pockets” and can be provided as a kit comprising the components used to make such folder.
File folders are staple articles usually found in stationery stores for use in offices and various business establishments. It is well known to provide folders with or without pockets, and several methods have been described in the prior art for making pocket folders. However, the known methods of making pocket folders are cumbersome and expensive particularly since they are made and used in large quantities. Several prior art type folders and their deficiencies are described in various patents. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,141,485 issued Aug. 25, 1992 to Ralph E. Welt describes a prior art folder with pockets referring to FIG. 1 thereof, made from a standard size piece of cardboard. As mentioned in said patent, the method described for making the folders are expensive and does not meet customers' demands. Various other patents are mentioned in the Welt patent, all of which describe different pocket folders and methods of their manufacture, but concludes that none of said patents disclose folders having separate file folder pockets which can be pre-formed conveniently and inexpensively and thereafter attached to a folder.
In order to overcome the expensive and cumbersome prior art methods of manufacturing folders with attached pockets, the Welt patent discloses an “inexpensive” method that involves making a pocket for application to a folder, and comprises die-cutting a sheet to form a plurality of sheets in a single die-cutting operation, forming in the sheet fold lines defining a pocket panel, a bottom tab for attachment along a bottom edge of the folder panel, and a side tab for attachment along a side edge of the folder panel; and applying to each of said tabs double coated pressure sensitive adhesive tape having a protective coating on one side thereof which is peelable therefrom for adhesive attachment to the folder panel. In the method of the Welt patent, the large panel folder is formed by single die-cutting a large folder sheet using the so-called “guillotine-cutting” process and thereafter folding the sheet along a fold line to form two generally rectangular folder panels each having a side edge parallel to the fold line, a top edge and a bottom edge. The pockets are then applied to the folder panel sheet as hereinbefore described.
While the Welt method is somewhat of an improvement over the prior art, it nevertheless does not offer the simplicity and inexpensive method described in this invention.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a simple and inexpensive method of making pocket folders, also called presentation folders, which are simple to make and assemble by the consumer.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a method of making the presentation folder from previously formed pockets and folder sheet and attaching the pockets to the folder sheet.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a kit comprising a folder sheet and pocket sheets with instructions for the consumer to follow in making the presentation folder by attaching the pockets to the folder sheet.
It is an additional object of this invention to provide a kit comprising the different components used to make presentation folder with attached pockets.
The foregoing and other objects and features of the present invention will now be described in the ensuing detailed description of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which form part of this application.
The present invention provides a simple and inexpensive method of making presentation folders with attached pockets. The method comprises forming a fold-line in a generally rectangular sheet folder in order to divide the sheet folder into a left panel and a right panel. A left pocket-forming structure is made for attachment to the left panel and a right pocket-forming structure is formed for attachment to the right panel. The left pocket-forming structure is formed by using a generally rectangular sheet similar to the folder and having a middle scored line which divides the sheet into two halves, e.g., an upper half-sheet and a lower half-sheet. The lower half-sheet has a glue flap which can be folded inwardly and glued to the facing surface of said lower half-sheet. The outer surface of the upper half-sheet has one or more peelable adhesive strips, preferably two parallel spaced adhesive strips. These strips are peeled off and the folder sheet is rotated 180 degrees such that the adhesive strip or surface faces the left panel of said folder, and is gently pressed against the surface of the left panel such as to form the left pocket with a slit across the top for insertion of documents.
The right hand pocket is formed on the right panel of the presentation folder in the same manner as the left hand pocket.
The present invention also provides a kits having one or more preformed pockets and sheet folders which can be used to form the presentation folder as hereinbefore described.
In the drawings like reference numerals are employed to designate like parts:
Referring first to
Referring to
Next, the pockets formed as hereinbefore described are applied to the folder sheet 10 to form the presentation folder. Referring to
The presentation folder hereinbefore described is shown as a rectangular folder with the pockets shown as identical in dimensions and configuration. This description, however is not intended to limit the configuration or dimensions of the folder. For example, the folder may be square-shaped and the pockets need not be identical in size but, as a practical matter, the configuration described herein is preferred. Thus, for the purpose of use in most offices and business establishments, the folder sheet itself may be 11 inches to 18 long and 8½ to 12 inches wide. Similarly, the pocket dimensions may vary and is usually from 5 to 87/8 inches long and 3 to 4½ inches deep for receiving various sized documents. If it is intended to insert business cards or similar cards in the pockets, each pocket may be provided on its folded surface with one or more slits conveniently dimensioned for insertion of such cards.
The folder sheet and the pocket sheet are usually formed by known die-cutting methods using conventional die-cutting equipment, and these sheets are scored by conventional die-cutting methods known in the art as described, for example, in the aforementioned Welt patent.
In accordance with the present invention, consumers may be provided with a kit which contains, in non-assembled form, the components used for making the described presentation folders. It is thus contemplated that such a kit would comprise at least one, but preferably a plurality of separate folder sheets and pocket sheets accompanied by instructional documents for assembling the components which form the presentation folder. Also, the invention contemplates providing a kit with preformed pockets which can be used for attachment to a folder sheet as desired.
It can be appreciated from the foregoing description and drawings that the present invention is not limited to the embodiment herein described and that different variations are possible. Such variations are nevertheless obvious and are suggested from the present description.
This application is continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 10/803,226 filed Mar. 18, 2004 now abandoned which relates to and claims the benefit of the filing date of provisional application Ser. No. 60/506,416 filed Sep. 29, 2003 entitled “Do It Yourself Presentation Folders With Attachable Pockets”.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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1408509 | Housh | Mar 1922 | A |
1774215 | Weinthrop | Aug 1930 | A |
3070279 | Lutwack | Dec 1962 | A |
3516599 | Buttery | Jun 1970 | A |
4401257 | Benham | Aug 1983 | A |
4629349 | Pitts | Dec 1986 | A |
4636179 | Gentile et al. | Jan 1987 | A |
4989777 | Miller | Feb 1991 | A |
5025978 | Pacione | Jun 1991 | A |
5141485 | Welt | Aug 1992 | A |
5405473 | Kuhns | Apr 1995 | A |
5439436 | Moll | Aug 1995 | A |
5447334 | Hartsock | Sep 1995 | A |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20050242566 A1 | Nov 2005 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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60506416 | Sep 2003 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 10803226 | Mar 2004 | US |
Child | 11148882 | US |