PADDED PAPER ENVELOPE

Abstract

A padded and recyclable paper envelope is comprised of a front wall, a rear wall, an open edge for access to an interior compartment of the envelope, and a closure flap to close the open edge. A corrugated board is adhesively secured over an inner face of the front wall and rear wall to protect an item disposed in the interior compartment between the reinforcing corrugated board surfaces. The envelope is formed from a single paper blank on which the corrugated board is adhesively secured. The envelope and the corrugated board are formed from recyclable material.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a padded paper envelope.

BACKGROUND ART

It is known to provide envelope structures for shipping documents or fragile objects of substantially flat outline and which are vulnerable to impact when forwarded through the postal services. An example of such envelope is one in which the interior surfaces are provided with a “bubble-wrap” sheet of plastic material having air pockets therebetween to provide shock absorbing. It is also known to use sheets of Styrofoam or felt material inside an envelope to provide added protection.

It is also known to fabricate an envelope wrapper or package formed entirely of corrugated cardboard and such is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,743,173. More complex envelope structures using a cardboard insert and a fortified margin using metal clamps or folds are described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,486,154. These envelopes are not recyclable and destroyed when opened. They also do not resemble a standard envelope construction. These prior art envelope structures are also relatively bulky, are expensive and need to be discarded after use for the reason that the non-recyclable protective material is glued to the paper. It is also known to provide envelopes formed of very stiff and heavy cardboard with some of the cardboard also being waterproofed by a plastic film layer adhesively secured thereover. These envelopes are also non-recyclable due to the plastics material used in its fabrication.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

It is a feature of the present invention to provide a padded paper envelope which overcomes the above disadvantages of the prior art.

Another feature of the present invention is to provide a padded paper envelope formed of recycled paper and recycled corrugated board material and wherein the envelope is totally recyclable.

Another feature of the present invention is to provide a padded paper envelope formed from a single paper blank and one or more corrugated board panels which are secured inside opposed faces of the envelope.

According to the above features, from a broad aspect, the present invention provides a padded paper envelope comprising a front wall, a rear wall, an open edge for access to an interior compartment of the envelope, and a closure flap to close the open edge. A corrugated board is adhesively secured over at least one of the inner face of the front wall and over the inner face of the rear wall to protect an item disposed in the interior compartment. The envelope is formed from a single paper blank defining the front wall and the rear wall interconnected together by a fold line. The front and rear walls have opposed parallel edges. The closure flap extends from a free edge of the front wall which is parallel to the fold line. Securing flaps extend from opposed parallel side edges of the front wall for adhesively connecting the rear wall over the front wall when folded thereon about the fold line. The fold line constitutes a closed lower edge of the envelope.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the padded paper envelope of the present invention in blank form before being assembled;

FIG. 2 is a fragmented plan view showing the padded envelope assembled and illustrating the component parts thereof as well as a flat article positioned within the envelope;

FIG. 3 is a fragmented transverse section view illustrating the construction of the padded envelope;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the flat corrugated board panel secured to the inner face of one of the front or rear walls;

FIG. 5 is a fragmented transverse section view illustrating the expandable feature of the envelope;

FIG. 6A is a fragmented plan view showing a flap with three score lines;

FIGS. 6B and 6C are cross-section views of flaps with different combination score lines; and

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a method of manufacture.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, there will be described the construction of the padded paper envelope 10 of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the padded paper envelope 10 is formed from a single flat paper blank sheet 11 of recyclable paper and it defines a front wall 12 and a rear wall 13 of the envelope. The front and rear walls 12 and 13 are interconnected together by a fold line 14. The envelope as hereinshown is of substantially rectangular shape and the front and rear walls 12 and 13, respectively, have opposed parallel side edges 12′ and 13′, respectively.

A closure flap 15 extends from a fold edge 16 of the front wall 12 and is parallel to the fold line 14. A flat rectangular corrugated board panel 17 is adhesively secured over the inner face 18 of the front wall 12 using a suitable glue. A further corrugated board panel 19 of the same size as the panel 17 is adhesively secured to the inner face 20 of the rear wall 13, as shown in FIG. 3. The panels 17 and 19 extend close to the outer edges of the envelope front and rear walls 12 and 13. The panels 17 and 19 may be constituted by a single folded piece of corrugated board having a bottom fold line.

As shown in FIG. 1, the front wall 12 is further provided along the opposed parallel side edges 12′ with securing flaps 21 and 21′ for adhesively connecting the rear wall 13 over the front wall 12 when folded thereon about the fold line 14. The bottom portion of FIG. 2 illustrates the interconnection of the rear wall 13 over the front wall 12 by the securing flaps 21 using a suitable glue. The fold line 13 forms a closed lower edge 22 when the envelope is formed as shown in FIG. 2.

As shown in FIG. 2, the closure flap 15 is provided with an adhesive strip 23 over which is removably secured a release protective liner 24 to expose the adhesive strip for securing the flap 15 over the rear wall 13 to close the open free edge 16 for access to the compartment 25 (see FIG. 3) formed between the corrugated board panels 17 and 19. The protective liner 24 is discarded when the envelope is used. Any adhesive, such as remoistable glue, pressure seal adhesive, cohesive adhesive, etc. is suitable.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, each of the corrugated board panels 17 and 19 define a plurality of elongated flutes 26 which extend in a side-by-side parallel relationship. The panels 17 and 19 are formed with an undulated thin paper sheet 27 sandwiched between outer sheet layers 28 and 28′ with the undulated sheet defining flat hollow channels or flutes 26, as shown in FIG. 4, providing shock absorbing properties while being relatively thin. These corrugated board panels are secured to the panels 13 with their flutes 26 extending transverse to a longitudinal axis of a rectangular-shaped envelope as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, with the flutes extending parallel to the open edge 16. The flutes 26 may also extend parallel to the longitudinal axis of the envelope. Alternatively, the flutes of one of the panels 17 and 19 may extend longitudinally to the longitudinal axis and the other transversely. With the flutes oriented in this fashion, it provides more rigidity to the envelope against bending moments. Also, preferably, but not exclusively, the padded envelope 10 utilizes paper and corrugated board which is recycled, thus making the padded envelope totally ecological.

Referring again to FIGS. 1, 2 and 5, there is shown longitudinal score lines 31 and 31′ formed longitudinally and closely spaced from the opposed side edges 17′ and 19′ of respective corrugated boards 17 and 19. These score lines 31 are formed on the inner surface of the corrugated boards 17 and 19 and cause the boards to fold inwards along their outer longitudinal edges causing the boards to move away from one another opening the mouth of the envelope at the free edge when pressure is applied between the outer longitudinal edges of the envelope in the direction of arrows 32 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 5. Accordingly, the envelope is expandable to facilitate the positioning of thick items in the envelope with the folded-in outer edge portions of the corrugated boards providing edge protection.

FIG. 6A illustrates a modification of the securing flap 21. As hereinshown, the securing flap 21 is provided with three score lines 35, 36 and 37 on the inner surface 38 thereof whereby the securing flap 21 can provide expansion for the compartment 25, as shown in FIG. 6B. The center score line 36 may alternatively be made on the outer surface 38′, as shown in FIG. 6C, to provide a gusset flap also providing for expansion of the compartment 25.

An example of the method of manufacture is schematically illustrated by the block diagram in FIG. 7. A roll of pre-printed envelope 40 is fed into a machine where it is unwound. A roll of corrugated padding material 41′ is unwound and cut to the correct size on a vacuum cylinder 42 and transferred at 43 to the web of paper on which glue has been applied at station 44. The vacuum cylinder 42 releases the corrugated board panels 17 and 19 at the correct position over the glue. A strip of adhesive with a protective liner can also be applied on a separate unit of the same machine for the closure flap 15. Alternatively, the glue for the flap can be applied with an offline process. The web along with the glued panels 17 then pass through a rotary die-cutting unit 45 that creases and die-cuts the outer shape of the envelope 10. The cut envelope then goes through a folder 46 that does both the cross-fold and the folding of the flap. The finished envelope is delivered at the end of the process.

It can be appreciated that the padded envelope constructed in accordance with the present invention is very economical to produce and provides excellent stiffening characteristics against bending and protecting its contents against impact forces. It is also entirely ecological for the reason that it uses recycled paper and corrugated board for its construction. As shown in FIG. 2, the padded envelope resembles a standard type envelope, such as a white postal envelope commonly used but which is specifically suitable to protect items of substantially flat shape such as printed documents 30 as shown in FIG. 2 or any other article of flat outline, such as memory cards, circuit boards, or flat brittle objects which are vulnerable to impact or bending forces. The corrugated board panels 17 and 19 also mask the item secured in the envelope.

It is within the ambit of the present invention to cover any obvious modifications of the present invention, provided such modifications fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A padded composite and recyclable envelope comprising a front wall, a rear wall, an open edge for access to an interior compartment of said envelope, and a closure flap to close said open edge; a corrugated board adhesively secured over an inner face of each said front wall and said rear wall to protect an item disposed in said interior compartment between said corrugated board disposed over said inner face of said front and rear walls, said envelope being formed from a single paper blank defining said front wall and said rear wall interconnected together by a fold line, said front and rear walls having opposed parallel edges, said closure flap extending from a free edge of said front wall which is parallel to said fold line, and securing flaps extending from opposed parallel side edges of said front wall for adhesively connecting said rear wall over said front wall when folded thereon about said fold line, said fold line constituting a closed lower edge of said envelope.

2. A padded paper envelope as claimed in claim 1 wherein each said corrugated board disposed over said inner face of said front and rear walls are corrugated board panels.

3. A padded paper envelope as claimed in claim 2 wherein said corrugated board panels has a plurality of elongated flutes extending in side-by-side parallel relationship.

4. A padded paper envelope as claimed in claim 3 wherein said flutes extend parallel to said open edge.

5. A padded paper envelope as claimed in claim 1 wherein said closure flap is provided with an adhesive strip and a release protective liner removably secured over said adhesive strip.

6. A padded paper envelope as claimed in claim 1 wherein said paper envelope and corrugated board panels are recyclable.

7. A padded paper envelope as claimed in claim 3 wherein said elongated flutes are formed by undulations in a face of said reinforcing corrugated board panels, said undulations forming flat hollow channels providing shock absorbing properties on opposed faces of said interior compartment and extending to outer edges of said envelope.

8. A padded paper envelope as claimed in claim 1 wherein said paper blank and said corrugated board are formed from recycled paper and corrugated board.

9. A padded paper envelope as claimed in claim 8 wherein said padded paper envelope is a recyclable padded envelope.

10. A padded paper envelope as claimed in claim 1 wherein said item is an item vulnerable to bending forces or impact.

11. A padded paper envelope as claimed in claim 10 wherein said item has a substantially flat outline such as a memory card or circuit board, a printed document, a flat brittle object, etc.

12. A padded paper envelope as claimed in claim 2 wherein said corrugated cardboard panel is a thin flat corrugated board panel having flat elongated flutes.

13. A padded paper envelope as claimed in claim 1 wherein said item is masked by said corrugated boards.

14. A padded paper envelope as claimed in claim 1 wherein said corrugated board secured over said inner face of said front and rear wall are each provided with a longitudinal score line formed in an inner surface thereof facing said compartment and spaced closely a predetermined distance from opposed side edges thereof and extending transversely to said open edge, said score lines permitting said inner face of opposed corrugated boards to move away from one another causing said compartment to expand for the placement of said item.

15. A padded paper envelope as claimed in claim 1 wherein said score line provides for outer edge portions of said corrugated boards to fold in to provide edge protection of said item.

16. A padded paper envelope as claimed in claim 1 wherein said securing flaps are provided with three spaced-apart longitudinal score lines to permit expansion of said compartment.