EP0690810B1

EP0690810B1 - Card carrier forms for automated embossed card package production system

Info

Publication number: EP0690810B1
Application number: EP94914728A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Jeffrey L. Hill; Gregory S. Hill; Robert J. Bretl
Original assignee: Dynetics Engineering Corp
Current assignee: Dynetics Engineering Corp
Priority date: 1993-03-24
Filing date: 1994-03-24
Publication date: 1999-07-07
Anticipated expiration: 2014-03-24
Also published as: DE69420748D1; EP0690810A1; EP0813980A2; EP0813980A3; KR100289872B1; ES2137364T3; EP0690810A4; EP0813980B1; WO1994021522A1; DE69420748T2; DE69419409T2; BR9405908A; CA2159010A1; DE69419409D1

Abstract

Card carrying mailing forms (10, 80) with a planar resilient body of paper (12, 82) having fold lines (14, 16 and 84, 86) equally dividing the body (12, 82) into a leading end section (18, 88), a middle section (20, 90) and a lagging end section (22, 92). In one embodiment of the carrier form (10) ears (66) are opened by bending the planar body (12) to receive cards held within a pair of corner pockets (38, 40) by a flap (50) cut from the middle section (20) of the body (12) which also is moved to an operative position by bending the body (12). In another embodiment of the carrier form (80), pockets (98, 100) are made from rectilinear cuts to enable opening of the pockets (98, 100) by means of a roller and the cards (30) are held in the pockets by folding the lagging end section (88) over the middle section (90) adjacent the edge (102) of the card (30).

Description

The present invention relates to an automatic insertion adapted carrier form for automatic attachment with and carrying of a card having two pairs of opposed corners, comprising :
a flexible planar body for supporting at least one card, said body having a periphery ;
a pair of spaced corner pockets formed from closed generally L-shaped slots cut through the body, carried by the body for receipt of one of the pair of opposed corners of the card to hold the card against movement in three of four possible rectilinear directions, in which the slots of each of the corner pockets extend from a first point on the body adjacent to the edge of the card between the corner pockets to a point substantially aligned with an edge of the card when the one pair of corners is received in the corner pockets;
said generally L-shaped slots defining ears which are cut into the carrier to resiliently flex from the planar body when the body is bent to open the pockets for receipt of the corner of a card.
It is well known to mount or insert credit cards and the like to planar card carrier forms made of paper which, in turn, are inserted into window envelopes. The carriers each have a pair of parallel, preweakened fold lines which divide the carrier body into three substantially equal sections: a leading end section, middle section and a lagging section. The cards are mounted to the middle section and the carrier is folded along the fold lines to fold the leading and lagging sections over opposite sides of the middle section. One of the end sections bears the card owners name and address, and the folded carrier form matches the size of a window envelope in which the carrier form is "stuffed" or inserted. The name and address on the end section is held in alignment by the envelope for viewing through a translucent window of the envelope.
In known carriers shown in U.S. Patents No. 4,384,196 issued May 17, 1983 to McCumber et al. and No. 4,034,210 issued July 5, 1977 to Hill et al., the card is held against removal from a pocket formed from a cut in the body of the carrier by wedge trapping of at least one of two opposed edges of the card by folding the end sections over the opposed edges of the card at opposite sides of the middle section. In the carrier of McCumber et al., a pair of corner pockets are also formed by open slots cut out of the card body. These corner pockets disadvantageously have unattractive entry holes or open slots that result in the production of chaff when the carriers are made and present an unattractive appearance. In addition the pockets are formed by cuts extending along diagonal lines which disadvantageously requires the use of oscillating arms to open the pockets during insertion. In the carrier form of Hill et al. on the other hand, the entire card is inserted through a single edge slot and both edges are wedge trapped by the ends section on opposite sides of the middle section of the body.
Additionally, a mailing folder is shown in U.S. patent No. 1,171,592 issued February 15, 1916, to Coit in which a card insert is wedge trapped into a corner pocket of the folder. One section of the form is folded against another section across preweakened fold lines in attempting to hold a manually inserted card in place. Disadvantageously, there is nothing to prevent the manually inserted card from falling out of the bottom of the mailing folder when the envelope is opened.
The present invention proposes to overcome the disadvantage of the mailing folder as shown in the above U.S. patent and, to do so, it relates to a carrier form which has the structure according to the preamble of claim 1 and is characterized in that :
a flap is formed from a closed second slot cut through the body and provided for entrapping engagement with an edge of the card intermediate another one of the opposed pair of corners opposite the one pair of corners to provide the sole means for releasably holding the card against movement out of the corner pockets in the fourth of the four possible rectilinear directions, said card being held between the body and the flap at a location on the body spaced from the periphery of the body ; and
the second slot extends between two points intermediate the corner pockets from a location adjacent the edge of a card when inserted into the corner pocket to a location overlying the body of the card to resiliently flex from the planar body to ride up and over the edge of the card when the body is bent and unbent while the card is in the corner pockets.
Other features of the carrier form according to the present invention are disclosed in dependent claims 2 to 5.
Preferably, the corner pockets and flap are formed from sheets cut through the body and they are located to hold the card spaced from the peripheral edge of the body. Both the pockets and the flap resiliently flex from the planar body when the body is bent to open the pockets for receipt of the card corners and for the flap to resiliently flex from the planar body to ride up and over the edge of the card when the body is bent and unbent while the card is in the corner pockets.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing objects and advantageous features of the invention will be explained in greater detail and others will be made apparent from the detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the present invention which is given with reference to the two figures of the drawing, in which:
Fig. 1A is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of a carrier according to the invention in folded condition in which the cards are held by means of a pair of corner pockets and a flap at a location spaced from the periphery of the carrier body; and
Fig. 1B is an enlarged detailed view of the carrier of Fig. 1A prior to folding;

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to Figs. 1A and 1B, the preferred embodiment of the carrier form according to the invention is seen to have a rectangular planar paper body 12 with a leading fold line 14 and a lagging fold line 16. The fold lines divide the carrier body 12 into three rectangular sections: a leading end section 18, a middle section 20 and a lagging end section 22 which are approximately the same size.
Preferably, carrier form 10 has a name and address field 24 at which the name and mailing address of the individual to whom the carrier is to be mailed is printed located at the leading end section 18. In addition, the lagging end section 22 also has printed thereon in machine readable code at a code field 26, also at the lagging end section 22, the account number or other identifying information which should match the account number embossed and magnetically encoded on the cards to be mounted to the carrier. Preferably, this code is a photoptically readable bar code such as: (1) interleaved two of five code; (2) three of nine code; (3) Codabar UPC-A&E code; (4) EAN-8 code; and (5) EAN-13 code.
The other end section 22 typically contains written material, such as contract terms, graphics, or the like (not shown). As next seen in Fig. 1B, after one to a maximum of four cards 30 are mounted to the middle section 20, the front side of the middle section 20, as shown in Fig. 1B, is folded along fold line 16 over the top of the lagging section, as shown in Fig. 1A, and the leading end section 18 with the name and address field 24 facing outwardly is folded over the back side of the middle section 20.
Referring still to Fig. 1B, substantially identical card carrying stations 32A and 32B which respectively carry the cards 30 in attractive side by side relationship in the middle of the middle section 20 spaced from the periphery of the carrier form defined by the pair of fold lines 14 and 16 and the opposite parallel sides 34 and 36 of the carrier body 12 extending between which the fold lines 14 and 16 extend. Preferably, each of these card carrying stations 32A and 32B are capable of carrying at least a pair of cards 30 stacked one atop the other.
Referring to card carrying station 32A, Fig. 1B, each of the card carrying stations has a pair of spaced corner pockets 38 and 40 carried by the middle section 20 of the card body 12 for receipt of one of the pair of opposed corners 30A and 30B on opposite sides of an edge 42 of the card. These pockets 38 and 40 hold the card 30 against relative movement in either of the two rectilinear directions parallel to card edge 42 indicated by doubled headed arrows 44 and 46 and in one of the rectilinear directions transverse to edge 42, indicated by arrow 48.
A flap, or lip, 50 carried by the middle section 20 of the body 12 engages an edge 52 of the card 30 opposite the edge 42 intermediate the other pair of corners 30C and 30D to releasably hold the card against movement out of the corner pockets 38 and 40 in the fourth rectilinear direction away from the corner pockets 38 and 40, indicated by arrow 53.
Preferably, the corner pockets 38 and 40 are formed from slots 54A and 54B cut through the body which are closed, i.e. with abutting edges, to avoid the unattractive slots or holes found in known carriers. The slots 54 of corner pockets 38 and 40 extend from first points 56A and 56B, respectively, on the body 12 adjacent to the edge 42 of the card between the corner pockets 38 and 40 when the card 30 is inserted into the pockets to points 58A and 58B, respectively, on the body adjacent the associated side edges 34 and 36 of the card 30. The slots 54A and 54B form mirror images of each other; the points 58A and 58B, and 56A and 56B, respectively, are aligned parallel with each other and with the fold lines 14 and 16.
The slots 54A and 54B are generally L-shaped with each having an elongate section 60 extending generally transverse to the fold lines 14 and 16 which mates with diagonal section 62 at a rounded corner 64. The diagonal section 62, rounded corner 64 and a portion of the section 60 form an ear 66. These ears resiliently flex from the planar body 12 when the adjacent portion of the planar body is bent to open the pockets 38 and 40 for receipt of the corners of the card 30. This opening of the pockets 38 and 40 enables the card to be inserted in between the ears 66 and the body 12 intermediate the ears 66 and slid into full engagement with the pockets with edge 42 adjacent end points 56A and 56B of slots 54A and 54B, as shown in Fig. 1B. As seen in Fig. 1B, the distance between side end points 58A and 58B is sufficiently greater than the width of the card, and the diagonal sections 62 extend sufficiently rearwardly toward the direction of card insertion from the side end points 58A and 58B, to enable receipt of at least two cards 30 stacked on top of each other (only one shown).
The flap, or lip 50, like the corner pockets, is formed from closed slots cut 68 through the body 12. Preferably, it has a triangular slope formed by the slot 68 extending inwardly toward the card edge 42 to a point 70 from two points 72 and 74 intermediate the corner pocket sections 60 between the card corners 30C and 30D adjacent the edge 52 of card 30 when inserted in the corner pockets 38 and 40.
The flap 50 like the ears 66 of the corner pockets 38 and 40, resiliently flex from the planar body 12 when the planar body 12 adjacent the flap 50 is bent out of a planar configuration. More accurately, when the planar body 12 adjacent the ears 66 and the flap 50 are constrained to conform to a curved surface but the ears 66 and flap 50 are not so constrained the ears 66 and flap 50 maintain the normal planar configuration to resiliently flex away from the curved surface of the body 12. When the body 12 is returned to its normal planar configuration, the ears and flap resiliently return to alignment with the body 12 unless the card is interposed therebetween. In that event, the card is resiliently squeezed between the ears 66 and the flap 50 adjacent body 12 and against the flap 50 and the adjacent part of body 12.
When the planar card 30 is within the corner pockets 38 and 40 while body 12 is curved, or bent away from the corner pockets 38 and 40, the point 70 of flap 50 pivots about a line between end points 72 and 74 and rides along the underside of the card 30 toward the edge 52. After the tip 70 has ridden past the edge, return of the body 12 to a planar condition causes the tip 70 to ride up and over the edge 52 and to the position overlying the front of the carrier body 12, as shown.
Employing the carrier form to maximum advantage is achieved through use of automated equipment to insert cards and fold the carrier. Suitable automated insertion is shown and described in the parent of this application noted above as well as in U.S. Patent Applications Serial No. 08/036,657 of Hill et al. entitled "Automatic Verified Embossed Card Package Production Methods" filed March 24, 1993; Ser. No. 08/036,159 of Hill et al. entitled "Card Package Production System With Burster and Carrier Verification Apparatus" filed March 24, 1993; Ser. No. 08/036,664 of Hill et al. entitled "Embossed Card Production System With Modular Inserters For Multiple Forms and Card Verification Apparatus" filed March 24, 1993 and Ser. No. 08/036,439 of Kassabian et al. entitled "Card Package Production System With Modular Carrier Folding Apparatus For Multiple Forms" filed March 24, 1993, all of which are contemporaneously filed herewith, and reference should be made to these applications for details of authorized use of the carrier form. Briefly, when used in this automated insertion equipment, the carrier 10 is to run it through a roller with direction of arrow 48 to first bend open the ears 66. Then, one or more cards 30 are automatically inserted into at least one of the pockets of the card carrying stations 32A and 32B. The card 30 is held in the corner pockets while the roller continues to move the conveyor away from the card inserter. The card body 12 adjacent the flap 70 then passes over the roller to pivot the flap 70 over the edge 52 of the card. The carrier is then automatically fan folded into the form shown in Fig. 1A.
It should be appreciated that any other automated equipment which bends the body 12 for purposes of entrapping the card between the lower pockets 38 and 40 and the flap 50 could be successfully employed to automatically insert cards into the carrier 10. Moreover, of course, cards 30 can also be easily inserted into the carriers by manually bending the planar body 12 to open the ears 66 and flap 50 and manually inserting the cards 30.
For purposes of automated use, preferably the location of the name and address field 24 is located in the leading end panel, or leading end section, 18 and the location of the code field 26 is located in the lagging end panel, or lagging end section, 22 and the pockets 38 and 40 face in the direction of arrow 53 away from the leading end section and away from the direction of automated carrier movement indicated by arrow 48. Prior to use, a plurality of the carriers 10 are interconnected in fan folded fashion and each time an end one of the carrier is removed from the other carriers by a "bursting mechanism", the code in code field 26 is read to make sure the carrier is the correct one for the cards presented for mounting to the carrier. In addition, the carrier has a mark, such as a hole 76, for automatic sensing of the position of the carrier 10 during the various steps of automated card insertion. Consequently, the carrier is easily folded into the folded condition shown in Fig. 1A with the address field 24 facing upwardly from leading end panel 18 which covers the back side of the middle section 20 and cards 30, which, in turn, overlies the front side of lagging end section 22.
While a detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the invention has been given, it should be appreciated that many variations can be made thereto without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Claims

An automatic insertion adapted carrier form (10) for automatic attachment with and carrying of a card (30) having two pairs of opposed corners, comprising :

a flexible planar body (12) for supporting at least one card, said body having a periphery ;

a pair of spaced corner pockets (38, 40) formed from closed generally L-shaped slots (54A, 54B) cut through the body, carried by the body for receipt of one of the pair of opposed corners (30A, 30B) of the card to hold the card against movement in three of four possible rectilinear directions, in which the slots (54A, 54B) of each of the corner pockets extend from a first point (56A, 56B) on the body adjacent to the edge (42) of the card between the corner pockets to a point (58A, 58B) substantially aligned with an edge of the card when the one pair of corners is received in the corner pockets; and

said generally L-shaped slots (54A, 54B) defining ears (66) which are cut into the carrier to resiliently flex from the planar body (12) when the body is bent to open the pockets (38, 40) for receipt of the corner of a card ;

said carrier form (10) being characterized in that

a flap (50) is formed from a closed second slot (68) cut through the body and provided for entrapping engagement with an edge (52) of the card intermediate another one of the opposed pair of corners (30C, 30D) opposite the one pair of corners (30A, 30B) to provide the sole means for releasably holding the card against movement out of the corner pockets in the fourth of the four possible rectilinear directions, said card being held between the body and the flap at a location on the body spaced from the periphery of the body ;and

the second slot (68) extends between two points (72, 74) intermediate the corner pockets (38, 40) from a location adjacent the edge (52) of a card when inserted into the corner pocket to a location overlying the body of the card to resiliently flex from the planar body to ride up and over the edge of the card when the body is bent and unbent while the card is in the corner pockets.
The automatic insertion adapted carrier form of claim 1 in which the flap (50) is formed from a pair of intersecting cuts to define a generally triangularly shaped flap.
The automatic insertion adapted carrier form of claim 1 including another pair of spaced corner pockets (38, 40) and another associated flap (50) substantially indentical to the one pair of corner pockets (38, 40) and the flap carried by the body for holding a second card.
The automatic insertion adapted carrier form of claim 1 in which the body (12) includes a pair of foldable sections (18, 22) on either side of and spaced from the pockets (38,40) and flap (50).
The automatic insertion adapted carrier form of claim 1 in which the carrier body (12) includes a hole (76) adjacent an edge for sensing the position of the card.