Bookbinding: process and apparatus – Process
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-16
2001-12-11
Fridie, Jr., Willmon (Department: 3722)
Bookbinding: process and apparatus
Process
C283S067000, C283S036000, C402S079000, C156S250000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06328518
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to index sheets that are directly printable by machines such as laser or ink jet printers. More specifically, it relates to constructions of index divider sheet assemblies, processes of manufacturing them and methods of using them.
A popular index divider product that is printable by laser printers is the “DIRECT PRINT Custom Dividers for Laser Printers” product, which has been available from Avery Dennison Corporation of Pasadena, Calif. since 1998. It has an index tab extending out from a tab edge thereof and an opposite binding edge flap, which is calendered and folded over onto the adjacent calendered portion of the body sheet and held down with a releasable adhesive. By folding the flap over and tacking it down, the effective width of the product is reduced so that it can be fed into today's printers or copiers.
An adhesive peel-off strip is adhered to the backside of the sheet along the tab edge and behind the tab of the DIRECT PRINT product. Thereby, the strip defines a straight edge perimeter for the product, improving feeding of the product into and/or passing of the product through a printer or copier. The strip is then peeled off of the sheet after the printing operation and disposed of. This product is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,566 ('566) (Hunter et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,792,297 ('297) (Hunter et al.). See also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,558,454 (Owen) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,836,710 (Owen). (These four patents and all other patents and other publications and applications mentioned anywhere in this disclosure are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.) Additionally, see PCT Publications WO 98/07582 and 98/41406, both by ACCO USA, Inc.; another user printable tab sheet construction is disclosed in PCT publication WO 99/22359; and other index sheets are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,924,744 (Heimann), U.S. Pat. No. 4,560,600 (Yellin et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 4,962,603 (Kao et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,135,261 (Cusack et al.) and WO 97/32736 (ACCO USA, Inc.).
The DIRECT PRINT product can thereby be fed in a portrait direction into laser printers, and the peel-off strip creates a rectangular sheet article which provides a continuous edge to run through the printer. When it is fed into tabloid-size laser or ink jet printers that are designed to print eleven inch by seventeen inch sheets in a landscape orientation, it is fed binding edge first. This insures proper feeding because if it were fed peel-off strip edge first, the tab edge may catch in the printer.
For some of the tabloid-size laser printers when the product is fed in the landscape direction and peel-off strip last, the peel-off strip helps the printer correctly sense the edge of the sheet. That is, without the strip the edge of the sheet would be sensed about one half inch early, and once the sensor is triggered the printer does not print, and thus will not print on the tab. Examples of these printers are the HP 4V, 5SI and the Mopier printers from HP.
The peel-off strip of the DIRECT PRINT product passes behind the entire back face of the tab. Thus, with the strip on for improved feeding and printing, indicia cannot be printed by the printer or copier on the back face of the tab, only on the front face of the tab. However, sometimes it is desirable to print indicia (particularly the same indicia) on both faces of the tab.
One way to print on both faces is to use the variation on the DIRECT PRINT product shown in FIG. 15 of the '566 patent. That embodiment includes in addition to the folded-over binding edge, two short peel-off strips, releasably attached to the back of the index sheet at opposite ends of the tab, and spaced apart with the tab in between them. Thereby the back of the tab is not covered by either peel-off strip and is exposed for a printing operation thereon. The sheet is then passed twice through the printer or copier, one time to print indicia on the front of the tab and the other time to print on the back. In other words, the sheets would be printed, recollated to put them in the correct printing order, printed again, the peel-off strip removed and the binding edge unfolded.
A very recently commercialized version of the DIRECT PRINT product is called “DIRECT PRINT Custom Dividers For Ink Jet Printers” and is especially adapted for ink jet printers. The feed trays of these printers have corner separation tabs or clips. To prevent the folded-over flaps of these new products from catching on these tabs, both ends of the flaps have cut-out corners. These new products, and variations thereon and manufacturing methods therefor are disclosed in copending application Ser. Nos. 09/310,499 and 09/310,503, both filed on May 12, 1999.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Disclosed herein is an index divider sheet assembly which even with its outwardly extending tab can be effectively fed into and printed thereon by a printer or copier and which can be printed on both sides of its tab in a single pass through the printer or copier. The assembly, like the DIRECT PRINT product, preferably has a peel-off strip attached with releasable adhesive to a back side of the tabbed sheet, extending out from the tabbed edge and passing behind the tab. The strip thereby forms a straight edge of the assembly along the tabbed edge.
The assembly includes a film strip (or other piece of material) having first and second film portions, both of which are similarly shaped and preferably are separated from one another by a score or other fold line. The first film portion is adhered to the front face of the tab (similar to the DIRECT PRINT product), and the second film portion extends out from the tab and onto the peel-off strip and is attached to the front face of the peel-off strip with pressure sensitive adhesive. The assembly is passed once through a printer or copier, and indicia is printed in this single pass on both film portions. The film portions have toner receptive or ink jet receptive coatings to effectively receive and accept the printing.
After this single-pass printing, the peel-off strip is removed from (peeled off) the sheet and the second film portion is removed from the peel-off strip. To provide a clean, easy and consistent removal of the second film portion, the peel-off strip preferably has a silicone release coating on its front side where the second film portion attaches. The (indicia-printed) second film portion is folded backward on the fold line and adhered with (its) adhesive to the back side of the tab. Thereby the desired indicia is effectively printed on both sides of the tab, with only a single pass of the assembly through the printer or copier.
Although the present invention preferably uses (or even requires) a printer or copier that is capable of printing eleven inch wide paper (which is referred to as landscape-fed), the divider sheet itself does not need to be fed eleven inch wide. The dimensions of the entire divider assembly can be ten inch by eleven inch. Thus, the assembly can be fed ten inch wide, though this is not the preferred method.
A preferred process of manufacturing the above-discussed index divider sheet assembly secures a first portion of a film patch to one face of a sheet with the second portion folded around a sheet edge and onto the other face of the sheet. The sheet and patch are then cut to form a sheet tab with the first and second portions having their shapes conforming to that of the tab. The second portion is unfolded and adhesive is applied to the back side of the tab and/or back side of the second portion. The peel-off strip is then adhered to the back side of the sheet and the second portion is attached with the adhesive to the front side of the strip.
A first alternative manufacturing process of the invention applies a peel-off strip to the back of an untabbed sheet. A film patch is applied to the paper at the desired tab location, extending over and onto the peel-off strip. The paper and film patch are then die cut to form the tab and the first and second patch portions.
Pursuant to a s
Avery Dennison Corporation
Fridie Jr. Willmon
Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly LLP
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