Trading Card Mailer

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The instant invention relates to collectable card mailers or trading card mailers. More particularly, the instant invention relates to such mailers which incorporate envelope, trading card top loader sleeve, and trading card elements.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Commonly known and conventionally configured trading card mailer assemblies include thick and durable exterior envelopes, and include bulky interior packing components for holding and securing trading card top loader sleeves which are contained and shipped within such envelopes. Such commonly known and conventional trading card mailers are often excessively bulky, resulting in assessments of excessive mailing fees due to the mailer's failure to satisfy first class letter standards and requirements.

First class letter mailing standards commonly impose low weight and small dimensional limits upon a mailer, and such standards often assess a surcharge when a mailer is deemed “non-machinable” due to excessive rigidity and lack of flexibility. In many instances, the weight of a commonly configured trading card mailer and/or the mailer's of rigidity prevents the mailer from qualifying for a low first class letter rate.

The instant inventive assembly solves or ameliorates the above-noted problems and defects of conventional and commonly known mailers by providing a specially configured trading card mailer which incorporates low weight and low bulk components, and which maintains slide stopping and overlap preventing positions of sleeved trading cards within the mailer while maintaining post office machinability of the mailer.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The instant inventive trading card mailer suitably comprises a conventional laterally oblongated No. 10 paper envelope which incorporates opposing front and rear wall panels, and has an adhesively closeable cover flap. The envelope component of the invention comprises left and right “U” transitions which span between and interconnect left ends and right ends of the envelope's front and rear walls. Each “U” transition comprises front and rear arms which are continuous with the envelope's front and rear wall panels, each “U” transition comprising a floor which spans between and interconnects proximal ends of such arms.

Further structural components of the instant inventive mailer comprise a plurality of sleeves (typically either a pair or triple of sleeves), wherein each sleeve among the plurality of sleeves has an upper opening, a left side or edge, and a right side or edge. In a suitable embodiment, each of the invention's sleeve components constitutes a trading card top loader sleeve which is composed of clear and durable polyvinyl chloride plastic. In such embodiment, each of the mailer's sleeve components receives, contains, and protects a trading card whose front and back sides are displayed through the sleeve's transparent front and back wall panels.

In a suitable embodiment of the invention, the top loader sleeves which contain the trading cards are received by the envelope, such sleeves being arranged therein in a laterally abutting series. Where, for example, a user of the mailer opts to insert three top loader sleeve and trading card combinations into the envelope, the left side of each of the sleeves preferably laterally abuts either the floor of the envelope's left “U” transition or abuts a right side or edge of one of the envelope's other top loader sleeves. Correspondingly, the right side of said each sleeve laterally abuts either the floor of the envelope's right “U” transition or abuts a left side or edge of a second other sleeve which is contained within the envelope. To achieve such laterally abutting contacts of left and right sides of the enveloped top loader sleeves, the sum of the lateral widths of the sleeves may be suitably sized and fitted so that the triple of the sleeves substantially completely spans the interior lateral width of the envelope.

A further structural component of the instant inventive mailer comprises a flexible tensioning card which is received within the envelope, such card overlying the top loader sleeves which are also received within the envelope. Similarly with the suitably closely fitted cumulative lateral width of the enveloped top loader sleeves, the lateral width of the tensioning card may suitably closely match the interior lateral width of the envelope. Such closely fitted equation of the lateral dimensions of the envelope and the enveloped sleeves advantageously allows the left and right ends of the tensioning card to abut the inner surfaces of the floors of the envelope's left and right “U” transitions, causing such transitions to receive and compressively grasp and hold the respective left and right ends of the envelope's leftmost and rightmost top loader sleeves. Leftward and rightward pressure exerted by the tensioning card's ends against such “U” transition floors tends to draw such transitions' arms toward each other, effectively anchoring such card ends within the “U” transitions.

Operation of the instant invention may be understood with reference to a conventional mailer which excludes the instant invention's tensioning card. Without an inclusion of the tensioning card component within the mailer, bending deflections of the envelope experienced during post office mail sorting may undesirably misalign the abutting edges of the series of top loader sleeves which are received within the envelope. Upon provision of the inventive tensioning card component, post office mail sorting machinery may bend or bow the mailer's tensioning card away from the enveloped top loader sleeves. During such bending or bowing, the left and right ends of the tensioning card bias against the floors of the envelope's left and right “U” transitions, advantageously causing the “U” transitions to respectively hold and anchor the card's left and right ends against the sleeves' leftmost and rightmost ends.

With the left and right ends of the tensioning card compressively fixed within the sleeve's left and right “U” transitions, machine induced bending of the enveloped sleeves toward the tensioning card effectively stretches the tensioning card over the sleeves' seams. Such stretching effect advantageously draws the sleeves together at their abutting seam contacts. To induce such advantageous stretching effect, the abutting junctures of the sleeves act as fulcrums or pivot joints, while the sleeves themselves act as lever arms which pivot about the fulcrums. Such lever and fulcrum induced stretching produces enhanced frictional pressure at the sleeves' seams, and the tensioned card simultaneously functions as a misalignment stop. Accordingly, the instant invention's provision of a tensioning card in combination with close fitting of such card for anchoring contacts within the envelope's left and right “U” transitions advantageously resists sleeve misalignments upon machine induced bending of the envelope. In absence of the instant invention's tensioning card, postal sorting machine imposed bends often produce misalignments of the edges of the sleeves contained within the envelope, allowing the sleeves to undesirably slidably overlap each other within the envelope. Prevention of such sliding overlapping of sleeves is an objective achieved by the instant invention.

Where a relatively short flexible card is included within a trading card mailer's envelope, such card lacking a lateral dimension which fully extends between the floors of the envelope's “U” transitions, undesirable overlapping of sleeves may occur as a result of a lack of the above-described anchoring effect at the extreme ends of the card. To compensate for such deficiency, the instant invention provides alternative anchoring means which do not rely upon fitted lateral sizing of the tensioning card. In the instant invention, sleeve misalignment prevention may be alternatively achieved via provision of adhesive bonds between the sleeves and the overlying card. In a suitable embodiment of such alternate anchoring means, glue dots or circular patches of pressure sensitive adhesive (typically comprising a synthetic rubber-based adhesive) may be provided. Such glue dots removably attach the overlying tensioning card to the directly underlying top loader card sleeves allowing portions of the tensioning card which laterally span between the adhesive glue dots to function as sleeve drawing and compressing elements.

Upon postal sorting machine imposed bending of the inventive glue dot adapted mailer, the sleeves may bend and pivot about their laterally abutting seams, such contact points serving as fulcrums. In conjunction with their pivoting fulcrums, the lateral extensions of the sleeves function as lever arms which operatively draw and stretch the tensioning card over the sleeves' edge abutting seams. Accordingly, upon provision of the invention's alternative glue dot anchoring means, and in the event of a machine imposed bend of the mailer's sleeves toward the overlying tensioning card, the portions of such card which span between the glue dots act as a tensioning cords or ties which draw adjacent sleeves together at their laterally abutting seams. Such forces frictionally compress the sleeves' seams together advantageously resisting misalignments of the sleeves during the postal machine sorting.

The instant invention advantageously restricts its physical components to a conventional envelope, a flexible card, glue dots, and trading card filled sleeves to assure that first class mailing weight limits are not violated. The instant invention's facilitation of alignment preserving bendability of the mailer at the sleeves' abutting seams assures machinability within common postal sorting machines.

Accordingly, objects of the instant invention include the provision of a trading card mailer which incorporates structures as described above, and which arranges those structures in manners described above for the achievement of and performance of beneficial functions as described above.

Other and further objects, benefits and advantages of the instant invention will become known to those skilled in the art upon review of the detailed description which follows and upon review of the appended drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the instant inventive trading card mailer.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the structure of FIG. 1, as indicated in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a top loader trading card sleeve component.

FIG. 4 re-depicts the structure of FIG. 3, the view of FIG. 4 additionally showing an inserted trading card.

FIG. 5 is an alternative sectional view of the structure of FIG. 1, as indicated in FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a magnified view of a portion of the structure of FIG. 2, as indicated in FIG. 2.

FIG. 7 is a magnified view of another portion of the structure of FIG. 2, as indicated in FIG. 2.

FIG. 8 re-depicts the structure of FIG. 2, the view showing such structure bent or

bowed.

FIG. 9 presents an alternative configuration of the structure of FIG. 2.

FIG. 10 re-depicts the structure of FIG. 9, the view of FIG. 10 showing such structure bent or bowed.

FIG. 11 is a magnified view of a portion of the structure of FIG. 10, as indicated in FIG. 10.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to drawings FIGS. 1-8, an envelope component of the instant inventive trading card mailer is referred to generally by reference arrow 1. The envelope 1 suitably comprises a standard No. 10 envelope having dimensions of approximately 9.5 inches×4.125 inches, such envelope being rectangular and laterally oblongated. The envelope has a front side or wall 6 and a back side or wall 4, the envelope's upper end being closed by and adhesive flap 8. Left and right “U” transitions 10 and 14 join the left and right edges of the envelope's front and back wall panels 6 and 4.

Referring in particular to FIG. 3, a protective “top loader” type of trading card sleeve is referred to generally by reference arrow 18l, such sleeve having a transparent front wall 22l and a transparent rear wall 20l. Left, right, and lower ends of the top loader sleeve 18l form thermally bonded edges 26l, such bonded edges forming the walls 20l and 22l into a pocket having a slot configured upper opening 24l. Referring further to FIG. 4, a rectangular trading card 28l may be slidably inserted into the sleeve's upper slot 24l to be protectively received within the interior of the top loader sleeve 18l.

Referring further simultaneously to FIG. 5, top loader sleeves 18m and 18r which respectively contain trading cards 28m and 28r are configured substantially identically with top loader sleeve 18l and its trading card 28l. Each of the top loader sleeves 18l, 18m, and 18r has approximate 3 inch×4 inch dimensions, each holding a 3.6875 inch×2.625 inch trading card, such cards being between 20 points and 35 points in thickness.

Referring simultaneously to FIGS. 1, 2, 6, 7 and 8, a rectangular tensioning card 30 is received within the envelope 1, such card overlying the top loader sleeves 18l, 18m, and 18r, and immediately underlying the envelope's front wall 6. In a preferred embodiment, the card 30 comprises at least 18 point card stock or at least 0.457 mm thick stock. The rearward surface of the card 30 is preferably glossy for enhanced removability of glue dots, as further explained below. The envelope's left and right “U” transitions 10 and 14 respectively include floors 12 and 16, the left and right ends of the envelope's rear and front walls 4 and 6 constituting and functioning as the “U” transitions' arms. Proximal ends of the “U” transitions' arms 4 and 6 are suitably formed wholly with upper and lower ends of the floors 12 and 16.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the left and right ends of the tensioning card 30 may suitably span the entirety of the lateral width of the envelope 1 so that such ends respectively contact the inner surfaces of the “U” transitions' floors 12 and 16. Leftward and rightward compressive contacts of such tensioning card ends tend to narrow and retract the “U” transitions so that the proximal ends of their arms 4 and 6 compressively hold the extreme leftmost and rightmost edges 26l and 26r of the sleeves 18l and 18r against the left and right ends of the tensioning card 30. Such compressive contact enhance friction at the ends of the tensioning card 30, securely anchoring such ends of within the “U” transitions. The abutting contacts of the extreme left and right ends of the sleeves 18l and 18r with the “U” transitions' floors 12 and 16 advantageously assist in securely holding and positioning such sleeve ends at their anchored left and right positions within the envelope 1.

To achieve such lateral contacts of the ends of the tensioning card 30 with the “U” transitions' floors 12 and 16, the lateral width dimension of the tensioning card 30 is suitably closely fitted lateral for nesting receipt within the interior dimension of the envelope 1. Such close fitting preferably allows the card 30 to be slidably inserted into the envelope 1 and allows the ends of the card to bias against floors 12 and 16 upon insertion of sleeves 18l, 18m, and 18r. To allow the left edge of the leftmost sleeve 18l to similarly bias against the left floor 12 while the right edge of the rightmost sleeve 18r biases against the right floor 16, the lateral width of each of the sleeves 18l, 18m, and 18r may suitably be substantially equal to ⅓ of the lateral width of the envelope 1 and tensioning card 30.

As shown in FIG. 8, a postal mail sorting machine (not shown within views) may flexibly bend the envelope 1 including its contents in the direction indicated, causing the seam abutments of the sleeves 18l, 18m, and 18r to deflect toward the overlying tensioning card 30. With the lateral ends of the tensioning card 30 anchored in the manner described above within the left and right “U” transitions 10 and 14, machine imposed bends tend to laterally stretch the tensioning card 30 over the sleeves' abutting seams. During such bowing or bending, the abutting junctures of the sleeves 18l, 18m, and 18r advantageously function as fulcrums or pivot points while the sleeves themselves function as lever arms. The lever arm and fulcrum tensioned card 30 compressively holds and drives the sleeves 18l, 18m, and 18r together at their abutting seams, advantageously increasing fictional forces at the seams. Simultaneously, the stretched and tensioned extensions of the card 30 over the deflected seams function as stops against sleeve misalignments. The frictional forces translated by the tensioning card 30 in combination with the card's misalignment stopping function, advantageously prevent misalignments of the abutting edges of the sleeves during such postal sorting machine processing. By keeping the sleeves aligned, the instant invention advantageously prevents undesirable slidable overlapping of the sleeves contained within the envelope.

Referring to the alternate configuration of FIG. 9, it may be seen that a relatively shorter tensioning card 40 is provided instead of the full width tensioning card 30 of FIG. 8. In the FIG. 9 configuration, the tensioning card 40 has a lateral length dimension which does not fully extend between the floors 12 and 16 of the envelope's left and right “U” transitions 10 and 14. As a result of such shortened card dimension, “U” transition effected anchoring of the lateral ends of the tensioning card 40 does not occur. To accommodate for the lack of “U” transition anchors at the ends of the tensioning card 40, adhesive bonds, suitably in the form of adhesive glue dots or glue patches 42l, 42m, and 42r may be provided. Such alternative tensioning card anchors adhesively attach the front walls 22l, 22m, and 22r of the top loader sleeves 18l, 18m, and 18r to the relatively short tensioning card 40.

As shown in FIG. 11, a postal sorting machine induced bend, similar to the bend experienced by the FIG. 8 structure, may deflect the sleeves' abutting seams toward the overlying tensioning card 40. Such bending effectively stretches the portions of the tensioning card 40 which span laterally between glue dots 42l, 42r and 42m. Referring to the mailer's right seam shown in FIG. 11, such card stretching action is provided by pivoting levering of the adjacent sleeves 18m and 18r about their laterally abutting seam, such pivoting contact functioning as a fulcrum. The sleeves' lever and fulcrum combinations induce stretching of the overlying tensioning card 40, causing the card to impose compressive friction at the seams while simultaneously functioning as an overlying misalignment preventing stop.

Regardless of whether anchoring of the instant invention's tensioning card is produced at the “U” transition captured ends of a full width tensioning card 30, or via adhesive bonds applied to the face of a relatively short tensioning card 40, the instant invention's anchor components allow portions of the tensioning card which span between the anchors to both compressively hold adjacent sleeves together at an abutting seam, while additionally functioning at the abutting seams as misalignment preventing stops.

While the principles of the invention have been made clear in the above illustrative embodiment, those skilled in the art may make modifications to the structure, arrangement, portions, and components, without departing from those principles. For example, the envelope 1 may have a shortened lateral dimension accommodating only two vertically oriented top loader sleeves. As another example, a laterally abutting pair of vertically oriented top loader sleeves may be substituted for the triple of such sleeves shown in FIG. 5. Alternatively, the orientations of such laterally abutting pair of sleeves may be lateral instead of vertical. Accordingly, it is intended that the description and drawings be interpreted as illustrative and not in the limiting sense, and that the invention be given a scope commensurate with the appended claims.