Album Having Pocketed Album Pages

Abstract

An album comprises front and rear covers hingedly connected to a plurality of album pages by suitable flexible straps. In one form of the album page structure each album page is formed from a single rectangular sheet of paper material folded upon itself to form front and rear laminae which are secured together by a suitable adhesive such as glue. A plurality of elongate rectangular transparent strips formed of a suitable flexible plastic are applied to one surface of the sheet prior to folding the sheet, and each of these strips are secured to the sheet along its lower longitudinal edge. When the sheet is folded, the strips form upwardly opening pockets on the front and rear sides of each page. In another form of the album page, transverse strips of plastic are applied to both surfaces of the sheet and are secured thereto by heat sealing or glue also to form upwardly opening pockets on the front and rear sides of the sheet. These pockets very nicely accommodate photographs and the like therein and permit them to be removed and reinserted as desired.

Description

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In photograph albums, scrap books and the like, the photographs or other material are sometimes permanently secured to the album pages and in other instances mounting elements are used which permit removal of the material from the album pages. However, it has been found desirable to protect the material such as photographs by a suitable transparent cover and there are albums now available which are provided with transparent pockets. Usually, the transparent pockets are formed by die cutting the albums transversely and applying trapsparent sleeves to these die cut portions of the album pages. This involves a time consuming operation in the manufacture of such album pages. Further, when the photographs and other materials are inserted into the pockets, the insertion is accomplished by inserting the photographs through the open end of the pocket.

It is an object of this invention to provide an album with a novel multi-pocketed album page. Each album page is formed from a single rectangular sheet folded upon itself to form front and rear laminae which are secured together by a suitable adhesive. Elongate transparent strips are applied to one surface of the sheet and these strips are secured along their lower longitudinal edge portions to the sheet. Thereafter, when the sheet is folded these longitudinal strips form upwardly opening pockets not only protect the photograph and similar material, but permit ready removal and replacement of the photographs and other material with respect to the pockets. These and other objects and advantages of this invention will more fully appear from the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters refer to the same or similar parts throughout the several views.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the album having the novel album pages;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an album page;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken approximately along line 3--3 of FIG. 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 4 is an end view of an album page illustrating the interrelation of the various components thereof;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a modified form of an album page; and

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken approximately along line 6--6 of FIG. 5 and looking in the direction of the arrows.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to the drawings and more specifically to FIG. 1, it will be seen that one embodiment of the novel album, designated generally by the reference numeral 10, is there shown. The album 10 includes front and rear covers 11, each being of generally rectangular shaped configuration and each having two pairs of elongate slots 12 therein adjacent the inner longitudinal edge thereof. The front and rear covers which are formed of somewhat rigid material, each pair of slots located adjacent but spaced from the upper and lower transverse edges thereof. These slots accommodate the hinge strips in a manner to be more specifically described hereinbelow.

The album also includes a plurality of similar rectangular flat pages 13 which are also formed of a somewhat rigid dimensionally stable paper material, these pages having slightly smaller width and length dimensions that the covers. Each of these album pages is formed from a single sheet of paper material which is folded upon itself along the fold line or edge 14 to form a front laminae 15 and a rear laminae 16. Suitable adhesives such as glue 17 secures the front and rear laminae together.

The means forming the pockets comprise elongate substantially rectangular shaped transparent strips 18 formed of a suitable plastic material and these strips are applied to one surface of the sheet prior to folding of the sheet. In this regard, each transparent strip 18 is secured along its lower longitudinal edge portion 19 to one surface of the sheet by a suitable adhesive 20 such as glue or the like.

With this arrangement, when the sheet is folded and the laminae secured together, each strip 18 is also folded along fold line 21 to form upwardly opening pockets 22 on the front and rear sides of each page. These pockets very nicely accommodate photographs and scrap book materials therein. These photographs and other material may be reoved as desired. In the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 through 4, three strips 18 are provided for each sheet including an upper, an intermediate, and a lower strip.

The inner longitudinal edge 23 of each page has a pair of similar longitudinally spaced apart recesses 24 therein. The recesses are formed in both the front and rear laminae of each page and an elongate narrow hinge mounting strip is folded over and applied to the inner longitudinal edge portion of each album page throughout the length of the latter. The hinge mounting strip 25 is also formed of a suitable flexible material such as paper, fabric or the like and is provided with an adhesive coating along one surface thereof. The mounting strip 25 also has a pair of substantially identical openings or recesses 26 therein which openings are of rectangular configuration and which are longitudinally spaced apart. These openings are disposed in registering relation with the recesses in the associated album page.

The hinge mounting strip 25 each mounts an elongate hinge element 27 against the inner longitudinal edge 23 of the associated album page. The hinge element 27 is preferably formed of wire and extends throughout the major portion of the length of each page. Each hinge element cooperates with each album page to define strap confining openings in the longitudinal edge of each page. These openings confine and retain generally flat elongate hinge straps 28 therein as best seen in FIG. 1.

The hinge straps which are formed of flexible preferably plastic material each has an end portion which is looped through a pair of the slots in the front cover and the other end portion is looped through a pair of slots in the rear cover. The straps may be of any desired length and permit the inclusion of additional album pages as desired.

Referring now to FIGS. 5 and 6, it will be seen that a different form of the album page, designated generally by the reference numeral 13a is there shown. The page 13a is formed of a single layer of paper material and having similar elongate substantially rectangular shaped transparent strips 18a secured to opposite surfaces thereof. These strips are also formed of a suitable plastic material and each is secured to one of the surfaces along its lower longitudinal edge portion 19a and along its vertical edge portions by glue or the like. It is also pointed out that the attached edge portions of the strip may be attached to the page by heat sealing if desired. With this arrangement, each of the strips forms an upwardly opening pocket 22a for accommodating photographs, scrap book material and the like therein. In the embodiment shown, a plurality of vertically spaced apart strips are applied to each surface and each being capable of accommodating a plurality of small photographs or other material therein. These pictures and momentos can be easily inserted and moved at any time in the manner of the previously described embodiment. It will also be noted that the lower edge portion of each transparent strip converges inwardly towards the page to the point of juncture with the page. This is clearly illustrated in FIG. 6 so that each pocket has a converging wedge shaped lower portion which serves to grip the lower edge portion of the picture or momento therein and prevents sliding and movement of the photograph in the pocket.

Each page also has a suitable hinge mounting strip 25a folded over and applied to the inner longitudinal edge portion of the page throughout the length of the page. The hinge mounting strip mounts an elongate hinge element 27a against the inner longitudinal edge of the latter. The album page has longitudinally spaced apart recesses therein which are disposed in registering relation to openings in the mounting strip. The hinge element forms with these recesses strap confining openings for accomodating the flexible hinge strips therethrough. It is also pointed out that the pocket defining strips may be formed of any length or width to thereby accommodate one or more photographs therein.

The present album pages eliminate the need of die-cutting the pages in order to accommodate preformed sleeves which are applied thereover. Further, the upwardly openings pockets not only protect the photographs and album material, but access into the pocket is obtained throughout the entire upper transverse edge of each pocket. This certainly facilitates the removal and replacement of the material into the pockets.

From the foregoing description, it will be noted that I have provided a novel pocketed album page for photograph albums and the like, the pockets being formed from transparent material and being arranged and constructed to permit ready removal and replacement of the album or scrapbook material with respect to each pocket.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided an album with a novel pocketed album page which is not only of simple and inexpensive construction, but one which facilitates the use of the album with respect to the replacement and removal of the photographs and other materials.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An album comprising:

generally rectangular-shaped front and rear covers, each having a plurality of elongate slots therein adjacent one longitudinal edge thereof,

a plurality of similar, generally rectangular flat pages, each page having inner and outer longitudinal edges, each page including front and rear laminae interconnected together along one longitudinal edge by a fold line and being formed from a single rectangular sheet folded upon itself, and adhesive securing said laminae together,

a plurality of elongate rectangular similar vertically spaced apart transversely extending, folded transparent strips, including an upper and intermediate and a lower strip, each transparent strip having a width dimension corresponding substantially to the entire width of the sheet, and each strip being secured along its lower longitudinal edge to one surface of the sheet whereby when said sheet is folded upon itself and secured together each strip being secured to opposite surfaces of the page, and each strip having its fold line positioned adjacent said one longitudinal edge of the page, each strip forming an upwardly opening pocket on the front and rear sides of each page, the spacing between adjacent strips being substantially equal,

each page having a pair of similar longitudinally spaced apart symmetrical recesses in the inner longitudinal edge thereof, elongate wire means positioned against the inner longitudinal edge thereof and traversing said recesses in each page,

an elongate hinge mounting strip folded and secured in an overlay arrangement to said inner longitudinal edge portion of each page and opposed edge portions of each transparent strip to mount said elongate wire means and transparent strips against the inner longitudinal edge of each page, each mounting strip having a pair of openings therein registering with the recesses in the associated page,

and a pair of elongate flexible hinge straps each passing through the registering recesses of a plurality of album pages and through said elongate slots in the front and rear covers to releasably bind the pages and covers together.