Two-way mailer

Abstract

 A two-way mailer (100) of thermoplastic material comprising a pocket formed of a lower panel (102) and an upper panel (103) joined together along three edges (104, 105, and 106), either by sealing or by folding, with the unsealed edge of the lower panel extending to create a flap (108) that can be folded over and adhesively secured to close the pocket once the product (23) to be sent has been loaded therein, said pocket (110) being characterised in that it contains along at least one of the sealed or folded side edges one or more discrete heat-sealed regions (126) that are designed to keep the packaged product (23) away from the pocket edges (104 and/or 105 and/or 106). This feature does allow an easy, quick, and safe removal of the packaged item from the discardable mailer.

Description

Technical field

[0001] The present invention refers to a mailer which can be used to send an article from a sender to a receiver and then re-used by the receiver for sending the same article back to the original sender or forwarding it to a different pre-determined address.

[0002] There are many instances where a two-way mailer can be useful. The structure is generally such that when the mailer, sent by a "sender", arrives at the initial destination (a "receiver"), is opened and its content is removed, a structure remains which can be used by said "receiver" as a return mailer to send back the same or a different article to the original sender or to any other predetermined address. For instance it can be utilized for mailing an invoice and receiving back the payment or for sending a request and receiving back the answer or - more recently - by the CD or DVD rental services for sending a CD or DVD to a customer and get it back after the customer has used it.

[0003] A two-way mailer is the most convenient system as the address of the company or person to whom the used mailer should be sent is already pre-printed by the "sender" and the "receiver" cannot make any mistake in this respect. In certain cases also the postage duty might be pre-paid by the "sender" and in such a case nothing else would be required by the "receiver" than just dropping the mailer with its content into a mail box.

[0004] There are a number of patents and patent applications describing two-way mailers for use in connection with invoices or other paper documents. They describe envelopes generally made by folding paper or cardboard sheets and gluing the flaps of the folded material to keep it into the desired shape.

[0005] Of interest is WO 2004/024578 that describes different configurations of a mailing and response envelope where the pocket designed to accept the item is delimited by an adhesive contour and is extended laterally by a wide adhesive region. This may have the advantage of increasing the stiffness of the envelope but on the other hand has several disadvantages such as an increase in weight of the package and therefore in the postage due, a method of manufacturing which is rather complicated, and possibly also a problem in the recycle of the packaging material. Furthermore according to the description contained in WO 2004/024578, the way the article is inserted into the pouch, through a slit which is located in the inner part of the package, is not an easy one unless the envelope is laying on a flat surface. Also, removal of the returned DVD from the disposable package may create problems as cutting-out the side edge of the pouch may damage the packaged product.

[0006] Room for improvement therefore exists in pursuit of a two-way mailer that allows easy packaging, safe transport, and simple unpackaging of a fragile object, such as a CD or DVD.

Disclosure of the invention

[0007] In one aspect the present invention relates to a two-way mailer comprising a pouch of thermoplastic material comprising a lower and an upper panel, and a flap integral with the lower panel, said flap containing two strips of singularly activatable inactive adhesives separated by an easy tear strip parallel to the pouch mouth, said flap being foldable over the pouch mouth to close the pouch, said pouch having a central seal parallel to the pouch mouth dividing the pouch into a pocket section suitably sized for the product to be packaged therein through the pouch mouth and a pouch bottom section of substantially the same size of the pocket section, said bottom section containing weakness lines in both the upper and lower panels, close to the central seal to allow the pouch bottom section to be severed from the pocket section.

[0008] Preferably said pouch will have the address of the sender applied to the outer surface of the upper panel in correspondence with the pocket section and the address of the receiver applied to the outer surface of the lower panel in the pouch bottom section.

[0009] In use, the product to be sent from the sender to the receiver will be easily inserted into the pocket of the pouch through the pouch mouth, the bottom section of the pouch will then be folded over the pocket section and the flap will then be folded on top of this. Activation of the outermost adhesive strip, e.g. by removal of the protective cover in case of a peel and stick strip, will then allow closure of the pouch. The package will then be sent to the receiver who will open it by tearing away the easy tear strip adjacent to the adhesive closure and easily remove the item from the pocket through the pouch mouth. For returning the item to the sender, the receiver will unfold the pouch bottom section with the adhesive closure stuck thereto, remove it by tearing along the weakness lines, insert the item into the pocket through the pouch mouth and close it by activating the inactive adhesive strip in the part of the original flap left, e.g. by removal of the protective cover over a second peel and stick strip, and folding the flap over the outer surface of the upper panel of the pocket.

[0010] In a second embodiment the invention refers to a mailer of thermoplastic material comprising a pocket formed of a lower and an upper panel joined together along three edges, either by sealing or by folding, with the unsealed edge of the lower panel extending to create a flap that can be folded over and adhesively secured to close the pocket once the product to be sent has been loaded therein, said pocket being characterised in that it contains along at least one of the sealed or folded side edges one or more discrete heat-sealed regions that are designed to keep the packaged product away from the pocket edges. The presence of said one or more discrete heat-sealed regions in at least one of the sealed or folded edges of the pocket will allow trimming of the corresponding edge to partially open the pocket (in-between the discrete heat-sealed regions) without damaging the packaged product. Once partially opened the pocket can be very easily opened completely by hand to remove the packaged item.

[0011] Said mailer may contain only the pocket and in such a case, once the product is loaded therein, the flap is folded over the outer surface of the upper panel and adhesively secured thereto to close it. Said mailer may be used as a one-way mailer or preferably as a two-way mailer. In this latter case the outer surface of the pouch will bear the address of the sender covered by a peelable label containing the address of the receiver. In both cases the presence of one or more discrete heat-sealed regions along at least one side edge of the pocket does allow an easy, quick, and safe removal of the packaged item from the disposable mailer.

[0012] Alternatively said mailer may be designed as in the first embodiment seen above with a bottom section separated from the pocket by a seal, where said bottom section is folded over the pocket containing the product and the flap adhesively secured to the outer surface of the lower panel of said folded bottom section; or it may also be designed as in the cited WO 2004/024578, as a foldable pouch with an inner slit through which the product is loaded into the pouch and where the pouch is closed by suitably folding the additional panel and the adhesive flap.

[0013] In all these embodiments key feature is the presence of one or more discrete heat-sealed regions along at least one side edge of the pocket section. In all these two-way mailers this would allow the original sender to open the disposable mailers very easily and quickly, and remove the returned items there from without any risk of damaging them.

Brief description of the drawings

[0014] Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a two-way mailer according to the first aspect of the present invention.

[0015] Fig. 2 is a section view of the same two-way mailer of Fig. 1

[0016] Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 are section views of the same two-way mailer of Fig. 1 in a folded and closed respectively configuration for sending a product to a receiver.

[0017] Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 are section views of the same two-way mailer of Fig. 1 opened by the receiver and reclosed for returning the product to the sender.

[0018] Fig. 7 is a top plan view of a first embodiment of a mailer with side seals according to the second aspect of the present invention.

[0019] Fig. 8 is a top plan view of a second embodiment of a mailer with side seals according to the second aspect of the present invention.

[0020] Fig. 9 is a section view of the same mailer of Fig. 8.

[0021] Fig. 10 is a section view of the same mailer of Fig. 8 in a closed configuration ready to be posted to the receiver, Fig. 11 is a section view of the same mailer opened by the receiver, and Fig. 12 is a section view of the same mailer ready to be returned to the original sender.

[0022] Fig. 13a to 13d illustrate alternative embodiments for the discrete heat-sealed regions in the pocket edges applied, in these Figures, to the two-way mailer according to the first aspect of the invention.

Mode(s) for carrying out the invention

[0023] With reference to Fig. 1 the two-way mailer (1) comprises a lower panel (2) and an upper panel (3). The two panels have the same width (w) but the lower panel is longer than the upper one (I_I > I_u). The two panels are joined together along the top and bottom edges (4) and (5) and the side edge (6), leaving the pouch mouth (7) open and a flap (8) extending from the lower panel.

[0024] A seal (9), parallel to the pouch mouth (7), is made to create a pocket section (10) where the product to be packaged is inserted through the open mouth (7), and a bottom section (11). A weakness line (12), such as a line of perforations or microperforations, is created close to the seal (9) in the bottom section (11). This is typically achieved using a conventional perforator and applying a number of perforations/microperforations per cm sufficient to give the easy tear. Alternatively the weakness line might be obtained with micro-slits. The weakness line (12) is created in both the upper and lower panels.

[0025] If desired, a slit (13) may be made in the upper panel of the bottom section to create a document pouch (14) in the bottom section where e.g., the instructions to use the packaged item, or a sticky label with the address of the sender to be applied when returning the item, or advertising material, such as the listing of available products, can be stored.

[0026] On the upper surface of the flap (8), there are a first outermost adhesive strip (15) and an innermost adhesive strip (16), separated by an easy tear strip (17), created by the two weakness lines (18) and (19). In Fig. 1 (8a) is that part of the flap (8) containing the innermost adhesive strip (16) up to the innermost weakness line (18), while (8b) is that part of the flap (8) from the outermost weakness line (19) to the flap edge (20), including the outermost adhesive strip (15).

[0027] Each of the adhesive strips may be a continuous strip or a discontinuous one, i.e. it could be also made by a sequence of more-or-less distant adhesive spots, sufficient however to provide the desired closure when the strip is contacted with the mailer surface.

[0028] Of the adhesive strips (15) and (16), the outermost one (15) will be used to seal the mailer when first sent to the receiver while the innermost one (16) will be used only when the mailer is to be returned back to the original sender. The innermost adhesive strip (16) will therefore be inactive when the sender first makes the package. This may be achieved e.g., by using a continuous or discontinuous strip of an adhesive, e.g. a pressure sensitive adhesive or any other glue suitable for sealing thermoplastic materials, protected by a peelable protecting cover (21), e.g. a silicone paper, or any other peelable coating system that can be easily removed at the time of use, thus "activating" the otherwise inactive adhesive. This system is commonly known as "peel and stick" and is the most preferred one. It would also be possible however to provide for an adhesive strip of a material that can be chemically (e.g. by wetting) or thermally activated. Typically the strip of protective coating (21) will be larger than the strip of adhesive (16) to prevent undesired adhesion and also to allow an easy grasping of the protective coating strip to peel it off when needed.

[0029] The outermost adhesive strip (15) might be applied directly by the sender at the time of packaging, but preferably the two-way mailer of the present invention will contain a preformed inactivated adhesive strip (15). Also in this case preferably the "inactivation" is achieved by protecting the continuous or discontinuous strip of adhesive (15) with an easily removable protective coating (22) that is selectively removed by the sender.

[0030] The length of the pouch bottom section (11) is preferably the same as or very similar to that of the pocket section (10). However this is not strictly necessary and a bottom section (11) with a length smaller than that of the pocket (10) would anyway be suitable provided that when said bottom section (11) is folded over the pocket (10) and the flap (8) is then folded thereon, the outermost adhesive strip (15) does overlap the folded bottom section and can adhesively be secured thereto.

[0031] When used for the packaging of disk-shaped items, such as CD or DVD, the two-way mailer according to the first aspect of the present invention will preferably have a pocket section (10) substantially squared and therefore the length of the pouch will preferably be roughly twice its height.

[0032] For the packaging of items with a different shape, two-way mailers according to the first aspect of the present invention with a rectangular pocket section (10) are typically employed.

[0033] The outer surface of the upper panel (3) in the pocket section will preferably bear, either printed directly on the thermoplastic material or on a label stuck to the thermoplastic material, the address of the original sender to which the used item should eventually be returned. Alternatively, if the mailer contains a document pouch (14), a label with the address of the sender may be contained therein.

[0034] The address of the receiver is on the other hand applied on the outer surface of the lower panel on the pouch bottom section (11).

[0035] With reference to Fig. 2, 3, and 4, item (23) is introduced into the pocket (10) through the pouch mouth (7), the pouch bottom section (11) is then folded as indicated in Fig. 3, flap (8) is then folded on top of that and the outermost adhesive strip (15) is activated, e.g. by removing the protective cover (22) to seal the mailer as in Fig. 4.

[0036] The mailer is then sent to the receiver where it is opened by tearing apart the easy tear strip (17) and unfolding part (8a) of the flap. This will leave, as indicated in Fig. 5 that shows the pouch bottom section (11) unfolded, the adhesive strip (15) used to close the pouch, as well as the outermost edge of the flap of thermoplastic material (8b), attached to the outer surface of the lower panel in the pouch bottom section (11). The adhesive strip (15) and the part (8b) of the flap in fact separate from the rest of the flap (8a) when the tear strip (17) is removed. The item (23) is then removed from the pocket and used by the receiver. To return it to the sender, the receiver will introduce it into the pocket (10), detach the pouch bottom section (11) by tearing through the weakness lines (12), fold over what is left of the flap (8a), activate the adhesive strip (16), e.g. by removing the protecting cover (21), and seal the mailer as illustrated in Fig. 6.

[0037] If the sender address was originally applied on the outer surface of the upper panel (3) in the pocket section, it was covered by the folded bottom section (11) when the mailer was sent to the receiver, but it will now be clearly visible in the return mailer.

[0038] Fig.7 illustrates a first embodiment of the second aspect of the present invention. The mailer (100) in this Figure is a one-way mailer of thermoplastic material and contains only the pocket section (110). It is made by two panels, a lower panel (102) and an upper panel (103), which are joined together, either by sealing or folding, along the top and bottom edges (104) and (105) and the side edge (106), leaving the pouch mouth (107) open with a flap (108), integral with the lower panel (102), extending therefrom. On the upper surface of the flap (108) there is a single adhesive strip (124), covered by a protective coating (125). The mailer is characterised by the presence of discrete heat-sealed regions (126) on at least one of the top, bottom and side edges that are suitable to keep the item (23) away from the relevant edge of the mailer. In this Figure 7 the discrete heat-sealed regions (126) are present on all of these edges, but it would be sufficient to have them on one only edge. They have the same shape and size even if different shapes and/or size may well be employed. They are also in the same number on each edge and positioned in the centre of the edge but depending on the shape of the packaged item said discrete sealed regions may be present in a different number on the different edges and/or be differently positioned, bearing in mind that their aim is to keep the packaged item away from the relevant edge. The configuration described in Fig. 7, as well as that of Fig. 8, is particularly fit-for-use for packaging disks, such as CD or DVD, which is the application of choice for the two-way mailers. Trimming off any of the edges of the mailers of Fig. 7 or 8, by a straight cut at a distance from the edge that is less than the maximum width of the heat-sealed region, would give a partial opening of the mailer that can then be easily completed by hand. As an example, by trimming off the side edge (106) by a straight cut at a distance lower than (I_s) as indicated above, the side edges of the lower and upper panels of the mailer will remain joined together only at the part of the sealed region which has not been cut off (127). Complete opening of this edge to remove the packaged item can then be carried out by hand.

[0039] Fig. 8 illustrates the same type of mailer in a two-way version where the flap - as in the two-way mailer of the first aspect - contains a first outermost adhesive strip (115) and an innermost adhesive strip (116), separated by an easy tear strip (117), created by two weakness lines (118) and (119). The two adhesive strips (115) and (116) are inactivated by two separate protective coverings, (122) and (121) respectively, that can separately be removed to individually activate each adhesive strip. The discrete heat-sealed regions (126) in the mailer of this Figure 8 are shaped as sealed arcs as more clearly indicated by the dotted lines.

[0040] Fig. 9 is a cross section view of the same two-way mailer of Fig. 8 in the open configuration.

[0041] Fig. 10, 11, and 12, are cross section views and illustrate how the two-way mailer of Fig. 8 works. To close the mailer containing the item (23), flap (108) is folded over the outer surface of the upper panel (103) and the outermost adhesive strip (115) is activated, e.g. by removing the protective coating (122), to seal the mailer as in Fig. 10.

[0042] The mailer is then sent to the receiver where it is opened by tearing apart the easy tear strip (117), leaving, as indicated in Fig. 11, the adhesive strip (115) used to close the pouch as well as the outermost edge of the flap of thermoplastic material (108b) attached to the outer surface of the upper panel, and unfolding the remaining part of the flap (108a) to set free the pouch open mouth (107). The item (23) is then removed from the pocket and used by the receiver. To return it to the sender, the receiver will re-introduce it into the pocket (110), fold over what is left of the flap (1 08a), activate the adhesive strip (116), e.g. by removing the protecting cover (121), and seal the mailer as illustrated in Fig. 12. Before dropping the package into a mail box the receiver should replace his own address with the address of the sender, e.g. in a preferred embodiment by removing the label with his own address from the mailer surface and leaving the address of the sender printed below.

[0043] Fig. 13a to 13d, are self-explanatory and illustrate representative non-limiting examples of possible patterns of heat-sealed regions (126) in combination with a two-way mailer according to the first aspect of the invention. The most suitable pattern will depend on the shape of the item to be packaged. As indicated above for disk-shaped articles, like CD or DVD, the discrete heat-sealed regions, or at least one of them should be positioned in the centre of the relevant edge as in any of the alternative embodiments illustrated in Fig. 13a to 13d.

[0044] When discrete heat-sealed regions are present, the shape of the pocket (110) will have to take into consideration the presence of these regions. E.g., if they are present on all the edges, the shape of the pocket (110) for packaging disk-shaped items, like CD or DVD, will remain essentially squared (but with sides longer than the disk diameter), while if they are present only on one or two of the edges, the shape of the pocket (110) will be rectangular rather than squared.

[0045] The mailers according to the present invention can be made with any mono-or multilayer thermoplastic material that can be heat-sealed at least to itself. Examples of suitable resins that can be used in the manufacture of the mailers of the invention are e.g. polyolefins, such as ethylene homo- or co-polymers, propylene homo- and co-polymers and the like. Recycle thermoplastic material from other manufacturing lines can often be used as there are no particularly demanding properties required by the thermoplastic film or sheet employed for the manufacture of these mailers. The resins employed may be charged with mineral fillers to give the opaque or paper-like appearance or they may be extruded as a transparent sheet that is then preferably rendered opaque with one or more layers of covering ink. In this case it would also be possible to leave part of the mailer transparent. In particular it could be possible to leave the flap (8, 108) transparent and apply thereto a tamper evident security tape or print therein a tamper evidence line (not shown in the drawings), as known in the art, that may be used in conjunction with the adhesive strips for extra security.

[0046] It would also be possible, in order to increase the mechanical protection offered by the packaging, to use thin liners or patches of foamed or air-cushioned thermoplastic materials, such as flexible polyethylene foam, flexible polyurethane foam, bubble cushioning material and the like materials, in the pocket section.

[0047] The mailers according to the present invention can be manufactured by conventional methods. As an example they may be manufactured by superposing separate upper and lower panels of the suitable size, sealing them together as indicated (including, if present, the discrete heat-sealed regions (126)), applying the adhesive strips and inactivating them, and creating the weakness lines where needed. Alternatively they may be manufactured by folding a strip of thermoplastic material along the side edge (6, 106), making the top and bottom edges (4, 104 and 5, 105 respectively) and optionally the central seal (9) and/or the discrete heat-sealed regions (126) by heat sealing, applying the adhesive strips (15 and 16 or 115 and 116 or 124) and inactivating them by applying the protective covers (22 and 21, or 122 and 121, or 125), and creating the weakness lines (12 and 18 and 19 or 118 and 119) where needed.

[0048] Preferably however they are obtained by suitably folding longitudinally a continuous web of thermoplastic material, applying the adhesive strips in the upper surface of the continuous web not covered by the folded ply, and the protective covering therefor, creating the continuous weakness lines where needed and, for the mailer according to the first aspect of the invention, the central seal, and then cutting and sealing transversely the folded web to create the top and bottom edges of each mailer and the optional discrete heat-sealed regions.

[0049] Although the present invention has been described in connection with the preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that modifications and variations may be utilized without departing from the principles and scope of the invention, as those skilled in the art will readily understand. Accordingly, such modifications may be practiced within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. A two-way mailer (1) comprising a pouch of thermoplastic material comprising a lower panel (2) and an upper panel (3), and a flap (8) integral with the lower panel, said flap containing two strips of singularly activatable inactive adhesives (15, 22 and 16,21) separated by an easy tear strip (17) parallel to the pouch mouth (7), said flap being foldable over the pouch mouth to close the pouch, said pouch having a central seal (9) parallel to the pouch mouth dividing the pouch into a pocket section (10) suitably sized for the product (23) to be packaged therein through the pouch mouth (7) and a pouch bottom section (11) of substantially the same size of the pocket section, said bottom section containing weakness lines (12) in both the upper (3) and lower (2) panels, close to the central seal (9) to allow the pouch bottom section (11) to be severed from the pocket section (10).

2. The two-way mailer of claim 1 wherein the pouch will have the address of the sender applied to the outer surface of the upper panel (3) in correspondence with the pocket section (10) and the address of the receiver applied to the outer surface of the lower panel (2) in the pouch bottom section (11).

3. The two-way mailer as in claim 1 or 2 wherein the easy tear strip (17) is delimited by two weakness lines (18 and 19).

4. The two-way mailer as in any of the preceding claims where the lines of weakness (12, 18, and 19) are perforated lines.

5. The two-way mailer as in any of the preceding claims wherein the singularly activatable inactive adhesive strips (15, 22 and 16, 21) are continuous or discontinuous strips of an adhesive (15 and 16), such as a pressure sensitive adhesive or any other glue suitable for sealing thermoplastic materials, protected by peelable protecting covers (22 and 21).

6. A mailer (100) of thermoplastic material comprising a pocket formed of a lower panel (102) and an upper panel (103) joined together along three edges (104, 105, and 106), either by sealing or by folding, with the unsealed edge of the lower panel extending to create a flap (108) that can be folded over and adhesively secured to close the pocket once the product (23) to be sent has been loaded therein, said pocket (110) being characterised in that it contains along at least one of the sealed or folded side edges one or more discrete heat-sealed regions (126) that are designed to keep the packaged product (23) away from the pocket edges (104 and/or 105 and/or 106).

7. The mailer of claim 6 wherein the upper surface of the flap (108) contains a first outermost adhesive strip (115) and an innermost adhesive strip (116), separated by an easy tear strip (117), created by two weakness lines (118) and (119), the two adhesive strips (115) and (116) being inactivated by two separate protective coverings, (122) and (121) respectively, that can separately be removed to individually activate each adhesive strip.

8. The mailer of claim 7 that contains only the pocket (110) and where the flap (108) is folded over the outer surface of the upper panel (103) and adhesively secured thereto, to close the mailer.

9. The mailer of claim 6 that contains also a bottom section (111) separated from the pocket (110) by a seal (109), where said bottom section (111) is folded over the pocket section (110) containing the product (23) and the flap (108) is adhesively secured to the outer surface of the lower panel (102) of said folded bottom section, to close the mailer.

10. The mailer of any of the preceding claims for the packaging of CD or DVD.

Drawing