US1233780A - Safety-envelop. - Google Patents

Description

E. 0. Hommuss.

SAFE TY ENVELOP. APPLICATION FILED DEC. 12. 1915.

Patented July 17, 1917.

err l I PAT I I IQ,,

EDWARD D. I-IOTGI-IKISS, 0F SYRACUSE, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR OE ONE-THIRD '10 STEPHEN S. WILTSIE, OF UTIGA, NEW YORK, AND ONE-THIRD TO GEORGE I1. IVIAKEIEEACE, 0F WHITESBORO, NEW YORK.

SAFETY-ENVELOP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 1W, 1917.

Application filed December 12, 1916. Serial No. 136,487.

To all whom itmay concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD D. HOTGH- KISS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga and State of New York, have invented or dis covered certain new and useful Improvements in Safety-Envelope, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention has for its general object the provision of an envelop which, when closed and sealed, cannot be opened without tearing, cutting, or otherwise damaging the parts thereof, thereby rendering it impossible for unauthorized persons to tamper with the contents thereof without detection.

In order surreptitiously to open a sealed envelop it is necessary to commence at the exposed edge of a flap, and preferably at a corner thereof, at a point where said edge or corner is secured by adhesive to another portion or portions of the envelop, and, after loosening said edge or corner, either with or without steaming, to roll the same backwardly, or to work along the sealed edge, so as gradually to unseal the same, until the entire flap is released and access obtained to the interior of the envelop. In the case of an ordinary envelop these operations are usually performed upon the closure flap, the edge of which is secured by adhesive to the back of the envelop. Envelops as usually constructed readily lend themselves to such practices by reason of the fact that the sealed edge of the closure flap is freely exposed; In order to prevent this it has been heretofore proposed to cover the otherwise exposed edge of the closure flap by another flap or member which, however, itself, presents an exposed edge, enabling said covering member to be released in the manner above described, thereby exposing the edge of the closure flap as before. 7 Another expedient heretofore proposed has been the provision of a pocket within which the edge of the closure flap is inserted and sealed, and which pocket is of such a character that it cannot be so opened as to give access to the edge of the closure flap without tearing or cutting the material of which the same is made In all such envelope of whichI am aware, however, the housing of the closure flap leaves exposed the edge and corner of one or more of the side or bottom flaps which, in accordance with the usual envelop construction, are folded over and secured to one another by adhesive to form the back of the envelop. A skilful manipulator therefore has no more difliculty in freeing and opening one of these back flaps than in freeing the closure flap of the ordinary envelop, and access to the contents of the envelop is thereby equally well afforded.

For these reasons, so far as I am aware, none of the so-called safety envelops heretofore proposed, and which depend for their closure solely upon sealing by means of adhesive, have efficiently performed their intended function or gone into extensive use. In order, however, to enable one surreptitiously to open such an envelop, it is essention that there be accessible the free edge or corner of a flap or other member which when released will, either directly or indirectly, afford access to the interior of the envelop. The present invention has, there-4 fore, fora more particular object the provision of an envelop whose parts are secured together by adhesive in the usual manner, but which, when sealed, leaves exposed no edge or corner of any flap or member the release of which can, without tearing or cutting, directly or indirectly alford access to the contents of the envelop.

A further object of the invention is the provision of an envelop of this character which can be manufactured at slightly if any greater expense than the ordinary enve op, which can be closed and sealed with substantially equal facility, and which can be readily opened by the person authorized to do so;

' Theforegoing and other objects of the invention, together with means whereby the same may be carried into effect, will best be understood from the following description of one form or embodiment thereof illustrated in the accompanying drawings. It will be understood, however, that the precise construction described and shown has been chosen for illustrative purposes merely, and that the invention, as defined by the claims hereunto appended, may be otherwise practised without departing from the spirit and scope thereof,

a In said drawings:

.Figure 1 is a perspective view, partly broken away, of the complete envelop unsealed.

Fig. 2 i'sa substantially central transverse sectional view, on the line 22, Fig. 3, of the envelop sealed.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section on the line 3 3, Fig. 2. i

Fig.4 is a fragmentary plan view, greatly enlarged, of one of the upper corners of the envelop,showing the latter closed.

Fig. 5 is a view on a reduced scale of the blank from which the envelop is made.

Said blank comprises a body portion 10 provided with a closure flap 11, oppositely extending side flaps. 12, and a bottom flap 13 provided. with extensions 14 projecting from its opposite edges adjacent its outer the body portion 10, and so much of the upper or inner face thereof as lies between the body. portion and the extensions 14 is provided with adhesive 17 The extensions 14 are preferably of a slightly greater width than the closure flap 11 and of a less width than the bottom flap 13, but are collectively of a length substantially equal to the length of the latter plus sufficient to provide overlapping endsj which, when said extensions are folded inwardly, aresecured together by means of adhesive 18.

In folding th'e envelop, the side flaps 12 are first folded inwardly and secured togetherat their ends by the adhesive 16,

thereby inclosing the interior 19 of the envelop. The extensions 14' are, at the .same I time, folded inwardly. and securedtogether at their ends by theadhesive 18. The bottom flap 13 is then folded upwardly, overlying the side flaps 16'to which the lower 5 part thereof issecured by the adhesive 17.

This brings the extensions 14 to a position intermediatethe side flaps and bottom flap,

said extensions forming a pocket 20 whose free outer end is provided with an opening adapted to receive the closure flap 11, but i and edges. I

which is otherwise fullyclosed at all sides It will be observed that the foregoing ffoldingoperations are closely analogous to V those performed in the manufacture of an 6 5 ordinary envelop and can be readily performed by machinery of well known type but slightly modified, while the blank herein described may also be cut out by dies at a single operation in the usual manner.

To close and seal the envelop, the adhesive 15 on the opposite faces of the closure flap 11 is moistened and said flap inserted into the pocket 20, this operation being facilitated by the free edge of the bottom flap 18 by which said pocket is carried, and which permits said edge to be bent in any direction to meet said flap 11. Thereafter the adhesive 15 causes the closure flap to be secured to bot-h walls of the pocket 20.

7 It will be seen that when the envelop is sealed the joint between the side flaps 12 is covered by the bottom flap 13, which is the outermost flap, and which is of the same area as the body of the envelop; while the edges of the closure flap are inclosed by the pocket 20. There are no exposed corners (either in the construction of the body or in the sealing means) at which the unsealing of the envelop might be initiated and, indeed, no exposed edges on any flap whose release could, either directly or indirectly, give access to the interior 19 of the envelop. The only exposed edges are at the lower portions of the ends of the bottom flap 13, as indicated at 21 in Fig. 1, and at the upper edge of said flap at the mouth of the pocket 20, as indicated at 22 in Fig. 2. Neither of these, however, offers any opportunity for the surreptitious unsealing or opening of the envelop. The most that could be accomplished from the edges 21 would be the unsealing of the bottom flap 13 from the side flaps 12, but this would not render accessible the interior of the envelop, which is fully inclosed by the flaps 12, whose joint 16 is rendered inaccessible by the flap 13 which, in turn, is securely held at its upper edge by the flap 11. By working at the edge 22 it might be possible to release the outer face of the flap 11 from the outer wall of the pocket 20, but this would leave the inner face of said flap secured to the inner wall of said pocket, and it would be impossible to release the same without access to the edge of said flap which, however, could be obtained only by tearing away the outer wall of the pocket.

In order to make it still more difficult to utilize the exposed edges 21 and 22 for the purpose of surreptitiously opening the envelop, said envelop is preferably provided with lines of perforations 23 arranged adjacent and parallel to said edges. By means of these perforations the edges in question are weakened, so as to be torn by anyone tampering with the same, thereby indicating that an attempt has been made to open the envelop.

The envelop can be easily opened by the person. authorized to do so by' inserting the finger or a suitable implement into the space 24, between the pocket 20 and end flaps 16, and tearing the flap 11 along itsline of juncture with the body 10.

It will furthermore be seen that, by reason of the fact that the bottom flap 13 is of substantially the same area as the body portion 10, and overlies the closure flap 11 when the envelop is sealed, said bottom flap presents, at the back of the envelop, a face similar to the front face thereof and substantially unbroken except by the perforations 23, which may or may not be employed, but which, at all events, are so near the edge as not to interfere with the use of the back face for the purpose of receiving the address. The Writer, therefore, after scaling the envelop may address the same in either face, or should an error be made in addressing, the incorrect address can be canceled and the correct one written on the other face.

Having thus described my invention I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. An envelop comprising a body portion and a closure flap, said body portion being provided with a plurality of overlapping flaps the outermost of which is provided at the exterior of the envelop with a pocket having an opening to receive said closure flap but otherwise fully closed at all sides and edges.

2. An envelop comprising a body portion,

a closure flap, side flaps, and a bottom flap provided with extensions projecting from its opposite edges adjacent its outer end, said side flaps being folded inwardly, said bottom flap overlying said side flaps and being secured thereto, and said extensions being folded inwardly to form a pocket adapted to receive said closure flaps.

3. An envelop comprising a body portion and a closure flap, said body portion being provided with a plurality of overlapping flaps the outermost of which is provided at the exterior of the envelop with a pocket having a free edge provided with an opening to receive said closure flap but otherwise fully closed at all sides and edges.

4. An envelop comprising a body portion, a closure flap gummed upon both sides, side flaps collectively substantially equal in area to said body portion, and a bottom flap also substantially equal in area to said body portion, and provided with extensions of less width than the width of said bottom flap projecting from the opposite edges of the ,latter adjacent its outer end, said side flaps being folded inwardly and secured together at their ends, said bottom flap overlying said side flaps and being secured thereto, and said extensions being folded inwardly between said side flaps and bottom flap and being secured together at their ends to form a pocket adapted to receive said closure flap.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

EDl VARD D. HOTCHKISS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

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