Record Book or Pad

The present invention relates to a record book or pad of the type having record sheets and removable sheets in overlying relationship and which are disposed alternately to provide pairs each with one record and one removable sheet. With such a known book or pad image transfer means such as carbon paper can be provided so that a marking applied by pressure to the upper sheet of a pair forms a copy of that marking on the underlying sheet of that pair. Each removable sheet usually has a line of weakness which permits that sheet to be torn from the book or pad for presentation or display, for example as a memorandum of a telephone call, at a position remote from the book or pad while a record of the marking is retained in the book or pad. With such books or pads it is not unusual for the removable sheet to be mislaid or overlooked, particularly if it is not presented prominently to the person for whom it is intended and it is an object of the present invention to provide a book or pad by which this disadvantage can be alleviated.

According to the present invention there is provided a record book or pad comprising record sheets and removable sheets in overlying relationship and disposed alternately to provide pairs with a record sheet and removable sheet in each pair, each pair of sheets being arranged with image transfer means so that a marking applied by pressure to the upper sheet of a pair forms a copy of that marking on the underlying sheet of that pair; each removable sheet having a line of weakness which facilitates removal of a portion of that sheet from a spine part of the book or pad so that a marking or the copy of the marking on the removable sheet portion can be presented at a position remote from the book or pad, and wherein each removable sheet portion carries a region of low tack adhesive which is presented from the underside of that sheet portion and by which the removed sheet portion may temporarily be adhered to a receptive surface. The use of low tack adhesive is well known for paper stationery products such as message or memorandum pads of the type sold under the Trade Mark "POST IT NOTE" where the adhesive provides relatively low adhesion characteristics which permit repeated adhesive contact with and removal of a sheet from a receptive surface (such as paper, wood, metal and plastics) and which, upon removal, substantially none of the low tack adhesive is deposited on the receptive surface.

By the book or pad of the present invention it will be apparent that the removable sheet portion which, typically, will bear a manuscript note of a telephone message (or a copy of that manuscript note), when torn from the book or pad along the line of weakness (which will usually be an array of perforations) can temporarily be attached by its low tack adhesive region to a receptive surface (typically on a desk, at a position where it is prominently displayed for the person for whom the note is intended) while the record sheet in the pair which includes the removed sheet portion retains a record of the manuscript note in the book or pad.

The image transfer means may be a sheet of carbon paper which is sandwiched in conventional manner between a pair of the sheets which are to be used. Preferably however, the sheets of the record book or pad comprise paper sold under the Trade Mark "NCR" or the Trade Mark "IDEM" both of which are well known in the stationery art as requiring no carbon paper so that pressure applied by marking the upper sheet of a pair forms a copy directly on the underlying sheet of that pair. With a copying facility of the NCR or similar type as is known in the art it will be apparent that the record book or pad that can be assembled solely from a stack of record sheets and removable sheets in their respective pairs (usually the book or pad will be provided with a loose sheet of card or plastics which is positioned successively between adjacent pairs of sheets to prevent marking applied to the upper pair from passing through to the adjacent underlying pair).

The low tack adhesive is preferably in the form of a tape which is firmly secured on the underside of the removable sheet to present a low tack adhesive surface of the tape to the underlying record sheet. Alternatively the low tack adhesive can be provided on the removable sheets during manufacture of those sheets, for example by the adhesive being lightly baked on to paper sheets. When the removable sheet portion is removed from the book or pad substantially none of the low tack adhesive is deposited on the upper face of the aforementioned underlying record sheet. For the purpose of constructing the book or pad it is preferred that the low tack adhesive is applied so that it extends as a strip along a marginal edge part of each removable sheet and which marginal edge part comprises the spine part and that the strips of low tack adhesive are of sufficient width to extend from the spine part, over the lines of weakness and on to the respective removable sheet portions to form the regions of low tack adhesive on those portions. By this arrangement, the low tack adhesive along the spine part of the removable sheets assists in binding these sheets to their respective immediately underlying record sheets. With this latter arrangement in mind, it is preferred that in each pair of sheets, the upper sheet of the pair is the removable sheet while the lower sheet of the pair is the record sheet--this provides the advantage that the low tack adhesive on the underside of the upper removable sheet of a pair adhesively, albeit temporarily, restrains the removable sheet from being displaced over the associated record sheet during the application of a marking to the removable sheet so that an accurate copy of that marking may be applied to the underlying record sheet.

The book or pad formed by a stack of the sheets disposed in pairs as previously discussed may be bound together along the spine part by any suitable means known in the art, for example by an adhesive backing strip, staples, rings, clips, helical wires or springs.

Each removable sheet may be sub-divided (for example, by cut lines or perforations) into two or more coplanar sheet portions each having a line of weakness which permits that sheet portion to be torn from the spine part of the book or pad. The two or more sheet portions of a removable sheet have a single common record sheet which remains in the book or pad for record purposes. This permits efficient usage of the space available on the removable sheets and, typically, paper sheets of, say, A4 size can have three removable sheet portions which should prove adequate to accommodate a manuscript note with a telephone message.

One embodiment of a record book constructed in accordance with the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying illustrative drawings, in which

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the book showing a removable sheet portion of a removable sheet having three such portions positioned to be torn from the book, and

FIG. 2 shows an end view of the book and diagrammatically illustrates the structure of the record and removable sheets with the low tack adhesive.

The record book illustrated is typically used for issuing memoranda or taking notes of telephone messages and comprises a stack of overlying paper sheets which consist of alternately disposed removable sheets 1 and record sheets 2. The sheets are bound together along a spine 3 by a helical wire 4 which extends parallel to an edge of the stack (for convenience the wire 4 is shown oval in FIG. 2 but normally it would be circular to facilitate opening of the book and so that the sheets may be folded back-to-back if required). Each removable sheet 1 is provided with a longitudinal line of weakness in the form of perforations 5 that extend parallel to the spine 3 and is sub-divided into three removable, equally sized, rectangular sheet portions la by parallel lateral cut or perforation lines 6. The lateral cuts 6 extend perpendicularly from the perforation line 5 to the edge of the removable sheet remote from the spine 3. By this arrangement each sheet portion la can readily be torn from the book by ripping that portion along the perforation line 5 (and, if appropriate, along a perforation line 6).

The sheets are disposed in pairs with one removable sheet 1 and one record sheet 2 in each pair and with the removable sheet 1 overlying the record sheet 2 of its pair. Furthermore, the sheets comprise material sold under the Trade Mark "NCR" or "IDEM" paper to include image transfer means whereby a marking such as a manuscript message applied by pressure to the upper surface of a removable sheet portion 1a is reproduced as a copy (and without the use of carbon paper) directly on the upper surface of the underlying record sheet 2 of the respective pair--such copying of a "message" is indicated at 7, 7a. Usually the book will be provided with a loose sheet of stiff card or plastics (not shown) which is positioned successively between the uppermost two pairs of removable and record sheets to prevent the manuscript message on the upper pair from passing through to the adjacent lower pair. The three removable portions 1a of a removable sheet 1 are provided with a single common record sheet 2 in the respective pair and when these removable sheet portions 1a are removed to present a message as required, a permanent record of the respective messages is maintained in the book as a copy on the sheets 2.

Each of the removable sheets 1 is provided with a secure strip 8 of low tack adhesive. The strip 8 is conveniently applied in the form of a tape bonded to the underside face of the removable sheet. The strip 8 extends along the marginal edge of the sheet 1 to include the spine part 3 and so that a low tack adhesive face of the strip 8 is presented towards and engages the upper face of the underlying record sheet 2 in the respective pairs of sheets. The low tack adhesive strip is co-extensive with and extends longitudinally parallel to the spine part 3 and is of sufficient width to extend laterally over the line of perforations 5 on to the portions 1a of the respective removable sheet 1. By this arrangement when a portion 1a is torn from the book along the perforation line 5 it carries with it a region 9 of low tack adhesive along an edge of its underside face. This adhesive region 9 permits the portion 1a to be temporarily adhered to an appropriate receptive surface so that the message on the portion 1a can be prominently displayed for the intended person or purpose.

The low tack adhesive characteristics of the strip 8 ensure that substantially none of the adhesive is deposited on a record sheet when an immediately overlying removable sheet portion 1a is torn from the book.

It will be noted from FIG. 2 that each adhesive strip 8 is sandwiched between the record sheet and removable sheet in a respective pair so that the sheets in a pair are bound together (albeit in a non-permanent manner) by the adhesive characteristics of the strip 8. This has the advantage of alleviating relative displacement between the sheets 1 and 2 in a pair, for example while a message or other marking is being applied to the removable sheet 1 so that that message may be reproduced clearly on the underlying record sheet 2.

The pairs of sheets 1 and 2 are conveniently bound together solely by the helical wire 4 or other form of conventional binding but, if required, adhesive can be provided along the spine part 3 between adjacent overlying record and removable sheets of adjacent pairs of such sheets.

The record book is conveniently manufactured by applying the strip of low tack adhesive tape to the underside marginal edge surface of each removable sheet 1 and thereafter cutting or otherwise forming the line of perforations 5 and cut lines 6 in the removable sheets prior to binding the sheets 1 and 2 together. In this way the low tack adhesive strip 9 is perforated and cut so that each portion 1a can readily be torn from the book.

As an alternative to applying the low tack adhesive in tape form as mentioned above, the adhesive can be applied during collation of the sheets. By this technique, two continuous webs (not shown) can collate sheets 1 and 2 and at the point at which these two webs meet a nozzle introduces adhesive between these sheets in the form of a continuous line. The two webs are then pressed together and the adhesive bonds the marginal edges of the pages together to provide the required low tack adhesive characteristics.