US202874A - Improvement in combined letter-sheet and envelope - Google Patents

Description

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L. H. ROGERS. Combined Letter-Sheet and Envelope.

No. 202,874. Patent d April 23,1878.

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L. H. ROGERS. Combined Letter-Sheet and Envelope.

No. 202,874. Patented April 23, I878.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEBBEUS H. ROGERS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN COMBINED LETTER-SHEET AND ENVELOPE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 202,874, dated April 23, 1578; application filed January 14, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEBBEUs H. ROGERS, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Letter- Sheet Envelopes, which improvements are fully set forth in the following specification.

My invention relates to the construction and arrangement of letter-sheet envelopes-that is to say, of writing-paper so formed that it shall comprise in one piece the letter-sheet and the envelope, with which latter are combined means for sealing and opening the same. Such letter-sheet envelope, in its simplest form, has been shown and described in Letters Patent issued to Charles Foster on the 6th day of February, 1872, and, in an improved form, in

Letters Patent issued to R. W. Barnes on the 28th day of December, 1875. My invention therefore relates more particularly to lettersheet envelopes of which the patents referred to may be said to be the types.

Actual experience with and use of such letter-sheet envelopes has suggested certain important improvements, which are made the subject of the present Letters Patent.

First, letter-sheet envelopes of this kind are used mostly for short business-notes, such as statements of account or bills, notices of intention to draw, of freight by railroads, of corporation and other meetings, and for many other purposes in which expedition and dispatch are of the utmost importance. The usual method of writing such notices is to head the letter with the date, and then the name and address of the party to whom it is directed, and then follows the subject-matter of the letter, and then the signature. The sheet thus written is then folded, and upon the part constituting the envelope the name and address of the party to whom the letter is addressed is again written. This, it will be seen, involves a double addressing of the letter, which takes a great deal of time and trouble.

Second, in letter-sheet envelopes as heretofore constructed, the mucilage upon the sealing-flaps is on the face side of the letter-sheet. This has rendered it impossible to take, by the ordinary means, copies of letters or notices written upon such sheets with copying-ink or copying-pencils, either of which requires the transfer-sheet tobe moistened.

The object of my said invention, therefore, is

twofoldfirst, to dispense with the double address, and, second, to allow of the writing upon such letter-sheet envelopes to be copied.

To this end my invention consists, first, in a letter-sheet envelope with divisions, indicated by folding-lines or folding-line indications, one of the two head-divisions containing on the face side of the letter-sheet, and as the heading thereof, indications for writing the name and address, the folding or foldingline indications and gumming being such as that when closed the heading of the letter will become the address of the envelope; secondly, in a letter-sheet envelope having folding-lines or folding-line indications, so that the outside of the envelope shall be on the face side of the letter-sheet, allowing the sealing-flaps to be gummed on the rear side, whereby written matter upon the face side of said letter-sheet may be copied upon any suitable sheet of paper which may have been subjected to a dampening process.

Another modification consists in omitting the sealing-flap on one side of one of the two head-divisions, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7.

It will be understood that the sheet is folded in the same manner as that shown in Fig. 2, with this exception, that the sealing-flaps a are turned over onto the folded sheet.

The advantage derived by this mode of construction of letter-sheet envelopes over that shown in Fig. 1 is this, that to open the sealed letter three distinct operations are necessary-- namely, the tearing off of the sealing-flap on one side, the tearing off of the sealing-flap on the opposite side, and the severing of the letter-sheet from the top sealing-flap-whereas by the last-named construction only one sealing-flap is torn off, and by then inserting the finger both the opposite and upper sealingflaps may be severed from the letter-sheet at one operation.

Another modification consists in omitting the side lines of perforations on one of the two head-divisions-preferably on the second, as shown in Fig. 8. After the envelope thus made is sealed, the paper is doubled and strengthened where the sealing-flaps come together, and are united into one, with the exception along the line of perforations, where the paper is materially weakened, and where, therefore, it can be readily torn and separated from the sheet.

To enable others to make and use my said invention, I shall now proceed to describe the same, and the manner in which it is or maybe carried into effect, reference being bad to the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 represents a face view of a lettersheet made in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the same seen from the rear or back side, and showing the manner in which the same is folded. Fig. 3 represents the letter-sheet envelope closed; and Fig. 4 is a face view of the letter after it shall have been received. and opened by the eorrespondent-that is to say, with the sealing-flaps removed. Fig. 5 is a modification of the letter-sheet envelope, but made also in accordance with my said invention.

In said figures the letter-sheet envelope is shown to consist of a quadrangular sheet of paper, divided into four sections or divisions, A, B, O, and D. The two first named I call the head-divisions, and they may be a trifle larger in depth than the other two divisions; but I prefer to make them all of precisely the same dimensions. The divisions may be made by a crease, a tuck, or corrugation or fold, or by dotted lines printed or punctured by printed verbal instructions or otherwise, but so that divisions A and B shall fold together back to back, while divisions O and D shall fold together face to face, and divisions B and 0 again folded back to back.

On the second division B are printed or otherwise shown indications for the postagestamp, and for the heading or the name and address of the correspondent. On the head division A, I prefer to have a line indicating the place where the date of the letter is to be written; but this I do not deem essential, except for copying purposes, inasmuch as the letter being sent through the post-ofiice is duly stamped, bearing the mark of the sending post-office and the date. Divisions (J and D may be ruled or have other indications-such as Mr. or Dear Sir -for the guidance of the letter-writer; but these may be dispensed wlth, as instructions for the proper use of the letter-sheet envelopes are proposed to be contained in each package. Surrounding the head-divisions are narrow sealing-flaps a a a 1) b These strips of paper are mere continuations of the sheet itself, but separated therefrom by the lines of perforations c c c and 0 0 These narrow strips are gummed on their backs, as shown in Fig. 2.

Mere inspection of the drawing, with what has preceded, will sufiice to a perfect understanding of the operation but it may be necessary to say that when the letter is written the sheet is first folded in two on line 0 c -that is, back to back. This double sheet is then folded in two, so as to bring U and D together face to face. Before this last operation, however, the gummed side of the sealing-flaps is moistened. The folding together of the letter-sheet, as described, will then seal the letter at the sides.

To entirely close and seal the letter, the sealingflap a is moistened and turned down or over onto the face of division B. The letter is then ready to be mailed. The receiver of the letter will successively tear off the sealing-flaps b I), then with his finger penetrate the interior of the letter, and, foreing it against the perforated edge 0 0 open it along this line of perforations, and when thus unfolded the sheet will present the appearance shown in Fig. 4, in which condition a perfect letter, with all the headings, postmarks, dates, and contents, &c., on the face of it, may be filed away for future reference.

This my invention is susceptible of modifications, of which I shall indicate but few. In-

stead of gumming both sealing-flaps a a and b 11*, either may be gummed. In other words,

it is only necessary to gum 'one of the two flaps which are designed to come together.

Instead of four divisions, as shown in Fig. 1, and for short notes, division D may be omitted or an additional division may be made, as shown in Fig. 5, of the same sheet of paper, by first folding I against H, then II and I against G, then folding the triple sheet into the head-divisions, as described with reference to Fig.1; or, as a more convenient mode, the whole letter-sheet envelope is folded first on lines 1 2, back to back; then division I is folded down on line 3 4, face to face; then I and II are folded down on lines 5 6 on G- that is, back of I on face of G; then division A is folded down on line 7 8, back to back on H, when it may be scaled, as before described.

Having described my said invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. A letter-sheet envelope having divisions marked by folding-lines or folding-line indications, one of the two head-divisions containing on the face side of the letter-sheet, and as the heading thereof, indications for writing the name and address, and the folding or folding-line indications and gumming being such as described, so that when closed the heading of the letter will become the address of the envelope, substantially as herein shown and set forth.

A letter-sheet envelope having foldinglines or folding-line indications, so that the outside of the envelope shall be on the face side of the letter-sheet, allowing the sealingflaps to be gunnned on the rear side, whereby written matter upon the face side of said lettersheet may be copied upon any suitable sheet of paper which may have been subjected to a dampening process, substantially as herein shown and set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LEBBEUS H. ROGERS. \Vitnesses:

M. M. BUDLONG, CHARLES CHAMBERS.

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