ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY BINDING OF CALENDARS |
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申请号 | EP05768323.7 | 申请日 | 2005-07-29 | 公开(公告)号 | EP1796910B1 | 公开(公告)日 | 2009-12-23 |
申请人 | Slideco N.V.; | 发明人 | BLUMBERG, Murray, Basil; | ||||
摘要 | |||||||
权利要求 | |||||||
说明书全文 | THIS INVENTION relates to the binding of calendars in an environmentally friendly manner. More particularly it relates to an environmentally friendly calendar binder, a supply of such binders, a calendar having such a binder, a method of binding a calendar in an environmentally friendly manner and an apparatus for performing the method. According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided an environmentally friendly binder for a calendar, which includes a rigid bar of a suitably biodegradable material that is adhesively attached to a length of a flexible flat material, and a securing means for securing the bar to a calendar sheet, the securing means comprising a securing piece of the flexible flat material. The bar may be of wood, cardboard or other fibrous plant material, or a suitable biodegradable synthetic plastics material. It is not of metal. The bar may have a hanger attached thereto. The hander may be of a flexible material and may also be readily biodegradable. The securing means may be an adhesive. The adhesive may be a pre-applied coating on a surface of the bar. Alternatively, the adhesive may be applied to the bar, or the calendar sheet, when the bar is mated with the sheet(s). The securing material may be fabric or cloth-like, and may be natural or artificial. The securing piece may project from one, or both sides, of the bar. The securing piece may be secured to the calendar sheet by adhesive. As mentioned above, this adhesive could be pre-applied or applied when the calendar sheet is secured to the securing piece. The securing piece may be a strip running along the length of the bar or it may be a tab projecting from the bar. The securing piece may be fast with a front or rear surface of the bar. Conveniently, the strip may be part of a sheet and the tab may be part of a ribbon, a number of the bars being attached to the sheet or the ribbon, at spaced Intervals, the sheet, or the ribbon, being cut, or parted, in use, to provide the binder. Thus, there is also provided a supply of binders as set forth above, comprising a plurality of the bars attached at spaced intervals to a length of a web of a flexible flat securing material. The securing material, with the bars attached thereto, may be rolled up to provide a roll or reel of the binders. The web may have separation facilitating lines between the bars. These may be score lines, lines of weakening or perforations to demarcate the binders and to facilitate separation of the binders when they are parted from the roll or reel. Further according to the invention there is provided a calendar having a binder in accordance with the invention secured to a calendar sheet. The invention extends to a method of binding a calendar as set forth above in an environmentally friendly manner, which method includes adhesively securing a securing piece of a flexible flat material to a rigid bar of a suitably biodegradable material so that the securing piece of the flat material is fast therewith and securing the rigid bar to a calendar sheet by adhesively securing the flat material to the calendar sheet. As indicated above, the bar may be adhesively secured to the calendar sheet. In particular, the bar may be fast with the flexible flat securing piece, which is adhesively secured to the calendar sheet. Further, as indicated above, a supply of binders may be provided in reel or roll form, and the method may then include cutting or parting the web to separate a binder from the roll or reel, before securing the securing piece thereof to the calendar sheet. Further, as indicated above, adhesive for securing the securing piece to the calendar sheet may be pre-applied. In this event, the pre-applied adhesive may be activated. If the adhesive is heat sensitive, it may be heated. Alternatively, the method may include applying the adhesive to the securing piece and/or the calendar sheet. The invention extends still further to an apparatus for binding a calendar as set forth above in an environmentally friendly manner, which includes a binder providing means configured to provide a binder and an adhering means for adhesively securing the binder to a calendar sheet forming the calendar or part thereof and which includes an adhesive activating means for activating a pre-applied adhesive layer on the securing piece of the binder. In the case where the binder has a securing piece, the apparatus may have a folding arrangement for folding the securing piece over, or around, the calendar sheet. When the binders are provided in reel or roll form, the apparatus may have a support for the reel or roll, a cutting or parting mechanism for cutting or parting binders off as they are required, and a feeding mechanism for feeding them into mating contact with the calendar sheet. The invention is now described, by way of non-limiting examples, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Referring to In use, with a single sheet calendar 24, such as is shown in Referring now to In use, as shown in The binders 30 may be supplied from a magazine, as with the first embodiment. Instead, they may be provided as a roll 50, as shown in Referring now to Referring finally to Referring now to The apparatus 70 has a shaft 72 on which the roll 50 is supported and a tray 74 in which the sheets 26 are housed. Sheets 26 are fed from the tray 74 by a feed roller 76. From the tray 74 the sheets 26 are guided by a guide 78 onto a support plate 80. At an upstream end of the support plate 80 there is a pair of heating and pressure units 82, that are movable towards and away from the support plate 80 as indicated by arrows 84. The binders 30 are parted from the roll 50 by opposed knives 86 and fed onto a sheet 26 on the support plate 80 by a pair of spaced endless belts 88. There is a belt 88 on each side of the guide 78. The belts 88 are spaced from the guide 78 and between each belt 88 and the guide 78 there is an angled piston and cylinder 90 with a pin 92. The purpose of the pins 92 is to fold the left upper strips 34.1 and right upper strips 34.2 over the top edge of the sheet 26. Once these upper strips 34 have been folded over, the units 82 are displaced towards one another to clamp the sheet 26 between the lower strip 36, the bar 12 and the upper strips 34, and heat is applied to activate an adhesive layer on the strips 34 and 36 and glue the binder 30 to the sheet 26. The units 82 are then moved apart, the bound calendar removed and a new sheet 26 and binder 30 fed onto the support plate 80. It will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art that the binders 30, could be provided in a magazine, instead of from a roll. Similarly, binders 10 could be used, also supplied from a magazine, instead of the binders 30. In this case the apparatus 70 will not require the piston and cylinders 90 and pins 92. |