WO2007031831A2

WO2007031831A2 - Support unit for large format documents such as newspapers

Info

Publication number: WO2007031831A2
Application number: PCT/IB2006/002465
Authority: WO
Inventors: Marius Amor Smit
Original assignee: MANTELL SIMON DANIEL
Current assignee: MANTELL SIMON DANIEL
Priority date: 2005-09-16
Filing date: 2006-09-07
Publication date: 2007-03-22
Anticipated expiration: 2008-03-16
Also published as: ZA200700587B; WO2007031831A3

Abstract

A support unit for a flexible large format document (7) is provided that has a pair of support panel assemblies (1 , 12) of generally rectangular shape hingedly attached to each other along or adjacent one longitudinal edge (2, 15, 18) thereof. The support panel assemblies may each have on its operatively outer surface a transparent retainer flap (4, 16) attached to the associated support panel assembly along an edge (6) of the flap corresponding to the hinged edge of the associated support panel assembly. Alternatively, or in addition, each support panel assembly may comprise a pair of superimposed panels hinged together along their edges opposite said hinged edge. The support panel assemblies are configured to receive a spine region (8, 21) of a large format document between them towards their hinged edges and to have document pages folded around their edges to provide four faces that can be read.

Description

SUPPORT UNIT FOR LARGE FORMAT DOCUMENTS SUCH AS

NEWSPAPERS

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a support unit, more particularly a hand-held support unit, for flexible large format documents such as newspapers whereby the document can be viewed conveniently by a reader and pages easily turned over as may be required with a reduced space being required so to do.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

Reading a newspaper of the standard larger size format, namely of the order of international paper size A2 (that is to say paper size A1 folded in half to provide four printed faces each measuring of the order of 590 millimetres by

420 millimetres), and more particularly, folding the document pages over, is, at the best of times, awkward. In a confined space, such as that available in an aircraft or some waiting lounges, for example, holding and folding over the pages of such a newspaper becomes even more challenging and can furthermore represent an inconvenience or irritation to persons seated next to a person engaged in reading such a newspaper.

There are various rudimentary and haphazard techniques of folding such a newspaper in a variety of different ways in order to solve the problem of holding the newspaper in order to read portions thereof. Nevertheless, there remains the difficulty of turning over the full size pages and few people seem to have mastered this procedure in confined spaces to any appreciable extent. OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of this invention to provide a support unit for such flexible large format documents that facilitates the holding the document and turning over of the various pages, as and when required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with one aspect of this invention there is provided a support unit for a flexible large format document wherein the support unit has a pair of support panel assemblies of generally rectangular shape hingedly attached one to the other along or adjacent one longitudinal edge (the primary hinged edges) thereof, the support unit being characterised in that each of the support panel assemblies has on its operatively outer surface a transparent retainer flap attached to the associated support panel assembly along an edge of the flap corresponding to the primary hinged edge of the associated support panel assembly and wherein the support panel assemblies are configured to receive a spine region of a large format document between them towards the primary hinged edges thereof and the transparent retainer panels are each configured to receive an edge region of pages of such a large format document between the retainer panel and outer surface of the associated support panel assembly with relevant pages folded around the edge of the associated support panel assembly remote from the hinged edge.

A further feature of this aspect of the invention provides for each support panel assembly to comprise either a single support panel, or alternatively, a pair of support panels hingedly attached to each other along their edges remote from the hinged edges identified above (the secondary hinged edges). In accordance with a second aspect of the invention there is provided a support unit for a flexible large format document wherein the support unit has a pair of support panel assemblies of generally rectangular shape hingedly attached one to the other along or adjacent one longitudinal edge (the primary hinged edges) thereof, the support unit being characterised in that each of the support panel assemblies comprises a pair of support panels hingedly attached to each other along their edges remote from the said primary hinged edges (the secondary hinged edges) and wherein the support panel assemblies are configured to receive a spine region of a large format document between them towards the primary hinged edges thereof and each pair of support panels is configured to support pages of such a large format document folded around the secondary hinged edges remote from said primary hinged edges.

A further feature of this aspect of the invention provides for the outer panel of each pair of support panels to optionally carry a transparent retainer flap as defined above.

Further features of the invention provide for the support panel assemblies to be generally rigid whilst any transparent retainer panels are preferably rigidly flexible; for the support panel assemblies to be made of suitable sheet material, typically a paper product such as a cardboard or a plastic sheet such as an extruded sheet having multiple longitudinally extending cavities therein; and for any transparent retainer flaps to have their edges terminating short of the edges of the associated support panel assembly.

The hinges that connect the various panels and the panel assemblies, can be formed in any convenient way and could, for example, be formed by sulcating cardboard type sheet material in an appropriate manner; by providing weld lines that define a hinge formation in the case of sheet material that is thermoplastic; or by applying a separate flexible strip such as a fabric reinforced bookbinding strip to the edges of the sheets to be hingedly interconnected to form such a hinge. Numerous other forms of hinges can be used.

Any transparent retainer panels can be made of any suitable material such as a suitable celluloid material or a clear plastic material.

In one simple form of the first aspect of the invention each support panel assembly consists of a single panel with the two single panels facing inwards towards each other and a transparent retainer panel attached to the outer surface of each of such single panels.

In one simple form of the second aspect of the invention that is particularly useful in allowing pages to be read in a generally full or substantially opened out condition, each support panel assembly comprises a pair of superimposed panels having their edges remote from the primary hinged edges hingedley interconnected to form secondary hinged edges. A four panel construction and thus results of generally concertina configuration.

In a more sophisticated arrangement of the second aspect of the invention the outer support panels are provided with transparent retainer panels attached thereto in a manner indicated in respect of the first aspect of the invention.

In all instances, more sophisticated arrangement has a releasable clamp arrangement associated with the primary hinged edges so that the spine of a large format document can be releasably clamped in position with the large format document between the two panel assemblies.

In all instances the various visible faces of the panel assemblies can be used for the purpose of displaying any required promotional or instructional material as may be appropriate in any particular instance. Such material can be applied directly to the individual surfaces of the panels or, alternatively, transparent pockets could be formed over the panels in known manner in order that removable pre-printed advertising or information leaflets can be inserted into the pockets and, also, interchanged as and when required. The use of pockets as indicated would generally be appropriate in instances in which the panels are made of, or covered with, thermoplastic sheets that can be thermally welded.

It is a particular feature of this invention that the instructional material could be related to aircraft safety and, accordingly, the invention also provides an aircraft safety instruction pamphlet comprising a support unit as defined above wherein the necessary safety instructions have been applied to one or more visible faces of one or both of the support panel assemblies.

In order that the invention may be more fully understood various different embodiments thereof will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings:-

Figure 1 is a schematic isometric view illustrating a support unit according to the invention in an operative relationship relative to a flexible large format document, in this case in the form of a newspaper;

Figure 2 is a schematic end view of the simplest form of support unit according to the first aspect of the invention with no newspaper associated therewith; Figure 3 is a schematic end view of the support unit illustrated in Figure 2 but showing a newspaper in association with the support unit;

Figures 4a, 4b, 4c, and 4d illustrate schematically, in end view, four different type of usage orientations and configurations of the support unit illustrated in Figures 2 and 3;

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 2 but illustrating a simple embodiment of the second aspect of the invention;

Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 3 and showing a newspaper in association with the support unit illustrated in Figure 5;

Figure 7 is a view similar to Figure 5 showing the addition of transparent retainer panels of the first aspect of the invention to the embodiment illustrated in Figure 5; one

Figure 8 is a view similar to Figure 6 showing the addition of transparent retainer panels as illustrated in Figure 7;

Figures 9a and 9b illustrate two different usage orientations and configurations of the support units illustrated in Figures 5 and 6 and in Figures 7 and 8;

Figure 10 illustrates schematically, in end view, a more sophisticated hinged connection between two support panels in the open condition;

Figure 11 illustrates the hinged connection of Figure 10 in a closed, clamped condition; and, Figure 12 illustrates in perspective view a support unit of the general nature illustrated in Figures 5 to 8.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION WITH REFERENCE TO THE DRAWINGS

Referring firstly to Figures 1 to 4, there is illustrated one simple embodiment of the first aspect of the invention in which a pair of rectangular, generally rigid support panels (1), are hingedly interconnected along one edge, the primary hinged edge (2) thereof, by any suitable type of hinge (3) such as any of the general types indicated above. Each of these simple panels constitutes one of the two panel assemblies defined above.

The support panels can be made of any suitable material that is typically either a reconstituted wood product such as a cardboard of one form or another, even a thin corrugated cardboard, or, alternatively, a thin extruded plastics sheet of the type having a multitude of parallel longitudinally extending cavities between two substantially continuous surfaces (often referred to as fluted). Any other material could equally well be used and each panel can furthermore be composed of a rigid panel sealed within a sheath, typically a plastics sheath. The panel assemblies are preferably of lightweight construction, whatever the material from which they are made.

Each of the support panels has secured to the outer surface thereof a transparent retainer panel (4) that may typically be of a rigidly flexible celluloid material or a colourless plastics sheet material. Attachment of each of the retainer panels to the support panels is, in this case, by way of a securing strip (5) adhesively secured to the edge (6) of the retainer panel nearest the primary hinged edge (2) of the support panel. Any other suitable attachment method could be used and in the case that the support panels are of thermoplastic material in the retainer panels could be thermally welded thereto. On the basis that the support unit is intended to be used for the purpose of reading newspapers of approximately A2 international paper size, the support panels could measure of the order of about 210 millimetres by 350 millimetres. The retainer panels, on the other hand, could be somewhat smaller and could typically measure of the order of 175 millimetres by 295 millimetres.

For the purposes of further description, and with particular reference to Figures 4a to 4d, the two support panels can be considered to be an upper and the lower panel ((1a) and (1b) respectively) and the upper panel (1a) can be considered to have an inner face "A" and an outer face "B" whilst the lower panel can be considered to have an inner face "C" and an outer face "D".

The above arrangement is such that a newspaper (7) of roughly standard A2 size can have its spine (8) introduced between the hinged edges of the two support panels (that is between faces "A" and "C") with its front-page facing upwards. In order to facilitate reading of the front-page, the entire thickness of newspaper is folded backwards around the free edge (10) of the lower support panel (1 b) so that the normal left-hand part of the newspaper covers inner face "C" and the right-hand part covers outer face "D" with the free edge region (9) of the newspaper being located between the outer surface of the lower support panel and its associated retainer panel.

In this condition the left-hand side of the front-page may be viewed and read with the support unit orientated as illustrated in Figure 4b whilst the right- hand side of the front-page may be viewed and read through the transparent retainer panel with the support unit and newspaper reversed and in the condition and orientation illustrated in Figure 4c.

It may happen that a column being read falls on the fold (11 ) in the middle region of the width of the newspaper and in that instance, in this the simplest form of the invention, the remedy is simply to adjust the degree to which the free edge of the newspaper is inserted between the support panel and retainer panel in order to move the exact position of the fold (11) (see Figure 3) appropriately.

When it is desired to turn over, say to pages 2 and 3 of the newspaper, the free edge of the front-page is released from between the retainer panel and the balance of the newspaper and folded around the edge of the upper support panel so that its inner or right-hand part extends over inner face "A" of the upper support panel and the page is folded around so that the outer or left-hand half of the page is located over the outer face "B" of the upper panel. The outer or left-hand portion of this page (page 2) is located between the outer surface of the upper support panel and its associated retainer panel. It will be understood that to achieve this activity, only a relatively limited space is required because the newspaper maintains its basically folded condition throughout the operation.

With the newspaper supported in this condition the normal left-hand half of page 2 that is now covering face "B" may be viewed and read through the transparent retainer panel on the outside of the upper support panel with the support unit in the orientation illustrated in Figure 4a; the right-hand side of page 2 that is now covering the inner face "A" of the upper panel may be viewed and read with the support unit and newspaper in the condition and orientation illustrated in Figure 4d; the left-hand side of page 3 that is now covering the inner face "C" of the lower panel may be viewed and read with the support unit and newspaper in the condition and orientation illustrated in Figure 4b; and the right-hand side of page 3 that is now covering outer face "D" may be viewed and read through the transparent retainer panel on the outside of the lower support unit with the support unit in the orientation illustrated in Figure 4c. The entire newspaper can thus be read progressively by folding the pages one after the other, or a selected group of pages, to proceed to subsequent desired pages in an identical manner to that described above.

It will be understood that the length of the support panels is somewhat less than the height of the newspaper which therefore project beyond the support unit at each end. The length of the support panels is chosen so that the support unit is conveniently dimensioned for transport and storage purposes whilst the portions of newspaper projecting beyond the ends of the support panels are nevertheless supported by virtue of the inherent rigidity provided by the doubled over fold. The optimal length of the support panels may vary, accordingly, with the physical characteristics of the paper on which a particular type of newspaper is printed.

Referring now to Figures 5 to 9 of the drawings, there is illustrated in Figures 5 and 6 a simple embodiment of the second aspect of the invention, and in Figures 7 and 8 a more sophisticated embodiment of the second aspect of the invention in which the features of the first aspect are added to the embodiment of Figures 5 and 6. As a result of the fact that these two variations are substantially identical like numerals will be used to refer to the common components of the two variations.

In these two embodiments of the invention each support panel assembly is composed of a pair of individual superimposed panels (12) that are hingedly connected to each other by means of a secondary hinge (13) interconnecting their outer edges or secondary hinged edges (14) remote from the primary hinged edges (15) interconnecting the two panel assemblies. In this instance of the variation illustrated in Figures 5 and 6 retainer panels of the type described above are omitted. However, in the instance of the variation illustrated in Figures 7 and 8, retainer panels (16) of the general nature described above are attached to the outer panel (12) of each pair thereof. In use, these two embodiments of the invention operate in exactly the same way as is described above except for the fact that the two individual superimposed panels of each pair thereof can be opened out, as may be necessary, in order to provide a relatively flat area of newspaper to read a column that may bridge the fold when the newspaper pages are folded back upon themselves around the outer secondary hinged edges of the panel assemblies.

Figure 9a illustrates the left-hand panel assembly opened out to afford such continuity across the left-hand fold and Figure 9b illustrates the right-hand panel assembly opened out to afford such continuity across the right-hand fold.

Referring now to Figures 10 and 11 , there is illustrated a more sophisticated primary hinge arrangement in which individual panels (17) of any of the arrangements described above have their primary hinged edges (18) connected to clamp elements (19) that are connected to each other in a manner enabling them to be resiliently urged towards each other by at least one spring clip (20).

The spring clip has two basic terminal positions, namely an operative and an inoperative position. In the inoperative position in that is illustrated in Figure 10, the clip is released from the clamp elements so that a spine of a newspaper can be freely introduced between the clamp elements. In the operative position that is illustrated in Figure 11 , the spring clip is engaged with the clamp elements to urge them towards each other and to clamp the spine (21) of a newspaper between them.

It will be understood that in this embodiment of the invention the newspaper becomes releasably attached to the support unit for the duration that may be required in order for a user to finish with the use of a particular newspaper. As indicated above, and as illustrated in Figure 12, each of the panels may be formed with a transparent pocket (22) typically having an open mouth (23) at one end so that sheets carrying formations, promotional material, or simply decorative material can be introduced into the box as and when required in order to change the material being displayed in a pocket from time to time.

It will be understood that numerous variations may be made to the embodiments of the invention described above without departing from the scope hereof.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A support unit for a flexible large format document (7) wherein the support unit has a pair of support panel assemblies (1 , 12) of generally rectangular shape hingedly attached one to the other along or adjacent one longitudinal edge (the primary hinged edges) (2, 15, 18) thereof, the support unit being characterised in that each of the support panel assemblies has on its operatively outer surface a transparent retainer flap (4, 16) attached to the associated support panel assembly along an edge (6) of the flap corresponding to the primary hinged edge of the associated support panel assembly and wherein the support panel assemblies are configured to receive a spine region (8, 21) of a large format document between them towards the primary hinged edges thereof and the transparent retainer panels are each configured to receive an edge region of pages of such a large format document between the retainer panel and outer surface of the associated support panel assembly with relevant pages folded around the edge of the associated support panel assembly remote from the hinged edge.

2. A support unit as claimed in claim 1 in which each support panel assembly comprises either a single support panel (1), or alternatively, a pair of support panels (12) hingedly attached to each other along their edges (15) (the secondary hinged edges) remote from the primary hinged edges (2).

3. A support unit for a flexible large format document (7) wherein the support unit has a pair of support panel assemblies of generally rectangular shape hingedly attached one to the other along or adjacent one longitudinal edge (the primary hinged edges) (15) thereof, the support unit being characterised in that each of the support panel assemblies comprises a pair of support panels (12) hingedly attached to each other along their edges (the secondary hinged edges) (14) remote from the said primary hinged edges and wherein the support panel assemblies are configured to receive a spine region of a large format document between them towards the primary hinged edges thereof and each pair of support panels is configured to support pages of such a large format document folded around the secondary hinged edges remote from said primary hinged edges.

4. A support unit as claimed in claim 3 in which the outer panel (12) of each pair of support panels carries a transparent retainer flap (16).

6. A support unit as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the support panel assemblies are generally rigid whilst any transparent retainer panels are rigidly flexible.

7. A support unit as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which any transparent retainer flaps have their edges terminating short of the edges of the associated support panel assembly.

8. A support unit as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which a releasable clamp arrangement (19, 21) is associated with the primary hinged edges so that the spine of a large format document can be releasably clamped in position with the large format document between the two panel assemblies.

9. A support unit as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which various visible faces of the panel assemblies display any required promotional, instructional or decorative material.

10. A support unit as claimed in claim 9 in which individual surfaces of the panels are provided with transparent pockets (22) formed over the panels for receiving removable pre-printed material to be inserted therein.