Containerized greeting card and game toy

Description Submit all comments and votes

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is an old custom to give or to exchange gifts on such occasions as Christmas and religious holydays, anniversaries, graduations, hospitalizations, etc., the gifts generally being handed or mailed with a greeting card selected for the occasion.

On some occasions, such as birthdays for children parties are being held, and the guests, friends and relatives bring inexpensive gifts such as balloons, small games or books and a birthday greeting card with each gift.

On any such occasions, novelty greeting cards in the form of three dimensional foldable cards, pop-up or animated cards have been long known to be used to combine the greeting card and a small toy in a single item.

Books, coloring posters, records and other novelty items having imprinted birthday greetings and mailing instructions have also been long known to be used for the same purposes.

The above and other prior art devices have failed to produce a functional combination of a greeting card and a game or toy within a foldable container adaptable to a variety of games or puzzles, educational or informative subjects, such contained card-games being suitable for mailing without any additional envelope or packaging, or suitable of being carried without the use of a box or container, and offering the advantages of any board game or puzzle, simple in construction and attractive in appearance.

The present invention presents an alternative to the occasional purchase of a gift "and" of an accompanying greeting card, combining in a single and convenient flat container a greeting card and a board or novelty item, self packaged, portable and mailable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention comprises a flat sheet of cardboard or plastic material, foldable along bend lines or creases to form, when folded, a rectangular, triangular, hexagonal, or other geometrically shaped envelope-like container. On the interior of one or several folds of the centrally located panels is printed a board game, puzzle, or other novelty, amusement or educational subject, surrounded by a laminated or pre-formed frame, made of like material. On the interior of one or several folds are glued or laminated pockets for the storage of the components making the game or the puzzle.

On the exterior surfaces of various folds, according to the location when in folded position, are printed the text of the greetings, instructions for playing the game, the description of the contents, advertising and the printed post-card form for mailing the card.

The various foldable panels and flaps are closing in sequence to form an enclosure, the folds being held in place with a butterfly type fastener or similar device.

Thus it is the object of this invention to provide a new and original greeting card and game toy combination which can be folded in the form of a flat container and mailable like an ordinary greeting card.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide a combination greeting card and game toy suitable for a large variety of games, puzzles, educational, informative or amusement subjects, the subject-game being printed on the interior surface of the foldable panels & flaps, and surrounded by a raised frame, having the playing components stored in pockets glued or laminated at convenient locations on the foldable panels, and having printed on the exterior surfaces of various panels and flaps, instructions for the subject games, greetings, advertizing and the post-card form for mailing, the cardboard folding as to enclose the contents in the form of a container and locked with a fastener, in folded condition.

It is yet another object of this invention to create a greeting card and game toy which is mailable without the use of an envelope or any additional packaging, easy to fold and unfold and to be used when needed for play or amusement, and having all loose components stored in a pocket within the enclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the interior surface of my invention, in flat position, game components partially in place.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the exterior surface of FIG. 1 in flat position.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the first embodiment of my invention showing the folding sequence.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view through the line 4--4 of figure one.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the first embodiment of my invention in folded position.

FIG. 6 is the back plan view of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is the plan view of another embodiment of my invention.

FIG. 8 is the plan view of yet another embodiment of my invention.

FIG. 9 is the back plan view of the embodiment of FIG. 8 in folded position .

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Refering more in detail to the drawings, aprefered embodyment of the present invention exhibits a novelty greeting card formed of cardboard or similar paper or plastic structure sheet 10, molded or cut in the form of a single integrated unitary sheet member, however being characterized by a plurality of crease bendable fold lines which permit various sections of the card to be folded in a certain manner to form an envelope-like container.

The sheet 10 comprises a central rectangular panel 11, a rectangular middle panel 12 separated at the bottom of the front panel 11 by the crease or fold line 13, and a rectangular end panel 14, separated at the bottom of the middle panel 12 by the crease or fold line 15.

The central rectangular panel 11 is about the size of a large greeting card page. The middle rectangular panel 12 is slightly smaller in width and hight than the central panel 11, and the end panel 14 is of the same width as the middle panel 12 but is still smaller in hight, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

On the lateral sides of the central panel 11 are two integral flaps, one on each side, as indicated at 16 and 16a and at the top of the front panel 11 is the integral flap 17, the three flaps being generally triangular in shape, and foldable over the central panel 11 along the fold lines respectively indicated at 18, 18a and 19.

The bases of the triangular flaps 16, 16a and 17 are of the same length as the adjacent sides of the central panel 11 and the adjacent folding line, however the height of each flap exceeds in length the location of the imaginary geometrical center of panel 11 when the flaps are folded, like the flaps of any regular envelope, so that when folded in sequence, the apex of the flaps will overlap over the geometrical center of panel 11.

The end panel 14 is provided with a pocket 25, made of a flat sheet of clear plastic or similar material 26, having the same width as the end panel 14 but slightly smaller in hight, and laminated on the side edges 27 and 27a and the bottom edge 28 to the interior surface of panel 14, thus having the pocket's opening 29 just below the folding line 15, so that the panel 14 with the pocket 25 will fold easily along the folding line 15 over the middle panel 12, as shown in FIG. 3.

All foldable sections of the flat sheet 10 comprising the greeting card of present invention are to be folded in sequence: the packet panel 14 over the middle panel 12, then both panels over the central panel 11, over which are then folded in sequence the sides triangular flaps 16 and 16a, and last the top flap 17, as shown in FIG. 3.

To further facilitate the description of the present invention, it is essential to explain that, when in folded position, all panels and tabs described above are overlaping over the imaginary geometrical center point of central panel 11, so that an imaginary axis perpendicular to the panel 11 at its geometrical center point will pierce all other panels and flaps at some imaginary place we will designate as the "axis point". Thus, when in unfolded position, the axis point of panel 11 is at its geometrical center; the axis point of middle panel 12 is slightly below its geometrical center; the axis point of the pocket panel 14 is near the bottom edge of the panel, and the axis point of each of the three flaps 16, 16a and 17 are near the apex of each flap.

At the axis point of the end pocket panel 14, fastened to the clear plastic sheet 26 forming the pocket 25 is a metal closing device 30 of the butterfly type, generally as used for closure on most large manilla envelopes.

At its "axis point", the middle panel 12 is provided with a hole 31 of a diameter matching the raised wings of the butterfly fastener 30, so that folding the pocket panel 14 over the middle panel 12, the raised wings of the butterfly fastener will pass through the hole 31, and then both panels will fold over the central panel 11.

Further, each of the triangular flaps 16, 16a and 17, is provided with a similar hole at its axis point as indicated respectively at 32, 32a and 33, so that when folded in sequence over the folded panels 14 and 12, the said flaps will complete the envelope-like container, the wings of the butterfly fastener being closed after protruding through the said holes of the flaps, as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 6.

On the interior surface of central panel 11 and the middle panel 12, is preformed or laminated a thin and narrow strip of cardboard or plastic material to form a frame-like raised border as indicated at 35. To facilitate the folding of the panels, the frame 35 is interupted along the folding line 13, between the panels, as shown in FIG. 1.

Within the space so framed by the strip 35 on the interior surface of panels 11 and 12, is the puzzle game 36 made of a number of die cut components like any ordinary puzzle, made of thin material of the same thickness as the frame 35. The die cut pieces of the puzzle 35 are stored in the pocket 25 of the end panel 14 to be removed and installed within the frame each time the game is to be used, as shown in FIG. 1.

Further, on the interior surfaces of the triangular flaps 16, 16a and 17, is printed the text of a story generally relating to the picture puzzle, as indicated at 37, 37a and 37b.

The exterior surface 38 of the central panel 11 is printed like any ordinary post-card with the words "from" and "to", lines for addresses, a rectangle marking the location for the stamps and possible advertising, as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 5.

On the exterior surface, the middle panel 12, is printed the text of greetings according to the occasion, such as birthday, get well wishes, Christmas, etc., and on the exterior surfaces, the triangular flaps 16, 16a and 17 are printed the description, instructions, contents and pictorial view of the interior puzzle or game, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 6.

It is obvious that many types of games, either for amusement or educational purposes, other than puzzles, can be incorporated within the features of present invention, such as competition cars or horse race games, chess, checkers, stickers, dressing dolls, flash cards and educational games, story or coloring books, advertising or promotional material, etc.

Such a variation comprising a board-game being played with components such as fake-money, dice, chance cards, etc. is illustrated in FIG. 7 with the components stored in the pocket 25 of the panel 14.

It is also understood that cards of my invention can be made, when in folded condition, in a variety of shapes such as triangular, hexagonal, round, etc., to accomodate various games, having panels and flaps of various geometrical shapes. Such a variation illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9 represents a targetgame board for two or four players, having an hexagonal central panel 50, two middle panels 51 and 51a, two end pockets panels 52 and 52a with the respective pockets 53 and 53a, and four sides triangular flaps 54a, 54b, 54c and 54d, the card being folded and closed in the same manner herein described.

While I have described and illustrated the most representative embodyments of my invention, it is to be understood that this invention should not be limited to the constructions disclosed herein, and I reserve the right to all changes, modifications and variations within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

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