Drawable and/or traceable binder

This invention relates to personalized binders.

It has previously been proposed to make three ring binders, for example, with transparent pockets on the cover thereof into which personal visual material may be inserted. Examples of this type of binder are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,857,797, granted Jan. 12, 1999; U.S. Pat. No. Des. 417,890, granted Dec. 21, 1999; and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 421,460, granted Mar. 7, 2000.

However, in addition to personal visual material, such as photographs, or the like, it would be desirable to be able to add permanent ink images or writing onto the binder covers; and this has not been practical up to the present because the plastic binder covers will not accept all types of ink, some inks will wipe off, and high humidity or moisture will often cause the ink to run or spread.

In accordance with one specific illustrative embodiment of the invention, a binder is provided with a transparent plastic sheet over the binder cover, in the form of a pocket into which visual material may be inserted, and the transparent sheet is provided with an ink receptive coating or layer receptive to solvent based ink, aqueous ink or gel based ink, and which is substantially water-fast following drying of the applied ink. This construction permits users to write or draw on the binder or to trace visual material which is inserted into the pocket. In addition, the user may, insert visual material into the pocket, and add written or pictorial images to the visual material, to provide a composite image on a personalized binder.

From a broader perspective, an assembly for holding papers and having front and rear covers may be provided with a coating or layer, which is receptive to aqueous, solvent based or gel inks, and which is substantially water-fast following drying of the ink. The user may then draw on the cover with any type of pen and personalize the binder with any desired printing or images. The coating may be on the inside and/or outside of either or both covers. In the case of dark fabric covered three ring binders, for example, the coating will permit ink personalization of the binders where an uncoated fabric covered binder would merely absorb the ink with little residual image.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the associated drawings and from the following detailed description.

FIG. 1 shows a three ring binder with a transparent pocket on the cover thereof and a visual insert for the pocket.

FIG. 2 shows the binder of FIG. 1 with the visual insert in the pocket, and with the user tracing a portion of the insert onto a special ink receptive layer or coating on the outer surface of the pocket; and

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 3 — 3 of FIG. 2 showing the binder cover, the pocket, the insert, and the outer ink receptive layer.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a three ring binder 12 having a front cover 14 , a rear cover 16 , and a spine 18 , with a ring assembly 20 mounted on the spine 18 to receive papers. Secured to the front cover 14 is a transparent or translucent plastic sheet 22 , provided with an outer ink receptive coating as discussed below. The sheet 22 is secured to the front cover 14 at the right hand edge 24 , at the bottom 26 , and optionally at the left hand edge 28 near the spine 18 . The sheet 22 is open at the top edge 30 of the front cover of the binder, to provide a pocket into which visual material 32 may be inserted.

FIG. 2 shows the visual material within the pocket formed by the plastic sheet 22 , on the front cover 14 of the binder. The user is using a pen 34 to trace a portion of the image from the visual material onto a special layer or coating on sheet 22 on the cover of the binder.

FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a portion of the front cover 14 of the binder, taken along line 3 — 3 of FIG. 2 . In FIG. 3, the front cover 14 includes an inner fairly stiff base member 42 , covering layers 44 and 46 , which may be formed of plastic or cloth, for examples, and the visual insert 32 . The transparent or translucent plastic sheet 22 which forms the pocket, has an outer ink receptive coating or layer 48 . Ink 50 which has just been applied to the coating is shown at several points on and in the layer 48 .

Concerning the layer 48 which is receptive to aqueous, solvent based and gel based ink, the ink is also substantially water-fast once it has dried. One preferred coating is disclosed in PCT Publication Number WO 99/04981, entitled “Ink Receptive Coatings and Coated Products.” This coating includes a pigment disposed in or mixed with a binder which may be an ethylene-vinyl acetate emulsion polymer and a water soluble cationic polymer. Other coatings which are receptive to all three types of ink and which are substantially water-fast are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,525, granted Sep. 23, 1986; European Patent Application No. 0 199 874, published Nov. 5, 1986; PCT Publication No. WO 97/01448, published Jan. 16, 1997; European Patent Specification EP 0 655 346 B1, published May 31, 1995; and PCT Publication No. WO 96/18496, published Jun. 20, 1996. These references generally relate to coatings for use with sheets used with ink jet printers, with the ink jet printers applying the water based ink to individual sheets of coated paper which may be fed one by one through the printers.

Concerning the coating, it advantageously includes a porous pigment such as silica gel, in a binder which includes as one component a water soluble polymer. It is believed that the ink is absorbed into the coating via the soluble polymer and penetrates the pores of the pigment, thus producing a clear image wherein the carrier for the ink (water or solvent) brings the ink color to penetrate the pores of the finely divided pigment of the coating.

The transparent or translucent sheet 22 may be secured at three edges to the cover 14 of the binder and may be open at the top at edge 30 , for example, or adjacent to the spine. If desired, the transparent plastic material and associated ink receptive layer may be provided at the spine 18 and on the rear cover 16 , as shown in FIG. 1 of the drawings. This can involve three separate pockets each open only at the top, a pocket extending over the front cover and the spine and secured to the binder at the back of the spine, or one big pocket secured to the binder only along the lower edge of the binder and at the edges of the front and rear covers away from the binder spine.

In the foregoing detailed description and in the accompanying drawings, a three ring binder was shown which had a transparent or translucent pocket on the front cover thereof. In some cases, using the preferred coating disclosed in PCT Publication No. 99/04981, the coated film may be translucent and not fully transparent. However, with the visual material in the pocket and directly adjacent to the coated film, it is clear enough to be easily traceable. Further, by using very fine pigment particles, the transparency of the coating may be increased.

It is further noted that, instead of three ring binders, the present invention is applicable to other binders for holding papers, such as binders with multiple rings or other arrangements for holding papers, including albums, folders, portfolios, multiple layer sheet protectors or report covers; and these may be provided with the additional pocket for receiving papers to be traced or displayed as discussed hereinabove for the three ring binder embodiment. Also, the coating may be applied to fabric covered binders or to plastic covered binders without a transparent cover pocket. Relative to fabric covered binders, inks applied by pen would normally be absorbed into the fabric and would not stand out prominently; however following coating, any desired image may be applied using solvent based ink, water based ink or gel pens, and the image is clear and prominent on the coated surface of the fabric binders. By coating dark binders, either cloth covered or plastic covered, images may be penned onto the coatings using pastel inks and metallic gel inks. The inside surface of binder covers may also be coated, and provided with transparent or translucent inner pockets subject to pen and ink tracing and drawing. It is also noted that the ink receptive layer may be initially embodied in a separate sheet which is laminated to the transparent or translucent sheet 30 as shown in FIGS. 1-3 of the drawings. It is further noted that the sheet 30 may be formed of vinyl, polypropylene, or any other suitable plastic. In addition, the front cover may be formed of a fairly heavy gauge plastic instead of the three layers 42 , 44 , and 46 as shown in FIG. 3 of the drawings. Accordingly, the present invention is not limited to the precise embodiment shown in the drawings and described in detail hereinabove.