Page construction for improved manipulation and book incorporating the same

Abstract

A book having a page construction for improved page manipulation. The book includes a plurality of pages bound together at an edge margin, wherein each page includes a bound edge and a plurality of free edges. At least one of the free edges of at least one of the pages includes an edge relief. The pages may comprise cardboard or other stiff material having a thickness. The free edges include opposed top and bottom edges and a side edge. The edge relief may extend along the entire side edge or only a portion thereof. The edge relief may be in the form of, for example, a chamfer, a bevel, a radius, a notch, a step, or the like.

Claims

1. A book comprising: a plurality of pages bound together at an edge margin, wherein each page has a page thickness and comprises a plurality of laminated layers of the same material, each having a layer thickness of at least 18 points, and each page including: a bound edge; and a plurality of free edges; wherein at least one of said free edges of at least one of said pages includes an edge relief extending at least one third the way through said page thickness.

2. The book according to claim 1, wherein said pages comprise cardboard.

3. The book according to claim 1, wherein said free edges include opposed top and bottom edges and a side edge.

4. The book according to claim 3, wherein each of said top, bottom, and side edges include an edge relief.

5. The book according to claim 3, wherein said side edge includes an edge relief.

6. The book according to claim 5, wherein said edge relief extends along said side edge.

7. The book according to claim 5, wherein each said page has first and second sides, and wherein each said first and second side has an associated edge relief.

8. The book according to claim 1, wherein at least one of said laminated layers includes at least one edge portion that is incongruent with at least one of the other layers, thereby forming said edge relief.

9. A board book comprising: a front cover; a back cover; a plurality of pages bound together at an edge margin, wherein each page has a page thickness and includes a bound edge, opposed top and bottom edges, and a side edge, wherein each page comprises a plurality of laminated layers each of the same material and having a layer thickness of at least 18 points; and an edge relief extending along at least a portion of said side edge, wherein said edge relief extends at least one third the way through said page thickness.

10. The board book according to claim 9, wherein each said page has first and second sides, and wherein each said first and second side has an associated edge relief, wherein each said edge relief extends approximately one third the way through said page thickness.

11. The board book according to claim 9, wherein said edge relief extends at least one half the way through said page thickness.

12. A book comprising: a plurality of pages bound together, wherein each page has a page thickness and includes: a bound edge, opposed top and bottom edges, and a side edge opposite the bound edge, wherein each page comprises a plurality of laminated layers, each having a layer thickness of at least 18 points; and wherein at least one of said top, bottom, and side edges of at least one of said pages includes an edge relief extending at least one quarter the way through said page thickness.

13. The book according to claim 12, wherein said pages comprise cardboard.

14. The book according to claim 12, wherein said side edge includes an edge relief.

15. The book according to claim 14, wherein said edge relief extends along said side edge.

16. The book according to claim 12, wherein each said page has first and second sides, and wherein each said first and second side has an associated edge relief.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of a page construction designed for improved page manipulation and together with the description, serve to explain the principles and operation thereof. Like items in the drawings are generally referred to using the same numerical reference.

(2) FIG. 1 is a side view in elevation of a board book that includes a page construction for improved manipulation according to a first exemplary embodiment.

(3) FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the page construction according to the first exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 1.

(4) FIG. 3 is an end view of the page construction shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

(5) FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a layered page construction according to a second exemplary embodiment.

(6) FIG. 5 is an end view of the page construction shown in FIG. 4.

(7) FIG. 6 is an end view showing a pair of pages as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 stacked together.

(8) FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a layered page construction according to a third exemplary embodiment with the edge relief extending around the free edges.

(9) FIG. 8 is an end view of the page construction shown in FIG. 7.

(10) FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a page construction according to a fourth exemplary embodiment.

(11) FIG. 10 is an end view of the page construction shown in FIG. 9.

(12) FIG. 11 is an end view of a page construction according to a fifth exemplary embodiment.

(13) FIG. 12 is an end view of a page construction according to a sixth exemplary embodiment.

(14) FIGS. 13A-13D are end views illustrating various alternative constructions for the edge relief.

(15) FIG. 14 is a perspective view of a page construction illustrating an edge relief that extends along only a portion of the side edge.

(16) FIG. 15 is a perspective view of a page construction illustrating an edge relief that extends along the bound edge as well as the free edges.

(17) FIG. 16 is an end view of the page construction shown in FIG. 15.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(18) Described herein is a page construction for improved page manipulation. The page construction provides an edge relief that is easily grasped by children or other individuals with limited dexterity. As shown in FIG. 1, book 5 incorporates a page construction for improved manipulation. Book 5 includes a front cover 2, a back cover 4 and a binding 6. Book 5 also includes a plurality of pages 10(1)-10(n) according to a first exemplary embodiment. Each page 10(1)-10(n) includes an edge relief that creates a gap 7(1)-7(n) between the edges of adjacent pages. Thus, each page is more readily discernable to a reader of the book. Also, the reader may push their finger into a gap 7(n) in order to force adjacent pages apart, thereby breaking the vacuum that sometimes forms between the pages. In order to further assist a reader in breaking the vacuum, the pages may include an optional channel 19, as shown in FIG. 2. In this case, channel 19 is pressed into the page to form an indentation as shown. Alternatively, the channel may be milled, routed, or otherwise cut into the page.

(19) With continued reference to FIG. 2, it can be appreciated that each page 10 includes a bound edge 12 and a plurality of free edges, which include side edge 14, top edge 16, and bottom edge 18. As is known in the art, the pages may be bound along an edge margin 13 that is adjacent the bound edge 12 by gluing, ring binding, or other known binding methods. Each page also includes a front (first) side 15 and a back (second) side 17 separated by a thickness T. With further reference to FIG. 3, side edge 14 includes an edge relief 20. It can be appreciated that edge relief 20 is, in this case, in the form of a notch or step that extends inward from side edge 14 a distance X. Edge relief 20 is, in this case, adjacent to front side 15 and extends through thickness T a distance Y. In this case, distance Y is approximately half way through thickness T. Preferably, however, distance Y may range from less than a third to more than half the thickness T, depending on the material that the pages are comprised of. Moreover, it should be understood that while in this embodiment edge relief 20 is adjacent to front side 15, the edge relief may be adjacent to back side 17.

(20) Different materials may be used to form the pages of the board book. Any suitable book board, or fiber board, and/or cardboard, as is known in the art, may be used. For example, white board or gray board may be used. White board, or white art board, comprises pressed cardboard, with a white laminated surface, and white fibers all the way through. Gray board is a similar material, but contains gray fibers in the middle. Board is often specified by thickness and weight. The weight is specified by grams/square meter (gsm), and the thickness is specified in points (pt). Typical weights are in the 300 to 400 gsm range, with an 18 to 25 pt thickness. The material in white board may also be referred to as SBS, which stands for solid bleached sulfate. The pages may also be comprised of plastic or rubber, for example. While book board may be relatively stiff, the pages may be comprised of flexible materials as well.

(21) The edge relief 20 may be milled, routed, cut, shaved, or pressed into a fiber board page. Alternatively, the edge relief may be formed along the edge of a page by stacking or laminating layers of board having different shapes and/or dimensions as shown in FIG. 4, for example. FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate a page 110 according to a second exemplary embodiment. In this embodiment page 110 is comprised of a plurality of layers 130 and 132 which are adhered or laminated to each other. It can be appreciated that layer 132 has a congruent bound edge 112, top edge 116 and bottom edge 118. However layer 132 has an incongruent edge portion on the side edge 114 of the page, which forms the edge relief 120, in the form of a notch or step. FIG. 6 illustrates a pair of pages 110(1) and 110(2) stacked together to form gap 107 in a similar fashion to that in the first embodiment described above with respect to FIGS. 1-3. The edge relief may extend along an entire edge, along multiple edges, along a portion of an edge, and/or along portions of multiple edges. FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate a page according to a third exemplary embodiment with an edge relief 220 extending along the top, bottom, and side edges.

(22) The edge relief may be in the form of a notched or stepped edge, a radius, a bevel, or a chamfer as shown in, for example, FIGS. 9 and 10. Page 310 includes an edge relief 320 in the form of a chamfer or beveled edge. As shown in FIG. 10 chamfer 320 extends through the thickness of the page a distance Y and along the side a distance X, similar to the notch edge relief 20 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, for example. It can be appreciated from the figures that when a plurality of pages 310 are stacked, chamfer 320 will create gaps between adjacent pages, thereby making the pages more readily discernable to a user.

(23) While the edge relief has been described in the previous embodiments as being on one side or the other of the page, both sides of the page can include an edge relief. FIG. 11, for example, illustrates a page 410, according to a fifth exemplary embodiment, that includes two edge reliefs 420 and 422. Edge relief 420 in the form of a notch is adjacent to front side 415 and edge relief 422 is adjacent back side 417. Here again, edge reliefs 420 and 422 may be formed by cutting, milling, routing, or the like. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 12, a page 510 may be comprised of several layers laminated together. Page 510 includes central layer 530 and front layer 532 and back layer 534. Layers 532 and 534 each include an edge portion that is incongruent with at least one edge (side edge) of the central layer 530, thereby forming edge reliefs 520 and 522.

(24) FIGS. 13A-13D illustrate various examples of alternative edge relief configurations. FIG. 13A illustrates a convex radius edge relief 21. FIG. 13B illustrates a layered page comprising a layer having a chamfer set back from the edge of the adjacent layer, to form edge relief 23. FIG. 13C illustrates a concave radius edge relief 25. FIG. 13D illustrates a layered page comprising a layer having a chamfer that aligns with the edge of the adjacent layer, to form edge relief 27.

(25) FIG. 14 shows a page construction 610 according to a seventh exemplary embodiment, illustrating an example of an edge relief 620 that extends along only a portion of the side edge 614. It can be appreciated that edge relief 620 may be milled or otherwise formed into a single layer of page material. Alternatively, the page may comprise multiple layers with one layer having a cut out, or incongruent portion, to define the edge relief. FIGS. 15 and 16 illustrate an embodiment of a page construction 710 including an edge relief 720 that extends along edges 712, 714, 716, and 718 an is adjacent to the front side 715 of page 710.

(26) Accordingly, the page construction and book incorporating the same has been described with some degree of particularity directed to the exemplary embodiments. It should be appreciated, though, that the present invention is defined by the following claims construed in light of the prior art so that modifications or changes may be made to the exemplary embodiments without departing from the inventive concepts contained herein.