The present invention relates to a card, and in particular to a card for presentation of a gift or other item.

Greeting cards which play a tune when opened are well-known in the art and are popular with the public. Exemplary such cards are birthday greeting cards which, when opened play an appropriate tune, such as "Happy Birthday" or "Congratulations". These cards are provided with a miniature battery powered printed circuit board (PCB) having a memory chip with tone instructions, a piezo-electric buzzer and a switch. One side of the switch is connected to one battery terminal. The other side of the switch is integral with the PCB. When the card is closed, the switch is off. Opening the card causes the switch to make contact, thereby closing the circuit so that the tune is sounded.

An object of the present invention is to provide a card which also serves as a vehicle for presenting a gift or other token.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a card assembly comprising a card-member and means associated with the card-member for delivering an aural message, characterised in that the assembly further includes means associated with the card-member for detachably mounting an article on the card-member and switch means associated with the mounting means for controlling the message delivery means, whereby on detachment of the article from the card-member, the switch means actuates the message delivery means, to deliver the aural message. The message delivery means may comprise an electrical circuit including a power supply means, a printed circuit board for generating a signal

representing the message and a piezo-electric buzzer for converting the signal into aurally detectable tones.

In an embodiment of an assembly according to the invention, the switch means is associated with the mounting means so that the article when mounted on the card-member retains the switch means in an open or closed position, whereby detachment of the article from the card-member respectively closes or opens an electrical circuit to control operation of the message delivery means. In a preferred embodiment the switch means is retained in an open position by the article and on detachment of the article, the switch means closes to actuate the message delivery means. In a particularly preferred embodiment the card-member includes a pair of leaves between which is located the message delivery means and the switch means and one of the leaves has an aperture about the terminals of the switch means to enable a part of the article to be interposed between the terminals to interrupt the circuit. The assembly may include a third leaf closable against the apertured leaf.

In the assembly, secondary control means are advantageously provided for controlling the switch means in the absence of the article, the secondary control means being movable relative to the card-member to control the switch means.

Supplementary mounting means may be associated with the card-member for detachably mounting a further article thereto.

The card may be a greeting card, in which case the article is preferably a gift item, for example a lottery scratch card, ticket, photograph, compact disc, bank note, cheque or the like and the aural message may be a tune appropriate to the occasion which the gift is intended to mark.

Alternatively, the article may be any item which is generally delivered to its recipient attached to a letter, card or the like, for example a credit card, a bank card or a personal identification card.

The card may be a flat card such as a postcard or may have two or more leaves which fold together. The card itself, together with the musical or vocal message it contains, is appropriately designed and selected to mark a given occasion. The card may also be a vehicle for delivery of a commercial message and the terms "card" and "greeting card" should be understood accordingly. Additionally, the term "card" should be understood to include any suitable materials, including stiff and flexible materials whether fabricated from paper, cardboard, plastics material, metal or otherwise.

For example, the card may be a Christmas or birthday card and carry a tune complementary to that occasion. Other examples of occasions which can be marked with such cards are:

St. Valentines' day

New Years' day or other national holiday - wedding day birth of a baby anniversary day sporting occasion - "get well" wish - holiday greeting

As an alternative to a musical jingle, the card may deliver a verbal message, for example a Corporate message, verbal information or greeting and the like.

The invention will now be more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings which show, by way of example only, one embodiment of a card according to the invention.

In the drawings :

Figure 1 is a plan view of an opened out, two-leaved greeting card according to the invention; and Figure 2 is a view similar to that of Figure 1, partially cut away.

Referring to the figures, a greeting card comprises two leaves 1a and 1b which fold together along the fold line 2. The leaf 1b has a pair of diagonal slots 3a, 3b for receiving a gift article, such as a lottery ticket or a concert ticket, as shown by the dashed line. Further gifts may be accommodated by the slots 4a, 4b or 5a, 5b (closed and opened dotted lines respectively) . A window or aperture 6 in the leaf lb gives access to the switch 11 of a message delivery device 10. Any desired number of slot pairs may be provided.

The device 10, which plays a tune, comprises a piezo-electric buzzer 12 connected to a printed circuit board (PCB) 13, a power supply means such as a battery 14 and a switch 11, which has a connecting stud 11a. One battery terminal is provided as a pad on the PCB 13, the other being connected to the switch 11. The switch 11 comprises resiliently deformable conductive material which is biased into contact with the PCB to close the circuit. The gift item is placed in the slots 3a, 3b and between the PCB 13 and switch 11, thereby maintaining the circuit open. On removal of the gift, the stud 11 a of the switch 11 connects with the PCB 13 to close the circuit, causing the

buzzer 12 to sound the tones comprising the tune.

Once the gift item has been removed from the card, the sounding of the tune may be shut off by means of the arm 15, which is fixed at one end to the leaf 1a in such manner that the arm 15 is capable of limited movement along its longitudinal axis relative to the leaf lb on folding of the leaf 1a relative to leaf 1b. At its free end, the arm 15 has an aperture 17. When the card is closed, leaves 1a and 1b lie superimposed on and facing one another, with the arm 15 interposed between PCB 13 and the switch 11 to keep the switch open. On opening the card, the arm 15 moves along its longitudinal axis, bringing the aperture 17 into register with the stud 11a of the switch 11, thereby allowing the circuit to close for playing the tune. Closure of the card shuts-off the sound by moving the aperture 17 out of register with the stud 11a and re-interposing the arm 15 to shut the switch.

For practical purposes, the leaf 1b is preferably provided as a two-layered leaf, with the device 10 sandwiched between the layers and with the window 6 provided only in one of the layers, giving access to the switch for placement of the gift article.

In use, the card is presented to a recipient closed, with the gift (for example, a gift ticket) inserted in the slots 3a, 3b and interposed between the switch 11 and PCB 13. On opening of the card, the arm 15 moves so that the aperture 17 comes into register with the switch 11. However, as the gift ticket is holding the switch open, the tune does not play. Only when the recipient removes the gift ticket from the slots 3a, 3b does the congratulatory or other tune sound. Thereafter, the tune may be shut off in the normal way by closing the card. On subsequent opening of the card

after removal of the gift ticket, the tune will play as the aperture 17 moves into register to allow the circuit to close.

Any suitable power supply means, for example, a solar cell, may be used in place of a battery in the device.

While the invention has been particularly described with reference to a two-leaved card, it will be appreciated that with appropriate modifications, it can equally be applied to a single leaf card, such as a postcard, or indeed to multi-leaved cards. Equally, it will be appreciated that the shut-off arm 15 may be arranged so as to be directly manually operable.

The card, which need not be a greeting card, may also optionally be provided with a device 10 associated with each pair of mounting slots, the devices playing the same or a different message and each having independent secondary shut off arms whereby removal of each gift item causes a message to be played. The message played will usually be of a musical nature, but may equally comprise a verbal message. Additionally, the article held on the card need not be a gift item but may equally be some other article to be delivered to a recipient, for example, a credit card.

It will of course be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific details described herein, which are given by way of example only, and that various modifications and alterations are possible within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.