Background to the Invention It is known to fold maps with a first set of vertical concertina folds (which term means that the folds are alternately towards and away from the front of the sheet) and, once the map is so folded, to impose a second set of folds (not concertina) that are horizontal. It is further known for such a map to have a stiffening portion which extends over the whole of one corner segment produced by the folds and beyond this for a similar area outside the map so that when the map has been folded completely the outside stiffened portion can be folded over the map so that the map is wholly contained between the two parts of the stiffened portion that are hinged together.

8ummarv of the Invention For the purposes of the ensuing description and claims, "sheet material" is hereby defined as sheet material which has folds in it, regardless of whether it is in a folded up condition or not unless the context otherwise requires, and further is a material that takes folds at which it can be easily unfolded (without the folds disappearing) and refolded. It may be paper, or a paper-like material such as plastics sheet on which books are commonly printed, or may be very thin card or any other suitable flexible material. It is conceivable that

the sheet material may be stiff except at the folds, e.g.

very thin cards interconnected by paper or cloth, but this is deprecated as not allowing full realisation of the advantages of the invention.

One aspect of the invention consists in a sheet of material as claimed in claim 1. Another aspect of the invention consists in a sheet of material as claimed in claim 14. Other features of embodiments may be as claimed in claims 2-13. The graspable stiff or quasi-stiff portion facilitates grasping of the sheet to fold and unfold it. The folding panel form of said portion facilitates manufacture in certain circumstances and/or detachability as claimed in claim 8 of a said panel from said sheet, e.g. to serve as a voucher. Three panels as claimed in claim 2 and panels fixedly folded together as claimed in claim 9 give more stiffness and stability. Two said means, diagonally opposite, as claimed in claim 3, enable the sheet of material to be unfolded in a single movement in which one hand grasps one of the stiff portions and the other hand pulls the other stiff portion away from the first one. The features of claims 4-7, 9 and 10 give manufacturing advantages in various circumstances.

Although one or both sets of folds may be nonparallel, e.g. convergent, and/or one or both of the stiff portions may, when the sheet is properly folded, not be outer portions, in a preferred embodiment the sheet is rectangular, the sets of folds being mutually perpendicular and parallel to the respective edges of the sheet, and the stiff portions being such as to be at the outside of the sheet when it has been folded by the first set of folds and then also by the second set of folds and

being at least as large as the respective corner segments of the sheet.

In this case, and particularly if the first set consists of an odd number of folds and the second set consists of an even number of folds, one hand can grasp the back stiff portion, while the other hand can grasp the front stiff portion and pull it first downwards and then sideways turning it over, so as to open the sheet with what in practice amounts to a single movement, assuming the sheet to be flexible at and near the folds. By experiment, a very suitable folding for this action has been found to comprise five folds in the first set and two folds in the second set. Furthermore, if the stiff portions are slightly larger than the respective corner segments of the sheet it is easier to grasp the stiff portions. Also it is relatively simple to reverse the action and fold up the sheet again with a single movement.

A particularly convenient embodiment is then provided, which can be rapidly unfolded and rapidly refolded without undue fiddling.

The invention is particularly suited to printed sheet material intended to be carried around in the pocket (e.g.

for the uses indicated below) for which purpose the folds may divide the material into segments of about 4 to 8 cm width by about 6 to 12 cm length. It is preferred that the whole package should be roughly the size of a credit card, i.e., with the folds dividing the material rectangularly into segments of about 5 to 5 cm width by about 8 to 8 cm length.

In a preferred embodiment, the material (apart from the stiff portions) is paper or paper-like material (e.g.

of plastics) and the stiff portions are of semi-rigid

material, which may be principally of plastics, attached to the remainder of the material.

An embodiment which has particular uses in awkward situations is produced if at least one of the said diagonally opposite stiff portions (usually the front one) is sufficiently massive to allow single-handed holding and opening of the sheet. In this case, the back stiff portion is held in one hand with the massive front portion resting lightly on the remainder of the folded material and then this is jerked so that the massive front portion flies away from the grasped back portion, thus automatically enabling the sheet to be held and opened both with one hand.

Brief Descrintion of the Drawings Reference will now be made by way of example to the accompanying drawings in which: Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 show (in that order) successive stages of opening, i.e. unfolding, of an embodiment of the invention and show in reverse order (as indicated by the arrows) successive stages in closing, i.e. folding up, the embodiment; Figure 5 shows alternative features.

Figures 6, 7 and 8 show alternative arrangements of the panels of the stiff or quasi-stiff portion; Figures 9, 10 and 11 show alternative arrangements of the panels as extensions of the sheet.

Description of the Preferred Embodiments Reference is now made to the drawings. In the various embodiments, references having the same first pair of digits denote members that have a similar function and some of these may not be mentioned herein explicitly, or their function detailed, where this notation makes their function obvious.

Referring to the drawings, and particularly Figure 4, a sheet of paper 10, which is a sheet of material as hereinbefore defined, has a first set of concertina folds 12 and so, so as to be transverse to these when the sheet is folded with these folds into the position shown in Figure 3, a second set of concertina folds 14, the sheet being provided with two stiff portions 16, 18 having defined edges and being located diagonally opposite to each other at segments 20, 22 of the sheet 10, which segments are at or near diagonally opposite corners 24, 26 of the sheet and are defined by folds 12, 14 and edges 28, 30 of the sheet 10.

The sheet 10 is rectangular when flattened, as will be easily inferred from Figure 4, the sets of folds 12, 14 being mutually perpendicular, and parallel to the respective edges 28, 30 of the sheet 10, and the stiff portions 16, 18 are such as to be at the outside of the sheet 10 when it has been folded by the first set of folds 12 (as seen in Figure 3) and then also by the second set of folds 14 (as seen in Figure 1), and the stiff portions 16, 18 are at least as large as the respective corner segments 20, 22 of the sheet 10.

It will be seen from Figure 4, that the first set consists of an odd number of folds 12, in fact five of

them, and the second set consists of an even number of folds 14, in fact two of them.

For ease of grasping and to protect the sheet 10 and its folds 12, 14, as explained above, the stiff portions 16, 18 are in fact slightly larger than the respective corner segments 20, 22 of the sheet 10, perhaps 2mm on each side if the segments are of credit card size, as discussed below (and above).

The embodiment is primarily directed to use as a pocket-held device and, as such, its preferred size is with each of the segments 17 shown in Figure 4, into which sheet 10 is divided by folds 12 and 14, being about 4 to 8 cm in width and about 6 to 12 cm in length. The most convenient size is approximately that of a standard credit card, in which case the sheet 10 of material is divided rectangularly into segments of about 5 to 5 cm width by about 8 to 8 cm length.

Preferably, the stiff portions 16, 18 are of plastics material such as is commonly used for credit cards. This enables portion 16 to be grasped in the left hand and portion 18 thrown outwards and downwards, to the right as seen in the drawings, so that sheet 10 opens automatically, going through the positions shown successively in Figures 2, 3 and 4. The portion 18 can then be grasped with the right hand and pulled slightly away from portion 16 to hold the sheet stretched and any text thereon easily readable. To close the sheet 10, portions 16 and 18 are grasped in the left and right hands respectively with the palms facing the viewer of Figure 4 and the portion 18 is then brought with the right hand in a movement indicated by arrow 38 towards the left and turning over portion 18 until it and sheet 10 reach the

position shown in Figure 3. The movement is then continued upwards, over and back as indicated by arrow 40 and successively into the positions shown in Figure 2 and Figure 1.

In an alternative embodiment, a border segment 42 is normally kept folded, e.g. to secrete text, and the "corner segment" referred to above is the one marked 22 in Figure 5. This is then defined by edge 28 and two folds 14 and 44. Fold 44 is not part of the concertina folds 14 as it is in the same direction as the adjacent fold 14 shown in Figure 5.

One or both of the portions 16, 18 can be formed from panels 181, 19, 21 as in any one of Figures 6-11.

Referring to Figures 4 and 6, a sheet 10 of paper or like material is adapted to have a first set of concertina folds 12 and, so as to be transverse to these when the sheet 10 is folded with these folds, a second set of concertina folds 14, at which folds 12, 14 the sheet 10 can be unfolded without the folds disappearing and refolded, the sheet 10 having two segments 20, 22 thereof, which are at or near diagonally opposite corners 24, 26 of the sheet 10 and defined by fold/s 12, 14 and/or edge/s 28, 30 thereof. The sheet 10 is provided with means 181, 19, 21 to form a stiff or quasi-stiff portion 16, 18 at at least one of said segments 20, 22, said means 181, 19, 21 comprising at least two panels 181, 19, 21 hingedly interconnected to fold together to form a said portion 16, 18 adapted to be grasped to fold and/or unfold the sheet 10. The sheet 10 can be unfolded with a single movement and possibly using only one hand to grasp and unfold the sheet 10.

Said means 181, 19, 21 are preferably provided with three of said panels 181, 19, 21 hingedly interconnected to fold together to form a said portion 16, 18 adapted to be grasped to fold and/or unfold the sheet 10.

The sheet 10 is provided with diagonally opposite said means 181, 19, 21, one at each of said segments 20, 22.

Figures 6, 7 and 8 show alternative arrangements of the panels 18, 19, 21, in which said means are attached to said sheet 10. The panels may be about 7 microns thick so that when folded together they total the thickness of a credit card, about 20 microns, and are preferably of foldable semi-rigid plastics material.

In the Figure 9 arrangement, panels 31, 33, 35 form extensions of sheet 10. Perforations on fold lines 37 ensure that each panel can be torn off readily, e.g. for use as a voucher.

In the arrangements of Figures 10 and 11, said segment 185 forms a said panel of a said means 185, 195, 215, 235, and said panels 185, 195, 215, 235 of a said means 186, 196, 216 are part of said sheet 10.

In the Figure 10 arrangement, the dotted line 375 is perforated for ready tearing, and panels 235 and 215 then readily fold up onto panel 195 and all of them then fold onto panel 185 to form a said quasi-stiff portion, which when grasped at two opposite edges between finger and thumb does not unfold but behaves as if it were stiff. At least one of said panels, e.g. 235, may be adapted by additional perforations along its top edge, to be readily detached from said sheet 10.

By means of, for example, adhesive, plastics welding, or impregnation and curing, said panels 181, 19, 21 of said means 181, 19, 21 may be fixedly folded together to form a stiff said portion 16, 18.

Again, said panels 181, 19, 21 of a said means 181, 19, 21 may be adapted to be unfoldably (ie so as to be able to be unfolded) folded together to form a quasi-stiff said portion 16, 18.

By making the whole sheet fold up into a size similar to that of credit cards, it can be placed in a standard credit card wallet. The sheet can comprise one or more maps, can be a phrase sheet, a calorie sheet, a wine sheet (including both data and a map). The sheet may contain business information or lists of E-coded food additives.

Important uses of sheets embodying the invention are: 1. Travelling: e.g. maps, phrases, dictionaries, business/executive information.

2. Check-out/shopping: dining, wine, cheese, diet (calorie, salt, cholesterol, -content).

3. Leisure: photography (e.g. instructions), watching (e.g. birds, bees, aeroplanes).

4. Emergency: first-aid, codes.

It is also conceivable that embodiments of the invention, perhaps when the folds are not parallel to each other or are not mutually perpendicular, may constitute magicians' tricks.

It will be apparent to one skilled in the art, that features of the different embodiments disclosed herein may be omitted, selected, combined or exchanged and the invention is considered to extend to any new and inventive combination thus formed. In case of doubt, the claims are to be interpreted in the most beneficial sense to give the maximum protection consistent with not covering anything known or obvious.

The reader's attention is directed to all papers and documents which are filed concurrently with or previous to this specification in connection with this application and which are open to public inspection with this specification, and the contents of all such papers and documents are incorporated herein by reference.

All of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), and/or all of the steps of any method or process so disclosed, may be combined in any combination, except combinations where at least some of such features and/or steps are mutually exclusive.

Each feature disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each feature disclosed is one example only of a generic series of equivalent or similar features.

The invention is not restricted to the details of the foregoing embodiment(s). The invention extends to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), or to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the steps of any method or process so disclosed.