JP7768544B2 - Concealment Postcard - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a concealment postcard that can be mailed while concealing the information written on it.

Concealment postcards are known that are designed to prevent written information from being discovered by third parties during mailing, by connecting a first piece of paper with a second piece of paper via a fold line and attaching the second piece of paper to the confidential information written on the first piece of paper in a releasable manner, thereby concealing the confidential information and allowing it to be mailed (see, for example, Patent Document 1). The concealment postcard of Patent Document 1 has an adhesive layer covering the entire area of the second piece of paper, and after writing the confidential information on the first piece of paper, the release sheet is peeled off to expose the adhesive layer, and the postcard is folded back along the fold line to attach the second piece of paper to the first piece of paper. Furthermore, the concealment postcard of Patent Document 1 is designed so that if the attached first and second pieces of paper are peeled back and opened, it is difficult for the first and second pieces of paper to be reattached.

JP 2010-058318 A

In the concealment postcard of Patent Document 1, an adhesive layer is formed over the entire surface of the second piece of paper. Therefore, if the second piece of paper is picked up with the fingers after the release sheet has been peeled off, the adhesive will adhere to the fingertips. For this reason, when bonding the first and second pieces of paper together, care must be taken to avoid touching the adhesive surface of the second piece of paper. Furthermore, if the adhesive accidentally adheres to a fingertip, the adhesive layer in that area may peel off from the second piece of paper, potentially resulting in insufficient bonding between the first and second pieces of paper. Because the concealment postcard of Patent Document 1 is expected to be used by an unspecified number of people, it is desirable for the first and second pieces of paper to be able to be bonded together reliably and easily, even by people with poor dexterity, even for first-time users.

The present invention was made in light of this current situation, and aims to provide a concealment postcard that can conceal confidential information by bonding the first and second pieces of paper together in a removable manner, with a configuration that allows the first and second pieces of paper to be bonded together reliably and easily.

After extensive research to solve the above problem, the inventor discovered that if the release sheet is not completely removed, but remains on the outer edge of the second sheet, the first and second sheets are partially bonded together, and then the release sheet is peeled off from the outer edge of the second sheet and the entire second sheet is bonded to the first sheet, the second sheet can be easily held and worked on without getting the adhesive on the fingertips. After much trial and error to ensure that this method can be reliably used by many people, the inventor completed the present invention.

This invention relates to a concealment postcard comprising a first piece of paper with a confidential information section on one side; a second piece of paper connected to the first piece of paper via a fold line and with an adhesive layer formed on the first side; and a release sheet removably attached to the adhesive layer. The release sheet can be peeled off and folded back at the fold line to re-peelably attach the second piece of paper to the confidential information section of the first piece of paper. The release sheet has an opening on the inside and is formed with an easy-to-bend line that allows the release sheet to be easily bent.

Here, "removal" refers to the ability to peel cleanly off the substrate after application without destroying it. Furthermore, the "easy-to-bend line" is a line along which the release sheet can be easily bent, and may be a perforation, a half-cut line, or a line formed by creasing. Furthermore, the "inside" of the easy-to-bend line refers to the side closer to the fold line, and the "outside" of the easy-to-bend line refers to the side opposite the inside.
In this configuration, when the release sheet is peeled from the peeling opening, the force required to peel the release sheet bends the release sheet at the easy-to-bend line when peeled from the peeling opening, and the force required to peel the release sheet increases rapidly. This is thought to be because when the easy-to-bend line bends, the inclination of the second piece of paper and the release sheet changes, making it difficult for the force pulling the release sheet to be applied in the direction of peeling the release sheet from the adhesive layer. Thus, in this invention, the force required to peel increases rapidly when the release sheet is peeled up to the easy-to-break line, so that when the release sheet is peeled from the peeling opening, the release sheet gets caught at the easy-to-bend line and the peeling operation naturally stops. Therefore, with this configuration, when bonding the first piece of paper and the second piece of paper together, the peeling operation of the release sheet can be reliably stopped with the outer portion remaining, without special care. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible for an unspecified number of people to reliably perform the two-step bonding process described above, in which the first and second pieces of paper are partially bonded together while leaving the outer portion of the release sheet intact, and then the entire release sheet is peeled off and the first and second pieces of paper are completely bonded together.

The present invention proposes a configuration in which a background pattern is printed on one side of the second piece of paper, and a line is printed on the surface of the release sheet along part or all of the easy-to-bend line.

With this configuration, when the first and second pieces of paper are stuck together, the background pattern overlaps the confidential information area, making it extremely difficult to see through the confidential information. On the other hand, if a background pattern is printed on the second piece of paper, the background pattern can be seen through the thin release sheet, making it difficult to see the position of the easy-to-bend line formed on the release sheet. In contrast, with this configuration, the position of the easy-to-bend line is clearly indicated by a line printed along the easy-to-bend line. Therefore, even if the easy-to-bend line itself is difficult to see, the position of the easy-to-bend line can be reliably determined when peeling off the release sheet.

The present invention also proposes a configuration in which a transparent resin film is attached to one side of the second piece of paper so as to be removably attached to the second piece of paper but difficult to reattach, the adhesive layer is formed on the resin film, and the bonded first and second pieces of paper can be peeled apart by peeling the resin film and the second piece of paper again through an opening provided in an outer corner of the second piece of paper, and the opening has a half-cut line formed in it that cuts off the outer corner of the second piece of paper but does not cut off the resin film.

Here, the "outside" of the second piece of paper refers to the side that is not connected to the first piece of paper, i.e., the side opposite the side where the fold line is formed. With this configuration, if a third party peels the first piece of paper from the second piece of paper during mailing, the first piece of paper and the second piece of paper cannot be reattached, and the fact that the third party has opened the package will be immediately revealed. Therefore, this configuration makes it possible to prevent unauthorized opening by a third party. Furthermore, with this configuration, the bonded first piece of paper and the second piece of paper are peeled off by re-peeling the pre-joined resin film and the second piece of paper, which has the advantage that an opening can be easily formed simply by forming a half-cut line in the corner of the second piece of paper.

The present invention also proposes a configuration in which the easy-to-bend line is a perforation, and the release sheet has printed on the outside of the easy-to-bend line a ticket piece that can be separated at the easy-to-bend line.

Here, "ticket" refers to coupons, various tickets, etc. A "ticket" may also refer to a copy (stub) of the concealed postcard itself. Generally, a release sheet curls after peeling and is unsuitable for use as a ticket. However, the outer portion of the release sheet of the present invention curls less after peeling than the inner portion, making it suitable for use as a ticket. The reason for the less curl in the outer portion is thought to be that the first and second pieces of paper are partially bonded together and then peeled from the second piece of paper, resulting in a slower peeling speed than the inner portion of the easy-to-bend line. Thus, with this configuration, the release sheet can be used as a ticket after peeling, and the easy-to-bend line can be used as a separation line for separating the tickets.

Furthermore, it is desirable that the easy-to-bend line according to the present invention be approximately parallel to the fold line, because with such a configuration, the easy-to-bend line intersects with the peeling direction of the release sheet at an angle close to a right angle, making it easier for the release sheet to bend at the easy-to-bend line when peeling the release sheet.
Furthermore, it is desirable that the easy-bend line according to the present invention be formed so as to pass outside the center of the release sheet, because when the release sheet is peeled up to the easy-bend line and the first and second pieces of paper are bonded together, the edge of the release sheet protrudes outside the second piece of paper, making it easier to pull the release sheet.
Furthermore, the easy-bending line according to the present invention is preferably a perforation, because the release sheet of a concealment postcard is generally thin, making half-cutting or creasing more difficult than perforation.
Furthermore, it is desirable that the concealment postcard of the present invention has the first and second pieces of paper stuck together in a manner that makes it difficult to reattach them. With this configuration, if a third party opens the concealment postcard without permission, they cannot be reattached, and the fact that they have been opened without permission is easily discovered, thereby more reliably preventing third parties from peeking at the confidential information. Furthermore, with the concealment postcard of the present invention, the first and second pieces of paper can be stuck together accurately, and there is no misalignment between the first and second pieces of paper during the sticking process, so there is no problem even if it is difficult to reattach the first and second pieces of paper.

As described above, according to the present invention, by bonding the first and second pieces of paper together in a manner that allows them to be removably attached, it is possible to securely and easily bond the first and second pieces of paper together in a concealment postcard that can conceal confidential information.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the concealment postcard 1 of the embodiment. This is a back view of the concealment postcard 1. A cross-sectional view showing the layer structure of the concealment postcard 1. 1A and 1B are a back view and a cross-sectional view, respectively, of the concealment postcard 1 with the release sheet 4 peeled off up to the easy-to-bend line 25. FIG. 1A and 1B are front and back views showing an example of how to use the concealment postcard 1. An explanatory diagram showing a method of bonding the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3 together. A cross-sectional view showing a method of bonding the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3. This is a cross-sectional view continuing from Figure 7, showing a method of bonding the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a method of opening the concealed postcard 1. FIG. A cross-sectional view showing how to open the concealed postcard 1. 1A is a rear view showing another example of use of the concealment postcard 1, and FIG. 1B is a plan view of the coupon 32 cut off from the release sheet 4. FIG.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the following examples.
In the following examples, one aspect of the present invention corresponds to the back side of the concealment postcard 1.

Figure 1 is a front view of a concealment postcard 1 of the embodiment, and Figure 2 is a back view of the concealment postcard 1 of the embodiment. The concealment postcard 1 of the embodiment is made up of a first piece of paper 2 and a second piece of paper 3, each the size of a regular postcard, joined together on the left and right. At the boundary between the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper, a straight fold line 6 consisting of a perforation is formed in the vertical direction, running vertically across the concealment postcard 1. The concealment postcard 1 can be folded in half by folding it back at the fold line 6, with the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3 overlapping each other. In the following explanation, the side joined by the fold line 6 will be referred to as the inside of the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3, and the side opposite the inside will be referred to as the outside of the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the first piece of paper 2 has an address section 10 on the front side and a confidential information section 12 on the back side. The address section 10 is where the mailing address of the concealment postcard 1 is written, and a postal code box 11 is printed at the top. The confidential information section 12 is where confidential information that should be mailed concealed is written.

The second piece of paper 3 has, on almost the entire back side, a bonding area 13 that is bonded to the confidential information area 12 of the first piece of paper 2. As shown in FIG. 3 , an adhesive layer 20 is formed on the bonding area 13 to bond the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3 together, and a release sheet 4 is removably attached to cover the adhesive layer 20. In other words, with this configuration, the second piece of paper 3 can be bonded to the confidential information area 12 of the first piece of paper 2 by peeling the release sheet 4 from the adhesive layer 20 and folding the concealment postcard 1 along the fold line 6. The front side of the second piece of paper 3 also has a non-confidential information area 15 on which any information can be written. The information written in the non-confidential information area 15 is not concealed and is mailed in a visible state.

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the layer structure of the concealment postcard 1. The first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3 are composed of a continuous paper base material 5. The paper base material 5 is composed of high-quality paper used for official postcards. However, the material of the paper base material 5 is not limited to this, and various papers and resin films can be used. The first piece of paper 2 consists only of the paper base material 5, with the paper base material 5 exposed on the front and back of the first piece of paper 2. The second piece of paper 3 is composed of the paper base material 5 and a release layer 18 formed on the back of the paper base material 5, with the paper base material 5 exposed on the front of the second piece of paper 3. On the back of the second piece of paper 3, a resin film 19 is bonded on top of the release layer 18, and an adhesive layer 20 is formed on the resin film 19. A release sheet 4 is then removably attached to cover the adhesive layer 20. The preferred thicknesses of each layer are 90-220 μm for the paper base material 5, 2-7 μm for the release layer 18, 20-50 μm for the resin film 19, 10-30 μm for the adhesive layer 20, and 50-100 μm for the release layer/release sheet 4. However, the dimensions of the concealment postcard of the present invention are not limited to these numerical ranges.

The release layer 18 is formed by coating the back surface of the paper substrate 5 with a release agent, and is formed over the entire back surface of the second piece of paper 3. In this example, varnish is used as the release agent, but the type of release agent is not particularly limited as long as it can be re-peelable from the resin film 19.

The resin film 19 is made of a transparent film-like olefin-based hot melt adhesive and is bonded to the entire back side of the second piece of paper 3 by being heated and pressed against the release layer 18 of the second piece of paper 3. The bond between the second piece of paper 3 (release layer 18) and the resin film 19 is re-peelable, and as described below, the second piece of paper 3 and the resin film 19 can be re-peeled to separate the bonded first piece of paper 2 and second piece of paper 3, thereby opening the concealment postcard 1. The release layer 18 and the resin film 19 are difficult to adhere under normal conditions, and once peeled, the release layer 18 and the resin film 19 cannot be re-adhered. The resin film 19 is made of a transparent material so that the confidential information in the confidential information section 12 can be seen through the resin film 19 when the concealment postcard 1 is opened.

The adhesive layer 20 is formed by coating a resin film 19 with a rubber-based adhesive. The adhesive that makes up the adhesive layer 20 is transparent so that the confidential information in the confidential information section 12 can be seen through the adhesive layer 20 when the concealment postcard 1 is opened. The type of adhesive is not limited to rubber-based adhesives; acrylic, silicone, urethane, and other adhesives used in existing concealment postcards can also be used. The adhesive layer 20 is formed over almost the entire surface of the second piece of paper 3, but as shown in Figure 3, a few millimeters wide on the inside of the second piece of paper 3 (towards the fold line 6) is missing the adhesive layer 20, forming a non-adhesive section 21.

The release sheet 4 is made by coating a release agent on a base material made of paper or film. The base material and release agent of the release sheet 4 can be those used in existing concealment postcards. The release sheet 4 is approximately the same size as the second piece of paper 3 and is attached to the entire adhesive layer 20 so as to overlap the second piece of paper 3. As shown in Figure 3, the inner edge (the fold line side) of the release sheet 4 is not attached to the second piece of paper 3 at the non-adhesive portion 21 where the adhesive layer 20 is missing, and is left floating. As shown in Figure 2, in the concealment postcard 1, the lower corner of the inner side of the second piece of paper 3 where the non-adhesive portion 21 is provided serves as a peeling opening 22 for peeling the release sheet 4 from the adhesive layer 20.

As shown in Figures 2 and 3, the release sheet 4 has an easy-to-bend line 25 formed thereon. The easy-to-bend line 25 consists of a linear perforation that runs vertically outside (to the left) the center of the release sheet 4, approximately parallel to the fold line 6. With this configuration, when the release sheet 4 is peeled outward from the peeling opening 22, once it has been peeled down to the easy-to-bend line 25, the tensile force peeling the release sheet 4 and the adhesive force of the adhesive layer 20 that resists peeling cause the release sheet 4 to naturally bend along the easy-to-bend line 25, as shown in Figure 4. Note that the perforations that make up the easy-to-bend line 25 are formed only in the release sheet 4, not in the paper base material 5 of the second piece of paper 3.

As shown in Figure 2, an arrow 23 indicating the position of the peel-off opening 22 is printed on the inside lower corner of the surface of the release sheet 4 (the back side of the concealment postcard 1), and an arrow 24 indicating the peel-off direction from the peel-off opening 22 is printed on the outside (left side) of the peel-off opening 22. Also, as shown in Figure 2, instructions 27 showing how to attach the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3 are printed on the inside (right side) of the easy-to-bend line 25 of the release sheet 4.

As shown in Figure 4, a background pattern 17 is printed on the entire back surface of the paper substrate 5 on the back side of the second piece of paper 3. By overlapping this background pattern 17 with the confidential information section 12 when the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3 are stuck together, it becomes extremely difficult to see the confidential information. On the other hand, as shown in Figure 2, a line 27 is printed along the easy-to-bend line 25 on the front surface of the release sheet 4 (the back side of the concealment postcard 1). This is because, although not shown in the figure, the background pattern 17 printed on the second piece of paper 3 can be seen through the thin release sheet 4, making it difficult to see the perforations that make up the easy-to-bend line 25. By printing the line 27 along the easy-to-bend line 25 in this way to clearly indicate the position of the easy-to-bend line 25, it becomes easy to determine the position at which to stop peeling the release sheet 4, even if the easy-to-bend line 25 is difficult to see due to the background pattern 17.

As shown in Figures 1 and 3, an opening 28 is provided at the bottom outer corner of the second piece of paper 3 for re-peeling the bonded first and second pieces of paper 2 and 3 to open the concealment postcard 1. The opening 28 has a half-cut line 30 formed by diagonally cutting the bottom outer corner of the paper base material 5 and continuing the resin film 19 without cutting it. This opening 28 can be easily peeled at the interface between the second piece of paper 3 (peeling layer 18) and the resin film 19 by pinching the cut portion of the paper base material 5 and folding it backward. An arrow 29 is also printed on the opening 28 to clearly indicate that it is an opening 28.

In this embodiment, the peel strength (interfacial peel strength) between the release sheet 4 and the adhesive layer 20 is set to be weaker than the peel strength between the release layer 18 and the resin film 19 and the peel strength between the resin film 19 and the adhesive layer 20. With this configuration, when the release sheet 4 is peeled from the adhesive layer 20, peeling does not occur at the interface between the release layer 18 and the resin film 19 or at the interface between the resin film 19 and the adhesive layer 20. Furthermore, the peel strength between the release layer 18 and the resin film 19 is preferably a value that prevents peeling during mailing and allows easy peeling when the package is opened without causing interfacial peeling or material damage in other areas. Specifically, the peel strength between the release layer 18 and the resin film 19 is preferably within the range of 0.1 to 3.0 N/25 mm, and more preferably within the range of 0.2 to 0.6 N/25 mm.

A typical method of using the concealment postcard 1 of the embodiment will now be described in detail.
A typical use of the concealment postcard 1 of this embodiment is when an individual fills in confidential information (such as personal information) in the confidential information entry section 12 of the concealment postcard 1 distributed by a business and returns it to the business. In such a use, the business generally prints the confidential information entry section and the address on the concealment postcard 1 and then distributes it to each individual.

Figure 5 shows an example of using the concealment postcard 1 of this embodiment as a membership application form. In this example, as shown in Figure 5(A), a business operator prints the mailing address for the membership application form in the addressee section 10, and as shown in Figure 5(B), prints the membership application form in the confidential information section 12, and then distributes the concealment postcard 1 to a potential customer. Note that in this example, nothing is printed in the non-confidential information section 15. The prospective member then writes confidential information (personal information, etc.) in the confidential information section 12 (membership application form) of the distributed concealment postcard 1, sticks the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3 together to conceal the confidential information, and then mails the concealment postcard 1. In this way, the concealment postcard 1 is mailed to its destination without the confidential information written in the confidential information section 12 being discovered by a third party.

When bonding the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3 together, first, as shown in Figure 6 (A), before peeling off the release sheet 4, the paper base material 5 is folded along the fold line 6 to create a fold.
Next, as shown in Figure 6(B), the release sheet 4 is peeled from the peel opening 22 at the lower inner corner up to the bend line 25. At this time, the force required for peeling increases suddenly when the release sheet 4 is peeled up to the bend line 25, so that even if the peeling operation is not consciously stopped at the bend line 25, it will naturally stop as it gets caught at the bend line 25. This is thought to be because, until it reaches the bend line 25, the release sheet 4 is peeled off while bending as shown in Figure 7(A), but once it is peeled up to the bend line 25 and the force used to peel the release sheet 4 causes it to bend at the bend line 25, as shown in Figure 7(B), the inclination of the second piece 3 and the release sheet 4 changes, making it more difficult to apply the force pulling the release sheet 4 in the direction of peeling it from the adhesive layer 20.

After peeling the release sheet 4 up to the easy-to-bend line 25, as shown in Figures 6(C), 8(A), and 8(B), the concealment postcard 1 is folded back at the fold line 6, and the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3 are bonded together. At this time, because the adhesive layer 20 is adhered to the release sheet 4 on the outer side of the second piece of paper 3, only the portion of the second piece of paper 3 inside the easy-to-bend line 25 from which the release sheet 4 has been peeled is bonded together. In this way, by bonding the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3 together with the release sheet 4 adhered to the outer side of the second piece of paper 3, the outside of the second piece of paper 3 can be pinched with the fingers and the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3 can be easily bonded together without touching the adhesive layer 20 with the fingertips.

Finally, as shown in Figures 6(D) and 8(C), the edge of the release sheet 4 is pulled and the release sheet 4 is removed from between the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3, bonding the outer edges of the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3 together. This completes the bonding of the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3, and conceals the confidential information (personal information, etc.) written in the confidential information writing section 12.

In this way, in the concealment postcard 1 of this embodiment, the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3 are partially bonded together when the release sheet 4 is peeled up to the easy bending line 25, and then the release sheet 4 is pulled out and the whole piece is bonded together, so that the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3 can be easily bonded together by pinching the outer portion of the second piece of paper 3 without sticking your fingertips to the adhesive layer 20. Furthermore, in this embodiment, when the release sheet 4 is peeled from the peel opening 22 up to the easy bending line 25, the release sheet 4 bends, causing the force required for peeling to increase rapidly and causing the peeling operation to stop naturally, so that even without special care, the peeling operation can be reliably stopped at the easy bending line 25 without peeling the release sheet 4 too far. Therefore, in this embodiment, as described above, it is possible for an unspecified number of people to reliably perform the two-step bonding process of partially bonding the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3 together when the release sheet 4 is peeled off up to the easy-bending line 25, and then pulling out the release sheet 4 and bonding the entire piece together.
Therefore, according to the concealment postcard 1 of this embodiment, the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3 can be stuck together more reliably and easily than with conventional configurations.

The mailed concealment postcard 1 is opened at the destination by re-peeling the first piece of paper 2 from the second piece of paper 3. Specifically, as shown in Figures 9(A) → 9(B) → 9(C) and 10(A) → 10(B) → 10(C), the concealment postcard 1 is opened by re-peeling the first piece of paper 2 from the second piece of paper 3 at the interface between the release layer 18 and the resin film 19 through the opening 28 at the outer lower corner of the second piece of paper 3. In this opened state, the resin film 19 and adhesive layer 20 are laminated on top of the confidential information section 12 of the first piece of paper 2. However, because the resin film 19 and adhesive layer 20 are transparent, the confidential information section 12 can be seen through the resin film 19 and adhesive layer 20.

Because the resin film 19 is bonded to the release layer 18 of the second piece of paper 3 in a manner that makes it difficult to reattach, the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3 cannot be reattached once opened. With this configuration, if a third party opens the concealment postcard 1 without permission while it is being mailed, this fact is easily revealed, more reliably preventing third parties from peeking at confidential information. On the other hand, if the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3 are difficult to reattach, they cannot be peeled off and reattached even if they become misaligned when being attached together. However, as described above, the concealment postcard 1 of this embodiment allows the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3 to be attached more accurately than conventional configurations, eliminating the need to reattach the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3. Therefore, even if the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3 are difficult to reattach, no problems arise.

In addition, in this embodiment, a half-cut line 30 is formed in the opening 28, cutting away the outer corner of the paper base material 5 but not the resin film 19. Therefore, as shown in Figure 10 (A), by pinching the corner cut off by the half-cut line 30 and bending it backward (downward in the figure), the paper base material 5 and release layer 18 separated by the half-cut line 30 can be easily peeled from the resin film 19. In this way, if the concealment postcard 1 is configured to be opened by re-peeling between the pre-joined second piece of paper 3 and the resin film 19, forming the half-cut line 30 in the corner of the second piece of paper 3 makes it easy to form the opening 28 for opening the concealment postcard 1.

The above describes an embodiment of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to the configuration of the above embodiment. For example, the configuration of the above embodiment can be modified as follows:

In the above embodiment, the entire back side of the first piece of paper 2 is the confidential information writing area 12, but the confidential information writing area 12 may be provided in only a partial area of the back side of the first piece of paper 2. Also, in the above embodiment, the second piece of paper 3 is approximately the same size as the first piece of paper 2, but the size and shape of the second piece of paper 3 may be any size that can conceal the confidential information writing area 12. Also, in the above embodiment, the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3 are connected in the left-right direction of the concealment postcard 1, but the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3 may also be connected in the top-bottom direction. Also, in the above embodiment, the address writing area 10 is provided on the front side of the first piece of paper 2, but the address writing area 10 may also be provided on the front side of the second piece of paper 3. Also, the address writing area 10 and the confidential information writing area 12 may be provided on the back side of the first piece of paper 2, and the second piece of paper 3 may be attached to conceal only the confidential information writing area 12.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the easy-to-bend lines 25 are formed by perforations, but they may also be formed by half-cut lines or creasing. Similarly, the fold-back lines 6 are also formed by perforations, but they may also be formed by half-cut lines or creasing. However, because the release sheet 4 is generally made of a thin base material and is more difficult to half-cut or creasing than perforations, it is desirable that the easy-to-bend lines in the present invention be perforations.

In the above embodiment, the easy-bend line 25 is formed approximately parallel to the fold line 6, but the easy-bend line 25 may be inclined relative to the fold line 6. However, it is desirable that the easy-bend line 25 be at an angle close to parallel to the fold line 6. This is because, when the easy-bend line 25 intersects the peeling direction of the release sheet 4 at an angle close to a right angle with the peeling direction of the release sheet 4, the release sheet 4 is more easily bent at the easy-bend line 25 when peeled. In the above embodiment, the easy-bend line 25 is formed vertically across the outer portion of the release sheet 4, but the easy-bend line 25 may be positioned further outside or inside the release sheet 4 than in the above embodiment. However, it is desirable that the easy-bend line 25 be formed so that it passes outside the center of the release sheet 4. As shown in Figure 8, when the release sheet 4 is peeled up to the easy-bend line 25 and the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3 are bonded together, the edge of the release sheet 4 protrudes outside the second piece of paper 3, making it easier to pull out the release sheet 4.

In addition, while in the above embodiment only one easy-to-bend line 25 is formed on the release sheet 4, multiple easy-to-bend lines 25 may be arranged side by side in the direction in which the release sheet 4 is peeled. With this configuration, the peeling operation of the release sheet 4 can be temporarily stopped at multiple locations, preventing the release sheet 4 from being peeled off too quickly and damaging the paper base material or the release sheet.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the peeling opening 22 is provided at the lower inner corner of the second piece of paper 3, but the peeling opening 22 may be provided on the inside (fold-back line side) of the release sheet 4, and may also be provided at the upper inner corner of the second piece of paper 3, or the entire inner edge of the second piece of paper 3 may be the peeling opening 22.

In addition, although the concealment postcard 1 in the above example is difficult to reattach to the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3 once it is opened, the present invention includes a concealment postcard that can be reattached after opening. In the above example, to enable the first piece of paper 2 and the second piece of paper 3 to be reseparable, a resin film 19 made of an olefin-based hot melt adhesive is bonded to the release layer 18 of the second piece of paper 3. However, the number of such resin films 19 is not limited to one; multiple films may be laminated on the release layer 18. Furthermore, in the present invention, any material that can be re-peelably bonded to the release layer 18 can be used in place of the resin film 19. For example, instead of the resin film 19 in the example, a layer of ultraviolet-curing medium can be laminated on the release layer 18 of the second piece of paper 3.

In addition, the release sheet 4 in the above embodiment is no longer needed and is discarded after being peeled from the second piece of paper 3. However, it is also proposed that the peeled release sheet 4 can be used as a coupon. Figure 11 shows an example of use in which, in addition to the configuration of the example of use shown in Figure 5, a coupon 32 is printed on the release sheet 4. In this example, as shown in Figure 11 (A), the coupon 32 is printed outside the easy-to-bend line 25. With this configuration, after being peeled from the release sheet 4, the release sheet 4 can be cut along the easy-to-bend line 25, and only the coupon 32 can be separated and stored. Furthermore, because the easy-to-bend line 25 is a perforation, the coupon 32 can be easily separated without using scissors or the like.

Here, as in the example of use in Figure 11, the coupon 32 is printed outside the easy-to-bend line 25 because, after peeling, the outer portion of the release sheet 4 curls less than the inner portion of the easy-to-bend line 25, making it easier to handle as a coupon. This is because, as shown in Figures 8(B) and 8(C), the outer portion of the easy-to-bend line 25 is peeled off by pulling it out while the first paper piece 2 and the second paper piece 3 are folded over each other, so the peeling speed is slower than for the inner portion of the easy-to-bend line 25, and it is thought that this results in less curling after peeling.

In this way, the release sheet 4 of this embodiment curls less outside the easy-to-bend line 25 after peeling, making it suitable for use as a ticket piece such as a coupon 32. The easy-to-bend line 25, which is a perforation, can also be used as a tear-off line for the coupon 32. The ticket pieces printed on the release sheet 4 are not limited to coupons 32, but may be various types of tickets. It is also proposed that common ID information be printed on the main paper of the concealment postcard 1 and the ticket piece on the release sheet 4, and that these tickets be used as stubs (copies) after the concealment postcard 1 has been mailed. The part outside the easy-to-bend line 25 may also be made into multiple ticket pieces that can be torn off rather than being a single ticket piece.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Concealment postcard 2 First piece of paper 3 Second piece of paper 4 Release sheet 5 Paper base material 6 Fold-back line 10 Addressing section 11 Writing frame 12 Confidential information section 13 Bonding section 15 Non-confidential information section 17 Background pattern 18 Release layer 19 Resin film 20 Adhesive layer 21 Non-adhesive section 22 Release layer 22 Peeling opening 23 Arrow 25 Easy-to-bend line 27 Instructions 28 Opening opening 29 Arrow 30 Half-cut line 32 Coupon

Claims (4)

a first piece of paper having a confidential information writing section on one side;
a second piece of paper connected to the first piece of paper via a fold line and having an adhesive layer formed on one side thereof;
a release sheet releasably attached to the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer,
A concealment postcard configured so that the second piece of paper can be re-peelably attached to the confidential information-containing portion of the first piece of paper by peeling off the release sheet and folding it back at the fold line,
The release sheet has a peeling opening on the inside and a bending line that makes the release sheet easily bendable, which is a concealment postcard. the second piece of paper has a background pattern printed on the one side thereof;
2. The concealment postcard according to claim 1, wherein a line is printed on the surface of the release sheet along a part or all of the easy-to-bend line. On the one side of the second piece of paper:
a transparent resin film is bonded to the second paper piece in a manner that allows it to be peeled off and makes it difficult to reattach it;
the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer is formed on the resin film,
The adhesive tape is configured so that the first and second pieces of paper can be peeled off by peeling off the resin film and the second piece of paper again through an opening provided at an outer corner of the second piece of paper,
A concealment postcard as described in claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that the opening has a half-cut line formed in it, which cuts off the outer corner of the second piece of paper but does not cut off the resin film. The easy-bending line is a perforation,
4. The concealment postcard according to claim 1, wherein the release sheet has printed thereon, on the outside of the easy bending line, a ticket piece that can be separated at the easy bending line.