Knot-Tying Tool for Forming Double Loops

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 17/754,822, filed on May 1, 2023, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

The present invention relates to a knot-tying tool, and more particularly to a hand-held tool for forming decorative or secure knots involving two or more loops.

Conventionally, a common way to wrap a gift is to use packaging paper.

In that case, a box containing the gift is first placed on the packaging paper, which is then bent so that it covers the sides of the box; and after all the box sides are covered, the packaging paper is affixed by applying a piece of adhesive tape or the like to prevent unwrapping.

Here, common box-wrapping methods include the “caramel wrapping” and the “diagonal wrapping.”

In the caramel wrapping method, a box is placed on and at the center of packaging paper with each of the box sides being parallel to the respective side of the packaging paper, and then, right and left parts of the packaging paper are affixed on the upper surface of the box, and finally, the front and back parts of the packaging paper cover the front and back sides of the box to close the wrapping.

Whereas, in the diagonal wrapping, a box is placed on and at an angle with packaging paper, and the box is rolled together with the packaging paper to wrap the box. This wrapping method has advantages in that it is faster and uses less adhesive tape compared to the caramel wrapping.

Incidentally, the diagonal wrapping has one drawback that it is difficult to determine the size of packaging paper since a box is not placed parallel to the packaging paper. Also, it is difficult to appropriately determine an initial position as well as an angle of the box relative to a size of the wrapping paper. Moreover, in the case of the diagonal wrapping, double-layered pleats must be made while folding the packaging paper, making it difficult to master this technique.

Furthermore, after wrapping with the packaging paper, it is sometimes preferred to tie a ribbon around the wrapped box either in place of or in addition to affixing the packaging paper with the adhesive tape. However, tying a ribbon knot also takes a technique which is difficult to master.

Considering the above situation, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a tool and a method for enabling effective wrapping with packaging paper in the diagonal wrapping.

Also, similarly, another purpose of the present invention is to provide a tool and a method for enabling effective knot-tying with a ribbon, string, or the like.

In order to achieve the above object, according to a principal aspect of the present invention, the following invention is provided.

(1) A knot-tying tool for placing a string (e.g., ribbon) for wrapping around an object, and forming a knot having at least two loops, comprising:

(2) The knot-tying tool of the above (1), wherein

(3) The knot-tying tool of the above (1), further comprising:

(4) The knot-tying tool of the above (1), wherein

Note that characteristics other than those described above are disclosed in the following description on an embodiment and accompanying drawings.

One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following explanation,together with paragraphs [0051]-[0074] primarily describe the wrapping tool kit and the creasing tool, whereas the detailed description of the knot-tying tool of the present invention, illustrated in, commences at paragraph [0075].

andrespectively show a wrapping tool kit according to the present embodiment.

This kit houses and is defined by a case, a creasing toolhoused in the case, a ribbon tying tool, and a cutting ruler, which are wrapping tools used for wrapping an object of wrapping such as a present, a product, or the like.

In this case, recesses-are formed in optimal shapes in predetermined positions, respectively, for housing each of the tools-in such a way that these tools may be encased in a well-organized manner by inserting the tools-in the recesses-, respectively.

This casehas a transparent lid, which is not shown, so that closing the casewith the lid will prevent the respective tools-from falling off the case.

As shown in, the creasing toolhas a generally rectangular thin plate main body; a first hingeprovided over the full width of the thin plate main bodyin a first direction; a second hingethat is provided over the full width of the thin plate main bodyin a second direction and crosses the first hinge; and a third hingethat extends in one direction from the intersectionof the first hingeand the second hingetoward the outside of the main body along a bisection line of the angle formed by the first hingeand the second hinge.

The thin plate main bodyis formed of, for example, a translucent plastic material such as polypropylene or the like. The above first to third hinges,,are respectively formed by reducing the plate thickness in parts along them by pressing, cutting, or laser milling on both or one of the sides of this thin plate main body.

These first to third hinges,,divide the thin plate main bodyinto first to fifth panels-shown as-in the figure. Among these panels, the first panel indicated with(which is located in point symmetry relative to the above third hingeabout the intersectionof the first and second hinges,) is used in such a way that it is inserted under packaging paper (wrapping paper) with an object of wrapping (e.g., a box) placed on the packaging paper, as described further below.

Therefore, the thickness of the thin plate main bodyis preferably 1.5 mm or less, more preferably 1 mm, 0.7 mm, 0.5 mm or less so that the thin plate main bodymay be inserted under the packaging paper smoothly. Also, corners of this thin plate main bodyare preferably chamfered or rounded.

Further, a reference lineis drawn on this thin plate main bodyfor positioning the creasing toolagainst an edge of the packaging paper. The way to use this reference linewill be described in the next usage section.

As shown in, it is contemplated that the panels indicated as the second and third panels,are used in such a way that they stand up by being folded upward in a “valley fold” along the sides of the wrapping object with the first panelas a reference. As these second and third panels,are raised upright, the third hinge section is folded in a “mountain fold” with the intersectionof the first and second hinges as a fulcrum and with the other end points being raised; and the triangular fourth and fifth panels,, sandwiching the third hinge, are folded to overlap each other.

By performing the above actions with the packaging paper and the object being placed on the first panel, the packaging paper is sandwiched and folded between the object and the second-fifth panels-, and creased along the first to third hinges,,.

As shown in, the present embodiment will be described in a following case, where a box-shaped objectis placed on a piece of packaging papercut into a rectangular shape of an appropriate size (width W, height H), and the object will be rolled and wrapped at an angle (by diagonal wrapping) from the front to back, as indicated with an arrow.

Here, the size of the packaging paperis preferably obtained by calculation, and when the objectis a hexahedron, for example, the packaging paper size is calculated from three parameters: lengths of the longest side a, the second longest side b, and the shortest side c of the object; and in this embodiment, as shown in, a packaging paper size calculation programinstalled in a serveris configured to perform this calculation and provide a user interfaceon a display of a smartphone or the like.

In this embodiment, the packaging paper size calculation programis configured to determine the packaging paper size H, W according to an angle θ (theta) of the reference line provided on the creasing tool, and a distance t between the reference lineand the intersection.

Accordingly, this packaging paper size calculation programperforms a calculation using a creasing tool type; the angle è of the reference lineand the distance t according to that type; length a-c of the object; and a required margin d (not shown), outputs the packaging paper dimensions H, W, and displays them to a user.

Also, options for the creasing tool are preferably displayed for selection since the type of the creasing toolis used for the above calculation. Moreover, options for the packaging paperare preferably provided as well since the margin varies depending on the paper used as the packaging paper.

Further, when the objectis a cube, in other words, when a-c have the same value, non-regular wrapping method may be selected (i.e., the furthest position of the box will change), and therefore, the packaging paper size calculation programpreferably comprises a program for determining if the object is a cube or if a-c are equal or generally equal.

Also, the programis preferably adapted to draw a graphic according to a selected box shape as well as output a paper size on the user interface.

Here, shaping of the packaging papermay be performed by either cutting a piece of paper of the determined size out of a larger piece of paper, or folding unnecessary part or parts of a larger piece of paper.

First, an objectand packaging paperare positioned using the creasing tool. When the diagonal wrapping is used, as shown in, an initial position of the objecton the packaging paperis important.

Then, first, the reference lineof the creasing toolis placed on the packaging paperso that the reference linealigns or overlaps with a front edgeof the packaging paper. At this point, the reference lineis positioned such that, for example, the dimension to the intersectionindicated as t in the figure is 2.5 cm (1 inch) and that the angle θ with the first hingeis 33 degrees.

At the same time, the side a, the longest of the three sides constituting the objectis aligned along the first hinge, and the shortest side is aligned along the second hinge. At this point, a corner K, which is the front-most corner of the objectamong its corners contacting the packaging paper, should be precisely on the intersectionof the first and second hinges,.

Also, a corner K, which is the rear-most corner of the objectamong its corners contacting the packaging paper, is positioned so that the corner Kwill be generally on a right-side edgeof the packaging paperby translating the creasing tooland the objectalong a front edgeof the packaging paper(arrow Y) to adjust positions of the creasing tooland the objectrelative to the packaging paper.

Thus, when the reference lineis aligned on the front edgeof the packaging paper, and simultaneously the corners Kand Kof the objectare positioned with the creasing tooland the packaging paperas above, the creasing toolis pulled out as shown in, and a creasing process is started as shown inand later.

First, as shown in, the creasing toolis inserted under the packaging paper, and aligned such that the positions of the intersectionand the front-left corner Kof the objectcoincide.

Next, as shown in, the front second panelof the creasing toolis raised so that a right corner triangle part of the packaging paperis folded upward along the first hinge. Then, while maintaining the position of the box relative to the packaging paper, roll over the box backwards by 90 degrees. Accordingly, one of the largest sides of the objectis positioned at the bottom as shown in.

At this point, as indicated with an arrow in, the first panelpart of the creasing toolis inserted under the packaging paper so that the position of the intersectioncoincides with a corner K, which is now the front-left-most corner of the object's bottom surface (), and the first hinge sectionis also aligned along the object's longest side a. Then, as shown in, the second panelof the creasing toolis folded up in a valley fold along the first hinge, and the second hingeis folded up in a valley fold. Thus, as described above, the outer end of the third hingeis raised and simultaneously folded in a mountain fold, to create a crease in the packaging paper, as shown in.

With the present creasing tool, the part of the packaging paperwhich is folded inward and become invisible from outside (the part inside the circle in the figure) may be formed easily and aesthetically by folding the first to third hinge sections,,at the same time to thereby forming a “step fold” while creating an “inside reverse fold.”

Next, as shown in, the creasing toolis removed, and after folding the packaging paperalong the crease made with the creasing toolas above, a triangular part of the packaging paperis folded over the object, as shown in.

Subsequently, creases will be made sequentially in the same manner as above for a rear-left corner K, a right-side corner K, and a rear-most corner K, as shown in. In other words, for each corner, steps of making a crease with the creasing tool; removing the creasing tool; and rolling the box rearward while folding the packaging paper toward the box, are repeated, and finally, a piece of adhesive tape is affixed to finish wrapping.

Next, a ribbon-tying toolwill be described in reference withand later.

This ribbon-tying tool, as shown in, is a tool for wrapping a ribbon around an objectfinished with paper wrapping, and forming a bowknot, comprising: a main bodywhich may be hand-held by a user; an intersection pressing sectionformed in one end of the main bodyfor pinching the first intersection of the ribbon wrapped around the objectbetween the object and this intersection pressing section; a first loop forming sectionprovided in the opposing end from the intersection pressing sectionfor hooking and folding one of two intersecting ribbon end parts extending from the first intersection; and a second loop forming sectionprovided between the intersection pressing sectionand the first loop forming section, for forming a second loop with the other ribbon end part extending from the above intersection, and subsequently making the second loop pass through under a first loop and reverse.