FORM 2
THE PATENT ACT, 1970
(39 OF 1970)
AND
THE PATENTS RULES, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See section 10; rule 13)
1. TITLE OF THE INVENTION: "PLASTIC NOTEBOOK"
2. APPLICANT(S)

(a) Name : DR. PRAKASH RAVINDRA SOMANI
(b) Nationality: INDIAN
(c)Address : Building Number 3, B -14, Dhayari, Vijay Nagar, Near Dhareshwar Mandir, Sinhagad Road, Pune -411 041, Maharashtra, India

3. PREAMBLE TO THE DESCRIPTION I

COMPLETE
The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.

4. DESCRIPTION (Description shall start from next page)
5. CLAIMS (not applicable for provisional specification. Claims should start with the preamble—"I/We claim" on separate page)
6. DATE AND SIGNATURE (to be given at the end of last page of specification)

7. ABSTRACT OF THE INVENTION (to be given along with complete
specification on separate page)
Note.—
* Repeat boxes in case of more than one entry. To be signed by the applicant(s) or by authorised registered patent agent.
* Name of the applicant should be given in full, family name in the beginning.
* Complete address of the applicant should be given stating the postal index no./code State and country.
*Strike out the column which is/are not applicable.

3. DECLARATION TO BE GIVEN WHEN THE APPLICATION IN INDIA IS FILED BY THE APPLICANT (S) IN THE CONVENTION COUNTRY: -
We the applicant(s) in the convention country hereby declare that our right to apply for a patent in India is by way of assignment from the true and first inventor(s).
4. STATEMENT (to be signed by the additional inventor(s) not mentioned in
the application form)
I/We assent to the invention referred to in the above declaration, being included in the complete specification filed in pursuance of the stated application.

References Used :
(1) Spiral Bound Notebook and Folder Construction, Edward Podosek (Inventor), Dennison National Company Holyoke Mass (Assignee), US Patent 28 May 1985, Patent Number : 4,519,629.
Background of the Invention :
Applied Science Innovations Pvt. Ltd. is working in the area of printing and publishing of books and research journals and owns an offset printing press. The large amount of paper-waste generated in the press has made the authors / inventors to think for an alternative / substitute to paper for printing technology in general (notebooks, books etc.). Paper is generally fabricated using tree parts and hence requires cutting of trees. This disturbs the environment to a large extent. The best possible alternative for paper notebooks is the notebooks made by using plastic pages (a plastic notebook). The present invention is related to reusable (several times), bound notebook made of plastic pages and cover for writing / easily erasable writing. The present invention is expected to reduce the use of paper, cutting of tress and thus is an environment friendly product and technology. Further, the waste plastic generated by the society can be recycled and be made into plastic pages / sheets form and can be used in making the present invented notebooks - making it a truly Green Product.

1. Field of Invention :
The present invention is related to bound notebook made of plastic pages and cover for writing / easily erasable writing. The invented notebook can be reused several times by easily erasing the previously written information. Notebook can be bound by several types such as spiral binding, Coil binding, patti binding or by heating, melting and fusing one end (edge) of the plastic pages etc. The plastic sheets can be transparent (like OHP transparency sheets) or colored or white. The present invention is expected to reduce the use of paper, cutting of tress and thus is an environment friendly product and technology. Further, the waste plastic generated by the society can be recycled and be made into plastic pages form and can be used in making the present invented notebooks - making it a truly Green Product.
2. Description of Prior Art :
A bound or an unbound collection of paper pages on which information can be written is known as a notebook. Generally, such collection of pages is protected from both sides by a cover. Currently, notebooks are made of paper (i.e. both pages and cover sheet). Different methods such as padding, perfect, spiral, comb, sewn, clasp, disc, pressure, patti etc of binding are used for binding the notebook pages and keeping them together. Pages are pre-ruled or clean (without ruling). Such notebook can contain pages of uniform dimensions or different dimensions; same or different color; with or without watermarks. Generally, such notebooks are used for writing and storing information for a limited period of time. For example, notebooks used for students are used for six months to one year. After complete use, such notebooks are discarded since no free space will be left to write the new information and are given for recycling. In

the process of recycling, paper from these notebooks goes through recycling process and new paper is created, usually known as 'Recycled Paper'. This process of recycling paper and creating a Recycled Paper (ready to use) - is a long, tedious and uneconomical process consisting of several steps such as collection of waste paper (notebooks), sending them to the paper industry, removal of the printed ink from the paper, making the paper pulp, making the recycled paper from the pulp, packing and sending it to the market and finally distributing it to customers.
Presently used Notebooks are made from paper (i.e. both pages and cover sheet). Paper industry along with its supporting industries like printing etc is very big in India and abroad. New paper is generally fabricated by using tree-parts as starting raw materials and hence requires cutting of trees. In view of environmental impact of cutting trees, it is highly needed to find an alternative to paper or to develop ways of efficiently using the paper and its recycling and reuse. A suitable plastic / polymeric sheet can be a good alternative to the paper. Transparency sheet (a kind of plastic sheet) is in use for writing on it and for presentation purpose. It is also used now-a-days for teaching and learning process in classrooms. Specially designed transparency sheets are also available in the market for laser printing and ink-jet printing. Considering this previous knowledge available, It is thought to use such plastic sheets as pages and making a plastic notebook - which will be several times reusable, have long life time and which will be a good alternative to paper notebooks.

3. Summary of Invention :
The term 'notebook' used here indicate a bound notebook made of plastic pages and cover for writing / easily erasable writing and which can be reused several times. Plastic pages used in this notebook could be made of either pure plastic or a plastic composite (polymer composite).
These plastic pages / sheets can be of any color such as transparent, white, colored or mixed colored and can be bound together by different methods such as spiral binding, coil binding, patti-binding, heating-melting and fusing one edge of all the plastic sheets and cover present in the notebook etc. The invented notebook can be used for several applications such as a diary, a notebook for class-room notes, a memo-book and so on. Information can be written on these plastic pages / sheets using a marker / pen with a special (water proof) ink. Information written on these plastic pages can be easily erased (just by wiping with cotton and organic solvents) by using suitable organic solvents such as acetone, methanol etc. After erasing the previously written information, new information can be written using the same marker / pen and thus the notebook can be reused by the user. By repeating the process of writing-erasing-writing, the invented notebook can be used several times.
It is important to note here that the present invention is expected to reduce the use of paper, cutting of tress and thus is an environment friendly technological product / technology. Further, the waste plastic generated by the society can be recycled and be made into plastic pages / sheets form and can be used in making the present invented notebooks - making it truly an environment friendly and Green Product.

4. Brief description of accompanying drawings :
Figure (1) : Spirally bound Plastic Notebook made using polyester
sheets / pages.
Figure (2) : Staple bound Plastic Notebook made using polyester
sheets / pages.
Figure (3) : Patti-file bound Plastic Notebook made using polyester
sheets / pages.
5. Detailed description of the Invention with reference to
drawings / examples :
Reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of the invention, one or more examples of which are set forth below. Each embodiment is provided by way of explanation of the invention, not limitation of the invention. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations may be made in the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. For instance, features illustrated or described as a part of one embodiment may be used in another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover such modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
Figure (1) shows the spirally bound notebook made of polyester pages / sheets and colored plastic cover of (1/2) A4 size. Optionally, the cover could also be made of paper or card sheets also. The spiral binding process used for making this notebook is similar to that of the conventional process on papers. In a typical procedure, one edge of all plastic pages and cover is punched with holes and a wire is oven

through these holes. A typical marker generally used to write on the transparency sheets can be used to write in this notebook. The information written is water-proof i.e. don't get damaged by the attack of water. The information written can be easily erased by wiping the page with cotton soaked in an appropriate organic solvent like acetone. The notebook is also non-tearable by simple hands.
Here, the process of writing on the plastic pages is demonstrated using marker pen available in the market. However, in general, the process of writing on the plastic pages can be anything like writing by pen or brush with color and hand, Xeroxing (photocopying), screen printing, offset printing, ink-jet printing, laser printing etc.
In one embodiment, the plastic pages used in this notebook are colored, white, black or are of mixed colors. A marker with suitable color {usually of contrast color, For example : for plastic pages of white color, marker is of black color and so on) is used for writing on these plastic pages.
The plastic pages can be made of polyester. However, plastic pages could also be made from other suitable polymers like polyester, Low density Polyethylene (LDPE), High density polyethylene (HDPE), polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), polypropylene (PP), etc. They can also be made from the recycled waste plastic. In one embodiment, the transparent polyester sheets of thickness 75 microns are used. However, it is optional to choose the thickness of the plastic sheets. Higher thickness of plastic sheets will contribute to increase the weight of the notebook, making it bulky.
In an another embodiment, staple binding (Figure 2) and patti-file binding (Figure 3) is used for making the notebook. Optionally, the

other methods of binding such as comb binding, stitching, spiral binding, heating-melting and fusing one edge of the plastic pages etc. could be applied for binding these notebooks.
Applications :
Present invention enables 'several times reusable, water-proof, non-tearable, flexible notebook made of plastic pages / sheets for writing / easily erasable writing'. We give name to these notebooks as "Plastic Notebooks". These notebooks can be used in schools, colleges and university class-rooms in teaching-learning process, as a memo-book, as a diary, as a notebook for writing and storing the information. These notebooks have special properties that : (1) have plastic / polymeric pages (2) several times re-usable (3) water-proof (4) flexible (5) easily non-tearable and (6) have longer lifetime than conventional paper notebooks and (7) could be recycled.
With the invention of these notebooks, it is expected to reduce the use of paper and thus cutting of tress. This should help to protect the environment. Further, the waste plastic generated by the society can be recycled and be made into plastic pages / sheets form and can be used in making the present invented notebooks - making it a truly Green (Eco-friendly / Environment friendly) Product.
EXAMPLE 1 : Spirally bound Plastic Notebook made using polyester sheets / pages : Polyester sheets (75 microns thick) are cut in equal size and holes are punched on the left side of each page / sheet. A wire was wound through these holes to make spirally bound plastic notebook. Colored polyester thick sheet is used as a cover -both from front and back side. A white color paper can be held at the back of the polyester sheet / page while reading the information

written in the notebook. Figure (la) shows the spirally bound plastic notebook using polyester sheets as pages. Figure (lb) shows one of the inner page of the notebook. A white color paper is held behind this page so as to read the information written on it. Figure {1c} shows the photograph in which the plastic page from such notebook is dipped into water. Figure (Id) shows the photograph in which the plastic page which was dipped into the water was taken out. No observable change could be observed in the plastic sheet or the information written on it. This indicates that the note book is water-proof i.e. notebook do not get damaged by attack of water.

Figure (1) : Spirally bound, water proof, non-tear able, reusable,
flexible Plastic Notebook made using polyester sheet as pages.
EXAMPLE 2 : Staple bound Plastic Notebook made using polyester sheets / pages : Polyester sheets of each size are held

together and are steple bound for making the Plastic notebook. Top and bottom cover used is again colored polyester thick sheet. Figure (2a) shows the staple bound Plastic Notebook made using polyester sheets / pages. Figure (2b) shows the inner page of the notebook with a white paper partially inserted (for reading).

Figure (2) : Steple bound, water proof, non-tearable, reusable, flexible Plastic Notebook made using polyester sheet as pages.
EXAMPLE 3 : Patti-file bound Plastic Notebook made using polyester sheets / pages : Polyester sheets of equal size are held together by patti-file as shown in Figure (3a). Figure (3b) shows the inner page of the notebook with white paper page inserted at the back for reading the information clearly. Figure (3b) shows the inner plastic page from the notebook lifted. It is observable that the notebook is flexible.


Figure (3)

Figure (3) : Patti-file bound, water proof, non-tearable, reusable,
flexible Plastic Notebook made using polyester sheet as pages.

I Claim ;
(1) A bound notebook made from plastic / polymeric sheets as
pages which is several times reusable, water proof and flexible.
Cover of such notebook can be made of plastic / polymer and
/ or non-polymeric material like paper, card-sheet etc.
Information written / printed in such notebook is easily
erasable with the use of suitable organic solvents or water.
(2) The product according to claim (1) in which plastic sheets are
used as pages and information is written on them.
Dimensions of the plastic sheets / pages used in the notebook
can vary depending on the choice and requirements of the
user. The plastic sheets made from pure plastic (polymer) or a
polymer composite is equally good for this purpose. The
plastic sheets / pages could also be made from a recycled
waste plastic.
(3) The product according to claim (1) in which writing
information on the plastic pages may involve writing by pen or
brush with color and hand, Xeroxing (photocopying), screen
printing, offset printing, ink-jet printing, laser printing, etc.
(4) The product according to claim (1) in which the cover could be
made of plastic and / or non-plastic material like paper, card-
sheet etc.
(5) The product according to claim (1) in which the plastic pages
could be transparent, white, black or colored or a mixture of
these colors.
(6) The product according to claim (1) in which the plastic sheets
are used as pages alone or in combination with paper pages.
(7) The product according to claim (1) in which the notebook
pages are bounded by spiral binding, comb binding, stitching,
stapling, patti-binding, ring binding, padding, sewn, clasp,

disc, pressure, heating-melting and fusing one edge of all pages and cover and other similar known method now and similar methods which will be developed in future.
(8) The product according to claim (1) which is water-proof, semi-water proof, flexible, non-tearable easily and reusable several times.
(9) The product according to claim (1) in which plastic / polymeric / polymer composite sheets are used as pages for writing the information and writing-erasing-writing process could be carried out several times easily by the user i.e. several times reusable (without destroying completely and recreating the plastic pages).
(10) The product according to claim (1) which can be used at virtually all places in which a notebook made from paper is in use now and in future, for example, for writing notes, notebook in class room teaching-learning process, as a diary, as a memo-book, etc.
(11) The product according to claim (1) in which the plastic pages could be pre-ruled / pre-printed or can have adjustable writing platform or are plain. Optionally, the plastic pages could have scale pre-printed for plotting graphs, maps etc.
(12) The product according to claim (1) which optionally can have a plastic pocket for keeping pen, pencil, CD, USB or similar small stationary items.
(13) The product according to claim (1) which optionally can have a pocket for keeping the identification card / name card of the owner.
(14) The product according to claim (1) which can optionally be fitted with a light source which can be used for illumination while reading the book.

(15) The product according to claim (1) in which plastic pages of different size or same size are bound; different colors or same color are bound.
(16) The product according to claim (1) in which the plastic pages could be perforated optionally.
(17) The product according to claim (1) in which plastic pages could be numbered and have creasing optionally.
(18) The product according to claim (1) in which the plastic pages could be made of plastic / polymers like polyester, low density polyethylene (LDPE), High density polyethylene (HDPE), Poly methylmethacrylate (PMMA), Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polypropylene (PP), or any other suitable organic polymers or their composites and blends.
(19) The product according to claim (1) in which the plastic sheets could be luminescent.
(20) The product according to claim (1) in which the information written / printed on the plastic sheets / pages could be cleaned with the help of water. This will make the notebook several times re-usable.
(21) The product according to claim (1) which can be pre-printed and can be used for plotting graphs and maps.
(22) The product according to claim (1) which is useful as notebooks, as diary, as notepad etc - for almost all applications in which paper notebook is used currently.

7. Figures / Drawings / Sketches :

Figure (1) : Spirally bound, water proof, rlorvtearablei reusable,
flexible Plastic Notebook made using polyester sheet as pages.

Figure (2) : Steple bound, water proof, non-tearable, reusable, flexible Plastic Notebook made using polyester sheet as pages.


Figure (3) : Patti-file bound, water proof, non-tearable, reusable,
flexible Plastic Notebook made using polyester sheet/as Dages.