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Ivan Taylor’s recently published British patent application (GB 2 325 866)
gives Christmas card and cracker makers a novel product for the next festive
season. The idea is to combine cards with crackers so that they can be sent
through the post in a plain envelope. The cracker comes as two flat panels,
separated by a folded card. Explosive cracker snaps are glued through the
middle. When the card is pulled, the snaps explode and the centre section pops
out, like an origami decoration, to reveal a Christmas greeting, silly joke or
flat-packed toy.

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