Patent Application
20140117658
The present invention relates to the assembly of paper sheets, and more specifically an assembly of adhesive sheets and a process of production thereof.
Calendars are normally mountable with a pin, tack or nail to a wall, or where the calendar may be taped up, for example to filing cabinets, doors, refrigerators and the like. When it comes time to turn a calendar page, this may require removal and replacement of the pin, tack or nail, weakening or enlarging the hole, or removal and replacement of the tape, potentially leading to tape residue on the surface in question, and possibly wear and tear. The solution of a pin, tack or nail to mount a calendar has limitations in mounting locations, and the use of tape has drawbacks, including unwanted residue. There is a need for a better mounting means for a calendar and other documents that need to be mounted, which require or promote the periodic turning or removal of pages.
The adhesive or ‘sticky’ note, originally developed by 3M under the Post-It™ brand, has become ubiquitous in offices and homes, to removably stick a note to a surface without leaving a residue or removing paint. The adhesive note is a piece of paper having a narrow strip of microsphere adhesive on the reverse side, that is pressure-sensitive and re-adherable. A plurality of adhesive notes are typically formed into stacks. Each note has the same image or no image, as opposed to variable data.
Should the adhesive notes have any printing on them, the usual means is by offset printing on precoated paper. Prior art attempts to apply an adhesive backing to paper which already has a digital print fail when the adhesive is applied during the printing process, as the sheet wraps around the press' printing rollers, causing the press to jam and not allow the digital press to print. As such the print will not “sheet out” properly. In other words, the sheet is fed onto a conveyor belt and into the stacker. If it does not sheet out properly, the paper wraps around the base roller and will build up until the press is stopped or the part breaks.
Adhesive “sticky” notes are typically produced by large rolls of paper being coated with adhesive material, the rolls then being sent to a printing machine which prints a 1 to 4 color design on every page using offset printing on a paper that already has the adhesive applied thereon. Offset printing carries the disadvantage in that relatively large runs are required in order for it to be cost-effective, due to the preparation required. Offset printing requires more set up time than digital printing. Digital printing has come to replace offset as the printing technology of choice for relatively smaller runs, which is generally about 5,000 feet or less.
There is a need for a calendar or such assembly of papers, comprising variable images or other data, to be easily mountable without leaving a residue, and being printed with different images for superior flexibility and customizability.
In one embodiment of the invention, there is provided an assembly of adhesive printed sheets comprising two or more printed sheets, each sheet comprising a section of paper having an image or data printed on a first side and having a repositionable adhesive on at least a portion of a reverse side, wherein the sheets are assembled together so the first side of one sheet contacts the reverse side of an adjacent sheet. The adhesive detachably holds the sheets together. Two or more printed sheets have different images or data printed on their respective first sides and are repositionable.
Further disclosed is the assembly having a backer sheet having adhesive on a reverse side. The backer sheet is attached to the last printed sheet in the assembly. Optionally, the backer sheet may have a liner to protect its adhesive in a first non-use mode. The liner is removed prior to using the assembly in a second use mode. In another embodiment, the backer sheet has no adhesive at all.
Further disclosed is the assembly wherein the reverse side of each sheet has an upper portion and a lower portion, wherein the adhesive is in contact with the upper portion, and the lower portion has no adhesive. The adhesive may be a reusable low-tack microsphere adhesive or other repositionable adhesive. In another embodiment, both the upper and lower portions are coated with adhesive.
The assembly may be a calendar, such as a monthly calendar, a weekly calendar, a daily calendar, or flashcards, photos, coupons, drawings, educational material, or any other application having two or more different images or other data. The assembly is especially convenient for customization where the sheets are printed on a digital press.
Further disclosed is a process for creating an assembly of adhesive sheets, the process comprising printing two or more images or other data on a roll of sheets with a press such as a digital press; placing the roll within a printing press having one or more print stations such as a label printing press or other press having a coating station; webbing the printing press with the roll; setting an eye mark or other indication on a reregistration unit of the printing press for alignment and cut positioning; adding a repositionable adhesive to the printing press; positioning an anilox or coating roller in the print station for the adhesive; positioning a tint roller or coating roller in the print station to coat the adhesive to a desired width and thickness; positioning a sheeter in a sheeting station; coating at least a portion of the reverse portion of the sheets with adhesive, cutting the images or data into separate sheets and assembling the sheets into an assembly such that the adjacent sheets adhere to one another.
In another embodiment, repositionable adhesive is added using a coater or printing and coating on a hybrid press.
Further disclosed is the process for creating the assembly wherein the sheets are printed by means of a digital press or other press. Further disclosed in the process wherein the functions of the digital press and printing press are combined in one process or one machine.
Further is the process wherein the repositionable adhesive is a low-tack microsphere adhesive. Also disclosed is the process where the anilox roller is a 100 line anilox roller for flexographic coating, or a 360 line anilox roller for gravure or direct gravure. The coating may also be accomplished using other known coating apparatus.
Further disclosed is the process wherein the sheets are placed on the press unwind shaft image side down and a turn bar is used to turn the images right side up when coating using a flexographic or other coating method. Further disclosed is the process including the step of ensuring the order of the printed sheets is consecutive, such that the order will be reversed and correct after passing through the press.
Also disclosed is the process including the step of cutting the assembly to the desired size on a cutter after the assembly is removed from the stacker. Adding a backer sheet is further contemplated in the additional steps of: placing a roll of a slip sheet backer material on the unwind shaft of the press; positioning a rotary sheeting die or similar cutting tool in the sheeting station; positioning a back slitter in the die station to cut the liner; and running the press, wherein each backer sheet passes the back slitter and receives a back slit; adding the resulting backer sheets to the press for insertion into the assembly; and setting the backer sheet inserter to insert a backer sheet at the desired sheet count.
a shows a diagram of the operation of a digital press, known in the art, used to print two or more images for one embodiment of the assembly of adhesive paper of the present invention;
b shows a side view of the paper path of the digital press of
The present invention, described below, is an assembly of papers with adhesive on one side wherein two or more adjacent papers have different images or data.
In one embodiment, the assembly is an adhesive calendar, which addresses the problems described above by permitting the calendar to be applied to areas traditionally requiring a pin, tack or nail, and to other areas where tape is required such as walls, filing cabinets, fridges and doors. The adhesive used is a repositionable adhesive which is strong enough to hold the adjacent papers together, but weak enough to allow the papers to be separated without being torn, and such that one or more separated paper may be removably attached to various surfaces, including materials and objects, all the while without leaving a residue on the surface. One example or a repositionable adhesive is low-tack microsphere adhesive. Other examples of adhesives are contemplated so long as they are considered repositionable. This adhesive, on the back of the calendar month sheets, permits the sheet identifying a given month, such as January, to adhere to an adjacent sheet, such as the sheet identifying February, in a 12-month calendar, for example, or any month to be separated from the calendar and mounted on another surface. The calendar may then be repositioned easily to a surface, such as a wall, and each individual sheet identifying a month thereof removed or reattached to the calendar body at will, and be positioned on other surfaces.
The application of the invention is not limited to a calendar but extends to any assembly of adhesive pages where removal and repositioning of pages is desirable, such as counting, alphabet and flashcard applications for students, photo or art albums, memory aids or games, notes or labels having different images, to identify various elements having a common theme, coupons, redemption programs, promotional uses, etc.
Examples of the identification application include the identity of design elements in a room, such as a chair, desk, bed, lamp, etc, wherein a user, such as a designer, contractor or home owner, repositions the sheets in a plurality of locations relative each other to visualize the room concept. If a given position of one sheet needs to be moved, it is easily removed from the first location and adhered (ie: repositioned) to a second location. This process continues until the person is satisfied with the position of a given sheet relative the other sheets and relative the entire design. Another example is the identity of perishable food items in a fridge, such as milk, cheese, leftover dinner, etc, wherein each food is associated with the corresponding page from the assembly and the user marks each page with a best before date. The same goal can be accomplished with another embodiment of the assembly, wherein each paper has a day of the week printed thereon, such as Monday, Tuesday, etc, and the image is associated with the best before date of a given food item. The uses of the assembly of the present invention are numerous.
Due to the process described below, a pre-printed sheet may be treated with the adhesive and assembled into a calendar, for example. This permits printing such as with a digital press or other printer to be used for printing of smaller runs. A digital press for example is optimal for printing smaller runs, and a repositionable adhesive applied after printing creates a functional adhesive calendar assembly. The invention is also not limited to a narrow strip of adhesive on each sheet. Due to the process described below, a wide strip of adhesive may be used or the reverse of the entire sheet may be covered with repositionable adhesive.
In one embodiment, the assembly of the present invention is constructed with two machines, namely a digital press and a label printing press. In another embodiment, not shown, the functions of printing and assembly are combined into one machine or the two machines are linked together by mechanical and/or electrical means.
The printing press may be a Hewlett-Packard Indigo™ 4500 Digital Press, the operation flow of which is illustrated at Figures 1a and 1b. Other digital presses and other printing presses are contemplated. The Nilpeter™ FB3300 is a label printing press, the schematics of which are shown in
With reference to
The optional backer sheet has repositionable adhesive distributed across part or the whole of its reverse surface, so that it may be applied to surfaces and adhere sufficiently such that the calendar remains attached thereon. To form the assembly, each sheet is positioned with its front or first side in the same direction, so that the first side contacts the reverse side of the sheet on top of it. The first calendar month is positioned to contact with the reverse side of the optional cover page. As the sheets are coated with repositionable adhesive, they adhere to each other and form the calendar without the need for a binding, as would be found in calendars of the prior art.
In another embodiment, such as flashcards, a portion less than about the top half of the reverse of each of the sheets is coated with adhesive, such that each sheet is capable of adhering to the adjacent sheet below but may also be removed and attached to a surface, such as a smooth surface, by means of the adhesive backing. In a further embodiment, where for example the cards forming the calendar are meant to be mounted on uneven surfaces such as carpet, in the interests of adherence, the entire back side of each page may be coated with adhesive. Other embodiments may include, but are not limited to, weekly calendars, daily calendars and cartoons, photo and art albums and learning aids such as numbers, letters, symbols or other images or data. Coupons booklets directed to consumers are an interesting application of the assembly disclosed herein.
As the assembly may be manufactured using digital printing, it is capable of having different images in succession. It is therefore highly customizable, and each assembly printed may be unique for a given project. This differentiates the assembly from offset printing, where a larger run of each page, for example 10,000 calendars, must be printed, then the pages collated together in order to efficiently produce a calendar having twelve different months therein. The present invention allows printing and coating one sheet after another, each adjacent sheet having a different image or data, without the requirement to collate.
With reference to
A process of manufacture of the assembly of paper is also described. As indicated above,
In order to create the adhesive sheet assembly following printing on the press, it is necessary to first print the image using the press, and then pass the printed material through another printing press such as the Nilpeter™ FB3300, the schematics of which are shown in
The sheets are printed in the reverse order from which they are to appear in the calendar. Once printed, they are reregistered on the printing press, which will reverse their order. A regular eye mark or other indicator is printed on the printed sheets so that the printing press may align and reregister the printed sheets. In other applications of the present invention, such as the photo album embodiment, the order of images or data may not be important.
The process for producing an adhesive calendar assembly requires that the calendars are printed on the first press and the backer sheets are cut; then, as mentioned above, the printed calendar is reregistered on the second press. During this part of the process, no further printing is done, but each calendar sheet is passed in reverse order as mentioned above through the second press and a portion of the reverse of sheets 2, 8 of printed paper is coated with a low-tack microsphere adhesive such as Franklin™ Adhesive Micromax™ 250 or other repositionable adhesive. As the now adhesive-coated sheets reach the end of the press path, they are cut into individual sheets and stacked on top of one another.
In one embodiment, a backer sheet is inserted at the bottom and then thirteen sheets, namely a cover and twelve months, are stacked on the backer sheet creating a complete calendar year. Other numbers of months are contemplated, such as beginning during the month of September of a given year and ending at the month of June the following year, which may be appropriate for school calendars. Furthermore, the timing of calendar sales may dictate the first and last month in the assembly.
The amount of coverage of repositionable adhesive is pre-determined using the skilled worker's knowledge of the printing press. In some applications, the complete sheet is coated and in others the sheet is partially coated. If differing amounts of coverage are required for each calendar sheet and the backer sheet, as in the embodiment described here, the backer sheets are prepared with an adhesive coating separately and are placed within the press, for insertion after every thirteenth page.
In one embodiment, the backer sheets are prepared with a full coverage of adhesive, having a liner over the adhesive to protect the adhesive and facilitate movement through the press. The backer sheets are then pre-cut and positioned in the label printing press. In this example, the calendar sheets may have half coverage of adhesive while the backer sheet has full coverage.
The adhesive can be coated using a flexographic, gravure or screen printing method or other known coating method, within the press. The web path shown in
Therefore, in order to print the calendars in one embodiment of the present invention, the following steps are followed in one embodiment:
In order to prepare the liner sheets with a back slit to facilitate removal of the liner, the following steps are followed:
In order to coat the printed sheets with adhesive and assemble the calendars, the following steps are followed:
The processes of printing the images or data to a roll, then placing the roll on a press for application of the adhesive, sheeting, collating and assembly may be done with different machines or with one machine. The use of an HP™ Indigo™ ws4500 is described above as accomplishing the digital press function, which prints two or more different images on the roll. This roll is then placed on the modified Nilpeter™ FB3300 as described above, for application of the repositionable adhesive, sheeting, collating and assembly with or without the optional backer sheet. Other processes are contemplated, prior to sheeting such as the application of braille or varnish to one or more sheets.
Having thus described the present disclosure in detail, it is to be understood that the foregoing description is not intended to limit the scope thereof. What is desired to be protected is set forth in the following claims.
