The present invention relates generally to labeling, and in particular to retail shelf labels and methods of making the same.
Printed labels comprise an important form of communication. Labels are commonly used for conveying information in a wide range of applications. In the retail sector, for example, labels are commonly applied to product displays (i.e., “point-of-sale” displays) to identify objects and to convey information about those objects to customers. Retail establishments may employ various types of labels to communicate such product information as pricing, product identification, etc.
In retail establishments, product information tends to be dynamic in that product offerings and pricing undergo frequent changes. Point-of-sale product labeling is often changed by applying new labels to shelves on which the products are displayed. Such shelf labeling is a significant part of the labeling activity in retail commercial establishments.
Labels and manufacturing methods set forth herein include novel improvements to the prior art labels and manufacturing methods, as will be evident from reviewing the description below and the accompanying drawings.
A sheet having a retail shelf label according to an embodiment includes a liner, a transparent face layer, and a cover layer having graphics printed thereon. Adhesive couples the face layer atop the liner, and adhesive couples the cover layer atop the face layer. Cut lines in the face and cover layers define a perimeter of the label, and a cut line in the cover layer separates the cover layer into two distinct portions respectively separable from the face layer. At least a portion of the adhesive coupled to the face layer inside the label perimeter releases from the liner to removably couple the label to a shelf edge.
The face layer inner side 112b includes an adhesive material 120 which may be used to couple the face layer 110 to the shelf edge 10 and which may couple the face layer 110 to the liner 130. The adhesive material 120 may comprise any suitable pressure-sensitive, self-adhesive material, such as acrylic adhesive, which is releasable for repositioning purposes and which leaves little or no residue. Acrylic adhesive has a further advantage of not being susceptible to melting during printing operations, such as in laser printers. In
An adhesive deadening agent 125 may extend over the adhesive material 120 along the lower end 114b of the face layer 110 and/or along a portion of each side 116a, 116b of the face layer 110 to neutralize the adhesive material 120 in those areas. For example, as shown in
The deadening agent 125 may further extend between the face layer 110 and the liner 130 (i.e., sandwiched between the face layer 110 and the liner 130) near the perimeter of the liner 130 so that tolerances for applying the deadening agent 125 may be increased. However, if the adhesive 120 is used to couple the face layer 110 to the liner 130, it may be preferable for the deadening agent 125 to not extend between the face layer 110 and the liner 130 to an extent that the face layer 110 is not coupled to the liner 130. It may be undesirable for the deadening agent 125 to extend between the face layer 110 and the liner 130 to an extent that allows the perimeter of the liner 130 to separate from the face layer 110 and allows the liner 130 and the face layer 110 to become visibly curled away from one another.
The cover 150 has outer and inner sides 152a, 152b, upper and lower ends 154a, 154b, and opposed sides 156a, 156b and may be constructed of paper and/or any other suitable material. The cover 150 may be cut (represented by cut line 155) to separate the cover 150 into two portions 155a, 155b. While the ends and sides 154a, 154b, 156a, 156b of the cover 150 are shown to collectively be generally rectangular, non-rectangular configurations may alternately be defined. In at least one embodiment, the perimeter of the cover 150 generally corresponds to the perimeter of the face layer 110. Material for cover 150 may be chosen for printability, durability, and/or other properties that are required or suitable for particular applications.
The cover inner side 152b includes an adhesive material 170 which may be used to couple the cover 150 to the face layer 110 (i.e., to the face layer outer side 112a). The adhesive material 170 may or may not be the same as the adhesive 120 and may comprise any suitable pressure-sensitive, self-adhesive material, such as acrylic adhesive, which is releasable for repositioning purposes and which leaves little or no residue. Acrylic adhesive has a further advantage of not being susceptible to melting during printing operations, such as in laser printers.
The cover 150 may include graphics 140 viewable from the label front side 102a. The graphics 140 (
By including the liner 130, graphics viewable from the label front side 102a may be at least partially created or accented by the liner 130 if the face layer 110 is transparent and viewable from the label front side 102a. In other words, if graphics are printed around certain indicia on the face layer 110, the appearance of the graphics and/or the indicia may be affected by the color of the liner 130. For example, if the face layer 110 is clear (or substantially clear), and graphics are printed on the face layer 110, the absence of print at the indicia allows the indicia to substantially be the color of the liner 130 (e.g., white). Further, the liner 130 may enhance the graphics by making the label 100 less transparent from the front side 102a. Transparency has been a problem experienced in the prior art, in that certain colors have sometimes been difficult to read while prior art labels are in use. In addition, prior art transparent labels have been unable to effectively utilize certain colors (e.g., white). It should also be appreciated that the label 100 may incorporate an extra color than prior art transparent labels without using an extra color of ink, which can provide a substantial cost savings. It should further be understood that, in some embodiments, graphics may be printed on the liner 130 and visible through the face layer 110.
If a transparent material is used for the face layer 110 and the face layer 110 is viewable from the label front side 102a, information on the shelf edge 10 (e.g., a previous label having product or price information) may be viewed while the label 100 is coupled to the shelf edge 10. This may be desirable, for example, to show a product's original price if it is currently on sale, or to avoid having to print a barcode for the product on the label 100.
In use, the adhesive material 120 may be used to couple the face layer 110 to the shelf 10. As shown in
One manufacturing process 700 for a sheet 701 of the labels 100 is shown in
At step 720, the deadening agent 125 is applied to areas that correspond to the areas of the individual labels 100 having deadening agent 125 as discussed above. The process 700 proceeds from step 720 to step 730, where the face material 702 is coupled to the liner material 704 and the cover material 703 is coupled to the face material 702. The process 700 proceeds from step 730 to step 740.
At step 740, the cover material 703 and the face material 702 may be cut through (represented by cut lines 742) to define the individual covers 150 and face layers 110 for the individual labels 100; the cover material 703 may be cut through (represented by cut lines 743) to define the two portions 155a, 155b of each individual label 100; the liner material 704 may be cut through (represented by cut lines 744) to define the individual liners 130 for the individual labels 100; and the cover material 703, the face material 702, and the liner material 704 may be perforated (represented by perforation line 746) to allow the sheet 701 to be separated into multiple portions.
If the face material 702, the cover material 703, and/or the liner material 704 are provided in rolls, the material(s) may be cut into the sheet 701. In at least one embodiment, no cut line 742 intersects or overlaps a cut line 744. It should be understood that step 740 may actually be accomplished in multiple steps, and that the order of cutting and perforating is generally not critical. The process 700 proceeds from step 740 to step 750.
At step 750, graphics 140 are printed on the cover material 703 using a laser printer, a dot matrix printer, or any other appropriate method or device. Step 750 may be performed before the sheet 701 is delivered to the end user, or the end user may place the graphics 140 on the cover material 703. Because front and rear sides of the sheet 701 are generally planar and are each formed from a respective single sheet of material, the printing process may be more easily completed than when printing on other labels that have various materials that comprise the front side or the rear side. It should be understood that step 750 may be completed at various times in process 700, such as before step 710, for example. In addition, if graphics are to be printed on the face material 702, those graphics may be printed on the face material 702 using a laser printer, a dot matrix printer, or any other appropriate method or device before step 730, for example.
In another embodiment, shown in
In another embodiment, shown in
In label 1100, the adhesive deadening agent 125 further extends over the adhesive material 120 along the upper end 114a of the face layer 110, and more particularly, the deadening agent 125 extends between the upper end 114a of the face layer 110 and the liner 130. The deadening agent 125 also extends between the side 116a of the face layer 110 and the portion 1104b of the liner 130 and between the side 116b of the face layer 110 and the portion 1104b of the liner 130.
In another embodiment, shown in
In yet another embodiment, shown in
In another embodiment, shown in
Those skilled in the art appreciate that variations from the specified embodiments disclosed above are contemplated herein and that the described embodiments are not limiting. The description should not be restricted to the above embodiments, but should be measured by the following claims.
This application is related to and claims the benefit of pending U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/051,241, filed on May 7, 2008, and entitled “Label”, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. This application is also related to and claims the benefit of pending U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/052,017, filed on May 9, 2008, and entitled “Label”, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
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