1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a scent/fragrance sampling label, in which a fragrance or scented oil is encapsulated in a carrier and applied between two outer substrate layers, the separation of the outer substrate layers causing the release of fragrance or scent from its microencapsulated fragrance oil or scent infused coated substrate.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Manufacturers of consumer products have a profound interest in determining the acceptability of their products by the consuming public. For that reason, manufacturers routinely test market new products with consumers in order to get their reactions. The test marketing can involve a myriad of trials. The manufacturers can hire representatives to offer samples of the new products at the locations where the new products might be sold. These samples would be provided gratis to customers and then the customers would be asked their reaction. Additionally, the manufacturer may have a mass mailing of small samples of the new product to consumers in a particular geographic location, together with a questionnaire regarding the consumer's likes or dislikes with respect to the product.
The products involved in such consumer testing can range from fine fragrances and colognes, health care products, such as hair shampoos and conditioners, to makeup, to kitchen cleaners, all purpose cleaners, dishwashing cleaners, clothes and soap blends, and health care, as well as beauty care products. The manufacturers are interested not only in how the consumer reacts to the new product and its effectiveness, but also if the consumer is influenced by the style and even the scent or fragrance of the product. Thus health care and beauty care products are test marketed extensively. An individual's most common interaction with a test marketing situation involves a scent or fragrance and occurs at the perfume or mens cologne counter of large department stores. There are numerous sample bottles of cologne, perfume, and eau de toilette on display for sampling. In some instances, these are actual bottles of the product with small absorbent substrates associated therewith where one can spray the scent of a particular product onto the absorbent substrate, and wave the substrate and then smell the substrate to obtain a sense of the fragrance or scent of the particular perfume. In other instances, the manufacturers go to great expense to have extremely small samples of the product prepared which they can give away as promotional materials to people in order to gain their feedback regarding the fragrance and scent.
The aforesaid market testing can be extremely expensive to the manufacturer, both from a manufacturing context in having to manufacture small sampling examples of the product, mailing costs for such type of samples, and man power costs. Therefore there has been a need for a scent/fragrance delivery system which is inexpensive to manufacture and can be mailed inexpensively or distributed very inexpensively which will allow the consumer to sample the product from a scent/fragrance standpoint.
An object of the present invention is to provide for a novel scent/fragrance delivery system for inexpensively providing sample scents and fragrances to the consumer for sampling purposes.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide for a novel scent/fragrance delivery system in the form of peel back fragrance labels which can be manufactured inexpensively in a variety of shapes and sizes.
A further object of the present invention is to provide for a novel scent/fragrance delivery system which does not require an additional adhesive in order to seal the peel back label closed.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide for a novel scent/fragrance delivery system which when opened, leaves some of the encapsulated fragrance/scent unbroken and secured to one of the substrates such that it can be later scratched or rubbed for additional scent/fragrance sampling.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide for a novel scent/fragrance delivery system wherein the substrates are printable and suitable substrates can be chosen from a variety of materials of varying thickness to achieve the look and feel desired by the manufacturer.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide for a novel scent/fragrance delivery system in which the encapsulated scent/fragrance bonds with the inner sides of the top and bottom substrates holding the two-ply together without an adhesive layer until removal or separation of the two substrates is desired.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide for a novel scent/fragrance delivery system which has a long shelf life.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide for a novel scent/fragrance delivery system which is economical to fabricate and which eliminates the adhesive station in the fabrication process, and is adaptable to both narrow web and wide web manufacture.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide for a novel scent/fragrance delivery system requiring no additional adhesive and thereby allowing the scent/fragrance greater surface area during the application stage.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide for a novel scent/fragrance delivery system which not only allows the consumer to separate the substrates to sample the scent/fragrance from the product, but also allows the consumer to wipe or rub the exposed substrate and scent/fragrance onto the user's skin for sampling.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide for a novel scent/fragrance delivery system which provides the product owner, with a greater flexibility in the manner in which he can present the sample to the consuming public.
A scent/fragrance delivery system in the form of a peel back label in which a fragrance/oil of a scented nature is encapsulated in a carrier, such as a plastic cell wall, the plastic encapsulation protecting microscopic beads or oil containing the scent/fragrance and in cooperation with opposing outer substrate layers, deters the scent/fragrance from escaping or migrating until its intended use, the scent/fragrance activated by separating the two opposing substrates by the peel back method which ruptures or breaks open the encapsulation of the beads of oil containing the scent/fragrance, the delivery system capable of use as a single use system or a reusable system.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent, particularly when taken in light of the following illustrations wherein:
To aid in the manufacturing process and the fabrication of the peel back fragrance label, the lower substrate 16 is also associated with an adhesive layer 15 on its lower outer surface and a liner 17 which sandwiches the adhesive layer 15 between the lower substrate and the liner which is removable. This structure of the lower substrate 16, outer adhesive layer 15, and removable liner 17 is the manner in which the lower substrate, adhesive layer, and liner are removed from a roll of material and form a web as it proceeds through the printing and coating process as explained at length and in detail hereafter. A portion of the dual substrate is partially removed at the conclusion of the coating and drying process leaving separate peel back fragrance labels affixed to the release liner 17. The individual peel back fragrance label can then be removed from the liner, exposing the adhesive layer which can be used to attach the peel back fragrance label to a sample of the product or similar structure so that a user can then peel back the upper substrate 12 to release the fragrance as more fully explained with respect to
The fragrant composition applied to or coated on the lower substrate 14 consists of two types of slurry. The first slurry applied forming the first layer 16 is a water based fragrance slurry. The second slurry which is applied is a UV based fragrance slurry 18. The water based fragrance slurry 16 is first applied to the surface of the lower substrate 14 and then immediately subjected to hot air drying. The next layer applied, the UV based fragrance slurry 18 is applied over the top of the now dried water based fragrance slurry 16, and then the upper substrate layer 12 is applied over the UV fragrance slurry and secured and conjoined with the lower substrate 16. The conjoined peel back label is then exposed to a UV heat lamp which cures both fragrance layers 16 and 18 and melds them together, and creates a bond with top substrate 12 with the UV slurry.
The fragrance oil utilized with respect to the water based fragrance slurry 16 and the UV based fragrant slurry 18 may be selected from a wide variety of stock fragrance oils utilized in the perfume, cologne, and cleaning industry. The oils may be singular or a mixture of several components to achieve the desired fragrance. They contain a minimum of volatile or water soluble reactive ingredients to help the fragrance oils become encapsulated in their respective slurries forming a cell wall around the fragrance oil creating beads of microencapsulated fragrance. The slurry is a mix of encapsulated fragrance oil/beads and a transporter fluid to enable the transfer of the fragrance beads to the host substrate, lower substrate 14. The curing of the slurries by UV exposure flashes off the transporter solution leaving a substantially dried fragrance encapsulated layer. The microencapsulated fragrance beads will bind with the inner surfaces of the bottom substrate 14 and top substrate 12 and remain intact until the upper substrate is peeled back from the peel back label.
The method of manufacture is illustrated in
After UV curing, the web enters a die cut station 44 and a “kiss cut” die cuts the dual substrate down to the liner to form the peel back fragrance label with rounded corners as illustrated in
The process of manufacture in
The peelable labels could also be fabricated in or on a web substrate to produce multiple labels/lanes across as illustrated in
The fragrance oil utilized in the peelable label may be selected from a variety of stock of fragrance oils, or made special. The fragrance oils may be used singularly, or in a mixture to create a specific character or fragrance. The fragrance oil should be formulated with as little volatile or water soluable reactive ingredients as possible to enhance and enable the encapsulation process, which is the forming of the cell wall around the fragrance oil creating beads or microencapsulated fragrance. The fragrance formulation or slurry would be composed of the microencapsulated fragrance oil and a transporter fluid for the purpose of transporting the encapsulated fragrance through the unit of application and onto the host substrate, the transporter fluid will later be dried and flashed-off when exposed to the UV heat lamp in the final drying/curing process. The microencapsulated fragrance coats will bond with the inner surfaces of the top and bottom substrates between which it is sandwiched and remain intact until the peel back fragrance label is opened. At that time a portion of the capsules will be broken open as the upper ply substrate 12 is peeled back, releasing the scent of the fragrance oil. Not all of the microencapsulated fragrance will rupture upon removal of the top ply of peel back fragrance label, and some of the microencapsulated fragrance beads will remain intact, thus causing a further release of the fragrance and scent if desired by scratching or rubbing the coated layers on the lower substrate to rupture these remaining beads and release the fragrance or oil for additional sampling usage.
The mixture of ingredients and their ratio can vary when creating the water based fragrance encapsulation layer 16, however, it may include a polyvinyl acetate, which is a type of thermoplastic or vinyl polymer, water, carboxymethyl cellulose or gum arabic, which would act as a binder. The mixing time can vary depending upon the fragrance oil composition, but may take approximately 24 to 26 hours for the cell walls to form and encapsulate the fragrance oil. The solution then undergoes a filtration process that may include straining through a fine mesh in order to drain off a majority of the liquid. The ratio of the fragrance capsules to (PVA) transporter can vary, but may be as much a 1:1 ratio with equal parts of the fragrance capsules and the PVA water based transporter. The ratio of fragrance capsules to UV transporter fluid in the UV fragrance layer 16 can vary, but may be as much as a 1:3 ratio of capsules to UV based transporter. In turn, the wet capsules can be further dried if required to create “Dry Capsules”. Dry capsules can eventually be process into a fine powder, by a number of processes including but not limited to sifting with a fine mesh screen. Dry fragrance capsules are mixed with a (UV) ultra violet transporter, to create fragrance coat 18 for application in the fragrance print unit 46. The ratio of dry fragrance capsules to (UV) transporter can vary, but may be such as a 1:3 ratio of plastic capsules to (UV) based transporter. In fragrance (print) unit 46 the (UV) based fragrance coat 18 is applied wet on top of the dried water based fragrance foundation area 16. The top polypropylene label ply 12 is then applied, and joined together with the bottom ply 14 in the nip roller unit 50. The two part fragrance within the construction is then cured by heating with a UV lamp 50 drying both fragrance parts 1 and 2 to each other, and to the inner sides of the top and bottom ply substrates.
The individual fragrance label illustrated in
Therefore, while the present invention has been disclosed with respect to the preferred embodiments thereof, it will be recognized by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is therefore manifestly intended that the invention be limited only by the claims and the equivalence thereof.
Applicant claims the benefit of provisional application Ser. No. 61/901,019, filed Nov. 7, 2013.