Patent Application
20050266194
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to laminates and methods of forming the same. More particularly, the invention relates to paper laminates and products therefrom and methods of forming the same.
2. Related Art
There exists a number of laminates in which one part of the laminate can be peeled apart for in intended purpose. For example, labels are commonly formed by laminating a paper substrate on a release backing via a pressure sensitive adhesive so that they may be printed upon and subsequently removed from the release liner for placement on the intended article. Once the label is typically affixed to the article, its utility is complete.
In the case of using these labels in certain fields, such as in the pharmacological field, the current art does not provide an acceptable product. This is because Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires that containers bearing such labels be destroyed for various reasons including confidentiality, prevention of unauthorized or prescribed use, for example. This is a nuisance to the industry as well as the user who may simply wish to retain the container for information purposes only.
Further, labels in the security field lack adequate security features to prevent theft of goods. For example, many goods use adhesive labels for pricing which can be transposed onto other goods to reflect inaccurate pricing.
As it relates to the instant invention, preformed business cards for use in laser printers or the like are commonly formed by providing either micro-perforations or substantial cut lines between the cards which after the printing operation thereon, are separated from one another by tearing along the remaining connecting parts of the cards. No matter the claims of the prior attempts, the cards provided after separation do not have a clean cut as would be the case if performed by a die cut in a printing process. The resultant edges give the card a less professional look than clean knife cut edges and in certain uses are unacceptable. There is a significant need in the laser and ink jet card products industry to provide clean edges similar to the main stream business cards.
The present invention overcomes the deficiencies in the art of labels and preformed cards.
It is an object to provide an improved peelable laminate.
It is another object to improve the method of making a peelable laminate.
It is yet another object to improve labels.
It is a further object to improve preformed business cards for use in printers.
It is still another object to improve the use of labels in the pharmacological field.
It is another object to improve the use of labels the security field.
It is yet another object to improve the use of labels in the coupon field.
Accordingly, one embodiment of the invention is directed to a peelable laminate. In one instance, the laminate includes a first pulp paper-based substrate having a treated surface to prevent undue adhesion to pulp fibers extending from said side, a polymer coating applied to said treated side, an adhesive (e.g., pressure sensitive adhesive) applied on said polymer coating and a release liner substrate applied to said adhesive. In one case, the treated surface is wet rolled to cause the fibers to lie down thus generally precluding an interlocking of the polymer capable of being coated onto the pulp paper-based substrate material to the pulp paper-based substrate in a permanent manner. In another case, the treatment can include clay coating the surface to provide release of the polymer capable of being coated onto the pulp paper-based substrate. The polymer capable of being coated onto the pulp paper-based substrate can be extruded onto the pulp paper-based substrate after the one side is treated as stated above. The polymer capable of being coated onto the pulp paper-based substrate can include an effective amount of cofax, i.e., a release agent, to prevent excessive bonding of the polymer capable of being coated onto the pulp paper-based substrate to the pulp paper-based substrate. The uses of such laminate, when die cut for example, provide for a unique label with a myriad of applications.
In another embodiment, the adhesive can be omitted from the above forming process and then the paper pulp paper-based substrate can be subsequently die cut in a manner to form cards, wherein the die cut is 100% through the paper pulp paper-based substrate with the polymer capable of being coated onto the pulp paper-based substrate layer serving to maintain the now formed cards in their orientation until forcibly removed from the polymer capable of being coated onto the pulp paper-based substrate layer. Until so removed, the cards can be printed upon using conventional printers, e.g. laser printers and the like. Thus, a superior and perfectly clean cut card edge can be provided not heretofore provided.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent to those persons having ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains from the foregoing description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Referring to now to the drawings, a peelable laminate of the present invention is shown generally by the numeral 10 and 100. The peelable laminate 10, 100 is shown at the in
A polymer coating 20 applied to the treated side 14 which can be by extruding in a curtain form over the side 14. The polymer coating 20 need be of a characteristic to permit the same to be coated onto substrate 12, for example, polyethylene, polyester, polypropylene are thought to be suitable and preferably can be polyethylene. The polymer coating 20 can include an effective amount of release or flow control agent, e.g., Profax™ commercially available from Montell or M. Holland Company, to prevent excessive bonding of the polymer capable of being coated onto the pulp paper-based substrate to the pulp paper-based substrate. The polymer coating 20 can be made either slightly opaque with opacifiers or made generally translucent. In one case, the treated side 14 is wet rolled to cause the fibers to lie down thus generally precluding an interlocking of the polymer coating 20 to the pulp paper-based substrate 12 in a permanent manner. In another case, the treatment can include clay coating the surface to provide release of the polymer coating 20. In either case, the pulp fiber is treated to prevent undue migration of the polymer capable of being coated onto the pulp paper-based substrate into the substrate 12.
An adhesive 22 (e.g., pressure sensitive adhesive) can be applied on the over polymer coating 20 and a release liner substrate 24 applied to the adhesive coating 22. The uses of such laminate 10, when die cut in one manner, for example, provide for a unique label 26 with a myriad of applications. A pattern of label portions 26 can be defined on the sheet by a die cut lines entirely through the pulp paper-based substrate 12. The label portions 26 can be rectangular, but other shapes are within the scope of the invention. In the forming process the laminate 10 can be cut to have dimensions of 8 1/2×11 inches whereas the pulp paper-based substrate 12, polymer coating 20, and adhesive 22 can be cut to have the dimensions of a traditional label portion 26 (e.g., 2×4 inches) with the release liner substrate 24 of the laminate having the dimensions of 8½×11 inches.
As an example,
The above described embodiments are set forth by way of example and are not for the purpose of limiting the present invention. It will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that obvious modifications, derivations and variations can be made to the embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the claims appended hereto should be read in their full scope including any such modifications, derivations and variations.
