This application relates to the design and manufacture of adhesive labels from strip stock moving through a multi-station machine or sequence of machines.
Printed adhesive-backed labels are commonly used on retail store shelves to convey information to customers regarding products stored and displayed on the shelves. Because products, product locations and prices change often, such labels are frequently applied, removed, and replaced with new labels.
Many prior art shelf labels are manufactured using pre-made, pressure sensitive materials, of which many are available in the marketplace. These labels are made with an attached release liner that is typically thick to keep the product flat and allow the labels to feed through a laser printer without jamming. Part of the release liner is peeled off by an end user or, conversely, the labels are peeled off of the liner when applied.
Flatness is important because it allows the labels to stick to and/or hang from a shelf face in a store in such a way as to make it easy for customers to read information on the labels.
A thick release liner creates waste and makes labels, when packaged in substantial numbers, very heavy. This increases shipping costs and can induce curl, which is undesirable for the reasons set forth above.
Some prior art labels use delamination/relamination to create specific zones of adhesion.
The prior art can be used to produce finished labels in sheets or strips containing multiple labels and arranged in columns or rows. These sheets can be cumbersome in that a person applying the labels needs to disassemble the sheets into individual labels and apply the labels one at a time to the faces of the shelves. This process is time consuming and expensive because it is typically done by unskilled labor when the store is closed.
The prior art teachings also use laser printing to digitally print the various information on the labels. Because of this, heat resistant materials, flat laying materials, and good toner adhesion properties are needed. This limits the type of material which can be used to make labels and, with some printers, the labels are limited to black and white. A typical material used to make the labels is vinyl, which has environmental disadvantages.
The present disclosure provides a teaching as to how to make adhesive-backed labels economically and efficiently in strip form and in ready-to-use stacks wherein multiple adhesive-backed printable or pre-printed labels lie on top of each other with a release coating between the labels directly beneath and geometrically coextensive with the adhesive layer on an adjacent label. The stack of labels from the process can be quickly and easily used by retail store personnel to apply labels to the faces or edges of product storage shelves.
In broad terms, the method can comprise a number of steps of making a strip or a stack of adhesive-backed labels from strip stock wherein the strip stock comprises printable flexible sheet material having first and second opposed sides. The steps comprise (a) applying discreet layers of adhesive to a first side of the stock in single or multiple rows at regularly spaced intervals wherein the layers are identical in area, geometry and orientation. As shown herein, the strip stock can be wide enough to make multiple rows of labels simultaneously.
Another step of the process involves the application of discreet layers of silicone-based release coating at regularly spaced intervals along another side of the strip stock in single or multiple rows, the discreet release coating layers also being of identical area, geometry and orientation to one another.
When these two steps are completed and the labels are cut from the stock and stacked, the regularly spaced layers of adhesive and release coating are essentially coextensive in that they lie on opposite sides of the sheet stock but geometrically correspond with one another.
The method may also involves steps of curing the release layer, identifying the position of each label by reference to one or both of the location of the edges of the adhesive and release coatings and the printing and, using the location information, arranging a cutter so as to cut the labels from the stock at the appropriate place.
In general, this sequence of steps further comprises a stacking step which results in a stack of labels which are easily peeled from one another and immediately applied to the edges or faces of shelves. As will hereinafter be made clear, the overall method can be divided into two parts carried out in sequence either at the same or in different locations. The first of the divided phases may result in a roll of strip stock with adhesive and cured release areas applied. This roll is then transported to the machinery involved in the next phase and unrolled wherein the remainder of the steps are carried out. Printing may occur at either of the two locations.
Other advantages, features and characteristics of the present invention, as well as methods of operation and functions of the related elements of the structure, and the combination of parts and economies of manufacture, will become more apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description and the appended claims with reference to the accompanying drawings, the latter being briefly described hereinafter.
The description herein makes reference to the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views and wherein:
The optional inkjet coating can be water-based, applied by roller, and dried. Adhesive 20 may be any of a wide variety of available materials which are pressure sensitive and self-adhesive, such as various acrylics and hotmelts.
In an alternative embodiment,
The application process is represented in
Referring now to
The first station or step involves the passage of the strip 50 of material over an engraved cylinder 43 where two parallel transverse areas of adhesive are applied to one side only of the strip 50 of material. These areas of adhesive are applied at regularly spaced intervals; i.e., longitudinal spacing along the strip 50 and each strip has a relatively sharply defined top and bottom lateral edge. These areas are those shown in
After the adhesive-coated stock strip 50 emerges from the oven, it passes over a series of rollers 60 which carry the material over the top of the oven and from there to an inkjet printer 61. Again, the inkjet printer is representative of just one type of printer that can be used to apply information or indicia of some kind to the label material on the side opposite the adhesive.
After the printing step. The strip of stock then is conveyed to a second engraved cylinder 64 where liquid silicone is applied in pairs of lateral lines extending across the stock. These lateral lines are also regularly spaced as to correspond exactly to the lines or areas of adhesive but on the opposite side thereof. By way of further explanation, the lines of liquid silicone represent release coatings and the layers of silicon are identical in area, geometry and orientation to the lines of adhesive on the other side. To put even more clearly, the lines of silicone “register” with the lines of adhesive on the opposite side. However, as a practical matter, the lines of silicone-based release coating can be slightly larger than the lines of adhesive to make the manufacturing process easier. The release areas are those shown at 16 in
The silicone release material is cured at station 62 and then passes over a series of rollers to a die cutter 66 but first goes past a sensor 68 which locates the printing and/or other locator characteristic on the strip of stock to make sure that the die cutter cuts the labels free from the strip stock in exactly the right place so that the cut is in register with the digital and/or flexo printing.
This cutting step generates a matrix of waste material 70 which goes up to a roller 72 while the labels go to stacking stations 75 which are capable of producing two stacks of labels as shown in
Referring now to
Referring to
While the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiments but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims, which scope is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures as is permitted under the law.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/886,704 filed Oct. 4, 2013.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61886704 | Oct 2013 | US |