Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
FIELD OF rllE INVENTION
The pr~ent irlvention relates to a badge and to a method
of making the 9~me.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
U.S. Patent 4,338,737 dated July 13, 1982 to Roger W.
Lehmann de~crtbes a badge made of a body layer of foam plastic
and covered at its front and back faces with a sheet of pla,~tic
materialwhich are heat sealed together at thsir marginal edges.
This constructions ia relatively expenslve, sinoe the foam
plastic material has first to be cut out to the desired contour.
Then the wall sheats have to be cut out to a sllghtly greater
~lze and then assembled wlth the body layer and, finally, the
resulting assembly sub~ected to a heat-sealing operation.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
_ _ _ . _ . _ . _
The general ob~ect of the present invention is to provide
a badge and a method of making the same, which i8 much le3g
expensive thaQ in the above-mentioned Patent.
Another object of the invention is to provide a badge
which has appearance and whlch imltates, to a certain extent,
the standard metal badges with a tapered contour.
Another object of the present invention is to provide
a badge of very light weight construction and which will reslst
wear and tear.
SUMMARY OF THF INVENTION
. . , ~ .
The badBe of th~ Invention comprises a layer of aynthe~ic
foam material of the type having no memory when compre6sed, an
image-bearlng layer adhering to the front face of said body layer,
fastenlng means carried by the back face of said body layer to
attach the body ;~ayer to the wearer's clothi~g, the foam material
belng exposed all- around the peripheral edge of aaid body layer,
the marglnal portion of xaid bad8e having a smaller thickne~s
than the central portion of said badge. The method of the invention
comprisex providing a laminate formed of the above-noted layers,
positioning said ~amlnate on a flat surface and applying a cutting
~'
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blade against the front surface of sald laminate, whlch not only
cuts out the badge from the laminate but also compre~e~ the
lamlnatem~terial in the area of the cuttlng blade. Consequently,
the resulting b~d~e remains ~7ith ita marglnal portion in pe~manent
compressed condLtion, due to the fact that the fo~m mAterisl u~ed
has no memory and will not come back to its original non-compre~sed
condition.
From the foregoing, it i8 ~een that the bAdge can be made
in one single operation once the variou~ layers of the laminat have
been assembled.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
_ _ _ _ . . . . . . . . _ . _ _ .
Figure l is a perspective vlew of an exampl~ of the badge
in accordance with the invention;
Figure ~ is a side elevation;
Figure 3 i8 a side elevation of a bad8e with a differPf?t
type of fastening means;
Figure 4 i9 an exploded cross-sectional view showing the
various layers compoeing one embodiment of the laminate used
to make the badge in accordance with the invention;
Figure 5 is a view simllar to that of ~igure 4 but showing
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another embodiment of the lamlnate;
Flgure ~ is a cross-sectional view of the cutting and
compressing die used to make the badge of th0 invention;
Figure 7 is a plan view of the lamlnate with the badge
cut out;
Figure 8 i~ a cro9s-sectional view of the laminate, ..
also taken along line 8-8 of Figure 7 but al~o showing the
compres~ing ancl cuttlng die at the end of its comp~essing and
cutting ~troke~
In the dr~wings, like reference characters indicatc like elements
throughout.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
~he badge 1 of Figures 1 and 2 is shown in it~ completed
condition ready to be used. It has at its front face 2 a cen~ral
~rea 3 delimlt~d by the dotted llne 4 and a marginal protlon 5
outside the dotted line. The edge of the badge is sho~n at 6.
The back face 7 of the badge i8 flat and, as shown ln Figure 2,
the marginal portion 5 tapers toward~ the ed8e 6, 90 that the
marginal portion 5 has a 3maller thickness than that of ths central
area 3 of the badge 1.
Figure 4 shows one embodiment of the laminate to make thc
badge 1. The laminate conslsts of a body layar 8, whlch iR made
of a synthetic foam material, indicated at 9, of the type having
no memory when compreY3ed 90 that, once compressed, -lt ~taya
in this compressed conditlon. A typical example of such a foam
material is expanded polystyrene, preferably such a foam material
sandwiched betwee~ two paper layera, lndicated at 10. Such a
body layer may, for lnstance, have a thickness of two tenths of
an in~h. Such a body layer 18 m~de by Monsanto Inc. and marketed
, under the regi~tered trade mark FOME COR. An lmage-baaring layer
ll is adhered to the front face of the body layer 8 and a tran~
parent film 12 18 in turn adhered to the image-bearlgn layer ll.
At the back face of the body layer, a sheet o~ paper 13 or of
plastic, coated on both sides wlth ~ pressure ~dhesive,~is a~hered
to the body layer 8 and a pealable protecting film 14 l~ adhered
to the exposed face of the pressure adhesive to complete the
laminate.
Figure 5 shows ~n alternativ~ embodiment of the lamlnate.
The same body layer 8 ls used, togethar with the image b~arin8
layer ll and the protecfive transparent fllm 12 at the front face.
The image~bearing paper is glued onto the paper layer 10 of the
body layer 8 by means of liquid glue, indicated at 15. In thls
embodiment, the sheet of double-coated pressure adhesive 13 la
replaced by a Ringle layer of pressure adhesive 16 applled in
liquid f orm to the back of the body layer 8. 0nce the pealable
film 14 at the back of the badge is removed, the badge c~n be
adhered to o~e's clothing by the exposed pressure adheslve
of s~rip 13, or of layer 16~ -
This e~por~ed pressura adhesiYe constitutes the f
fa~tenlng mean3 for ~he badge. However, thi~ fRstenlng mean~
can be replaced by a metal ~afaty clip, of convention~l con-
atruction, as shown &t 17 in Figure 3. The as~embled lamlnate iY i~
cut out to form the badge in a single op~ration. For thiY purpose,
the cutting and compresslng die, ~ho~n in croa~-section in Fi~,~ras
6 and 8, iY used. This die, generally indlcated at 18, lnclude~
a ri8id backing block 19, a cutting blade 20 and a layar of com-
preYsible material 21. The cutting blade 20 i8 flxed to and pro-
trudes from one face of the block 19, having an exposecl cuttLng l~
edge 22. ~hL3 cuttlng blade 22 normally extends to the top surface
of block 15' and is longitudlnally shaped ln accordance with the
desired fin~l contour of the badge 1 to be made. The layer 21 of
compressible materlal i8 adhered to block 19 on the s~me face
from which the cutting blade 20 protrudes. The layer 21 may be
made of rubber and it extendY on the outside as well aa on the
inside of the cloYed iigure formed by th~e cutting blade 20, ~ith
a suitable slot 23 formed in the layer 21 ln which the cutting
blade freely extends. In its non-conipres~ed condlti~n, the
layer 21 protrudes at lts outer face irom the cutting edge 22 ,~
of blade 20, as shown in Figure 6.
The above-descrlbed laminate of either Figure 1 or
5 is supported on a flat supporting surface 24, as aho~m in
Figure 8, and the di~ 18 i8 pressed against the laminate. The top
face of the laminate 19 engAged by the compreaaible layer 21 and
i9 presYed in place whlle thP cutting blads 20 cuts through
the laminate in accordance with the desired contour of the badge
1. Due to the pressing action of the cutting blade, the foam core
9 of the b~rly layer 8 is compresYed on each Yide of the blade
20, and since thiY foam 9 has no me~ory, lt remalna in comprar~sed
condition, therefore defining the
o~nr?r~sserl~7. ~inaJ. ~ort7Qn 5 of ~ne fi~i~hed ba~ge 1. After ~'-
the d.ie cutt~ng opcrati~n, t~ badge is alr~ady .in it~s cc~p:Leted ~,.
cond.i.tion, w.tn the foam layer 9 ~ei.rl-~ expQse~ at the edge 6
of the badge.. ~Icwever, sjnce t`ne bad(le has a much reduce~
thiGkness at i.ts m~ n~al Forticn, the exp~sec ~cklm i~.lk~rdly
visible and w~ll rLC't det~act fron the ~eneral appear.ance of t~e
bac~ge. Obviously, several badges can be cut out simultane.~usly
fx~n a s.ingle ~hee-t of L~mlnate, with th~ imHges ~roperly spaced
at the top face of the la~ina-te, in wh.ich case -the c~te ~uld
.. 0 incluc',e sever.al cut-t.;~ blacles 20 adapted to .registex wlth the
resJ?ectiv(~ LgeS.
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