Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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BACKGROUND 0F THE_INVENTIOM
Many organizations hold periodic conventions, membership
drives, open-house celebrations, recruiting days, and ~he like,
or otherwise have a need to issue passes, identifica~iQn cards,
labels, scrip, debit/credits cards and the like and frequently
in such connection wish not only to personalize each such label
or the like, but also to provide a communication in the nature
of a welcoming message or instructions in conJunction with
issuing the label.
The development of high-speed programmable intelligent
printers has raised the prospects for innovation in this field.
But, heretofore, it seems that the neecl for a system as
provided by use of the principles of the present invention has
gone unmet.
SUMMARY OF THE INyENTION
In one aspect, the invention broadly resides in a
series of customized clear film-protected potential label-
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bearing sheets, comprising, a plurality of increments of bi-
faced sheet material each increment of which has at least oneblock of indicia printed on at least one portion of at least
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one;face thereo~; a layer o~ clear film laminated onto each
said increment so that such layer of clear film covers at least
part of said at least one block of printed indicia while
permitting the same to be viewed therethrough; each said
increment being dlvided into a potential label and a remainder
by a boundary llne of discontinuous cuts about at leas~ a
sufficient portion of the perimeter of a selected area of the
respective said~part of the respective said at least one block
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In a further aspect, the invention resides in a process
providing a sheet of material including a potential label
severable ~herefrom, said process comprising: providing at
least one increment o~ bi-faced sheet material which is
printable on at least one portion of at least one said face
thereof; printing at least one block of indicia on at least one
said portion; laminating a layer of clear film onto said
increment so that it protectively covers at least part of at
least one said block of printed indicia while permitting the
same to be viewed therethrough; and dividing said increment
into a potential label and a remainder by cut~ing a
discontinuous boundary line of cuts about at least a sufficient
portion of the perimeter of a selected area of said part of
said at least one block of printed indicia.
In a preerred embodiment of the method, at a printing
station, at least one field of printed information is printed
: on at least one face of a succession of increments of sheet
stock. By using an intelligent printer, the printed information
~ may be varied from increment to increment at will. At
~ ~20 subsequent statlons, at least paxt of the printed areas on at
least one side of each increment is laminated with clear film,
and at least part of the laminated area is partially cut so
that a user may
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subsequently detach it from the remainder of the
increment for use as a label. Where the increments
are initially provided in continuous web form,
stations subsequent to the partial-cutting station may
sever the web into a series of sheet~ bearing the
laminated, detachable labels, and an enveloping
station.
In describing the invention~ the term 'label'
will be u~ed herein as a generic term embodying all
sorts of indicia-bearing sheet material u ed for
communicatin~ inf~rmation from the person or bearer of
the sheet, to other persons or computerized readers.
The principles of ~he invention will be
further discussed with reference to the drawings
wherein a preferred embodiment is shown. The
specif iC3 illustrated in the drawings are intended to
exemplify, rather than limit, aspect~ of the invention
as defined i~ the claim~.
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FIG~RE 1 is a schematic flow 3hee~ of a
preferred embodiment of a personalized label
manufacturing process which mak~ use of principles of
the present invention;
IGURE 2 is a plan view of the obverse of a
: typical customized labe}-bearing sheet~ with the
r~cipient detaching th~ label therefrom, and
FIGU~E 3 is a plan vie~ of the reverse of the
customized label-bearing sheet of FI~URE 2.
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION
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In ~IGU~E 1 there is shown a supply of stock
at 10, e.y ., in the orm of a roll of paper which is
being continuously unrolled to provide a web 12 which
is traveli~g in the direction of arrow 14 through a
printing station 16. Accordingly, in pas~ing through
the printing station, the we~ 12 can b~ considered to
be constituted by a plurality of increments connected
to one another in a longitudinally extending series.
At the printing station 16, at least one
block of printing (18 in ~IGURES 2 and 3) is applied
to at least one face of the sheet material 12 within
each increment. 8y preference~ the printing is
performed by known printing head 22, 24 which are
controlled by a known intelligent printer controller
26, e.g., of the type disclosed in the U.SO Paten~ of
McIlvaine, 3,911,818, issued October 14, 1975, so that
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a~ least part of the pri~ting that is applied to at
least: one face of ~he sheet in each increment is
uni~u~ to tha increment ox to a sel~cted series or
sub et of ~uch increments.
Downstr~am of the prin~ing station 16, at
ea~t a~se~ected portion of at lea~t:one face of ea~h
increment, e.90, a~band 28, 30 of the respective face
of~ the~web 12, is covered ~y a film 32, 34 of clear or
preprinted mat~rial or film which forms a protectlvS
sheet~material by using, e.g., an adhe~ive applied to
the web fa~e or to the film by applicators 36 and
38. Alternatively, the clear strip may be purchased
wlth the adhesive already applied to it. The
film/adhesive~printed paper web composi~e 40 is
laminated:, e.y~., by~prc~sing its layer~ together at
rolls~:42~ The ~elected portion 28, 30 preferably
includ s at least a portion of the block of p~inting
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18, 20 which includes at least a selected part 28a,
3Qa, that is unique to the particular increment 9
series or subset of potential sheets.
Following lamination, the composite web 40
travels through an embossing, perfora~ing and die-
cutting station or the like 44 in which at least one
selected part 46 of the clear film-protected printed
part of at least selected ones of said increments is
made potentially completely severable from the
remainder 48 by provision of a bounding discontinuous
line 50 of hol~ or cuts 52 interspersed with
rangible temporarily-connecting uncut por~1Ons 54.
In an in~tance where the remainder 48
surrounds the part 46, the line 50 extend completely
around the perimeter of the part 46. ~aut in. an
instance where the part 46 extend~ the full length of
the increment longitudinally with the web, the line 50
may be constituted by one longitudinally extending
se~ment, if th~ part 46 is also coterminous with
either the left or right lateral margin of the web 40,
or two txansver ely spaced longitudinally extending
segmen~ where the part 4~ i spaced from both ~he
left and the right margin~ of th~ web 40.)
At~the ensuing statlons depicted in FI~URE 1,
he web 40 i~ transversely folded, e~g., U-, V- or
Z-fa:shion, e.g., by a conventional plow folder 56, so
that the potential label 46 lie3 on a respectiYe panel
58 between an:edge 60 and a fold line 62 ~or ~etween
two fold:lines 62) on a respective increment o~ the
compos1te we~ 4~0. The compo~ite web is rep~atedly
severed transversely by ~onventional cutters applied
at 64:to transform the sucees~ion o~ increments into
respective sheet~ 66 which, i~ de ired, may be
automatically inserted into automatically addressed
envelopes 6~. :In the instance depicted, a set of webs
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70, 72 of envelope face stock is unrolled, provided on
its facing surfaces with adhesive along left and right
margins of its longitudinal edges and periodically in
bands extending transversely thereof, with such
synchronization that each of the folded sheets 66
become~ enveloped in a separate 'pod' 74 of the
composite envelope web 76. An addreqs or the like may
be applied to each pod 74, e.g. using a printing head
78 that is linked to the same intelligent printer
controller 26 with a corresponding time delay so a to
apply to the pod containing a particular potential
label 46 an addre~s whic~ is coordinated thelrewith in
a sense to direct the qnvelope containing that
potential label to the per~on.or orga~ization which is
to become responsible for bearing the respective
label. At 80, the composite envelope web i3 severed
into individual pre-addressed, potential label- ~.
contalning envelope~ 74'.
When each envelope 74' reaches th~ intended
responsible per~on and is opened, the respective sheet
may be withdrawn and, if olded, unfolded, e.g., so
that it appears as in ~IGURE 2 (from the front) and
IGURE 3 ~from the back).
In the example shQwn in FIGURES 2 and 3, the
potential label 46 is in the form of a laminated
membership card which is embodied a~ a separate field
in a le~ter from a member~hip-type organi~ation, in
which ~ er an official o th~ organization is
welcoming the bearer to membership and informins the
bearer of the privilege~ and responsibilities of a
member, and of the uses to which the card ~ay be
put. ~or instance, the label 46 may be severed from
th~ letter by tearing alony the discontinuous line of
perfora~ions or cuts which bounds it, and then carried
in a wallet or lapel-type cardholder as an I.D. cardl
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or if i~s backing is a peelable backing strip of a
pressure-sensitive adhe ive, the backing strip may be
peeled off and the label 46 ~tuck to a suit jacket
lapel or to a jar of contents as an identifying label~
In general, it is believed to be the
organization of steps to readily produce a series of
customized clear film-protected labels which i9
thought to be unique, rather than any one of the
individual steps or the apparatus for carrying out any
such step.
Intelligen~ printers and programmable
controllers for them are known. Typically, ~hey are
used by ma~s mailing orga~ization~ such as those which
mail periodical~ to a list of. ubRcriber~, and such as
those which mail advertisement~ and~or appeals for
contributions to a list of potential customers or
donor~, e.g., using a computer which may be programmed
in an updatable manner with a set of addre~se which
is fed serially in controlled coded form ~o an ink jet
print~r or the like i~ order to deflect droplets of
ink into charact2rs of respectiYe addres5es on a web
of lab~l ~tock r or on a succe~sion o~ e~velopes or the
like.
In the in~tance depicted a~ an ~xample of the
process, the prin~in~ proces~ i a roll-~upplied,
web-fed press which i~ capable of simultaneously
printing a cu~tomized message on both face~ o~ the
web. Such pre ~e~ are known, Typically, they are
used by mass mailing organization~ to print a
customized letter, such a "Dear Mr. Allen, You and
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: your ~amily residing at 1237 Ingle Street may already
~:: hav~ won... 'i, which practically all of us have
received at one time or another.
In fact, the blocks of printing material
being printed on successive increment~ of the web
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shown in FIGURE 1 may be constituted by precisely such
customized letters, in which the blocks of printing
that ~re to be clear film-covered may precede, qucceed
or be incorporated as an intermediate field in the
text of the letter. In such a case some of the text
th~t will not be laminated, e.g., the "Dear Mr. Allen"
will be customized in corre~pondence with the part of
the text that will be laminated.
Further, although in many perceived uses for
the method of the present invention, each card 46 will
contain some printed indicia that i~ uni~u~ to that
particular card, iOe., the name, member~hip number and
membership validity period for the intended bearer, it
would be within the purview of the present invention
to provide a who e series of laminated sheets in which
the potential labels 46 are identical. For instance,
a supplier of an indus~rial chemical newly found to
have a dangerou~ property could issue a "Dear
Cu~tomer" letter to e ch recent cu~tomer believed to
be holding one or more carboys of the chemical9
issuing that oustomer a new warning label for each,
together wi~h instructions for applying the label and
an admoni~hment to observe the warningO
Any suitable paper or similar substra~e can
be used for the base o~ the label~O By preference, it
generally would enter ~h~ proce~s as a roll being
unrolled to provide a continuotls web, a~ ~hown. ~ut
sheet-fed printing pres~es are equaIly well known, and
it~would not be a:complete departure from the
invention to use a stack of succes~ively abstracted
sheets of~paper a ~he 5upply. ~oweuer, this would
complicate th~ clear film laminating step and that is
why~it is not preferred.
Clear film, adhesive and apparatus for
laminating a layer of clear ilm by means of adhesive
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and pressure to either or both sides of a web of paper
are well known. Typically, such materials and
apparatus are used by printers of soft-cover books for
laminating a see-through protective film of
polyethylene terephthalate, polyvinylacetate or the
like to the exterior face of printed cover stock for
soft-cov~r books. Similar materialR are
conventionally similarly laminated on a marginal band
on one or both faces of oaktag stock or the like to
make hole-punched and tabbed reinforced edges of
divider pages for loose~leaf notebooks.
Perforators and die cutter~ for sheet stock
are w211 known. Typically~ such apparatus i3 used by
printers oE advertising and subscription-invitation
material having a potential pre-addres~ed, postpaid
busine~s reply card or coupon severable ~rom a sheet
of advertising/promotional literature by tearing along
a pre-cut discontinuous line of small perforation
holes or da~h-like cut~ bordering one, ~wo, three or
all four ~ide of the potential po~tal eard or
coupon. Pr2sently, each week'~ Sunday edition of The
Washington Post is published with several such
po~ent1al cards and coupons. The same equipment as is
used ~or cuttin~ the perforation holes or cut dash~s
in such in tances may be similarly us~d in practicing
the process of the pre ent invention.
Automated machines for cu~ting printing webs
in~o shee~s, folding the sheets into convenient size
(eithe~before or after the web i~ sever~d into
sheets) and for inserting ~he sheets into envelopes,
which are cus~om-addressed (either by being printed or
by having the addres~ that i~ printed on the letter
show through a window ~ovided in the proper location
on the front of the envelope) are well known. Typical
users, again, are mas~ mailer~ of political,
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religious, environmental and like invitations and
pleas for donations~ contest managing or~anizations
and direct mail catalog merchants.
Variations from the disclosed preferred
embodiment are possible within the scope of the
invention, including (without lamination) that more
than one potential label can be provided on each
increment of the web ~ for instance a ' his ' and a
' hers ' library card could be printed side by side on a
one-sheet letter weicoming a new couple to a
co~munity; that some increments could be left without
a potential lahel (for instance for a two-paga letter
made from one web, on:ly alternate increments in the
series would be provided with potential labels~; and a
two-, three- or more-page letter could be provided,
with only one page bearing a potential label, by
merging the output from ~everal web-fed press lines,
including the unusual one depictedi at the point where
the severed shee~ are being folded and put into
envelope stock. ~hat i~, of the multiple lines of a
conventional multiple-page web-fed printing press only
at least one line:but less than all would have ~he
unusual feature~ which have been d~acribed in relation
to~FIGURES 1-3, and the output of the several lines
would b~ conventionally collated9 olded and/or
enveloped.~
: It should now be apparen~ that the method for
producing a series of personalized laminated labels as
described hereinabove, po~esses each of ~he
attribut:es set ~orth in the specification under the
heading "Summary of the Invention" hereinbefore.
Because it can be modified to some exte~t without
departing from ~the princi~le~ thereo~ as they have
been outlined and explained in this specifica~ion, the
present inven~ion should b~ und~rstood as encompassing
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all such modifications as are within ~he spirit and
scope of the following claims.
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