Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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DESCRIPTION
Application aid for articles adhering in a mechanically
removable manner to a carrier or covering layer of sheet-like
form.
The present invention relates to an application aid
for one Gr mGre articles, such as therapeutic systems, plasters,
labels, or the like, positioned on a planiform extending,
particularly flexible carrier or covering layer in an adhesive
but mechanically releasable manner, in the form of cuts or
predetermined breaking lines formed in the carrier or cGver
layer.
Many ways of arranging articles adhesively on a base
material, and for removing them if required are known. This,
for example, can have the purpose of keeping the articles
available in an easily accessible way. However, this is
particularly useful, if specially prepared surfaces of articles
are to be protected against any influence until they are applied.
For example, it is known to cover and protect the pressure-
sensitive adhesive layer of labels, as well as plasters and
other articles, by means of a removable protective foil until
they are applied or used.
Removing the articles from a carrier layer or pulling-
off the cover layer, to expose the area to be protected is
particularly difficult if an adhesive composite between two
materials is concerned. This particularly applies to those
cases where the article surface to be protected is to be protected
from damage and/or contamination bGth during and after exposure
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by removing the carrier or cover layer, e.g., in order to
maintain the adhesiveness of an adheslve layer, the intactness
of sensltive surfaces agalnst mechanlcal lnfluences, a seal of
the surface, e.g., against escape of volatile components
applied to the surface, and so on.
Particularly if one tries to separate the partners
by means of the fingernails, a knife, or any other lnstrument,
undesired contact or even damage of the surface to be
protected may occur. In additlon, it may happen that there ls
no complete separatlon of the partners, i.e., portlons of the
carrier or cover layer remain stuck to the surfaces to be
protected, which then are very dlfflcult to remove from the
surface wlthout damaglng it.
Such a procedure cannot be applied particularly lf
the area to be protected is a sterile surface of a bandage,
the skln contact layer of a therapeutlc plaster, or lf
reactive materials, such as pharmaceutlc substances, are
incorporated into the surface. These substances are applied
topically and may contact the skin only at the site of
application, for example, active substances for the treatment
of actinic keratosis which are incorporated into a plaster
system.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, it
has been proposed to provide straight cuts or predetermined
breaking lines in the carrier or covering layer, so that by
flexing and/or pulling-off the carrler or cover layer,
portlons of it can be removed from the article which is
adhesively connected
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28109-16
to said layer. However, perfect, complete and simple exposure
of the surface of the article or a corresponding removal thereof,
respectively, is not guaranteed, particularly if a sensitive
article is concerned, such as, for example, a therapeutic
plaster, a plastic moulding, a very flexible carrier or cover
layer of a thin aluminum foil, an aluminum laminate, a polymer
foil, or the like. Particularly in case of small articles having
a small surface to be protected, it is difficult to expose it
completely. But even the selective separation of individual
sections of the article and carrier or cover layer has not been
solved satisfactorily.
In U. S. Patent No. 3,230,649 the provision cf
arcuate cuts or predetermined breaking lines in the carrier foil
is described, which, on flexing the material, lead to a gripping
tab of the carrier material so that this section can be peeled
off. However, this solution does not provide a satisfactory
process for co~,plete and undamaged separation of the partners
connected with each other, since, in general, a remaining
portion of the carrier layer must be laboriously removed from
the article by means of the fingernails or an auxiliary tool.
It is also known, in the use of several articles or
several connected parts cf an article, to ccnnect them by means
of a kind of releasing tape so that, on pulling a projecting
portion of the tape, the parts connected by this tape can be
removed from the carrier layer in one operational step.
However, prior to use or application of the individual porticns
they have to be released from the releasing tape. In addition
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to the relatlvely expensive productlon, this known arrangement
ls llmlted to the slmultaneous removal of several artlcles or
several parts of an artlcle, and to relatlvely small artlcles
or parts thereof. It is also known to provide strips or
threads of suitable material, such as plastic, textiles, or
metal, between a carrier layer and the articles posltioned
thereon, whereby these strips or threads pro~ect at least at
one end from the articles or parts thereof so that separation
will be possible. However, this arrangement and the formation
thereof involves considerable expense, not to mention the fact
that it cannot be applied ln all cases.
A pulllng-off ald ls known, whlch ls intended for
mechanically removable substrates (1.2) adhering to a
planiform, flexible carrier material (l.1). It consists of
non-linear cuts or predetermlned breaking lines (1.4) in the
carrier material (1.1) for each indlvldual substrate (1.2).
By applylng pressure on the carrler material (1.1) in a
vertical direction to the substrate contact surface, a portion
of the substrate predetermined by the lines of the
predetermined breaking lines or cuts is bendable in the
direction of the substrate or substrates. In this way, at
least a portion of the substrate (1.2) in its edge region
ad~acent to the cut line or predetermined breaking line (1.4)
is released from the carrier material (1.1) and thus provides
a gripping section (1.3) at the substrate (1.2) in order to
completely remove the substrate (1.2) from the carrier
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material (1.1).
The proposed solutlon of the problem permlts easy
removal of such adheslve substrates, however, it also requlres
contactlng the adheslve substrate area wlth the flngers so
that contamlnation of the flngers with reactlve materlals ln
the substrate becomes posslble.
It ls the ob~ect of the present lnventlon to provlde
an appllcatlon aid avolding the above-mentioned dlsadvantages
of the known solutlons and permlttlng removal of artlcles
connected in an adheslve but mechanlcally releasable manner to
a carrler or cover layer ln an easy and rellable way wlthout
the necesslty or danger of contaminatlon of the contact or
protectlve area.
Thls ob~ect ls achleved accordlng to the present
lnventlon, whlch, broadly, resldes ln the comblnatlon of at
least one artlcle selected from the group conslstlng of a
therapeutlc system and therapeutlc device, and a removable
carrier or covering layer, said article belng posltloned on
and adherlng to sald carrler or coverlng layer, sald carrler
or coverlng layer being substantlally flat and flexlble and
ZO having integral therewith an application aid for said article,
sald appllcatlon ald definlng a portlon of sald carrler or
coverlng layer and being detachable therefrom by severlng
guldes, sald artlcle belng so posltloned upon the carrler or
covering layer such that a portlon of the artlcle ls
posltloned over a part of the appllcatlon ald and the severing
guldes.
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In a further aspect, the lnventlon resldes ln the
combination of at least one article selected from the group
conslstlng of a therapeutlc system and therapeutlc device, and
a removable carrler or covering layer, sald artlcle belng
posltloned on and adherlng to sald carrler or coverlng layer,
said carrier or covering layer being substantlally flat and
flexlble and havlng lntegral therewlth an appllcatlon ald,
sald aid defining a portion of said carrier or coverlng layer
and belng attached thereto and removable therefrom by severlng
guldes, sald artlcle belng so posltloned upon the carrier or
coverlng layer such that a portlon of the article is dlsposed
over a part of the appllcatlon ald and the severlng guldes, a
portion of the aid not covered by the artlcle belng provlded
wlth a knop or engravlng.
In a still further aspect, the lnventlon resldes ln
the comblnatlon of at least one artlcle selected from the
group conslstlng of a therapeutlc system and therapeutlc
devlce, and a removable carrler or coverlng layer, sald
artlcle belng posltloned on and adherlng to sald carrler or
coverlng layer, sald carrler or coverlng layer belng
substantlally flat and flexlble and havlng lntegral therewlth
an appllcatlon aid, sald ald deflnlng a portlon of sald
carrler or coverlng layer and belng attached thereto and
removable therefrom by severlng guldes, sald artlcle being so
posltloned upon the carrier or coverlng layer such that a
portlon of the artlcle ls dlsposed over a part of the
appllcatlon ald and the severlng guldes, the positlon of the
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article upon the aid belng asymmetrical.
Sultable further embodiments of the present
lnvention are descrlbed hereln and ln the accompanying claims.
The use of the application aid according to the
present lnventlon permlts a predetermined portlon of the
carrler or cover layer wlth an artlcle adherlng thereto to be
easlly and rellably separated from the carrler or cover layer
where only one article, but also where a plurallty of
artlcles, is connected to the carrler or cover layer ln an
adheslve but mechanlcally removable manner. Thls ls
accomplished wlthout the necesslty nor the danger of manual
contact wlth the exposed surface of the artlcle to be
protected, and thus permlts easy and comfortable transfer of
the artlcle to lts lntended purpose by means of the portion of
the carrier or coverlng layer grlpped by the hand.
The invention is illustrated ln the drawlng as
embodlment examples, and will be further explalned wlth
reference to the drawlngs, wherein
Flgure 1 ls a plan vlew of a square carrler or
coverlng layer wlth a clrcular article positioned thereon,
Figure 2 ls a plan vlew of a sectlon of the carrler
or cover layer whlch, together wlth the artlcle, has been
separated from the carrier or cover layer according to Flgure
1,
Figure 3 is a plan view of a modification of the
carrler
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28109-16
or cover layer of Figure 1,
Figure 4 is a plan view of another modification of the
carrier or cover layer of Figure 1,
Figure 5 is a plan view of an embodiment comprising
an arrangement of a multiplicity of articles on a common carrier
or cover layer, respectively.
According to Figures 1 and 2 the article 2 illustrated
with circular cross-section is centrally positioned on the square
carrier or cover layer 1, whereby the carrier or covering layer 1
and the article 2, which may be a label, a plaster, a therapeutic
system, or the like, are connected with each other at their
contact surfaces either contacting or Gpposing each other in an
adhesive but mechanically releasable way.
The carrier or cover layer 1, starting from its right-
hand edge, is provided - relative to an imaginary horizontal
center line, symmetrically - with the substantially triangular
cut or predetermined breaking line 3. This cut or predetermined
breaking line 3 may, for example, be a notch or perforation
extending over a portion of the thickness of the carrier or
covering layer, whereby the perforation may exhibit a more or
less large number of more or less closely arranged perforation
holes having a more or less large cross-section. However, this
cut or predetermined breaking line could also have the form of a
more or less large number of more or less long indentations
connected with one another by webs. As a matter of fact, in
this connection, it is ensured that the mechanical stability of
the carrier or covering layer 1 is adequate to reliably prevent
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28109-16
unintentional and too early separation - for example during
packaging.
Depending on the sensitivity of the contact surface to
be protected of the article 2, one may also form the cut or
predetermined breaking line 3 in the region where it extends
below the article 2 as a notch not completely passing through
the thickness of the carrier or cover layer 1, and in the regions
extending outside of the article 2 as perforations or indents
with webs lying in between. In any case, the formation is
chosen in such a way that reliable protection of the surface to
be protected of the article 2 is guaranteed, while that the
portion 4 of the carrier or covering layer 1, which is determined
by the cut or predetermined breaking line 3, can be separated
easily and safely from the carrier or covering layer 1 in the
defined way. In this connection it has to be ensured that the
area, at which portion 4 and article 2 adhere to each other,
is chGsen in such a way that both perfect removal of article 2
from the carrier or cover layer and the reliable adherence of
article 2 to portion 4 is maintained when said portion is
separated from the rest of the carrier or covering layer.
As is particularly obvious from Figure 2, the hatched
region 4a of the member 4 is sufficiently large so as to permit
safe gripping for separation from the remaining portion of the
carrier or covering layer 1. Preferakly, the member 4 should
overlap at least 10% of the area of the article 2.
As a matter of fact, any desired shape of the carrier
or cover layer 1 can be realized instead of the square shape
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shown. The same applies to the article 2, i.e., instead of the
circular shape, any other possible shape may be chosen,
depending on the article of the respective case. Similarly the
shape of member 4 can be completely different from that as shown,
just as is suitable or required. Finally, the central arrange-
ment of the article 2 on the carrier or covering layer 1 is meant
to be an example only; any other off-central or asymmetric
arrangement of article 2 and arrangement and formation of member
4 could be chosen.
Such an asymmetrical arrangement of the part 4 in
relation to the carrier or cover layer 1, and in particular to
article 2, is shown in Figure 3 in which the cut or
predetermined breaking line 3 is displaced upward at the right
edge so that the member 4 contacts the article 2 on an
asymmetrically shaped area.
According to the circumstances, this asymmetric
arrangement and formation can be suitable to facilitate the use
or application of the articles 2, if the article 2, by means of
the separated member 4 covering Gne portion of the area of the
article 2 and projecting the article 2 by part 4a, is transferred
to the site of application and applied thereto without touching
the contact surface of the article. For this purpose, the
exposed surface of the article is at first anchGred to the site
of application, then the separated part 4 of the carrier or cover
layer 1 is removed, and finally the article is completely
brought into contact with the site of application. In this
connection the active-substance-containing or otherwise prepared
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surface of the article never has to be touched with the fingers
or any other auxiliary instrument, such as forceps or the like.
In order tc facilitate the separation or releasing
process, respectively, the region 4a of the member 4 meant for
gripping it with the hand, is provided with elevations or nobs
5, thus particularly ensuring safe gripping. Certainly,
engravings or any other kind of elevations may also be provided
for, instead of the nobs.
An example of arranging and applying several articles
2 or even parts of an article on a common carrier or covering
layer is shown in Figure 5. As a matter of fact, in this case
too, the symmetric shape of the carrier or cover layer 1, as well
as the arrangement and form of the articles 2 and of the cut or
predetermined breaking lines 3, and that of the tear-off
portions 4 and gripping parts 4a formed by the cut or
predetermined breaking lines are not compulsory. Any other
suitable or desired form can be utilized without having to
accept any disadvantages.
It is understood that the specification and examples
are illustrative but not limitative of the present invention
and that other embodiments within the spirit and scope of the
invention will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art.
