Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02466838 2004-05-10
TAMPER PROOF TAG
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to tags attachable to
products or articles, and more particularly to a tamper proof
tag usable for promotional, authentication and other purposes
such as for providing instructions or identification for a
product, and is adapted for application on bottled, jarred
and tubed products, ete., to be used in the alcoholic
beverage industry, the cosmetic industry and others.
BACKGROUND
Many industries do on-pack promotion using e.g.
leaflets, labels, mufti panel labels, lottery tickets, etc.
which are normally glued directly on a product. Now, almost
nobody uses them anymore because they are not secure.
Customers may rip/tear them off, leaving the product on the
shelf either without the promotional piece or leaving the
product damaged/altered. As a result, customers do not buy
the product because it is either damaged or does not have the
promotional piece. In such cases, the retailers have to
return the damaged/altered products to their supplier for
replacement, which is expensive and time consuming.
Standard tags are still in use . Normally they are made
with card stock and are mostly used as an instant discount
upon purchasing the product. They create a lot of mess
because they often fall off the product and lay on the floor
because they are easy to remove and very fragile. Thus,
products are left on the shelf without one.
One major problem of the above products, whatever it is
labels, piggy back labels or standard tags, is that they are
all very easy to remove without catching others attention, so
a lot of consumers j ust pull them out and keep them without
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buying the product. In the majority of cases, they leave the
product either damaged/altered.
SUMMARY
An object of the invention is to provide a tamper proof
tag which is hard to be removed from the product unless using
scissors or a sharp tool or force.
According to the present invention, there is provided a
tamper proof tag comprising a base substrate having an area
IO adapted to receive an insert, and a laminated element adapted
to cover the area to encapsulate the insert, the laminated
element being permanently affixed onto the base substrate by
means of an adhesive element extending between the base
substrate and the laminated element, the base substrate and
the over lamination being made of a material hard to tear.
BRTEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
A detailed description of preferred embodiments will be
given herein below with reference to the following drawings,
20 in which like numbers refer to like elements:
Figure 1 is a schematic exploded view of a tamper proof
tag according to the invention.
Figure 2 is a schematic view of the assembly of the
disclosed tamper proof tag.
Figure 3 is a schematic view of the parts forming a die
cut tamper proof tag.
Figure 4 is a schematic view of a tamper proof tag on a
bottle with a stopper ring.
Figure 5 is a schematic view of a tamper proof tag on a
30 bottle with a cap.
Figure 6 is a schematic view of another assembly of the
disclosed tamper proof tag.
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Figure 7 is a schematic view of a tamper proof tag tied
to a bottle.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring to Figure 5, there is shown an exemplary use
of a tamper proof tag on a bottle.
Referring to Figure 1, the tamper proof tag comprises a
base substrate, an adhesive layer, and an over lamination.
The base substrate has an area adapted to receive an insert.
In the illustrated case, the area is delineated by dashed
lines showing where the user will have to cut the tag to
remove the insert. The over lamination may cover only the
area where the insert is to be positioned, if desired. As
shown, the adhesive layer has a sealed area free of adhesive
material, corresponding to the area on the base substrate
adapted to receive the insert, so that: the insert is not
glued when the tag is assembled. The over lamination may
possibly be affixed to the base substrate by a punching,
welding, seaming or another process instead of using an
adhesive layer, if desired, provided that it result in the
encapsulation of the insert.
Referring to Figure 2, the insert is positioned in the
appropriate area on the base substrate and then the over
lamination is affixed against the base ~;ubstrate and adheres
to it by means of the adhesive layer, thereby encapsulating
the insert.
Referring to Figure 3, the tamper proof tag may be
formed by a die cutting process. The tamper proof tag may
have a round shaped end having a hole sized for press-fit
insertion of the tag on the neck of the bottle. The tamper
proof tag may have any desired shape provided that it does
not prevent its installation on the product.
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Referring to Figure 4, a stopper element may be used to
prevent the tag from being easily removed from the bottle if
necessary, e.g. when the neck of the bottle is too smooth and
is deprived of a sufficient stopping surface, as it is often
the case with wine bottles with a cork. The stopper element
can be made of a tie-wrap or metallic/synthetic band/stripe
acting as a stopper.
Referring to Figure 5, the stopping surface may be
provided by the lower rim of a twist cap used to close the
opening of a bottle.
Referring to Figure 6, the tag may comprise only a base
substrate against which an adhesive label is affixed to
encapsulate the insert.
Referring to Figure 7, the tag may be tied to the neck
of the bottle using e.g. a tie wrapping element passing in
holes made in the tag to this effect . Only one hole may be
sufficient for the purpose.
Referring back to Figure 1, the base substrate is
preferably made of synthetic, metallic or paper/card low
stretch and high tear resistant material with an over
lamination on one or both sides. An information or
promotional message may be printed on the base substrate. The
tag may be used to print information or message on the base
substrate, apply an insert Like a game piece, a mufti panel
leaflet, a label, a scented piece or promotional give away
product, a break open ticket, scratch card, etc. The inserts
may be very diversified. The base substrate is then over
laminated on top to seal and encapsulate the insert over the
base substrate, making the game piece or other insert element
inaccessible. A clear lamination is preferred so that the
consumers may actually see the insert which has an appealing
message to entice the consumers to buy the product.
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Referring again to Figure 2, the tag may be die cut to
have a hole made to the exact specific shape and size of the
neck of the bottle so that when it is applied to the product,
it will be very hard to remove it. The tag may be applied
either manually or mechanically on the product. In the case
of a tube or jar, most probably, it will have to be applied
before mounting the cap. In this case, if a fraudulent
consumer wants to take the piece without buying the product,
he will have to unscrew the cap, which may be prevented if
the product has a seal to be broken first.
As it can be seen, the tamper proof tag is a very clean
product. If somebody is able, despite everything, using force
to pull the tag out, or cut it out, it will leave the bottle,
j ar, tube, etc . intact and still sellable . The tamper proof
tag is very hard to remove as a lot of force or a sharp tool
or scissors are needed, which will likely discourage attempts
to illegitimately remove it in front of everybody in a store
as it will necessarily attract their attention.
The tag may at last be used for its intended purpose,
i.e. to catch the clientele's attention, to provide offers to
participate in a promotion, to authenticate a product as
being an original, for advertisement purposes, or as an
incentive to purchase the product. For example, a client
walks in a liquor store to buy a bottle of rum of a given
mark and sees next to it a bottle of another mark bearing a
tamper proof tag which advertises to buy the product and take
a chance to win one of 500 cruises in, let's say, Greece.
Since the tamper proof tag cannot be easily removed and the
encapsulated game piece is inaccessible L.nless the client has
scissors or a sharp tool on him/her, there is a good chance
that that client will buy the rum of the other mark because
once at home, he/she will have the opportunity to cut open
the game piece to take a chance for the free cruise.
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As a security feature, a holographic label or, other
security feature may be added on th.e tag to enhance
authenticity. A message/text may be printed on the base
substrate, and a concealed label that contains the game
piece/offer may be applied on the base substrate (as shown in
Figure 6). The adhesive used should be sufficiently strong
and permanent.
The tamper proof tag can be used as a security item to
authenticate the origin of the product and prevent
counterfeiters from imitating the product, bottle, labels and
contents and selling them on the black market. The security
item may at the same time be used to promote and authenticate
the product.
While embodiments of this invention have been
illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described above,
it will be evident to those skilled in the art that changes
and modifications may be made therein without departing from
the essence of this invention.
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