ANTI-THEFT AND ANTI-CORROSIVE TRACKING CODE METHOD

METHODE DE PROTECTION CONTRE LE VOL ET LA CORROSION AXEE SUR DES CODES DE SUIVI

English Abstract

An anti-theft marking method for the protection and tracking of objects and/or parts thereof is described. The method comprises assigning an identification code for the object and/or parts thereof to be protected by the code. The method further comprises identifying metal parts of the objects and/or parts thereof which are susceptible to rust and/or which are painted and susceptible to chipping and on which the code is to be engraved. A permanent transparent elastomeric adhesive tape is then applied over a region of the object and/or parts thereof where the code is to be engraved. Characters of the code are then engraved over the elastomeric tape and a clear protective lacquer is applied over the engraved code to seal perforations in the elastomeric adhesive tape made by the engraved code.

French Abstract

Une méthode de marquage antivol pour la protection et le suivi d'objet ou de parties d'objet est décrite. La méthode comprend l'attribution d'un code d'identification de l'objet ou de parties de l'objet à protéger à l'aide du code. La méthode comprend également l'identification des pièces métalliques de l'objet ou des parties de l'objet qui sont susceptibles de rouiller et qui sont peintes et susceptibles de s'écaler et sur lesquelles le code doit être gravé. Un ruban adhésif élastomère transparent permanent est ensuite posé sur une région de l'objet ou des parties de l'objet où le code doit être gravé. Les caractères du code sont ensuite gravés sur le ruban élastomère et une laque protectrice transparente est appliquée sur le code gravé pour sceller les perforations dans le ruban adhésif élastomère produites par le code gravé.

Claims

CLAIMS:
1. An anti-theft marking method for the protection and tracking of an
object
and/or parts thereof, said method comprising the steps of
i) assigning an identification code for said object and/or parts thereof to be
protected by said code;
ii) identifying metal parts of said objects and/or parts thereof which are
susceptible to rust and/or which are painted and susceptible to chipping
and on which said code is to be engraved;
iii) applying a permanent transparent elastomeric adhesive tape over a region
of said object and/or parts thereof where said code is to be engraved;
iv) engraving characters of said code over said elastomeric adhesive tape, and
v) applying a clear protective lacquer over said engraved code to seal
perforations in said elastomeric adhesive tape made by said engraved
code.
2. An anti-theft marking method as claimed in claim 1, wherein after said
step
(iv) and before said step (v) there is provided a step of applying a pressure
on
said elastomeric adhesive tape to expulse air that is present under said tape
in
the region where said characters of said code are to be applied by engraving.
3. An anti-theft marking method as claimed in claim 2, wherein there is
further
provided a step of positioning a magnet piece on said metal parts on which
said code is to be engraved to determine if said metal parts are susceptible
to
rust.
4. An anti-theft marking method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said
elastomeric adhesive tape is a highly transparent aliphatic polyurethane film
with a strong permanent adhesive acrylic compound.
6

5. An anti-theft marking method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said
elastomeric adhesive tape is a polyurethane elastomer which is long-aging
and provided with a pressure sensitive acrylic adhesive.
6. An anti-theft marking method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said object
is a
vehicle and/or parts thereof.
7. An anti-theft marking method as claimed in claim 6, wherein said vehicle
is
an industrial vehicle and/or parts thereof.
8. An anti-theft marking method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said object
is
one of a road vehicle, a water craft, an aircraft, or industrial or commercial
machinery.
9. An anti-theft marking method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step
(iv)
comprises engraving said code with an electric engraving tool having
inputting means to input said code.
10. An anti-theft marking method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step
(iii)
comprises applying said permanent transparent elastomeric adhesive tape
over a region which is not readily visible from the exterior.
11 . An anti-theft marking method as claimed in claim 10, wherein there is
further
provided the step of applying a visible logo and/or printed message on a
visual area of said object to indicate that said object is protected with said
anti-theft marking code.
12. An anti-theft marking method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said
elastomeric adhesive tape prevents paint chipping during said step (iv) of
engraving as well as being resistant to abrasion, scratches and erosion; said
protective lacquer preventing the formation of rust in the area of said
engraved characters.
- 7 -

Description

CA 02740494 2011-05-17
ANTI-THEFT AND ANTI-CORROSIVE TRACKING CODE METHOD
TECHNICAL FIELD
[00011 The invention relates to an anti-theft and anti-corrosive tracking code
applied
to metal parts by a novel method whereby to identify stolen objects and/or
parts
thereof protected by the code.
BACKGROUND OF THE ART
[00021 In PCT application PCT/CA2002/001624 there is described a method of
preventing theft by extensive marking of automobiles. These markings are used
to
identify the vehicle for title and registration purposes and to reduce car
theft by
making it extremely difficult, if not impossible to re-sale a vehicle or parts
thereof.
Unfortunately, as mentioned therein these identification marks can be altered
or
obliterated by skilled individuals.
[00031 There is presently on the market processes for engraving permanent
markings
on surfaces of materials such as glass, plastic and metal. As described in the
aforementioned PCT application such method use an abrasive blasting gun
assembly
and a stencil on which a code is cut-out therein and positions against a
surface to be
abraded by sand blasting. However, when such markings are made on metal parts
which are susceptible to corrosion, because the sand blasting does penetrate
very
deeply into the metal and because some of these metal parts are exposed to the
environment, rust will form in the marking and slowly degrade and damage the
marking making it difficult to identify the code. This complicates the
tracking of
stolen vehicles or parts There is therefore a need to develop a better method
of
engraving codes on objects to protect the code against damage by foreign
elements or
otherwise.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
100041 It is a feature of the present invention to provide an anti-theft
marking
method for the protection of identification codes abraded or engraved objects
and/or
parts thereof and which substantially overcomes the above-mentioned
disadvantages.

CA 02740494 2011-05-17
100051 It is a further feature of the present invention to provide a method
which
protects an identification code abraded or engraved on metal parts subject to
corrosion
and or paint chipping and particularly those which are exposed to the
environment.
100061 According to the above feature, from a broad aspect, there is provided
an
anti-theft marking method for the protection and tracking of objects and/or
parts
thereof is described. The method comprises assigning an identification code
for the
object and/or parts thereof to be protected by the code. The method further
comprises
identifying metal parts of the objects and/or parts thereof which are
susceptible to rust
and/or which are painted and on which the code is to be engraved. A permanent
transparent elastomeric adhesive tape is then applied over a region of the
object and/or
parts thereof where the code is to be engraved. Characters of the code are
then
engraved over the elastomeric tape and a clear protective lacquer is
thereafter applied
over the engraved code to seal perforations in the elastomeric adhesive tape
made by
the engraved code.
100071 A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described
with
reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
100081 Fig. 1 is a flow diagram illustrating the anti-theft improved marking
method
of the present invention;
100091 Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the permanent transparent
elastomeric
adhesive tape secured over a region of an object on which an identification
code is to
be engraved;
100101 Fig. 3 is a schematic view showing an engraving device which is
imported
with a code to be engraved over the transparent elastomeric adhesive tape as
shown in
Fig. 2;
100111 Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing a protective lacquer being applied
over
the elastomeric adhesive tape in which the identification code has been
engraved
whereby to seal the code; and
-2-

CA 02740494 2011-05-17
[00121 Fig. 5 is a front view of a transparent logo sticker which is
adhesively secured
to an object protected by the anti-theft marking method of the present
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
100131 Referring now to Figures 1 to 5 there will be described the anti-theft
marking
method of the present invention. As shown in Figure 1, the anti-theft marking
method
of the present invention has been developed particularly for the protection of
identification codes which are engraved in metal parts of an object or and/or
parts
thereof to be protected by the code. The method comprises various steps in the
process
and firstly there is provided the step 10 of assigning a code to an object
which is
identified in association with the code. Depending on the object to be
protected, the
method further comprises the step 11 of identifying metal parts of that object
on
which the code is to be engraved. Some of the parts of the object may not
require the
affixing of the code by engraving, for example wherein the code is to be
applied to
glass and wherein an other type of marking device is required, such as a sand
blasting
gun as described in Canadian Patent No. 1,200,391 issued in 1986. Therefore
step 12
also comprises identifying the type of marking to be affixed to the object
and/or parts
thereof.
[00141 Once the metal parts are identified, it is then necessary to identify
the location
on which the tracking identification code 13 as shown in step 10 is to be
applied. This
identification is defined by step 14. Certain other parts are affixed to the
tracking code
by the sand blasting method. To determine if the metal part is susceptible to
rust and /
or chipping, there is provided an optional step 15 of applying a magnet to the
metal
part to determine if the part is ferromagnetic and susceptible to rust and as
such then
the engraved code would be susceptible to rusting and degradation by rust, as
above-
mentioned. The next step 16 is to apply a permanent transparent elastomeric
adhesive
tape 17 on the metal part 18 as shown in Figure 2 and in the area where the
tracking
identification code is to be applied.
100151 With reference to Figure 3, the next step in the process is to input
the code in
an engraving tool 19 shown in Figure 3. The inputting step is identified by
block 20 in
Figure 1 and such can be done by a computer 21 which programs the engraving
tool
-3-

CA 02740494 2011-05-17
19 to engrave the code into the metal part 18 through the permanent
transparent
elastomeric adhesive tape 17. It is pointed out that several types of objects
and/or parts
thereof which contain metal parts can be provided with engraved codes as
described
by the method of the present invention. For example, these objects can
comprise
automobiles, industrial vehicles, water crafts, air crafts and industrial and
commercial
machinery, to state a few examples thereof. The code can also be engraved by a
hand
engraving tool having an engraving bit displaced by the hand of a person.
[00161 As shown in Figure 4 the code is engraved through the elastomeric
adhesive
17 and this engraving results in perforations being made in the tape 17, these
perforations being identified by reference numeral 22 in Figure 4. The
engraving step
is identified by block 23 in Figure 1. As shown in Figure 4 a lacquer spray
24, applied
by an aerosol can 30 or by a brush, seals the perforations 22 in the tape 17
whereby
the tracking identification code 13 is sealed, as well as the environment
thereof, and
the code is protected by the tape 17 and the lacquer in the perforations. The
step of
applying the lacquer is identified by block 25 in Figure 1.
[00171 In order to discourage theft of the object and/or parts thereof having
been
protected by the tracking identification code of the present invention, a
visible logo
26, as shown in Figure 5, is applied to a visible area of the object to signal
to a would-
be thief that the object in question and/or parts thereof have been engraved
with
tracking codes to dissuade the thief from stealing the object. This step is
identified by
block 27 in Figure 1.
100181 It is also pointed out that when the tape is applied to the object
and/or parts
thereof, it is preferable to apply pressure on the elastomeric adhesive tape
to expulse
any air that may be trapped under the tape, particularly in the region where
characters
of the code are to be engraved. Also, as mentioned above, the engraving tool
19 may
be of different type such as an electric engraving tool or a percussion
engraving tool,
known in the art. It is also preferable to make sure that the part on which
the tape is to
be applied has been cleansed of any foreign soiling substances. It is also
pointed out
that the elastomeric adhesive tape provides another advantage during the
engraving of
the tracking identification code, and particularly when applied over a painted
surface,
-4-

CA 02740494 2011-05-17
as the tape prevent the paint from chipping by the engraving bit. As well, the
elastomeric adhesive tape is one which is resistant to abrasion, scratches and
erosion.
Such tapes are also known in the art and provided for entirely different
purposes. One
such tape is a highly transparent aliphatic polyurethane film which has a
strong
permanent adhesive acrylic compound. Another of such tape is one which a
polyurethane elastomer which is long-aging and provided with a pressure
sensitive
acrylic adhesive. These tapes are also solvent-resistant, and have a pressure-
sensitive
acrylic adhesive which is protected by a release liner which is removed only
when the
tape is to be applied. Such tapes are also very resistant to deterioration by
road salts
which contain calcium and which attacks metal parts of vehicles which are not
well
protected against rust formation.
[00191 It is within the ambit of the present invention to cover any obvious
modifications of the preferred embodiment described herein provided such
modifications fall within the scope of the appended claims.
-5-

Representative Drawing