Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Methods – Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
Patent
1999-03-29
2000-09-05
Ball, Michael W.
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Methods
Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
206807, 215246, 428347, B32B 3100
Patent
active
061137200
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to marking articles, and more particularly to marking an article by transfer from a sleeve or a heat-shrink plastics material which is shrunk onto the article concerned. The article may be of a very wide variety of types, and in particular it may be an article for packaging consumer products such as foods, chemicals, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, or indeed other products such as CDs.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Techniques are already known for marking articles by transferring a pattern printed on the inside face of a sleeve of heat-shrink plastics material, said pattern being transferred by the sleeve being shrunk onto the article concerned. Nevertheless, it should be observed that the transferred pattern is text or graphics printed by means of a special ink suitable for making the transfer (e.g. a sublimable ink), and that once the printed pattern has been transferred onto the article, the sleeve is of no further use and is removed from the article.
The present invention stems from a different approach, seeking to devise a technique for marking articles by transfer from a sleeve of heat-shrink plastics material which is shrunk onto the article, but in which the shrunk sleeve does not constitute a useless temporary medium, but can perform other functions, for example a function of tamperproofing and/or constituting a certificate of origin.
Document WO-A-96/02 434 describes the use of a heat-shrink strip associated with a cover of a container for a pharmaceutical. On the inside, the strip has a transferable portion (e.g. carrying the word "opened") which remains on the edge of the cover on first removal of the strip. An adhesive that is reactivatable by heat is used for transferring the label.
Documents WO-A-93/19 445 and US-A-5 292 018 describe techniques very close to that of the preceding document, with a message portion (or bar code) being transferred when the sleeve is shrunk.
Mention can also be made of document EP-A-0 345 405 which describes a card carrying a piece or medallion to which access is barred by an adhesive film having a hologram stuck to the article: any attempt at opening has the effect of delaminating the hologram, thereby providing the looked-for security.
In addition, security envelopes of heat-shrink plastics material have been known for a long time, in particular for association with the necks of bottles, and designed to constitute a guarantee of tamperproofing for the consumer, guaranteeing that the product concerned has not been subjected to fraudulent substitution or has not been spoiled maliciously. The security envelope heat-shrunk onto the neck of the bottle thus serves as an indicator of tampering in the event of an attempt at forcibly tearing or removing said envelope.
Nevertheless, with that security envelope technique, removal of the envelope, e.g. by pulling on an associated tear strip, leaves no portion or trace of the envelope on the article. Consequently, the function of constituting a certificate of origin remains, in practice, rather limited.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention seeks specifically to solve this technical problem, in particular by devising marking to provide a certificate of origin that is capable of providing the consumer with a complete guarantee, and optionally also making it possible to detect any fraudulent or abnormal manipulation of the sleeve shrunk onto the article, in particular for tamperproofing an article closure device as is required for receptacles.
An object of the invention is thus to devise a technique of marking articles by transfer from a sleeve of heat-shrunk plastics material which is shrunk onto the article that makes it possible, in particular, to provide a function of indicating whether tampering has taken place and/or a function of certifying an origin, in association with a function of packaging the article, in particular to tamperproof a closure device of said article, and also to provide a function of making products traceable.
According to the invention, this problem is solved by a meth
REFERENCES:
patent: 5033774 (1991-07-01), Benardelli
patent: 5292018 (1994-03-01), Travisano
patent: 5641084 (1997-06-01), Rice
patent: 5795209 (1998-08-01), Moore
patent: 6020823 (2000-02-01), DeCicco
Ball Michael W.
Friedman Stuart J.
Peabody LLP Nixon
Rossi Jessica
Sleever International Company
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