Registers – Records – Conductive
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-14
2004-08-24
Fureman, Jared J. (Department: 2876)
Registers
Records
Conductive
C235S375000, C068S012020, C340S572100, C134S0570DL
Reexamination Certificate
active
06779731
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention lies in the field of textiles. The invention relates to a product care label intended to be attached to textiles and having a textile carrier part with printed-on or woven-in care instructions containing information on suitable treatment of the textile product, and to a method for producing the product care label.
The treatment of textiles, but, in particular, the washing and drying of articles of clothing, is one of the tasks of daily life that occur frequently. These routine cleaning processes must proceed as optimally as possible to ensure that the textiles maintain their value. Incorrect treatment may not only damage an article of clothing, but, in extreme cases, even destroy it completely. For reasons of cost, but also to save time, laundry articles are not treated individually, but are combined into laundry batches. Such combined laundry articles are then washed together in a washing machine. When such laundry batches are put together, it is very important to combine only textiles that have identical or similar properties, such as type of cloth, permitted washing temperature or color, so that a variation in the textiles such as, for example, dye run, shrinkage, or felting, can be avoided during washing.
New cloth compositions, such as, for example, combinations of the natural products silk and linen, which both independently have completely different care profiles, require the user to have increasingly more comprehensive and specialized knowledge for proper care and so that the articles maintain their value. The same applies to modern microfibers and GORETEX® materials, for example, which are used mainly for the production of sports and leisure clothing. These materials combine the advantageous features of a wide variety of conventional cloths, such as, for example, low weight, high wearing comfort and breathability, with the possibility of cleaning the laundry articles in the user's own washing machine.
So that textiles with different colors and cloth compositions can undergo as optimal a cleaning process as possible and, consequently, meet their different care requirements, product care labels have been in existence for a long time. The care labels usually are made of textile or plastic strips or tabs, onto which care instructions in the form of symbols are printed, woven, or embroidered during the production process. The labels contain instructions for the treatment of the associated textile product. Care symbols are used, for example, to define the maximum washing or ironing temperature or to recommend or rule out hand washing or chemical cleaning. The care labels are sewn in at a concealed location, preferably, on the inside of an article of clothing, for example, at a seam of a shirt. A user must read the care labels and interpret their particulars. However, because of the different fabric compositions and colors, there are a large number of different care symbols, the meaning of which is not always known to the user. An accurate explanation of the meaning of the care symbols is usually difficult in practice, and because of the uncertainty, as a rule, unknown care symbols are ignored and the laundry article is added to a laundry batch of presumably the same kind. However, the treatment program subsequently selected on the washing machine may prove unsuitable and the individual laundry article or, in extreme cases, for example, due to dye running, the entire laundry batch may be damaged.
To identify articles of clothing, machine-readable electronic storage elements, i.e., transponders, which contain information on the textile product, exist in the textile industry. A voltage is induced in the transponder by electromagnetic radiation and ensures that the transponder transmits the stored information, which can be processed subsequently by a corresponding receiver. The sales route of articles of clothing so marked from the manufacturer by way of several intermediate dealers to the ultimate purchaser can be covered by a chain of readers and receivers. However, such transponders contain only product information that is important for sale and dispatch. All articles of clothing are additionally provided with conventional product care labels that contain information essential to the user on the care requirements of the textile product in printed-on, woven-in, or embroidered-in form. It is a particular disadvantage that the transponders and conventional product care labels have to be attached to the textile product in two separate and, therefore, cost-intensive work steps.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a product care label for textiles and method for producing it that overcomes the hereinafore-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known devices and methods of this general type and that makes possible the simultaneous fastening of product care labels and transponders to textile products in the simplest possible way.
With the foregoing and other objects in view, there is provided, in accordance with the invention, a product care label to be attached to a textile product, including a textile carrier part having at least one care instruction including information on suitable care of a textile product, and at least one transponder having an electronic component. The transponder is attached to the textile carrier part and the electronic component holds information corresponding to the at least one care instruction.
In accordance with another feature of the invention, the information held by the electronic component is electronic information.
In accordance with a further feature of the invention, the textile carrier part is printed-on or woven-in the textile product.
In accordance with an added feature of the invention, the electronic component is applied to or printed on the textile carrier part.
In accordance with another feature of the invention, the electronic information corresponds to all care instructions of the textile product.
In accordance with a further feature of the invention, the at least one care instruction is care symbols, and each care symbol is associated with a respective different transponder.
In accordance with an added feature of the invention, the electronic component is a flat chip or a flat coil.
In accordance with an additional feature of the invention, the at least one transponder has a synthetic resin encasing the electronic component.
With the objects of the invention in view, there is also provided a method for producing a product care label for textiles, including the steps of printing at least one of a care symbol and a care instruction onto a carrier tape, and simultaneously attaching at least one transponder onto the carrier tape. The carrier tape can be a textile or plastic tape.
In accordance with another mode of the invention, the attaching step is performed by simultaneously applying or printing at least one transponder to or on the carrier tape.
In accordance with a further mode of the invention, a flat chip or flat coil of the at least one transponder is pressed or introduced into a synthetic resin casing.
In accordance with a concomitant mode of the invention, the attaching step is performed by fastening the at least one transponder on or to the carrier tape with an adhesive.
According to the invention, a product care label of the type initially mentioned is provided, in which at least one transponder having an electronic component is applied to or printed on the product care label and contains the information corresponding to the care instruction or to the care instructions. It is thereby possible to make machine-readable treatment recommendations that relate to the textile products and are contained in the care symbols. After a voltage is induced, the transponder transmits the information on the textile product that is stored in it. A treatment operation is started by a suitable household appliance, such as, for example, a washing machine or a laundry dryer. The household appliance has an integrated or separate
BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgerate GmbH
Fureman Jared J.
Greenberg Laurence A.
Mayback Gregory L.
Stemer Werner H.
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