Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Structurally defined web or sheet – Discontinuous or differential coating – impregnation or bond
Reexamination Certificate
1996-08-09
2001-06-19
Rahmund, Christopher (Department: 1771)
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Structurally defined web or sheet
Discontinuous or differential coating, impregnation or bond
C428S220000, C428S354000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06248427
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention is directed to an adhesive label for application upon a circumferential surface of a dry-cell battery having an axis and top- and bottom-surfaces, comprising a stretched, shrinkable, transparent cover foil with a top side and a bottom side and an imprint visible from the top side located beneath the cover foil and a contact adhesive layer located beneath the imprint wherein the adhesive label comprises along a generating line of the circumferential surface of the battery first edge segments superimposable in an overlapping fashion and second edge segments protruding or projecting beyond the end surfaces of the battery, which rest upon the end surfaces due to shrinking the cover foil thereon.
The cover foil provides protection for the battery against leakage and furthermore protects the label layers located beneath same, in particular the imprint, from mechanical damage. In addition the cover foil insulates the circumferential surface of the battery electrically against the environment. If a layer beneath the cover foil is electrically conductive, the cover foil insulates also this layer against the environment. Various adhesive labels of this type are known from the DE 33 42 309. These conventional adhesive labels are produced in such a way, that several layers partially from shrinkable foil are applied on a carrier layer located at the bottom in the finished label, with the topmost of these layers being provided with an imprint. The cover foil must then be fastened to the label material carrying the imprint. In order for the cover foil to adhere to the imprint, it is necessary to apply beforehand a separate laminating adhesive layer upon the imprint. The laminating adhesive must satisfy particularly high requirements, in view of the adhesive label fulfilling its function of protecting against leakage, being non-fading as well as durable in storage.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is thus the aim of the invention to specify an adhesive label of the above-mentioned type, which can be manufactured more simply particularly by a different method. It should be especially possible to meet the different requirements of different battery embodiments by a greater variability of the build-up of the layers.
In order to solve this task, the imprint is applied in the invented adhesive label directly to the bottom side of the cover foil.
Differing from the above mentioned known adhesive labels, the build-up of the different layers of the adhesive layer proceeds from the cover foil. The printing is applied directly to the cover foil. The imprinted cover foil can in further fabrication steps be placed upon a composite succession of previously prepared label layers, preferably however the additional layers are consecutively placed upon the cover foil carrying the imprint. One single shrinkable foil, the cover foil, is sufficient. Preferably a layer is placed upon the imprint-free partial surfaces of the cover foil, which again carries the contact adhesive layer on its other side. This layer provided with the contact adhesive can exhibit a prevalent carrier function for the label material or, however, it can assume a carrier function subordinate to the cover foil.
The layer carrying the contact adhesive can rest directly upon the imprint and upon the partial surfaces of the cover foil not covered by the imprint. Depending upon the material combination selected, the adhesive connection between the layer carrying the contact adhesive and the cover foil could be insufficient under unfavorable conditions. It is preferred for this case to apply, preferably thermosensitively, a transparent primer layer upon the imprinted cover foil and upon this transparent primer layer to then apply the layer carrying the contact adhesive.
The layer carrying the contact adhesive can be formed from non-metallic materials, as for instance paper or plastics, wherein it is preferred that this is limited to the partial surfaces of the adhesive labels with exception of the first border segments and thus corresponds exactly to the length of the circumferential surface of the battery. Alternatively the carrying layer can be formed also from metallic material, in particular by a layer applied by aluminum vapor deposition in a vacuum. The material selection depends on the desired appearance of the label from the outside, since the layer carrying the contact adhesive constitutes a background for the imprint visible from the outside.
Furthermore, the layer carrying the contact adhesive can be formed by a composite arrangement of a bottom non-metallic partial layer, in particular paper and a metallic partial layer especially from aluminum foil resting on same; said metallic partial layer is herein preferably limited to the partial surfaces of the adhesive label excluding the second border segments and thus corresponds exactly to the height of the battery cylinder of the battery. This version results in an appealing background for the imprint and a particularly thin aluminum foil can be used herein, without affecting the thickness of the adhesive label, in particular, when a cover foil dimensioned to be very thin is used.
Preferably, the metallic partial layer is applied to the non-metallic partial layer as a foil by the foil transfer method, meaning it is vapor-deposited or sputtered upon same.
In another particularly simple to manufacture embodiment, the contact adhesive layer lies directly upon the imprint and upon the partial surfaces of the cover foil devoid of the imprint. The layer carrying the contact adhesive in the above embodiments is eliminated. The cover foil is in this case the sole firm layer of the label and it alone assumes the carrier function. This embodiment can be manufactured to be particularly thin because of the low quantity of the layers, wherein the space, subject to standards specified for the dry cell battery, for filling same becomes larger.
The imprint is preferably printed upon the cover foil in colors from organic solutions or photocatalytic system without solvents by the mirror image action and reverse printing, meaning from below directly upon the cover foil in a mirror image manner, so that the imprint can be seen on the correct side from the top. These color systems are particularly suited for imprinting the shrinkable foil without changing or exfoliating in the course of the shrinkage process. Furthermore, they have the electric characteristics required for dry-cell batteries and are resistant to chemicals, which is particularly important in view of the leakage protection function of the battery label.
The cover foil is preferably made from shrinkable hard polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene, polystyrol, polyamide, particularly of a thickness of 25 to 60 micrometers or of polyethylene terephthalate or of polycarbonate, in particular of a thickness of 10 to 60 micrometers. So that the adhesive label after being shrunk upon the battery, adheres as firmly as possible and so that the adhesive label does not peel off the body of the battery also when subjected to unfavorable environmental conditions, the cover foil is stretched in circumferential direction of the dry-cell battery, so that the adhesive label has the greatest pre-stressing in circumferential direction after being shrunk on.
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Arent Fox Kintner & Plotkin & Kahn, PLLC
Rahmund Christopher
Zweckform Etikettiertechnik GmbH
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