Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Layer or component removable to expose adhesive – Ornamental – decorative – pattern – or indicia
Reexamination Certificate
1998-03-09
2001-07-10
Ahmad, Nasser (Department: 1772)
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Layer or component removable to expose adhesive
Ornamental, decorative, pattern, or indicia
C040S442000, C428S040100, C428S041600, C428S041700, C428S204000, C428S207000, C428S137000, C428S138000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06258429
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
See-thru or one-way films have become well known and are used for various purposes, mainly advertising displays. Most see-thru films are fabricated having a substrate which is perforated and which is coated on one side with a black pigment. The opposite side is white opaque and printed with an image and conventional practice is to print the image by use of silkscreening or lithography. The perforations permit viewing in one direction which is substantially unobstructed. The white opaque surface receives the image which is viewable from the opposite side. For example, see Pat. Nos. 4,883,556 and 4,940,622 to Leavitt which teach silkscreening a perforated substrate. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,525,177 teaches a printing or image transfer method using an electrostatic process in which a reverse image is transferred to a surface of a perforated membrane.
2. Background of the Invention
The problem with using conventional printing methods such as screen printing is that screen printing is not cost effective for short runs, is time consuming and the resulting product while acceptable, does not have a high quality of resolution. Also, screen printing images cannot be tiled for unique one-of-a-kind graphics. Similarly, deficiencies exist with electrostatic processes.
Electrostatic printing is applicable to short-run graphics. However, the equipment necessary for electrostatic printing is much more expensive than silkscreening, thermal or piezo ink jet printing and is more complicated involving the use of a laminator to transfer the printed image to an electrostatically charged substrate.
The present invention relates to an improved method for producing or imaging see-thru panels or films with ink jet technology. See-thru films have the advantage that an image may be applied and viewed from one side and, because of the perforations, substantial light passes through the film allowing the viewer relatively unobstructed vision from the opposite side. Thus, see-thru films are widely used on such advertising applications as the signage applied to the sides of vehicles such as buses, allowing the passengers a relatively unobstructed view. See-thru films are also used where visibility for security purposes is important. Glass panels such as windows and cooler cases are other typical applications for these types of film.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Briefly, the present invention provides a high resolution, see-thru, one-way vision panel manufactured using an opaque substrate which may be polyester, vinyl or a polyolefin and which is outdoor durable. Preferably the substrate is pigmented with a white opaque pigment. The substrate is coated on one side, the rear side, with a black pigmented adhesive which is protected by a release liner such as silicon coated paper. Once the adhesive and release liner are applied, the substrate is perforated to create a distinct hole pattern. The perforations can be accomplished by using a mechanical or laser perforating process. Typically, the hole pattern consists of {fraction (1/16)}″ diameter holes which are staggered {fraction (3/32)}″ from one another but other patterns may be applied. The opposite or front side of the substrate is chemically treated to encapsulate dyes and pigmented inks. Synthetic films, such as polyesters and vinyls which are not top-coated, will not absorb certain types of ink, particularly dye based and pigmented inks. Top coatings such as clays, resins, gels and latex combination coatings are best. Another embodiment of the invention involves the application of solvent based inks to form an image on the substrate, the application of which does not require top coating.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5609938 (1997-03-01), Shields
patent: 5756153 (1998-05-01), Plourde
patent: 5830529 (1998-11-01), Ross
patent: 5925437 (1999-07-01), Nelson
Ahmad Nasser
Nelson Gregory J.
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