Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Layer or component removable to expose adhesive
Reissue Patent
2000-02-02
2002-06-25
Ahmad, Nasser (Department: 1772)
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Layer or component removable to expose adhesive
C206S460000, C206S806000, C248S317000, C248S467000, C428S041600, C428S041700, C428S042100, C428S042200, C428S131000
Reissue Patent
active
RE037764
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to product hangers and more specifically to clear/printed hang-tag construction to be used in automatic labeling of product packaging and a process for making hang-tags.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Hang tags are used in large numbers for hanging a wide variety of small products on the wire hangers of sales display racks. The hang tags have an opening, usually in the form of a squat, isosceles triangle, having an apex that can receive a single wire hanger and having a base broad enough to receive a double wire hanger.
Hang tabs are generally adhered to the box or package they support, and are usually formed to fold flat against the package they are adhered to, until the package is removed from a packing case and hung up for sales display.
Labels using pressure sensitive adhesives are well known. In general, pressure sensitive labels involve the label itself, a pressure sensitive adhesive, and a backing sheet upon which the label or labels are mounted. The backing sheet is usually coated with a release coating, such as a silicone, so that the adhesive coated labels may be more readily removed. Various types of adhesives may be used to coat the labels.
Prior art methods of packaging require the product to be packaged in a paperboard box or plastic header bag for display on a hanging rack system. Both of these packaging systems use a considerable amount of material. Prior art packaging generally consists of a wrapper having printed matter describing the product, or a label pasted on a package containing the printed matter. Additionally, a header, having a billboard laminated therein is used to close the top of the package and provides the hanger for a display rack. Furthermore, since the packaging material hides descriptive matter printed on the product, the outer surface of the package must then be printed to duplicate the hidden material.
With the current efforts to reduce the amount of packaging materials used and thus reduce the amount of material reaching landfills, new and more efficient packaging methods are required. The current efforts are to make products and packaging “Green”, that is using a bare minimum of recycled and recyclable materials.
One such label is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,262,216 to Popat et al which discusses various types of pressure sensitive label assemblies. Labels using pressure sensitive adhesives are well known. In general, pressure sensitive labels involve the label itself, a pressure sensitive adhesive, and a backing sheet upon which the labels are mounted. The backing sheet is usually coated with a release coating such as a silicone so that the adhesive coated labels may be more easily removed. Various types of adhesives may be used to coat the labels. The nature of the adhesive, whether permanent or removable, is often specified by the force required to peel (peel force) a one-inch sample strip at right angles from a stainless steel surface to which it has been adhered. Hot melt adhesives have certain significant advantages over adhesives applied in other ways.
Hang tags, although having many of the qualities of labels, suffer from an additional problem and that is the tendency of pressure-sensitive hangers to peel from the surface to which they are secured, if the article hung is moderately heavy so that there is a constant and substantial pull by gravity. Several prior art hang tags have attempted to resolve these problems.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,890,809; 4,902,547 to Good; and 5,020,761 to Good et al disclose various styles of hang tabs. Good (547) discloses hang tabs which are reinforced by adhering a reinforcing band to a head region of a tab strip while the adhesive coated surface of the tab strip is separated from a release liner. The tab strip, with its reinforcing band is then rejoined with its liner and hang tabs with reinforced head regions are die cut so that the tabs are secured in rows on the liner. Good (809) discloses a hang tab folded upon itself, and its hanging region is adhered to its stick-on region so that it lies flat against a package during shipment. The adhesive between the hanging region and the stick-on region is arranged so that the hanging region can be unfolded after shipment to be upstanding from the object for hanging the object on a hanger wire. Good (761) discloses the hanging region of a supporting web of a hang tab adhered to a supported object which is cut and is bendable to form an opening divided between a central region that receives a single wire hanger and end regions that receive a double wire hanger. Uncut tension zones between the central region and the end regions are breakable to receive double wire hangers but remain unbroken to help support the weight of an object hanging on single wire hangers.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,869,333 and 3,884,443 to McMaster disclose peel-resistant pressure sensitive hangers. The plastic and its adhesive have sufficient transparency so that the hanger may be secured to a package without concealing any printed matter. In one form the pressure-sensitive elements are coated on both sides except for a very narrow edge, being easily lifted at the edge and then seized and pulled from the web together with a guard piece. In another form, the element is slit so that if the part by which something is hung starts to peel, it will peel past portions which are separated from it so that they do not peel with it.
The present invention provides a less expensive, more efficient, and environmentally acceptable hang tag and method of packaging than any of the prior art methods. Among some of the advantages of the present invention are: an increased display area, the printing is protected by a plastic membrane thus saving a layer of materials, the polyester used for the hang tag may be made from recovered X-ray films, direct adherence to the package, does not cover the package, minimum amount of coatings, increased presentation area, a clear adhesive having high sheer value, reduces the amount of packaging material, and is readily adaptable to automatic application.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is a clear/printed hang tag and the process for making hang tags. The hang tag has an opening, in the form of a squat, isosceles triangle for receiving a single or a double wire hanger located near the top of a billboard region (graphics area) containing printed matter. The hang tag is made from a continuous web of polyester film or other suitable webs of material such as card stock, styrene or polyolefin, with a process including, printing graphics on the back side of the upper portion using reverse image flexographic printing, or other suitable printing process, coating the printed image with a plastic membrane, coating a lower portion of the front side with a clear, pressure sensitive adhesive, combining and adhering the continuous web of polyester film to a liner, die cutting the hang tag shape and the hanger opening, stripping the waste material from the liner, and rewinding the combined hang tags and liner on a reel for shipment to a customer. The billboard containing graphics, provides information normally found on labels, and in addition, the hang tag of the invention also forms a permanent part of a hanging system which includes a bundled, tightly wrapped, compact package of product which uses a minimum amount of packaging material. The tightly wrapped package is fixed firmly or securely in place (tightly) with the use of an oriented polypropylene material which is then “heat shrinked” in a shrink chamber. The resulting product feels like a solid unitary object when packaged in accordance with the invention. In the example of the invention described in this application, the two audio tape cassettes form a solid block with the two tapes pressed together by the shrink wrap.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3869333 (1975-03-01), McMaster
patent: 3884443 (1975-05-01), McMaster
patent: 4537310 (1985-08-01), Thul
patent: 4693441 (1987-09-01), Conway
patent: 4890809 (1990-01-01), Good
patent: 4896770 (1990-01-01
Ahmad Nasser
Eugene Stephens & Associates
Ryan Thomas B.
Voxcom, Inc.
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