Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Methods – Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
Reexamination Certificate
2001-12-07
2003-08-05
Mayes, Curtis (Department: 1734)
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Methods
Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
C156S265000, C156S270000, C156S308400, C156S308800, C156S308600, C156S320000, C156S380900, C156S459000, C156S519000, C156S522000, C156S529000, C156S552000, C156S578000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06602374
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a coil of stamps, and more particularly to a system for producing a coil of stamps which incorporates security features which inhibit the unnoticed and unauthorized removal of one or more stamps from the coil.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It has long been known to roll a strip of stamps into a coil to save space and to provide a convenient mechanism for detaching one or more stamps from a plurality of others. Such a coil configuration has been used with traditionally known stamps which required moistening on the glue side before being adhered to an envelope, and more recently, with so-called “self adhesive” stamps which do not have to be moistened, but rather are provided with a pressure sensitive adhesive layer which is adhered to the envelope. In the latter case, the pressure sensitive adhesive layer is typically covered with a protective backing, or liner, consisting of a strip of non-adhesive material, generally of the same width as or wider than the strip of stamps, which is peeled away before the stamp is adhered to the envelope in order to expose the adhesive layer on the back of the stamp.
Traditionally, coils of stamps had been individually sealed on the outside (outer side) typically with a band or strip of appropriate length applied at the moment of rolling the strips of stamps into a coil.
Such a band is typically applied in a manner to interleave it with the last few spires (outer spires) of the coil, the band being long enough to extend past the last stamp of the coil; the outer stamp of the coil and the first one to be unrolled from the coil; and long enough to overlap on itself around the coil of stamps. Being such a band covered (coated) at least on one side with either a heat activated adhesive or a moisture activated adhesive, such adhesive was then properly activated in a defined spot (position) such as to allow the band to seal to itself in a portion of the overlapping area. A band or strip so applied and sealed prevents the unrolling of the coil of stamps and therefore it prevents, unless broken, the removal of one or more stamps from the outside of the coil of stamps. A coil of stamps with such outside band applied and sealed guarantees that the coil had not been unrolled and guarantees that no stamps have been removed from the outside of the coil. It is worth noting, however, that the same is not true for the inside (inner end) of the same coil of stamps.
Moreover, traditionally, coils of stamps had been packaged in trays. Each tray consisting of a multitude of individual cells each individually complete on the sides and bottom but not on the top, and each separable from the others but connected with the others to form the tray. Each coil was deposited in a separate cell of the tray and a layer of material, generally film, transparent or not transparent, printed or unprinted, was then deposited on top of the tray, thus providing the top of each of the cells, and sealed to the tray cells thus defining a multitude of separate cells, each cell containing one, and one only, coil and each cell individually and completely enclosed and sealed all around, at the moment of the original packaging. In order to facilitate the separation of the individual cells a convenient grid of perforations was then typically applied to the tray allowing the separation of any individual cell still maintaining the cell individually complete and sealed. Access to the coil of stamps inside the cell was only possible by breaking the seal. Therefore an unbroken sealed cell guarantees to contain a complete original untampered coil of stamps. The trays typically would be distributed to U.S. Post Office branch locations, where they would be stored in drawers. When a customer purchased a coil, the cell could be separated from the tray, and given to the customer. Before use, the cell would be opened by the customer, thereby ensuring that no stamps were removed from the coil before being sold to the customer.
While the above-described packaging system offers excellent security, it suffers from a number of disadvantages. One of these disadvantages relates to the space required for storage. Typically, because of the size of the trays, very few of them could be fit into the drawers, and in some cases, it may be difficult to even fit a single tray into a drawer. This would require postal employees to frequently be required to restock the drawers, a time-wasting process. Moreover, the large size of the trays increases the warehousing cost of bulk skids and shipping charges from manufacturing facilities to Post Office branch offices. Another disadvantage relates to the amount of material required to form the trays. The large amount of material makes the trays relatively costly to produce, and creates environmental concerns.
A novel packing system to remedy these disadvantages has been developed by George Schmitt & Company, Inc., assignee of the present application, and is described in detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/032,961, filed Oct. 24, 2001, and incorporated herein by reference. Referring first to
FIG. 1
, a cylinder or stick of coils
10
of stamps is shown, the coils of stamps being in alignment along a common axis
12
. The cylinder is wrapped with a shrink wrap tubing
14
(better seen in FIG.
2
), and then heat is applied to shrink the tubing to mold to stamp coils
10
on the outside, thereby holding the coils together in a cylinder or stick.
Shrink wrap tubing
14
comprises a single piece of shrink wrap material having a plurality of cross perforation lines
16
therein, and at least one longitudinal perforation line
18
therein. Cross perforation lines
16
are placed so as to be adjacent to the mating surfaces of adjacent coils
10
once tubing is shrunk therearound. This allows one or more stamp coils
10
to be separated from the stick, while the portion of shrink wrap tubing
14
around the respective coils remains intact. The number of cross perforation lines
16
provided is dependent upon the number of stamp coils
10
to be packaged together. Although five coils are shown in the figures, it should be understood that a greater or fewer number of coils may be provided. Longitudinal perforation lines
18
are provided so that shrink wrap tubing may be easily removed from stamp coils
10
when such is desired. Although one longitudinal perforation line
18
is sufficient for such, it has been found that providing two longitudinal perforation lines
18
provides improved results.
Using the above-described packaging system, it has been found that twice as many coils of stamps can be stored in the space utilized by known tray designs. However, when the above described packaging system is used with traditionally known coils of stamps which require moistening or with self adhesive stamps having a protective backing, or liner, a security issue may arise. More specifically, the coils of stamps are individually sealed on the outside both by the sealed band applied at the moment of the rolling of the coil and by the outside shrink wrap material. However, they are not individually sealed on the inside, inner side of the coil, and the integrity of the coil of stamps may be compromised. It is indeed possible to remove one or more stamps from the inner end of a coil of stamps
10
, either separated from the stick while the portion of shrink wrap tubing
14
around the coil remains intact, or still connected with other coils of the stick while the shrink wrap tubing
14
around the stick remains intact, without affecting the appearance of the coil or breaking the sealed band or the shrink wrap tubing around the coil. The consumer or any other person would not be able to easily tell if such tampering has occurred unless the number of stamps on the coil were counted.
What is desired, therefore, is a system for creating a coil of stamps which inhibits the unnoticed and unauthorized removal of one or more stamps from the coil itself, either from the outer spires or from the inner spires, thus allowing, among other advantages
Gunther William G.
Penati Anthony A.
George Schmitt & Company, Inc.
Mayes Curtis
St. Onge Steward Johnston & Reens LLC
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