Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Layer or component removable to expose adhesive
Reexamination Certificate
1995-05-30
2002-07-02
Ahmad, Nasser (Department: 1772)
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Layer or component removable to expose adhesive
C428S042100, C428S042200, C428S042300, C428S043000, C428S220000, C434S097000, C434S155000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06413603
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to new and novel improvements in placemats having integrated adhesive stickers or labels. More particularly, the present invention relates to placemats having integrated adhesive stickers or labels which are particularly suitable for use in restaurants and other dining establishments for sanitary and entertainment purposes and are preferably capable of having information printed thereon using conventional printing methods or by children and interested patrons using various writing instruments, such as pencils, pens, ink markers and crayons.
Many restaurants and other dining establishments provide preprinted paper placemats and writing instruments, such as pencils, pens, ink markers or crayons, to children and other interested patrons for engaging play or entertainment, as well as for sanitary purposes, aesthetic decoration and advertising before, during and after eating meals in public. Common examples include preprinted placemats which are used to cover bare dining tables in family dining establishments or food-carrying tray preprinted paper covers which are often used in cafeteria-style or fast-food dining establishments. These preprinted placemats are often accompanied with writing instruments, such as pencils, pens, ink markers or crayons, to allow children and other interested patrons to draw pictures or “doodle” while waiting for the meal to be prepared or while dining. Such preprinted placemats often include aesthetic pictorial scenes, to-be-colored line art, word games, menus and many other types of advertising that concern the dining establishment or other area businesses.
Many family-oriented dining establishments wish to provide some form of entertainment for children and other interested patrons, particularly from the time customers first sit down at a table until the time when the prepared meals are brought to their table. This is desirable because family-oriented dining establishments generally wish to preoccupy children to reduce unwanted, disruptive behavior which may negatively impact the parents' and other patrons' enjoyment of their dining experience. In addition, family-oriented dining establishments generally wish to create an enjoyable experience for the children. In general, the more enjoyable a dining experience is for both children, as well as their parents, the more likely it is that families will again patronize a particular dining establishment.
To enhance the entertainment value of conventional preprinted paper placemats, some dining establishments provide drawing instruments, such as pencils, pens, ink markers and crayons, and/or adhesive stickers separate from and in additional to the preprinted paper placemats. For example, a preprinted placemat may have preprinted designs which encourage children and other interested patrons to color specific areas with crayons in particular colors to create a colorful picture. Similarly, children and other interested patrons may be encouraged to decorate a preprinted picture with separately provided adhesive stickers which are adhered to specific areas to create a colorful picture. As a practical matter, such additional materials are problematic to dining establishments in that multiple items must be inventoried and dispensed to children and other interested patrons. Furthermore, it is common for children to “draw” or misuse and place adhesive stickers onto the dining establishment's fixtures, such as tables, chairs, windows, glassware, plates, etc. In such a case, dining establishment employees have the duty of removing such unwanted markings and adhesive stickers. This is time consuming for the employees and costly for the dining establishment.
Applicant is aware of several types of construction for prior art placemats and other entertainment products for dining establishments. A first known type of construction is a conventional preprinted placemat constructed from a rectangular sheet of bond paper with either one or two-sided printing. Such preprinting may convey a static design, such as a menu or pictorial scene. While such a design performs the sanitary purpose of a placemat and may convey information to customers, it fails to provide interactive, entertainment-oriented features.
A second known type of construction for prior art placemats and other entertainment products for dining establishments is a preprinted placemat constructed from a rectangular sheet of bond paper with either one or two-sided printing. Typically, this type of construction allows for creative input from children and other interested patrons in the form of games to play, pictures to draw or adhesive stickers to adhere to the preprinted placemat. While the second known type of construction for the preprinted placemat itself is similar to that described in conjunction with the first known type of construction above, the second type of construction generally requires separate drawing instruments, such as pencils, pens, ink markers or crayons, and/or separate pressure sensitive adhesive or “lick-and-stick” dry gum stickers. Disadvantages of this second known type of construction include having to provide additional materials, i.e., the drawing instruments and/or the adhesive stickers, as well as potential clean-up problems due to misuse of these materials.
A third known type of prior art product is conventional sticker books. That is, books specifically designed for children to place adhesive stickers on or inside a bound book to create or complete drawings or a story line. Such sticker books are often sold through retail stores and are also supplied to children and other interested patrons by dining establishments. Disadvantages of this type of prior art product include that the cost of such sticker books are often relatively high. Furthermore, they lack sanitary use in dining environments since such sticker books are typically not intended to be disposable or used as a barrier between a table surface and food. In addition, many such adhesive sticker products are fabricated from plastic materials and permanent adhesives making clean-up due to product misuse burdensome and costly.
Known prior art United States patents include U.S. Pat. No. 416,171 to Mahoney for an “Article of Amusement and Instruction for Children”. This patent describes the use of one or more sheets or cards of paper or similar material having pictorial illustrations of landscapes and similar outdoor views and of houses and the interiors of the same, together with means for applying to different places on said landscape or to said interior portions of the house representations of objects belonging thereto and of changing the positions of said objects at will.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,750,309 to Tovar for a “Display Book” describes a display book for displaying table settings of preselected patterns of silverware, china and crystal.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,510,006 to Lawson for a “Personalized Laminated Display” describes personalized placemats and posters which may selectively use precisely shaped, precisely spaced and located alpha-numeric symbols of indicia for said personalization.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,673 to Moore for a “Combination Food Carrier and Amusement Device” describes an amusement device and children's book which also functions as a carrier for various food items, such as hamburgers and french fries.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,778,153 to Bachman, et al. for a “Promotional Article with Pressure-Sensitive Adhesive Portions and Method of Manufacture” describes a promotional article and method of making same having a pressure-sensitive adhesive without laminating a separate release sheet to the sheet upon which the pressure-sensitive adhesive is applied.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,951 to Dorsey-Zinn, et al. for a “Puzzle Including Pieces Formed From a Crayon Material” describes a puzzle with two sets of puzzle pieces which can be interchangeably used to complete the puzzle, where one set of puzzle pieces is formed from a crayon material which can be used to color by a child.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,
Horton Katherine C.
Rogers Mark C.
Ahmad Nasser
Conte Francis L.
NCR Corporation
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