Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Methods – Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
Reexamination Certificate
1998-08-04
2002-06-18
Mayes, Curtis (Department: 1734)
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Methods
Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
C156S227000, C156S247000, C156S249000, C156S290000, C156S291000, C040S341000, C229S080000, C229S080500
Reexamination Certificate
active
06406586
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to assembling, connecting, securing, packaging, sealing and other fastening functions applied to different products and with notable particularity to products generated from sheet materials, as paper, cardboard, acetate, fabrics and others.
Traditional fastening methods have inherent practicality and convenience limitations, and do not offer a solution to a number of other specific needs as this invention does.
Attempts to overcome these restrictions have resulted in substantially higher production costs to the industries involved, and consequently to the end user; only to achieve a trade of these limitations for others, while producing no answer to the other specific needs that this invention addresses, as the following prior art summary indicates.
2. Prior Art
Examples of the prior art are listed as they relate to different applications of this invention. AS A SYSTEM TO SEAL ENVELOPES, BAGS, BOXES, PACKAGING, ETC. A conventional system uses a dry glue coating that needs to be moistened to promote adhesion of the surfaces involved.
Depending on the scale and nature of each task, this moistening is normally achieved by different means, including the use of wet sponges, roll-on bottles with water, and the actual licking of the dry glue with the user's tongue. Regardless of the means used, the need to moisten a dry adhesive coating is precisely the first disadvantage of this system. Also the implementation of this system is highly challenged by the high temperatures used by roller friction printers which in many cases cause an undesirable premature fastening of the envelope.
In recent years, the inconveniences of this archaic system have prompted different attempts to create a more practical solution, but the success of these attempts has been very relative, since new inconveniences are created in the process.
One of these systems requires two opposite coatings of dry glue (normally rubber cement like) that when contacting one another, the envelope, packaging, box etc. is sealed, eliminating thereby the need to moisten the coating. These are some disadvantages of this system:
1) A higher cost is apparent, since two coatings of glue are necessary.
2) These coatings are exposed at all times, risking the good bonding quality of the glue.
3) The impediment to feed envelopes or other flat objects through machines, such as printers, since the glue and the parts of said machines will disturb each other.
4) The piece must remain unfastened before its use, occupying therefore more shelf or floor space during packaging, display and storage.
Another system uses a pressure sensitive adhesive coating on one of the surfaces that need to be fastened. This pressure sensitive coating is protected with a paper, plastic or synthetic liner carrying a release substance before its use. An example of this system is an envelope manufactured and marketed by Mead Corp. of Dayton, Ohio, under the name of Press it-Seal it™ (Product #43100 75024.)
This system does eliminate the need to moisten the adhesive coating, yet it has its own significant disadvantages:
1) There is an obvious higher cost of production, since foreign parts and additional production steps are required.
2) The presence of this foreign liner may prevent the capability of envelopes and other flat objects to be fed through printers or other machines.
3) The user needs to incur in the additional steps of peeling and disposing of this foreign liner
4) Depending on the material used, this liner might not be biodegradable.
As examples of these new systems, U.S. Pat. No. 5,722,585 to RedI proposes the use of pressure sensitive adhesive coupled with the release liner to seal a box; U.S. Pat. No. 5,499,757 to Back proposes as an alternative embodiment, the use of the pressure sensitive adhesive coupled with the release liner and additionally, having said arrangement mounted on the two surfaces that are being connected.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,072,264 to Kranz discloses a duplex envelope that in one of its double aspects requires a removable release liner to protect a coating of pressure sensitive adhesive entailing additional expenses and impracticalities.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,738,391 to Wiseman discloses an envelope that can be temporarily or permanently sealed. To that end, Wisemar proposes two procedures that are unnecessary with the present invention: a) The need to moisten a dry adhesive coating; and b) the need to use removable release liners.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,576 to Doderer-Winkler discloses a reusable envelope that needs a removable release liner to protect a coating of adhesive on a flap, and then a protective strip of tape on the body of the envelope to permit the temporary sealing of the envelope, so it can be repeatedly used.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,474,229 to Shimazaki proposes a stack of pressure sensitive adhering envelopes, having on the back of each flap a coating of release, and on the front a coating of adhesive, so that when the envelopes are stacked with the flaps open, the adhering interface between the pressure sensitive adhesive and the release is not permanent and each envelope could be sealed without having to moisten the adhesive.
The following are problems and limitations of this system:
1) The need to package and sell the envelopes in quantities. Individual envelopes could not be marketed.
2) The absolute need of having the envelopes in an open condition, prior to their final use,
3) The impossibility to feed them through a printer, copier or any other machine. 4) A removable release liner needs to be applied to the flap of the bottom envelope, to protect it.
AS A FASTENING SYSTEM TO PRODUCE BINDERS AND FOLDERS. Some existing systems require the perforation of the sheets to be bound, others require stitching, others require insertion of pages into plastic sleeves. In many cases, any or all of these systems are viable, in others, depending on the articles to be bound, these means are simply undesirable.
U.S. Pat. 5,524,929 to Emmel offers an alternative to these systems, yet requiring a significantly more complex construction and with a more complicated mode of operation. Also, there is a product in the market by the name “Picture Post ™” Photo Mailing Card (Product #984 60060) bearing a patent pending notice, manufactured by Deluxe Craft Mfg. of Chicago, Ill.; which according to its packaging was custom designed for the United States Postal Service (USPS), and which is sold at post offices.
This product has 4 plastic sleeves mounted on a printed cardboard assembly and it is intended to carry photographs for mailing, after being placed into an envelope.
The product appears functional and attractive, yet its production costs are reflected in a fairly high retail price.
AS A SYSTEM TO CARRY FORMS OR OTHER SHEET MATERIALS THAT ARE TOO SMALL OR TOO UNSTEADY OR WITH IRREGULAR SHAPES THROUGH PRINTERS, TYPEWRITERS, FAXES OR OTHER MACHINES. This situation is illustrated by the need to feed checks through desktop printers. Normally, checks for these printers come in detachable sets of three checks per sheet.
When the three checks are simultaneously printed, this system is sufficiently satisfactory. But printing three checks at the same time is a rare occurrence. Hence, after printing one or two checks, there is a remnant of two or one check, depending on the case, which can not be a)set up in the accounting software and b)fed trough the printer.
This impediment causes substantial waste of time and pre-printed-numbered checks, which in turn affects the efficiency of bookkeeping and accounting, as loose checks must be either filled out by hand or voided, and then manually entered into the program, which entails an additional risk of error.
To reduce these adverse consequences, New England Business Services (NEBS), of Groton, Mass., provides as a complement to its laser and inkjet check orders a device by the name of “Laser Taxi™”, by Hico Products, Inc. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,238 to Olson.) This system consists of a single rectangular sheet of paper, folded in
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