U.S. patent application number 11/925666 was filed with the patent office on 2008-07-31 for business card sheet construction and methods of making and using same.
Invention is credited to Patricia L. Cross, Brian R. McCarthy, Sunjay Yedehalli Mohan, Arthur B. Moore, Charles Thurmond Patterson, Tony Lee Scroggs, Steven Craig Weirather.
Application Number | 20080182042 11/925666 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 26903480 |
Filed Date | 2008-07-31 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080182042 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
McCarthy; Brian R. ; et
al. |
July 31, 2008 |
BUSINESS CARD SHEET CONSTRUCTION AND METHODS OF MAKING AND USING
SAME
Abstract
Ultraremovable adhesive is applied to a paper sheet to form
therewith a liner sheet, and the liner sheet is laminated to a
cardstock sheet to form a laminate cardstock. The cardstock sheet
is then die cut therethrough, but not through the liner sheet, to
form cardstock cut lines that define at least in part perimeters of
business cards (or other printable media). The outer face of the
liner sheet is then die cut therethrough, but not through the
cardstock sheet, to form liner sheet strips on a back side of the
cardstock sheet. Some of the strips define cover strips covering
some of the cardstock cut lines, and others of the strips define
waste strips. The waste strips are then matrix removed from the
back of the cardstock sheet. According to a preferred (dry
laminate) embodiment the only liner sheet die cut is parallel to
the leading edge of the sheet and forms a narrow leading edge liner
strip which is removed. The resulting business card sheet
construction is then fed through a printer or copier by the user
and the desired indicia printed on the front sides of the business
cards, while the cover strips hold the cards together as a unit
sheet construction. After this printing operation, the printed
cards are easily peeled off of the cover strips, ready for use. By
designing the sheet construction to form the printed media with
different sizes and shapes and by including optional scored fold
lines, and/or additional flexibility cut lines or flexibility
perforation lines, media aside from business cards, such as post
cards and greeting cards, can be constructed.
Inventors: |
McCarthy; Brian R.; (Anaheim
Hills, CA) ; Weirather; Steven Craig; (Lawrenceville,
GA) ; Patterson; Charles Thurmond; (Clermont, GA)
; Scroggs; Tony Lee; (Oakwood, GA) ; Mohan; Sunjay
Yedehalli; (Atlanta, GA) ; Cross; Patricia L.;
(Chesterland, OH) ; Moore; Arthur B.; (Pasadena,
CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
SoCAL IP LAW GROUP LLP
310 N. WESTLAKE BLVD. STE 120
WESTLAKE VILLAGE
CA
91362
US
|
Family ID: |
26903480 |
Appl. No.: |
11/925666 |
Filed: |
October 26, 2007 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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09872353 |
Jun 1, 2001 |
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11925666 |
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09400170 |
Sep 21, 1999 |
6837955 |
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09872353 |
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09158728 |
Sep 22, 1998 |
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09400170 |
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09158308 |
Sep 22, 1998 |
7374631 |
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09158728 |
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60208767 |
Jun 2, 2000 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
428/32.11 ;
400/624; 83/56 |
Current CPC
Class: |
Y10T 428/14 20150115;
Y10T 428/1486 20150115; Y10T 83/0605 20150401; Y10T 156/108
20150115; Y10T 156/1052 20150115; B42D 15/00 20130101; Y10T
156/1056 20150115; Y10T 428/149 20150115; Y10T 428/2486 20150115;
Y10T 428/1476 20150115; B42P 2241/22 20130101; Y10T 428/1495
20150115; B42D 15/02 20130101; Y10T 428/15 20150115 |
Class at
Publication: |
428/32.11 ;
400/624; 83/56 |
International
Class: |
B41M 5/00 20060101
B41M005/00; B41J 13/10 20060101 B41J013/10; B26D 3/00 20060101
B26D003/00 |
Claims
1-99. (canceled)
100. A printable business card sheet, comprising: a laminate sheet
construction including a facestock sheet construction and a
continuous sheet construction attached to a back side of the
facestock sheet construction; the facestock sheet construction
including a facestock sheet; the facestock sheet being a cardstock
sheet; facestock continuous through-cut lines through the facestock
sheet construction but not through-cut through the continuous sheet
construction; the through-cut lines defining at least in part
perimeter edges of printable business cards and a matrix waste
portion around the printable business cards; the laminate sheet
construction being sized, constructed and capable of being
sheet-fed through a printer or copier for a sheet-fed printing
operation on the printable business cards; areas of the continuous
sheet construction being positioned over back sides of all of the
through-cut lines and thereby the continuous sheet construction is
structurally capable of holding the printable business cards and
the matrix waste portion together during the printing operation; a
top surface of the facestock sheet construction being constructed
and adapted to receive indicia printed on the top surface during
the printing operation; the continuous sheet construction and the
through-cut lines being constructed and adapted to allow the
business cards to be removed and separated from the continuous
sheet construction and from the matrix waste portion after the
printing operation into individual printed business cards whose
back side surfaces are non-tacky; and the printable business
cards.
101. A method of forming a printable media sheet construction,
comprising: a) cutting a facestock sheet of a sheet construction
which includes a liner sheet and the facestock sheet, without
cutting through the liner sheet to form perimeters of printable
media; (b) cutting the liner sheet without cutting the facestock
sheet to form a plurality of spaced liner strips on the facestock
sheet; (c) after (b), removing alternating ones of the liner strips
from off of the facestock sheet; and (d) after (c), sheeting the
sheet construction into a plurality of sheets, each of the sheets
including a plurality of the printable media and a plurality of the
liner strips.
102. A printed business card forming method, comprising:
sheet-feeding a printable business card sheet into a printer or
copier from a stack of printable business card sheets; the
printable business card sheet comprising: a laminate sheet
construction including a facestock sheet construction having a
front side and a back side and a continuous sheet construction
attached to the back side; the facestock sheet construction
including a cardstock facestock sheet; facestock continuous
through-cut lines through the cardstock facestock sheet
construction but not through-cut through the continuous sheet
construction; the through-cut lines defining perimeter edges of
printable business cards and a matrix waste portion around the
printable business cards; the printable business cards being
arranged in a grid, which includes a column of the printable
business cards; and areas of the continuous sheet construction
being positioned over back sides of all of the through-cut lines
and thereby the continuous sheet construction holding the printable
business cards and the matrix waste portion together during the
sheet-feeding; the sheet-feeding including the printer or copier
printing user-desired indicia on front sides of each of the
printable business cards to thereby form removable printed business
cards; and after the printing, removing and separating each of the
removable printed business cards from and off of the continuous
sheet construction and from the matrix waste portion to form
individual printed business cards whose back side surfaces are
non-tacky.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the filing date benefit of
provisional application Ser. No. 60/208,767, filed Jun. 2, 2000,
and is a continuation-in-part of copending application Ser. No.
09/400,170, filed Sep. 21, 1999, which is a continuation-in-part of
copending applications Ser. No. 09/158,728 filed Sep. 22, 1998 and
Ser. No. 09/158,308 filed Sep. 22, 1998; the entire contents of all
four of these applications and of International Publication WO
00/16978, published Mar. 30, 2000, are hereby incorporated by
reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates to printable sheet
constructions that are adapted to be fed into printers or copiers
and indicia printed on different portions thereof and the portions
thereafter separated into separate printed media, such as business
cards. It further is concerned with methods for making those
printing sheet constructions. Additionally, it relates to methods
of using the sheet constructions to form the printed cards.
[0003] Small size media, such as business cards, ROLODEX
rotary-type card file cards, party invitations and visitors cards,
because of their small format, cannot be fed into and easily
printed using today's ink jet printers, laser printers,
photocopiers and other ordinary printing and typing machines.
Therefore, one known method of producing small size media has been
to print the desired indicia on different portions of a large sheet
such as 81/2 by 11 or 81/2 by 14 or A4 size sheets, and then to cut
the sheets with some type of cutting machine into the different
portions or individual small size sheets or media with the printing
on each of them. However, this method is disadvantageous because
the user must have access to such a cutting machine, and the
separate cutting step is cost and time inefficient.
[0004] To avoid this cutting step, another prior art product has
the portions of the sheet which define the perimeters of the media
(e.g., the business cards) formed by preformed perforation lines.
(See, e.g., PCT International Publication No. WO 97/40979.)
However, a problem with this product was that since these cards
must be durable and professional looking, they had to be made from
relatively thick and heavy paper. And the thick, heavy perforated
sheets are relatively inflexible, such that they cannot be fed from
a stack of such sheets using automatic paper feeders into the
printers and copiers. One proposed solution to this feeding problem
is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,704,317 ('317) to Hickenbotham.
(This patent and all other patents and other publications mentioned
anywhere in this disclosure are hereby incorporated by reference in
their entireties.) The method of the '317 patent reduces the
stiffness of the corners of the sheet as by scoring, slitting, die
cutting or calendering. However, a number of problems with this
method prevented it from becoming generally commercially
acceptable.
[0005] Another attempted solution to the sheet feeding problem is
that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,571,587 ('587) to Bishop et al.
(See also U.S. Pat. No. 4,447,481 to Holmberg et al.) Pursuant to
the '587 patent the sheetstock has a relatively thin portion on at
least one of the longitudinal edges thereof which facilitates
feeding the sheetstock into a printer or copier. The thin portion
is removed from the sheet after printing. The individual printed
cards are then separated from one another by pulling or tearing
along the preformed microperforated lines. While the perforation
ties remaining along the edges of the printed cards thereby formed
are small, they are perceptible, giving the card a less than
professional appearance and feel.
[0006] A card sheet construction which uses clean cut edges instead
of the less desirable perforated edges is commercially available
from Max Seidel and from Promaxx/"Paper Direct", and an example of
this product is shown in the drawings by FIGS. 1-3. (See Canadian
Patent Publication No. 2,148,553 (MTL Modern Technologies Lizenz
GmbH); see also U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,789 (Fernandez-Kirchberger, et
al.) and German DE.42.40.825.A1.) Referring to these drawing
figures, the prior art product is shown generally at 100. It
includes a sheetstock 102, divided by widthwise and lengthwise cut
lines 104 in columns and rows of cards 110, surrounded by a
perimeter frame 112. On the back side 114 of the sheetstock 102,
thin carrier element strips 116 made of polyester are glued with
adhesive 118 along and over the widthwise cut lines. These strips
116 hold the cards 110 and the frame 112 together when the
sheetstock 102 is fed into a printer or copier as shown generally
at 120. After the sheetstock 100 has been fed into the printer or
copier 120 and the desired indicia printed on the cards 110, the
cards are peeled off of and away from the strips 1 16 and frame
112. After all of the cards 110 have been so removed from the
sheetstock 102, the left-over material formed by the strips 116 and
the frame 112 is discarded as waste material.
[0007] One of the problems with the prior art sheet product 100 is
that printers have difficulty picking the sheets up, resulting in
the sheets being misfed into the printers. In other words, it is
difficult for the infeed rollers to pull the sheets past the
separation tabs within the printers. Feeding difficulties are also
caused by curl of the sheetstock 102 back onto itself . The "curl"
causes the leading edge of the sheet to bend back and flex over the
separation tabs. Since the sheetstock 102 is a relatively stiff
product, it is difficult for the infeed rollers of the printer 120
to handle this problem.
[0008] Another problem with the prior art sheet 100 is a
start-of-sheet, off-registration problem. In other words, the print
is shifted up or down from its expected desired starting position
below the top of the sheet. This off-registration problem is often
related to the misfeeding problem discussed in the paragraph above.
This is because if the printer is having difficulty picking up the
sheet, the timing of the printer is effected. And this causes the
print to begin at different places on the sheet, which is
unacceptable to the users.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] Directed to remedying the problems in and overcoming the
disadvantages of the prior art, disclosed herein is a dry laminated
sheet construction including printable media, such as business
cards, ROLODEX type cards, party invitations, visitor cards or the
like. A first step in the formation of this dry laminated sheet
construction is to extrusion coat a low density polyethylene (LPDE)
layer on a densified bleached kraft paper liner, thereby forming a
film-coated liner sheet. Using a layer of hot melt adhesive, a
facestock sheet is adhered to the film side of the liner sheet to
form a laminated sheet construction web. A more generic description
of the "dry peel" materials--the LPDE, and densified bleached kraft
paper liner--is a film forming polymer coated onto a liner stock.
The facestock sheet, the film layer and the adhesive layer together
define a laminate facestock. (See U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,772 (Cross);
see also U.S. Pat. No. 3,420,364 (Kennedy), U.S. Pat. No. 3,769,147
(Kamendat et al), U.S. Pat. No. 4,004,058 (Buros et al), U.S. Pat.
No. 4,020,204 (Taylor et al), and U.S. Pat. No. 4,405,401 (Stahl)).
The sheet construction (which also includes a facestock bonded to
the film forming polymer) separates at the film-liner interface
rather than the facestock-film interface, when the final
construction is subjected to a peeling force.
[0010] According to one embodiment of this invention, a web of
laminate facestock is calendered along one or both edges thereof to
assist in subsequent printer feed of the printable media sheets.
The calendered edges help prevent the multiple sheet feed-through,
misfeed and registration problems of the prior art. Lines are die
cut through the laminate facestock and to but not through the liner
sheet. These facestock cut lines define the perimeters of blank
business cards (or other printable media) and a surrounding waste
paper frame. These die cut lines do not cause sheets to get caught
in one another. This allows sheets to be effectively fed into
printers. Lines are then cut through the liner sheet, but not
through the laminate facestock, to form liner sheet strips on the
back face of the laminate facestock. The liner sheet cut lines can
each be straight lines or they can be curving, wavy lines. The
lines can be horizontally (or vertically) straight across the sheet
or diagonally positioned thereon. According to one alternative, the
lines can extend only part way across the sheet, such as from both
side edges, to only a central zone of the sheet. Further steps in
the process are to sheet the web into individual sheets, stack and
package them and distribute the packaged sheets through retail
channels to end users.
[0011] The laminated (business card) sheets are unpackaged by the
user and stacked into the feed tray of a printer or copier and
individually and automatically fed, calendered edge first, into a
printer (and particularly a horizontal feed ink jet printer) or
copier where indicia is printed on each of the printable media (or
blank business cards) on the sheet. After the printing operation,
each of the printed media (or business cards) is peeled off of the
liner sheet strips and out from the waste paper frame. The support
structure formed by the strips and the frame is subsequently
discarded. Alternatively, the support structure is peeled off of
the printed business cards. The product, in either event, is a
stack of cleanly printed business cards, each having clean die cut
edges about its entire perimeter.
[0012] In other words, the adhesive layer securely bonds the
facestock sheet to the LPDE film layer on the liner sheet. It bonds
it such that the overall sheet construction separates or
delaminates at the film-liner sheet interface, when the user peels
the printed business cards and liner strips apart. That is, it does
not separate at the facestock sheet interface. Additionally, the
film-coated liner sheet does not significantly affect the
flexibility of the sheet as it is fed through the printer. Rather,
it is the thickness of the facestock which is the more significant
factor. Thus, the facestock sheet needs to be carefully selected so
as to not be so stiff that feeding or printing registration
problems result.
[0013] Pursuant to some of the preferred embodiments of the
invention, every other one of the strips is peeled off and removed
from the sheet during the manufacturing process and before the
sheet is fed into a printer or copier. The remaining strips cover a
substantial number of the laminated facestock cut lines and extend
onto the waste paper frame to hold the business card blanks and the
sheet together as they are fed into and passed through the printer
or copier. The remaining strips (and thus the facestock cut lines)
preferably extend width-wise on the sheet or are perpendicular to
the feed direction of the sheet to make the laminated sheet
construction less stiff and more flexible as it passes into and
through the printer or copier. By starting off with a single
continuous liner sheet to form the strips, the final stripped
product is flatter than the prior art products. Thus, it is less
likely that the sheets will bow and snag together.
[0014] Other embodiments do not remove any of the strips before the
sheet is fed into the printer or copier. In other words, the entire
back side of the laminated facestock is covered by the liner sheet
having a series of liner-sheet cut lines.
[0015] A further definition of the method of making this invention
includes forming a roll of a web of dry laminate sheet construction
comprising a liner sheet on a facestock sheet. The web is unwound
under constant tension from the web and the edges of the web are
calendered. The facestock sheet of the unwound web is die cut
without cutting the liner sheet to form perimeter outlines of the
printable media (business cards). The liner sheet is then die cut,
without cutting the facestock sheet, to form liner strips.
Alternating ones of the interconnected liner strips are removed as
a waste liner matrix and rolled onto a roll and disposed of. The
web is then sheeted into eleven by eight-and-a-half inch sheets,
for example, or eight-and-a-half by fourteen or in A4 dimensions;
the sheets are stacked, and the stacked sheets are packaged. The
user subsequently removes the stack of sheets from the packaging
and positions the stack or a portion thereof in an infeed tray of a
printer or copier for a printing operation on the printable media
or individually feeds them into the printer or copier. After the
printing operation, the printed media are separated from the rest
of the sheet, as previously described.
[0016] Sheet constructions of this invention appear to work on the
following ink jet printers: HP550C, HP660C, HP722C, HP870Cse, Canon
BJC620, Canon BJC4100, Epson Stylus Color II and Epson Stylus Color
600.
[0017] Another advantage of the embodiments of the present
invention wherein alternate strips of the liner are removed before
the printing operation is that a memory curl is less likely to be
imparted or induced in the business cards from the liner sheet.
Memory curl occurs when the facestock is removed from a full liner
sheet. The liner strips are better than liner sheets since they
reduce the amount of memory curl that occurs during removal of the
facestock.
[0018] A further embodiment of this invention has a strip of the
laminated facestock stripped away at one end of the sheet to leave
a strip of the liner sheet extending out beyond the end of
laminated facestock. This liner strip defines a thin infeed edge
especially well suited for feeding the sheets into vertical feed
printers and appears to work better than calendering the infeed
edge. The opposite (end) edge of the laminated facestock can also
be stripped away to leave an exposed liner sheet strip.
Alternatively, the opposite edge of the laminated facestock can be
calendered. The calendered edge appears to work better for feeding
the sheets into horizontal feed printers. And instructions can be
printed on the sheet (or on the packaging or on a packaging insert)
instructing the user to orient the sheet so that the exposed liner
strip defines the infeed end when a vertical feed printer is used
and to orient the sheet so that the calendered edge defines the
infeed end when a horizontal feed printer is used.
[0019] In fact, this inventive concept of the exposed liner strip
at one end and the calendered edge at the other end can be used for
other sheet constructions adapted for feeding into printers for a
printing operation thereon. An example thereof is simply a face
sheet adhered to a backing sheet. The backing sheet does not need
to have cut lines or otherwise formed as strips. And the face sheet
does not need to have cut lines; it can, for example, have
perforated lines forming the perimeters of the business cards or
other printable media.
[0020] A preferred sheet construction of the present invention is
facially similar to but a significant improvement over the prior
art "Paper Direct" product shown in FIGS. 1-3, and described in the
Background of the Invention portion of this disclosure. In addition
to the previously-discussed problems, that prior art product is too
flimsy. Accordingly, a preferred sheet construction of the present
invention uses paper strips, instead of polyester film strips, to
hold the sheet together. The paper strips are stiffer and
preferably wider (e.g., 9/16 inch wide) than the film strips,
thereby giving the sheet construction a firmer, more intact, feel,
which is commercially valuable. Additionally, the paper strips
allow the sheet to lay flat, with less puckering along the die cut
unions, since it reacts to the environment in a similar manner as
the cardstock.
[0021] Similar to the dry laminate products of this invention
described above a laminate cardstock is formed according to this
preferred embodiment. Ultraremovable adhesive is applied to a paper
sheet to form therewith a liner sheet and the liner sheet is
laminated to a cardstock (facestock) sheet to form this laminate
cardstock web. The web is face die cut through the cardstock sheet,
but not through the liner sheet, to thereby form cardstock cut
lines that define at least in part perimeters of the printable
media (business cards, postcards, greeting cards, and so forth). At
the next station the web is then die cut through the liner sheet,
but not through the cardstock sheet, to form liner sheet strips on
a back side of the cardstock sheet. Some of the strips define cover
strips covering backs of some of the cardstock cut lines, and
others of the strips define waste strips. The waste strips are then
matrix removed from the back of the cardstock sheet. The web is
then sheeted into sheets of the desired size, such as 81/2 by 11
inches.
[0022] The sheets are ready to be fed into a printer or copier, and
a printing operation thereby conducted on fronts of the printable
media. The printed media are then separated from (peeled off of)
the cover strips, ready for use. The cover strips preferably
provide the sole means of keeping the die cut printable media
together as an intact unit sheet for passing through the printer or
copier. Removing the waste strips before the sheet is passed
through the printer or copier makes the sheet more flexible so that
it can bend and pass better through the winding paths in the
printers or copiers.
[0023] The ultraremovable adhesive is peeled off with the paper
waste strips and the cover strips thereby providing a clean back
side to the cardstock sheet (and thereby the printed media). The
clean back side(s) (even when a coating thereon is provided)
advantageously can be written on, that is, it accepts pencil, ink
and even inkjet and laser printing. The ultraremovable adhesive
sticks to the paper allowing for easy removal and disposal of the
paper strips, and even though it is tacky it does not stick to
anything permanently. In contrast, the "Paper Direct" product uses
a removable adhesive. (Generally, adhesions of "ultraremovableTo
assist the sheet in being fed into the printer or copier the
lead-in edge thereof is preferably calendered, unlike the "Paper
Direct" product. The web, before sheeting, is preferably calendered
with textured calendering dies before the face cutting station. The
calendering step is also preferably performed after the printing
operation on the web wherein identifying and explanatory
information is printed on the cardstock." adhesives at their
highest adhesion levels (to a surface such as stainless steel) are
roughly half of what they are for conventional "removable"
adhesive. A fundamental difference is that conventional adhesives
provide complete contact with a substrate while ultraremovable
adhesive provide partial contact;. This limited contact area is
what prevents an ultraremovable adhesive from becoming permanent,
over time).
[0024] Other objects and advantages of the present invention will
become more apparent to those persons having ordinary skill in the
art to which the present invention pertains from the foregoing
description taken in conjunction with the accompanying
drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0025] FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a prior art sheet
construction being fed into a printer or copier;
[0026] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an end of the prior art
sheet construction of FIG. 1 showing a sheet portion or card being
removed therefrom;
[0027] FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on line 3-3
of FIG. 2;
[0028] FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a laminated sheet
construction of the present invention being fed into a printer or
copier and a laminated sheet construction of the present invention
after a printing operation has been performed thereon by the
printer or copier;
[0029] FIG. 5 is a view similar to that of FIG. 2 but of a first
laminated sheet construction of the present invention, such as is
shown in FIG. 4;
[0030] FIG. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on line 6-6
of FIG. 5;
[0031] FIG. 7 is a plan view of the back of the first laminated
sheet construction of FIG. 5;
[0032] FIG. 8 is a plan view of the front of the first laminated
sheet construction of FIG. 7;
[0033] FIG. 9 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on line 9-9
of FIG. 8;
[0034] FIG. 9A is a view similar to FIG. 9 and illustrates a
portion of a first alternative construction;
[0035] FIG. 9B illustrates a portion of a second alternative
construction;
[0036] FIG. 10is a view similar to FIG. 7;
[0037] FIG. 11 is a view similar to FIG. 8;
[0038] FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing a stack of laminated
sheet constructions of the present invention operatively positioned
in an automatic feed tray of a printer or copier waiting to be
individually fed therein for a printing operation and a sheet from
the stack having already been printed;
[0039] FIG. 13 is a view similar to FIG. 7 but of a second
laminated sheet construction of the present invention;
[0040] FIG. 14 is a view similar to FIG. 13;
[0041] FIG. 15 is a back view of a third laminated sheet
construction of the present invention;
[0042] FIG. 16 is a view similar to FIG. 15;
[0043] FIG. 17 is a back view of a fourth laminated sheet
construction of the present invention;
[0044] FIG. 18 is a view similar to FIG. 17 and of the fourth
laminated sheet construction;
[0045] FIG. 19 is a back view of a fifth laminated sheet
construction of the present invention;
[0046] FIG. 19A is a back view of sixth laminated sheet
construction of the present invention;
[0047] FIG. 20 is a back view of a seventh laminated sheet
construction of the present invention;
[0048] FIG. 21 is a back view of an eighth laminated sheet
construction of the present invention;
[0049] FIG. 22 shows the dimensions of the strips of FIG. 21;
[0050] FIG. 23 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on line
23-23 of FIG. 21;
[0051] FIG. 24 is a view similar to FIG. 23, but showing a ninth
laminated sheet construction of the present invention;
[0052] FIG. 25 is a schematic view showing a process and system of
making the sheet constructions of FIGS. 21 and 26;
[0053] FIG. 26 is a view similar to FIG. 23, but showing a tenth
laminated sheet construction of the present invention;
[0054] FIG. 27 is a front view of an eleventh laminated sheet
construction of the present invention;
[0055] FIG. 28 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on line
28-28 of FIG. 27; and
[0056] FIGS. 29A and 29B are front and back views, respectively, of
a first version of a preferred business card sheet construction of
the present invention;
[0057] FIGS. 29A and 29B are front and back views, respectively, of
a first version of a preferred business card sheet construction of
the present invention;
[0058] FIGS. 31A and 31B are front and back views, respectively, of
a first version greeting card sheet construction of the present
invention;
[0059] FIGS. 32A and 32B are front and back views of a second
version greeting card sheet construction;
[0060] FIGS. 33A and 33B are front and back views of a third
version;
[0061] FIGS. 34A and 34B are front and back views of a fourth
version;
[0062] FIGS. 35A and 35B are front and back views, respectively, of
a first version postcard sheet construction of the present
invention;
[0063] FIGS. 36A and 36B are front and back views, respectively, of
a second version postcard sheet construction;
[0064] FIG. 37 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken through
one or more of the sheet constructions of FIGS. 29-36;
[0065] FIG. 38 shows a process for making one or more of the sheet
constructions of FIGS. 29-36;
[0066] FIG. 39a is a front view of a preferred sheet construction
of the present invention;
[0067] FIG. 39b is a back view of the sheet construction of FIG.
39a;
[0068] FIG. 40 is a cross-sectional view of a dry laminate
construction usable with this invention;
[0069] FIG. 41 is a view similar to FIG. 39b showing a first
alternative version of that construction;
[0070] FIG. 42 is a view similar to FIG. 39b showing a second
alternative version;
[0071] FIG. 43 is a view similar to FIG. 39b showing a third
alternative version; and
[0072] FIGS. 44-46 show first, second and third variations of the
embodiment of FIG. 22.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION
[0073] A number of different embodiments and manufacturing
processes of the dry laminated business card sheet constructions of
this invention are illustrated in the drawings and described in
detail herein. A representative or first sheet construction is
illustrated generally at 200 in FIGS. 5, 6 and 7, for example.
[0074] Referring to FIG. 4, sheet construction 200 is formed by
extrusion coating a low density polyethylene (LDPE) layer 204 onto
a densified bleached kraft paper liner sheet (or base paper or base
material) 208, which is not siliconized. The thin extrusion-cast
LDPE layer 204 is unoriented. A suitable liner sheet 208 with layer
204 is available from Schoeller Technical Papers of Pulaski, N.Y.
The extrusion-coated liner sheet is laminated to a facestock sheet
(or card stock) 212 using a layer of hot melt pressure sensitive
adhesive (PSA) 216. The facestock sheet 212, the adhesive layer 216
and the film 204 form a laminate facestock 220. The facestock sheet
212 can be current ink jet business card stock available from the
Monadnock paper mills and which has good printability and
whiteness. The adhesive of layer 216 can be a conventional hot melt
adhesive such as H2187-01 hot melt adhesive available from Ato
Findlay, Inc. of Wauwatusa, Wis., or hot melt rubber-resin adhesive
compositions of the type taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,239,478 (Harlan,
Jr.). The requirements for the hot melt PSA are not very demanding.
The PSA layer 216 need only secure the facestock sheet 212 to the
LDPE layer 204 of the dry release base material or liner sheet 208,
such that the overall dry laminate facestock construction 224
delaminates at the LDPE-liner sheet interface when a user seeks to
peel away the liner, and not at a surface of the facestock sheet
212.
[0075] A preferred example of this dry laminate facestock
construction 224 is the "Dry Tag" product such as manufactured at
the Fasson Roll Division of Avery Dennison Corporation. The
facestock sheet 212 can alternatively be fluorescent paper, high
gloss paper or thermal transfer label paper. A preferred high photo
glossy paper which can be used is the glossy cardstock which is
available from Rexam Graphics of Portland, Oreg. and has a
thickness of approximately eight mil.
[0076] Preferred thicknesses of each of the layers of the laminate
facestock construction 224 are as follows: the liner sheet 208--3.0
mil; the LDPE film layer 204--0.80 to 1.0 mil; the adhesive layer
216--0.60 to 0.75 mil; and the facestock sheet 212--8.3 or 8.5 to
9.0 mil. Alternatively, the liner sheet 208 plus the film layer 204
can have a 3.5 mil thickness. Another alternative is for the
thicknesses of the facestock sheet 212 and the liner sheet 208 to
be approximately 6.0 and 3.0 mil, respectively, or approximately
7.0 and 2.0 mil, respectively. The LDPE layer 204 will not
significantly affect the flexibility of the sheet construction;
rather, it is the thickness of the facestock 212 which is the more
significant factor. To assist the picking up and feeding of the
laminate facestock construction 224 into the printer or copier 230,
the leading edge 234 can be, according to one definition of this
invention, calendered or crushed, as shown in FIG. 6. More
particularly, a 7/16 inch wide portion of the leading edge 234 can
be crushed with a calendering die to reduce the caliper from
thirteen mil to ten mil, for example.
[0077] In addition to calendering the leading edge 234 of the
laminate facestock construction 224, further processing steps are
needed to form the sheet construction 200. One key step is to form
cut lines 240 on and through the laminate facestock. Referring to
FIGS. 8 and 11, the cut lines 240 include frame cut lines 244 and
grid cut lines 248, and the frame cut lines include side cut lines
252 and end cut lines 256. The frame cut lines 244 define a border
or frame 260 around the central area 264 of the sheet. And the grid
cut lines 240 form a grid of spaced horizontal and vertical cut
lines 270, 274 in the central area 264. Thereby, the grid cut lines
248 and the frame cut lines 244 form the perimeters of rectangular
media 280, such as business cards. FIG. 8 shows that a preferred
number of the rectangular media 280 is ten, aligned in two columns
of five each and surrounded by the frame 260. FIG. 11 shows that
preferred dimensions 284, 288, 292, 296 and 298 are 1/2, 31/2,
11/32, 3/8 and 2 inches, respectively.
[0078] The facestock cut lines 240 extend through the laminate
facestock construction 224 and to but not through the liner sheet
208. If the facestock cut lines 240 passed through the liner sheet
208, the laminate facestock construction 224 would fall apart into
the rectangular media 280 and the frame 260, each separate from the
other. The separate small media cannot be passed effectively
through the printer or copier 230 for a printing operation on them.
Instead, the facestock cut lines 240 do not pass through the liner
sheet 208. However, the continuous liner sheet 208, while it would
hold the (ten) rectangular media 280 and the frame 260 together
during the printing operation, may make the sheet construction 200
too rigid, lacking the flexibility to pass through the curving feed
paths in printers or copiers. In some of the figures which show the
back or liner face of the sheet construction, the facestock cut
lines 240 are shown in dotted lines to depict their relationship
with the liner sheet strips as discussed below. Although the
facestock cut lines 240 and the liner-sheet cut lines discussed
below are preferably formed by die cutting, other techniques such
as laser cutting or using a circular cutting blade as would be
known by those skilled in the art are within the scope of this
invention.
[0079] Therefore, pursuant to the present invention, liner-sheet
cut lines 300 are formed on the liner sheet 208, through the liner
sheet and to but not through the laminate facestock 224. They
divide the liner sheet 208 into liner strips 304. The liner-sheet
cut lines 300 provide flexibility to the sheet construction 200 and
according to some of the embodiments of this invention, adequate
flexibility. However, for others the flexibility is not enough, so
these embodiments provide that some of the strips are removed from
the laminate facestock 224 to form the sheet construction which is
passed through the printer or copier 230. More importantly, by
removing some of the liner strips, the amount of memory curl
induced in the (printed) media is reduced. The remaining strips
308, however, must be sufficient to hold the cut laminate facestock
224 together during the printing operation. In other words, the
shape and location of the remaining strips 308 are selected on the
one hand to provide sufficient sheet flexibility and to minimize
memory curl and on the other hand to provide sufficient sheet
integrity. In particular, according to preferred embodiments, the
remaining strips cover all of the facestock cut lines 240 which are
parallel to the infeed edge of the sheet. Where the sheet is to be
fed in the portrait direction into the printer or copier 230, the
covered facestock cut lines extend width-wise on the sheets.
[0080] The embodiment of FIG. 7 shows the remaining strips 308, 340
being relatively thin, but still covering and overlapping the
horizontal facestock cut lines. FIG. 10 gives the dimensions of the
sheet construction 200 and the remaining strips 308. Dimensions
312, 316, 320, 324 and 328 are 718, 3/4, 11/4, 81/2 and 11.00
inches, respectively. In contrast, the remaining strips 340 in the
sheet construction as shown generally at 350 in FIG. 13 are wider.
The dimensions of the strips and sheet are shown in FIG. 14 by
dimensions 354, 358, 362, 366 and 370, as being 11/4, 1/2, 11/2,
81/2 and 11.00 inches, respectively.
[0081] FIGS. 9A and 9B are enlarged cross-sectional views of first
and second alternative sheet constructions of this invention. They
are alternatives to the LDPE/densified bleached kraft paper
component of FIG. 9, for example. The relative thicknesses of the
layers are not represented in these drawings. Alternative
construction shown generally at 372 in FIG. 9A uses vinyl or
another cast film on its casting sheet. Referring to FIG. 9A, the
tag facestock or other paper sheet is shown by reference numeral
374a. The PSA layer, vinyl or cast film, and the casting sheet are
labeled with reference numerals, 374b, 374c and 374d, respectively.
Reference numerals 375a and 375b depict the facestock cut lines and
liner cut lines. Similarly, the second alternative shown generally
at 376 in FIG. 9B includes tag facestock or other face paper 377a,
PSA layer 377b, film #1 377c, film #2 377d and liner 377e. The
facestock and die cut lines are shown by reference numerals 378a
and 378b, respectively.
[0082] While sheet constructions 200, 350 show the liner-sheet cut
lines and thus strips 308, 340 extending straight across the sheet,
sheet construction 380 has its liner-sheet cut lines 384 extending
diagonally across the back of the laminate facestock. This
construction is shown in FIG. 15, and FIG. 16 shows dimensions 390,
392, 394 and 398, which can be 1, 2, 1/2, and 11/2 inches,
respectively. Sheet construction 380 includes all of the diagonal
liner strips 388 still positioned on the laminate facestock during
a printing operation. However, it is also within the scope of the
invention to remove (unpeel) one or more of the strips before the
printing operation. One arrangement would remove alternating ones
of the diagonal strips. However, it may be that the remaining
(diagonal) strips do not provide the sheet with sufficient
integrity to prevent bowing of the sheet on the facestock cut
lines.
[0083] The liner-sheet cut lines 300, 384 are discussed above and
as shown in the corresponding drawing figures are all straight
lines. However, it is also within the scope of the invention to
make them curving or wavy, and a sheet construction embodiment
having wavy or curving lines 412 is illustrated generally at 416 in
FIG. 17. It is seen therein that the liner-sheet cut lines 412 on
opposite sides of the strips 420 thereby formed have opposite or
mirror images. Referring to FIG. 18, preferred dimensions 424, 428,
432, 436, 440 and 442 are 27/32, 1, 1 11/32, 31/2, 3/4 and 81/2
inches, respectively. The sheet construction embodiment 416 is fed
into the printer or copier 230 in the condition as illustrated in
FIG. 17, that is, none of the liner strips has been removed. A
variation thereon is illustrated by the sheet construction shown
generally at 450 in FIG. 19 wherein alternating ones of the strips
(five eye-goggle shaped strips) have been removed exposing the back
surface of the facestock laminate as shown at 454.
[0084] It is also within the scope of the present invention for the
liner-sheet cut lines and thus the liner strips to not extend from
one side or edge of the sheet to the other. A sheet construction
embodying such a configuration is shown in FIG. 19A generally at
455. Essentially the only difference between sheet construction 455
in FIG. 19A and sheet construction 450 in FIG. 19 is that the wavy
liner-sheet cut lines 456 do not extend from one side of the sheet
to the other. Rather, they stop near the center of the liner sheet
and short connector lines 457a, 457b form pairs of
oppositely-facing fish-shaped strips, which when removed expose
pairs of oppositely-facing fish-shaped portions 458a, 458b of the
laminate facestock. (For straight liner-sheet cut lines, instead of
wavy cut lines, the exposed shapes would be rectangles instead of
fish shapes.) Strips 459 of the liner sheet remain between the
adjacent pairs of connector lines 457a, 457b. The strips 459 cover
portions of the central vertical facestock cut lines and thereby
help to maintain the integrity of the sheet construction.
[0085] Flexibility of the sheet constructions at both ends thereof
is important. Accordingly, referring to FIG. 20, flexibility cut
lines 460 are formed in the end liner strips 462 extending the full
width of the strips in the sheet construction embodiment shown
generally at 464 and which is similar to the wide strip embodiment
of FIG. 13. The dotted lines in that figure show the locations of
the facestock cut lines 240 in the laminate facestock 220 and are
included in the figure to illustrate the relative positioning of
the liner-sheet cut lines 300 (and the strips thereby formed) and
the facestock cut lines 240. As can be seen the flexibility cut
lines 460 are positioned between the ends of the sheet construction
and the adjacent end frame cut lines 256. This provides flexibility
to the end portions of the waste frame 260. The flexibility cut
lines 460 are preferably formed in the same operation (die cutting)
as the liner-sheet cut lines 300. So another way to view the
flexibility cut lines 460 is that they are simply liner-sheet cut
lines at the ends of the liner sheet 208 where the adjacent strips
thereby formed are not removed. The thin liner strips are removed
from locations 474 in the illustrated embodiment. And the remaining
wide strips 478 are positioned over, covering and overlapping each
of the facestock horizontal grid cut lines.
[0086] A preferred embodiment of the liner sheet or the liner-sheet
cut lines 300 and liner strips is illustrated by sheet construction
shown generally at 482 in FIG. 21. Referring thereto, it is seen
that the liner-sheet cut lines form three different types of
strips, namely, (two) end wide strips 486, (four) central wide
strips 490 and (ten) thin strips 494. The end wide strips 486 are
provided at both ends of the sheet and extend the full width of the
sheet and along the entire edge thereof. Flexibility cut lines 496
are provided in each of the end wide strips 486, positioned similar
to those in the FIG. 19 embodiment. The central wide strips 490
cover each of the horizontal facestock grid cut lines. They are not
quite as wide as the corresponding strips in FIG. 19. Thus, more of
the frame vertical facestock cut lines are exposed on the liner
side of the sheet. This can result in them bowing out and snagging
as the sheet winds its way through the printer or copier 230.
[0087] Accordingly, the sheet construction 482 of FIG. 21 provides
for thin strips 494 positioned between and parallel to the wide
strips 486, 490. These thin strips 494 cross over each of the
vertical facestock cut lines and thereby prevent the potential
bowing out problem. Two of the thin strips are provided between
each of the neighboring wide strips. Of course, it is within the
scope of the invention to provide for only one thin strip between
the neighboring wide strips or to provide for more than two thin
strips, or to make them the same width as the wide strips or to
eliminate them altogether. The central wide strips 490 and the thin
strips 494 all have rounded corners 500, 504.
[0088] Each of the thin strips 494 and each of the central wide
strips 490 extend a distance past the vertical frame cut lines, but
not to the edge of the sheet. In other words, a liner edge or
margin is left on both sides extending between the end wide strips
486. What this means is that the liner sheet "strips" which are
removed after the liner-sheet cut lines are made and before the
sheet construction is sent to the user for a printing operation are
interconnected into a web or matrix. That is, all of the liner
portions (or strips) between the thin strips 494 and the adjacent
wide strips 486, 490 and between the adjacent thin strips are
connected to the borders or margins and thereby to each other in a
continuous web or matrix. Thus, by grabbing any portion of this
matrix, and preferably a corner thereof, the entire matrix can be
pulled off of the laminate facestock in essentially one step. As
will be described with reference to FIG. 25, each of the matrices
of the sheet construction web is wound onto a roll and the roll
subsequently discarded. This is easier, faster, quicker and cheaper
than pulling a number of individual liner waste strips off of the
laminate facestock as is done when the strips are not
interconnected. The dimensions of the strips and their spacings as
shown by dimensions 512, 516, 520, 524, 528 and 532 in FIG. 22 are
81/2, 8, 1/4, 1/4, 3/4 and 1/8 inches, respectively.
[0089] Both end edges are crushed or calendered as can be seen in
FIG. 23 at 536, preferably on the facestock side, but in the waste
frame portion and not extending into the central area on the
printable media. Alternatively and referring to the sheet
construction as shown generally at 538 in FIG. 24, both sides can
be crushed or calendered or only the liner sheet side as shown at
540.
[0090] A schematic view of the system and process for manufacturing
the laminate sheet construction 482 of FIG. 21 is illustrated in
FIG. 25 generally at 550. Each of the successive steps or stations
is illustrated from left to right in that drawing figure. As shown,
a web 554 of the dry laminate facestock formed as described
previously and rolled on a roll 558 is delivered from the Avery
Dennison Fasson Division, for example, to the press facility, such
as a Webtron (Canada) Model 1618 press. At the press facility, the
roll 558 is unwound with the facestock side up and the liner side
down and is delivered to the printing station shown generally at
562, and which includes a print cylinder 566, an anilox roll 570
and an ink supply 574. At the printing station 562, desired
identifying and informational indicia are printed on the facestock
of the laminate such as on the frame portion. This indicia can
include product code identification, the manufacturer's or
distributor's name and logo, and patent numbers, if any.
[0091] A schematic view of the system and process for manufacturing
the laminate sheet construction 482 of FIG. 21 is illustrated in
FIG. 25 generally at 550. Each of the successive steps or stations
is illustrated from left to right in that drawing figure. As shown,
a web 554 of the dry laminate facestock formed as described
previously and rolled on a roll 558 is delivered from the Avery
Dennison Fasson Division, for example, to the press facility, such
as a Webtron (Canada) Model 1618 press. At the press facility, the
roll 558 is unwound with the facestock side up and the liner side
down and is delivered to the printing station shown generally at
562, and which includes a print cylinder 566, an anilox roll 570
and an ink supply 574. At the printing station 562, desired
identifying and informational indicia are printed on the facestock
of the laminate such as on the frame portion. This indicia can
include product code identification, the manufacturer's or
distributor's name and logo, and patent numbers, if any.
[0092] The web 554 is then pulled to the turning station shown
generally at 580 where a turn bar 584 turns the web over so that
the liner side is facing up and the facestock side is facing down
for delivery to the calendering station. At the calendering station
shown generally at 588 and including an anvil 592 and a calendering
die 596, both edges of the web on the facestock side thereof are
crushed for about 7/16 inch from a 13.4 mil thickness to
approximately 10.4 mil.
[0093] The web 554 is pulled further to the two die cutting
stations. The face cutting station shown generally at 600 includes
an anvil 604 and a face cutting die 608, with the anvil positioned
on top. At this station the face of the web 554 is cut up to the
liner but without cutting the liner to create the business card
shapes on the face with cut lines, as previously described. At the
liner cutting station as shown generally at 620, the anvil 624 is
positioned below the liner cut die 628, in a relative arrangement
opposite to that at the face cutting station 600. The liner at this
station 620 is die cut up to the face without cutting the face. At
these die cutting stations 600, 620 a bridge bears down on the die
bearers, which forces the die blades to cut into a predetermined
portion of the caliper or thickness of the web. This portion is
called a step, and is the difference between the bearer and the end
of the die cutting blades. The smaller the step, the deeper the cut
into the web, as would be understood by those skilled in the die
cutting art.
[0094] The liner cutting forms the waste matrix 640 of the liner
sheet. This matrix 640 is grabbed and pulled off of the web 554 and
wound onto a roll 644 at the waste matrix station, which is shown
generally at 648. The finished web 652 is thereby formed and
delivered to the sheeting station. The calendering station 588, the
face cutting station 600, the liner cutting station 620 and the
waste matrix station 648 can essentially be arranged in any order
except that the waste matrix station must follow the liner cutting
station.
[0095] The sheeting station which is shown generally at 660
includes an anvil 664 and a sheeter cylinder 668. The eleven-inch
wide web 652 is sheeted into eight-and-a-half inch sheets 672. Of
course, if different sizes of sheets 672 (or 482) are desired (such
as 81/2 by 14 inch or A4 size) then the width of the web and/or the
sheeting distance can be altered or selected as needed. The final
sheet constructions 672 (or 482) are shown stacked in a stack 680
at the stacking station, which is illustrated generally at 684.
Each stack 680 of sheets can then be packaged and distributed to
the end user through normal retail distribution channels.
[0096] The end user then unpackages the sheets and stacks them in a
stack 686 in the infeed tray 694 of a printer (particularly an ink
jet printer) or copier 230, such as shown in FIG. 12. (FIG. 12
shows sheet construction 200 and not 482.) The sheet construction
482 has tested well in ten sheet stack (684) automatic feeding
tests in the following printers: HP DH 550/660C, Canon BJC 4100,
Canon BJC 620, Epson Stylus Color 600 and Epson Stylus Color II.
The printer or copier 230 preferably should not have temperatures
above the melting point of the LDPE used in the sheet construction.
During the printing operation by these printers 230, the desired
indicia 690 is printed on each of the printable media or cards.
This indicia 690 can include the user's (or card owner's) name,
title, company, address, phone number, facsimile number, and/or
e-mail address, as desired. The printed sheet constructions are
shown in the outfeed tray 694 of the printer 230 in FIGS. 4 and 12.
FIG. 4 shows an individual manual feed of the sheet
constructions.
[0097] The individual printed media or business cards 700 are then
peeled off of the rest of the sheet construction in an operation as
shown in FIG. 5, for example. The remaining laminate facestock
frame and liner strip product is disposed of. The result is a stack
of neatly and accurately printed business cards 700. Each of the
cards 700 has clean die cut edges defining its entire perimeter.
The cards 700 were efficiently and quickly printed by the
process(es) of this invention, since the sheet constructions can be
stacked in the infeed tray and automatically fed into and through
the printer 230, unlike the prior art.
[0098] A further preferred embodiment of the present invention is
shown generally at 710 in FIG. 26. Sheet construction 710 is
similar to sheet construction 482 except at one end of the
sheet--the top end as shown in FIG. 26. Referring thereto, the
laminate facestock 220 (and/or the liner sheet 208) is not
calendered to make the end edge of sheet construction 710 thinner
and thereby easier to efficiently feed into the printer or copier.
Instead a one-half inch strip of the laminate facestock 220 is
stripped off of the liner sheet leaving only a thin infeed liner
strip 714 at that end of the sheet construction. The infeed liner
strip 714 is well suited for vertical feed printers because it
allows the sheet to easily curve under the infeed roller(s). And
the opposite calendered end is well suited for feeding into
horizontal feed printers because of the straight path the sheet(s)
take(s) to engage the infeed roller(s). Indicia can be printed on
the (front) frame of the laminate facestock 224 instructing the
user as to which end of the sheet construction 710 defines the
infeed end for vertical feed printers and for horizontal feed
printers. A preferred embodiment of sheet construction 710 removes
the end liner strip 716 defined by line 496.
[0099] Two alternative systems or method for stripping the laminate
facestock strip are illustrated in FIG. 25. For both embodiments
only one edge is crushed at the calendering station 588. According
to one, the laminate facestock is die cut by die 720 (and anvil
722) along die cut line 724 (FIGS. 26-28) at the stripping station
shown generally at 728 and the strip removed from the web as shown
by arrow 732. (Alternatively, the facestock can be on top of the
web for this step.) The die cut line 724 can be the same as the top
frame cut line so that there is no "frame" along the top. The
stripped web is then wound back onto a roll (558) and placed into
position on the facility 588 as denoted by arrow 736. The stripped
roll is placed back on the press prior to station 562, in the same
place as 558, as shown in FIG. 25.
[0100] The other method or system does not use the separate
stripping station 728. Instead the stripping is conducted in the
facility 550. The die cut line 724 is made at the face cutting
station 600. The facestock strip is then removed at the removal
station shown generally at 740, which can be part of waste matrix
station 648. At removal station 740, the face strip 744 is wrapped
around a driven roll 748 and exhausted using an air line 752 into a
vacuum system.
[0101] The arrangement of having one end of a sheet construction
formed by stripping a strip (744) of a face sheet (such as laminate
facestock) off of a backing sheet (such as a liner sheet) can be
used not only on sheet construction 710 and the other
previously-described sheet constructions but also on generally any
multi-sheet construction.
[0102] An example thereof is the sheet construction shown generally
at 780 in FIGS. 27 and 28. Referring thereto, the laminate
facestock construction is the same as that of FIG. 26, for example.
It similarly has the face cut lines 240, the strip cut line 724,
and the calendered end 536. However, the liner 212 is a solid sheet
with no cut lines or strips formed or removed. Instead of a dry
laminate construction, it can be simply a face sheet adhered
directly to a backing sheet with adhesive. And the facesheet
separation lines (240) instead of being die cut can be microperfed.
It still has the advantage of an efficient feed into a vertical
feed printer using one end of the construction as the infeed end
and using the other for efficient feed into a horizontal feed
printer.
[0103] A preferred laminate sheet construction of the present
invention is illustrated in FIGS. 29A and 29B generally at 800 and
is a significant improvement over the previously-discussed "Paper
Direct" prior art product; it represents a first version business
card sheet construction of the inventions. A second version
business card sheet construction is shown generally at 804 in FIGS.
30A and 30B. The invention can also be readily adapted to
applications (printable media) other than business cards, such as
greeting cards and post cards. First, second, third and fourth
versions of greeting card sheet constructions of the present
invention are shown generally at 808, 812, 816 and 820 in FIGS. 31,
32, 33 and 34, respectively. (The "A" and "B" designations for each
of FIGS. 29-36 refer to the views of the front and back sides of
each of the respective sheet constructions.) Similarly, first and
second versions of a post card sheet construction of the invention
are shown generally at 824 and 828 in FIGS. 35 and 36. The machine
direction is designated by arrow 830. And a cross-sectional view of
one or more of the sheet constructions of FIGS. 29-36 is shown
generally at 832 in FIG. 37. Variations and alternatives of this
cross-sectional view will be discussed later.
[0104] What all of the sheet constructions of FIGS. 29-36 have in
common are a facestock sheet 836, through-cut lines 840 defining at
least in substantial part the perimeters of printable media, and
liner strips 844 on the back of the sheet covering many of the
through-cut lines and holding the sheet together as a sheet
construction unit for passage through a copier or printer. The
facestock sheet 836 is preferably a cardstock sheet. Referring to
FIG. 37, the liner strips 844 are preferably paper strips adhered
to the facestock sheet with ultraremovable adhesive 848. The
ultraremovable adhesive 848 can be the Fasson water-base acrylic
suspension polymer (made per U.S. Pat. No. 5,656,705) or the
CleanTac II adhesive available from Moore. As an example, the liner
strips 844 can be 50# pre-primed uncoated litho paper (white or
canary).
[0105] The cardstock sheet 836 may have or include a face coat 852
(FIG. 37), and the face coat can be a laser color-optimized coating
or an ink jet color-optimized coating. The ink jet coating, for
example, is a color optimized coating provided to enhance the
appearance and waterfastness of ink jet inks on selected substrates
(cardstocks). The cardstock sheet 836 may also have or include an
adhesive-receptive back coat 856. A liner primer coat 860, such as
the polyvinyl alcohol based primer with silicate available from
Fasson or a primer available from Moore, may also be provided,
sandwiched between the layer of adhesive 848 layer and the paper
liner or strips 844.
[0106] Examples of usable cardstocks 836 are: (1) ink jet
(uncoated) (a) Monadnock Paper Mills: 65# Cover (white, mellow
white and antique gray) and (b) Monadnock Paper Mills: 100# Text
(white, mellow white and antique gray); (2) ink jet (coated) (a)
Monadnock Paper Mills: Lightweight C1S (white, mellow white and
antique gray), (b) Monadnock Paper Mills: Heavyweight C1S (white,
mellow white and antique gray), and (c) Mitsubishi Paper Mills: C1S
Glossy (white); (3) laser (uncoated) (a) Fox River Paper Co.: 100#
Text (white, natural and cool gray), and (b) Boise Cascade: 100#
Offset (white); and (4) laser (coated) (a) Monadnock Paper Mills:
C1S w/"Nairobi" or "Harmony" coating (white), and (b) Nakagawa: C1S
Magnetic substrate.
[0107] Referring to FIG. 37, examples of cross-sectional
thicknesses from top to bottom through the sheet construction are:
cardstock face coat 852 (approximately 1.0 mil), cardstock 836
(approximately 7.0-9.2 mils), cardstock back coat 856
(approximately 0.1 mil), adhesive layer 848 (approximately
0.20-0.25 mil), liner primer coat 860 (approximately 0.1-0.5 mil),
and liner sheet 844 (approximately 2.8-4.0 mils).
[0108] To assist the sheet construction in being consistently and
accurately picked up and fed into the printer or copier, the infeed
edge (and the opposite end) of the sheet construction can be
calendered or crushed, as shown in various of the drawing figures
at 864. More particularly, the thickness of the infeed end of the
sheet (or the laminate web 870 during the manufacturing
process--see FIG. 38 and discussions thereof to follow) is reduced
by fifteen to twenty-five percent. The calendering can be just of
the cardstock 836 and/or the cardstock and the paper liner or strip
844. Alternatively, the paper strip 844 nearest the infeed edge of
the sheet construction can be parallel to and spaced and small
distance (e.g. one-quarter inch) from the infeed edge of the
cardstock, as shown in various figures by reference numeral 872.
This reduces the thickness of the infeed end of the sheet
construction. Additionally, the uncovered or exposed (one-quarter
inch) infeed edge 872 of the cardstock 836 can be calendered, if
desired, to further reduce the thickness of the infeed end.
[0109] The process(es) for making the sheet constructions of FIGS.
29-36 are similar to the process(es) previously above for making
the dry laminate sheet constructions of this invention. They are
illustrated schematically in FIG. 38. And referring thereto, the
laminate roll 874 (which includes the cardstock 836 laminated to
the paper liner 844 with the ultraremovable adhesive 848) is at the
roll unwind station 880. One way to form the roll 874 is to at a
first site apply the adhesive to the paper and wind it upon itself
and then deliver it to a second site where it is laminated to the
cardstock to form the roll. Another way to form the roll is for the
cardstock to be delivered from the second site to the first where
it is laminated and wound, and the roll then delivered to the
second site. The roll 874 is unwound with the face side of the web
870 up and the liner side of the web facing down. The web 870 in
this orientation passes to the printing station 884 where the
printing rollers 888, 892 print the desired indicia (not shown) on
the face side of the web (e.g., the cardstock face coat). The
indicia can include the distributor's or manufacturer's name and/or
logo, product code number, patent number(s), printer feeding
directions and so forth.
[0110] The printed web 870 then passes to the web turning assembly
896, which flips the web over so that the liner side 870a of the
web is up and the face side 870b is down. The calendering station
900 is next, and it includes an anvil roll 904 and a calendering
die 908 which calenders the "infeed" edge of the web. The
calendering dies 908 preferably have a random-patterned textured
finish. As opposed to a smooth tool, the textured dies 908 grip the
web 870 and keep it flat and even during the calendering process.
The textured calendered end (864) also assists the printer's
rollers to grip the sheet construction for infeeding same.
[0111] The web 870 then passes to the face cutting station 916,
which includes an anvil roll 920 and a face cutting die 924, and
the through-cut lines 840 in the facestock sheet 836 (but not
passing into the liner 844) are formed at this station to define
perimeters of the printable media (e.g., business cards, greeting
cards, post cards, etc.). The liner cutting station 930, which
includes the liner cutting die 934 and anvil roller 936, is the
next station in this manufacturing process. At this station 930 the
continuous liner sheet portion of the web 870 is die cut to form
alternating cover strips 844 and waste strips 938 on the back of
the cardstock sheet 836. The cover strips 844 cover the horizontal
cardstock sheet die-cut lines, that is, the through-cut lines 840,
which are width-wise parallel to the infeed edge of the cardstock
sheet 836. The waste strips 938 are between the cover strips 844.
The (separate) paper waste strips 938 are removed (pulled off) at
the removal station 942, which can include a matrix rewind mandrel
946. Alternatively, the waste strips 938 can be removed from the
web by a blower system.
[0112] The web 870 then passes to the sheeter station 950 where the
web is cut or sheeted to the desired (width) dimension, such as 8.5
by eleven inch sheets as shown by a stack of same at 954. The
sheets can then be packaged in sets, boxed and distributed to the
end user through normal commercial channels as would be known. The
sheets are then unpackaged and fed by a user through a printer or
copier (see FIGS. 4 and 12) for example for a printing operation on
the facestock sheet front (and back) side(s) of the printable media
and subsequent separation.
[0113] Although a single-web process is illustrated in FIG. 38, it
is also within the scope of the present invention to use a dual-web
process or system. The single-web process uses an eleven inch wide
cardstock laminate web 870. In contrast, a dual-web system, changes
the direction of the web through the stations or presses and uses a
seventeen-inch wide roll; that is, two side-by-side streams of 8.5
by 8.5 inch web. Some of today's presses allow the wider web width
to be processed. An example of the dual-web system is the "Arsoma"
press. Unlike the system or process depicted in FIG. 38, a web
turning assembly 896 is not provided or needed, because the
printing station 884 can print on either the top or bottom of the
web 870.
[0114] Preferred dimensions and configurations for each of the
versions of the business card, greeting card and post card
embodiments as depicted in FIGS. 29-36 will now be discussed.
Irrespective of which vendor (e.g., Fasson or Moore) is used, the
liner sheet 844 and adhesive construction 848 will preferably be
the same for each of the embodiments. However, the cardstock 836
would change for the embodiments (as well as for whether the sheet
construction is intended for laser or ink jet use). For ink jet use
a little bit more ink absorbency is required to allow the dies to
penetrate the ink and remain adhered to it. In contrast, for laser
printing, a plastic toner is used that is melted on the cardstock
836, so a little bit different surface treatment is needed to
obtain good toner anchorage and good heat transfer through the
cardstock material to actually bond the plastic to the
cardstock.
[0115] For the three embodiments, the biggest difference in the
cardstock 836 used is the thickness. Business cards are typically
thicker and somewhat stiffer than greeting cards and post cards.
For example, an average of 8.2-9.0 mils as opposed to an average of
7.4-7.6 mils. The greeting card embodiment would likely have a
scored fold line 960 formed at the facestock die cutting station
and incorporated in the same die. The post cards are preferably
standard four by six inch size; and the additional cut lines 964 at
the top and bottom are provide additional flexibility for feeding
and passing the sheet construction through the printer or copier.
They can also be provided for the greeting cards. Optional short
side perforated lines 968 can also be provided to increase
flexibility of the sheet construction.
[0116] Preferred dimensions in inches (in parentheses) for
construction 800, referring to FIGS. 29A and 29B are 970a ( 7/16),
970b ( 1/16), 970c (3/8), 970d (3-1/2), 970e (1/2), 970f (1/2),
970g (3/4), 970h (3/4), 970i (2), 970j (1/2), 970k (3/4), 970m
(8-1/2), and 970n (1-1/2). For construction 804 in FIGS. 30A and
30B, they are 974a ( 7/16), 974b ( 1/16), 974c (3/8), 974d (3-1/2),
974e (2), 974f (1/2), 974g (1/4), 974h (1/2), 974i (1/2), 974j
(8-1/2), 974k (1-1/2), 974m (3/4), 974n (11), and 974p (3/4). For
construction 808 in FIGS. 31A and 31B, they are 978a ( 7/16), 978b
(4-7/8), 978c (1/8), 978d (6-7/8), 978e (5/8), 978f ( 1/16), 978g
(5/8), 978h (1/4), 978i (5/8), 978j (5/8), 978k (1/4), 978m
(8-1/2), 978n (11), and 978p ( 13/16). For construction 812 in
FIGS. 32A and 32B, they are 982a ( 7/16), 982b (1/8), 982c (
13/16), 982d (6-7/8), 982e (4-7/8), 982f (5/8), 982g (5/8), 982h (
1/16), 982i (7/8), 982j (7/8), 982k (8-1/2) and 982m (11). For
construction 816 in FIGS. 33A and 33B, they are 986a ( 7/16), 986b
(1/8), 986c ( 13/16), 986d (6-7/8), 986e (4-7/8), 986f (5/8), 986g
(1/4), 986h (5/8), 986i ( 1/16), 986j (5/8), 986m (1/4), 986n
(1/4), 986p (11) and 986q (8-1/2). For construction 820 in FIGS.
34A and 34B, they are 990a ( 7/16), 990b (1/8), 990c (4-7/8), 990d
(6-7/8), 990e ( 13/16), 990f (5/8), 990g ( 1/16), 990h (7/8), 990l
(1/4), 990j (7/8), 990k (8-1/2) and 990m (11). For construction 824
in FIGS. 35A and 35B, they are 994a ( 7/16), 994b ( 1/16), 994c
(1-1/4), 994d (5/8), 993e (4), 994f (6), 994g (1/2), 994h (2), 994i
(5/8), 994j (5/8), 994k (1-1/4), 994m (8-1/2), 994n (1), 994p (
1/16), 994q (5/8), 994r (1-1/4), 994s (1/4) and 994t (11). For
construction 828 in FIGS. 36A and 36B, they are 998a ( 7/16), 998b
( 1/16), 998c (1-1/4), 998d (4), 998e (6), 998f (5/8), 998g (5/8),
998h (1-1/2), 998i (2), 998k (1/2), 998m (1), 998n (5/8), 998p
(5/8), 998q ( 1/16), 998r (1-1/2), 998s (8-1/2) and 998t (11).
[0117] Instead of providing the full paper liner laminated to the
cardstock, die cutting it and removing the waste strips, an
alternative manufacturing method of this invention will now be
described. A cardstock web (which does not have a paper liner
laminated thereto) is unwound from a roll and indicia printed
thereon. Cross-direction lines are die cut therethrough, and then
individual paper strips are laminated (with ultraremovable
adhesive) to the cardstock web at the desired locations. The next
step is to machine-direction die cut the web. Calendering of the
edge of the web can be done right before the printing step or
immediately before the machine-direction die cutting step. After
the machine-direction die cutting step, the web is sheeted, and the
sheets are stacked, packaged, boxed and distributed.
[0118] Referring to FIGS. 39a and 39b, a preferred sheet
construction of the present invention is illustrated, wherein FIG.
39a is a front view thereof, and FIG. 39b is a back view. It
preferably has a laminate type construction as has been previously
described. A cross-sectional example is shown in FIG. 40. Referring
thereto, the current dry lam product uses 8.5 mil tag face stock,
such as current inkjet business cardstock from the Monadnock paper
mills, 3 mil base paper that is not siliconized, 1 mil polyethylene
film, and 0.75 mil general purpose adhesive. When one die cuts
through the facestock, adhesive and the film, they are able to peel
off that portion away from the base paper. The base paper is bonded
to the film during extrusion, and no adhesive is involved in
creating that bond. This product has been made with various face
stocks. The same liner paper stock is required herein. A
manufacturing process, briefly, includes the material arriving as a
laminate of 13 mil thickness in an 11'' wide roll. The material in
roll form is then loaded on the press with the liner side up. The
material is first die cut on the face from the bottom of the web to
create the business card shapes. Then the liner is die cut from the
top. The web is then sheeted at every 8.5'' to yield an
11''.times.8.5'' sheet.
[0119] The preferred dimensions of the preferred sheet construction
are indicated in the drawings as follows in inches: 1000a (3/8),
1000b (3/4), 1000c (1/2), 1000d ( 1/16), 1000e (31/2), 1000f (2),
100g (81/2), 1000h (11), and 1000i (1/4), and machine direction
1000j. As can be seen in FIG. 39a, the die cut lines define two
columns of five business cards 1002 for a total of ten business
cards, each having a three and one-half inch length and a two inch
height or width. A one-half inch border at the top and the bottom
outside of the business cards is provided as are three-quarter inch
left and right side borders. The overall sheet dimensions are a
traditional eight and one-half by eleven inches. Of course, these
dimensions can be changed as would be apparent to those skilled in
the art and as may be needed.
[0120] Examples of preferred dimensions and materials will now be
described. The laminate can be eight point CIS (coated on one
side)/LP430 weld/dry base. The total laminate caliper will be a
minimum of 12.7 mils., a maximum of 14.1 and a target of 13.4. The
facestock or cardstock can be MONADNOCK 8 point C1S. The caliper
will be a minimum of 8.1 mils., a maximum of 8.7 and a target of
8.4. The smoothness will have minimum, maximum and target values of
110, 200 and 160 SFU. The brightness will be 98.5% minimum. The
coefficient of friction will be 0.76 (static) and 0.55 (kinetic).
The liner will have a minimum caliper of 3.8 mils, maximum of 4.6
and a target of 4.2. The brightness will have minimum, maximum and
target percentage values of 96.8, 97.8 and 97.3, respectively. The
smoothness will preferably be 200 SFU. And the release will have
minimum, maximum and target values of 50, 150 and 100 grams per
square meter. The adhesive will preferably be an emulsion acrylic.
It will have a coat weight of weld (target) and a service
temperature of 40 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
[0121] As can be seen in FIG. 39b, a one quarter inch strip 1004 of
the liner 1008 is removed from the cardstock on the leading edge or
the top edge of the sheet to enhance printer performance. It
enhances the performance by reducing the number of sheets
misfeeding into the printer, reducing skewing and reducing the
number of jams occurring inside of the printer. By removing the
strip, the caliper of the leading edge is reduced and the
coefficient of friction is changed. In comparison to some of the
other embodiments described herein, this simple liner embodiment
needs only easy conversions of the existing press and there is
considerably less set-up scrap and matrix to be disposed of. Tests
have shown that this embodiment with essentially a continuous liner
covering the entire back with the exception of the one-quarter inch
leading edge is flexible enough so as not to cause printer
problems.
[0122] The sheet construction of FIGS. 39a and 39b can be
manufactured according to previously-described manufacturing
processes adapted as would be apparent to those skilled in the art.
More particularly, a preferred manufacturing process which can be
used will now be described. The material is loaded onto the unwind
stand with the liner face up. The first process that takes place as
the web moves through the press is face printing. Since the
laminate is loaded face down, the back print station is used to
print the text on the cardstock or face. The next process is the
die cutting of the cardstock. Again, since the cardstock is face
down, the cardstock die is placed in the bottom position of the die
station with the anvil roller in the top. The individual cards are
die cut at this station, and hard pressure is applied as needed for
clean die cutting. Next, the web moves through the liner die
cutting station where the anvil roller is mounted in the bottom
position, with the liner die cutting die in the top position. In
this step, the one-quarter inch liner strip is cut for the leading
edge of the sheet. Next, the one-quarter strip goes around the
matrix pull roll, removing it from the sheet. The removed matrix
travels up and through the matrix removal system to a collection
bin. The web is then sheeted at eight and one-half inches using a
one hundred and thirty six tooth sheeter shaft. The material is
received at eleven inch wide, making the finished sheet dimensions
eight and one-half by eleven inches.
[0123] FIG. 40 is a cross-sectional view of a construction 1110
usable herein and having the following layers: three mil base paper
1111a, one mil film 1111b, 0.75 mil adhesive 1111c, and 8.5 mil
facestock 1111d.
[0124] FIGS. 41, 42 and 43 show three alternative constructions for
the back or liner side of the business card of FIGS. 39a and 39b.
The front side for each of them will be the same as shown in FIG.
39a. And the back or liner sides will be similar to FIG. 39b.
However, as can be seen FIG. 41 includes a die cut line 1112
extending through the liner but not the cardstock at the trailing
edge of the sheet to provide flexibility at the trailing edge. The
flexibility die cut line can be one-quarter inch from the trailing
edge of the sheet construction. In the embodiment of FIG. 41, the
one-quarter inch wide liner strip thereby defined is not removed
from off of the cardstock, in contrast to the leading edge strip.
However, in the embodiment of FIG. 42, the trailing edge liner
strip 1116 is removed (similar to the leading edge strip). In
counterdistinction, the sheet construction of FIG. 43 includes
flexibility cut lines 1120, 1124 through the liner at both the
leading and trailing edges of the sheet, but neither of the leading
or trailing edge liner strips thereby defined is removed. The
machine direction is indicated by arrows 1126. And the preferred
dimensions 1128 and 1130 are eleven and 1/4 inches,
respectively.
[0125] FIGS. 44 through 46 are back views of alternative sheet
constructions similar to that of FIG. 22 with only small
differences. FIG. 44 shows the one-quarter inch wide strip 1130 of
the liner at the leading edge of the sheet construction removed and
the one-quarter inch wide liner strip 1134 at the trailing edge
also removed. FIG. 45 shows the one-quarter inch wide leading edge
strip 1140 of the liner removed. However, a similar trailing edge
strip 1144 is not removed. An optional die cut flexibility line
1148 can be provided. By contrast, FIG. 46 shows neither of the
leading nor trailing edge liner strips 1160, 1164 removed. However,
leading and/or trailing die cut flexibility lines 1170, 1174 can be
provided at either at the trailing and/or leading edges.
[0126] The sheet construction of FIGS. 39a and 39b and the other
sheets have been described as having a dry laminate construction.
However, an ultraremovable adhesive version as described earlier
(see, e.g., FIG. 30) herein can also be used. For this version, no
polyester film is used. Only a couple of strips are provided on the
back of the construction to hold the cards together.
Advantageously, this allows the product to be sent through (inkjet)
printers twice to print on both sides. In contrast, the dry
laminated version, because of the polyester film which does not
accept inkjet printing, does not allow printing on the back
side.
[0127] From the foregoing detailed description, it will be evident
that there are a number of changes, adaptations and modifications
of the present invention which come within the province of those
skilled in the art. For example, the printed media instead of being
business cards can be postcards, mini-folded cards, tent cards or
photo frames. However, it is intended that all such variations not
departing from the spirit of the invention be considered as within
the scope thereof.
* * * * *