EP0757937A2 - Process for the production of self-adhesive label strips and the label strips so produced - Google Patents

Abstract

A support strip (4) and a label strip (2) are prepared as a material strip (6) comprising adjacent subsidiary strips in relation to the strip longitudinal direction. On the subsidiary strips, on two sides, adhesive is applied (14). The material strip can comprise at least three subsidiary strips and can be folded along fold lines limiting the subsidiary strips. An adhesive (14) is applied to the label strip (2) and a sepn. medium (16) on the support strip. Also, the sepn. medium and the adhesive can be applied one after the other on the support strip.

Description

The invention relates to a method for producing self-adhesive label tapes, in which at least one carrier web and at least one label web are placed one on top of the other, with at least one adhesive layer adhering to the underside of the label web and one separating layer adhering to the top of the carrier web at least in the area of the labels that can be removed from the label web are provided; the invention further relates to a self-adhesive label tape of the type described above. It should be noted here that the side carrying the adhesive layer is always referred to as the underside of the label web or the label, and the side receiving the label web is always designated as the top side of the carrier web. The label tapes are generally wound up into label tape rolls or also cut into label sheets. The materials used are paper, but also, for example, plastic or textiles.

A method is already known from EP 0 430 567 B1, in which a carrier web and one or more separate label webs are each coated in a system, optionally printed and then passed over and placed on top of one another to form the self-adhesive label tape. In the simplest case, this creates a two-layer label tape with a carrier web and a label web lying thereon (FIG. 1). Three-layer label tapes are also described and shown, in which, for example, double-layered, so-called sandwich labels are located on one side of the carrier web (FIG. 2) or in which single-layer labels are applied to both sides of the carrier web (FIG. 3). As shown in FIG. 8 of EP 0 430 567 B1, an extremely complex system is required, for example, for the production of a three-layer label tape, in which each individual web passes through printing stations, coating stations, a merging station and finally a winding station one after the other with various deflections. It can be seen that, before starting up this system, each individual web, starting from an entrance opening or a supply roll, must be guided through the individual stations in accordance with their course and to the winding station. This work is necessary with every new start, for example due to a tear in one of the tracks.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a method of the type mentioned in the preamble of claim 1, which is considerably simplified compared to known methods and consequently allows the systems for the production of a label tape to be simplified.

This object is achieved according to the invention in that a carrier web and label web is provided as a material web that is adjacent to one another with respect to the longitudinal direction of the web, that adhesives and release agents are applied to the web strips of the material web, and that for stacking carrier webs and label webs the material web along which the web strips are separated from one another separating longitudinal lines is folded or that individual strips resulting from cutting along the longitudinal lines are brought together and placed one on top of the other.

In the method according to the invention, the webs required for the construction of an adhesive label tape, i.e. Carrier webs and label webs, initially an integral part of one and the same material web. It goes without saying that the introduction of a single material web into a processing plant is much easier and quicker than the introduction of several individual webs. The system for processing a single material web can also be simpler and therefore cheaper than a system processing several separate webs.

The method according to the invention also allows, in particular, the rational production of printed products, in which label-like stickers are arranged on a carrier, for example printed with information, which forms the actual advertising medium, which are subtracted from the addressee for the advertising medium and used, for example, for a reply. If the label strip includes a part that does not form any labels, it can be removed at some point after the label strip has been produced before it is used as intended. So far, such advertising materials have been produced in such a way that on the printed advertising media, the label stickers were removed using a special machine from a separate, otherwise produced label tape and were dispensed onto the advertising medium.

According to the invention, the individual web strips, each forming carrier webs and label webs, are coated with a release layer and / or an adhesive and, if appropriate, printed, in accordance with their later function in the label tape. After these procedural steps have been completed, the individual web strips are brought together and placed one on top of the other.

The coating and printing of the initially integral material web in the same processing operation ensures that there is a clear spatial assignment of carrier webs, labels and printed texts, so that a correct assignment of certain brochures and associated addresses, for example, is also guaranteed for the later product. In earlier processes, it could happen that the separately produced and printed carrier or label webs were merged incorrectly and the assignment of carrier webs, labels and printed texts was lost.

The material web is either folded along the longitudinal lines separating the web strips and folded onto one another; however, it is also possible to cut individual or all of the web strips along the longitudinal lines separating them from one another and to guide the resulting individual strips one above the other and to place them on top of one another, as will be explained in more detail using an exemplary embodiment. The individual tapes can be turned over before being laid on top of one another or can also be placed on top of one another without being turned over.

In the simplest embodiment, a material web comprising two web strips is used, which is folded once. One lane serves as a carrier web, the other lane serves as a label web. The adhesive layer or the separating layer are applied to the sides of the web strips which are laid one upon the other during folding; the label web is additionally pre-punched according to the contours of the labels before or after folding, so that the labels can be easily separated from the label web.

A material web comprising three web strips is used to produce sandwich labels or a carrier web covered with label webs on both sides; it is then possible to fold the material web in two fold lines delimiting the middle web strip to the same side of this web strip or to different sides of the web strip (zigzag folding).

As already mentioned above, the adhesive is generally applied to the respective label web and the release agent to the respective carrier web. In this case, the adhesive application device and the release agent application device can be arranged next to one another with respect to the direction of travel of the material web, so that the processing system has a short overall length.

In another embodiment of the method according to the invention, the release agent and the adhesive are applied in succession to the respective carrier web; in this case, the release agent application device and the adhesive application device is arranged one behind the other with respect to the direction of travel of the material web. When the web strips are laid one on top of the other, the adhesive forms an adhesive bond with the web strip placed thereon, which is stronger than the connection between the adhesive and the release agent. When the label is peeled off, the adhesive sticks to the label.

The adhesive and / or the release agent can be applied to the material web in a manner known per se in a plate application or in a nozzle application, for example spray or contact nozzle application. The order is, for example, continuous or intermittent; in the case of a cliché order, there is also the option of applying the adhesive and / or the release agent as a contour application in accordance with the respective label contours. The contour application can be applied exactly according to the respective label contours or plus an edge area surrounding these label contours, such edge areas allowing a certain deviation in the mutual positioning of adhesive surfaces, release agent surfaces and die-cutting contours. The order can be one or two-sided.

In a further embodiment of the method according to the invention, it is provided that, before the web strips are laid one on top of the other, at least on individual web strips, for example adhesive points or adhesive strips are provided which serve to hold the web strips in their superimposed position. This effect can also be achieved in that adhesives in the areas of Label web is applied, which is no opposing release agent on the carrier web.

According to the invention, the material web can be printed on one or two sides before the web strips are laid one on top of the other.

In a further embodiment of the method according to the invention, the label tape formed by folding individual web strips onto one another can be subjected to a separating cut on one or on both longitudinal sides. This process step in particular allows several label tapes to be produced in one operation by using a material web which comprises a sufficient number of side-by-side web strips for a plurality of label tapes and which is folded in a suitable manner so that a plurality of label tapes lying one above the other is produced; by means of the separating cut, these label strips, which are still connected by individual folds, are separated from one another, as will be explained in one exemplary embodiment.

The method according to the invention produces a self-adhesive label tape with at least one carrier web and at least one label web lying on the carrier web, at least one adhesive layer adhering to the underside of the label web and one separating layer adhering to the top of the carrier web being provided at least in the area of the labels that can be removed from the label web and in which at least individual carrier webs and label webs are connected to one another via a longitudinal fold running in the longitudinal direction of the web.

Fig. 1

eine Draufsicht auf eine zwei Bahnstreifen umfassende Materialbahn;

Fig. 2

schematisch eine Seitenansicht eines aus der Materialbahn der Fig. 1 hergestellten Etikettenbandes;

Fig. 3

eine Ansicht gemäß der Fig. 2, mit herausgetrenntem Etikett;

Fig. 4

schematisch eine Einrichtung zum Herstellen von Selbstklebeetikettenbändern;

Fig. 5

eine Draufsicht auf eine drei Bahnstreifen umfassende Materialbahn für die Herstellung eines doppelseitigen Etikettenbandes;

Fig. 6

eine Ansicht der Materialbahn der Fig. 5 von unten;

Fig. 7

eine Seitenansicht eines dreilagigen, aus einem Materialband gemäß der Fig. 5 hergestellten Etikettenbandes;

Fig. 8

eine Ansicht etwa gemäß der Fig. 7, mit herausgetrennten Etiketten;

Fig. 9

eine Draufsicht auf eine drei Bahnstreifen umfassende Materialbahn für die Herstellung von Sandwichetiketten;

Fig. 10

eine Ansicht der Materialbahn der Fig. 9 von unten;

Fig. 11

schematisch eine Seitenansicht eines aus einer Materialbahn gemäß der Fig. 9 hergestellten, dreilagigen Etikettenbandes;

Fig. 12

eine Ansicht etwa gemäß der Fig. 11, mit herausgetrenntem Sandwichetikett;

Fig. 13

eine Ansicht etwa gemäß der Fig. 12, mit vom unteren Etikett abgezogenem oberen Etikett; und

Fig. 14 bis 18

schematisch mehrere Ausführungsbeispiele für das Falten einer Materialbahn.

Several embodiments of the invention are shown in the drawing and described in more detail below.
Show it:

Fig. 1

a plan view of a web comprising two web strips;

Fig. 2

schematically shows a side view of a label tape produced from the material web of FIG. 1;

Fig. 3

a view of Figure 2, with the label removed.

Fig. 4

schematically a device for producing self-adhesive label tapes;

Fig. 5

a plan view of a three web strip material web for the production of a double-sided label tape;

Fig. 6

a view of the web of Figure 5 from below.

Fig. 7

a side view of a three-ply label tape produced from a material tape according to FIG. 5;

Fig. 8

a view approximately according to Figure 7, with the labels removed.

Fig. 9

a plan view of a three-strip material web for the production of sandwich labels;

Fig. 10

a view of the web of Figure 9 from below.

Fig. 11

schematically shows a side view of a three-layer label tape produced from a material web according to FIG. 9;

Fig. 12

a view approximately according to Figure 11, with the sandwich label removed;

Fig. 13

a view approximately according to Figure 12, with the upper label peeled off the lower label. and

14 to 18

schematically several embodiments for folding a material web.

1 shows a material web 6 comprising two web strips 2, 4 for the production of a simple, two-layer label tape. The web strips 2, 4 are separated from one another by a longitudinal line 8 arranged between them.

In the illustrated embodiment, the web strip 2 forms the label web, the web strip 4 the carrier web. The material web 6 passes through a suitable production plant, in which a label contour 10 of the label 12 is pre-punched in the web strip 2 and in which an adhesive layer 14 and a separating layer 16 are applied to the web strip 2 in further stations. As can be seen in FIG. 1, the adhesive layer 14 and the separating layer 16 are applied in a so-called contour application approximately corresponding to the label contour 10 with an edge region 11 surrounding it.

In a further station of the system, the material web 6 is folded around the longitudinal line 8 in such a way that the sides of the material web 2 facing the viewer in FIG. 1 come to lie on one another.

18 with adhesive dots are designated, which serve to hold the web strips 2 and 4 together after unfolding.

2 schematically shows a side view of the self-adhesive label tape 20 formed by folding the web strips 2 and 4 onto one another. The separating layer 16 applied to the web strip 4 (carrier web) is identified by the letter R (English = release), while the one on the upper web strip 2 ( Label web) applied adhesive layer 14 is marked with the letters A (English = adhesive). This marking is also retained for the following figures. 2 also shows the pre-punched label contour 10 of the label 12.

FIG. 3 shows a view approximately according to FIG. 2, but the label 12 has been separated from the label web 2. The adhesive layer 14 has detached from the separating layer 16.

4a schematically shows a system for producing self-adhesive label tapes, for example according to FIGS. 1 to 3. The material web 6 is pulled off, for example, from a supply roll 22 and fed to the various processing stations. For example, it first passes through a printing station 24, in which the material web 6 can be printed on one or both sides. It then passes through a punching station 26, in which the label contour 10 is pre-punched. The material web 6 then passes through a coating station 28 which has two coating units which are adjacent to one another with respect to the transport direction 30 of the material web and are assigned to the top and bottom of the material web; 4 only the units facing the viewer are shown. By means of these coating units, the adhesive layer 14 and the separating layer 16 are applied next to one another on one side or on both sides of the assigned web strips 2 and 4. Downstream of the coating station 28 is a folding station 32, in which, for example, the web strip 4 is folded around the longitudinal line 8 and placed on the web strip 2, as can also be seen in particular from FIG. 4b.

5 and 6 each show a material web 40 which comprises three adjacent web strips 42, 44, 46; FIG. 5 shows a top view, FIG. 6 shows a view from below. The web strips 42, 44, 46 are separated from one another by two longitudinal lines 48, 50.

The upper web strip 42 in FIG. 5 and lower in FIG. 6 serves as a carrier web; it is coated on both sides with a separating layer 52 and 54, respectively, which are denoted by the letter R in FIGS. 5 and 6. The web strips 44 and 46 each serve as label webs; they are each coated on the side facing the viewer in FIG. 5 with an adhesive layer 56 or 58, which are designated by the letter A in FIG. 5.

Label contours 60 and 62 for labels 64 and 66 are also pre-punched into the label webs 44, 46, which are visible both in FIG. 5 and in FIG. 6.

After applying the adhesive layers and separating layers and pre-punching the label contours, if necessary can be preceded by a printing process, the two outer web strips 42 and 46 are both folded towards the same side of the central web strip 44 and are placed one on top of the other such that the upper web strip 42 forming the carrier web lies between the label webs 44 and 46, as shown in FIG. 7 . This folding process is shown again in FIG. 14 in a schematic cross-sectional illustration. The result is a two-sided self-adhesive label tape in which 42 labels 64 and 66 can be peeled off from both sides of the carrier web.

As an alternative to the folding process shown in FIG. 14, it is also possible to cut individual or all web strips along the longitudinal lines separating them from one another and to guide the resulting individual webs one above the other and to lay them on top of one another. FIG. 15 shows an exemplary embodiment in which the web strip 46 is cut off along the longitudinal line and placed over the web strips 42, 44 folded over one another in the longitudinal line 48.

8 shows the self-adhesive label tape 48 with labels 64 and 66 removed from the carrier web 42.

FIGS. 9 and 10 each show a material web 70 with three web strips 72, 74, 76 arranged next to one another in a top view (FIG. 9) and a view from below (FIG. 10). The web strips 72, 74, 76 are separated from one another by longitudinal lines 78, 80.

The material web 70 is used to produce a three-layer sandwich label tape according to FIGS. 11 to 13.

An adhesive layer 82 is applied to the upper side of the web strip 72 facing the viewer in FIG. 9, marked with the letter A. A separating layer 84, which is denoted by R, is applied to the top of the middle web strip 44. On the back of the web strip 76, a separating layer 86, again denoted by R, is applied to the back of the web strip 74, an adhesive layer 88, denoted by A.

The web strips 72 and 74 are each provided with a pre-punched label contour 90 and 92 for a label 94 and 96, respectively.

11 to 13, the two outer web strips 72 and 76 are folded along the longitudinal lines 78 and 80 to two different sides of the central web strip 74, as shown in particular in FIG. 16. A sandwich label consisting of labels 94, 96 is formed on a carrier web 76. The upper label 94 lies with its adhesive layer 82 on the separating layer 84 of the lower label 96; the latter lies with its adhesive layer 88 on the separating layer 86 of the carrier web 76.

12 shows the sandwich label 94, 96 detached from the carrier web 76, which can be glued onto an application carrier. 13 shows the upper label 94 detached from the lower label 96.

17 and 18 each show a schematic cross-sectional illustration of methods for producing label tapes with more than three layers. 17, two web strips located on both sides of a central web strip are on the same side folded this middle strip. The five-layer label web according to FIG. 17 is suitable, for example, for a label tape in which sandwich labels are arranged on both sides of a middle carrier web.

18 shows a six-ply material web 114 in which two web strips arranged on both sides of a central web strip are each folded on different sides of this central web strip (zigzag folding). Such a six-layer label tape can be separated by a separating or trimming cut S along a longitudinal edge of the finished label tape, for example into three two-layer label tapes, each of which has a structure corresponding to the label tape shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

FIGS. 3, 8 and 11 and 12 each show an adhesive tape in which the label represents the actual product which is peeled off from the carrier serving as the recording medium. As not shown in more detail here, e.g. the carrier with the label also form the actual product. If the label band comprises parts that do not form labels, the part of the label web surrounding the labels is removed before using this product; the labels remain on the carrier and can be removed by the end user.

Claims (18)

Method for producing self-adhesive label tapes, in which at least one carrier web and at least one label web are placed one on top of the other, at least in the area of the labels separable from the label web at least one adhesive layer adhering to the underside of the label web and one separating layer adhering to the top of the carrier web are provided characterized in that a carrier web (4) and label webs (2) are provided as a material web (6) lying next to one another with respect to the longitudinal direction of the web, and on one or both sides adhesive (14) or release agent (16) on the web strips of the material web (6) are applied, and that for superimposing carrier webs (4) and label webs (6), the material web is folded along the longitudinal lines (8) separating the web strips from one another, or that individual strips produced by cutting along the longitudinal lines (8) are brought together and one on top of the other be opposed. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that a material web (6) comprising two web strips is used and folded once. Method according to Claim 1, characterized in that a material web (40) comprising at least three web strips (42, 44, 46) is used, and in that the material web is divided into two each Folding lines (48, 50) delimiting web strips is folded to the same side of this web strip. Method according to Claim 1, characterized in that a material web (70) comprising at least three web strips (72, 74, 76) is used, and in that the material web in each case in two fold lines (78, 80) delimiting a web strip to different sides of the web strip is folded. Method according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the adhesive (14) is applied to the respective label web (2) and the release agent (16) is applied to the respective carrier web (4). Method according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the release agent and the adhesive are applied in succession to the respective carrier web. Method according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the adhesive (14) and / or the release agent (16) are applied to the material web (6) in the form of a cliché. Method according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the adhesive (14) and / or the release agent (16) are applied to the material web (6) in the nozzle application. Method according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the adhesive and / or the release agent are applied continuously. Method according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the adhesive and / or the release agent are applied intermittently. Method according to one of claims 1 to 7 and 9 and 10, characterized in that the adhesive (14) and / or the release agent (16) is applied as a contour application corresponding to the respective label contours. Method according to one of claims 1 to 7 and 9 and 10, characterized in that the adhesive (14) and / or the release agent (16) is applied as a contour application corresponding to the respective label contours (10) plus an edge area (11) surrounding these label contours . Method according to one of Claims 1 to 12, characterized in that, before the web strips (2, 4) are laid one on top of the other, adhesive spots (18) or adhesive strips are provided at least on individual web strips for bonding to web strips resting on these web strips. Method according to one of claims 1 to 13, characterized in that the label contours (10) on the web strips forming the label webs (2) are pre-punched before the web strips are laid one on top of the other. Method according to one of claims 1 to 13, characterized in that the label contours (10) in the web strips forming the label webs (2) be pre-punched after laying the web strips on top of each other. Method according to one of claims 1 to 15, characterized in that the material web (6) is printed on one or two sides before the web strips (2, 4) are laid one on top of the other. Method according to one of claims 1 to 16, characterized in that the label tape formed by folding individual web strips onto one another is subjected to a separating cut (5) on one or both longitudinal sides. Self-adhesive label tape with at least one carrier web and at least one label web lying on the carrier web, with at least one adhesive layer adhering to the underside of the label web and one separating layer adhering to the top of the carrier web being provided at least in the area of the labels that can be removed from the label web, characterized in that at least individual carrier webs (4) and label webs (2) are connected to one another via a longitudinal fold (8) running in the longitudinal direction of the web.

Images