CA1294117C - Method of making deactivatable tags - Google Patents

Abstract

Abstract of the Disclosure This invention relates to a deactivatable tag useable with an electronic article surveillance system and comprised of planar conductive material cut into a pair of inverse, first and second spiral conductors wrapped about each other and positioned for capacitive and inductive coupling. The invention also relates to method of making tags wherein conductors are cut from a planar web of conductive material in a continuous process in a manner that the cutting results in the formation of two spiral conductors without accompanying waste of conductive material, and thereafter positioning the conductors to provide resonant circuits.

Description

Back~round of the Invention Field of the Invention This invention relates to the art of resonant tag~
used in electronic article .~urveillance sy~tems ancl to mekhod of making ~uch tags.
Brie Descri tion of the Pxior ~rt __.__ P _ _ The following patents are made of record~ U.S..
patent 3,240,647 to Morgan granted March 15, 1966; U.S.
patent 3,624,631 to Chomet granted November 30, 1971; UOS.
patent 3,810,147 to Lichtblau granted May 7, 1974; U.S.
patent 3 r 913,219 to Lichtblau granted October 21~ 1975; U.S.
patent 4,482,874 to Rubertus et al gran~ed November 13, 1984;
U.S. patent 4,55S,291 to Tait et al granted November 26, ~ , ~l2~

1985; U.S. patent 4,567,~73 to Lichtblau granted January 28, 1986; and French patent ~,412,923 ~o Degueldre.
Summar~ of the Invention It is an object of the invention to provide simple yet effective methods of making reliable deactivatabl~
resonant tags for use in electronic axticle surveillance systems.
It is an object of the invention to provide improved, reliable, deactivatable resonant tags which can be made on a production basisO
It ha3 been found that a dea~tiYatable tag can be accidentally deactivated prematurely before the tag is re~dy to be willfully deactivated, Such dea~tivation can occur during manufa~ture or even after manufa~ture such as during storage or ~hen a web of the tags is being printed upon in a marking ma~hin~. The deactivation can occur due to static electricity which builds up an~ can arc in a longitudinal direction along the web between adjacent resonant circuits if the resonant circuits touch each other or are too close to each other and additionally if a normally non-conductive breakdown dea~tiva~or extends longitudinally from resonant circuit-to-resonant circuit~ By ~p~cing the re onant circuit~ from each ~th2r in the longitudinal dixection of ~he web and by separating the web o~ deactivation materi~l in~o ~eparate ~paced 3trip3 ~o that there i~ one dea~tivatox ~trip for each resonant. clrcuit, the premature d~activa~ion oE
adjacant resonant circu1ts i9 prevented, even though both the conduct~Ye material of which the reæonant cixcuits ar~ ormed and the deactivator material is originally in web form.
Brief Desc~tion of the Drawing~
FIG~RE 1 is an exploded perspective view of a tag in accordance with an amboaiment of the inventi~n~
FI~URZ 2 i~ a fragmentary se~ional view o~ ~he tag 8hown in FIGURE 1~

~, ~2~

FIGURE 3 is a diagrammatic persp~ctive view illustrating method of making a tag in accordance with the invention;
FIGURE 4 is a diagrammatic top plan view 3howing a mask having been applied to a f irst adhesive coated web and showing an electrically conductive web beirlg laminated to the masked first adhesive coat~d web;
FIGURE S is a diagrammatic top plan view showing the conductive web having been cut to provide f irst and second pairs of conductor and showing a masked second adhesive coated web being laminated to the conductive web;
FIGURE 6 is a diagrammatic top plan view showing the f irst coated web with the f irst conductors adhered thereto being separated relative to the second coated web with the second conductors adhered thereto, and showing further the first coated web having been recoated with adhesive and two webs of dielectric being laminated to the recoated firsk coated web, and showing the dialectric webs havi~g been coated with adhesive;
FI~URE 7 is a diagrammatic top plan view showing the second coated web with the second conductors adhered thereto having been shifted and laminated over and to khe dialectric webs and to ~he f ir~t coated web with the first conductors to provide a composite tag webl showlng the staking o the irst and second conductors of each tag to provide resonant circuit~ for each tag, and showing sli~lting of '~he s::ompo~i'ce tag web ~o provi~e a plural series o compo3ite tag webs;
~ IGURE a i~ a vertically exploded view ~howin~ the first and ~econd coated webs with the first and ~econd conductors that result from cutting the electrically conductive web spirally~
FIGURE g is a top pla~ view showing the first and second coated w~bs shifted by a distance equal to the width of one conduc~or spiral plus the wid~h of one conductor, FIGUR~ 10 is a top plan view of two t~gs with khe dialectric web shown in phantom lin2~;

~,f~
D ~~_ FIGURE 11 is a fragmentary perspective view which, when taken together with the precediny fi~ures of the drawings, illustrates an improved method of making deactivatable tags;
FIG~RE 12 is a fragmentary top plan view taken along line 12--12 of FIGURE 11;
- FIGURE 13 is a sectional view taken along line 13--13 sf FIGURE 12;
FIGURE 14 is a fragmentary perspectiYe view similar to FIGURE 1, but showing o~e embodiment of structure for deactivating the tag;
FIGURE 15 i~ a fragmentary top plan view of the tag shown in FIGURE 14;
FIGURE 16 is a fragmentary perspective Yiew which, taken together with FIGURES 1 through 10, illu~trated an alternative improved method of making deactivat~ble tags;
FIGURE 17 is a fragmentary top plan view t.aken along line 17--17 of FIGURE lS;
FIGURE 18 is a sectional view taken along line 18--18 of FIGURE 17;
FIGURE 19 is a fragmentary perspective view similar to FIGURE 14 but showing another ~mbodiment of structure for deactivating the tags FIGURE 20 ~s a fragmentary top plan view o~ the tag shown in FIGURE 19;
FIGURE 21 is a sectional view ~imilar to FIGURE 18 but howing an alternative ~tructure for deactivating the tag~
FIGUR~ 22 is a top plan v~ew of an alternatlve cut pattern for the web of conductive material corresponding qenerally to D in FIGURE 5;
FIGURE 23 i~ a top plan view of the alternative cut pattern with one half of the conductive material removed and corresponding generally to G in FIG~RE 6;

FIGURE 24 is a diagrammatic perspective view ~howing the manner in which the webs of deactivating material are cut into stripes or strip~; and FIGURE 25 is a top plan view of a pair of longitudinally spaced resonant circuits with s~parate respective deactivator strips.
Descr'ption of the Preferred Emboai~ents Referring initially to FI~URE 1, there is shown an exploded view of a tag generally indicated at 19. The tag 19 is shown to include a sheet 20T having pres~ure sensitive adhesive 21 and 22 on opposite faces ther20f. A mask 23 in a spiral pattern covers a portion of the adhesive 21 a~d a release sheet 24T is releasably adhered to the adhesive 22.
The mask 23 renders the adhesive 21 which it covers non-tacky or substantially so. A conductor spiral indicated generally at 25 includes a spiral conductor 26 having a number of turns. The conductor 26 is of substantially the same width throughout its length except for a connector bar 27 at the outer end portion of the conductor spiral 26. There is a sheet of dielectric 28T over and adhered to the conductor spiral 25 and the underlying sheet 20T by means of adhesive 29. A conductor spiral generally indicated at 30 includes a spiral conductor 31 having a number of turns. The conducSor 31 is adhered to adhesive 29 on the dielectric 28T. The conductor 31 is ~ubstantially the same width throughout its leng~h except or a connector bar 32 a~ ~he outer end portlon of the conductor spiral 30. The conductor spiral~ 25 and 30 are generally aligned in face-to-face relationship excep~ ~or portions 33 which are not face--to-face with the conductor 26 and except for portions 35 which are not face-to-face with the conductor 31. A sheet 37T has a coating of ~ pressure sensitive adhe ive 38 masked of~ in a ~piral pattern 3g. The exposed adhesive 38' is aligned with the conductor spiral 30 Adhesive is shown in PIGVRE i by heavy stippling and the masking is shown in FIGURE l by light stippling with cross-hatching. The connector bars ~7 and 32 are electrically connected, as for example by staking 90. It should be noted that the staking 90 occurs where connector bars 27 and 32 are separated only by adhesive 2~. l'here i5 no paper, film or the like between the connector bars 27 and 32. Accordingly, the staking disclosed in the present application is reliable.
With reference to FIGURE 3, there is shown diagrammatically a method for making the tag 19 shown in FIGURES 1 and 2. A roll 40 i5 shown to be comprised of a composite web 41 having a web 20 with a full-gum or continuous coatings of pre~sure sensitive adhesive 21 and 22 on opposite faces thereof. The web 20 is "double-faced" with adhesive. A release liner or web 42 is releasably adhered to the upper side of the web 20 by the pressure sensitive adhesive 21, and the underside of the web 20 has a r~lease liner or web 24 releasably adhered to the pressure sensi~ive adhesive 22. As shown, the release liner 42 is delaminated from the web 20 to expose the adhesive 21~ The adhesive coated web 20 together with the release liner 24 pass partially about a sandpaper roll 43 and between a pattern roll 44 and a back-up roll 45 where mask pattern~ 23 are applied onto the adhesive 21 to provide longitudinally xecurring adhesive patterns 21'. Masking material from a fountain 46 is applied to the pattern roll 44. With reference to FIGURE 4, the portion markea A represents the portion of the web 20 immediately upstream of the pattexn roll 44. ~he portion marked ~ ~how~ the mask pattern~ 23 prinked by the rol} 44. The patterns 23 are represented by cross-hatching in FIGUR~ 4. With reference to FIGURE 3 9 the web 20 now pa~ses through a dryer 47 where the mask patterns 23 are dried or cured~ ~he adhesive 21 is rendered non-tacky at the mask patterns 23. A web 49 of planar, electxically conductive material such as copper or aluminum from a roll 48 is laminated onto the coated web 20 as they pass between laminating roll~ 50 and 50'. Reference character C in FIGU~E
4 denotes the iine where lamination of the webs 20 and 49 ~z~
--7~

occurs. With reference to FIGURE 3, the laminated w~bs 20 and 49 now pass between a cutting roll 51 having cu~ting blades 52 and a back-up roll 53. The blades 52 cut completely through the conductive material web A9 but pr ferably do not cut into the web 20. The blades 52 cut the web 49 into a plurality of series of patterns 25 and 30 best shown in the portion marked D in FIGURE S. With reference again to FIGURE 3, there is shown a roll 54 comprised of a composite web 55 having a web 37 with a full-gum or continuous coating of pressure sensitive adhesive 38 and a release liner 56 releasably adhered to the adhesive 38 on the web 37, The release liner 56 is separated from the web 37 and the web 37 passes about a sandpaper roll 57. From there the web 37 passes between a pattern roll 58 and a back-up roll 59 where mask patterns 39 are applied onto the adhesive 38 to re~der the adhesive 38 non-tacky at the mask patterns 39 to provide longitudinally recurring adhesive patterns 38 SFIGURE 1~. Maski~g material from a fountain 60 is applied to the pattern roll 58. The masking material of which ~he patterns 23 and 39 are comprised i~ a commercially available printable adhesive deadener such as sold under trademark"Aqua Superadhesive Deadene~' by Envlronmental Inks and Coating Corp, Morganton, North Carolina. From there the web 37 pa~se~ partially about a roll 61 and through a dryer 62 where the mask patterlls 39 are dried or cured. Ths3 adheslve 38 i9 rendered non-tacky at the mask patterrls 39a From th~re the web3 20, 49 and 37 pas~ between laminating rolls 63 and h4.
FIGURE 5 ~how~ that lamination occur~ along line E where the web 37 meets the web 49. When thus lami~ated, each adhesive pattern 21' regis~ers only wi~h an overly$ng co~ductor spiral 25 and each adhesive pattern 38' registers only wi~h an underlying conductor spiral 30.
The webs 20, 37 and 49 pass successively par~ ially about rolls 65 and 66 and from there the web 37 delaminates from the web 20 and passes partially about a roll 67. At the place of delamination, the web 49 separate~ into two webs of conductor spirals 25 and 30~ As shown in FIGUR~ 6, delamination occurs along the line marked Fo When delamination occurs, the conductor spirals 30 adhere to th adhesive patterns 38' on the web 37, and the conductor spirals 25 adhere to the adhesive pattern~ 21' on the web 20 .
Thus, the conductor spirals 30 extend in one web and the spirals 25 extend in another web. ~he web 20 passes partially about rolls 68, 69 and 70 and rom there pass between an adhesive coating roll 71 and a back-up roll 72.
Adhesive 29 from a fountain 73 is applied to the roll 71 which in turn applies a uniform or continuous coating of adhesive 29 to the web 20 and over conductive spirals 25.
The portion marked G in FIGURE 6 shows the portion of the web 20 and conductor spirals 25 betwee~ the spaced roll~ 66 and 72. The portion marked H shows the portion of the web 20 between the spaced rolls 72 and 7~. With reference to FIGURE
3, the web 20 passes through a dryer 75 where the adhesive 29 is dried. A plurality, ~pecifically two laterally spaced dialectric webs 28a and 2~b wound in rolls 76 and 77 are laminated to the web 20 as the webs 20, 28a and 28b pass between the rolls 74 and 74'. This laminating occurs along reference line I indicated in FIGU~E 6. With reference to FIGURE 3, the web 20 with the conductor spirals 25 and the dialectric webs 28a and 28b pa~s about xolls 78 and 79 and pa~s between an adhesive applicat~r roll 80 and a back-up roll 81. The xoll 80 applie~ adhesive 29' receiv~d from a fountain 83 to the web~ 28a and 28b and to the por~ion~ of the web 20 not covered thereby. From there, the web~ 20, 28a and 28b pas3 through a dryer 84 and partially about a roll 85.
The web 37 which had been separated from the web 20 is laminated at the nip of laminating rolls 86 and 87 along a line marked J in FIGURE 7 to provide a composite tay web ~enerally indicated at 88. The web~ 20, 28a, 28b and 37 are laminated between rolls 86 and 87 after the conductor spirals 30 have been shifted loDgitudinally with respect to the 3~ 7 _9_ conductor spirals 25 so that each conductor spiral 30 is aligned or registered with an underlying conductor spiral 25.
The shifting can be equal to the pitch of onP conductor spiral pattern ~s indicated at p ~FIGURE 9) plus khe width w of one conductor, or by odd multiples of the pitch p plus the width w of one conductor. Thus, each pair of conductor spirals 25 and 30 is capable of making a resonant circuit detectable by an appropriate article surveillance circuit.
FIGURE 8 shows the web 20 and the web 37 rot~ted apart by 180. FIGURE 9 shows the we~ 20 and the web 37 rotated apart by 180 ana as having been shifted with respect to each other so that the conductor spirals 25 and 30 are aligned. As best shown in FIGURE 10, the dialectric 28a ter~inates short of stakes 90 resulting from the staking operation. By this arrangement the stakes 90 do not pass through the dielectric 28a (or 28b)~ FIGURE 10 shows the conductor spirals 25 and 30 substantially entirely overlapped or aligned with each other, except as indicated at 35 for the conductor spiral 25 and as indicated at 33 for the conductor spiral 30. Each circuit is completed by staking th~
conductor bars 27 and 32 to each other as indicated at 90 or by other suitable means. The staking 90 is performed by foux spiked wheels 89 which make foux stake lines 90 in the composite web 88. The ~piked wheels 89 pierce through the conductor bars 27 and 32 and thus bring the conductor bars 27 and 32 into electrically coupled relation~hip. ~he web composite 88 is slit lnto a plurality of narrow we~ 91 and 92 by elitter knife 93 and excess material 94 is trimmed by ~litter knives 95. The web~ 91 and 92 ars next cut through up to but not into the release liner 24 by knlve~ on a cutter roll 96, unle g it i8 desired to cut the tags T into ~eparated tags in which event the web 88 is completely ~evered transvexsely. As shown, the web~ 91 and 9~ continue on and pas~ abou~ respective rolls 97 a~d 93 and are wound into rolls 99 and 100. ~s shown in FIGURE 7, the staking 90 10 ~

takes place along a line marked K and the ~litting tak~
place along a line marked L.
The ~heet 37T, the dialectric 28T, the sheet 20~ and the sheet 24T are respectively provided by cutting the web 37, the web 28a ~or 28b), the web 20 and the web 24.
FIGURE 11 is essentially a duplicate of a portion of FIGURE 3, but a pair of coating and drying stations generally indicated at 111 and 112 where respective coatings 113 and 114 in the form of conti~uous stripes are printed and driedO
The coating 113 is conductive and is applied directly onto the pressure sensitive adhesive 38 on the web 37. The coatings 114 are wider than the respective coatings 113 which they cover to assure electrical isolation, a~ best shown in FIGURES 12 and 13. The coatings 114 are composed of a normally non-~onductive activatable material. The remainder of the process is the same as the process taught in connection with FIGURES 1 through 10.
With reference to FIGURES 14 and 15, there is shown a fragment of the finished tag 37T' with the coatings 113 and 114 having been severed as the tag 37T~ is ~evered from the tag web as indicated at 113T and 114T respectively. Ag shown the coating 113T i8 of constant width and thickness throughout it~ length and the coating 114T i5 of constant width and thickness but is wider than the coating 113T. The coating 113T which is conductive i~ thus electrically isolated from the conductor spiral 30. The coatings 113T and 114T comprise an activatable connection AC which can be activated by ~ubjecting the tag to a high level of energy above that for cau~ing the re~onant circuit to be de~ected at an interrogation zone.
F~GU~E 16 is es~ential~y a dupllca~e of a por~ion of FIGURE 3, but a pair of web~ 118 an~ 119 are adhered to the adhesive 38 on the web 37. The web~ 118 and 119 are wound onto spaced reel 120 and 121. The webs 118 and 119 p~55 from the reels 120 and 121 partially about a rvll 122~ The webs llB and 119 are spaced apart from each other and from .7 the side edges o the web 37. The webs 118 and 119 ~re identical in construction, and each includes a thin layer o conductive material 123 such as copper or aluminum on a layer of paper 123', a high temperature, normally non-conductive, activatable, conductor-containing layer 124, and a low temperature, normally non-conductive, activatable, conductor-containing layer 125. The layers 124 and 125 contain conductors such as metal particl~s or encapsulat~d carbon. The layer 125 bonds readily when heated, so a drum heater 115 is positioned downstream of the roll 67 (FIGURES 3 and 16) and upstream of the rolls 86 and 87 (FIGURE 3). The heated circuits 30, heat the layer 125 and a bond is formed between the circuits 30 and the layer 125. Rolls 116 and 117 (FIGURE 16) guide the web 37 about the drum hea~er 115. The heating of the layer 125 has ~ome tendency to break down the normally non-conductive nature of the layer 125, but this is not serious because the layer 1~4 is not broken down or activated by heat from the drum heater 115.
With reference to FIGURES 19 and 20, there is shown a fragment of a finished tag 37T~ with the webs 118 and ll9 having been severed so as to be coextensive with the tag 37T"
and i.~ indicated at 118T. The web strip or stripe 118T
includes the paper layer 123', the conductive layer or conductor 123 and the normally non-conductive layers 124 and 125. The layers 123, 124 and 125 are shown to be of the same widkh and comprise an activatable connection AC. Both coatings 124 and 125 eleckrically i~olate the conductor 123 ~orm the conductor ~piral ~0~ Xn other respec~ the tag 37Tn is identlcal to the tag 37T and i9 made by the same process as dep~cted for example in FIGURE 3.
The embodiment o~ FIGURE 21 is identical to the embodiment of FIGURES 16 through 20 except that instea~ of the webs 118 and 119 there are a pair of webs compri~ed of flat bands, one of which is ~hown in FIGURE 21 and i&
depicted at 118'. The band 118' is comprised of a web or band conductor 126 of a conductive material such as copper 'E~

12~

enclosed in a thin coating of a non-conductive material 127.
The band 118' comprises an activatable connection AC~ As seen in FIGURE 21, the upper ~urface of the coating 127 electrically isolates the conductor 126 from the ~onductor spiral 30. The band 118' is processed ac~ording to one specific embodiment, by staxting with coated motox winding wire, Specification No. 8046 obtained from the Belden Company, Geneva, Illinois 60134 U.S.A. and having a diameter of about 0.004 inch with an insulating coating of about 0.0005, flattening the wire between a pair of rolls into a thin band having a thickness of 0.0006 inch. Thus processed, the insulating coating is weakened to a degree which breaks down when the resulting tag is subjected to a sufficiently high energy level signal. The coating 118' is thus termed a "breakdown coatingn because it acts as an insulator when the tag is subjected to an interrogation signal at a first energy level but no longer acts as an electrical in~ulator when subjected to a sufficently higher energy level signal. The conductor 126 accordingly act~ to short out the inductox 30 at the higher energy level signal~
The embodiments depicted in FIGURES 11 through 20 and described in connection therewith enable the tag 37T' or 37T"
to be detected in an interrogation zone when ~ubje~ted to a radio frequency ~ignal at or near the xe onant frequency o the resonant circuit. By ~ufficiently lncrea~ing the energy level of the signal, the normally non-conduct:Lve coating 114 ~or ll~T), or 124 and 125 become~ conductive to alter the response of the re~onant circuit. Thi~ i~ accompll~hed in a ~pecl~ic embodiment by u~ing a normally non-conductive coating to provide an open ~hort-circuit between different portions of the conductor spiral 30.
When the tag is subjected to a high level ~f energy, in the embodiment~ of ~GURES 11 throu~h 15, and 16 through 20 the normally non-conductive coati~g become~ conductive and shorts out the inductor. ~hu~ t the resonan~ circui~ is no .~

-13~

longer able to resonate at the proper freguency and is unable to be detec~ed by the receiver in the interrogatio~ zon~.
While the illu~trated embodiment~ disclose the activatable connection AC provided by an additional conductor as extending acros~ all the turns oE the conductor ~piral 30 and by a normally non-conductive material or breakdown insulation electrically isolating the conductor from the conductor spiral 30 and also extending across all of the turns of the conductor spiral 30, the invention i5 not to be considered limited therebyO
By way of example, not limitation~ example~ of the various coatings are sta~ed below:
I. For the embodiment of FIGU~ES 11 throuqh 15 A. Examples of the normally non-conductive ~oating 114 areO
Example_l Parts by Weight cellulose acetate (C~Ao ) powder ~E-398-3) 60 acetone 300 Mixing procedure: Solvate C.A. powder in acetone with stirring.
C.A./copper di~per~ion above CoA~ solution ~16~T.S.~ 15 copper 8620 powder 2.5 Mixing procedure: ~dd copper powder to C.A. solution with adequate ~tlrriny to e~ct a smooth metallic disper~lon~
Example 2 acrylvid ~-4BN*
(45~ in toluene) 30 acetone ~0 isopropanol 3 Above ~olution ~25%T.S.) 10 copper 8620 powder 5 *B-48N is a trademark Mixing procedure: di~perse copper powder into B-48N ~olution ~P~rcent copper powder is 60-70~ on dry weight basis.) 8. Examples of the conductive coating 113 are:
Exam~le 1 Parts by Weiqht acryloid B-67*acrylic (45~ in naptha) 25 naptha 16 silflake #237 metal powder 42 Mixing procedure^ add metal powdex to solvent and wet out. Add solvated acrylic and stir well to disperse. Mix ox sh~ke well prior to us~. (75~ to 85~ conductive metal on dry weiqht basi~. ) Example 2 acryloid NAD-10*
40% in naptha ) 10 ~ilflake #237 metal powder 20 Mi~ing procedures Add metal powder to acrylic disper~ion with stirringO
Example 3 S & V aqueous foil ink OFG 11525*(37~T.S.) 5 silflake #237 metal powder Mixing pxocedure: Add metal powder to aqueou~ disper~ion slowly with ~dequate agitakion to e~fect a ~mooth metallic disper~ion.

. Example8 of the low ~emper~ture coa~ing 125 are:
Exam~le 1 acryloid NAD-10 di~per ion l30~ T~ sOliaS ) lo naptha copper 8620 copper powder B-67, NAD-10 and OFG 11525 are tradem~rks ~Lf~ 7 Mixing procedure: wet copper powder with Naptha and di3perse completely. Add NAD-10 disper~ion loWly with stirring. Mix well or shake bef ore use .
Example 2 polyester resin ( K-l 9 7 9 ) * 2 8 ethanol 10 isopropanol 10 ethyl acetate 20 above polyester solution 10 copper 8620 powder 2 . 5 Mixing procedure: add copper powcter to polyester solution while stirring to effect a smooth metallic dispersionO
( 489~ eopper powder on dry basis ) B. Examples of the high temperature coating 124 are:
Examele 1 cellulose acetate butyrate ~C.A.B. )(551-0.2) 40 toluene llS
~Sthyl Alcohol 21 Above C. ~. B. ~olution ~22~73) 10 toluene coE~per 8620 copper powder 5 Mixing proceaure: wet copper pawder with solvent and add C. A. ~. solution wi th stirring .

acryloid B-48N
~ 45 % in toluene ) 30 acetorle 20 isopropanol 3 Above Rolutior~ ~25~T.S. ) lO

*K-1979 is a trademark copper S620 copper powder 5 (Dry weight basi~ -- copper i~ 6D-70~1 Mixing procedure: add copper powder to above solution with proper agitation to effect a smooth metallic dispersisn.
The materials used in ~he above examples are obtainable from the following suppliers-Acryloid NAD-10, Acryloid B-48N and Acryloid B-67, Rohm & Hass, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;
Cellulose Acetate (E-398-3) and Cellulose Acetate Butyrate (551-0.2), Eastman Chemical Products, Inc., Ringsport, Tennessee;
Copper 8620, U.SO Bronze, Flemington, New Jersey;
Silflake ~237, Handy & ~armon, Fairfield, Connecticut;
Krumbhaar ~-1979* Lawter International, Inc., Nor~hbrook, Illinois;
Aqeuou~ foil ink OFG 11525, Sinclair & Valentine, St.
Paul, ~inne ota.
FIGURES 22 through 25 depict an improved method over the embodiment of FXGURES 11 through lS, over the ~mbodiment o FIGU~FS 16 through 20, and over the embodiment of FIGURE
21. The mPthod of khe embodiment o FIGURES 22 through 25 relate~ to the formation of longitudinally ~paced deactivatable resonant circuits arranged in a wea~ The longitudinal spacing o~ the re~onant circuit~ as~ure~ that electrostatic charge that can prematurely deactiva~e one resonan~ circui~ in the web cannot arc lo~gitudinally to the other resonant circuits in the web to cause their premature deactiva~ion. Where po~ le, the ~ame reference character will be u3ed in the embodiment of FI~URE~ 22 ~hrou~h 25 as in the embodim~n~ of FIGUR~g 16 through 20 to ~esigna e componen~ having the same general cons~ruction and function, but increased by 200. It will be appreciated that reerence is also made to FIGURES 3, S and 6.
*Krumbhaar K~1979 is a trademark With reference initially to ~IGURE 2~, web 249 of planar, electrically conductive material i~ cut in patterns of conductor spixals 400 and 401. The cut patterns include lateral or transver~e lines of complete severing 402. The conductor spirals 400 and 401 are generally similar to the conductor spirals 25 and 30, however, inspection of FIGURE 5 will indicate that all conductor spirals 25 and 30 are in very close proximity to each other in the longitudinal direction, being spaced onl~ by knife cuts themselves. In addition, spirals 25 are connected to each other and spirals 30 are connected to each other. In contrast, in the embodiment of FIGURES Z2 through 25, only the conductor spirals 400 and 401 between adjacent lines of complete severing 402 are connected to each other. In the method of FIGURES 22 through 25, reference may be had to FIGURE 3 which shows that the conductor spiral webs 20 and 37 are separated as they pass partly about roll 66, thereafter dielectric material webs 28a and 28b are applied, the webs 20 and 37 are shifted longitudinally by the pitch of one conductor spiral 400 (or 401) plus the width of one conductor, and thereafter the webs 20 a~d 37 are re-laminated as they pass between rolls 86 and 87.
As is evident from FIGURE 23, once the web of resonant circuits 401 i~ stripped away, the resultant web 2~0 has pairs of resonant circuit~ ~401 that are longitudinally ~paced apart. ~n like manner, ~he pairs of resonan~ circuits 400 in the stripped away web ~corre~ponding to the web 37 in FIGURE 3), are al~o ~paced apart longitudinall~.
The method of the embodiment of FIGURE~ 22 through 25, relates ~o production of deactivatable tags. The illustrated arrangement for deactivating the tags utilizes the arrang.ment taught i~ the embodiment of ~IGURES 16 through 20 with the exception that the deactivator webs 318 and 319 ~corresponding to the deactivator webs 118 and 119 in FIGUR~ 16 for exampl~0 are Reparated into longitudinally spaced deactivator strips or stripe~ 318' and 319'. The ~,~

--1.8~ 7 separation is accomplished in accordance with the specific embodiment shown in FIGURE 24, by punching out portions or hol~s 407 of the web 238 and the deactivator webs 318 and 319. For this purpose, a diagrammatically illustrated rotary punch 403 and a rotary die 404 are used. The rotary punch 403 has punches 405 and the rotary die 404 has cooperating die holes 406. The resultant holes 407 are wider than the : spacing between the resonant circuits. The holes 407 are thus re~istered with the margins of the longitudinally spaced resonant circuits are shown in FIGURE 25. Thus~ static electricity cannot arc between resonant circuits in a longitudinal direction and static electricity cannot arc between deactivator strips 3l8' (or 319').
Other embodiments and modifications of the invention will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art, and all such of these as come within the spirit of this invention are included within its scope as best defined by the appended claims.

'~.,`~"

Claims (4)

1. Method of making tags for use in an electronic article surveillance system, comprising the steps of:
providing a first web having a series of longitudinally recurring first patterns of adhesive, providing a second web having a series of longitudinally recurring second patterns of adhesive, cutting a web of conductive material to form longitudinally recurring pairs of first and second contiguous, coplanar, spiral conductors wrapped about each other, wherein the cutting step includes the step of completely severing each pair from the longitudinally adjacent pair, the first and second webs being positioned on opposite sides of the conductive material web with the first adhesive patterns in contact with only the first conductors and with the second adhesive patterns in contact with only the second conductors, separating the first web with the first conductors adhered thereto and the second web with the second conductors adhered-thereto from each other, thereafter positioning the first and second conductors into a related arrangement for capacitive and inductive coupling, wherein each arrangement of first and second conductors is spaced from each adjacent arrangement of first and second conductors, providing a separate deactivator for each said arrangement with the deactivators being longiduinally spaced and with each deactivator including electrically conductive material, connecting the related first and second conductors to provide a composite tag web of a series of tags each having a resonant circuit, and whereby accidental deactivation of one resonant circuit in the composite tag web does not effect deactivation of any other resonant circuit spaced longitudinally thereform in the composite tag web.

2. Method of making tags for use in an electronic article surveillance system, comprising the steps of:
providing a longitudinally extending web of conductive material, cutting the web of conductive material to form a plurality of sets of conductors with each set having continuous, coplanar, first and second spiral conductors wrapped about each other, wherein the cutting step includes the step of completely severing each set from the longitudinally adjacent set, supporting the first spiral conductors in a first longitudinal extending conductor web, supporting the second spiral conductor in a second longitudinally extending conductor web, separating the first spiral conductor web and the second spiral conductor web from each other, shifting the first spiral conductor web and the second spiral conductor web longitudinally relative to each other to bring the first spiral conductors and the second spiral conductors into related arrangement for capacitive and inductive coupling, wherein each arrangement of first and second conductors is spaced from each adjacent arrangement of first and second conductors, providing a separate deactivator for each said arrangement with the deactivators being longitudinally spaced and with each deactivator including electrically conductive material, connecting the related first and second conductors to provide a series of tags each having a resonant circuit, and wherein accidental deactivation of one resonant circuit in the composite tag web does not effect deactivation of any other resonant circuit spaced longitudinally therefrom in the composite tag web.

3. Method of making a deactivatable tag for use in an electronic article surveillance system, comprising the steps of: providing a first web with a first series of longitudinally spaced first spiral conductors and a second web with a series of longitudinally spaced second spiral conductors, providing spaced strips of conductive material having a layer of normally non-conductive material, positioning the strips with the normally non-conductive layer adjacent either the first or the second series of conductors adhering the first and second webs to each other, connecting the conductors of the first and second webs to each other to provide a series of spaced resonant circuits in a composite web and there being one of said strips for each resonant circuit, separating the composite web into tags each having a first conductor and a second conductor coupled to each other, and wherein the normally non-conductive layer can be rendered conductive in response to an energy level higher than that level necessary to activate the tag.

4. Method of making a deactivatable tag for use in an electronic article surveillance system, comprising the steps of: providing a first longitudinally extending web, printing conductive material on the first web, printing non-conductive material on the first web over the conductive material, providing discontinuities in the conductive material and the non conductive material printed thereover to provide longitudinally spaced strips, providing a second web, providing longitudinally spaced pairs of first and second spiral conductors positioned between the first and second webs, adhering the webs to each other with pairs of the first and second spiral conductors connected to provide spaced resonant circuits with a strip in contact with each circuit but without contacting any other circuit, wherein the normally non-conductive material can be rendered conductive in response to an energy level higher than that level necessary to activate the tag, and separating the webs to provide tags each having a deactivatable circuit.