CA1047452A

CA1047452A - Postage tape and carrier strip with marginal registration perforations

Info

Publication number: CA1047452A
Application number: CA169,737A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Harry E. Luperti; Robert R. Reid; Anthony Waber
Original assignee: Pitney Bowes Inc
Current assignee: Pitney Bowes Inc
Priority date: 1972-04-28
Filing date: 1973-04-27
Publication date: 1979-01-30
Also published as: JPS49100126A; FR2182555A5; GB1427805A; IT985603B; DE2321034A1; AU5498173A

Abstract

POSTAGE TAPE
Abstract A postage tape strip including an apertured carrier band on which is releasably secured a self-adhesively-backed postage print receiving tape which is successively and transversely scored at space intervals, the successive incremental portions of the tape between the transverse scorings, after being print-ed on with postage indicia, being adapted to be detached from the carrier band and the remaining portion of the tape for application to a package to be mailed, said carrier band being wider than the tape to provide a marginal tape-free portion along which the apertures are provided in alignment with the transverse score marks. The use of self-adhesive tape incre-ments avoids the messy use of liquid required for wetting the adhesive which was required for prior art postage tapes.

Description

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The present invention relates to postage meter tape.
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~ ost postage meters make provision for printing postal values on a leading end of a print receptive supply strip as it is in-crementally advanced through the printing station of the meter.
Subsequent to printing the stamped leading end of the strip is torn off and used as a postage stamp to he applied to awkward mail .:
such, for example, as thick or oddly shaped packages which, unlike - reasonably flat envelopes and post cards, cannot be handled by the , ...
,- meter. Hitherto the practice has been to use tape having an ad-hesive backing of glue which has to be wetted before application to the item to be mailed, The necessity for wetting involves a rather messy extra operation which could actually he avoided if a pressure sensitive adhesive could be used instead of an ordinary ylue which has to be wetted. However, problems develop in the utilization of a backing of pressure sensitive adhesive on a ; postage ~eter tape strip. One such problem, which has not hitherto been solved, is that of syn~ronizing the necessary incremental feeding of the tape with the printing operation.

In that respect, to ensure clean separation of the printed end portion from the tape supply strip, it is necessary to provide the tape with transverse score lines spaced apart transversely along the print receptive tape strip. The print receiving areas are defined between adjacent score lines, which weaken the strip locally to facilitate the transverse tearing-off of the printed - 25 end portion. It is of the utmost importance that the postage 1~4745Z

; value be printed precisely in each print receiving area when the - leading en~ to be torn-off subsequent to printing arrives at the printing station. It would not, for example, be commercially ac~
ceptable if the imprinted impression were applied across a score line so that the torn-off end contained only a part of the printed matter.

The present invention solves the aforementioned problem by utilization of a postage meter composite tape comprising an elongate print receptive tape strip releasably attached by pressure sensitive adhesive to a carrier band wider than the print receptive strip so as to leave a margin of the band exposed at at least one edge of the composite tape, said strip being transversely scored by weaken-ing score lines at intervals spaced longitudinally along the strip to define print receptive areas, whereas sprocket engaging drive ; 15 holes are provided in the margin at spaced intervals coincident with the score lines for driving in synchronization with tape ad-i~ vance means to effect the printing precisely on each successive print receiving area when it hecomes located at the printing station.

In order that it may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect, the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing, which is a perspective view illustrating the construction and use of a postage meter tape strip in accordance with the present invention.

Referring now to the drawing, the composite tape strip 10, which may be wound as illustrated so as to form a supply roll 11, comprises a continuous carrier band 12 on which is supported a con-tinuous length of print receiving strip 13~ The strip 13 is re-leasably secured to the carrier band 12 by pressure sensitive ad-hesive di~posed on the lower surface of the tape 13, which adhesive is normally in releasably adhering contact with the adjacent portion .

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of the coated upper surface of the carrier band 12. One side edge - -13L of the tape 13 is substantially flush with the adjacent side edge of the carrier band 12 while the opposite side edge of the wider carrier hand extends beyond the corresponding side edge 13R
of the print receiving tape strip, whereby a longitudinal margin 14 of the carrier band remains exposed. This margin is formed with a plurality of uniformly longitudinally spaced sprocket en-gaging slots 15. Those portions of the tape 13 located laterally adjacent each slot 15 are respectively scored or perforated as in-dicated at 16 in order to facilitate the transverse tearing of th~tape strip 10.

' ,t The tape sbip 10 is adapted to be intermittently fed into a postage printing station 20 by strip handling and drive means such ~' as is more fully described in U. S. Patent N 3,712,527 entitled Method and Apparatus for Handling Tape.

~'~ The tape feeding and drive means is only diagrammatically il-,~ lustrated in the accompanying drawing, but it includes the payout ~' roll 11 of the composite tape which extends to the print station 20 whereafter the carrier band 12, in being incrementally moved around the small effective radius of a separator element 21 and towards the driven take-up reel 22, is progressively separated from each tape section or increment such as 23, which has just had po3tage indicia printed thereon at said print station 20. Thus a tape increment such as 23, being in a substantially horizontally extended position may be readily grasped and torn along the adjacent perforated score line as indicated at 16a so as to then be separated from the remaining portion of the print recei~ing tape strip 13 and applied to a package to be mailed. The layer or adhesive which is retained on the bottom face of the separated tape increment 23 will constitute a convenient means for securing this tape increment to the package for mailing.

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The holes 15 formed in the margin 14 of the carrier band serve to operate a portion of the meter control. When the com-: posite strip is being advanced by the driven reel 22 the teeth 30 of a sprocket drum 31 are driven by reason of their engagement with the successive holes 15 in the marginal portion of the carrierband and the resultant rotary motion imparted to the drum is used to control a machine part such as a clutch or switch 32 which inter-alia determines the length of strip fed into the print station preparatory for each printing operation. This mechanical action is more fully described in the aforesaid U. S. Patent.

The adhesive coating applied to the under side of tape strip 13 may be in the form of a pattern of longitudinal stripes, thus ;~ allowing the use of guide fingers which engage said under side of said tape at points between said stripes when said tape is separated from the carrier band and exits from the print station 20.
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Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. For use with a postage meter wherein tape driving means operate on a carrier band beyond a printing station, and wherein a synchronism between a printing station and weakened score lines is maintained by means of a control system incor-porating an index sprocket arranged to sense the position of the carrier band and disengage the driving means when the weakened score lines are in a predetermined position relative to the printing station a composite tape comprising an elongate print receptive tape strip releasably attached by pressure sensitive adhesive to a carrier band, said strip being transversely scored by weakened score lines at intervals equally spaced along the strip to define between adjacent score lines segments defining print receptive areas to be torn-off successively in turn after being printed upon at the printing station of the meter to yield pressure sensitive adhesively-backed postage stamps, said band being wider than said strip to leave an exposed margin of the band at one edge of the tape for accom-modating sprocket engaging drive holes, longitudinally equally spaced at intervals coincident with the score lines, which holes are engageable by a sprocket driven by said holes for effecting a printing operation on the free end tape strip seg-ment at the printing station are so spaced that at each advance of the composite tape the free segment of the strip then at the printing station is advanced forwardly beyond the printing station to allow the free end segment to be torn-off precisely at the score line and to bring the next segment into registra-tion with the printing station such that the print receptive area may be printed on.