CA2026435A1 - Postcard and manufacturing method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

ABSTRACT
A postcard comprises a postcard material and a covering material which is stuck to this postcard material and covers at least part thereof. This covering material comprises a base material which a heat adherent resin layer is formed on the main surface thereof and an adhesion retarding layer which is formed on the main surface of this heat adherent layer resin, and partially reduces the adhesive force of the above-mentioned postcard material to make it adhere weakly to the above-mentioned postcard material. Accordingly, at the portion of the adhesion retarding layer, the covering material can be peeled comparatively simply off the postcard material and various information formed on the main surface of the postcard material can be seen.

Description

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2026~3~

DESCRIP~ION

POSTCARD AND MANUFACTURING ME~HOD THERBOF

Technical Field The present invention relates to a postcard which is 'covered so that part of which cannot be seen. More ~ , specifically, the present invention relates to a postcard which conidential matte~r is covered in transit by post and a just recipient can see the confidential matter suitably, and a manufacturing-method thereof.

; Background Art Recently, mails printed confidential matter such as a lotter~of~bank~aocoont are increased, and it is desired ~to a'~postcard which~ the confidential matter is covéred `` ~ oan be~péelèd~off partlally and confidenti~l matters of~the~bottom layer can be~seen,~has been developed.
ver, in~order;~to ~facilitate peéling partially, as~
n~Japanese~Ut~ ty~Model~Patent~Publication~No.~ 54-3~ a~front paper must~be po~siblc~to~peel off~partlally~by ;

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forming an adhesive surface formed by coating a dry pasteentirely on the front paper surface, and by subjecting the other postcard material to a peeling process such as silicon processing so as to be peeled off partially or only the inner-frame portion is peeled off. Thus, in the prior art postcard, since the dry paste must be coated on the front paper side and the peeling processing such as silicon processing must be performed on the postcard material side in manufacturing, structures of the postcard become complicated and result in a hi~h manufacturing cost due to many manufacturing processes.
Therefore, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a postcard, in which sur~ace treatment of~the postcard material is not required any only by post-processing of the sticking material for covering a conf1dential matter, a portion which is possible to be peeled ;off partly and a portion which is adhered completely are divided,~in which the confidential matter is covered in t;ra~nslt;~by post and the just recipient oan see the conf:iden~tial~ matter easily, and~ a manufacturing method thereof.

: Disclosure of Invention A flrst~lnvention is of a postcard comprising a postcard mat:erial and a coverring material which is formed integral ~ :

~: ' ' 3 ~ 5 with the postcard material and is stuck to the postcard material in a folded-back fashion and covers at least part of the postcard material, wherein the covering material comprises a base material which a heat adherent resin layer is formed on the main surface thereof, and an adhesion retarding layer for partially reducing the adhesive force of the heat adherent resin layer to make it adhere weakly to the postcard material.
A second invention is of a method of manufacturing a postcard which comprises a process of preparing a postcard stuff comprising a postcard material and a base material which is formed integral with the postcard material and covers at least part of the postcard material in a folded back fashion, a process of printing or coating the lnform~ation on the postcard material, a process of manufactur$ng a covering material by forming a heat adherent r,~e~s~in~layer on the main surface of the base material and orm ~an adheai~on retardin~ layer which partially reduces the~'adhesive force of the heat adherent resin l~ayer and ,m'a~es~it;~adhere weakly~to the postcard material on the main surface of the heat adherent resin layer, and a process which folds back the base material of the postcard stuff, and sticks~the~bové-mentioned hèat adherent resin layer side of the~coverlng materi~al to the postcard material.
Ac¢ording to the~present invention, since the adheslve :~:
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surface of the coverinq materia~ to the postcard material is divided into the exposed portion of the heat adherent resin layer and the adhesion retarding layer which reduces the adhesive power of the heat adherent resin layer to weaken its adhesiveness to the postcard material, when heated and adhered thereto, the exposed portion of the heat adherent resin layer is adhered strongly to the postcard material, whereas the portion formed with the adhesion retarding layer is adhered more weakly thereto.
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Brief Description of Drawings Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a postcard which is an embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 2 is a fragmental sectional view of the above~
mentioned embodiment.
Fig.~3A ls a perspective view showing a state that a covering~ma~terial iD peeled off, and Fiq. 3B is a fragmental sectional~view thereof.
Fig.~4 is an illustration vaiew of a manufacturing appdra~us æhowing an~exa~ple of a method of manufacturing a Pstcard.
Fig. S is a perspective view of a postcard stuf~f.
Fig.;~6 is an illustration view showing a state that the covering~ material of the postcard stuff of the above-mentioned emb~ iment is stuck to the postcard material in a , . .

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folded-back fashion.
Fig. 7A and Fig. 7B are perspective view of an embodiment other than the above-~entioned embodiment, and Fig. 7A shows an original state thereof, and Fig. 7B shows a peeled-off state thereof.
Fig. 8A and Fig. 8B are fragmental sectional views of the illustration example in Fig. 7, and Fi~. 8A shows an original state thereof, and Fig. 8B shows a peeled-off state thereof.
Fig. 9 is a plan view showing still another embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 10 is a plan view showing a modified example of the postcard as shown in Fig. 9.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention Tke above and other objects, features and ad~antages of the pre~sent inventlon will be more apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the acaompanying drawings.
Fig.~ l is a perspective view showing a postcard in accordance with the present invention.
Fig. 2 is a fragmental sectional view of the above-~entionèd embodlment.
This postcard comprises a postcard stuff 10, and the ~postcard stuff 10 comprises a postoard material 11 formed ln -` 202~43~

the size of the government postcard and a covering material 12 stuck to part of this postcard material 11. The covering material 12 is formed integral with the postcard material 11 in a manner of extending from one end thereof and is stuck to the postcard material 11 in a folded-back fashion.
The covering material 12 includes a base material 14 which is formed integral with the postcard material 11 in a manner of extending from one end thereof. The base material 14 is formed with a relatively soft material such as paper, synthetic resin film and the like which can be cut by a scissors or the like, and a suppression layer 16 is formed on one main surface thereof.
The suppression layer 16 is formed by printing a silver ink and the like or laminating a film material such as an aluminum foil having a suppressiveness with adhesives.
~?~ :On the surface of the suppression layer 16, a lottery 18 is~f~ormed by printlng a letter~such as "winning" or "lose".
Furthermore, on the surface of the suppression layer 16, a~heat~adherent resin layer 20 is formed by coating the heat adherent~esin as~ heating~and extruding it, or by gravure or silk screen printing as dissolving it in a solvent or despersing in water.
The~heat adherent re~sin layer 20 is formed to melt at about~100C to 200C so as to be adhered completely to the postcard sheet~l0 such as the paper.

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On the main surface of the heat adherent resin layer 20, an adhesion retarding layer 22 which reduces its adhesive power partly to weaken adhesiveness to the postcard material 10 is formed partly.
The adhesion retarding layer 22 is formed by printing or coating a suitably selected resin which, when the heat adherent resin layer 20 is heated and melted, has adhesiveness only at the temperature higher than the non-adherent resin or the resin selected as the heat adherent resin forming the heat adherent resin layer 20.
In this embodiment, the heat adherent resin layer 20 and the adhesion retarding layer 22 are formed of transparent materials or translucent materials for enabling access to the lottery 18 through these layers 20 and 22. But, when the lottery 18 i.s formed on surface of the adhesion retarding ~`
~:: .layer 22, these layers 20and 22 may be made of opaque ~ .
materials.

As an example of heat adherent resin, adhesives of EVA

g~roup~may be selected. The composition comprises an EVA

(ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymerized resin), tackifier, wax ~: and anti-oxidant, to which sometimes a plasticizer and filler i: , ~: are added as an adjuvant.
As the tack~ifier there are glycerin of partially hydrogenated rosin, glycerin-ester of rosin, pentaerythritol modified rosin, petroleum resin, d -methylstyrene/vinyl : ~:
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t~luene copolymer, terpene oil polymer and terpene-phenol polymer, etc.
As the wax, there are paraffin wax, microcrystalline wax, low molecular weight polyethylene wax, Fischer-Tropsch wax, caster wax and chlorinated paraffin, etc.
As the anti-oxidant, there are hindered phenol group compound, salicylic acid group compound, benzophenone group compound, benzotriazol group compound, phosphorus group compound, sulfur group compound, organic metal group compound, etc.
As the heat adherent resins other than the aforesaid examples, there are polyethylene, ethylene-ethylacrylate copolymerized resin, ethylene-acrylic acid copolymerized resin, ethylene-methyl acrylate copolymerized resin, ethylene-methyl methasrylate, ethylene-methacrylic acid copolymerized resin, ionomer resin, polymethylpentene re~sin~ ethylene-vinylalcohol copolymerized resin, vinylidene chloride resin, vinyl: chloride-vinyl acetate 1ymeri~Zed:resin,~ polyamide resin, stylene-acrylic acid copolymerlze~d: resln, polystylene resin, polyacrylic acid :copolymerized resin, polyester resin, polyurethane resin, waxes, etc. When printing and coating, thèse~res~lns~can~be~sultably used as heating or dissolving in a solvent~or dispersing in water.
: As an example of adhesion retarding layer 22, materials .~
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which show adhesiveness at the higher temperature than the heat adherent resin or not at all may be selected.
For example, an ultraviolet ray curing ink may be selected. ~he ultraviolet hardening ink comprises a color material, pre-polymer, monomer, light initiator, sensitizer and additives. A~he pre-polymer, there are epoxy acrylate, polyolacrylate, polyester acrylate, polyether acrylate, unsaturated polyester, cationic polymerizing resin, melamine acrylate, unsaturated polybutadiene, dryinq oil acrylate and silicon acrylate.
As the monomer, there are monofunctional acrylates such as 2-ethyl acrylate, 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate, 2-hidroxypropyl acrylate and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, and bifunctional acrylates such as 1, 3-butanediol diacrylate, 1, 4-butanediol diacrylate, 1, 6-hexanediol diacrylate, diethylene glycol diacrylate, neopentilglycol diacrylate, polyethyIene glycol :, ~
#400~dia¢rylate, hydroxybivalic acid ester ne~benzyl glycol dlàorylate, dlethylene glycol dimethacrylate~and polyethylene glycol t200~ dlmethacrylate, etc. and multifunctional ac~ryla~tes s~uch as trimethylolpropane triacrylate, pentaerythritol triacrylate, trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate, trimethylolethane trimethacrylate, te~tramethylolm~ethane~tetraaorylate, dipentaerythritol hexaa~crylate, etc. In addition vinyl ether, itaconic acid ester and N-vinyl pyrolldcne may~be used.

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As the light initiators, there are biacetyl, acetophenone, benzophenone, Michler's ketone, benzyl, benzoin, benzoin isobutyl ether, benzyl dimethylketal, tetramethylthiuram sulfide, azobisisobutylnitrile, benzoyl peroxide, l-hydroxycyclohexilphenyl ketone, d -hydroxyisobutyl phenone, p-isopropyl-~-hydroxyisobutyl phenone, etc., in particular, benzophenone and its derivatives are used.
As the sensitizers, there are aliphatic amines such as n-butyl amine, di-n-butyl amine, triethyl amine, diethylaminoethyl methacrylate, etc., nitrogen heterocyclic compounds such as amines containing aromatic radical, piperizene, etc. sulfur compounds such as allyl group, O-tolylthiourea, sodium diethyldithiophosphate, soluble salt of aromatic sulfinic acid, etc., phosphorus compounds such as N, N-dlsubstituent-p-aminobenzonitrile compound, tri-n-butyl phosphine, sodium diethylthiophosphate, etc. and nitrogene campounds such as Michler's ketone, N-nitrosophydroxylamine derivatives, oxazoline compound,~etc. and chlorine compounds such as carbon tetrachloride, hexachloroethane, etc.~
As the additives, there are an anti-mist agent, lubricant, anti-oxidant, drying agent, wetting agent, wax, etc.
As the color materials, there are an organic pigment, body pigment, carbon black, titanium dioxide, metal powder, etc.

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Subsequently, description is made on a method of manufacturing this postcard with lottery.
First, continuous paper for forming the postcard stuff 10 is prepared. The portion of the postcard material 11 and the portion of the base material 14 are formed continuously in the direction of width of this continuous paper.
Accordingly, the length of the continuous paper in the direction of width is a sum of the length of the postcard material 11 and the length of the base material 14.
On one of the main surfaces of the base material 14 portion of this continuous paper, a suppression layer 16 is formed by allover printing with a silver ink, for example, by the known printing method as the offset printing or coating.
The lottery 18 is formed on the surface of the .
suppression layer 16 by printing a letter such as "winning", "lose" or "nu~ber".
As~showlng~Fig. 4, a rolled laminate comprising the postcard stuff 10~formed with the suppression layer 16 isi~mount~ed on a ho}d roller 32 of a coverinq material mànufacturing machine 30.
Thê ~postcard stuff 10 held by the hold roller 32 is loosen at one end and led to a heat adhera~t resin coater 34.
The~heat~adherent resin coater 34 18 designed to print and~coat t.~e heat adherent resin 20a containing, for example, the aforesaid ethylene-vlnyl acetate copolymerized resin as a . ~ : . .: :
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main component, on the suppression layer 16 of the base material 14 while heating to a suitable temperature.
The postcard stuff 10 is formed by printing or coating the heat adherent resin 20a onto the base material 14 is then guided to a dryer 36 including a cold air blower, whereby the heat adherent resin 20a is dried and the heat adherent resin layer 20 is formèd.
Next, the postcard stuff 10 which is formed by laying the heat adherent resin layer 20 on the base material is directed to an adhesion retarding agent coating apparatus of an adhesion retarding agent 22a.
An adhesion retarding agent coating apparatus 40 is the printing or coating machine utilizing known printing or coating methods such as a typographic printing, gravure printing, silk screen printing, offset printing or the like.
When printing or coating the ultraviolet ray curing in~, ~for example, the typographic printing machine is selected and 4 to 6 glm2 of ultraviolet ray curing ink is aoated.
The postcard stu~ff 10 wherein an adhesion retarding agent 22a is printed or coated on the heat adherent resin layer 20 is led to a solidifier 44. As the solidifier 44 in ~. ~
the present embo iment, a high voltage mercury lamp is used to irradiate 160 W/cm per second.
Thus, as shown in Fig. S, the postcard stuff I0 :`~
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2026~a includes the covering material 12 is formed by laying the suppression layer 16, the heat adherent resin layer 20 on the base material 14 and the adhesion retarding layer 22 is formed with a distance in the wide direction of the base material 14.
The postcard stuff lO is led to a perforator 48 for cutting perforations 24 for separation, thereby forming the perforations 24 at a prescribed distance.
Subswquently, this postcard stuff lO is led to a covering material sticking apparatus 50 sticking this covering material 12 to the postcard material ll. At this : time, to cover a confidential matter such as a residual amount deposited in a bank which is formed on part of the surface of the postcard with the covering material 12, it is necessary to print proper characters in advance on a proper place, for example, the lower column of the surface of the postcard mater~ial ll. Also, in the case of forming a lottery ;:pa~rt~on~the~postcard~material ll side, it is necessary to form the lottery part in advance at the portion to be covered byi~:the~covering~:material I2.
;Then,~ as shown in Fig. 3A, in the case of covering a : confidential màtter such as a residual amount deposited in a bank~which is formed on part of the surface of the postcard, perforation 24:is preferably~formed so that the adhesion : retarding layer 22 side can be separated in the vicinity of ' 2~2~3~

the boundary between the adhesion retarding layer 22 and the heat adherent resin layer 20.
In addition, in the case of making this covering material 12 adhere, for example, to the lower column of the postcard, as shown in Fig. 6, the postcard stuff 10 is fed sequentially, and it is folded back at the boundary between the postcard material 11 portion and the covering material 12 portion, and the covering material 12 and the postcard material 11 are bonded. ~hen, the portion where the heat adherent resin layer 20 is exposed and the heat adherent resin layer 20 located under the adhesion retarding layer 22 are activated by heating while the surface of postcard stuff 10 is pressed by a heating roller, and the covering material 12 is stuck to the surface of the postcard material 11.
Then, the postcard stuff 10 is cut in a proper size, and the postcard of the present invention is formed.
Thus, by thermal adhesion of the postcard material 11, the covering~materla} 12 adheres strongly to the postcard m~terlal~ll at the portion where the heat adherent resin layer~20 is exposed, and the underlayer heat adherent resin layer 20 adheres weakly thereto at the portion where the adhesion retarding layer 22 is formed. Accordingly, aa shown in~Fig. 3A~and~Fig. 3B, at the portion where the adhesion ~ :`:` :
~`` retarding layer 22 is formed, this covering material 12 can be separated comparatively simp~y from the postcard material , ~:

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11 .
Though the rolled continuous paper is selected as the postcard stuff lO in the foregoing embodiment, the base material separated into each piece, so-called, sheets may be selected.
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Also, on the base material 14, any suitable printing which fits to properties of the postcard may be performed, or when the continuous material is used as aforesaid embodiment for example, a detecting mask for detecting feeding pitches : .:::
of the base material 14 may be printed with a black color or the li~e.
In the above-metnioned embodiment, the adhesion . - .
retarding layer 22 is formed in a belt shape with proper intervals kept in the direction of width of the base material 14, ~ut the portion where no adhesion retarding layer 22 is formed may be~installed in a spot shape in the vicinity of the lèngthw~ise~end edge of the base material 14. Thereby, the~portion:where the~heat;adherent resin layer 20 is exposed s~formed in~a~spotishape in the vicinity of the end edge of~
t~ base mater~ial 14~ and when this covering material:12~ lS
stuck to the poatca~rd~:material ll, this coverlng material 12 can be prevented from being peeled carelessly off the postcard material~ll:;from the vicinity of the lengthwlse:end edge of the base~material 14.
;Fig.~7:~ through Fig. 8 are views showing another , 202~13~

embodiment.
Fig. 7A and Fig. 7B are perspective views of an embodiment other than the above-mentioned embodiment, and Fig. 7A shows an original state thereof, and Fig. 7B shows a peeled-off state thereof. ~hen, Fig. 8A is a fragmental sectional view of the embodiment as shown in Fig. 7A, and Fig. 8B is a fragmental sectional view of the embodiment as shown in Fig. 7B.
In this embodiment, perforations 66a and 66b are formed on the left side of a covering material 62 in a portion where an adhesion retarding layer 64 is formed, in a manner of extending from one edge of the covering material 62 to the other ed~e thereof, and being parallel with each other at a narrow distance. Thus, the base material 68 can be cut off.
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Furthermore, between the perforations 66a and 66b, one edge of the base material 68 is chipped, thus the edge can be easily peeled by a finger and a fingernail, and the bas;e~-aterial 68 can be easily cut off. On the edge of the base~material 68 between the perforations 66a~and 66b, a ~ protruding piece for picking the base materiaI 68 easily may I ~ ~ be formed in place of the edge is chipped.
Also, a perforation 74 for separation is formed to the right-side of the covering material 62 so as to cut the covering material 62 peeled from a postcard material 70 at ~:, ~ 17 202643a a portion adhered completely with a heat adherent resin layer 72.
Also, a lottery 76 is formed on the postcard material 70 in this embodiment.
When the base material 68 is made of paper, the perforations 66a, 66b and 74 are formed along a direction which is a paper feeding direction in a papermaking, that is, a paper fiber line direction.
~::In each of the above-mentioned embodiments, perforation may be formed along the circumference of the base material of :the covering material. By forming the perforation in such a manner, only the central portion of the covering material can be peeled off. In this case, as shown in Fig. 9, by configuring one perforation 224 with a linear perforated portion 224a and an arc-shaped~perforated portion 224b so that the adjacent perforations 224 are partially overlapped whèn vlewed in~the dlrection of peeling off the covering material::2l2,; the central portion of the covering material 212~can~ be:~eas11y~peeled of. In addition, to make lt poss1b1e~to eaaily~peel off the central portion of the sticking material as~described above, for example, as shown in Fig. 10, the~ perforation 324 may be formed into the base mater1al:314~;obliquely ao~that the adjacent perforations 324~;~:are partial~1y~overlapped~when viewed ln the direction of peeling off the~coYerJng material~312.

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In the postcard as shown in Fig. 9 and Fig. 10, hy pulling the covering material in the direction as shown by an arrow, the covering material between the adjacent perforations is broken as the direction thereof is shown by an arrow of dash-dot line, and the covering material of the portion encompassed by the perforation is peeled off.

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Industrial Applicability In accordance with the present invention, the adhesive surface of the covering material to the postcard material is divided into a portion where the heat adherent resin layer formed on the main surface of the base material is exposed and a portion where the adhesion retarding layer is formed which reduces the adhesive force of the a~ove-mentioned heat adherent resin layer to stick it weakly to the postcard material, and when adhering to the postcard material, the portion where~ the~heat adherent resin layer is exposed adheres~completely to the postcard material, and the portion where~the~adhèsion retarding layer is formed adheres weakly to the~postcard materlal.
Accordingly, in the postcard, the sticking material can 1 ' ~ ~ ` ' ' ' : i be peeled off relatively easily from the postcard material at the~portion of a~heision retarding layer, thereby ena~ling accass to various information formed on the postcard material.

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. 19 Moreover, according to the present invention, since the postcard divided into the portion adhered temporarily and the portion adhered completely can be obtained by heating and adhering the covering material to the postcard material without processing the postcard material, only heat processing is required in manufacturing, enabling broad applications. , .~ Besides, the postcard is just needed to be processed to th~e covering material in manufacturlng and the postcard material is not necessary to be processed, so that its : manufacturing process as well as an adhesion machine of a sticking material used in manufacturing postcards can be simplified with ease.
:;Although the present inve~tion has been particularly described and illustrated in the drawin~s, it is to be understood~that~such;description is for illustrative purpose on~ly~àDd~not~restr:ictive. The spirit and scope of:the - ~ nt invent$on is, thereofre, to be:determined solely by p~pe ~ ~c;l~

Claims (2)

1. A postcard comprising a postcard material, and a covering material which is formed integral with said postcard material, and is stuck to said postcard material in a folded-back fashion, and covers at least part of said postcard material, wherein said covering material comprises a base material which a heat adherent resin layer is formedon the main surface thereof, and an adhesion retarding layer which partially reduces the adhesive force of said heat adherent resin layer to make it adhere weakly to said postcard material.

2. A method of manufacturing a postcard comprising a process of preparing a postcard stuff comprising a postcard material and a base material which is formed integral with said postcard material, and covers at least part of said postcard material in a folded-back fashion, a process of printing or coating picture lines on said postcard material, and a process of manufacturing a covering material by forming a heat adherent resin layer on the main surface of the base baterial and forming an adhesion retarding layer which partially reduces the adhesive force of said heat adherent resin layer and makes it adhere weakly to said postcard material on the main surface of said heat adherent resin layer, and a process which folds back said base material of said postcard stuff, and sticks said head adherent resin layer side of said covering material to said postcard material.