CA2684826A1

CA2684826A1 - Conveyor assembly carrying advertising and checkout station incorporating the same

Info

Publication number: CA2684826A1
Application number: CA 2684826
Authority: CA
Inventors: Leslie S. Abro
Original assignee: Abcon 2001 Inc.; Leslie S. Abro
Current assignee: ABCON 2001 Inc
Priority date: 2009-11-06
Filing date: 2009-11-06
Publication date: 2011-05-06

Abstract

A conveyor assembly comprises a rotatable conveyor belt having an exposed outer surface and at least one advertisement releasably secured to the outer surface. The at least one advertisement comprises a substrate having a width substantially equal to that of the conveyor belt. The substrate has an upper surface on which advertising is printed and a bottom surface coated with a releasable adhesive that contacts the outer surface of the conveyor belt.

Description

CONVEYOR ASSEMBLY CARRYING ADVERTISING AND CHECKOUT
STATION INCORPORATING THE SAME

Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates generally to advertising and in particular, to a conveyor assembly carrying advertising and to a checkout station incorporating the same.

Background of the Invention [0002] Techniques for printing advertising on the conveyor belts of retail establishment checkout stations are known. Because of the flexible nature of conveyor belts, their generally continuous motion, and the constant wear to which conveyor belts are subjected as a result of objects of various shapes, sizes, and texture being placed thereon, applying advertisements on conveyor belts has been challenging.

[0003] U.S. Patent No. 6,648,127 to Molinaro et al. discloses a conveyor belt with advertising fabricated by coating at least one flexible belting member with a vinyl size coating. Special white PVC coated belting material is employed. A
variety of printing processes may be used to print registered color separation images on the at least one belting member. These processes include silkscreen, flexographic and offset printing. The conveyor belt may comprise belting members made in lengths shorter than the entire length of the conveyor belt joined together using removable attachment means, permitting individual advertising images to be replaced by switching belting members without replacing the entire conveyor belt.

[0004] While techniques for applying advertising to conveyor belts exist, improvements are desired. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a novel conveyor assembly carrying advertising and a novel checkout station incorporating the same.

Summary of the Invention [0005] Accordingly, in one aspect there is provided a conveyor assembly comprising a rotatable conveyor belt having an exposed outer surface and at least one advertisement releasably secured to the outer surface, said at least one advertisement comprising a substrate having a width substantially equal to that of said conveyor belt, said substrate having an upper surface on which advertising is printed and a bottom surface coated with a releasable adhesive that contacts the outer surface of said conveyor belt.

[0006] In one embodiment, the at least one advertisement further comprises a protective coating applied to the upper surface of the substrate. The at least one advertisement may be a single advertisement having a length substantially equal to the length of the conveyor belt or may be a plurality of discrete advertisements placed along the conveyor belt. The substrate may be for example a vinyl film. The advertising may be printed on the vinyl film using ink jet printing, electronic printing or screen printing.

[0007] According to another aspect there is provided a checkout station comprising a checkout terminal and a conveyor assembly as described above to deliver articles placed thereon to the checkout terminal.

Brief Description of the Drawings [0008] Embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

[0009] Figure 1 is a perspective view of a retail establishment checkout station comprising a conveyor assembly carrying advertising;

[00010] Figure 2 is a top plan view of an advertisement for applying to the conveyor assembly of Figure 1;

[00011] Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of the advertisement of Figure 2; and [00012] Figure 4 is a side elevational view of the advertisement of Figure 2 being applied to the conveyor assembly of Figure 1.

Detailed Description of the Embodiments [00013] Turning now to Figure 1, a retail establishment checkout station is shown and is generally identified by reference character 10. As can be seen, checkout station 10 comprises a conveyor assembly 12 at one end of the checkout station and a checkout terminal 14 at the other end of the checkout station 10. The checkout terminal 14 is conventional and comprises a bar code scanner 16, a keyboard 18 and a display 20 allowing a cashier to process articles being purchased. The checkout terminal 14 also comprises a point-of-sale (POS) terminal 22 to enable electronic transactions to be completed. The conveyor assembly 12 comprises a conveyor belt 30 that is bordered by rails 32 extending along opposite sides of the conveyor belt 30.
The conveyor belt 30 is in the form of an endless loop of belting material that is wound around drive and tail rollers (not shown) positioned adjacent opposite ends of the conveyor assembly 12 allowing the conveyor belt 30 to be advanced to deliver articles placed thereon to the checkout terminal 14. The conveyor belt 30 may be formed from a single piece of belting material joined at its ends or from a plurality of individual pieces of belting material joined at its ends that are joined together by suitable means.

[00014] In this embodiment, the exposed outer surface 34 (see Figure 4) of the conveyor belt 30 has a plurality of discrete advertisements 40 applied thereto along the conveyor belt 30. Each advertisement 40 is releasably secured to the outer surface 34 of the conveyor belt 30 allowing the advertisements to be readily changed and/or reordered. As is best seen in Figures 2 and 3, each advertisement 40 comprises a substrate 42 having a width that is approximately the same width as the conveyor belt 30. The substrate 42 is formed of flexible, opaque vinyl and is white in color.
Advertising is printed on the top surface 44 of the substrate 42 using typical techniques for digital printing on vinyl surfaces, such as for example ink jet printing, screen printing, electrostatic printing etc. The bottom surface 46 of the substrate 42 is coated with a pressure sensitive adhesive 48 allowing the substrate 42 to be releasably secured to the conveyor belt 30. The vinyl film produced by 3MTM of Minnesota, U.S.A. under the name ScotchcalTM graphic film series has been found to be suitable.

[00015] Figure 4 shows a side elevational view of an advertisement 40 as it is being applied to the conveyor belt 30. Before application, the adhesive 48 is covered with a backing 50 such as paper to protect it from debris. When applying the advertising 40 to the conveyor belt 30, the backing 50 is initially peeled away from the adhesive 48 of substrate 42 by a small amount and the exposed adhesive 48 is applied to the outer surface 34 of conveyor belt 30. The backing 50 is then slowly peeled away from the adhesive 48 of the substrate 42, and the substrate 42 is pressed and smoothed against the outer surface 34 of the conveyor belt 30 to ensure flat, even application of the substrate 42. As will be appreciated, if the backing 50 is completely peeled off of the adhesive 48 before applying the substrate 42 to the conveyor belt 30, bubbling may occur or debris may get caught between the substrate 42 and the conveyor belt 30.

[00016] The advertisements 40 applied to the outer surface 34 of the conveyor belt 30 may be from the same advertiser or may be from multiple advertisers.
Typically, the length of time the various advertisements 40 remain on the conveyor belt 30 is a function of the amount of money paid by the advertisers. The releasable nature of the advertisements 40 allows great flexibility in terms of replacing and/or reordering advertisements. For example, if the advertisements 40 are from multiple advertisers, if one advertiser has paid for a longer period of display time, then advertisements 40 from that advertiser will remain on the conveyor belt 30, while advertisements 40 from other advertisers who have not paid for as long a display time are removed and replaced.

[00017] To protect the advertising printed on the top surface 44 of the substrate 42, a protective substantially transport coating (not shown) may be applied over the top surface 44 of the substrate 42. The overlaminate produced by 3MTM of Minnesota, U.S.A. under the name ScotchcalTM overlaminate has been found to be suitable. This overlaminate provides both ultraviolet protection and physical protection to the advertising printed on the top surface 44 of the substrate 42.
Application of the overlaminate to the top surface 44 of the substrate 42 may be similar to the application of the substrate 42 to the conveyor belt 30 by removing the protective backing from the adhesive of the overlaminate and pressing the overlaminate onto the top surface 44 of the substrate 42. Alternatively, the overlaminate may be applied to the top surface 44 of the substrate 42 by cold roll lamination. Alternatively, a top coat may be applied to the top surface 44 of the substrate 42 over the advertising. The top coat produced by 3MTM ScotchcalTM
gloss overprint clear has been found to be suitable.

[00018] Although the advertisements 40 are described as being discrete and placed on the outer surface 34 of the conveyor belt 30 at spaced locations, those of skill in the art will appreciate that alternative configurations are possible.
For example, a single advertisement having a length substantially equal to the length of the conveyor belt 30 may be used. In this case and cases where advertisements are of significant length, it is preferred that the advertisements are applied to the conveyor belt 30 while the conveyor belt is laid flat to ensure the advertisements are smoothly and evenly applied to the outer surface 34 of the conveyor belt 30. The advertisements 40 need not be spaced along the conveyor belt 30. Rather, the advertisements 40 can be placed side-by-side over the entire length of the conveyor belt 30 or over one or more sections of the conveyor belt length.
[000191 Although preferred embodiments have been described, those of skill in the art will appreciate that variations and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A conveyor assembly comprising:
a rotatable conveyor belt having an exposed outer surface; and at least one advertisement releasably secured to the outer surface, said at least one advertisement comprising a substrate having a width substantially equal to that of said conveyor belt, said substrate having an upper surface on which advertising is printed and a bottom surface coated with a releasable adhesive that contacts the outer surface of said conveyor belt.

2. The conveyor assembly according to claim 1 wherein said at least one advertisement further comprises a protective covering applied to the upper surface of the substrate.

3. The conveyor assembly according to claim 2 wherein the protective covering is a transparent overlaminate.

4. The conveyor assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 3 comprising a single advertisement.

5. The conveyor assembly according to claim 4 wherein said advertisement has a length substantially equal to the length of said conveyor belt.

6. The conveyor assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 3 comprising a plurality of discrete advertisements placed along said conveyor belt.

7. The conveyor assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein said substrate is a vinyl film.

8. The conveyor assembly according to claim 7 wherein the advertising is printed on the upper surface of the vinyl film using an ink jet printing technique.

9. The conveyor assembly according to claim 7 wherein the advertising is printed on the upper surface of the vinyl film using an electrostatic printing technique.

10. The conveyor assembly according to claim 7 wherein the advertising is printed on the upper surface of the vinyl film using a screen printing technique.

11. A checkout station comprising:
a checkout terminal; and a conveyor assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 10 to deliver articles placed thereon to the checkout terminal.