EP0929492B1

EP0929492B1 - Tape roll structure for use in making marginal edge tabs for sheets

Info

Publication number: EP0929492B1
Application number: EP96934046A
Authority: EP
Inventors: James F. Riordan
Original assignee: Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co
Current assignee: 3M Co
Priority date: 1996-10-04
Filing date: 1996-10-04
Publication date: 2003-06-04
Anticipated expiration: 2016-10-04
Also published as: KR20000048898A; EP0929492A1; CA2266397A1; WO1998014393A1; DE69628592D1; JP2001501158A; AU721659B2; DE69628592T2; AU7256196A

Description

This invention relates to improvements in flexible adhesive tape for attachment to surfaces of sheets and other objects, and, more particularly, to tape roll structure for use in making tabs on an edge margin of a sheet.

Conventional tabs for edge margins of sheets are typically made of plastic which is transparent, and each tab has a pocket for receiving a paper strip on which indicia can be written before the paper strip is inserted into the pocket. The conventional tabs are costly, relatively rigid, limited in length, and are bonded in some suitable manner to an edge margin of a sheet to couple the paper strip to the sheet.

In GB-A-2 013 613 labels are described of the type which are marked with prices and then applied to goods in a store, wherein the roll of labels is devoid of a backing strip and yet can be easily unrolled. The labels are formed of ordinary label paper, with the front face carrying a band of release material along one or two edge thereof. The remaining portion of the front face of the label forms an uncoated printable area. The bottom face of the label carries one or two band of adhesive along the same edge(s) along which release material is disposed on the front face.

It is a cumbersome and laborious task to couple the conventional plastic tab holder to a sheet. It is desirable that the use of a tab be made easier and less expensive and that the length of the tab be variable.

FR-A-1 132 110 discloses a device for forming dispensing and cutting an arrangement of two flexible tape structures into segments to form markers. The device comprises a first roll of flexible and translucent adhesive tape supported on a first axis of rotation and a second roll of non-adhesive tape supported on a second axis of rotation arranged in parallel to the first axis of rotation. The second roll of non-adhesive tape has a width being smaller than the width of the first roll of adhesive tape and is adapted to receive written indicia thereon. When actuating the device both rolls of tape are simultaneously rotated around the respective axis of rotation and unwound whereby the two tapes are aligned and arranged onto each other by way of two guiding and pressing rolls to adhere the non-adhesive tape on the adhesive surface of the adhesive tape for forming a single tape structure. Since the adhesive tape is translucent, the non-adhesive tape as well as the written indicia received thereon are visible there through. The formed single tape structure is cut into segments, subsequently, to form single markers which can be adhered to any desired surface along the portions of the adhesive tape projecting over the edges of the non-adhesive tape due to the larger width of the adhesive tape.

US-A-4 680 210 describes flat arrow shaped markers. The markers are manufactured in an array by pattern-gluing adhesive strips to face stock, laminating a liner to the face stock and die cutting the markers out of the face stock.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a tape which simplifies not only the making of tabs, but also the placement of tabs on the edge margins of sheets.

According to the invention this object is solved by means of a tape as. defined in claim 1. The subclaims relate to individual embodiments of the invention.

The present invention provides a linerless roll of flexible tab forming tape which includes a transparent or a translucent tape having adhesive on one face thereof, and the tape can be pulled off a tape roll and cut into a segment in a normal fashion. The tape of the present invention is provided with a coating for receiving written indicia. Thus, once a tape segment has been attached by adhesive to a marginal edge of a sheet, the indicia can be written or otherwise marked on the receiving means so that a tab is immediately formed on a sheet. Other tabs can be coupled in a like manner to other sheets. The present invention thus provides for forming tabs for sheets in a manner to avoid the time-consuming and costly drawbacks of conventional tab-forming structures and allows indicia of variable lengths.

In one embodiment of the present invention is a single roll of tape being provided with a coating on one or both sides of part of or one-half of the tape, the coating being capable of receiving written indicia. The other half of the tape is provided with adhesive for bonding the tape to a sheet to receive a tab.

The present invention provides an adhesivebacked tape which can be provided with a coating in white or other color and which will accept and retain ink from a pen or typewriter, or lead from a pencil, and which may be pulled out from a tape roll structure and cut into segments of any desired length in the same manner as conventional Scotch-type tape is cut. Each tape segment can easily and quickly be secured to the rear side of a sheet of paper or other material to form a permanent or removable tab for easy identification and location of a sheet when placed in hanging files or manila folders or when using the sheet as a binder divider. The tabs may contain writing or be used as a color coded system.

The present invention provides tape structure which may be dispensed from a prerolled form in which the tab feature has been incorporated into the roll at the factory, directly from a standard 3/4 inch 1,905 cm Model C15 Scotch tape dispenser or équivalent.

The coating of the linerless roll of flexible tab forming tape according to the invention can be white or colored. The advantage in providing the coating is the ease of production and the symmetry of the flatness across the width of the tape, allowing the tape roll to be uniform in thickness across the width of the tape and allowing more tabs to be available from a single tape roll.

The tape segments can be used to form marginal edge tabs, and the segments can be quickly placed on several or all documents or sheets of paper in one file folder. Thus, individual letters or documents with the tape segments on them can be quickly identified without searching through the files.

The tabs formed by the present invention are of substantially the same thickness as the sheet on which the tabs are mounted. The tabs lay flat in a copy machine and roll easily into a typewriter. The tabs allow copies to be made quickly and easily. Copies are distortion-free since the original sheets lay flat on the copier glass. This is not possible with standard plastic or glue-on tabs. Since the tab of the present invention is taped on a sheet from the reverse side of the sheet, the tab does not show up on the copies made from an original with a tab. The tabs of the present invention can be placed on the side or top of a sheet and then put into a typewriter for text to be typed on, providing a professionally finished product in applications where hand-written messages would not be unacceptable. Messages can also be written or typed on both sides of the tab.

Tabs can he available at all times from the tape roll structure on a desk top, and the tabs can be quickly and easily cut to size, such as cutting the size of a piece of conventional adhesive tape.

Other objects of this invention will become apparent as the following specification progresses, reference being had to the accompanying drawings for illustrations of several embodiments of the invention, wherein

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a tape roll structure showing two coupled tapes pulled outwardly from the structure;

Fig. 1a is a view similar to Fig. 1 but showing the tape roll structure in the well of a base;

Fig. 1b is a cross-sectional view taken along line 1b-1b of Fig. 1;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is.a top plan view of a tape segment looking in the direction of line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary, perspective view of a sheet with the tape segment of Fig. 3 coupled to the rear face of the sheet;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 but showing the tape segment showing the front face of the means thereon for receiving written indicia;

Fig. 6 is a side elevational view of a tape roll forming an embodiment of the present invention; and

Fig. 6a is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 6a-6a of Fig. 6.

A tape roll structure useful for understanding the tape segments capable to be cut from a roll of tape is denoted by the numeral 10 and includes a rotatable tape roll 12 and a rotatable tape roll 14 spaced from tape roll 12. Tape roll 14 is rotatable about an axis parallel with the axis of rotation of tape roll 12. The two

tape rolls

12 and 14 are remounted in a shell 16 (Figs. 1 and 1b), the shell having opposed sidewalls 18 and 20 (Fig. 1b) and a pair of

opposed end walls

22 and 24. The shell is made so that

walls

18 and 20 can be separated to allow replacement of either or both of

tape rolls

12 and 14 when a tape supply on the roll or rolls is depleted.

Tape roll 12 has a shaft 26 mounted by radial webs 28 on

sidewalls

18 and 20 so that the tape roll 12 can rotate about the axis of shaft 26. Similarly, a shaft 30 mounts tape roll 14 on radial webs 32 coupled to shell 16 so that tape roll 14 can rotate about an axis parallel with the axis of shaft 26.

While tape rolls 12 and 14 can rotate in either direction, tape roll 12 is designed to rotate in a counterclockwise sense when viewing Fig. 1 and tape roll 14 is designed to rotate in a clockwise sense when viewing Fig. 1.

Tape roll 12 is formed from a number of convolutions or windings of paper tape 34 on an outer peripheral web 35 surrounding shaft 26. Tape 34 extends away from tape roll 12 and extends downwardly about spaced pins 36 in shell 16 which serve as tape guides to direct the paper tape 34 to a location denoted by the numeral 38 where the tape 34 comes in contact with and merges with a tape 40 from tape roll 14. Tape 40 is provided on the lower face thereof with a layer of adhesive so that the paper tape 34 will bond to only a part of the width of tape 40. Tape 34 is typically one-half the width of the tape 40 so that tape 34 is applied to tape 40 along a side portion having one-half of the width of tape 40 when the two

tapes

34 and 40 meet near location 38.

Figs. 2 and 3 show a tape segment 41 formed when paper tape 34 is bonded to the lower face of adhesive tape 40 with the width of paper tape 34 being substantially equal to one-half the maximum width of tape 40, that portion of the lower face 40a which is not covered by paper tape 34 being still provided with an adhesive so as to bond to the rear face 42 of a sheet 44, such as a plastic or paper sheet. The tape segment 41 shown in Fig. 4 will be bonded to sheet 44 in a manner to expose the upper surface of tape segment 41 which is shown in Fig. 5 as being in a position to receive written indicia, such as letters, numbers, words and the like. Tape segment 41, therefore becomes a tab automatically when the tape segment is cut from

tapes

34 and 40, such as at the breakpoint 46 (Fig. 1) by a cutter blade 60 carried by base 50.

Tape roll structure 10 is adapted to be placed in a conventional base 50 (Fig. 1a) having a groove or well 52 for receiving the lower portion of tape roll structure 10 as shown in Fig. 1a. A pair of

projections

54 and 56 are provided on shell 16, and these projections rest on the upper surface 58 of base 50 so as to support the shell 16 and thereby tape rolls 12 and 14 in the manner shown in Fig. 1a. Serrated cutting blade 60 is provided at the outer end of the base for cutting the two

tapes

34 and 40 at breakpoint 46 after the tapes have been manually pulled past and onto a flat, upper, horizontal surface 62 on the base. Shell 16 can be lifted out of well 52 for replacement of tape rolls 12 and 14 at any time.

The

tapes

34 and 40 are flexible and can easily be cut. Tape 40 can be transparent or translucent and have adhesive on the entire lower face thereof.

An embodiment of the tape roll structure of the present invention is broadly denoted by the numeral 70 and comprises a single roll of tape which is mounted for rotation by web structure 71 in any suitable manner on a support, the web being used to mount a shaft 72 on which a center disk 73 is rotatably mounted. The tape structure in the form of a plastic adhesive tape 74 is wound on disk 73, and tape 74 has a coating of white or colored paint, the coating being denoted (Fig. 6a) by the numeral 75, on the lower face of the tape adjacent to a layer of adhesive on the lower face 74a of tape 74. A second coating 76 of paint can be on the upper face of tape 74, if desired, directly above coating 75. The coating 75, when the tape is to be used, can be written on; such as by a pen or pencil, and the tape segment, of any length, formed when the tape is cut in a suitable manner, such as by a scissors or by a blade, such as blade 60 of the tape roll structure 10, can be used to form an end tab for a sheet such as sheet 44 (Figs. 4 and 5).

Claims

A linerless roll of flexible tab forming tape (74) for being cut into segments to form marginal edge tabs for application to sheets (44), said tape (74) having opposite first and second major surfaces defined by side-by-side, longitudinally-extending first and second portions of said tape, said first and second portions being integral with each other, said first portion having a coating (75 or 76) thereon for receiving written indicia on at least one of the opposite major surfaces along said first portion after the tape (74) has been pulled off the roll, said second portion being transparent or translucent, and said second portion having a layer of adhesive on the first opposite major surface along said second portion, which layer of adhesive, when the tape is pulled off the roll and cut to form a tape segment for use as a marginal edge tab, will bond the second portion of the tape segment to a sheet (44) at one edge of the sheet (44) with the first portion of the tape segment projecting laterally from the edge of the sheet in a position to display indicia written on said first portion.
A tape according to claim 1, wherein said first portion includes a coating (75,76) on both major surfaces of the tape (74).
A tape according to claim 2, wherein said coatings (75,76) are paint coatings.
A tape according to claim 1, wherein said first portion has a coating (75,76) on both major surfaces of the tape (74) and said first and second portions are generally of a uniform thickness across the width of the tape.
A tape according to claim 1, wherein said first and second portions of the tape (74) are of substantially equal width.
A tape according to claim 1, wherein said coating (75 or 76) is a paint coating.
A tape according to claim 1, wherein said layer of adhesive removably bonds each tape segment to a sheet.
A tape according to claim 1, wherein said layer of adhesive permanently bonds each tape segment to a sheet.
A tape according to claim 1, wherein said coating is white or colored.