GB2202187A

GB2202187A - Transfer-printing process for producing adhesive labels or stickers

Info

Publication number: GB2202187A
Application number: GB08706288A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Ichiro Suematsu
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1987-03-17
Filing date: 1987-03-17
Publication date: 1988-09-21
Also published as: GB8706288D0

Abstract

A process for producing adhesive labels or stickers (10) is described. The process essentially comprises the steps of forming an image layer (14) on a water dissolvable paper (15), applying to the paper a transparent or translucent film (12) having an adhesive layer (13), and immersing the paper and film assembly in a body of water to dissolve off the drawing paper to leave the image layer on the adhesive layer of the film. A protective release paper (16) may also be provided. <IMAGE>

Description

PROCESS FOR PRODUCING ADHESIVE LABELS OR STICKERS This invention relates to a process for producing adhesive labels or stickers in which letters and/or designs are written by a writing means or copied by a copying machine on one surface of a sheet of water dissolvable drawing paper, a transparent or translucent film is applied to the surface of the drawing opposite to the surface on which the letters and/or designs are written or copied,and the drawing paper and film assembly is immersed and rinsed in a body of water to dissolve the drawing paper off whereby the letters an /or designs can be seen through the film.

Generally, the adhesive labels or stickers of the above type have been conventionally produced by printing various letters and/or designs by means of a seal printer on one surface of a display base sheet,and laminating a transparent film on the printed surface of the display base sheet or applying a transparent paint on the printed surface of the display base sheet.

Although these conventional processes have the advantage that the processes are quite effective and can produce the adhesive labels or stickers at least expense when the labels or stickers are produced on a mass production basis, they have the disadvantages that when the adhesive labels or stickers are of large dimensions, the productign cost per adhesive label or sticker is substantially high, and that since the large dimension labels or stickers require large size special devices and special materials, such labels or stickers cannot be produced by ordinary printing machines and have to be ordered to printers specialized in producing the labels or stickers.

Also when adhesive labels or stickers bearing different letters and/or designs are produced by the conventional processes, the processes have the disadvantage that the cost of the products is inhibitively high.

Furthermore, in the adhesive label or sticker in which the letters and/or designs applied to the inner surface of the transparent film can be seen on the outer surface of the film through the film, after the letters and/or designs have been applied to the inner surface of the film, a troublesome operation for applying an adhesive layer over the letter and/or design applied surface of the film is required. And it is practically impossible to directly write or print letters and/or designs on the adhesive layer.

In order to solve the problems referred to hereinabove, it is necessary that letters and/or designs are applied to a sheet of water dissolvable drawing paper and the letters and/or designs applied to the drawing paper are transferred to a transparent film having an adhesive layer to thereby provide an adhesive label or sticker similar to an adhesive label or sticker in which the letters and/or designs are printed on the inner surface of the label or sticker.

However, up to date, an adhesive label which meets the desire has not been developed and such an adhesive label or sticker has been longed for.

In order to eliminate the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is directed to a process in which letters and/or designs are written or copied on one surface of a sheet of water dissolvable drawing paper, the letter and/or design applied surface of the drawing paper is applied to the viscous adhesive layer on one surface of a transparent or translucent film,and the drawing paper and film assembly is immersed and rinsed in a body of water to dissolve the drawing paper off leaving the letters and/or designs on the adhesive layer on the film.

According to the present invention, there is provided a process for producing adhesive labels and stickers which essentially comprises the steps of forming an image layer consisting of letters and/or designs on one surface of a sheet of water dissolvable drawing paper, applying a transparent or translucent film having an adhesive layer on one surface to said image layer,and immersing the drawing paper and film assembly in a body of water to rinse the assembly to thereby dissolve off said water dissolvable drawing paper, whereby said image layer is allowed to remain on said adhesive layer.

The above and other objects and attendant advantages of the present invention will be more readily apparent to those skilled in the art from a reading of the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which show one preferred embodiment of the invention for illustrating purpose only, but not for limiting the scope of the same in any way.

In the drawings: Fig. l is a perspective view of the body of an adhesive label produced by the process according to the present invention; Fig. 2a is a sectional view showing the water dissolvable drawing paper having the image layer applied thereto; Fig. 2b is a sectional view showing the assembly of the transparent or translucent film on which the image layer is transferred and the release paper, after the dissolution of the drawing paper; Fig. 2c is a sectional view showing the film of Fig.

2b with the release paper removed therefrom; and Figs. 3a, 3b, 3c and 3d are sectional views showing the successive steps in the process of the present invention; in which: Fig. 3a shows the step in which the image layer is applied to one surface of the water dissolvable drawing paper; Fig. 3D shows the step in which the transparent or translucent film is applied to the surface of the water dissolvable drawing paper to which the image layer has been applied; Fig. 3c shows the step in which the water dissolvable drawing paper is dissolved off in a body of water, leaving the image layer on the film to thereby provide the body of the label; and Fig. 3d shows the label body having the release paper applied thereto.

The present invention will be now described referring to the accompanying drawings which show one preferred embodiment of the invention. First referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings, the body of an adhesive label produced by the process of the present invention is shown. The body of the adhesive label is generally shown by reference numeral 10 and comprises a relatively pliant transparent or translucent plastic film 12 having a viscous adhesive layer 13 on the reverse surface, and an image layer 14 bearing images such as letters and/or designs and adhered to the adhesive layer 13 of the film 12 so that the images can be seen through the transparent or translucent film 12.

The image layer 14 is initially formed by writing images such as letters and/or designs on one surface of a sheet of water dissolvable drawing paper 15 by means of a color pencil or crayon or by copying the images on the surface of such paper by a duplicator for ordinary paper.

A release paper 16 is normally applied to the viscous adhesive layer 13 of the film 12 as the base or support sheet of the label body 10 for protection of the image layer 14 against abrasion or intentional eras ion.

In Fig. 2, reference numeral 20 denotes a writing means for drawing images on the water dissolvable drawing paper 15.

The process for producing the adhesive label according to the present invention will now be described.

First of all, images are written on one surface of the water dissolvable drawing paper 15 by the writing means 20 such as a typewriter, word processor, pencil or crayon to form the image layer 14 on the paper 15. The image layer 14 can be alternatively formed by applying carbon resin to a sheet of ordinary paper under heating to melt the resin on the paper and transferring the images on the carbon resin onto the drawing paper 15. Next, a release paper is stripped from the adhesive layer 13 and the film 12 is then applied to the water dissolvable drawing paper 15 to bring the viscous adhesive layer 13 into contact with the image layer 14 as shown in Fig. 3b.The drawing paper and film assembly 15, 12 is immersed in a body of water and then rinsed to dissolve and remove the drawing paper 15 from the film 12,leaving the image layer 14 on the film 12 as shown in Figs 3c.

The moisture remaining on the film 12 is wiped off or dried up. And although the adhesion of the label is once reduced by the water immersing and rising, the inherent adhesion of the film is restored by drying the film. In the thus obtained adhesive label 10, the image layer 14 is not positioned on the outer surface of the film 12, but positioned on the inner surface of viscous adhesive layer 13 of the film 12 and thus, when the adhesive label 10 is used, the film 12 protects the image layer 14 against abrasion or intentional eras ion from above, stain and moisture so that the letters and/or designs of the image layer 14 will not be adversely affected. And when the adhesive label 10 is not used and stored, release sheet 16 is (re)placed onto the viscous adhesive layer 13 of the film 12.The image layer 14 may be conveniently formed on the drawing paper 15 by a carbon ribbon system typewriter, thermal carbon transfer system, word processor, pencil or crayon, for example.

As mentioned hereinabove, according to the process of the present invention for producing adhesive labels or stickers, unskilled hands can simply and positively produce adhesive labels or stickers which could be conventionally produced only by skilled hands. And the present invention has a practical. effect that the labels or stickers can be produced by the use of a pencil or crayon which could not be used for producing adhesive labels or stickers hitherto. Furthermore, the process of the present invention does not require any large scale facility for producing adhesive labels or stickers and can be performed in offices or places of business. A small number of adhesive labels or stickers can be proded at less expense, and one adhesive label or sticker can be produced in a short time in the order of several minutes without requiring any expert technology.

Furthermore, since the image layer is applied to the water dissolvable drawing paper, the positions and arrangement of the letters and/or designs on the drawing paper can be freely selected and, since the image layer is applied to the viscous adhesive layer on the film, the image layer can be positively held in position on the film against accidental erasion of the letters and/or designs on the image layer. Furthermore, when the water dissolvable drawing paper on which the letters and/or designs are written or copied thereon and the film, laid one upon another,are immersed and rinsed in a body of water, the drawing paper dissolves off in a brief time leaving only the image layer on the adhesive layer on the film whereby the letters and/or designs of the image layer can be externally clearly seen through the transparent or translucent film.

Although only one specific embodiment of the invention has been described and illustrated herein, many .changes and modifications will. of course suggest themselves to those skilled in the art. This single embodiment has been selected for this disclosure-for the purpose of illustration only. The present invention should therefore not be limited to the embodiment so selected, the true scope of the invention being defined only in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A process for producing adhesive labels or stickers, comprising the steps of forming an image layer consisting of letters and/or designs on one surface of a sheet of water dissolvable drawing paper, applying a transparent or translucent film having an adhesive layer on one surface to said image layer, and immersing the drawing paper and film assembly in a body of water to rinse the assembly to thereby dissolve off said water dissolvable drawing paper whereby said image layer is allowed to remain on said adhesive layer.

2. The process as set forth in Claim 1, in which said image layer is formed by writing letters and/or designs on said one surface of the water dissolvable drawing paper by a colored pencil or crayon.

3. The process as set forth in Claim 1, in which said image layer is formed by copying letters and/or designs on said one surface of the water dissolvable drawing paper by a copier.

4. The process as set forth in any preceding Claim, in which said adhesive label or sticker further includes a release sheet applied to the surface of said adhesive layer to protect said image layer against abrasion or eras ion when the adhesive label or sticker is not used or stored.

5. A process for producing adhesion labels for stickers, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

6. A process as set forth in any preceding Claim, but in which said water soluble drawing paper is substituted by a sheet of other suitable material which is readily soluble in a suitable liquid.

7. Adhesion labels or stickers whenever produced by a process as claimed in any preceding Claim.

8. The features herein described, or their equivalents, in any novel patentably selection.