GB2300147A

GB2300147A - A combined label and business form with release coating

Info

Publication number: GB2300147A
Application number: GB9507573A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Peter Raymond Kennedy; Christopher David Francis
Original assignee: STAMPITON GROUP OF Cos Ltd
Current assignee: STAMPITON GROUP OF Cos Ltd
Priority date: 1995-04-12
Filing date: 1995-04-12
Publication date: 1996-10-30
Also published as: GB9507573D0

Abstract

A combined label and business form consists of a substrate 10 a part 14 of which is coated with a release coating 16 of UV curable silicone. An adhesive 18 (either hot melt or a UV curable) is coated over the release coating and label facestock 20 applied over the adhesive. The combination is manufactured by feeding the substrate 10 from a supply roll 22 to an applicator 24 for applying the release coating 16. The coating is cured by UV radiation 26 and then adhesive 18 is applied by applicator 28. Subsequently label facestock 20 is applied from supply roll 30.

Description

COMBINED LABEL AND BUSINESS FORM.

This invention relates to a combined label and business form.

When despatching goods it is now the practice to take information from a database to print a slf- adhesive label to be applied to the goods to indicate the sender and the destination. The same information from the database is also printed on the business form that is associated with the particular transaction. It has already been recognised that it is advantageous to print both the label and the form at the same time. However, in order to do this the label must be combined with the form so that they will pass through the printer together. While the form consists of one or more sheets of paper the label is a laminate comprising a facestock coated with adhesive and covered with a release paper. To date the combined form and label has been made by gluing the label to the form.

Such a combination of label and form gives rise to many serious problems. It is standard practice in this kind of printing for the forms and the labels to be in a continuous format with sprocket holes at either side by which the forms are forwarded through the printer. For this arrangement to operate satisfactorily the sprocket holes must be accurately aligned across the width of the material to be printed. It has been found almost impossible to produce sufficiently accurate alignment when a label is adhered to a form. Inaccurate alignment of the sprocket holes leads to paper mix feed through the printer and periodic jamming of the printer so that there is an unacceptable printer downtime.

In addition to the foregoing problem a further difficulty arises as a consequence of the adhesion of the label to the form. The overlap of the label onto the form creates a bulky region along the combined strips of label and form. This bulky region makes a stack of fan folded combined labels and forms very uneven.

The present invention has been made in order to overcome these problems.

According to the invention there is provided a combined label and form comprising a substrate, a part of the substrate constituting the form and another, integral, part of the substrate being coated with a release coating and an adhesive label applied to the release coating.

The invention also provides a method for producing a combined label and form as defined above comprising applying a release coating to said other part, applying adhesive to said release coating and then applying label facestock to the adhesive.

With the invention, therefore, a strip of combined labels and forms can be produced by a continuous process. The sprocket holes can be accurately aligned in the substrate before the label is assembled thereon. Moreover since the label is formed on a part of the same substrate that is used for the form, no separate operation is needed to fix the label to the form and the problems created by the overlapped glue line in the prior art constructions, are eliminated.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention the release coating is a silicone which can be cured by ultra violet radiation. The benefit of this kind of system is that curing of the coating is virtually instantaneous so that there does not have to be any delay before proceeding to the next step, that is to say the adhesive coating.

It is also preferred that the adhesive coating step should also be as fast as possible. A particularly preferred adhesive coating method comprises the use of a hot melt adhesive and/or W cured adhesive which is considerably faster than the use of water based adhesives which are in current use.

A specific embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig.l is a perspective view of a part of a strip of combined labels and business forms; and Fig.2 is a diagrammatic layout illustrating the sequence of operations for producing the product of Fig.1.

Referring to Fig.1 of the drawings the combined business form and label comprises a substrate 10.

Sprocket holes 12 are formed on each side of the substrate and are accurately aligned by known methods.

A part 14 of the substrate where the label is to be provided is coated with a release coating 16 preferably on ultra violet curable silicone. An adhesive 18, preferably a hot melt adhesive and/or W cured adhesive is then coated over the cured release coating and label facestock 20 applied over the adhesive. If desired the label facestock can be die cut to create one or more labels of varying sizes.

It will be evident that the product can be passed through a printer wherein both form and label are printed at the same time, but without any of the problems caused by misalignment of the sprocket holes. In addition the product can be fan folded into a stable stack or other desired configuration.

The product of the invention is preferably produced by an in line, continuous method which is diagrammatically illustrated in Fig.2.

Substrate 10 from a supply roll 22 is led below applicator 24 which coats part 14 with release coating 16. The coating is cured by ultra violet radiation at 26. Hot melt adhesive and/or UV cured adhesive 18 is then deposited on the release coating by applicator 28 and subsequently the label facestock 20 is applied onto the adhesive from supply reel 30.

The invention is not restricted to the specific embodiments just described. Many modifications and variations can be made.

Claims

1. A combined label and form comprising a substrate, a part of the substrate constituting the form and another, integral part of the substrate being coated with a release coating and an adhesive label applied to the release coating.

2. A combined label and form as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the release coating comprises a silicone which can be cured by ultra violet radiation.

3. A combined label and form, as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the adhesive is a hot melt adhesive and/or an ultra violet cured adhesive.

4. A combined label and form wherein sprocket holes are provided on a side of the substrate.

5. A method for producing a combined label and form as claimed in any preceding claim comprising applying a release coating to said other part of the substrate, applying adhesive to the release coating and applying label facestock to the adhesive.

6. A method as claimed in Claim 5 and comprising curing the release coating by ultra violet radiation.

7. A method as claimed in Claim 5 or Claim 6, wherein the label facestock is die cut to form one or more labels.