GB2335913A

GB2335913A - Adhesive tab for securing a web roll

Info

Publication number: GB2335913A
Application number: GB9806996A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Arthur Ronald Crouch
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1998-04-02
Filing date: 1998-04-02
Publication date: 1999-10-06
Anticipated expiration: 2018-04-02
Also published as: GB9806996D0; GB2335913B

Abstract

An adhesive tab 2 for releasably joining a web comprises a sheet having two adhesive-covered lateral portions 12 with an adhesive-free central zone 10 on one face, and a central adhesive-covered portion on the other face. This latter may be achieved by applying a double-sided tape to the other face, such that an adhesive layer 22 extends above the central zone of the one face. A release sheets protects the adhesive layers. The tabs are manufactured by first adhesively edging a strip, laminating with a release sheet, removing excess material and then applying a double-sided strip down the centre of the tabs.

Description

1 APPARATUS FOR SECURIM A ROL 2335913 This invention relates to apparatus

to temporarily secure a roll of material, and a method for making such apparatus. One particular application of the invention relates to apparatus to releasably secure a roll of paper during

newspaper production. However, the invention may have applications in other technical fields, such as in the packaging industry, or the manufacture of paper.

One particular aspect of the present invention is concerned with an adhesive tab, or nose tab,for releasably securing the end of a roll of web material, for example a roll of paper for use in a printing press. An application of the invention is in the substitution of one roll of paper for another, for example, when a roll of paper is nearly depleted, the leading edge of a new roll is fastened to the trailing edge of the current roll. Ideally, this is to be achieved without interrupting the continuity of the production run.

The joining of the rolls is often currently achieved by forming a pattern of double-sided adhesive tape on the surface of the leading edge of the new roll, and feeding it into the roller press system, as further described below.

To prepare a new roll of paper, a straight edge of' paper is/made on the reel of newsprint, and an adhesive tab (a socalled nose tab) is placed at the centre of the join, covering both the top and lower sheets. The nose tab thereby temporarily secures the roll, to prevent it from unrolling.

A length of double sided cape is placed from each edge of the nose tab at an angle of about 400 down to within about a quarter of an inch from the edge of the reel. Several strips of double-sided tape are then applied across the width of 2 the roll, within the triangular area, to form what is termed in the art a "flying splice pattern". A silver foil tab is placed at the bottom of the flying splice pattern, to serve as a marker, as will be described further below.

In use, the new roll of paper is prepared, as described above, and is moved into position along side the current running roll. The new roll is then rotated, for example with a belt, until it is rotating at the same angular velocity as the current roll. At a given signal, the fresh roll of paper is brought into contact with expiring roll. The doubled sided tape on the new roll contacts and adheres to the surface of the existing web. A cutting knife is activated by the foil tab placed on the bottom of the splice pattern, is which severs the running sheet.

In this way, the running web is joining to the new roll without the need to stop the press.

If the new roll fails to become attached to the existing roll, then the entire system will need to be re-threaded. During a large scale printing run it is essential that the continuity of the process is maintained.

The nose tab plays a fundamental role in this part of this operation. The apex of the roll of paper is often called "the nose", and therefore, the adhesive tab is commonly known as a nose tab. The tab must be strong enough'to be retained in place when the new roll is rotated up to speed, but weak enough to break when the splice occurs, in order that the paper of the new roll runs freely. The temporary nature of the join effected by the nose tab means that to function correctly, the nose tab must be readily frangible at or about the free end of the web of paper.

Various designs of nose tabs have been used in the news paper printing industry over the years. One current deign of 3 nose tab is manufactured by the Minnesota mining and Manufacturing Company (3M), and is designated the 3M 502 Type 2 Repulpable Nose Tab.

The 3M nose tab comprises a central, generally rectilinear zone, and two shaped lateral zones. On one side, the underside, an adhesive is applied to cover the entire surface of the tab. On the other side, the top side, adhesive is applied only to the central zone, and both adhesive surfaces are provided with a release sheet.

A nose tab must have an adhesive free area so that it does not hold the two sheets together, once splicing has occurred. Therefore, during the manufacture of the 3M nose is tab, the adhesive between the lateral portions on the underside is killed with a wax coating. However, this procedure has the disadvantage of making the tab stronger at the point where it needs to break during splicing. To overcome this disadvantage, a two rows of perforations are provided at the lateral edges of the killed adhesive to weak the tab in these areas.

In this way, when splicing occurs, the lateral portions of the tab are retained on the new roll of paper, and the central portion is detached and becomes affixed to the expiring roll.

However, it has been found that during the manufactUre of tabs of this type of design, the waxing is not complete, such that in use, the entire tab sticks to the new roll. Also on occasion, the wax covers the perforations, thereby preventing the tab from breaking at the required moment. Furthermore, if the perforations are too weak, the tab breaks prematurely when the belt drive is applied to the new roll, and the roll becomes unthreaded before splicing occurs.

4 It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a nose tab and a method of making the same which is of a less complex design; and/or which is less expensive to manufacture; and/or which attempts to overcbme one or more of the problems discussed above; and/or to provide improvements generally.

According to the invention there is provided an adhesive tab, or nose tab, for releasably joining a web. ' In an emboiment there is provided an adhesive tab for releasably joining a web, the tab comprising a sheet having an upper face and a lower face; the sheet comprising a central portion having adhesive at least partially covering its upper face, and two lateral portions having adhesive at least partially covering their lower faces.

In an embodiment, the central portion also has adhesive covering at least part of its lower face. In an embodiment, the adhesive on the lower face of the central portion located on a portion distal from the lateral portion, thereby providing a central area between the lateral portions which is adhesive free.

It has been found that by providing a nose tab according to the present invention, which coats the lower face of the nose tab only partially with adhesive, leaving a nonadhesive area between the lateral portion, the requirement of a separate step in the manufacturing process to either kill an area of the adhesive, or to coat an area with wax is no longer required.

Additionally, as this central area of the tab comprises a single layer of paper formed from the face stock, it has been found that there is no need to provide lines of weakness, such as perforations to ensure that, in use, the central portion of the nose tab is detached when it adheres to the expiring roll. This further simplifies the manufacturing process, and thus the manufacturing costs.

A release sheet is preferably provided withremovably cover and protect the adhesive areas.

In an embodiment, the central portion is generally rectilinear, and the lateral portions are shaped to form arms. In use, the lateral arm portions are affixed adjacent the free end of the new paper web, and the adhesive at the distal end of the central portion projects beyond the free end of the paper web and is affixed to the adjacent sheet of the web to secure the roll.

In an embodiment, a visual indicator, such as a solid line, is printed on the front face of the tab to assist in the positioning of the tab on the roll. In use, the operator can line up the line on the nose tab with the free end of the roll, to ensure that the nose tab is correctly positioned, with a completely adhesive free strip on the lower face straddling the join in the paper.

In a further aspect of the invention there is provided a method f or manuf acturing nose tabs, as hereinbef ore def ined.

In an embodiment, the method comprises the steps of applying pairs of adhesive strips along the length of one face of a web of face stock, applying a backing or release sheet, such that the adhesive is located between the face stock and the backing sheet, cutting the face stock, for example by die cutting, to form at least one nose tab body, each having a central portion and two lateral por tions, the position of the lateral portion corresponding with the position of a pair of the adhesive strips, stripping the remaining face stock, and applying a further adhesive strip to the top surface of the nose tab body.

6 In an embodiment, the adhesive strip applied to the top surface of the central portion of the nose tab, the adhesive being in the form of a double-sided adhesive tape. The lower surface of the double-sidedadhesive tape 'adheres to the central portion of the nose tab body, and projects beyond it, thereby providing an adhesive area on the underside of the nose tab.

1 Such and arrangement has the advantage of ' ease of application, and the strip already has it own peelable release sheet.

In an embodiment, the nose tab body portions are cut so that these extend "nose to tail" along the length of the web. It has been found that this is advantageous over existing production method which cut the tabs in pairs in a "nose to nose,, formation across the width of the web. In such prior art arrangements, the adhesive strips applied to the face stock are applied in groups of three, as shown in Figure 5 of the drawings. The two outer strips of the group corresponding to the arms of the tab, and the third providing a adhesive coating to the central portions of the tab bodies.

By cutting the nose tabs in a "nose to tail" formation, rather than in mirror image pairs, the adhesive strip to be applied to the top surface of the tab is running parallel to the adhesive strips on the lower face of the nose tab body. This has the advantage that the third adhesive strip applied to top surface can be readily applied using conventional apparatus. In contrast, the application of an adhesive strip with the prior art arrangement of Figure 5 would not be possible using current manufacturing apparatus, because it would require the application of adhesive across the width of the web, as well as along the length of the web.

A further final cutting stage may take place to shape and 7 remove the spare double-sided adhesive strip, to produce the final array of nose tabs.

The method may include the step of printing the top surface 5 of the face stock to include, for example an indicator line, product information etc.

An embodiment of the invention is now described by way of example only, with reference to the following illustrative 10 drawings in which:

Figure 1 depicts a plan view from above of a nose tab according to the present invention; is Figure 2 depicts a plan view f rom below of the nose tab according to Figure 1; Figure 3 depicts a section view of the nose tab of Figure 1; Figure 4 depicts diagrammatically a stage in the method of manufacture of a nose tab according to the present invention; and Figure 5 depicts diagrammatically the corresponding stage of manufacture in a prior art system.

According to the present invention there is provided a nose tab 2 for temporarily connecting the leading and trailing ends of the outermost coil of a roll of sheet material, such as a roll of paper for use in the production of newspaper, to prevent the roll from unwinding.

The nose tab is substantially planar, having a top face 4 shown in Figure 1 and a lower face 6 shown in Figure 2. The nose tab 2 comprises a body portion 8 typically manufactured 8 from conventional face stock, such as that used in the manufacture of labels. The body portion comprises a central zone 10 and two lateral portions, forming arms 12.

An adhesive 14 (shown in Figure 2 in hatching) is applied to the lower surface of the arTns 12. A double-sided adhesive strip 18 is provided on the top face 4 of the body portion, 8, and is shaped to project beyond the body portion 8 at the end distal from the arms 12. The upper adhesive layer 20 of the double-sided adhesive tape 18 provides an adhesive area on the top face 4 of the body portion (also shown in hatching in Figure 1), and a lower adhesive layer 22. In this way, an adhesive-free area is formed on the lower surface 6 of the nose tab 2.

is The nose tab 2 is mounted on a backing sheet 24, and a protective sheet 26 is provided on the upper surface 20 of the adhesive tape 18.

The top face of the body portion 4 is printed with an indicator line which assists the operator in use to apply the nose tab 2 in the correct position.

In use, the nose tab 2 is removed from the backing sheet 24. The lateral arm portions 12 are affixed to the free end of the new paper web by way of the adhesive 14. The adhesive 22 of the double-sided tape 18 projects beyond the free end of the paper web and is affixed to the adjacent sheet of the web to secure the roll. The indicator line 26 is aligned with the free end of the paper web.

In order to join the fresh roll of paper to an expiring running web, the new roll is accelerated to the required angular velocity, and then brought up into contact with the surface of the expiring roll. The adhesive 20 on the top surface of the central portion, and the adhesive of the flying splice pattern contact the surface of the paper of 9 the expiring roll. This causes the central portion 8 of the nose tab 2 to be a ttached to the expiring roll of paper, and torn away from the remainder of the tab. The lateral portions of the tab 12 remain in place on the new roll.

is The present invention also includes a method for efficiently and economically producing an array of nose tabs. An elongate sheet of face stock is fed from a roll to a gluing station where two strips of adhesive 14 are provided onto one side of the face stock. A strip of adhesive is positioned toward each longitudinal edge of the sheet. An elongate sheet of a silicone coated release liner is fed from a second roll to a laminating station where the two sheets are joined, with the adhesive strips positioned between the face stock and the release liner.

The laminate is then passed through a printing station to print the indicator marker on the top surface of the face stock, together with any additional information or designs as required, such as product information, a trade mark or logo.

The printed laminate is then passed to a cutting station, where the face stock portion is cut away to form a plurality of tab bodies, each centred so that the arm portions correspond with the positions of the adhesive strips located in the layer below (indicated in dotted lines in Figure 4).

The laminate is then passed for stripping, where the excess face stock is removed leaving an array of tab bodies 8, arranged along the length of the sheet, as shown if Figure 4.

The laminate is passed to another station to apply a continuous strip of double-sided adhesive tape tothe central portion of the tab bodies 8 to form the adhesive portion on the upper surface of the nose tab. The adhesive tape will include its own release sheet. Finally, the laminate is passed again through a cutting station to remove the excess adhesive tape, thereby forming an array of nose tabs.

AS can be seen in Figure 4, the double-sided adhesive tape is applied in the same direction as the adhesive strips 14. This can be contrasted to a prior art system illustrated in Figure 5, in which the nose tabs are cut in "nose to nose" pairs, and the adhesive 28 is applied in groups of three strips.

In an alternative embodiment, the width of the face stock and the number of adhesive strips is increased, such that is the manufacturing process produces a plurality of arrays of tab bodies, arranged across the width of the basic stock. The laminate may then being passed for cutting into a separate rows of nose tab, which may then be assembled to form a compact roll. Alternatively, the laminate may be cut into sheets, with each sheet containing a plurality of nose tabs, ready for use.

This embodiment of the invention has been described with reference to a webbing system for threading a continuous web of paper through a printing press. However, it should be understood that the adhesive tab may be used to assist in the threading other types of flexible webs through other types of processing machines.

11

Claims

1. An adhesive tab, or nose tab, for releasably joining a web, the tab comprising a sheet having an upper face and a lower f ace; the sheet comprising a central portion having adhesive at least partially covering its upper face, and two lateral portions having adhesive at least partially covering their lower faces.

2. An adhesive tab according to claim 1 wherein the central portion comprises an adhesive covering at least part of its lower face.

3. An adhesive tab according to claim 2 wherein the adhesive on the lower face of the central portion is provided on a portion distal from the lateral portion, thereby providing a central area between the lateral portions which is adhesive free.

4. An adhesive tab according to any one of the preceding claims wherein a release sheet is provided to removably cover and protect the adhesive areas.

5. An adhesive tab according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the central portion is generally rectilinear, and the lateral portions are shaped to form arms.

6. An adhesive tab according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the front face of the tab is provided with a visual indicator to assist in the positioning of the tab on a roll in use.

7. A method of manufacturing adhesive tabs comprising the steps of applying one or more pairs of adhesive strips along the length of one face of a web of face stock, applying a backing or release sheet, such that the adhesive is located between the face stock and the backing sheet, cutting the face stock, to f orm at least one nose tab body, each tab body 12 having a central portion and two lateral portions, the position of the lateral portion corresponding with the position of a pair of the adhesive strips, stripping the remaining face stock, and applying a further adhesive strip to the top surface of the nose tab body.

8. A method according to claim 7 wherein the adhesive strip applied to the top surface of the central portion of the nose tab is in the form of a double-sided adhesive tape.

9. A method according to claim 8 wherein the lower surface of the doublesided adhesive tape adheres to the central portion of the nose tab body, and projects beyond it, thereby providing an adhesive area on the underside of the nose tab.

10. A method according to any one of claims 7 to 9 wherein the nose tab body portions are cut so that these extend "nose to tail" along the length of the web.

11. A method according to any one of claims 7 to 10 further comprising an additional cutting step to shape the nose tabs and remove the spare double-sided adhesive strip.

12. A method according to any one of claims 7 to 11 comprising the step of printing the top surface of the tab.

13. A method of manufacturing adhesive tabs substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

14. An adhesive tab substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.