GB2417596A

GB2417596A - Tamper-resistant identification plate

Info

Publication number: GB2417596A
Application number: GB0418756A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Michael Cordell; Richard Ivor Taffinder
Original assignee: Hills Numberplates Ltd; Hills Numberplate Holdings Ltd
Current assignee: Hills Numberplate Holdings Ltd
Priority date: 2004-08-23
Filing date: 2004-08-23
Publication date: 2006-03-01
Also published as: GB0418756D0

Abstract

A combination of an identification plate 10 and a support 1, wherein the support comprises a surface 2 to which the plate is securable, one of the surface or the plate having at least one wall 6, 7, 8, 9 upstanding therefrom to prevent or inhibit access between the surface and the facing surface of the plate secured thereto, either the surface or the facing surface of the plate having securing means 30, 31 located thereon to secure the plate to the surface. The securing means may comprise adhesive-backed pads. The plate may comprise one or more frangible portions 12, 13, 14, 15, the portions being arranged to break if an attempt is made to separate the plate from the support.

Description

SUPPORTS

This invention relates to supports, particularly supports for dentfcaton plates suitable for use on vehicles.

It Is known that numberplates for motor vehicles are stolen This may be done to clone' a car for use In the pursuit of crime or to avoid paying city congestion charges, for example.

Accordingly, it Is desired to provide means usable with an identification plate, for example a vehicle numberplate, which has measures to prevent its theft and/or which is readily identified or identifiable as having been stolen.

In our previously filed International (PCT) patent application PCT/GB02/02773 (published as WO 02/102626 A1) we disclose and claim an Identification plate comprising a supporting substrate having a retro-reflective mayor surface and a transparent sheet material having indicia printed thereon, the transparent sheet ' material being adhered to the retro-reflective major surface such that the ndicia are located In contact with, or at least adjacent to, the retro-reflective mayor surface, wherein one or more lines of weakness are formed in the substrate The plate was to be adhered to a surface (for example a body of a car) using sticky pads which would be located either side of the or each line of weakness If a thief or vandal attempts to remove the plate from the surface to which it Is adhered, the plate will snap about the line of weakness. The snapping of the plate causes the transparent sheet to become stretched and/or delaminated from the substrate which makes the plate unsightly and provides an obvious visual indication that the plate has been removed from a surface It Is an object of the present invention to provide a support which increases the security afforded by Identification plates and especially to Identification plates provided with lines or areas of weakness Accordingly, a first aspect of the invention provides a support for attachment to a substrate, the support comprising a surface to which an identification plate is securable and at least one wall upstanding from at least a part of the surface, preferably at the periphery of the surface, to inhibit access between the surface and plate secured thereto.

A second aspect of the invention provides a combination of an dentfcaton plate and a support, the support comprising a surface to which the dentfcaton plate Is securable and at least one wall upstanding from at least a part of the surface, preferably at the periphery of the surface, to prevent or inhibit access to between the surface and the facing surface of the plate secured thereto, at least one of the surface and facing surface of the plate having securing means located thereon to secure the plate to the surface of the support.

Preferably, the plate is secured to the surface of the support using adhesion means, Preferably, the plate may be formed with one or more frangible portions. The or each frangible portion is preferably arranged to fracture or break In the event of an attempt to separate plate and support Preferably, said adhesion means comprises foam pads bearing adhesive on mayor surfaces thereof Preferably, said adhesion means comprises one or more first pads providing a relatively low level of adhesion between the surface and the facing surface of the plate and one or more second pads providing a relatively high level of adhesion between the surface and the facing surface of the plate, /.e. the adhesive on the second pad or pads is arranged to provide a stronger bond between surface and facing surface of the plate than that of the first pad or pads Preferably, the facing surface of the plate is delimited by lines of weakness Into two or more areas In preferred embodiments, the first pad or pads and second pad or pads will provide adhesion between the surface of the support and different areas . of the facing surface of the plate.

Preferably, the, each or at least some of the upstanding walls Will restrict access to the second pad or pads In a preferred embodiment, the pads are provided on the facing surface of the plate and the plate is applied to the support.

The support may comprise apertures, through which, using mounting means, the support Is mountable to a substrate A further aspect of the invention provides a method of securing an dentfcaton plate to a surface, the method comprising securing a support to the surface and securing the plate to the support, wherein the support composes a surface to which the identification plate is securable and at least one wall upstanding from at least a part of the surface, preferably at the periphery of the surface, to prevent or inhibit access between the surface and the facing surface of the plate secured thereto.

Accordingly, a fourth aspect of the invention provides a support for attachment to a substrate, the support comprising a surface to which an identification plate is securable and at least one recess rebated from at least a part of the surface, preferably at or toward the periphery of the surface, to inhibit access between the surface and plate secured thereto A fifth aspect of the invention provides a combination of an Identification plate and a support, the support comprising a surface to which the identification plate is securable and at least one recess rebated from at least a part of the surface, I, preferably at or toward the periphery of the surface, the facing surface of the plate carrying a wall arranged to protrude into the recess when the two are brought together, to prevent or inhibit access to between the surface and the facing surface of the plate secured thereto, at least one of the surface and facing surface of the plate having securing means located thereon to secure the plate to the surface of the support.

Preferably, the plate Is secured to the surface of the support using adhesion means as said securing means, although other known means may be used In order that the invention may be more fully understood, it will now be described, by way of example only and with reference to the drawing which shows the support of the invention, In combination with a plate A rectangular support 1 of the invention comprises a flat surface 2 provided with four mounting holes 3 to receive screws 100 or other fixing means to fix the support 1 to a substrate, for example the body of a car (not shown). Also provided are two rebated fixing portions 4, each having a pair of orthogonal slots 5 through which screws 100 or other fixing means may extend.

Upstanding from the periphery of the support 1, along each edge, Is a wall 6, 7, 8, 9 The walls 6-9 do not extend along the entire length of each edge of the support 1 and are Integrally formed with the support 1 or are Joined thereto with sufficient strength to be unbreakable or at least to resist breaking off from the support In the event of an attack An identification plate 10 is shown which bears visible induce on its upper major surface (not shown). The lower (as shown) major surface 11 of the plate 10 Is formed with a plurality of recesses 12, 13, 14, 15 which extend through the : 20 thickness of the body 16 of the plate 10.

The major surface 11 of the plate 10 Is delimited into different areas 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 by the recesses 12-15. Each area 17-23 has a double-sded sticky pad located thereon In areas 17-19 and 21-23 a relatively low adhesive sticky pad 30 is located In area 22 a relatively high adhesive sticky pad 31 is located.

The sticky pads 30, 31 are adhered to the mayor surface 11 of the plate 10 and have a cover sheet (not shown) protecting their other adhesive surface In use, the support 1 is fixed to a supporting substrate (not shown) using the screws 100 or other fixing means It Will be appreciated that the apertures 3 are countersunk so that the head of each screw 100 does not stand proud of the surface 2 The cover sheets (not shown) are removed from the sticky pads 30, 31 to expose an adhesive surface. The plate 10 is then brought into registration with the surface 2 of the support 1, as indicated by arrows A. The plate 10 and support 1 are forced together by the application of pressure. The sticky pads 30, 31 ensure that the plate 10 Is firmly adhered to the support 1. The walls 6-9 of the support aid in the accurate registration of the plate 10 with the surface 2 of the support 1. The walls 6-9 usually only extend part of the way up the thickness of the body 16 of the plate . . 10. For example, If the Identification plate 10 is a vehicle registration plate, it usually has a thickness of about 3.1 mm. In which case, each wall upstands about 1.5 to 2 mm from the mayor surface 2 of the support 1. If the plate is thicker, say 5mm, then the walls will be about 3.5 to 4.5 mm high. Of course, other wall heights and plate thicknesses are possible. Whilst it is most preferred that the walls are lower than the plate this need not always be the case.

It Will be noted that the walls 6-9 are located about the centre of each edge of the support 1 It Will also be noted that the walls 6 and 8 which upstand from the longer edges of the support 1 extend for about the same distance as the high adhesive sticky pad 31.

Accordingly, with the plate 10 adhered to the support 1 an unscrupulous person has access to the corners of the plate but not along the edges thereof due to the presence of the walls 6-9. The recesses 12-15 run diagonally from each corner to the mid-pont of the longer edge of the plate 10. Thus If an unscrupulous person were to attempt to prose the plate 10 from the support 1 at a corner of the plate, the high adhesive pad 31 would provide a stronger bond between plate 10 and support 1 than would the low adhesive pad, thereby encouraging the plate to snap about the facing recess 12-15, which provides a line of weakness The walls 6-9 prevent, or at least inhibit, an unscrupulous person from inserting a sharp object (for example a blade) between the plate 10 and support 1 to slice through the pads 30, The recesses 12-15 may be configured In any array, not just as shown In the drawing. Indeed, there may be two as shown in Figures 10 to 13 of our previously filed POT application (published as WO 02/102626, the entire disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference), or any other suitable array In accordance with our above-identifed patent application, the fracture of the line or weakness will cause a distortion and/or delamination of the materials used In the construction of the face of the plate 10. The distortion and/or delamination will be readily visible and will identify the plate as having been removed from an authorised location by improper means.

The pads 30, 31 may be provided on the support 1. The pads 30, 31 may have the same glue the greater adhesion of one pad may be afforded it by it having a higher surface area than that of another pad.

Other adhesion means may be used, for example glue may be applied to one or other of the plate 10 and/or support 1.

The walls 6-9 may extend around the entire periphery of the support 1. The support 1 may be any shape or size The support 1 will preferably be manufactured from plastics matenal, for example acrylonitrle butadene styrene (ABS), polyethylene, polypropylene, Nylon (RTM) or other plastics Alternatively, the support 1 may be fabricated from a metal.

It will be appreciated that If the wall extends around the entire periphery of the support 1, access to between a plate 10 and the support 1 will be inhibited In those circumstances the plate need not have areas or lines of weakness.

Whilst we have disclosed the walls 6-9 as extending from the periphery of the support 1, it Is also possible to have the walls inboard of the periphery of the support 1, in which case the identification plate will be formed with recesses Into which the walls may protrude when the plate is brought Into contact, or at least adjacent to, the support. Moreover, the converse may be true, wherein protrusions extend from the surface of the plate to extend Into corresponding recesses formed In the support The provision of the support ensures that any securing means used to secure the plate does not damage, or potentially damage when removed (legitimately or otherwise), the pantwork of a vehicle or other substrate to which the plate Is to be applied.

The plate need not be a vehicle registration plate Any identification plate which should not be moved or is important to know if it has been moved would benefit from the current invention.

I

Claims

Claims l A combination of an identification plate and a support, the

support comprising a surface to which the identification plate is securable, one of the surface and the plate comprising at least one wall upstanding therefrom to prevent or inhibit access between the surface and the facing surface of the plate secured thereto, at least one of the surface and facing surface of the plate having securing means located thereon to secure the plate to the surface of the support.
2 A combination according to Claim 1, wherein said securing means are adhesion means, 1 5
3 A combination according to Claim 2, wherein said adhesion means comprises foam pads bearing adhesive on mayor surfaces thereof l,
4 A combination according to Claim 2 or 3, wherein said adhesion means t, comprises first adhesion means providing a relatively low level of adhesion 1 1 1 1 20between the surface and the facing surface of the plate and second adhesion means providing a relatively high level of adhesion between the surface and the facing surface of the plate.
A combination according to any preceding Claims, wherein the plate comprises one or more frangible portions, the or each frangible portion being arranged to fracture or break in the event of an attempt to separate plate and support secured together.
6 A combination according to any of Claims l to 4, wherein the facing surface of the plate is delimited by lines of weakness into two or more areas
7. A combination according to Claim 6 when dependent on Claim 4, wherein said first and second adhesion means provide adhesion between the surface of the support and different areas of the facing surface of the plate
8. A combination according to Claim 7, wherein the, each or at least some of the upstanding walls restrict or prevent access to said second adhesion means
9. A combination according to any of Claims 2 to 8, wherein said adhesion 1 means are provided on the facing surface of the plate and the plate IS applied to the support
10. A combination according to any preceding Claim, wherein the support comprises apertures, through which, using mounting means, the support IS mountable to a substrate.
11. A combination according to any preceding Claim, wherein the or each wall upstands from or at the periphery or the support.
12. A combination according to any of Claims 1 to 10, wherein the or each wall is provided on the plate and the surface of the support is provided with recesses arranged to be able to accept the walls when the plate and support are brought into intimate contact or at least are proximate to one another.

13 A method of securing an identification plate to a substrate, the method comprising securing a support to the substrate and securing the plate to the support, wherein the support comprises a surface to which the identification plate is securable and at least one wall upstanding from at least a part of the surface, preferably at the periphery of the surface, to prevent or inhibit access between the surface and the facing surface of the plate secured thereto 14. A support for attachment to a substrate, the support comprising a surface to which an identification plate is securable and at least one wall upstanding from at least a part of the surface to inhibit access between the surface and plate secured thereto 15. A support according to Claim 13, wherein said at least one wall is provided at or towards the periphery of the support 16. A support for attachment to a substrate, the support comprising a surface to which an identification plate is securable and at least one recess rebated from at least a part of the surface arranged to inhibit access between the surface and plate secured thereto when a plate having a corresponding wall to protrude into said recess is secured thereto