JPH04201865A - New closure of opening and revelation - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To obtain a tear-reveal closer where a tape has tear reveal characteristics over a wide temperature range by making the same with a clear backing having layers laid one after another in the order of a discontinuous layer of a barrier material, an adhesive agent layer for adhering containing a coloring agent, and an adhesive layer for actively fixing the tape to a support body. CONSTITUTION: This tear-reveal closer 10 comprises a clear backing 12 where a discontinuous layer of a barrier material 14, an adhesive agent layer 16 for adhering containing a coloring agent, an adhering layer 18 preferably made of a pressure sensitive agent for firmly joining to a bag, pouch, envelope or other support bodies are laid one after another in the order. A tear sheet 20 is provided for protecting the adhering agent surface from an unexpected contact. When peeling the tape at a temperature higher than the glass transfer temperature of the layer 18 where the barrier material does not exist, the layer 16 with the coloring agent remains with the backing 12. However, if the tape is trying to be peeled where the barrier material exists, the layer 16 with the coloring agent is stripped from the barrier layer 14 to be adhered to the adhering agent layer 18 which is still firmly connected to the support body.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a tamper-evident flexible tape that can be easily seen as evidence of tampering or tampering. According to the present invention, evidence of tampering or tampering may include transfer of the pattern to the tampered or tampered article, exposure of the pattern on the lining of the closure, or other so-called tamper-evident seals that do not provide evidence of tampering. The closure and/or article may show tear marks over a wide range of temperatures, including temperatures on the order of -320°F, even if once removed and later replaced there is no evidence of tampering or tampering. This can be determined by either remaining, etc.

Techniques to prevent tampering and tampering have been a concern for many years in the financial, securities, and other fields. However, recently, tampering (originally meaning "altering by unauthorized means", here refers to falsification or counterfeiting of labels, contents, etc.) of foods, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals has increased, and the proportion of tampering in this field has increased. Things have changed.

The patents described below are intended to specifically illustrate prior art, but are by no means intended to be a complete survey of prior art.

The very first patent, U.S. Pat. No. 2,845,728 issued to Huber, discloses a self-destructive label having a pressure sensitive adhesive on one surface thereof. . The primary purpose of this invention was to address the need for pressure sensitive labels that can be easily applied to a variety of articles. Nevertheless, if such a label were to be removed from the goods, the label would be damaged or torn into pieces, and if the label had been removed from Party A's goods and affixed to Party B's goods, - The label will have been sufficiently damaged to be immediately visible to help indicate that it has been tampered with. Essentially, the invention consists of weakening means either by placing discontinuous cuts in the treatment or by providing partial cuts that are continuous in nature.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,383,121 discloses that a first layer, such as a sheet of paper, a second pressure-sensitive adhesive layer (preferably adhered to the first layer, so that the first layer and a third layer consisting of a sheet of material made sensitive to impact (usually separated into layers); The third layer is made to contain multiple chemicals in a non-contact state, and when the chemicals mix with each other upon impact, a color change occurs within or on the surface of the third layer itself. A self-adhesive reproduction label is disclosed that has a laminate structure consisting of three components. Therefore, the numerical evidence in this case is a change in color.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,082,873, issued to William S., consists of a transparent or translucent outer layer sheet having an information-containing pattern printed on its inner surface; The inner surface disclosed is a laminate having a coating layer comprising a pressure sensitive adhesive coating coated thereon. The affinity of the adhesive for the printed pattern and the surface to which the laminated label adheres is greater than the affinity of the printed pattern for the outer layer sheet. Once applied to the substrate, any attempt to remove the refund label will cause the label itself to delaminate, and the outer sheet will separate, leaving at least a portion of the adhesive layer behind, thus reducing the amount of printed pattern (and A portion remains separate and attached to both the adhesive layer and the support.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,121,003, also issued to William S., discloses printing at least a portion of an information-containing pattern with ink and printing the ink in an integral film mold without drying. U.S. Pat.
This is a modification of the specification of No. 873. In this way, when the top sheet peels off from the adhesive layer, a portion of the pigment coloring system within the fissile pattern adheres to both the top sheet and the adhesive layer separately, resulting in ``The resistance that would otherwise interfere with the color scheme that would produce a splitting pattern on the topsheet is reduced sufficiently so that the color scheme becomes disordered and tampering becomes readily apparent.''

U.S. Pat. No. 4,184,701 issued to Franklin Private Limited describes “a laminate consisting of a transparent or translucent outer layer sheet having an information-containing pattern printed on its inner surface. the printed film has a discontinuous coating layer thereon of a transparent, plasticized organic polymeric material, and the printed coated surface has a pressure sensitive adhesive thereon. Discloses a label consisting of a laminate having a coating layer of a color (coating pigment) including a coating of a color (coating pigment). When you try to tear it off,
The label undergoes glabellar delamination and at least a portion of the colored adhesive layer in registration with the transparent, discontinuous plasticized polymeric covering layer remains on the support to which the label adheres. . Therefore, the evidence of tampering in this case is an at least partial visible change in the color of the background.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,608,288 issued to Spindler discloses a label consisting of a cover foil having an adhesive layer laminated onto a substrate foil. .

The cover foil is made of a material that irreversibly deforms or easily tears if tampered with.

Furthermore, the cover foil extends beyond the periphery of the substrate foil, thus creating a safety rim that makes it difficult to easily access the substrate foil.

U.S. Patent No. 4.6 issued to Mr. Han
No. 52.473 discloses a tape consisting of a backing layer having an outer layer and an inner layer, the outer layer having a high tensile strength sufficient to maintain the complete integrity of the tape and easily is designed not to peel off. In contrast, the inner layer is thin and easily deformed. Therefore, in this case evidence of tampering is indicated by glabellar dissection. Attempts to peel off the outer layer cause glabellar peeling from the inner layer, which in turn generally causes partial stretch-out of the thinner inner layer (distortion of the laminate due to misalignment of the two glabellar extensions). Additionally, the patentee suggests the use of printed or colored layers as additional tamper evidence.

U.S. Patent Nos. 4,721,638 and 4,746,5 issued to Matsguchi Minchi.
No. 56 and No. 4,763,931 each disclose a multilayer adhesive material consisting of layers having different separation forces between the layers. When a particular layer of these multilayer tapes is separated, the two layers are never in close contact again, or do not fit together as completely as they originally were.

As illustrated by the above-mentioned patents, the primary drawback of these prior art techniques becomes apparent at low temperatures.

For example, exposure to low temperatures such as liquid nitrogen can cause the adhesive layer to delaminate from the backing layer, so that it can be restored later without leaving any evidence of tampering. In particular, in the above three patents issued to Matsguchi private land, this glabella peeling does occur, while even if replaced with a different layer material, the writing remains as evidence of tampering. However, these tapes have the disadvantage of high cost since they are composed of multiple layers.

The present invention obviates the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior art in a smart and novel way by providing a closure that is tamper evident at all temperatures.

According to the present invention, the following components: (1) a discontinuous layer of barrier material that prevents the transparent backing and the underlying layer from sticking; (2) the backing more than any other layer in the tape; and (3) to positively secure the tape to a bag, pouch or other support that you want to know at a glance whether it has been tampered with. The aforementioned drawbacks are avoided by providing a tamper-evident tape consisting of the aforementioned backing having adhesive layers stacked in sequence, which is tamper-evident over a wide temperature range.

As previously stated, the present invention provides a novel opening seal for use in closing flaps or other openings of pouches, bags, envelopes, or other containers used for currency, securities, etc. Any new tamper-evident tape, such that if the tape is removed to gain access to the contents and then attempted to be replaced, there will be evidence that the tape has been tampered with. Orient the tape. The tape will provide evidence of tampering over a wide temperature range above and below the Tg (glass transition temperature) of the adhesive layer that adheres the tape to the substrate (article) to be protected.

The invention is best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown therein, the novel tamper-evident closure 10 of the present invention comprises a discontinuous layer of barrier material 14 in the following order:
Layer of laminating adhesive with colorant 16. and bags,
It will consist of a transparent backing 12 overlaid with an adhesive layer 18, preferably a pressure sensitive adhesive, for secure bonding to a pouch, envelope or other support. Preferably, but not absolutely necessary for the practice of the invention, a release sheet 20 known per se is provided.
is provided to protect the adhesive surface from accidental contact.

The backing layer 12 may be any of the transparent flexible backing or support sheets known per se, for example polyesters such as polyethylene terephthalate, polyolefins such as polyethylene or polypropylene, polycarbonate, cellulose acetate or triacetic acid. It is composed of cellulose esters such as cellulose, and copolymers or blends thereof. The thickness of the sheet or film is
From about 0.5 mil to about 3.0 mil, preferably 1.0 mil.

Barrier material 14, preferably applied in a pattern, but may adhere randomly to the backing layer
may be comprised of any material that does not bond violently to the backing 12.

Examples of such materials include resins such as silicones, fluorocarbons, Quilon (trademark of DuPont), polyoctadecyl carbonate, among which silicone resins are preferred. A barrier material 14 serves to adhere an underlying layer of pigmented laminating adhesive 16 to the backing 12 at the location of resin application.
It is preferably transparent or translucent so that the underlying colored laminating adhesive layer 16 can be seen through the coated portion of the clear barrier material of the backing layer. The thickness of the deposited layer of barrier material is, for example, on the order of about 1.0 mil. In order to provide the adhesive layer on the inner surface (opposite the surface) of the backing 12, it may be performed by a technique known per se, such as gravure printing, flexible printing, spray coating, chemical etching, etc. I can do it. The laminating adhesive layer 16 has a greater affinity for the backing layer 12 than for the adhesive layer 18 below it. Therefore, when attempting to remove the tape from the support, layer 16 tends to stay together with the backing.

For example, layer 16 containing a colorant material, such as a non-migrating dye or pigment, may be comprised of any known laminating adhesive. For example, if backing 12 is comprised of polyester, colorant layer 16 may be any commercially available polyester lamination adhesive containing a color imparting material.

The thickness of the laminating adhesive layer 16 containing the colorant is about 0.
On the order of 1 mil to about 0.4 mil, the preferred thickness is about 0.4 mil.
It is 2 mil.

The adhesive layer 18 for laminating and bonding the tape to the support is
It may consist of an acrylic resin pressure sensitive adhesive formulation that positively and firmly adheres to the substrate. To increase fluidity and adhesion to the support, adhesion promoters are preferably used, such as compounds such as unsaturated fatty acids containing at least 12 carbon atoms in the molecule, one example being oleic acid. It is preferable to include. Tackifiers and/or plasticizers can also be incorporated into the acrylic adhesive to increase tack.

In any case, the acrylic adhesive 18 must positively adhere to the substrate, while the bonding force or affinity between the layer 18 and the overlying pigmented adhesive layer 16 is limited. , the affinity of layer 16 for backing layer 12 is of critical importance to the practice of the invention, as will be explained in detail below.

In an optional embodiment, layer 18 may further include a non-migrating color-imparting material that is different from the color-imparting material contained in layer 16 above. Layer 18 may also include chemical agents that, when in contact with human skin, produce traces of reaction products in the skin and/or on layer 18 itself.

In use, the tape will of course be applied over the mouth or other opening of the container or other support. For the purpose of tampering with the contents, the tape is applied to layer 18. where no barrier material is present. When peeled off at a temperature higher than the glass transition temperature Tg of , for example at ambient temperature, the colorant (dye or pigment) containing layer 16 remains together with the backing 12, as previously mentioned. However, if the tape is removed at a location where a barrier material 14 is present to prevent the colorant layer 16 from sticking to the backing, the colorant layer 16 will
It adheres to the adhesive layer 18 which is peeled away from the barrier layer and remains firmly (bonded) to the support, which in turn leaves a colored pattern on the support in the form of deposited colorant from layer 16; - Provides a reverse contrast image visible through the stripped backing in the form of a residual colorant layer and areas without colorant showing through the backing. Even if the tape is accurately reattached to the support, evidence that the tape has been removed is still easily visible to the naked eye from the distortion of the adhesive layer.

If the tape is exposed to a temperature lower than the adhesive's Tg, for example, when the tape is first sprayed with liquid nitrogen and then removed after the temperature has cooled, clear visible evidence of tampering can be seen in one of the following forms: or appear more than once.

First, when the tape is removed from the support, the adhesive layer 18 is completely delaminated from the colorant layer 16 except where the barrier layer 14 is present.

In these locations, the colorant layer 16 overlaps the barrier layer 1.
4 and remains together with the adhesive layer 18.

A second possible evidence of tampering is that the backing becomes susceptible to tearing, leaving an impression on the support with evidence of tearing of the backing.

A third possible evidence is the appearance of visibly noticeable wrinkles or distortions on the support.

The following examples are intended to illustrate the invention by way of specific examples and are not intended to limit the novel features of the invention.

Example 1 Layer Component Thickness layer l M
ylar 1 mil layer 2 silicone 1 micron 5% oleic acid layer 5 kraft release paper 4 mil Note) DuPont trademark Example 2 Mylar was flexibly printed with a silicone layer.

The printed surface was then overcoated with a lamination layer, which in turn was overcoated with an adhesive layer. Finally, a kraft release paper was applied to the above film.

To reiterate the point, the present invention
It provides a tamper-evident closure that is effective over a wide temperature range of °F. There are many mechanisms that provide evidence of tampering (
Some of the features are: 1) Transfer of the colored pattern to the support 2) Appearance of the printed pattern on the backing layer 3) Removal of backing tear marks, color changes, and support Wrinkling 4) Fingerprints and colors are transferred to the tampered item.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The figure is a schematic cross-sectional view of the novel tamper-evident tape of the present invention. In the figure, 10... closure, 12... lining, 14
... Barrier material, 16.18 ... Adhesive layer. Smoked? , C>

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. (1) a discontinuous layer of barrier material that prevents the transparent backing and the underlying layer from sticking; (2) more adhesive to the backing than to any other layer in the tape; (3) an adhesive layer for positively fixing the tape to a bag, pouch or other support that you want to know at a glance whether it has been tampered with; a tamper-evident closure comprising said transparent backing having in sequence one on top of the other, said tape being tamper-evident over a wide temperature range.