JPS6042991B2 - Multilayer identification card with undulating surface and its lamination device - Google Patents

Abstract

According to this process, the film layers (2, 3, 4, 6), arranged one on top of the other, of the cards are laminated under pressure and heat between plane parallel laminating plates (8). In order that surface reliefs (7) present on the cards are retained during laminating, the laminating surfaces of the laminating plates (8) are each covered with an elastic laminating interlayer (9). The interlayers consist of silicone rubber and can be provided on the sides facing the outer card layers (3, 4, 6) with a predetermined surface structure (for example that of paper) which can be obtained by casting the liquid silicone rubber onto correspondingly prepared casting plates. <IMAGE>

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a multilayer identity card or identification card with a textured surface and a laminating device thereof.

Various methods are known for producing multilayer identification cards and the like.

To produce an identification card with a flat surface, for example, two transparent films are used, between which a sheet of paper with all the identification card data, a photo of a bass boat, etc. is pressed. The blank is inserted. In a single operation, the two outer layers and the information-carrying layer are compressed under heat between two flat steel plates, so that the thermoplastic film becomes slightly glue-like or pores in the paper. It invades and combines with the paper. Since the surface of the steel plate is flat, the surface of the identification card will also be flat. Such cards with flat surfaces are very well suited for series production, but their surfaces are in any case provided with features to prevent or even attempt counterfeiting and/or modification. There are no special characteristics. Additionally, the glossy card surface becomes reflective under certain lighting conditions, making card data difficult to read. In order to make it difficult to remove and reapply the transparent film, identification cards are known which preferably have a raised seal in the photo or signature area.

In order to produce such identification cards with a raised pattern, the laminating device is provided with a steel plate, for example on which a precisely positioned embossing die is formed. As the outer film is softened by heating during the lamination process, the embossing die leaves a permanent mark on the film (US Pat. No. 3,533,176). These identification cards have the disadvantage that, by reheating, the thermoplastic film can be ironed again by 4° and a new imprint can be provided at any time. In order to avoid this drawback, an identification card whose security is a paper blank, and also has a safety thread.
It is proposed that an identification card that can visually, mechanically, and manually recognize and detect differences in paper blank thickness caused by steel printing, etc. on the surface of the completed identification card is proposed. It was done.

In such identification cards, the surface structure cannot be imitated by simple imprinting, and as a result of the manufacturing process being divided into various steps, subsequent attempts at lamination will be unsuccessful. However, despite this very high security against counterfeiting and alteration, the desire to apply similar raised patterns and especially steel prints directly to the card surface has been hampered by the lack of suitable lamination techniques. I have not been able to accomplish this until now. this is,
A signature strip provided with a sharp steel print or a paper or film strip provided with a similar Rellefprint and intended for other purposes is applied directly onto the surface of the identification card by conventional lamination techniques. This is especially true if you want to laminate. The quality of identification cards produced in this way makes it easy to verify the authenticity of the cards, since the raised parts of the surface pattern are damaged due to the lack of flexibility of the steel plate and the high lamination pressure. does not satisfy the intended purpose of SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and apparatus for laminating multilayer identification cards, in which, in addition to enabling the known design, an anti-counterfeit raised surface pattern can be applied directly to the outer card surface. The purpose is to provide such a multi-layer identification card.

According to the invention, this object is achieved by inserting an elastic intermediate laminate layer between the outer layer of the card and the rigid laminate of the laminating device.

Further developments of the invention are described in the embodiment section.

The particular advantages of the device according to the invention are that:

That is, on the one hand, the raised surface pattern created by steel printing etc. is completely preserved;
On the other hand, smooth parallel areas of the card can have the quality of a conventional card. For example, a laminated paper strip provided with a raised print is embedded seamlessly within a thermoplastic outer film and is thus protected from manual pulling away and provides no perception of the raised print. No possible damage will occur. By applying a special surface finish to the elastic intermediate laminate layer according to the invention, a natural surface roughness can be created in the layer covering the card. This surface roughness makes the surface of the film almost indistinguishable from the surface of a paper strip laminated on top of the film. In addition to giving an overall impression of uniform quality, an identification card of such design allows for better recognition of data since the card is non-reflective. Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Identification cards and credit cards of PVC material are almost exclusively manufactured in lamination equipment that statically compresses the layers to be laminated between laminate plates.

This compaction method is usually aimed at creating a smooth surface of the laminate, which means that the layer is made of flat, highly polished steel or hard brass or chrome-plated steel (one or more). This can be accomplished by covering the material with a layer of laminate (which can be laminated in layers). Experience has shown that the use of such bending bars during lamination guarantees a completely scratch-free film surface. In order to leave a raised surface pattern, the device according to the invention inserts on each side surface to be protected an elastic intermediate layer (e.g. silicone) between each laminate and the layer to be laminated. It is departing from.

1 and 2 are respectively a plan view and a sectional view of an identification card made with an apparatus according to the invention.

In order to produce an identification card, both sides of a paper blank 2 made with a view to complying with the requirements for the guarantee are coated with a film 3,
It is covered with 4. The top cover film is provided with a paper element, which is positioned on the surface of the blank relative to the printed product 5 and serves, for example, as a signature strip 6 for a subsequently laminated card. Instead of printing the signature strip by conventional techniques, ie surface printing, portions of this area are provided with a steel print. Steel printing can be carried out on known printing machines, although they are not commercially available, such as those commonly used in the manufacture of paper products.

A very thin line pattern is printed on the paper in a raised pattern. This elevation 7 is formed by the accumulation of a suitable color. The raised projections can also be obtained in other ways, for example by blind embossing 7 of the paper. A raised print obtained by either of the two aforementioned methods or by other techniques producing the same effect, with its clearly visible and perceptible raised effect so that the structure is well protected after lamination. j must be processed by lamination techniques and the printing carrier (signature strip) must be seamlessly embedded in the film surface.

The printing carrier embedded by lamination does not need to be paper, and may be a film. In order to preserve the raised structure of the steel print on the surface of the upper layer during the lamination process, a laminated cover plate modified for this surface according to the invention is used (FIGS. 3 and 4).

The laminated cover plates 8, 9 are designed such that the high compressive load applied by the laminated plate 8 on the raised surface 7 of the top layer will distribute the force evenly. In other words, when force is applied, the force is not only concentrated on the raised part of the raised surface, as is the case when using a flat laminated cover plate made of steel, etc., but is applied to the entire raised surface. It is added evenly across the board. To achieve this, one side of the steel or hard brass laminate is covered with a silicone mat 9 with a thickness of about 0.5 to 2 Tmn. This can be done by vulcanization or by bonding the silicone layer to the plate with a heat and pressure stable silicone adhesive. It is also possible to apply the mat without pasting it. The mat must have flat, parallel sides and its surface structure must be uniform. In order to dynamically adapt the silicon to the surface of the material to be laminated, it is advantageous for the silicon to have a medium Shore hardness.

Suitable hardness ranges from 30 to 70 Shore. By using a silicon-covered laminate with a matte surface, an image of the surface structure of the silicon is created on the surface of the laminate. This effect results in a non-shining, non-reflective, paper-like film surface. Furthermore, when looking at the paper blank underneath the film, a very transparent impression is evoked. To produce a silicone mat with a surface structure similar to that of paper, an insert in a mold is lined with paper and silicone is poured into a sheet. When poured into the mold, the silicone conforms to the entire surface of the paper. After the silicone material has hardened, an accurate image of the paper structure is obtained on the surface of the silicone mat, so that after lamination there is little difference between the matte paper side and the film side.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a plan view of the identification card, Figure 2 is line A-- of Figure 1.
3 is a schematic illustration of the overlapping individual layers of the identification card before lamination, and FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of the layers during lamination. 2... Paper blank, 3, 4... Film, 5...
Printed matter, 6... Strip, 7... Raised, 8...
Hard laminate, 9... elastic intermediate laminate.

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. In a multilayer identification card with an undulating surface, which is laminated by compressing the overlapping film layers of the card between flat parallel rigid laminates under heat during the lamination process, the steel An identification card as described above, characterized in that the strip provided with the print is laminated to at least one film side. 2. Identification card according to claim 1, in which a paper or film strip provided with a steel print is laminated to at least one film side. 3. Identification card according to claim 1, in which a signature strip 6 provided with a steel print 7 is laminated to at least one film surface. 4. Identification card according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein at least one cover film is provided with a relief print before the lamination step. 5. In an apparatus for laminating multilayer identification cards with an undulating surface, during the lamination process, the superimposed film layers of the card are compressed under heat between flat parallel rigid laminate plates, the elastic intermediate laminate layer 9 is inserted between the outer layers 3, 4 of the card 1 and the rigid laminate 8 of the laminating device. 6. Device according to claim 5, in which the elastic intermediate layer is made of a material that does not bond with the cover film 3, 4 of the identification card 1 during the lamination process. 7. Device according to claim 6, in which the elastic intermediate layer 9 is made of silicone rubber. 8. Device according to any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein the elastic intermediate layer 9 has a thickness of 0.5 to 2 mm. 9. Device according to any one of claims 5 to 8, in which the elastic intermediate layer 9 has a hardness of 30 to 70 Shore. 10. According to any one of claims 5 to 9, the side surface of the elastic intermediate laminate layer 9 facing the cover films 3, 4 is provided with a significant surface structure. equipment. 11. Device according to claim 10, characterized in that the side of the elastic intermediate laminate layer 9 facing the cover film 3, 4 is provided with a surface structure comparable to that of the paper. 12. Claim 1, wherein the surface structure of the intermediate laminated layer facing the cover films 3, 4 is made by injecting liquid silicone rubber into a pouring plate provided with a mold release agent.
The device according to item 1. 13. Apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the surface structure of the intermediate laminate layer facing the outer layer of the card is produced by injecting liquid silicone rubber into a paper surface provided with a mold release agent.