MXPA99011882A - Image sublimation - Google Patents

Abstract

Se da a conocer una tarjeta, la cual incorpora un recubrimiento removible por raspado, para ocultar los símbolos impresos. La tarjeta se construye de modo que el recubrimiento removible por raspado sea retenido selectivamente por esta tarjeta, en la forma de símbolos, o como un fondo para estos símbolos, cuando se remueve el recubrimiento removible por raspado. La retención selectiva del material de recubrimiento removible por raspado a la tarjeta se logra por la incorporación en la tarjeta, entre el sustrato y el recubrimiento removible por raspado, de un revestimiento claro de liberación, con patrones para formar símbolos. Cuando se aplica el material de recubrimiento removible por raspado a la tarjeta, durante la construcción, se adhiere directamente al sustrato en el fondo de los símbolos, dependiendo de cómo se aplique el recubrimiento de liberación. Cuando un jugador frota el material de recubrimiento removible, se libera del revestimiento de liberación y permanece adherido al sustrato, para crear olos símbolos o el fondo para estos símbolos.

Description

REFINEMENT OF IMAGE FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to removable coatings by scraping and to the products that incorporate these removable coatings to hide sight images. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Many instant lottery tickets are overlaid, in one or more regions; by compositions of removable coatings by scraping, in order to hide the symbols that comprise the signals of the game. When a ticket buyer scrapes off the coating, he reveals the symbols and learns the results of the game. Instant winning tickets, promotion labels and other games similarly incorporate scrap-removable coatings to hide these symbols. Instant lottery tickets, unlike other games that incorporate IOF scraped coatings, are typically made of layers, with a complex arrangement, of coatings of varying compositions. The complex construction supplies a ticket that is both durable and relatively safe against violations. U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 08 / 407,185 (this application is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety) discloses various coatings arrangements that may be incorporated into a ticket. The substrate, or base, of many instant lottery tickets are cut from a cellulosic board material. A metal sheet is laminated to the board material. The metal sheet is coated with a size to minimize oxidation and provide a surface that is receptive to the ink. After the symbols have been printed on the sizing in a pigmented ink, a sealant is often applied on them to protect the printed symbols. A scraped-off coating, typically comprising an opaque metallic latex, is applied over the printed symbols and the sealant to obscure the symbols of the view. To facilitate the removal of the latex from the ticket, existing tickets often also include a "release" liner, interposed between the scraped-off coating and the ink sealer. In addition to providing a durable substrate for the production of instant winning lottery tickets, the combination of the cellulosic board material and the sheet provides a level of opacity and impermeability, which is important for the security of the ticket. This combination of board and sheet material prevents unscrupulous players from seeing printed symbols by examining the ticket against a light source, a process known as candling. The non-porous sheet also protects the ticket from the violation by chemical products, preventing unscrupulous players from chemically weakening the hidden symbols down to the underside of the substrate, where they could become visible. While existing leaf-based tickets can be durable and safe, they are difficult and expensive to manufacture, because they are constructed of numerous coatings and coatings. . Many times, these coatings and layers are comprised of special chemicals, to ensure that the layers are compatible with and adhere to each other. These special chemicals are often very expensive. The sheet, in the leaf-based tickets, is another raw material of significant cost, and an element of complexity is added to the manufacturing process. Leaf-based tickets are also difficult to recycle, because sheet metal interferes with paper-side processes. The sheet also prevents electrostatic printing techniques from being used, reducing the variety of graphics available for use. The use of ink to print the symbols is also problematic. Ink printing requires that two additional process steps be incorporated into the process of manufacturing the lottery ticket, one printing step and another sealing step. Each of these stages substantially increases the time and expenses required to manufacture the existing tickets. An instant lottery ticket, different from those discussed above, was recently introduced. This ticket omits the sheet from its base and, instead, incorporates a black water-based coating over the conventional board material. The black coating is about one meter thick and comprises carbon, chlorine and calcium. This black coating is believed to be identical or virtually identical to the composition of the ink used to print the images hidden in the ticket, thus decreasing the possibility that unscrupulous players can distinguish hidden images of the coating by candling. To contrast the hidden images of the black basecoat and to receive the printed symbols more easily, the ticket interposes a lighter colored coating between them. However, this ticket, like the others discussed above, is complex.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The tickets produced in accordance with the present invention are greatly simplified because or pigmented ink is used to print the hidden symbols. Thus, it is not necessary to mask the ink and physically protect the ink from the processes of violation. In one embodiment, the ticket is constructed so that the scraped-off coating is selectively retained by this ticket, in the form of symbols, when all of the scraped-off coating material is rubbed off and separated from the ticket. This scraped-off coating material effectively becomes the means used to visualize readable symbols. The selective retention of the removable coating material by scraping in the form of symbols, is achieved by the incorporation in the ticket between the substrates and the removable coating by scraping, of a clear release coating, which has gaps in the form of symbols. . During the construction of the ticket, when scraped material is applied to this ticket over the release liner, it adheres directly to the substrate through the voids in the release liner in the form of symbols. When a player rubs the removable lining material, it is released from the do areas. > of the release coating is applied and remains adhered to the substrate in the form of symbols, when the release coating is not applied. The ticket can also be constructed so that the release liner is applied to this ticket in the form of the desired symbols. When a player rubs the removable coating material, this removable coating material is selectively released from the ticket, where the symbols have been printed with the release liner. A portion of the removable coating material by rappelling, which is applied directly to the substrate, is retained by the ticket at the interface, between this ticket and the removable coating by scraping. In such a construction, the material of the scraped-off coating becomes the background for the symbols and, because the scraped-off coating material is separated from the ticket in the form of symbols, where the clear release coating is applied, the substrate to which the release coating is applied becomes the medium through which the readable symbols appear. Because the means forming the symbols is typically the scraped-off coating material or the substrate, and because the release coating having the patterns of the symbols is typically clear, an unscrupulous player is less likely to examine the symbols in a product, produced in accordance with the present invention. Also, because pigmented ink is not used to print the hidden symbols, unscrupulous players are less likely to prematurely compromise the game through chemical weakening. Finally, because the substrate or scrap-off coating material can serve both as the printing medium, the construction of the ticket and the complexity of the coatings and layers are greatly simplified. It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to construct a simple instant lottery game, incorporating a removable scraped coating that does not contain a complex array of layers and coatings. It is also an object of the present invention to construct an instant lottery ticket that incorporates a removable coating by scraping, which prevents candling and other violation resources that prematurely compromise the game. It is a further object of this invention to overcome the need for a pigmented ink to produce legible symbols on the game ticket. Still another object of this invention is to overcome the need to use excessive amounts of chemicals and special compositions in the layers and coatings of the game tickets, and increase the number of compositions that can be properly incorporated into the layers and coatings of the tickets .

Otaspects, objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art, with reference to this specification.

DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a top-plan view of a card of the present invention. Figure 2 is a perspective view, with separate parts, of a card of the present invention, showing the layers incorporated in the card, in which the recesses in the release liner are in the form of symbols, to produce a negative pattern of these symbols. Figure 3 is a perspective view, with separate parts, of a card of the present invention, showing the layers incorporated in the card, in which the release liner is in the form of symbols to produce a positive pattern of these symbols .

DETAILED DISCUSSION Figure 1 illustrates a card 5, constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. This card 5, configured as an instant lottery ticket, is divided into secure and insecure areas, 7 and 8, respectively. The promotional material to which the player is exposed first, is typically printed in an unsafe area 8. The promotional material can also be printed on the secure area 7. The readable symbols that inform a player of the game's results are hidden by the scraped-off coating material contained in the secure area 7 of the card 5. A player reveals the symbols hidden in the secure area 7, removing the removable coating material by scraping. As illustrated in Figure 2, the card 6 is constructed of several layers and coatings. Layer 10 forms the substrate, or base layer, of card 5. A board material of eight to ten points is typically used as the base layer in instant lottery tickets, because its durability and structural rigidity is adequate for use as the substrate in the cards of the present invention. Durability and structural rigidity are not critical in the invention, however, and lighter paper, such as 60 pound (27.2 kg) paper can also be employed. Indeed, because the scrap-free coating does not have to be as thick as the removable coating by scraping otcards (as will be discussed later in this specification), lighter and less expensive substrates can be easily used in this invention. Although the sheet can conceivably be laminated to the board material, the card 5 of the present invention omits these sheets, so they can be recycled more easily and quickly. Actually, the base layer 10 itself can be constructed of recycled fibers. Alternatively, otmaterials, both natural and synthetic, may be used for the substrate, without departing from the scope or spirit of this invention. Any substrate material can be employed which provides a surface that can retain the layers applied to the card and which provides the rigidity and strength to withstand the forces applied to the card during the process, handling and use of the product or the game. Many substrates materials, commercially available, are not adequately colored to receive the printed symbols and provide a visible contrast with such symbols. In addition, the rough texture of most commercially available board materials is not adequate to receive the printed symbols directly, especially the symbols that are detailed and defined in fine form. Also, commercial board material and otsubstrate materials may be incompatible with certain printing media. A sizing can be used to overcome these problems. In Figure 2, a sizing, shown as a layer 20, is coated on the substrate to receive the printed __ symbols more easily and create or better contrast twith to see the printed symbols. A suitable size is adapted to ad to the base layer 10, to receive the composition of the scraped-off coating material and to resist separation of the base layer 10, when the scraped-off coating material is removed. In addition, the size should be capable of receiving the composition of the release coating 30 that is also applied thereto. Many compositions and types of materials are suitable for use as a sizing. This size can be a sheet of material adhered to the base layer, or it can be a coating applied chemically or otherwise on the base layer. Many coating compositions, known and commercially available, are suitable for use as the sizes in the cards of the present invention, which include the sizes that are used in existing cards. A suitable composition of the size 20 that can be applied to a cellulosic substrate is a vinyl chloride resin dissolved in an acetate solvent with the titanium dioxide pigment. Other pigments or dyes can be added to the sizing to impart the desired color, for the best contrast of the sizing with the scraped coating material. The release liner 20 is applied over the sizing 20, so a player can rub the removable liner 40 of the card where the release liner 30 is applied. In the embodiment shown in Figure 2, the release liner 30 acts as the negative pattern through which the pick-removable coating material selectively adheres to the sizing 20 in the form of predetermined symbols. The gaps in the release liner 30, in the form of symbols, dictate the symbols that will appear on the card 5, when a player removes the coating 40 by scraping. The exemplary recesses, 31 and 32, in the form of the symbols "G" and "I", are shown in the release liner 30 of the card 5. When the removable coating by scraping is applied to the card 5 during construction , it adheres to the release liner 30, but also adheres directly to the sizing 20 in the recesses 31 and 32 in the form of the symbols "G" and "I". When the removable coating 40 by scraping is separated from the release coating 30 by rubbing, the material of the removable coating 40 adhering to the sizing 20 remains adhered there at the interface, between the scraped coating and the sizing, which reveal the symbols printed "G" and "I". In another embodiment of the invention, on the card 5 ', shown in Figure 3, the release liner 30' is applied directly to the sizing 20 'in the form of the symbols comprising the game signals. When the removable cover 40 'is rubbed, which is applied to the release liner 30, it is completely separated from the card where the symbols have been printed by the release liner. A thin layer, 31 'and 32', of the scraped-off coating material remains attached to the card in the area surrounding the symbols 31 'and 32', thereby creating a background for the symbols G formed by the sizing . While it is possible to use a dyed or opaque release coating, this release coating 30 is usually clear, so it does not interfere with the contrast between the size 20 and the scraped coating material, which adheres to the sizing, to create symbols . The clarity of the release coating also inhibits optical compromise by transillumination, because it can not visibly distinguish the voids 31 and 32 where the release coating 30 is not applied from the clear release coating 30 itself. This release coating 30 may be comprised of many different compositions that are known and commercially available. Any release composition, which adheres to the sizing 20 more than it adheres to the removable cover 40, is suitable because it allows a player to rub the removable cover 40 of the card, while the release composition is retained by the sizing 20. Compositions of alcohol-soluble polyamide resins and zinc stearate, are frequently used as compositions of release in the instant lottery tickets, and are especially suitable for the cards of the present invention, when the size 20 is a vinyl chloride resin dissolved in an acetate solvent, and the scraped-off coating composition is a latex metal. Another release coating composition that can be used when the size 20 is a vinyl chloride resin dissolved in an acetone solvent and the removable coating composition is a metal latex, is a varnish that is cured by ultraviolet radiation. .Because this type of coating does not dry in the air and remains unfixed until exposed to ultraviolet radiation. Exemplary compositions for such release coating include (by weight) about 30 to 70% monomer, 5 to 40% epoxy oligomer and, if appropriate, 3 to 12% benzophenone and several anti-foaming agents. of flow / leveling, photo-initiating agents, and of synergism. Because these fs-interlace components when exposed to ultraviolet radiation, this alternative release coating typically cures to a hard and durable finish. Applied on top of the release liner 30 is the scrape-removable coating 40. The composition of this removable coating 40 is adapted to adhere to the release coating composition and to separate therefrom when scraped or rubbed. The removable coating material is also adapted to remain, at least partially, adhered to the sizing 20 when the removable coating is scraped or rubbed. The composition of this removable coating 40 must also be adequately dyed or colored to provide a visible contrast between the material of the removable coating that remains adhered to the sizing 20 after the removable coating has been scraped or rubbed. If the size 20 is of a light color, for example, dark colors can be incorporated into the scraped-off coating compositions, for beneficial visual effects. Although many scrap-resistant coating materials are suitable for use in the present invention, compositions based on latexes bound with metal particles, such as aluminum, copper or bronze, have proven to be effective especially for use with coating compositions. of liberation described here. The latex-based compositions have proven to be effective in adhering, in the form of discrete and finely defined symbols, to vinyl chloride resin sizing compositions dissolved in an acetate solvent. Latex-based compositions are used as scraped-off coating materials in many applications and are readily available for use. Many other scrap-removable coating materials can be used with the cards of the present invention. Indeed, because of the minimum amount of coating that must be applied to the cards of the present invention, many coating materials that may not be suitable for the other cards are suitable for the cards of the present invention. In contrast, scratch-off coatings on many cards, which generally must be completely opaque to conceal the symbols printed on the card, the scrape-off coating of the present invention may be very thin and generally needs only to cancel the reflective ability of the card. release liner, in order to hide the symbols incorporated in the card. Matt type finishes are especially suitable for applications to release coatings that reflect, because they have to efficiently cancel the ability to reflect. Any composition that remains attached to the sizing at its interface with the sizing, that is released from the release liner and that may be scraped and separated from a card, is generally suitable for use as the removable coating material on the cards herein. invention. Cards 5 and 5 'in Figures 2 and 3 form only two embodiments of the present invention and many other products can be constructed in accordance with the present invention. In fact, while most of the foregoing discussion refers to instant lottery tickets, the invention can be practiced with any product or game in which the scraped-off coating is incorporated to hide the symbols printed therein. The foregoing is provided only for purposes of illustrating, explaining and describing the embodiments of the present invention. Modifications and adaptations to these modalities will be evident to experts in the field and can be done without departing from the scope or spirit of this invention.

Claims (24)

1. CLAIMS 1. A product comprising: a.) A substrate surface; b.) a release liner, applied on the surface, in the form of at least one symbol; and c.) a coating material, applied on the surface of the release coating, this coating material is released from the release coating and partially adheres to the surface, when a person removes the coating material to reveal the symbol.
2. 2. The product of claim 1, wherein the product is a game card.
3. 3. The game card of claim 2, wherein the surface is a side of a sheet of cellulosic material, having two sides.
4. 4. The game card of claim 2, further comprising a sizing coating, applied to the surface.
5. 5. The game card of claim 4, wherein the sizing coating comprises a vinyl chloride resin, dissolved in an acetate solvent.
6. 6. The game card of claim 4, wherein the release coating comprises an alcohol-soluble polyamide resin and zinc stearate.
7. 7. The kit of claim 5, wherein the release coating comprises about 30 to 70% monomer and 5 to 40% of an epoxy oligomer, by weight.
8. 8. The kit of claim 7, wherein the release coating further comprises from 3 to 12% benzophenone by weight.
9. 9. The kit of claim 5, wherein the scrap-removable coating material comprises a latex bonded with metal particles.
10. 10. A process for concealing symbols in a product, this process comprises the steps of: a.) Applying a release coating to the product, to define at least one Fímbo; and b.) apply a removable coating by scraping the product and the release coating.
11. 11. The process of claim 10, wherein the release coating is applied to the product in a manner that defines a plurality of symbols that comprise the game signals.
12. 12. A card comprising: a substrate; a release liner, applied on the substrate, in the form of a symbol; A coating material, applied to the substrate and release coating, this coating material is released from the release coating and partially adheres to the substrate, when a person removes the coating material, to reveal the symbol.
13. 13. The card of claim 12, which comprises a size coating applied to the substrate, below the release coating and the coating material.
14. 14. The card of claim 13, wherein the sizing coating comprises a vinyl chloride resin, dissolved in an acetate solvent.
15. 15. The card of claim 12, wherein the card is an instant lottery ticket.
16. 16. A product comprising: a substrae surface ©; a release liner, applied on the surface, so that the voids in the release liner define at least one symbol; and a coating material, applied on the surface and release coating, the coating material is released from the release coating and partially adheres to the surface when a person removes the coating material to reveal the symbol.
17. 17. The product of claim 16, wherein this product is a game card.
18. 18. The game card of the; claim 16, in which the surface is a side of a sheet of cellulosic material, which has two sides.
19. 19. The game card of claim 16. which further comprises a sizing coating, applied to the surface.
20. 20. The game card of claim 19, wherein the sizing coating comprises a chloride resin. vinyl dissolved in an acetate solvent.
21. 21. The game card of claim 20, wherein the release coating comprises an alcohol-soluble polyamide resin and zinc stearate.
22. 22. The game card of claim 20, wherein the release coating comprises about 30 to 70% monomer, and 5 to 70% of an epoxy oligomer, by weight.
23. 23. The game card of claim 22, wherein the release coating further comprises from 3 to 12% benzophenone by weight.
24. 24. The game card of claim 20, wherein the scrap-removable coating material comprises a latex bonded with metal particles.