WO1991004554A1

WO1991004554A1 - Luggage tag

Info

Publication number: WO1991004554A1
Application number: PCT/SE1990/000577
Authority: WO
Inventors: Magnus Lindbergh
Original assignee: Printcom Ab
Priority date: 1989-09-25
Filing date: 1990-09-10
Publication date: 1991-04-04
Also published as: FI912130A0; SE8903149L; SE464734B; EP0445275A1; SE8903149D0

Abstract

Luggage tag or label having a printable layer (2) of paper, an adhesive layer (4) and a removable protective paper (5). The novelty lies in that a cut dividing the protective paper (5) is localized at a distance from a cut (13) dividing the paper layer (2) and is localized within the portion of the protective paper being localized along the tag portion for enabling exposure of the adhesive layer (4) of the tag portion (10) and in that the protective paper remaining at the receipt portion (11) and projecting therefrom includes an exposable adhesive.

Description

LUGGAGE TAG

This invention relates to an arrangement in a label unit including a luggage tag and a receipt of the type indicated in the claims. A long range of types of luggage tags and label systems are known especially in connection with air travel, Λ common feature for all systems is that each label unit includes one part - a tag - to be attached to the piece of luggage and one part - a receipt - to be attached to the traveller's ticket. The labels or tags can be made in long strips or bands and stored in the shape of a spool from which the units are fed to a printing device at the check-in desk for printing information derived from the passenger ticket and concerning destination, flight number, carrier, via routes etc. and essentially the same information is also printed on the receipt part attached to the tag itself.

The majority of the label and tag types used today

includes a strip of paper or material similar to paper adapted to receive printed information and at the rear side of such strip there is an adhesive laver and p paper or foil protecting the adhesive laver during handling.

The adhesive is intended to, after at least partial

removal of the protective foil and threading of the tag around the handle of the suitcase or the like piece of luggage, connect the two ends of the tag. The adhesive laver at the receipt part is intended to attach same to the ticket. In a known system an apparatus is connected to the printing device for separating the protective foil or paper from the receipt part and tag part and collects the foi l waste. In other systems, the separation takes place manually, which results in the problem of dispensing with or getting rid of the detached and removed protective paper or foil pieces. The former system, however, in some circles are regarded as cumbersome as the person manning the check-in counter is expected to put the reel into the printing and dispensing apparatus and also feed the detached protective foil strip into its accumulating arrangement.

Piece by piece stacked tags or labels with attached receipt portion are also known and such units are to be taken one by one from the stack to be inserted into a printer for being completed with necessary information. From such labels or tag units, the protective foil as well as the receipt portion are manually removed before the tag with exposed adhesive layer is threaded around the handle of the suitcase or the like and the ends thereof pressed together. The receipt portion is attached to the ticket after removing the protective foil therefrom. The removed pieces of protective foil or paper are thrown into a waste receptacle.

This invention has come about in order to simplify the handling and minimize the number of picking UP and tearing and separating moments. The characteristic features of the new arrangement are presented in the claims.

The unit including the tag portion and the receipt portion, hereafter called label unit, is preferable provided as a band or ribbon, but it is possible to provide it stacked. In both cases printing may take place before the label is distributed, in the latter case, however, it is possible to allow manual picking of the unit from a stack and inserted into a printer before any other measures are taken. From the handling and safety point of view, the embodiment where the label units are distributed from a band or ribbon and in connection therewith printed, is preferable.

An example showing one embodiment of the label including a tag and a receipt portion arranged according to this invention will be described in the following with reference to the annexed drawing, in which

Figure 1 is a longitudinal schematic section through a label unit with tag and receipt portions according to the invention, wherein the layers are greatly exaggerated, and Figures 2-8 in sequence illustrate how the label unit is arranged and to be handled.

The label unit according to the invention is as a whole designated 1. It includes one paper or similar material layer 2 having a printable surface and with or without a reinforcing laver or strata. Against the rear side of the paper layer 2 is arranged an adhesive laver 4 of non-drving self-adhering type and this layer is, in order to allow handling, reeling and the like covered by a protective paper or foil layer having a silicon or the like coating preventing adherence against the adhesive and making the protective layer or paper easy to remove.

The protective paper is in this case of a special kind, viz. of a two ply type having between an inner ply 6 and an outer ply 7 a Further adhesive laver 8.

The label units with tag and receipt portions are manufactured in a continuous ribbon, band or tape form, and the dividing up of the strip takes place by cutting, punching or tearing lines in the tag portion 10 of the label unit and the receipt part designated 11. The total band or ribbon, i.e. the paper layer 2, the adhesive layer 4 and protective paper 5 are passed through by perforations, intermittent cuts or the like tear initiations 12, Pig. 3, defining the discrete label units, each including a tag portion 10 and a receipt portion 11 are separated from each other. In Fig. 3 a subsequent such unit can be seen beyond the tear initiation 12.

Fig. 1 illustrates how knives designated A, B and C make the cuts in the ribbon or band necessarv for the intended function. By means of the knife A a cut 13 is made between the intended tag portion 10 and the receipt portion 11, said cut cutting through the paper laver 2, preferably also the adhesive layer A. The cut 13 visibly defines the tag portion 10 from the receipt portion 11.

By means of the knife B a cut 14 is made from the opposite side through the protective paper 5 and such cut is localized at a distance from the cut 13 between tag portion 10 and receipt portion 11 and more precise!" displaced a distance inwardly of the tag portion or the opposite end thereof. The protective paper 5 runs uninterrupted from the cut 14 towards both ends of the label unit as a whole, i.e. up to the tear initiations 12 at the free end of the receipt portion and the remote end of the tag portion.

The portion or area 15 of the protective paper, which extends or projects from the receipt portion 11 in under the tag portion 10 is by means of the knife C provided with an essentialy U or C. shaped cut 16, perforating the outer laver 7 of the protective paper 5 but not the intermediary adhesive laver P and the inner laver 6. Along the line 17 connecting the tongue 10 partly circumscribed by the cut 16 with the rest of the adhesive paper, a perforation or other initiation can be arranged. Figs. 6 and 7 illustrate the arrangement of this. From Figures 2-8 may be derived the whole sequence of handling.

Figure 2 illustrates how a label unit provided with

printing is fed out from a printer or printing apparatus T, connected with the ticket registration system.

Figure 3 illustrates how a label unit 1, e.g. a tag

portion 10 and a receipt portion 11, is detached from the ribbon or tape.

Figure 4 illustrates how, by means of a turning and pulling movement, the tag portion 10 and the receipt portion 11 are separated so that an adhesive layer A area is exposed at the tag portion 10 whereas the projecting protective paper portion 15 remains at the receipt portion 11.

In Figure 5 is disclosed how the tag portion is threaded around a handle of a suitcase V and how the free ends of the tag portion are joined so that the exposed area of the adhesive laver 4 is able to adhere to the opposite tag portion end.

Figure 6 shows the receipt portion 11 seen from below.

in the outer layer 7 of the protective paper 5 the

essentially U-shaped cut 16 and a perforated line or other folding initiation 17 may be seen.

Figures 7 and 8 illustrate how by a slight bending of the receipt portion 11 the tongue 18 defined by the U-shaped cut and the bending initiation 17 may be brought to snap out so it can be bent over exposing the adhesive laver 8 in the thus formed opening for enabling the affixing o f the receipt onto a ticket.

It is obvious that modifications of the lavers and of the cuts within the scope of the following claims car be made,

Claims

C L A I M S

1. Label unit for luggage including a tag portion and a receipt portion, the material of as well the tag portion as the receipt portion including a printable laver (2) of paper or the like material, an adhesive laver (4) arranged at the rear side of said laver and a protective laver or the like (5) covering the adhesive laver and removable therefrom, wherein the paper laver (2) with adhesive laver (4) and protective paper have cuts or the like for the separation of the receipt portion (11) from the tag portion (10) and for the intended separation of the protection paper, c h a r a c t e r i z e d by a cut (14) dividing the protective paper (5) localized at a distance from a cut (13) separating the tag portion (10) and the receipt portion (11) from each other, said later cut (13) penetrating at least the paper or the like laver (2) and in that the cut (14) through the protective paper (5) is situated within the area Iying along the tag portion (10), wherein said area on separating the receipt portion (11) from the tag portion (10) exposing part of the adhesive laver ( Λ ) enabling joining and affixing the ends of the tag portion to each other, and in that the portion of the protective paper (15) remaining at the receipt portion (11) includes means for attaching the receipt portion (11) to a ticket or the like.

2. Label unit according to claim 1, wherein the means for securing or affixing the receipt portion (11) to a ticket or the like, includes a foldable or otherwise displaceable layer protective paper portion (18) which, until displaced, keeps the adhesive (8) in an unactive state.

3. Label unit according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the protective paper (5) is of multi-layer type, having one inner laver (6) connected or engaging the adhesive laver (4) of the unit, an outer similar protective paper laver (7) and an intermediary adhesive laver (8) and wherein at the protective paper portion (15) remaining at the receipt portion (11) by a punching or cutting operation is provided with an essentially U or O shaped cut (16) the protective paper portion defined by such cut bendable outwardly for exposing below; said protective paper area existing adhesive enabling the affixing of the receipt portion (11) to a ticket or the like (B).