Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
  • B65D51/00—Closures not otherwise provided for
  • B65D51/24—Closures not otherwise provided for combined or co-operating with auxiliary devices for non-closing purposes
  • B65D51/245—Closures not otherwise provided for combined or co-operating with auxiliary devices for non-closing purposes provided with decoration, information or contents indicating devices, labels

Definitions

• the invention is directed to closures for containers, said closures having an image present on one of its surfaces.
• closures for containers are often provided with some kind of printing.
• crown corks tend to have a print distinguishing the trademark of the producer, or some other distinguishing print.
• Metal closures also are commonly provided with some image, for example instructions for opening, or identification of the content of the container. Due to the nature of the material, plastic closures are seldomly provided with high quality imprints, because it is rather expensive to provide a high quality image on a plastic surface.
• the present invention provides a solution to the above given desiderata, which solution is based on the use of image transfer techniques on said closures .
• the invention is directed to a closure for a container, comprising a closure member having at least one surface, having provided at such surface an image provided by an ink only label, said image at least consisting of an adhesive layer and an image layer.
• a protective layer is provided on top of said image layer.
• An image may be applied on one surface or on two surfaces of the closure .
• image transfer is used in one embodiment as a labelling system, wherein a removable backing layer is reverse printed with a suitable ink and subsequently overprinted with adhesive. Important in the image transfer technique is the absence of a transparent or opaque supporting film on the image, once it has been transferred to the surface.
• the image only consists of adhesive, ink materials, optionally with a clear protective coating.
• a general disclosure of this technique is for example disclosed in WO-A 9005088 and WO-A 9005353.
• Other embodiments of the image transfer system are disclosed in
• the images can be transferred to the closures in any suitable stage of the manufacture of the closures.
• the adhesive and image materials it is possible to cut and stamp the closures from the sheets, without damaging the image materials.
• the resilience of the image materials, ink and adhesive, optionally combined with protective layer is such that it is even possible to apply the image on the skirt of crown corks, or on the edges of covers, without damaging the quality thereof.
• the most suitable moment of applying the image on the closure depends on the nature of the manufacturing process of the closure .
• closures to be contemplated within the scope of this invention are all closures for containers on which an image can be applied by image transfer as defined herein.
• Examples are pry-off crown corks, metal or plastic screw caps, metal or plastic flip caps, metal or plastic rip caps, corks, metal or plastic twist off caps, metal or plastic foil or film closures and ceramic or plastic cap stoppers.
• the material of the closure can be selected freely, but preferred are metal and plastic closures, but also ceramic, glass, wood, cork and rubber closures can be used herein.
• the preferred embodiment of the label and application according to the present invention will be described first with references to the figure which shows the closure member surface (1) and the label positioned for application.
• the label is printed on a film substrate (10) which may be any thin film, preferably oriented polypropylene or polyester.
• (14) is a protective coating which may or may not be employed, depending on the type and source of the film available.
• (12) is a release material which coats the film. It may be silicone which is generally applied after the film manufacture.
• (20) represents all the printed ink material, which may be permanent or removable. Depending on the label graphics and opacity requirements the ink materials may be as many as five (5) different colors in one or more layers, some of which may overlay another.
• (30) and (40) represent two (2) layers of adhesive depending on the labelled surface uniformity and rigidity of the closure being labelled. It is also possible to use only one adhesive layer. Upon application, all of the printed materials are transferred from the release coated film substrate.
• the printed ink materials can be vinyl, acrylic or urethane resin based, colored with pigments.
• the printed adhesive can be a urethane modified acrylic, heat activatable adhesive or any other suitable heat activatable adhesive. For heat activatable adhesive to achieve and maintain tack quickly it may be necessary to heat the closure before the label adhesive is in contact with it . It is also possible to use a pressure sensitive adhesive.
• Hot air additional flame heaters, gas fired infra-red panels and electric ceramic panels can all be used.
• the method of label application whereby the printed ink materials are transferred from the film substrate to the closure surface, utilises the tactile characteristics of the adhesive to overcome the bond of the ink layer 14 to the coating 12.
• nip rollers and stepping motor are used to advance the film to the next label and position it accurately, using a printed mark to trigger an optical scanning device .
• Protection of the ink against scratching by casual handling as well as insuring its weatherability when subjected to outdoor storage may be achieved with the application of a coating, such as an acrylic based wax water emulsion.
• a coating such as an acrylic based wax water emulsion.
• This is applied by a roll applicator which is supplied from a wet roller with a controlled amount of coating.
• the coating extends well past the edges of the ink pattern and seals the edges from intrusive moisture. It is also possible to have a protective coating present already on the transfer label .

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Closures For Containers (AREA)
• Packages (AREA)
• Glass Compositions (AREA)
• Seal Device For Vehicle (AREA)
• Cartons (AREA)
• Laminated Bodies (AREA)

Priority Applications (11)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=8240088

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (16)

Families Citing this family (1)

Citations (7)

• 1999
  • 1999-04-12 EP EP19990201133 patent/EP1046593A1/en not_active Withdrawn
• 2000
  • 2000-04-11 CA CA002384309A patent/CA2384309A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2000-04-11 BR BR0009750-0A patent/BR0009750A/pt not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2000-04-11 HU HU0200723A patent/HUP0200723A3/hu unknown
  • 2000-04-11 EP EP00921165A patent/EP1169239B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2000-04-11 DE DE60006507T patent/DE60006507D1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2000-04-11 SK SK1425-2001A patent/SK14252001A3/sk unknown
  • 2000-04-11 CN CN00806121A patent/CN1128746C/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2000-04-11 JP JP2000610740A patent/JP2002541033A/ja active Pending
  • 2000-04-11 PL PL00351108A patent/PL351108A1/xx not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2000-04-11 AT AT00921165T patent/ATE254077T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2000-04-11 MX MXPA01010293A patent/MXPA01010293A/es unknown
  • 2000-04-11 NZ NZ514647A patent/NZ514647A/xx unknown
  • 2000-04-11 WO PCT/NL2000/000236 patent/WO2000061450A1/en active IP Right Grant
  • 2000-04-11 AU AU41510/00A patent/AU4151000A/en not_active Abandoned
• 2001
  • 2001-10-03 ZA ZA200108114A patent/ZA200108114B/xx unknown
• 2002
  • 2002-10-17 HK HK02107556.9A patent/HK1045975A1/zh unknown

Patent Citations (8)

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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