EP0858061A2 - A safety label and a device for its manufacture - Google Patents

Abstract

The label includes a radio-frequency tag fittedbetween two sheets of cardboard that are stuck together bythe opposing sides, with these elements forming a singlebody. The device used for the manufacture of these labelsincludes some accessories being attached to a rotaryprinting machine, with the said accessories being: amechanism for guiding and marking the strip of cardboardthat has been printed in the same rotary machine, onelabelling machine that positions the tags on the strip, aglue dispenser, a guide for folding the strip and somepressure rollers. The obtained labels are used for markingand protection against the robbery of products for theirsale.

Description

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

The present invention refers to a label, of the kindof ones used for attaching by any means to products fortheir sale, and which includes a safety element with thepurpose of preventing the robbery of the product to whichthe label is associated, with the said safety element beingof the type of those known in the field of electronics as a"radio-frequency tag". The invention includes, as well asthe label itself, a device for its manufacture.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

Conventional labels are made up by a portion ofcardboard generally printed on both sides and which do notinclude any safety element aimed at preventing the robberyof the product onto which they are to be placed.

These labels are obtained using a strip of cardboardpassing through a rotating machine in which the two sidesof the strip are printed. These prints shall remainpositioned on the right and on the back of the label, oncethe printed strip has been suitably cut.

This means of obtaining the labels poses a series ofproblems, such as the need to use a cardboard with a highgrammage so as to obtain a label with a certain rigidity,or the impossibility of printing on both sides of the stripall the colours available in the printing machine vats;this is due to the fact that first the printing for oneside of the strip is carried out, printing it with the colours available in the initial vats of the printingmachine and subsequently the said strip is turned aroundusing rollers, printing the colours from the remaining vatson the other side.

At the present time there are some safety elements onthe market whose purpose, as regards the protection ofproducts, is similar to the label that is the object of theinvention; these elements are designed to be attached tothe products to be sold and may be detected remotely by areceiver device, thereby activating an alarm when someoneattempts to remove the product from the establishmentunless the safety element has been deactivated by means ofa specific piece of equipment. Amongst the said elements weshould highlight the ones used in the large departmentstores, which are made up by two parts that are anchored tothe product and which are removed at the time payment ismade and the radio-frequency tags.

These radio-frequency tags are widely spread and atthe present time they are attached to the product using aself-adhesive label in such a way that they are hiddenbetween the label and the product, or they are introducedinto the package container for the product; in either case,it is necessary to manually add the radio-frequency tag tothe products that you want to protect, and they are easilylocated by any possible thief, which allows him to choosethe products that do not incorporate this element.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The label in this invention has the specificcharacteristic of including a radio-frequency tag placedbetween two sheets of cardboard with equal externalprofiles that are stuck along the edges opposite one another, shaped into a single body; the two strips ofcardboard are printed on the outer side, whereby the labelin the invention, which includes the aforesaid tag, has alook just like a conventional label and it is attached tothe product in a similar way to the latter.

This label provides some big advantages determined bythe fact of having an in-built radio-frequency tag; one ofthese advantages is the fact that when the product islabelled the radio-frequency tag is already associated tothe product in question, whereas at the present time thelabelling and the incorporation of the tag to the productare carried out in two different and totally independentoperations.

Another of the advantages of this label is that thetag, since its thickness is very low and since it fitsbetween the two sheets of cardboard it is not easilydetectable by any possible thief.

The invention envisages, for the manufacture of thelabel, the use of a device made up by a rotating labelprinting machine, fitted with specific accessories that maybe removed from the former when they are not manufacturingthis type of labels, with the printing machine then workingin the conventional manner.

It should be pointed out that the object of theinvention, apart from the label itself, is concentrated onthe accessories mentioned above, since the rotary printingmachine could be any of those existing on the market that,regardless of the technology used to perform the saidprinting (typography, flexography, silk screen printing,offset, etc.), it will allow it to perform parallel printson one of the sides of a continuous strip which remain symmetrically positioned as regards the middle line of thestrip.

In accordance with the invention, the accessories tobe positioned on the rotary printing machine are thefollowing: a) a guiding and marking mechanism for thestrip, which includes a roller over which the alreadyprinted strip is guided and a ruler which acts against thecentral part of the strip making a lengthways notch in it,b) a labelling machine that positions the self-adhesiveradio-frequency tags onto the non-printed surface of thestrip and onto the areas opposite each other with one ofthe parallel prints made on the other side of the strip, c)a glue dispenser that applies a layer of adhesive productover one of the halves of the non-printed side of thestrip, d) a guide for folding the strip, made up by twoparallel rollers set out in a noticeably perpendiculardirection to the advance movement of the strip and whichmake the former fold along the longitudinal notch, in sucha way that the two halves of the non-printed side remainopposite one another and e) pressure rollers that press thepreviously folded strip thereby achieving the finalsticking of the opposite sides.

These accessories are attached to the printing machinebetween the printing and stamping or final adjustmentareas, in such a way that the printed strip can passthrough all of them, thereby obtaining a number of labelsfitted with the corresponding radio-frequency tag andbetween which there remains a small separation.

In the stamping and final adjustment area, which isusual in rotary printing machines, the excess material issliced off from the sides of the labels, including thefold, and some cross notch cuts are made in the intermediate separations which make it easier to separatethe labels later and some stamped marks. These marks allowthe individual detection of the labels by the othermachines currently used, such as reprinters or guillotines,so that the latter may, respectively, print variableinformation (price, type of currency, use by dates, etc.)in a certain area of the labels, or to perform precise cutsin order to achieve their total separation, thereby handingthem over one by one.

The addition of the aforementioned accessories to aconventional rotary printing machine, for the manufactureof the safety label, provides important advantages, such asthe possibility of using a cardboard with a much smallersubstance than those used in the manufacture ofconventional labels, since, when carrying out the crosswisefolding of the strip, the labels obtained will have doublethe thickness than that of the initial strip.

Another of the advantages determined by the use ofthese accessories is that both the front and the back ofthe label are printed simultaneously on the same side ofthe strip of cardboard, which allows all the coloursavailable in the machine to be used for both prints.

The accessories mentioned allow the simultaneousmanufacture of two or more series of labels to beperformed, thereby increasing productivity and providingthat the necessary band width is accepted by the rotaryprinting machine; in this case, the rotary machine mustsimultaneously print the fronts and the sides on the backsof the labels to be produced, in such a way that when thestrip is folded by the central area, the said prints shallremain in areas that coincide with one another and by theouter sides of the labels, with it also being necessary to include a number of labelling machines in parallel equal tothat of the series of labels to be manufactured, so thatthey will all have the corresponding radio-frequency tags.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to complete the description that is beingmade and so as to help towards a better understanding ofthe characteristics of the invention, the presentdescriptive report comes with a set of non limitingdrawings which are an integrated part thereof, in which forillustration purposes only, the following has been shown:

• Figure 1, a perspective view of the safety label.
• Figure 2, a elevation view of the label, with ascaled cross-section of parallel stretches, in which thedifferent elements that form it may be seen.
• Figure 3, a perspective view of the accessories thatare mounted onto the printing machine and of a strip ofprinted cardboard passing through them.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

As may be observed in the referred Figures, the label,shown in Figures 1 and 2, includes a radio-frequency tag(1) placed between two sheets of cardboard (2a and 2b)which form the front and the back of the label and whichare attached by the opposing sides by means of a layer ofadhesive (3), in such a way that the tag (1) and the sheets(2a and 2b) form a single body.

As is seen in Figure 2, the tag (1) has a smallersurface area than the sheets of cardboard (2a and 2b),thereby remaining totally hidden between them.

The sheets (2a and 2b) are obtained from a strip ofcardboard (2) provided with two prints (4a and 4b) thatremain positioned, respectively, at the front and at theback of the label when the latter is shaped.

The prints (4a and 4b) are carried out in a rotaryprinting machine (5) of which, since it is a conventionalone, only the area of the frame has been shown over whichthe accessories are attached that are necessary forproducing the labels.

These accessories are mounted onto the machine (5),below the printing area, in such a way that the strip (2)is printed before passing through the former.

These accessories are: a mechanism (6) for guiding andmarking the strip (2), a labelling machine (7), an adhesivedispenser (8), a folding guide (9) for the strip (2) androller presses (10).

The mechanism (6) for guiding and marking includes aroller (6a), over which the printed strip (2) is guided,and a ruler (6b) which acts against the central area of thestrip (2) thereby making a lengthways line of holes in it(2c).

The labelling machine (7) is the one in charge ofpositioning the successive radio-frequency tags (1) overthe non-printed side of the strip, in such a way that theyremain centred with respect to each one of the prints (4a).

The tags (1) are initially stuck to a supporting coil(7a) from which they are separated when the support passesthrough a dispensing edge (7b) included in the machine (7).

The glue dispenser (8) has an applicator nozzle (8a)which drops the adhesive layer (3) onto one of the halvesof the non-printed side of the strip of cardboard (2).

The folding guide (9) includes two rollers (9a) setout in a direction that is noticeably perpendicular to theadvance of the strip of cardboard (2) thereby causing itsfolding along the longitudinal line of holes (2c), in sucha way that both halves of the non-printed side are keptopposite one another thereby holding the tags (1) in place.

The pressure roller (10) press down the two halves ofthe previously folded strip, thereby achieving the finalticking of the latter through the adhesive layer (3),whereby a single strip of material (11) is achieved, with awidth equal to half the initial strip (2) and along which aseries of labels are interspersed.

This strip (11) will finally pass through a series ofconventional elements, not shown in the Figures, such as astamping machine in which the labels shall be partiallyseparated and some holes (2e) shall be made for hooking thelabels to the products and some stamped marks (2d) whichwill allow the detection of each one of the labels by othermachines, such as the reprinters, guillotines, etc.

It is not deemed necessary to extend this descriptionany further so that any expert on the subject mayunderstand the scope of the invention and the advantagesthat arise therefrom.

The terms in which this reports has been written upmust be taken always in their widest sense and not as beinglimited.

The materials, shape, size and layout of the elementsmay undergo alteration providing that does not mean anychange to the essential characteristics of the invention,which are claimed below.

Claims (6)

1. A safety label and a device for its manufacture;characterised because the label includes a radio-frequencytag fitted between two sheets of cardboard that are stucktogether by the opposing sides, with these elements forminga single body.
2. A label, according to previous claim, characterisedbecause the radio-frequency tag has a surface area smallerthan the sheets of cardboard, thereby remaining hidden bythem.
3. A label, according to previous claims, characterisedbecause the sheets of cardboard included therein areprinted on the outer sides.
4. A device for the manufacture of the label of theprevious claims, characterised because it includes a seriesof accessories used for being attached between theprinting, stamping or final adjustment areas of a rotaryprinting machine, with the said accessories being: a) amechanism for guiding and marking the strip of cardboardthat has already been printed, b) at least one labellingmachine that positions some self-adhesive, radio-frequencytags on the non-printed side of the strip of cardboard, c)a glue dispenser that applies a layer of adhesive productover one of the halves of the non-printed side of thestrip, d) a guide for folding the strip, made up by tworollers arranged in a noticeably perpendicular direction tothe advance of the strip of cardboard thereby forcing it tofold along the longitudinal line of holes, in such a waythat the two halves of the non-printed side remain oppositeeach other and e) some pressure rollers that press the previously folded strip, thereby achieving the finalbonding of the two halves opposite each other.
5. A device, according to claim 4, characterised becausethe guiding and marking mechanism for the strip ofcardboard includes a roller over which the printed stripslides and a ruler that acts against the central area ofthe strip making a longitudinal row of holes in it.
6. A device, according to claim 4, characterised becausethe guide for folding the strip includes two parallelrollers arranged in a direction noticeably perpendicular tothe advance of the strip of cardboard.

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