SPECIFICATIONLaminated sign making web and method of using sameBackground of the inventionThis invention relates to a laminated web used for making signs having characters, symbols and the like adhesively attached to a supporting surface, and deals more particularlywith such a web simplifying the transfer of characters and other shapes cut from one layer of the web to the supporting surface and well adapted for use with an automatic sign generating machinesuch as shown by U.S. Patent No.
4,467,525.
In the past it has been known, as disclosed for example in U.S. Patent No.4,467,525, when working with an automatic sign generating machine to use an essentially two-ply laminated web consisting of a base layer or carrier sheet holding a superimposed layer of sign making material, such as colored polyvinylchloride, with the two layers being separated by a thin layer of permanently tacky or pressure- sensitive adhesive relatively strongly adhered to the rearface of the sign material and relative weakly adhered to the adjacent face of the carrier sheet by virtue ofthat being coated with a film of silicone material or similar release agent.In the use ofthis prior artwebtheautomaticsigngenerating machinecuts through the layer of sign making material and only slightly, if at all, into the base layer as the knife is moved in the plane ofthe web to trace and therefore cut one or more closed shape characters, symbols or the like on and from the layer of sign material.After this cutting is completed the closed shape or shapes cut in the sign material are applied to a supporting surfacetoform a finished sign. The exact routinefollowed in advancing from the cut web to thefinished sign mayvary, but all known routinesarefairlytime consuming.
For example, in one common procedure afterthe web is cut the next step is to peel or "weed" the sur- rounding sign material from the cut closed shapes leaving only the cut shapes behind on the involved portion ofthe base layer. That is, after the weeding the cut shapes stand by themselves on the associated area ofthe base layer and are held to the base layer by the intervening adhesive. This adhesive is strongly bonded to the sign material from which the shapes are cut and weakly bonded to the base layer so that when the shapes are thereafter lifted from the base layer the adhesive will release from the base layerand remain on the shapes.Then a pressuresensitive adhesive faced piece of auxiliary sheet is placed over the cut shape or shapes, adhesive side facing the cut shape or shapes, and pressed against the shapes to adhere the shapes to the auxiliary sheet. The adhesive forthe auxiliary sheet is chosen sothatthe bond ofthe auxiliary sheetto the cut shape or shapes will be greaterthan the bond ofthe auxiliary shapes to the base layer. The auxiliary sheet is then lifted from the web and because of the differential bonding mentioned the shape or shapes during such lifting will movewiththeauxiliarysheet and release from the base layer.The auxiliary sheet is then placed over the supporting surface with the shape or shapes carried by it facing the surface, and the sheet is then pressed against the supporting surface to securely adhere the shape or shapes to the surface by means of the adhesive carried by its or their rearface orfaces. As a last step the auxiliary sheet is peeled from the supporting surface leaving the shape or shapes behind on the supporting surface and adhered to it by the adhesive carried by its or their rearface or faces. At this point it should be noted that the adhesive of the auxiliary sheet is further so selected that its strength of bonding to the shape or shapes is less than the strength of bonding ofthe shape or shapes to the supporting surface so that in the last peeling step the desired result of leaving the shape or shapes behind on the supporting surface is achieved.
The object of the embodiments is to provide a web of laminated material and a method for using the samewherebythe procedure required forgoing from the cutwebto a finished sign is greatly sim- plified in comparison to the prior art procedure described above. The invention is defined in the claims.
Other objects and advantages will be obvious from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention.
The embodiment provides a laminated web for use in making signs ofthe kind comprised of characters, symbols or other shapes cut from a sheet of colored sign material and adhesively attached to a supporting surface of contrasting color. The web is cut to provide the shapes used in constructing a sign and lends itself particularly well to situations where the cutting is performed on an automatic sign generating machine, but its use is not necessarily restricted to this application, it being possible that the web may also be used in circumstances where the shapes are cut by hand or by means otherthan an automatic machine.
The web consists of a base layer of sheet material carrying a superimposed layer of sign material, and also includes a top layer of sheet material superimposed on the layer of sign material. Afirst layer of permanently tacky adhesive is located between the base layer and the layer of sign material and is preferentially bonded to the base layer to allow the sign material to be peeled from it with the adhesive remaining on the base layer only. Between the sign material and the top layer is another layer of adhes- ive preferentially bonded to the sign material so asto allow the material ofthetop layer to be thereafter peeled from the sign material leaving the adhesive on the sign material.
This construction ofthe laminated web permits the use of a simple procedure in transferring the cut shapes of the sign material to the supporting surface after cutting, the procedure involving removing only the portions ofthe top layer overlying the cut shapes, then applying the web to the supporting surface and pressing the cut shapes against that surface to cause them to adhere to the surface, and lastly peeling the web from the surface leaving the attached shapes behindonthesurfacetocompletethesign.
The invention also resides in the method for using the web to produce a sign in the way described above.
Figure lisa perspective view showing a laminated web embodying this invention in the process of being cut on an automated sign making machine.
Figure2isaperspectiveviewofa portionofthe web of Figure 1 with parts of the various layers being shown broken away to reveal underlying layers.
Figure 3 is a fragmentary sectional viewtaken through the web of Figure 1 wherein the thicknesses ofthevarious layers have been exaggerated for clarity, the view showing the degree of penetration of a knife during the cutting oftheweb.
Figures4to 7are views showing a portion of the web of Figure 1 and illustrating in sequence the steps followed in using the web to create a sign.
In Figure 1 a web embodying the invention is illustrated generally at 10 and is shown in the process of being cut on an automated sign generating machine 12. The machine 12may be generally similarto that shown in U.S. Patent No.4,467,525 to which reference may be made forfurther details of its construction. Forthe present it is sufficient to note that the machine 12 includes a knife 14, for cutting the web 10, mounted on a carriage 16 movable transversely of the web by sliding on two guide-rails 18, 18, such movement being driven bya drive motorwithinthe machine housing through a cable 20.Movement in the other coordinate direction, that is longitudinally of the web, is effected by a pair of nonillustrated drive sprockets which engage feed holes 22,22 loc- ated in the opposite marginal edge portions of the web. Therefore, by combined movement of the web in the longitudinal coordinate direction and the carriage 16 in the transverse coordinate direction the knife 14 may be made to trace and cut any desired line on the web 10 to produce cut characters, symbols or other shapes such as shown for example at 24in Figure 1.
The pressure of the knife 14 on the web 10 during cutting is controllable by a counterweight 26 so that the depth of penetration of the blade can be adjusted and held at a substantially constant value. The depth of penetration, as explained in more detail hereinafter, is such that during the cutting process the web is cutthrough less than the full extent of its thickness.
Figures 2 and 3 show in more detail the construction ofthe web 10 of Figure 1 made in accordance with this invention. This web is comprised of a base layer or carrier sheet 28, an intermediate layer or sheet ofsign material 30 and a top layer orsheet32.
Further, between the base layer 28 and the layer 30 of sign material is a first layer of adhesive 34; and between the layer 30 of sign material and the top layer 32 is a second layer of adhesive 36. The materials selected for the sheets 28,30 and 32 and for the adhesive layers 34 and 36 may vary, but in a preferred case the base layer 28 is made of relatively heavy paper such as, for example, paper of eighty pound stock giving zit a thickness of 8 to 10 mils.The layer 30 of sign material is preferably made of a colored flexible plastic, such as polyvinylchloride, having a thickness on the order of 2to 4 mils,thetop layer 32 being preferably made of paper substantially thinnerthan the thickness of the base layer 28, such thickness being on the order of 2to 3 mils.
As seen in Figure 2the base layerhasafirstface38 and a second face 40; the layer of sign material has a first face 42 and a second face 44; and the top layer 32 has afirst face 46 and a second face 48; all ofthe first faces 38,42 and 46 facing downwardly and all of the second faces 40,44 and 48 facing upwardly.
When the plastic sheet material used for the layer of sign material 30 has different finishes on its faces preferably the better appearing face is the one chosen to be the face 42 as this is the face seen in the finished sign. For instance, a commonly available polyvinylchloride sheet usable for the layer 30 has one relatively smooth or glossy face and one less smooth, non-glossy face, and in this case the glossy face is preferably chosen to be the face 42.
The faces 40 and 42 are the adherents forthe adhesive layer 34 and the faces 44 and 46 the adher entsforthe adhesive layer 36. The adhesives used for the layers 34 and 36 are permanently tacky or pressure-sensitive ones such as any one of a number of wel I-known synthetic rubber-based materials.
With regard to the adhesive layer 34, the adhesive used for this layer and the associated adherent faces 40 and 42 are so related that the adhesive bonds more strongly to the face 40 than to the face 42.
Further, the interface between the adhesive layer 34 and the face 42 is such thatthe sign material of the layer 30 may be peeled from the adhesive layer 34 with the adhesive in the course of such peeling coming entirely free from the surface 42 and remaining on the surface 40 of the base layer 28. This type of interface or release property between the face 42 and the adhesive layer 44 may be obtained in part by using as the layer of sign material 30 a sheet having a relatively glossy or smooth surface fortheface 42. In addition to or as an alternative to having the face 42 being a glossy one it may also be coated with afilm of release agent such as a silicone material.
As to the adhesive layer 36 and its adherentfaces 44 and 46, the arrangement is such thatthe adhesive bonds more strongly to the face 44 than to the face 46, the face 46 being peelable from the adhesive layer 36 with the adhesive of the layer in the course of such peeling coming entirely free of the face 46 and remaining on the face 44. To provide this type of interface or release property ofthe face 46 relative to the adhesive layer 36 the face 46 is preferably coated with a fiim of silicone material or other suitable release agent.
In addition to the adhesive layers 34 and 36 being related to their adherent surfaces as described above, the adhesive of the layer 36 is so selected, that when a portion of the adhesive layer 36 is exposed by removing an overlying portion ofthetop layer 32 and the exposed portion of the adhesive layer 36 is then adhered to a supporting surface, the bonding force between the supporting surface and the adhesive layer 36 and the bonding force between the adhesive layer 36 and the face 44 will be greater than the bonding force between the adhesive layer 34 and the face 42. To aid in achieving this relationship of bonding strengths the adhesive layer 36 may be made to be more tacky than the adhesive layer 34. This can be done by using adhesives ofdifferenttackinessforthe layers 34 and 36, or it may also be achieved by using the same adhesive for both layers but making the layer 34 a relatively thin layer in which the adhesive issparselydistributed and the layer 36 a relatively thick layer using more adhesive per unit area. The desired relationship of bonding strengths may also be obtained orenhanced by providing thefirstface 42 ofthe layer of sign material with a film of release agent or otherwise conditioning itsoastoyielda very low bonding strength between the face 42 and the adhesive layer 34, thereby making the layer of sign material easily strippable from the adhesive layer 34.
Figure 3 in addition to showing the construction of the web 10 further shows the typical degree of penetration ofthe blade 14when cutting shapes in the web 10. From this it can be seen thatthe blade 14 penetrates completely through the top layer 32 and the layer30 of sign material, as well as completely through the two adhesive layers 34 and 36, but itoniy partially, if at all, penetrates the base layer 28. Therefore, when the blade 14 traces a given closed shape on the web 10 it cuts such shape from boththetop layer 10 and from the layer 30 of sign material and leaves the base layer 28 intact.
Reference is now madeto Figures 4to 7 for a discussion of the manner in which the previously described web 10 is used to construct a sign on a given supporting surface. The first step, as shown in Figure 4, is to cut one or more characters, such as the illustrated characters 50,50, using the blade 14. The shapes are cut to be the reverse or mirror images of the desired shapes as viewed in Figure 4. The blade 14 is applied from a position above the top layer32 and as previously indicated in Figure 3 extends entirelythrough the top layer 32 and layer 30 of sign material during the cutting process and penetrates only slightly if at all the base layer 28.As a resultthe cut characters 50,50 which appearinthetop layer32 are completely separated from the remainder of the top layer 32, and likewise the same characters which are cut in the layer 30 of sign material are completely freed from the remainder ofthe layer of sign material. These characters are held in place by the uncut base layer 28 and adhesive layer 34.
Afterthe characters 50,50 are cut as shown inFigure 4,the portions ofthe top layer 32 defining the characters are removed or "weeded" from the layer to expose the underlying portions of the adhesive layer 36. Tweezers or a pointed pick-type tool may conveniently be used to efficiently perform this weeding step.
After the weeding the web 10 appears as shown inFigure 5, and it is then transferred to and laid against a supporting surface 52, as shown in Figure 6, with the exposed portions of the adhesive layer 36 facing the supporting surface 52. The characters 50,50 cut from the layer 30 of sign material are then firmly adhered to the supporting surface by pressing the web 10 againstthe supporting surface by means of a force supplied to the base layer 28 in the area overlying the characters 50,50. This may be done by pres sing the base layer 28 with the thumb or finger ofthe useror by burnishing the base layer 28 using a bur- nishing tool such as the one illustrated at 54.It will be understood thatthe purpose of the pressing or bur- nishing isto bring the exposed portionsoftheadhesive layer 36 into firm adhering contact with the supporting surface 52 so that the cut characters, 50,50 of the layer 30 of sign material become strongly bonded to the supporting surface. In this step the re mainderofthetop layer32 serves as a maskto prevent any undesired part of the adhesive layer 36 from contacting and becoming bonded to the supporting surface.
The last step in the construction of the sign, as shown in Figure 7, isto peel the web lOfrom the sup- porting surface 52 leaving behind the cut characters 50,50 from the layer 30 of sign material . As noted previously the bonding forces between the two layers of adhesive 34 and 36 and the involved adherent surfaces are such thatthis transferral will occur. If need be or desired, afterthe characters 50, 50 are transferred to the supporting surface 52 as shown in Figure 7they may be pressed again toward the supporting surface using a roller or other pressing means to obtain a still stronger bond.
Another important advantage ofthe invention which should be noted is that in using the described web l0andtheprocedureofFigures4to7forapply- ing the cut characters to a supporting surface the charactersastheyfinallyappearonthesupporting surface 52 will have the same spacing, orientation and other relationship to one another as they do in the initially cut web of Figure 4. Therefore, there is no need, as in the making of signs by some prior art procedures, to accurately align, space and orient characters one by one as they are applied tothesupport- ing surface.