Method of forming a sheet of printable media

• US 20030150550A1
• Filed: 02/13/2003
• Published: 08/14/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ccl Label Incorporated (CCL Industries Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Avery Dennison Corporation
• Inventors: Moore, Arthur B., McCarthy, Brian R., Patterson, Charles Thurmond, Weirather, Steven Craig, Cross, Patricia L., Mohan, Sunjay Yedehalli, Scroggs, Tony Lee
• Granted Patent: US 7,288,163 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 156/248
• CPC Class Codes: B42D 15/02 Postcards; Greeting, menu, business or like cards; Letter cards or letter-sheets B42D25/00 takes precedence; envelopes B65D27/00
• CPC Class Codes: B42P 2241/22 Sheets or cards with additional means allowing easy feeding through printers
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 156/1057 Subsequent to assembly of laminae
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 156/1064 Partial cutting [e.g., grooving or incising]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 156/1067 Continuous longitudinal slitting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 156/108 Flash, trim or excess removal
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 156/1082 Partial cutting bonded sandwich [e.g., grooving or incising]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 156/1084 of continuous or running length bonded web
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 156/1085 One web only
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 156/1087 Continuous longitudinal slitting

Abstract

A method of forming printable media including providing a laminate construction which includes (1) a film coated liner having a film layer on a liner and (2) a facestock adhered with an adhesive layer to the film layer of the film coated liner. The facestock, the film layer and the adhesive layer together form a laminate facestock. The facestock is cut to the liner to form facestock cut lines defining at least in part perimeters of printable media. Areas of the liner cover backsides of the facestock cut lines and thereby hold the printable media together for a printing operation on the printable media in a printer or copier and allow the printed media to be removed from the liner after the printing operation into individual printed media.

Claims

1. A sheet of printable media, comprising:

a facestock sheet having first and second sides;

an adhesive layer on said second side;

a film secured on said adhesive layer;

said facestock sheet, said adhesive layer and said film forming a laminate facestock;

a liner sheet having one face and an opposite outer face, said one face being secured on said film;

facestock cut lines on said first side and extending through said laminate facestock and to said liner sheet, and defining at least in part edges of printable media; and

liner-sheet cut lines on said outer face, extending through said liner sheet and to said laminate facestock, and defining liner sheet strips on said laminate facestock.

2. The sheet of claim 1 wherein a strip of said laminate facestock at an edge of said laminate facestock is removed to expose a strip of said liner sheet.

3. The sheet of claim 2 wherein said strip of said liner sheet defines an infeed edge for feeding the sheet of printable media into a vertical feed ink jet printer.

4. The sheet of claim 2 wherein said strip of said liner sheet is approximately ½

inch wide.

5. The sheet of claim 2 wherein one of said facestock cut lines defines an edge of said strip of said liner sheet.

6. The sheet of claim 2 wherein said strip of said liner sheet covers at least one of said facestock cut lines.

7. The sheet of claim 1 wherein said facestock sheet is a glossy cardstock.

8. The sheet of claim 1 wherein at least some of said liner sheet strips are on and cover at least some of said facestock cut lines to hold at least in part said laminate facestock together during a printing operation on said first side by a printer or copier.

9. The sheet of claim 8 wherein alternating ones of said liner sheet strips are removed from said laminate facestock before the printing operation.

10. The sheet of claim 8 wherein the printable media comprise business cards.

11. The sheet of claim 1 wherein said liner sheet strips extend across the width of said laminate facestock, parallel to one another.

12. The sheet of claim 1 wherein at least some of said strips are along and over at least some of said facestock cut lines

13. The sheet of claim 1 wherein said liner-sheet cut lines extend at an angle on said laminate facestock.

14. The sheet of claim 1 wherein said facestock cut lines define a waste border portion of said laminate facestock surrounding said printable media.

15. The sheet of claim 1 wherein a lead-in edge of the sheet is calendered to improve feed of the sheet into the printer or copier.

16. The sheet of claim 1 wherein none of said strips of said liner sheet is removed from said laminate facestock before the sheet is fed into a printer or copier for a printing operation on said first side.

17. The sheet of claim 1 wherein an infeed edge of the sheet is thinner than the body of the sheet.

18. The sheet of claim 1 wherein said adhesive layer comprises a hot melt adhesive, said film is a low density polyethylene film, said liner sheet is a densified kraft liner sheet, and said facestock sheet is an uncoated dry tag sheet.

19. The sheet of claim 18 wherein said hot melt adhesive layer is approximately 0.6 mil thick, said low density polyethylene film is approximately 0.8 mil thick, said densified kraft liner sheet is approximately 3.0 mil thick and said uncoated dry tag sheet is approximately 9.0 mil thick.

20. The sheet of claim 1 wherein said strips include strips of a first width and strips of a second width which is different than the first width.

21. The sheet of claim 1 further comprising a leading-edge cut line on said outer face, through said liner sheet and to said laminate facestock, said leading-edge cut line being disposed about ⅛

to ⅜

inch away from a lead edge of the sheet and extending parallel to the lead edge from one side edge of the sheet to the other, said leading-edge cut line providing flexibility to a lead end of the sheet for feeding the sheet into a printer or copier or transport therethrough.

22. The sheet of claim 21 wherein said laminate facestock at a lead end of the sheet is calendered.

23. The sheet of claim 21 wherein said leading-edge cut line is parallel to said liner-sheet cut lines.

24. The sheet of claim 1 wherein each of said liner sheet strips extends the full width of said laminate facestock.

25. The sheet of claim 1 wherein at least some but not all of said strips are removed from said laminate facestock before said laminate facestock is fed into a printer for a printing operation on said printable media.

26. The sheet of claim 25 wherein said removed strips comprise alternate ones of said strips.

27. The sheet of claim 1 wherein at least some of said liner sheet strips extend only part way across said laminate facestock and are removed from said laminate facestock before the sheet is fed into a printer or copier for a printing operation on said first side.

28. The sheet of claim 27 wherein said at least some of said liner sheet strips include a plurality of pairs of said strips, each pair including a first said strip on a left side of said laminate facestock and a second said strip directly opposite on a right side of said laminate facestock with a central liner strip therebetween.

29. A sheet of printable media, comprising:

a facestock sheet having a front side, a back side, a pair of side edges and first and second end edges;

cut lines through said facestock sheet and defining printable media, said cut lines including a first end cut line proximate to and parallel to said first edge, a second end cut line proximate to and parallel to said second edge, and central cut lines disposed between and parallel to said first and second end cut lines; and

a plurality of liner strips releasably attached to said back side, said liner strips including a first end liner strip;

said first end liner strip covering said first end cut line, extending to both of said first and second side edges and extending to and along said first edge;

said first end liner strip including a first flexibility cut line extending a full length of said first end liner strip; and

said first flexibility cut line being disposed between said first edge and said first cut line and dividing said first end liner strip into two parts.

30. The sheet of claim 29 wherein said facestock sheet is a glossy cardstock.

31. The sheet of claim 29 wherein said liner strips include a second end liner strip, said second end liner strip covering said second end cut line, extending to both of said first and second side edges and extending to and along said second edge, said second end line strip including a second flexibility cut line extending a full length of said second end liner strip, and said second flexibility cut line being disposed between said second edge and said second cut line and dividing said second end liner strip into two parts.

32. The sheet of claim 29 wherein said liner strips are bonded to said back side without adhesive.

33. A sheet of printable media, comprising:

a facestock sheet having a front side, a back side, a pair of side edges, and a pair of end edges;

cut lines through said facestock sheet;

said cut lines including frame cut lines and grid cut lines;

said frame cut lines including a pair of side cut lines spaced in from respective said side edges and parallel thereto and a pair of end cut lines spaced in from respective said end edges, both of said end cut lines engaging both of said side cut lines, and none of said side and end cut lines engaging any of said sheet edges;

said frame cut lines separating said facesheet stock into a central area and a frame encircling said central area;

said grid cut lines defining a grid disposed in said central area;

said grid cuI lines and said frame cut lines separating said central area into a plurality of rectangular printable cards; and

a plurality of liner strips releasably secured to said back side parallel to one another;

said liner strips including first strips and second strips;

said first strips including end first strips and central first strips;

said end first strips covering both of said end cut lines;

said central first strips covering all of respective said cut lines of said grid cut lines parallel to said end cut lines;

said second strips being positioned between and parallel to said first strips; and

each of said second strips at both ends thereof extending beyond said side cut lines.

34. The sheet of claim 33 wherein said first strips define wide strips and said second strips define thin strips having thinner widths than said wide strips.

35. The sheet of claim 34 wherein one of said end wide strips extends out beyond an edge of said facestock sheet and along said edge to define a printer infeed end of the sheet.

36. The sheet of claim 35 wherein the sheet includes an opposite end opposite to said printer infeed end, and said facestock sheet is calendered along said opposite end.

37. The sheet of claim 36 wherein said printer infeed end defines a printer infeed end for feeding the sheet into a vertical feed printer and said opposite end defines a printer infeed end for feeding the sheet into a horizontal feed printer.

38. The sheet of claim 35 wherein said one of said end wide strips extends out about ½

inch along said edge.

39. The sheet of claim 35 wherein said one of said end wide strips covers one of said frame cut lines on a back side of said facestock sheet.

40. The sheet of claim 34 wherein said facestock sheet has on said front side a first calendered end between one said edge and said end cut line closest thereto and a second calendered end between the other said edge and the other said end cut line.

41. The sheet of claim 34 wherein said facestock sheet is a glossy cardstock.

42. The sheet of claim 34 wherein both ends of said thin strips and of said central wide strips are spaced a distance inwardly from adjacent said side edges.

43. The sheet of claim 42 wherein both ends of both of said end wide strips engage respective said side edges.

44. The sheet of claim 34 wherein said thin strips are each approximately ¼

inch wide and said wide strips are each approximately ¾

inch wide.

45. The sheet of claim 34 wherein said facestock sheet comprises a dry tag sheet.

46. The sheet of claim 34 wherein said liner strips comprise densified bleached kraft liner strips.

47. The sheet of claim 34 wherein both of said end wide strips include flexibility cut lines extending therethrough and to but not into said back side, each of said flexibility cut lines being positioned between an adjacent said end edge and an adjacent said end cut line and dividing its said end wide strip into two adjacent parallel strips.

48. The sheet of claim 34 wherein each said liner strip is spaced a distance from adjacent said liner strips, two of said thin strips are positioned between each pair of said wide strips, and each of said thin wide strips and said central wide strips has rounded corners.

49. A sheet of printable media, comprising:

a dry laminate facestock including (1) a facestock sheet having first and second sides, (2) an adhesive layer on said second side, and (3) a film layer on said adhesive layer;

facestock cut lines on said first side, through said laminate facestock and defining at least in part perimeter edges of printable media; and

liner strips adhered to a back side of said film layer, and engaging at least in part said facestock cut lines to thereby hold the printable media together as said laminate facestock is fed into and passed through a printer or copier and a printing operation is performed on the printable media to form printed media.

50. The sheet of claim 49 wherein one of said liner strips is positioned along an edge of said laminate facestock and extends out therefrom and therealong.

51. The sheet of claim 50 wherein said one of said liner strips defines a thin infeed edge of the sheet of printable media for feeding the sheet into a vertical feed printer.

52. The sheet of claim 51 wherein an edge of said laminate facestock opposite to said infeed edge is calendered to define an infeed edge of the sheet of printable media for feeding the sheet into a horizontal feed printer.

53. The sheet of claim 50 wherein said one of said liner strips extends out from said edge approximately ½

inch.

54. The sheet of claim 49 wherein said facestock sheet is a glossy cardstock.

55. The sheet of claim 49 wherein the printed media are cleanly separable from said liner strips and from each other to define a plurality of individual printed media, each of the individual printed media is a printed business card, and said facestock cut lines define a waste border portion of said laminate facestock which encircles said printable media.

56. The sheet of claim 49 wherein said liner strips are generally parallel to each other and spaced a distance apart from neighboring said liner strips.

57. The sheet of claim 49 wherein said liner strips are positioned at an angle on the back side of said laminate facestock.

58. The sheet of claim 49 wherein each of said liner strips has wavy curving side edges.

59. The sheet of claim 49 wherein said liner strips are immediately adjacent one another along their side edges and together cover the entirety of said back side of said laminate facestock.

60. The sheet of claim 49 wherein said laminate facestock is calendered along a leading edge thereof.

61. The sheet of claim 49 wherein said facestock cut lines define a grid of lines including parallel first cut lines and parallel second cut lines perpendicular to said first cut lines, some of said liner strips cover said second cut lines and other of said liner strips are disposed between adjacent ones of said second cut lines and cross over said first cut lines.

62. A multi-layer sheet construction, comprising:

a face sheet; and

a backing sheet adhered to said face sheet to form a multi-layer sheet having a first edge and an opposite second edge;

said backing sheet extending out a distance past said face sheet along said first edge whereby said first edge defines an infeed edge for feeding said multi-layer sheet construction into a horizontal feed printer; and

said multi-layer sheet is calendered along said second edge whereby said second edge defines an infeed edge for feeding said multi-layer sheet construction into a vertical feed printer.

63. The construction of claim 62 further comprising face-sheet cut lines on a front side of said face sheet, extending therethrough to said backing sheet, and defining at least in part edges of printable media adapted to be printed on by the horizontal feed printer or the vertical feed printer, and wherein said backing sheet along said first edge covers at least one of said face-sheet cut lines.

64. The construction of claim 63 further comprising a layer of adhesive positioned between said face sheet and said backing sheet.

65. The construction of claim 63 wherein said face sheet includes on a back surface thereof a layer of adhesive and a film layer on said layer of adhesive.

66. The construction of claim 63 further comprising an adhesive layer on a back side of said face sheet and a film layer on said adhesive layer, wherein said face sheet is a facestock sheet, wherein said facestock sheet, said adhesive layer and said film layer define a dry laminate facestock, and wherein said backing sheet is a liner sheet.

67. The construction of claim 66 further comprising facestock cut lines on a front side of said laminate facestock and extending through said laminate facestock and to said liner sheet, and defining at least in part edges of printable media adapted to be printed on by the horizontal feed printer or the vertical feed printer.

68. The construction of claim 67 further comprising liner-sheet cut lines on an outer face of said liner sheet, extending through said liner sheet and to said laminate facestock, and defining liner sheet strips on said laminate facestock.

69. The construction of claim 68 wherein at least a substantial number of alternating ones of said strips are removed from said laminate facestock before the multi-layer sheet construction is fed into the horizontal feed printer or the vertical feed printer.

70. The construction of claim 67 wherein said printable media after a printing operation thereon in the horizontal feed printer or the vertical feed printer and the separation from the rest of the multi-layer sheet construction define printed business cards.

71. The construction of claim 67 wherein said adhesive layer is a hot melt adhesive layer, said film is a low density polyethylene film, said liner sheet is a densified bleached kraft liner sheet, and said facestock sheet is an uncoated dry tag sheet.

72. The construction of claim 67 wherein said facestock sheet comprises a glossy cardstock.

73. A method of forming printable media, comprising the steps of:

providing a laminate sheet construction comprising (1) a film-coated liner sheet having a film layer on a liner sheet and (2) a facestock sheet adhered with an adhesive layer to the film layer of the film-coated liner sheet;

the facestock sheet, the film layer and the adhesive layer together forming a laminate facestock;

cutting through the laminate facestock to the liner sheet to form facestock cut lines defining at least in part perimeters of printable media; and

cutting through an outer face of the liner sheet to form liner-sheet cut lines defining a plurality of liner sheet strips on a back side of the laminate facestock.

74. The method of claim 73 further comprising removing an end strip of the laminate facestock to expose a top surface of a strip of an end one of the liner sheet strips, the exposed strip defining a printer infeed end of the laminate sheet construction.

75. The method of claim 74 wherein the printer infeed end defines a first printer infeed end, and further comprising calendering an end of the laminate sheet construction opposite to the exposed strip to define a second printer infeed end of the laminate sheet construction.

76. The method of claim 75 further comprising feeding the laminate sheet construction via the first printer infeed end into a vertical feed ink jet printer.

77. The method of claim 75 further comprising feeding the laminate sheet construction via the second printer infeed end into a horizontal feed ink jet printer.

78. The method of claim 74 wherein said removing step is before said liner sheet cutting step.

79. The method of claim 74 wherein said removing step is after said liner sheet cutting step.

80. The method of claim 73 further comprising removing some of the strips from the laminate facestock before feeding the laminate facestock into a printer or copier for a printing operation thereon.

81. The method of claim 80 wherein said removing includes peeling said some of the strips off of the film layer.

82. The method of claim 80 wherein the strips remaining on the laminate facestock after said removing step cover at least a substantial proportion of the facestock cut lines.

83. The method of claim 80 wherein said removing includes removing alternate ones of the strips.

84. The method of claim 73 further comprising feeding the laminate facestock through a printer or copier for a printing operation on the facestock sheet to print on the printable media and thereby form printed media.

85. The method of claim 84 further comprising after the printing operation, removing the printed media from the strips.

86. The method of claim 85 wherein said removing step includes peeling the printed media off of the strips.

87. The method of claim 86 wherein the removed printed media comprise individual, printed clean edge business cards.

88. The method of claim 84 wherein said feeding step includes automatically individually feeding the laminate facestock in a stack of same from an automatic feed tray of the printer and into the printer.

89. The method of claim 73 wherein the liner-sheet strips extend diagonally on the back of the laminate facestock.

90. The method of claim 73 wherein the liner-sheet cut lines have a wavy curved shape across the back of the laminate facestock.

91. The method of claim 73 wherein said liner-sheet cut lines cutting step is after said facestock cut lines cutting step.

92. The method of claim 91 wherein said laminate sheet construction providing step includes cutting the laminate sheet construction off of a web of laminate sheet construction material.

93. The method of claim 73 wherein said facestock cut lines define the entire perimeters of all of the printable media.

94. The method of claim 73 wherein said cutting steps both comprise die cutting.

95. The method of claim 73 wherein said cutting steps both comprise laser cutting.

96. The method of claim 73 wherein the liner sheet comprises a densified bleached kraft paper liner sheet, and the film layer comprises a low density polyethylene layer which is extrusion coated on the densified bleached kraft paper liner sheet.

97. The method of claim 73 wherein the adhesive layer comprises hot melt pressure sensitive adhesive, and the facestock sheet is laminated with the adhesive layer to the film layer of the film-coated liner sheet.

98. The method of claim 73 wherein the laminate sheet construction is provided in a roll, and further comprising before said cutting steps, loading the roll onto a press with the liner sheet side up.

99. The method of claim 98 wherein said facestock cut lines cutting step comprises after said loading step, die cutting the laminate sheet construction from the bottom up, and wherein said liner-sheet cut lines cutting step comprises die cutting the laminate sheet construction from the top down.

100. The method of claim 73 further comprising calendering a lead-in edge of the laminate sheet construction.

101. The method of claim 100 wherein said calendering step is before both of said cutting steps.

102. The method of claim 100 wherein said calendering stop includes calendering both a lead-in edge of the liner sheet and of the facestock sheet.

103. The method of claim 73 further comprising after both of said cutting steps, feeding the laminate facestock into an ink jet printer for a printing operation on the facestock sheet and thereby forming a sheet of printed media.

104. The method of claim 73 wherein at least one of said cutting steps includes laser cutting.

105. A method of forming sheets of printable media, comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a roll of a web of dry laminate sheet construction comprising a liner sheet on a facestock sheet;

(b) unwinding the web from the roll;

(c) calendering an edge of the unwound web;

(d) die cutting the facestock sheet of the unwound web without cutting the liner sheet to form outline perimeters of printable media;

(e) die cutting the liner sheet of the unwound web without cutting the facestock sheet to form liner strips;

(f) after step (e), removing at least some but not all of the liner strips from the web; and

(g) after steps (c), (d), (e) and (f), sheeting the web into sheets.

106. The method of claim 105 further comprising removing an end strip of the facestock sheet to expose a top surface of a strip of the liner sheet.

107. The method of claim 106 wherein the exposed liner sheet strip is opposite to the calendered edge.

108. The method of claim 107 further comprising feeding the sheet with the exposed liner sheet strip first into a vertical feed printer.

109. The method of claim 107 further comprising feeding the sheet with the calendered edge first into a horizontal feed printer.

110. The method of claim 105 wherein step (c) is before steps (d) and (e).

111. The method of claim 110 wherein step (d) is before step (e).

112. The method of claim 105 wherein step (c) is after steps (d) and (e).

113. The method of claim 105 wherein the removed liner strips of step (f) form a waste liner matrix from the web, and step (f) includes winding the waste liner matrix on a roll.

114. The method of claim 105 further comprising after step (g), stacking the sheets in a stack and packaging the stack in a package.

115. The method of claim 105 further comprising after step (b) and before step (g), printing indicia on the facestock sheet.

116. The method of claim 115 wherein the indicia includes product code indicia and manufacturer indicia.

117. The method of claim 115 wherein said printing step is before steps (c), (d) and (e).

118. The method of claim 115 wherein said printing step is with the facestock sheet facing up and the liner sheet facing down, and after said printing step, turning the web so that the liner sheet is facing up.

119. The method of claim 105 wherein steps (c), (d), (e) and (f) are with the web disposed with the liner sheet facing up and the facestock sheet facing down.

120. A method of forming a printable media sheet construction, comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a sheet construction including a liner sheet and a facestock sheet;

(b) cutting the facestock sheet without cutting the liner sheet to form printable media;

(c) cutting the liner sheet without cutting the facestock sheet to form a plurality of spaced liner strips on the facestock sheet and a web of interconnected liner waste strips between the spaced liner strips; and

(d) after step (c), removing the web as a single unit from off of the facestock sheet.

121. The method of claim 120 further comprising (e) removing an end strip of the facestock sheet to expose a printer infeed end strip of the liner sheet.

122. The method of claim 121 wherein step (e) is after steps (b) and (c).

123. The method of claim 121 wherein step (e) is before steps (b) and (c).

124. The method of claim 121 further comprising (f) calendering an edge of the facestock sheet opposite to the end strip of the liner sheet.

125. The method of claim 120 wherein step (d) includes winding the web on a roll.

126. The method of claim 120 wherein step (c) is after step (b).

127. The method of claim 120 further comprising (e) calendering opposite ends of the sheet construction.

128. A method of forming a printable media sheet construction, comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a multi-layer sheet including a face sheet and a backing sheet adhered to the face sheet, the multi-layer sheet having a first edge and an opposite second edge;

(b) removing an end strip of the face sheet to expose an end strip of the backing sheet along the first edge, the exposed end strip defining a first infeed end of the multi-layer sheet for feeding the multi-layer sheet into a vertical feed printer; and

(c) calendering the opposite second edge to define a second infeed end of the multi-layer sheet for feeding the multi-layer sheet into a horizontal feed printer.

129. The method of claim 128 wherein the multi-layer sheet comprises a vinyl cast on casting sheet.

130. The method of claim 128 wherein the multi-layer sheet comprises a coextrusion of polymers.

131. The method of claim 128 further comprising step (d) feeding the multi-layer sheet into a printer and conducting a printing operation on the face sheet.

132. The method of claim 131 wherein step (d) includes the printer being the vertical feed printer and feeding the multi-layer sheet via the first infeed end into vertical feed printer.

133. The method of claim 132 wherein said feeding comprises automatic stack feeding of the multi-layer sheets.

134. The method of claim 131 wherein step (d) includes the printer being the horizontal feed printer and feeding the multi-layer sheet via the second infeed end into the horizontal feed printer.

135. The method of claim 134 wherein said feeding comprises automatic stack feeding of multi-layer sheets.

136. The method of claim 128 further comprising step (d) forming face-sheet cut lines in the face sheet and to but not into the backing sheet to define printable media.

137. The method of claim 136 wherein step (b) includes removing the strip along one of the face-sheet cut lines.

138. The method of claim 128 wherein the face sheet includes a facestock sheet, an adhesive layer on a back side of the facestock sheet and a film layer on the adhesive layer, and the face sheet, the adhesive layer and the film layer thereby defining a dry laminate facestock.

139. The method of claim 128 wherein step (b) is before step (c).

140. The method of claim 128 wherein step (c) is before step (b).