LABEL

This invention relates to a labelstock for producing a master roll of printed labels, a method for producing a master roll of printed labels from a labelstock and an apparatus for producing a master roll of printed labels from a labelstock. The invention has a particular application utilising pressure sensitive adhesive labelstock, and it will be convenient to hereinafter describe the invention with reference to this particular application.

Pressure sensitive adhesive has a range of uses including in the attachment of labels to consumer goods. The labels are printed onto a top surface of a facestock material. The adhesive is applied to the bottom surface of the facestock so that it can be attached to the goods.

It is often convenient at least from a printing perspective for the labels to be printed from a roll of material. The roll allows for a feed end of the material to be fed through the printing press, and attached to a draw spool to draw the material through the press. In this regard it is often convenient for the facestock to be attached to a liner. The liner provides a carrier on which the facestock can sit, while the liner is drawn through the printing press. The combination of a liner, adhesive and facestock is referred to as labelstock. Throughout this specification labelstock that has been passed through the printing press and wound onto a roll will be referred to as a master roll.

The adhesive is generally applied to the bottom surface of the facestock and then located on the liner. It should therefore be appreciated that the top surface of the liner will need to have a release layer thereon, in order to allow separation of the label from the liner prior to attaching to the consumer goods. A siliconised layer applied to the top surface of the liner has been found suitable for acting as a release layer. The siliconised layer may be applied or laminated onto the liner. A labelstock supplier will generally manufacture the labelstock in this format for transportation to the printer. Once the printer has processed the labelstock to form a master roll, the master roll is transported to a different site for attaching the label to the consumer goods. The liner enables the labels to be conveniently transported in a roll, particularly where the labels are formed as discontinuous facestock. Furthermore the labelling machine technology has been developed around drawing the liner past a separator in the labelling machine to separate the label from the liner. Once the liner is separated from the facestock and the label attached to the consumer goods, the liner forms a waste by-product. A few labelstock manufacturers do offer to take back the liner which is often pulped and reused. However it is often difficult for the labelstock manufacturers to be proactive in the recovery of the liners. Once the labelstock has been sold to the printer, the labelstock manufacturer looses track of the liner, and they is unlikely to know where the master roll is sent. Accordingly substantially all of the waste liner ends up as general waste rubbish.

A reference herein to a patent document or other matter which is given as prior art is not to be taken as an admission that that document or matter was, in Australia, known or that the information it contains was part of the common general knowledge as at the priority date of any of the claims.

According to a first aspect of this invention there is provided this invention there is provided a labelstock for producing a master roll of printed labels, the labelstock including a facestock having a top surface for receiving a printed layer thereon and a bottom surface, a transparent liner having a top surface and a bottom surface, the transparent liner releasably attachable to the bottom surface of the facestock while the facestock is being printed, the transparent liner being detached from the bottom surface of the facestock after printing and attachable to the top surface of the facestock. It is preferred that the transparent liner includes a silicon layer adjacent its top surface. It is further preferred that the labelstock include a first adhesive layer positioned between the silicon layer of the transparent liner and the bottom surface of the facestock. It is further preferred that the first adhesive layer is a pressure sensitive adhesive. It is preferred that the facestock has a thickness within the range of 1 5 to

100 micron. It is further preferred that the facestock have a thickness within the range of 15 to 30 micron.lt is further preferred that the transparent liner has a thickness within the range of 8 to 65 micron. It is still further preferred that the liner is formed from a plastics material. It is still further preferred that the plastics material is a polyolefin. It is still further preferred that the polyolefin is a polyester, polyethylene, polyvinylchloride or polypropylene. It is still further preferred that the facestock is formed from a cellulose, plastics or metal foil material. It is still further preferred that the plastics material is a polyolefin. It is still further preferred that the liner is form from a plastics material

It is preferred that the facestock is a continuous web. Alternatively it is preferred that the facestock is a discontinuous web to produce portions of web, the portions of web corresponding to size of each label.

According to another aspect of this invention there is provided a method of forming a master roll of labels from a labelstock including providing a roll of labelstock having a facestock, a transparent liner and a first adhesive layer between a bottom surface of the facestock and the transparent liner, separating the transparent liner from the adhesive layer, and attaching the transparent liner to a top surface of the facestock, winding the liner and facestock about a spool to form the master roll.

It is preferred that the method include printing a label to the top surface of the facestock before attaching the transparent liner to the top surface of the facestock. It is further preferred that the method include applying a second adhesive layer to the top surface of the facestock before attaching the transparent liner to the facestock. It is still further preferred that the method include applying a second adhesive layer to a bottom surface of the transparent line before attaching the transparent liner to the facestock. It is still further preferred that the method include curing the second adhesive layer to laminate the liner to the facestock. It is still further preferred that the method include the transparent liner having a silicon layer adjacent a top surface which is oriented to be adjacent the adhesive layer prior to printing and spaced from the adhesive layer by the transparent liner when attached to the top surface of the facestock. According to further still another aspect of this invention there is provided an apparatus for producing a master roll of printed labels from labelstock, the labelstock including facestock located on an transparent liner the apparatus including, printing means for printing a layer on a top surface of the facestock, separation means for separating the liner from the facestock and attachment means for attaching the liner to the top surface of the facestock.

It is preferred that the attachment means includes means for applying an adhesive between the top surface of the facestock and the liner. It is further preferred that the attachment means includes a press for bringing the liner into engagement with the top surface of the facestock. It is preferred that the apparatus include curing means for curing the adhesive applied to the top surface of the facestock. It is further preferred that the labelstock liner includes a silicon layer on its top surface and the facestock includes a pressure sensitive adhesive layer on its bottom surface which engages the silicon layer, the apparatus including guide means for guiding the liner after it has been separated by the separation means so that the liner spaces the silicon layer from the top surface of the facestock when the liner is attached to the top surface of the facestock. It is still further preferred that the guide means includes a plurality of rollers for guiding the liner as it moves from the separation means.

It will be convenient to hereinafter describe the invention in greater detail with reference to the attached illustration of a preferred embodiment of the invention. The particularity of the drawings and related description are not to be understood as superseding the generality of the broad definition of the invention as provided by the claims.

Figure 1 is a schematic illustration of a printing press portion of an apparatus according to one aspect of the invention, with schematic illustrations of cross-sections of labelstock processed by the printing press. Figure 2 is a schematic illustration of a separator portion of the apparatus according to one aspect of the invention, with schematic illustrations of cross- sections of the labelstock processed by the separator.

Figure 3 is a schematic illustration of an attachment portion of the apparatus according to one aspect of the invention, with schematic illustrations of cross-sections of the printed labelstock processed by the attachment portion.

Figure 4 is a schematic illustration of a cross-sectional of a portion of the master roll of linerless printed labels. One aspect of this invention relates to a labelstock 1 for producing a master roll of printed labels. A cross section of a preferred embodiment of the labelstock 1 for producing the master roll is illustrated on the left hand side of Figure 1 . In summary it includes a facestock 2 located on top of a transparent liner 3. The facestock 2 includes a bottom surface 4 which has a first adhesive layer 5 applied thereto. The first adhesive layer 5 is preferably a pressure sensitive adhesive so that in use the label can be attached to the consumer goods. The transparent liner 3 includes a top surface 6 which has a release layer 7 applied thereto. It is preferred that the release layer 7 be formed from silicone however other materials may also be suitable. The silicon layer 7 is engaged by the pressure sensitive adhesive layer 5 so as to allow the facestock 2 to be easily separated from the transparent liner 3. Whilst only a cross section of the labelstock 1 is illustrated, it should be appreciated that the labelstock is supplied for printing in the form of a roll. Further aspects of this invention relate to a method and apparatus of forming the master roll of labels from the labelstock 1 . The method preferably includes printing an image 8 on to a top surface 9 of the facestock, however the image may be supplied and/or applied in another manner. The apparatus according to the invention preferably includes a printing press identified at station P of Figure 1 for applying the image 8. The image 8 appears as a layer on the top surface 9 of the facestock 2 of the cross-section of the labelstock 1 illustrated on the right hand side of Figure 1 .

The method according to the one aspect of the invention preferably includes transferring the printed labelstock 1 from the printer P to a separator S. It can be appreciated from Figure 2 that the separator S separates the transparent liner 3 from the printed facestock 2. Whilst the facestock 2 illustrated in Figure 2 is continuous, it may alternatively be discontinuous to form separate label portions. Where the facestock 2 is discontinuous the apparatus may need to incorporate components to transfer the individual portions of the label.

The transparent liner 3 that was used to transfer the facestock 2 past the printing press P is subsequently used as a protective layer over the printed image 8. Figure 3 illustrates locating the transparent liner 3 on the printed image 8 on the top surface 9 of the facestock 2. It is preferred that a second layer of adhesive 10 is applied prior to locating the transparent liner 3 on the top surface

9 of the facestock. This could be achieved in any suitable manner and in the preferred embodiment illustrated in Figure 3 an adhesive station A applies the second layer of adhesive 10 to the printed layer 8. It ought to be appreciated from the cross-sectional schematic illustrated in the left hand side of Figure 3 that the orientation of the transparent liner 3 has been reversed so that the silicone layer 7 is on an opposing surface to the transparent liner 3 to that which is located adjacent the second adhesive layer 10. The second adhesive layer is preferably a relatively permanent form of adhesive so that the transparent liner is permanently attached to the facestock 2 as illustrated in the schematic cross- section on the right hand side of Figure 3. The apparatus may include a drying or curing station C which again can be appreciated from Figure 3 for facilitating the attachment of the transparent liner 3 to the facestock 2. The transparent liner 3 according to the invention is transparent so as to allow the image of the printed layer 8 to be viewed though the transparent liner 3. It is preferred that the silicone layer 7 be oriented on the top surface 6 of the transparent liner 3 when the transparent liner is attached to the facestock 2 by the second adhesive layer 10 so as not to interfere with the adhesion. The transparent liner 3 and facestock 2 may be of any suitable thickness. A thickness in the range of 15 to 100 micron for the facestock 2 and 8 to 65 micron for the transparent liner 3 may be suitable however the range of 15 to 30 micron for each is more suitable.

The transparent liner 3 may be formed from any suitable transparent material. It is preferred that the material be a plastics material as this is found to be most durable. Plastics materials and in particular polyolefin's such as polyester, polyvinylchloride and polypropylene have been found suitable.

The facestock 2 may be formed from any suitable material, and in this regard facestock formed from cellulose, plastics such as polyolefin, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyester, polyvinylchloride or metal foil materials have been found suitable.

Figure 4 illustrates in cross-section a portion of the master roll of linerless printed labels 1 1 and it ought to be appreciated from Figure 4 that the silicone layer 7 on the top surface of the transparent liner 3 acts as a release layer 7 for the pressure sensitive adhesive 5 on the bottom surface of the facestock 2. In this manner the material can be wound on to and off a roll which facilitates handling. It ought to be appreciated from the foregoing description that the labelstock 1 , apparatus and method as hereinbefore described utilises the transparent liner 3 as a value added component of the master roll 1 1 rather than it being a waste by-product. Attaching the transparent liner 3 to the printed layer 8 of the facestock 2 protects the printed layer 8, particularly once the label is attached to the consumer goods. The facestock 2 used can be of thinner gauge to current facestock 2 as it will be adhered to the transparent liner 3 when forming the label. The resultant label will have similar strength and rigidity properties compared to thicker standard facestock 2 giving it a higher commercial value. The use of thinner gauge facestock 2 results in the diameter of the rolls being smaller, which reduces transport costs and can produce efficiencies on the printing press and application machinery.

Various alterations and/or additions may be introduced to the invention as hereinbefore described without departing from the spirit or ambit of the invention. Future patent applications may be filed in Australia or overseas on the basis of or claiming priority from the present application. Features may be added to or omitted from the claims at a later date so as to further define or redefine the invention.