The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing self-adhesive labels and a self-adhesive label obtainable with the method.

Self-adhesive labels are known to be applied to containers in general and to bottles in particular; they are generally made by printing paper support presenting on the surface intended for application to a bottle from a layer of adhesive material, which until the label is applied to the bottle is coated with a protective layer (glassine), which is removed when the label is applied to the bottle.

The invention addresses the technical problem of proposing a self-adhesive label that can constitute an innovative packaging that can be used indifferently in the field of oenological products, beverages, alcoholic and spirits products and perfumery products and can also be used in secondary packaging. In fact, in all these sectors the tendency to improve the palatability of the product which constitutes the actual object of sale is increasingly spreading not only with a qualitative characterization of the product itself but also with a characterization of its packaging and that is of its methods of presentation to the public.

For this reason, labels have long been proposed that have abandoned the traditional printing of paper supports with colored inks and have adopted alternative techniques, such as relief printing, holographic printing, printing on non-continuous paper support but presenting one or more openings, in correspondence of which a raised portion of the underlying bottle surface is highlighted, etc.

All these printing techniques and the labels obtained with these allow us to achieve an undoubted effect, which certainly gives a tone of refinement to the entire package and also to the product it contains, but generally leads to an aesthetic result of undoubted effectiveness, only from a visual point of view.

US 2006/0083894 discloses an adhesive sheet with an adhesive layer associated with a surface of a flexible substrate, in which both layers have holes in order to allow the aeration of an object I product contained by the substrate.

AU 502 294 describes a method for applying a three-dimensional decorative article to a layer to be used for example in the making of clothes. The method provides for associating said three-dimensional decorative article, which is made of a material resistant to high temperatures, with a substrate, which can decompose at a high temperature, and subsequently laminating this substrate to a support material. However, this solution is not fully satisfactory as it requires the use of materials resistant to high temperatures, as well as involving a great waste of material, since the substrate, on which the three-dimensional decorative article is applied, is lost during the process.

US 8,311 ,660 describes a method for applying a support with an embroidered- like decoration to a fabric garment.

GB 2 335 346 describes a rainproof fabric which has holes.

IT VR 960 108 describes a method for making an embroidered portion on a waterproof fabric. The method involves gluing a waterproofing base on a substrate to be decorated with an adhesive, and subsequently embroidering the waterproofed substrate. However, this solution is not fully satisfactory as it provides to embroider the object after it has been made to adhere to the substrate and this necessarily implies that the substrate is also configured to be embroidered.

The purpose of the invention is to propose a self-adhesive label to be applied to bottles and containers in general which, in addition to characterizing the package and embellishing it, is also suitable for stimulating a particular tactile sensation, which until now the labels are not able to arouse .

Another object of the invention is to propose a self-adhesive label to be applied to bottles and containers in general, which uses manufacturing techniques never used in this technical sector.

Another object of the invention is to propose a self-adhesive label to be applied to bottles and containers in general, which constitutes an alternative to traditional labels.

Another object of the invention is to propose a self-adhesive label to be applied to bottles and containers in general, which can be obtained with traditional equipment.

Another object of the invention is to propose a method for obtaining this self- adhesive label.

All these objects and others that will result from the following description are achieved jointly or separately according to the invention with a method for making self- adhesive labels as defined in claim 1 and with a self-adhesive label obtainable with the method, as defined in claim 12 and with a container according to claim 15.

The present invention is further clarified hereinafter in some of its preferred embodiments reported for purely illustrative and non-limiting purposes with reference to the accompanying table of drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a paper support of a label presenting only printed parts,

Figure 2 shows a paper support of a label presenting only embroidered parts,

Figure 3 shows a label according to the invention, in which a paper support presents both printed parts that from embroidered parts,

Figure 4 schematically shows a printing plant of the n paper star from which the labels according to the invention will be obtained,

Figure 5 schematically shows an embroidery system, Figure 6 schematically shows an adhesive system, and Figure 7 shows a block diagram of an in-line system for obtaining the labels according to the invention.

As can be seen from Figure 3, the self-adhesive label 2 according to the invention is shown in a rectangular shape and is configured to be applied for example to a bottle of wine, but it could also have a different shape and be configured to always be applied to bottles or vials or other types of containers for wines, beverages, spirits or other products, such as perfumes. In particular, the self-adhesive label 2 is therefore configured to be applied to a rigid container which cannot be pierced or tampered with in any way in order not to cause its contents to leak. More specifically, therefore, the container is not made of fabric or non-woven fabric, and therefore the self-adhesive label 2 is configured not to be associated with a fabric or non-woven fabric item.

The label 2 is printed on all or part of its surface with images 4 and I or with writings 6 which can be imaginative or can be descriptive of the product or identifying the quality of the product or methods of use and I or conservation of the product or writings required by the law (fig. 1).

In addition to being printed, certain areas of the label also present an embroidery 8 which creates an ornamental motif in relief which can correspond in whole or in part, or even not correspond to an image printed on the label. Fig. 2 illustrates a support presenting only by embroidered parts 8, although generally in a label, which has both printed and embroidered parts, it is preferable that the printing precedes the embroidering; therefore the image of fig. 2 concerns an incomplete label, as it has no printed parts.

Figure 3 instead illustrates a label 2 which can be thought of as the label of fig. 1 subsequently subjected to embroidery in the parts highlighted in fig. 2. Since the embroidered parts 8, that is worked with a traditional embroidery technique, implies that the print support, which also forms the embroidery base, must be repeatedly pierced for the passage of the embroidery thread, it may be necessary that it be previously treated to be strengthened and to avoid its damage following the storage of the bottle for prolonged periods of time in critical environments, in particular in the fridge or even in buckets with ice.

The invention provides for the use of different types of printing support. One of these is preferably constituted by a "barrier" paper tape 10. With a barrier paper tape for this use we mean a paper tape preferably having a weight between 90 and 140 g / m ² and subjected to a treatment of "mechanical barrier", which in practice consists in the coupling of the paper 10 with a film of synthetic material, having a thickness between 8 pm and 25 pm, preferably between 9 pm and 15 pm, advantageously made of polypropylene, polyethylene or polyester.

Other printing supports can be made of non-woven fabric, made of high-density polythene fibres (HDPE) better known under the trade name Tyvek, produced by DuPont, or of cloth paper or fabric or other support suitable for the purpose.

In any case, the printing support 10 is wound to form a reel 22, which is then subjected to the various treatments.

The reel 22 of tape 10 is first placed in a printing plant 24, preferably in continuous, where the tape is printed with traditional techniques selected each time on the basis of the type of label to be obtained, and with the use of inks and possibly of protective varnishes suitable for the printing techniques adopted (fig. 4).

At the end of this intervention, the continuous tape 26 that leaves the printing system 24 presents on one of its surfaces a continuous sequence of labels 2, still forming part of the tape itself. In this phase, traditional printing techniques with hot or cold foil or dry relief printing or with tactile paints or any other technique suitable to embellish the final print result can be used. The printed tape 26 thus treated and subsequently rewound onto the reel 28 is then transferred to an embroidery system 30 (fig. 5), where certain predefined parts, which may have been previously printed or even not presenting any printing, are subjected to an embroidery treatment.

This can be done with embroidery thread made of polyester, rayon, viscose, wool, cotton, nylon in various counts or the like. However, if the label is intended to be applied, for example, to bottles of white wine, which are intended to be stored in critical environments, such as for example an ice bucket or cold water or in the fridge or in another humid environment, it is advisable that the thread, with which the embroidery is carried out, is synthetic, which unlike a natural thread allows to keep the embroidery intervention unchanged even in case of permanence for prolonged periods in critical environments.

During the execution of the embroidery, additional accessory processes are also foreseeable, if required, such as the application to the label of pieces of fabric, sequins, beads or other materials supplementary to the embroidery with the aim of embellishing the embroidery itself.

After the embroidery treatment the tape 32 thus obtained is rewound to form a new reel 34, which may require its rewinding on a control table before being transferred to an adhesive system 36 (fig. 6. In this adhesive system a double-sided adhesive tape 38 which presents, on both sides, a layer of gluing substance and is covered on both sides by a protective tape of the type that can be easily removed from the respective adhesive layer is applied to the printed and embroidered tape 32. During the coupling one of the two protective tapes is removed to reveal the underlying adhesive layer, through which the tape 38 is applied to the tape 32, while the other protective tape remains applied to the tape 38 to prevent other objects from sticking to it. Preferably, the double-sided adhesive tape 38 can be constituted by an acrylic-based or rubber-based glue and the protection tape can be made of silicone paper (glassine) or plastic film. In some cases it is also provided to reinforce the double-sided adhesive layer by applying a further layer of plastic film to the protective tape.

Finally, the composite tape 40 thus obtained is sent to a punching plant 42, which separates the individual labels 2 and prepares them for separation before the whole is rewound to form a new reel 44, which after having been possibly unwound in a table control and be subjected to further checks to eliminate any waste, it is rewound based on the parameters required by the user and transferred to them.

If in particular the labels are intended to be applied to wine bottles, the reel 44 is transferred to the bottler, which can be equipped with a traditional bottling, capping and labeling system, where the individual bottles are filled, corked and then labeled.

The final result is a bottle to which a label 2 is applied which is partly printed and partly embroidered, in the sense that it highlights a part of its surface presenting an embroidery which can replace or integrate particular printed motifs. In this way the label gives a particular characterization to the bottle itself, whose label not only highlights visual qualities, which in any case an embroidery design confers, but also tactile qualities, given that the presence of the embroidery is appreciable even when the hand holds the bottle.

Furthermore, the particular technique adopted and the choices of particular materials both for the label and for the printing inks and for the particular embroidery threads used allow to obtain a stable product over time and resistant even to severe environmental conditions, in which the bottle equipped with a label according to the invention can be destined to be kept even for long periods of time.

In the example just described, the various operations that lead to obtaining the embroidered labels and which by their nature are heterogeneous, are carried out with distinct systems located in distinct places and this inevitably requires that after each operation the tape is rewound in reel to be transferred from one plant to another. The invention also provides that the various operations can be carried out in whole or in part with a single plant made up of several machines arranged in line, so that rewinding of the tape on the reel after carrying out each of the different operations is avoided.

Figure 7 illustrates a plant with the various machines in line, identified with the same numerical references used to identify them in the separate plants previously described.

As it clearly appears from what has been said, the method according to the invention is particularly advantageous in that it allows to obtain, in a simple and economical way, labels with a high aesthetic value, which can be applied to containers of valuable products.

In particular, unlike US 2006/083894, AU 84939 75, US 8 311 660, GB 2 335 346, and IT VR 960 108, the method described here can be implemented to obtain labels to be applied to a substantially rigid container, such as a bottle of wine or a bottle of perfume, and more generally to a container that must not and cannot be pierced when the label is embroidered.