Abstract:
A novel bag tag comprises an elongated strip of material formed from a facestock and heavily bonded to a tear resistant liner. Some, but not all of the liner is removable on our end of the strip so that the two ends of the strip can be adhesively joined together for attaching the tag to a piece of luggage. The non-removable portion of liner remains in place to prevent tearing of the tag on the end bearing the adhesive layer.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a novel tag useful for tagging luggage and in other tagging applications. 
     In order to ensure that passenger luggage reaches its proper destination, the airline industry typically affixes a “bag tag” to each piece of checked luggage. A standard bag tag takes the form of a flat, elongated (e.g. 2″ by 19″) strip of material which is marked with the intended destination of the luggage. Normally, the tag is attached to the luggage by inserting one end of the strip through the luggage handle and then securing the two ends of the tag together by means of a pressure sensitive adhesive. To prevent the adhesive from bonding prematurely, a liner is provided as a covering for the adhesive layer. When the tag is to be used, a portion of the liner is peeled off the remainder of the tag, thereby exposing the adhesive. Usually, the liner is printed with a code or other indicia such that the liner also serves as a claim check for reclaiming the checked luggage. 
     FIGS. 1 to  3  herein illustrate the structure of a typical bag tag in use today. As shown in FIG. 1, laminate  20  from which the bag tag is made is composed of flexible paper or plastic liner  22 , paper facestock  24  and reinforcing layer  26  therebetween. One side of reinforcing layer  26  is adhesively bonded to facestock  24  by means of adhesive layer  28 , while the other side of reinforcing layer  26  is adhesively bonded to liner  22  by means of adhesive layer  32 . Release layer  34  is provided between liner  22  and adhesive layer  32  to allow liner  22  to be peeled off of reinforcing layer  26 , thereby exposing the adhesive of adhesive layer  32 . 
     FIG. 2 illustrates the backside (i.e. the liner side) of a bag tag made from the laminate of FIG.  1 . As shown in this figure, bag tag  36  is composed of body section  38 , projecting section  40  and attachment section  42 . Liner  22  of the laminate is subdivided by cut  43  so that the portion  44  of liner  22  in attachment section  42  is removable, thereby exposing the adhesive of adhesive layer  32 . Unique indicia  46 , which matches the same indicia on the reverse side of the tag (not shown), is provided so that removable liner portion  44  also serves as a claim check. The reverse side of tag  36  in projecting section  40  is also provided with indicia (not shown) identifying the intended destination of the bag. In modern bag tags, this indicia is usually thermally printed on the tag at the check in or baggage counter when the customer checks his luggage. 
     FIG. 3 illustrates the bag tag of FIG. 2 when attached to a bag or other piece of luggage. FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view similar to FIG.  1  and shows the tag of FIG. 2 secured to the handle  48  of a piece of luggage. To secure bag tag  36  in place, one end of the bag tag, either before or after removal of removable liner portion  44 , is inserted through the handle of the luggage piece. Then, the two ends of the tag are brought together, after removable liner portion  44  has been peeled off, and compressed by hand. This causes projecting section  40  and attachment section  42  of the tag to adhesively bond together thereby forming conjoined web  50 , with body section  38  of the tag forming a closed loop around handle  48  of the luggage piece for securely attaching tag  36  in place. 
     Bag tags made from elongated strips of material are often subjected to significant physical abuse in normal use conditions. As a result, they are prone to tear, particularly in a tearing zone  52  located as shown in FIG. 3 in the portion of attachment section  42  proximate body section  38  of the tag. In particular, tag  36  tends to tear in a tearing zone  52  which is defined by the portion of attachment section  42  where liner  22  has been removed and which extends between the end  43  of liner  22  and the point  45  where reinforcing layer  26  of attachment section  42  bonds to liner  22  of projecting section  40 . 
     In order to prevent bag tags from tearing, particularly in the tearing zones, it is customary to make reinforcing layer  26  from a tear resistant material arranged to extend along the entire length of the tag. For example, in one conventional bag tag of the type illustrated in FIGS. 1 to  3 , reinforcing layer  26  of the tag (FIG. 1) is made from a material known as Valeron®. This material is composed of a laminate of two mono-axially oriented polypropylene layers bonded together such that the directions of orientation of the co-laminated layers are arranged approximately 90° with respect to one another. In another conventional bag tag of this type, reinforcing layer  26  is made from Tyvek® which is a spunbond polyethylene available from DuPont. Valeron® and Tyvek® exhibit a high degree of tear resistance in all directions. Accordingly, bag tags having the structure illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, when made with a Valeron® or Tyvek® reinforcing layer  26 , exhibit a high degree of tear resistance since they include at least one reinforcing layer along their entire lengths. 
     Although conventional bag tags such as illustrated in FIGS. 1 to  3  perform adequately, especially when made from tear resistant materials, they are relatively complicated in structure and hence relatively expensive to manufacture. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a bag tag exhibiting comparable performance properties particularly in terms of tear resistance but which is simpler in construction and hence less expensive to manufacture and use. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In accordance with the present invention, tear resistance is imparted to a tag of the general type described above by forming the liner of the tag from a tear resistant material. As a result, the reinforcing layer, layer  26  in the prior art tag of FIGS. 1 to  3 , can be totally eliminated. Thus, the inventive tag can be formed from a laminate having only two main layers—liner and facestock—rather than three main layers—liner, main body and facestock—as in the case of prior art tags. 
     To adhesively attach the two ends of the inventive tag together, the liner in the attachment portion of the inventive tag is removable to expose the underlying adhesive, in a manner similar to prior art tags. However, in the inventive tag, only a portion of this liner is removable. Another portion of this liner is intended to remain in place after the adhesive is exposed, this additional liner section serving to reinforce the attachment section of the tag in its tearing zone once the two ends of the tag are joined together. Accordingly, even though the inventive tag is made from only two primary layers rather than three as in prior art tags, it nonetheless exhibits excellent tear strength along essentially its entire length. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The present invention may be more readily understood by reference to the following drawings wherein: 
     FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of laminates used to make prior art bag tags of the type to which the present invention is directed; and 
     FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of a prior art bag tag made from the laminate of FIG. 1; and 
     FIG. 3 is a schematic cross sectional view illustrating the prior art bag tag of FIG. 2 when attached to a piece of luggage; and 
     FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of a laminate in accordance with the present invention used to form a bag tag of the present invention; and 
     FIGS. 5,  6 ,  7 ,  8 ,  12 ,  13  and  14  are plan views illustrating the backside (liner side) of specific bag tags made in accordance with the present invention; and 
     FIG. 9 is a schematic plan view illustrating the bag tag of FIG. 5 of the present invention when secured to the handle of a piece of luggage; and 
     FIG. 10 is a schematic side view taken on line  10 — 10  of FIG. 9; and 
     FIG. 11 is a schematic side view taken on line  11 — 11  of FIG.  9 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     A flexible laminate in accordance with the present invention useful for forming the inventive tags is generally illustrated at  54  at FIG.  4 . Laminate  54  is composed of liner  56  having a release surface composed of a layer  58  of release material and a facestock layer or web  60  bonded to liner  56  by means of adhesive layer  62  in contact with release layer  58 . 
     Facestock  60  is preferably composed of paper, but can be composed of plastic or any other material which will allow tag  54  to function as described below. Moreover, it may be formed from a single layer of material or from multiple layers of paper or other materials. 
     Facestock  60  defines surface  64  which is writable by any conventional means such as by ink printing, laser printing or thermal printing. Preferably, surface  64  is provided with a thermally sensitive coating to make surface  64  thermally printable in a conventional manner. Surface  64  may also be provided with an environmentally resistant clear topcoat in a conventional manner. 
     Adhesive layer  62 , which bonds facestock  60  to laminate liner  56 , can be made from any conventional pressure sensitive adhesive. Preferably, it is made from a pressure sensitive adhesive having a minimum application temperature of +25° F. or less and a minimum service temperature of −65° F. or less. More preferably, it is made from a pressure sensitive adhesive having a minimum application temperature of −10° F. or less and a minimum service temperature of −65° F. or less. In this context, minimum application temperature refers to the minimum temperature at which the adhesive will adhesively bond to another surface. Minimum service temperature, in turn, refers to the lowest temperature at which the adhesive, previously bonded to a surface, will stay bonded thereto without becoming unbonded due to the cold. Such pressure sensitive adhesives are well known. Examples of such adhesives are acrylic emulsions, acrylic hot melts, solvent based acrylics and rubber-based adhesives. 
     Release layer  58 , which directly bonds liner  56  to adhesive layer  62 , can be made from any material which allows liner  56 , or at least selected portions of liner  56  as described below, to be removed by hand. Such materials are well known in the art. Preferably, release layer  58  exhibits a release force of about 35 to about 250 grams per 2 inches, more preferably about 50 to 150 grams per 2 inches. In those instances in which laminate liner  56  is formed from a thermally sensitive material (e.g. a monoaxially-oriented polymer), release layer  58  is preferably made from a material which does not require a thermal cure to complete its application. Examples of such material are room temperature curable, moisture curable, radiation (e.g. UV and electron beam) curable polydimethylsiloxanes containing high release agents. Such materials are also well known. 
     Laminate liner  56  is formed from a material exhibiting a high tear resistance. Preferably, this material has a tear resistance such that laminate  54  as a whole has a tear resistance of at least 1 Newton, more preferably at least 4 Newtons. Most preferable laminates are formed from laminate liners having a tear resistance of at least 10 Newtons. Examples of such materials are polyesters, nylons and polyolefins such as polyethylene and polypropylene. A preferred material for forming liner  56  is the spunbond polyethylene product known as Tyvek®. In a particulalry preferred embodiment of the invention, laminate liner  56  is formed from the material known as Valeron®, which as indicated above, is a laminate of two uniaxially-oriented polypropylene layers. 
     FIGS. 5 to  8  and  12  to  14  illustrate various different tags made in accordance with the present invention. Each of these tags, generally indicated at  66 , is composed of an elongated strip of material formed from the laminate of FIG.  4 . Each of these tags includes a body portion  68 , a projecting section  70  on one side of the body section and an attachment section  72  on another side of body section  68 . As in the case of the prior art tag, each of the inventive tags defines a tearing zone  52  in its attachment section where the tag is weakened due to the removal of the liner layer for exposing the underlying adhesive. 
     In accordance with the present invention, the portion of laminate liner  56  which is present in attachment section  72  of each tag  66  is subdivided into a removable portion  76  and a non-removable section  78 . In this context, “non-removable” means only that this portion of the liner is not intended to be removed from the tag. Since release layer  58  separates liner  56  from adhesive layer  62  across the entire cross sectional area of the tag, the entire liner is physically removable from the facestock layer, if desired. “Non-removable” refers only to the fact that this section of the liner is intended not to be removed when the tag is used in a normal fashion. 
     FIGS. 9,  10  and  11 , which show the inventive bag tag of FIG. 5 attached to the handle  86  of a piece of luggage, illustrate the advantageous results achieved through subdividing liner  56  into removable and non-removable portions  76  and  78 , respectively. As shown in these figures, when the two ends of the tag are secured together they form conjoined web  90  with body portion  68  of the tag forming a closed loop  88  for securing the tag to the handle  86  of the luggage. Viewing the tag when secured in this manner along its longitudinal centerline (FIG.  11 ), it can be seen that adhesive layer  62  bonds attachment section  72  to projecting section  70  of the tag. At this central location, in tearing zone  52 , there is a section  91  of the tag which is relatively weak in terms of tear resistance. This is because the tag at this location comprises only facestock layer  60  and adhesive layer  62 , neither of which has any significant tear resistance. It will therefore be appreciated that if tag  66  were uniform across its entire width in terms of structure, as is the case with prior art tags, then tag  66  would be prone to tearing in zone  52 . This is because there would be nothing in this area to stop a tear initiated in this zone from extending transversely all the way across the tag from one edge to the other. 
     In accordance with the present invention, however, tearing of tag  66  in tearing zone  52  is essentially prevented by the portions of liner layer  56  which have been left in place when removable section  76  is removed, i.e. by non-removable portion  78  of the liner. This is more clearly shown in FIGS. 5 and 10. 
     As shown in FIG. 5, U-shaped cut  74  separates the portion of laminate liner  56  in attachment section  72  of tag  66  into a removable portion  76  and non-removable portion  78 . Non-removable portion  78 , also being U-shaped, defines arms  80  arranged along the borders of the tag and a base  82  arranged proximate body portion  68  of the tag. Referring to FIG. 10, (side view taken on line  10 — 10  of FIG. 9) arms  80  remain in place adjacent the lateral edges of the tag in tearing zone  52  when the ends of the tag are bonded together to form conjoined web  90 . Since arms  80  are themselves tear resistant, stresses imparted to the tag in tearing zone  52  are effectively prevented from initiating and/or propagating a tear in this zone, even though liner  56  in the central section of the zone has already been removed. As a result, the inventive tag exhibits excellent tear resistance throughout its entire length, including tearing zone  52 , even though it is formed from only two main layers rather than three as in the case of the prior art products. 
     This advantage of the present invention may be more readily understood by again referring to the prior art tags as illustrated in FIGS. 1 to  3 . Tearing of these tags is prevented by including in the prior art tag a reinforcing layer  26 . Protecting the adhesive, however, is accomplished by a wholly separate layer, the liner. Thus, the prior art tag must be formed from three separate, primary layers—the liner, the reinforcing layer and the facestock. This, in turn, requires that two separate laminating steps be used to produce the prior art tag, one for bonding the reinforcing layer to the facestock and the other for bonding the reinforcing layer to the liner. 
     In accordance with the present invention, however, non-removable portion  78  of laminate liner  56  is relied upon to provide the necessary tear resistance in tearing zone  52 . Accordingly, the inventive tag need be formed from only two primary layers, the liner and the facestock. This, in turn, means that only a single laminating step is needed to manufacture the inventive tag, i.e. laminating the liner to the facestock. It will therefore be appreciated that the inventive tag is simpler in construction, and much easier to manufacture, than tags of a conventional design. Moreover, the inventive tag can be made thinner than its prior art counterparts meaning that more tags can be packed in a given shipping container than possible before. Also, because the tag liner is made from plastic rather than paper as in the case of many prior art tags, the “paper cuts” can be largely eliminated. 
     FIGS. 6 to  8  and  12  to  14  illustrate additional tag designs made in accordance with the present invention. Like the tag of FIG. 5, the tags  66  of FIGS. 6 to  8  and  12  to  14  are each composed of an elongated strip of material formed from the laminate of FIG.  4 . In addition, each of these tags includes a body portion  68 , a projecting section  70  on one side of the body section and an attachment section  72  on another side of body section  68 . Also, each of these tags defines a tearing zone  52  in its attachment section where the tag is weakened due to the removal of the liner therefrom for exposing adhesive layer  62 . In the inventive tags of FIGS. 6,  7 , and  13  cut  74  and hence substantially all of the non-removable portion  78  of liner  56  is in this tearing zone. The tag of FIG. 8 is similar to that of FIG. 5, however, in that cut  74  and hence the non-removable portion  78  of liner  56  extends along the entire length of attachment section  72  of the tag. In the tags of FIGS. 12 and 14, cut  74  and hence non-removable portion  78 , extends through the entire length of tearing zone  52  as well as through a portion but not all of the remainder of attachment section  72 . In all of the tags of FIGS. 5 to  8 , and  12  to  14 , the non-removable portion  78  of liner  56  is attached to the liner in the remainder of the tag. Non-removable portion  78  of liner  56  may be separated from the liner in the remainder of the tag if desired, although this is not preferred. 
     The present invention is particularly suitable for use in making bag tags. For this purpose, laminate  54  of the present invention is subdivided into elongated strips of material which are typically rectangular in configuration and measure about 2 inches by 19 inches, hereinafter “tag blanks”. Such tag blanks are then processed into tags, by cutting the liner of the tag blank to form the removable liner portion and adding suitable indicia. Other tag blank shapes and sizes are also possible. For example, such tag blanks may be as short as 6 inches and as long as 3 feet. They also may be as narrow as 1 inch, even 0.5 inch if desired, and as wide as 3 inches, even 4 inches. Basically, such tag blanks should be long enough and wide enough so that tags made therefrom easily wrap around luggage handles in the manner described above and, in addition, provide a protruding portion, i.e. projection section  70 , large enough to receive indicia easily seen from a distance of about 2 meters. 
     Although only a few embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it should be appreciated that many modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, although the foregoing description has indicated that the tags produced in accordance with the present invention are useful for tagging luggage, it should be appreciated that these tags can be used in many other tagging applications as well. For example, the tags of the present invention are ideally suited for tagging jewelry, for use as lift tickets in ski resorts and for many other uses. All such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention, which is to be limited only by the following claims: