Composite label web and method of making same

There is disclosed a composite label web and method of making same. The composite label web is comprised of a web supporting material and label material releasably secured to the supporting material web by a patterned coating of pressure sensitive adhesive. There are feed holes through the composite web including one or more narrow zones of the adhesive which lie inboard of two relatively wide adhesive zones.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to the art of composite label webs and to method of 
making same. 
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art 
U.S. Pat. No. 2,095,437 to Louis Fox dated Oct. 12, 1937 discloses a method 
of making composite label webs of the type having feed holes through each 
composite web between the side edges of the composite web. The marginal 
side edges of the label material are free of adhesive but the remainder of 
the label material is coated with the pressure sensitive adhesive. The 
wide composite web is slit into a pllurality of narrow composite label 
webs. The feed holes extend through the label material, the adhesive and 
supporting material web. In the type of composite web disclosed in U.S. 
Pat. No. 2,095,437, it is also known to omit the adhesive in a 
longitudinally extending central zone through which the feed holes extend 
so that the punch and die sets which make the feed holes do not come into 
contact with adhesive. Accordingly, the labels of each narrow composite 
web are held to the supporting material web by two spaced longitudinally 
extending zones of adhesive. Once the labels are removed from the 
supporting material web and applied to merchandise, the labels are only 
held to the merchandise by the two spaced adhesive zones. In that there is 
no adhesive in the longitudinally extending central zone the holding 
forces between the label and the merchandise are less than in the label 
according to U.S. Pat. No. 2,095,437. In the type of composite web 
disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,095,437 it is also known to provide a thin 
zone of adhesive known in the art as a "wipe out" at the longitudinally 
extending central zone where the feed holes are made. By this arrangement 
the punch and die sets do not come into contact with as much adhesive as 
in U.S. Pat. No. 2,095,437, but the holding forces of the adhesive at the 
wipe out are extremely low. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The composite web of the invention is composed of a web of supporting 
material and pressure sensitive labels releasably secured by pressure 
sensitive adhesive to the supporting material web. The composite web is of 
the type which has feed holes extending through the label material and the 
supporting material web. The feed holes enable the web to be fed through a 
marking machine. The purpose of the invention is to provide a 
machine-feedable composite web having feed holes which has an efficient 
patterned coating of adhesive so that the labels adhere with superior 
holding force to the merchandise to which they are applied. The holding 
force is superior to that of a composite web with a wipe-out as described 
above, and yet the composite web of the invention is essentially as 
trouble-free to manufacture because the amount of adhesive encountered by 
the punch and die rolls is essentially the same as when the prior art 
composite web with a wipe-out is manufactured. In accordance with a 
specific embodiment of the invention, there is provided a web of 
supporting material, a web of label material having a patterned coating of 
pressure sensitive adhesive releasably securing the label material to the 
supporting material web, longitudinally spaced, lateral cuts dividing the 
label material into a series of labels, and the adhesive being disposed 
along two laterally spaced, relatively wide, longitudinally extending 
zones and there is at least one relatively narrow, longitudinally 
extending intervening zone. A longitudinally extending adhesive-free zone 
exists between each relatively wide adhesive zone and the adjacent 
relatively narrow adhesive zone and between adjacent relatively narrow 
adhesive zones. Longitudinally spaced feed holes are disposed at the 
lateral cuts and extend through the supporting material web and through 
the relatively narrow adhesive zones on the label material without 
extending into the relatively wide adhesive zones on the label material. 
The invention also includes method of making composite label webs as 
described above.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
With reference to FIG. 1, there is shown a wide web of label material 10 
which is indicated to be traveling in the direction of arrow A. The web 10 
passes under a coating head 11 which coats the web 10 with a patterned 
coating generally indicated at 12 of pressure sensitive adhesive. A web 13 
of supporting material has a release coating 14 to which the adhesive 
coating 12 adheres. Alternatively, the coating 12 can be applied to the 
release coating 14, in which event the coating 12 would adhere securely to 
the label material 10 when the coating 12 comes into contact with the 
label material 10. As the web 13 moves partially around the roll 11', the 
webs 10 and 13 form a wide composite web C. As shown in FIG. 1, the 
coating is distributed laterally across the label material web 10 in a 
repetitive series of zones or stripes of pressure sensitive adhesive. In 
particular, the coating 12 includes relatively wide, longitudinally 
extending laterally spaced adhesive zones 15 and 16. Disposed between each 
pair of zones 15 and 16 is a plurality of relatively narrow, 
longutudinally extending, laterally spaced zones, illustrated as two zones 
17 and 18, of pressure sensitive adhesive. The zones 15, 17, 18 and 16 are 
spaced apart by longitudinally extending, relatively narrow adhesive-free 
zones 19, 20 and 21. Each set of zones 15 through 21 is spaced from an 
adjacent set of zones 15 through 21 by a longitudinally extending 
adhesive-free zone 22. It is preferred that the adhesive zones 15 and 16 
be the same width, that the adhesive zones 17 and 18 be the same width and 
that the adhesive-free zones 22 be equal in width but narrower than either 
of the zones 15 or 16. 
With reference to FIG. 2, the wide composite web C is passed in the 
direction of arrow A' between punch and die rolls 23 and 24. The die roll 
24 has die holes 25, 26 and 27 and the punch roll 23 has mating punches 
28, 29 and so on. Thus, the rolls 23 and 24 cause the wide composite web C 
to have V-shaped notches 30, elongated feed holes 31, and diamond-shaped 
holes 32 punched through it. From there the web C passes between a 
perforating roll 33 and a back-up roll 34 which has at least one knife 36. 
The knife 36 makes transverse or lateral lines of perforations 35 through 
the label material 10 and, if desired, through the supporting material 13. 
Instead of perforating the label material along lines 35, the label 
material can be severed completely laterally along lines 35, without 
completely severing the supporting material web 13. From there the 
composite web C passes between a slitting roll 37 having a series of 
slitting knives 38 and a back-up roll 39. The rolls 37 and 39 slit the 
composite web C along longitudinally extending laterally spaced lines 40 
to provide side-by-side relatively narrow composite webs C', which are 
wound into rolls R on a mandrel 41. The slit lines 40 are preferably made 
midway between the sides of each adhesive-free zone 22, and accordingly, 
each composite label web C' has a pair of adhesive-free zones 42 as shown 
in FIGS. 3 and 4, which are preferably of equal width. The lines 35 divide 
the label material 10 into labels L. As best shown in FIG. 4, the feed 
holes 31 extend entirely through the composite web C'. The portion of the 
feed hole 31 in the label material 10 is referenced as 31L and the portion 
of the feed hole 31 in the supporting material web 13 is referenced as 
31S. As shown there are three perforations in the label material 10 along 
the line 35 at each side of the feed hole 31. Alternatively, different 
numbers and lengths of perforations, creases, scoring or other weakening 
along lines 35 can be used. The hole 31 passes through the zones 17 and 18 
of adhesive, but the hole 31 is inboard of and spaced from the zones 15 
and 16 of adhesive. As shown, the adhesive zones 15, 16, 17 and 18 all 
have the same thickness. Because the zones 17 and 18 are relatively narrow 
as compared with the length of the elongated hole 31 in the lateral 
direction, the punch and die rolls 23 and 24 can be formed satisfactorily 
without undue gumming of the manufacturing tools, and yet the holding 
force of the label L to the merchandise is substantially improved over a 
label having no adhesive in the central longitudinal zone through which 
has the feed holes as in U.S. Pat. No. 2,095,437 and is also substantially 
improved over a label having a wipe-out. 
The embodiment of FIG. 5 discloses a composite label web C" which is made 
and constructed identically to the embodiment of FIGS. 1 through 4 except 
that it has one relatively narrow longitudinally extending adhesive zone 
43 between each pair of zones 15 and 16 rather than two or more zones 17 
and 18 between each pair of zones 15 and 16. The zone 43 is preferably 
wider than either zone 17 or 18. 
By way of example, not limitation, it is preferred that each adhesive zone 
15 and 16 is at least about twice as wide as any adhesive zone 17 or 18, 
that each adhesive zone 15 and 16 is wider than adhesive-free zone 22, 
that adhesive-free zones 19, 20 and 21 are substantially narrower than 
zone 22, and it is most preferable that zones 17 and 18 be between about 
0.35 and about 0.8 millimeter wide and that each relatively wide zone be 
between about 3.8 and about 5.0 millimeters wide, and that the coating be 
between about 0.13 and about 0.4 millimeter thick. In the embodiment of 
FIG. 5, the same example applies except that the relatively narrow zone is 
preferably between about 0.7 millimeter and about 1.6 millimeters wide. 
Other embodiments and modifications of this invention will suggest 
themselves to those skilled in the art, and all such of these as come 
within the spirit of this invention are included within its scope as best 
defined by the appended claims.