AN UNDERLAY TO BE USED WITH A POINTING DEVICE FOR A COMPUTER, A METHOD FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF SAID UNDERLAY, THE USE OF A SELF-CLINGING VINYL FILM FOR THE FORMATION OF THE BOTTOM SURFACE OF AN UNDERLAY AND THE USE OF A SURFACE TEXTURE FILM FOR THE FORMATION OF THE TOP SURFACE OF AN UNDERLAY

Abstract: The invention relates to a mouse pad having a top surface with a high friction, a bottom surface with a high adhesion against its supporting surface and a thickness of less than 1 mm. The mouse pad according to the invention has a thickness of less than 0.5 mm, its top surface has an embossed or cast surface structure and its bottom surface is coated with a removable protective liner such as paper or cardboard which can be applied with impressions such as offset printing. The invention concerns furthermore a method for the manufacture of such a mouse pad, the use of a self-clinging vinyl film for the formation of the bottom surface and the use of a surface texture film for formation of its top surface.

Description: AN UNDERLAY TO BE USED WITH A POINTING DEVICE FOR A COMPUTER, A METHOD FORTHEMANUFACTUREOFSAIDUNDERLAY,THEUSEOFA SELF-CLINGING VINYLFILM FOR THE FORMATION OFTHE BOTTOMSURFACE OFAN UNDERLAY ANDTHE USEOFA SURFACETEXTUREFILM FOR THEFORMATIONOFTHETOP SURFACEOFAN UNDERLAY 5 The present invention relates to an underlay of the kind stated in the preamble of claim 1. Such an underlay is generally and in the following called a "mouse pad" . The invention further relates to a method for the manufacture of such a mouse pad, the use of a 10 self-clinging vinyl film for the formation of a bottom surface of such a mouse pad and the use of a surface texture film for the formation of a top surface of such a mouse pad. The method and the uses are of the kinds indicated in claim 5, in the preamble of claim 9 and in 15 claim 10, respectively. The mouse pad according to the invention is to be used together with a pointing device for a computer, the device on its underside having a freely rotating ball rolling on the underlay when the pointing device is 20 drawn across it. Such a device is generally and in the following called a "mouse" . As is generally known, the mouse pad must have a top surface (facing upwards during use) having a fric¬ tion as high as possible against the ball of the mouse. 25 Many smooth surfaces are unfit for mouse pads; thus, most tabletops possess a much too low friction for the mouse as to function in a reliable manner with said tabletops as underlay. Many mouse pads have, as also widely known, the 30 disadvantage that they do not rest in a sufficiently stable way on the tabletop or the like where they are placed during use. As the mouse and thus the user's hand are moved during use, the mouse pad is exposed to push¬ ing effects and can therefore be displaced on the 35 tabletop. Consequently, the pad should have a bottom surface (facing downwards during use) in a nonskid abut- ment against the piece of furniture on which the pad is placed. The user's wrist, arm and shoulder are strained to a disproportionate extent when working with a mouse even though the very work requires no effort. One parti¬ cular reason is that the small precise movements and fixations of the mouse demand that the user's joints and muscles are frequently locked, and as known, this may lead to serious injuries of the same kind as a "tennis elbow" or tenosynovitis. In this connection, the bending back of the user's wrist during use of the mouse is particularly injurious and even very small angle differences are here of great importance. It is therefore essential that the mouse pad is made as thin as possible. Today, most mouse pads are used for advertising purposes, i.e. with printed trademarks or logos, slo¬ gans, etc. A mouse pad must therefore be suitable for receiving such impressions of a good quality. The latter usually tantamounts to the impression being made by off¬ set printing as the printing methods available for prints on "difficult" surfaces such as serigraphy or print using solvent-containing or UV-light-hardening ink do not provide for a sufficiently good resolution and colour reproduction to satisfy today's demands from very discriminating users of advertising. The use of mouse pads as advertising media also calls for the ability to manufacture these mouse pads within a very short time of delivery and in limited edi- tions. The possibility to use individual or "instant" printing processes such as computer print-outs is there¬ fore highly desirable. A mouse pad of the kind initially stated and with a thickness of about 0.7 mm is known. Thiε pad is marketed under the name ART-OFFICE by the German company COM-SYSTEM Handelsgesellschaft GmbH, Brilon (DE) , and was shown on the CEBIT fair in Hannover, Germany, in April 1995. This pad has an upper layer consisting of a so- called satin foil, i.e. a foil mainly consisting of a fabric, with a thickness of about 0.12 mm and a front sensitive to offset printing, typewriting, etc. and usually coated with an adhesive on its back. Under the upper layer, an antistatic layer is provided. By a tack coat filling out cavities, the said layers are adhered to a middle layer in the form of a hard, springy plastic foil with a thickness of about 0.50 mm. The middle layer is on its underside provided with a quite thin nonskid surface . This mouse pad has the drawback that the impres¬ sion provided on the satin foil of the upper layer is printed on the front of this foil and thus unprotected against wear. In the nature of the case, the mouse pad is affected in exactly a wearing way both by the mouse and the user's hand. In consideration of the advertising value of the mouse pad, the impression must maintain a high picture quality for as long time as possible; a poor picture quality may be destructive for the adver¬ tising value. Besides, placing the impression on top of the upper layer of the pad has the disadvantage that the very impression may smoothen the surface and thus reduce its friction against the ball of the mouse. The International Application No. WO 88/17 (PCT/AU 87/5) discloses a coaster or placemat intended to be sent by post in the manner of a postcard, before its use as a coaster or placemat . It has on its bottom surface a removable panel, the exposed surface of which can receive a communication in writing. The removable panel, preferably made from paper is hereby holding the address and text such as greetings while the coaster is being transmitted by post. After removal of the remov- able panel, the coaster is ready for use as a coaster or placemat . There is no indication whatsoever that the re¬ movable panel can be made of anything else than paper, and no indication whatsoever of the removable panel hav¬ ing any use after being removed from the coaster. In addition to the above mentioned prior art, USA Patent No. 5,022,170 discloses a work surface pad, allegedly also usable as a mouse pad if its top surface is provided with a suitable texture. Visual information may be printed in reverse on the bottom surface of the transparent top layer of the pad. However, the top layer being made from plastic, it is only possible to provide such visual information in printing by specialised printing processes such as serigraphy or print using solvent-containing or UV-light-hardening ink, not pro¬ viding for a good print quality, as already mentioned. There are no indications that this pad should be very thin. Furthermore, French patent application No. 2,716,736 discloses a mouse pad to be adhered to a fixed surface such as the top side of a piece of furniture. This pad consists of a supporting, middle layer, prefer¬ ably paper, vinyl or polyester which is coated with a layer of a structuring varnish on its top side to pro¬ vide a good friction against the ball of the mouse, and which is coated with a layer of an adhesive material on its underside in order that the pad may be lying stable on the table top. The varnish may be applied by means of serigra¬ phy and a picture may be printed on the middle layer, under the varnish. The adhesive material may be a "re¬ movable" glue such as "Scotchmark - Post-it" from the company 3M. According to the French patent application, thicknesses as small as 0.24 mm may be achieved for the mouse pad. This mouse pad has the disadvantage that judging from the application it must be rather fragile, as its stiffness essentially stems from a layer of paper or vinyl with an indicated thickness of 0.10 mm, correspon- ding to ordinary typewriting paper. A further disadvantage of this mouse pad is that an adhesive as the 3M "Post-it" glue is adhesive in a quite unnecessarily strong way when only to assure that the mouse pad remains lying during use. This is an obvi- ous disadvantage when the pad is to be moved, and such a fragile pad as the known one can presumably not tolerate being moved often in thiε way. Finally, European patent No. 360,450 discloses a heated vacuum mounting press. This press has a heating plate of glass with an electrically conductive coating heated by a passing through electric current, and a flexible, airtight cloth. Workpiece sheet material to become stuck together under pressure and heat are placed between the heating plate and the cloth whereupon the interspace is evacuated to a partial vacuum, whereby the workpieces are pressed tightly together. The glass plate is then heated, thereby activating heat sensitive adhes¬ ives bonding the workpieces together. The object of the present invention is to pro- cure a mouse pad of the initially stated type, which pad while resting securely and fixed on the table top or the like without hereby making movement of the pad diffi¬ cult, is extraordinarily thin, is free from the above- described drawbacks of the known pads, provides good friction against the ball of the mouse and high resis¬ tance to wear, and furthermore provides a removable rear panel constituting an independent document such as a postcard when removed from the mouse pad. According to the invention, this is obtained by the features appearing from the characterising part of claim 1. By the mouse pad having a thickness of less than 0.5 mm, it is attained that the wrist of the user will be bent backwards to the least possible degree. By the top surface having an embossed or cast surface struc- ture, a high friction against the ball of the mouse is attained, and thereby a secure functioning of the mouse. By the bottom surface being coated with a remov¬ able protective layer such as paper or cardboard, which layer is responsive to impression such as offset print- ing, the option is obtained to use this layer as a sep¬ arate advertising medium. In particular, this advertis¬ ing medium is unexpected by the consumer, as thus having the additional, valuable feature of attracting the user's attention when removed from the mouse pad. The removable panel, when made from cardboard of sufficient stiffness, may be used right away as a poεtcard, e.g. provided with a questionnaire, and preferably being εtamped for postage free posting. By the features in claim 2 is obtained that the mouse pad may be provided on its upper surface with a picture produced by offset-printing which assures an optimal printing quality and thus a high advertising value, and that this picture is protected in the best possible way against wear. By preferably using a material for the layer immediately below the top surface layer, which material is as well susceptible to individual or "instant" print¬ ing processes such as computer print-outs the additional advantage is obtained that small editions of mouse pads can be produced with differing or totally individual impressions, such as e.g. the name of the receiving per¬ son. By the features in claim 3 is obtained a good adhesion for the mouse pad against a smooth surface without the pad exactly adhering to the surface which would make the moving, and thus the uεe of the pad un¬ necessarily difficult. By the features stated in claim 4 is obtained a simple, easy-to-handle and safe bonding together of the relatively different materials from which the pad in this embodiment is produced. A further object of the invention is to procure a method of the initially stated kind for the manufac¬ ture of a mouse pad. According to the invention, this is obtained by the features appearing from claim 5. By the features of claims 6-8, advantages corre¬ sponding to those of claim 4 are obtained. Besides the said mouse pad and the method for the manufacture thereof, the invention also concerns the use of a self-clinging vinyl film for the formation of a bottom surface of such a mouse pad and the use of a sur¬ face texture film for formation of a top surface of such a mouse pad. These uses are characterised by the fea¬ tures stated in claim 9 and in the characterising part of claim 10, respectively. The invention will be explained below in more detail by means of embodiments, without these examples being considered as limiting the extent of the inven¬ tion. It has surprisingly turned out that a surface texture film intended for adherence to and protection of printed surfaces, etc. has quite good friction qualities against the ball of a mouse. Such films are used in par¬ ticular for covering posters, prints and the like where a "distinguished" or "antique" appearance is desired, and is per se known for these purposes. Preferred surface texture films are available from Hunt Europe Ltd. , Chester Hall Lane, Basildon, Essex (GB) under the brand name "Printguard Texture Films", the grade HS42 "Sandtex" being particularly pre- ferred. This latter grade is also available from the supplier mentioned in example 1, under the brand name "Sandtex Heat Seal". This film consists of an embossed plasticised PVC film, 100 μm in thickness and with a gram age of 130 g/m J , coated on its rear side with an acrylic, heat activated adhesive at a grammage of 28 g/m 2 . The film is available pierced or unpierced, for evacuating air caught between layers, cf. example 1. The film is supplied with a silicone-treated protective liner paper to be removed from the rear side before la¬ minating. Furthermore, a self-clinging vinyl film intended for adherence to smooth surfaces without use of adhes¬ ives has surprisingly turned out to possess exactly the friction qualities wanted for the present application. Self-clinging vinyl film is used for e.g. window dressing, providing advertising posters which may be securely but in a non-permanent way fixed to the inside face of a display window. It is also used for the manu¬ facture of toy figures to be fixed in a removable way to e.g. a smooth panel or a window pane. A preferred film is "Self Cling PVC", certifi- cate No. FM 27112 from the supplier Sheet & Roll Conver¬ ters, 551 Fairlie Road, Trading Estate, Slough, Berkshire (GB) . The gauge of this film is 150 μm with a specific gravity of 1.25. It has a plasticiser content of 33.8% by weight and a softness according to BS 2782, part 3/307, of 39. The film is available in sheet or roll form. Mainly for the purpose of handling the film dur¬ ing printing processes an during the fixing of a poster to a window pane, the film comes with a protective card- board liner (support sheet) , which is to be removed after placing the film poster. Three support sheet al¬ ternatives are available: 220 g/m 2 PE coated board, 135 g/m 2 cast coated board or 200 g/m 2 cast coated board. An alternative self-clinging vinyl film is en- tioned in example 1. Due to the support liner, the intended front surface of the film will indeed become an inner surface in the laminated mouse pad, as the liner is to be left clinging to the film during lamination, but this again provides the very essential advantage of the mouse pad according to the invention, that the protective card- board liner of the self-clinging film may be left on the film and thus on the pad even after the manufacture of the pad, whereby the free side of this cardboard is available for impressions. In this connection, an important advertising profit of the mouse pad according to the invention is that the removed protective cardboard constitutes an in¬ dependent advertising document which will "startle" the user and make him particularly responsive to the adver¬ tising message printed on said cardboard. The removable protective cardboard may alterna¬ tively be used as the "primary" advertising medium, e.g. as a questionnaire for performing a market survey. The mouse pad itself would then function as an advertising gift (a "give-away" or a "gimmick") , motivating the re- cipient to actually fill in the questionnaire and post it. E X A M P L E 1 A pictorial decoration comprising a logo, trade¬ mark and an advertising message was printed by 4-colour offset on stout paper with a grammage of about 120 g/m . A film of the type "Sandtex Heat Seal" from the supplier Hot Press Supplies, Ltd., Round Spinney in Northampton (GB) was placed on the picture side of said stout paper. This film has a thickness of 0.1 mm, is transparent and provided with a so-called sand texture surface produced by pattern stamping (embossing) . The film has very good resistance properties against ageing and UV light. The quality used was punctured, i.e. over its entire area perforated at regular intervals so that any air would escape which might otherwise be stuck between the film and the paper. The Sandtex film is provided in rolls of 25 or 100 m and has a grammage of 130 g/m 2 and is on its back¬ side coated with an acrylic based hot-melt adhesive. The back side was provided with a protective paper which was removed before placing the film on the paper. On the back side of the paper, i.e. on the non- printed side, was first placed a layer of a generally known hot-melt adhesive in foil form with a thickness of about 0.025 mm and hereupon a layer of a flexible, ca- lendered vinyl film of the type "Penstick ® 5175", avail¬ able from the supplier Molco S.A. (BE) . Before place¬ ment, the film was punctured using a puncturing appa¬ ratus generally known in thiε trade in the same way as indicated for the Sandtex film. The Penstick film is softened by 37% plasticiser and has a thickness of 0.17 mm and a grammage of 221 g/m 2 . It adheres on both sides by static electricity in a secure and permanent way to glass or polished surfaces without directly sticking thereto. It is thus easy to remove. The Penstick film is on one side coated with a protective layer of cardboard with a grammage of 215 g/m 2 and coated with a thin, smooth plastic coating on the side facing against the film to secure the remov¬ ability and good protection of the film. On the side facing away from the film, the protective layer has a calendered, white surface intended to receive impres¬ sions. The protection layer is sufficiently stuck on the film so as to tolerate all usual handling, printing pro¬ cesses etc. The film is supplied either in sheets or in rolls of 500 m. The mutually facing layers of Sandtex film, paper with impressions, hot-melt adhesive and Penstick film were subεequently placed in a so-called hot glass press from said company Hot Press Supplies, Ltd. This press is described in European patent No. 360,450 and has a heating plate of glass with an electric conductive coating heated by a passing through electric current, and a flexible, airtight cloth. The laminate blanks are placed between the heating plate and the cloth whereupon the interspace is evacuated to a partial vacuum whereby the laminate blanks are pressed tightly together. This compression and the effected puncturing of the films ensure that all accumulations of air between the layers are pressed out. The lamination was effected at 80°C for 8 min. After the lamination, the pad appeared as a handy unit which could straight away be handled by mechanical means. By means of an offset technique, a questionnaire was printed on the free side of the protection paper of the Penstick film. The thus manufactured mouse pad was suitable for use as an advertising medium by forwarding it to a reci¬ pient (target person or firm) who would ever have the printed advertising message before his eyes when using the mouse pad, and who upon receiving the pad would remove the protection cardboard, which would then con- stitute a finished questionnaire, ready to be posted and with printed questions as to the advertiser's products. E X A M P L E 2 A pictorial decoration comprising a neutral landscape was printed by 4-colour offset on stout paper with a grammage of about 120 g/m 2 , and the prints cut to εtandard A4 size. From a stock of these prints, specimens were taken in a number to suit a small order for mouse pads with a specialised advertising print, comprising a logo, a trademark and an advertising message. These were printed in black colour on the printed side of the stock prints using a laser printer connected to a conventional computer with a word-processing programme. A pierced film of the type mentioned in example 1 was placed on the picture side of said prints. On the back side of the prints was first placed a layer of a hot-melt adhesive in foil form with a thickness of about 0.05 mm. This adhesive foil is avail¬ able from the supplier Hunt Europe Ltd., Chester Hall Lane, Basildon, Essex (GB) under the brand name "Fusion 4000", ref. o. HM9. It consists of extruded EVA and is designed as a general purpose adhesive for all mounting applications. Hereupon was placed a layer of flexible, calen- dered vinyl film, pierced in the way mentioned in example 1. This film was "Self Cling PVC", certificate No. FM 27112 from the supplier Sheet & Roll Convertors, 551 Fairlie Road, Trading Estate, Slough, Berkshire (GB) . The gauge of this film is 150 μm with a specific gravity of 1.25. It has a plasticiser content of 33.8% by weight and a softness according to BS 2782, part 3/307 of 39. The facing layers of Sandtex film, paper with impressions, hot-melt adhesive and Penstick film were subsequently placed in a so-called programmable combina¬ tion vacuum press of the type "VacuSeal ® " from the sup¬ plier S-seal. This press has for the present purpose essentially the same features as the press mentioned in example 1. By means of an offset technique, a question- naire was printed on the free side of the protection paper of the self cling PVC film. Finally, mouse pads were cut to size from the laminates obtained. The thus manufactured mouse pads were used in an advertising campaign, the message and slogans of the campaign appearing from said laser printed message. The questionnaire on the rear side of the protective liner contained questions relating to the campaign and to the mouse pad itself, and was stamped for postage free post¬ ing.

Claims: C L A I M S 1. An underlay in the form of a pad or a plate to be placed on a fixed surface such as the top side of a piece of furniture and to be used with a pointing device for a computer, the pointing device comprising a ball rolling on the underlay when the device (a "mouse") is moved across it, the underlay having a top surface with a high friction, a bottom surface with a high adhesion against the furniture and a thickness of less than 1 mm, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that the underlay has a thickness of less than 0.5 mm, that the top surface has an embossed or cast surface structure so as to obtain a high friction and that the bottom surface is coated with a removable protective layer such as paper or cardboard, which layer is responsive to impres¬ sion such as offset printing. 2. An underlay according to claim 1, c h a r ¬ a c t e r i s e d in that the underlay is structured as a laminate with a transparent layer constituting the top surface and comprising a layer arranged immediately below the top surface layer and consisting of a material which in a secure way is susceptible to high quality print such as offset printing, and preferably as well to individual print such as laser printing, such as ordi- nary or artificial paper, foil or cardboard. 3. An underlay according to claim 2, c h a r ¬ a c t e r i s e d in that the laminate further compri¬ ses a layer constituting the bottom surface of the underlay and consisting of an elastomeric material such as vinyl (PVC) . 4. An underlay according to claim 2 or 3, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that the layers of the laminate are joined together by means of a heat-sensi¬ tive adhesive, such as a hot-melt adhesive. 5. A method for the manufacture of an underlay according to any of the preceding claims, wherein a pic¬ ture layer provided with an offset-printed picture on its picture side is covered with a transparent foil with a cast or embossed surface structure and on its opposite side is covered with a non-skid layer of an elastomeric material with a high adhesion against smooth surfaces, the non-skid layer on its side facing away from the pic¬ ture layer having a removable protection liner such as paper or cardboard, and the layers are joined by means of a suitable laminating process. 6. A method according to claim 5 wherein the laminating process comprises placement of a heat-acti¬ vated adhesive between the layers, and wherein the lami¬ nating process comprises heating of the laminate under pressure . 7. A method according to claim 6, wherein the laminating process further comprises placing the layers between a plate which can be heated and a flexible, bendable layer of an airtight material and evacuating the interspace between the plate and the airtight layer into a partial vacuum. 8. A method according to claim 6 or 7 wherein the adhesive is a hot-melt adhesive in foil form. 9. The use of a self-clinging vinyl (PVC) film for the formation of the bottom surface of an underlay in the form of a pad or plate to be placed on a fixed surface such as the top side of a piece of furniture and for the use with a pointing device for a computer, the pointing device including a ball rolling on the underlay when the device (a "mouse") is moved across this, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that the self-clinging vinyl film has a removable protection liner such as paper or cardboard on the side of the film which during use forms the bottom surface of the underlay. 10. The use of a surface texture film for the formation of the top surface of an underlay in the form of a pad or plate to be placed on a fixed surface such as the top side of a piece of furniture and for use with a pointing device for a computer, the pointing device including a ball rolling on the underlay when the device (a "mouse") is moved across this.

Inventors: QUIST JOHANNES CHRISTIAN, QUIST, JOHANNES, CHRISTIAN
Applicants: QUIST JOHANNES CHRISTIAN, QUIST, JOHANNES, CHRISTIAN
Application year: 1996
Main classification: A47B21
IPC codes: G06F3