A placemat

Abstract: The invention relates to placemats having integrated adhesive stickers (10) constructed as a single sheet integrated placemat product. A placement in accordance with of the present invention is fabricated from a preprinted bond paper sheet (12) having an underlying silicone coated kraft paper liner (40) adhered to at least a portion of the rear side (16) of the preprinted bond paper sheet (12). Portions of the preprinted bond paper sheet have die cuts (26) which permit removal of preprinted designs on the integrated adhesive stickers or labels (10). Children or other interested patrons complete drawings on the placemats by placing or positioning the adhesive stickers or labels (10) wherever the children or other interested patrons choose on the placemats. If desired, the adhered stickers and/or the remainder of the placemats may be further decorated or colored using various writing instruments, including pencils, pens, ink markers and crayons, to create a picture or artistic scene.

Description: The present invention relates generally to improvements in placemats. Many restaurants and other dining establishments provide preprinted paper placemats and writing instruments, such as pencils, pens, ink markers or crayons, to children and other interested patrons for engaging play or entertainment, as well as for sanitary purposes, aesthetic decoration and advertising before, during and after eating meals in public. Common examples include preprinted placemats which are used to cover bare dining tables in family dining establishments or food-carrying tray preprinted paper covers which are often used in cafeteria-style or fast-food dining establishments. These preprinted placemats are often accompanied with writing instruments, such as pencils, pens, ink markers or crayons, to allow children and other interested patrons to draw pictures or "doodle" while waiting for the meal to be prepared or while dining. Such preprinted placemats often include aesthetic pictorial scenes, to-be-colored line art, word games, menus and many other types of advertising that concern the dining establishment or other area businesses. For example, a preprinted placemat may have preprinted designs which encourage children and other interested patrons to color specific areas with crayons in particular colors to create a colorful picture. Similarly, children and other interested patrons may be encouraged to decorate a preprinted picture with separately provided adhesive stickers which are adhered to specific areas to create a colorful picture. As a practical matter, such additional materials are problematic to dining establishments in that multiple items must be inventoried and dispensed to children and other interested patrons. Furthermore, it is common for children to "draw" or misuse and place adhesive stickers onto the dining establishment's fixtures, such as tables, chairs, windows, glassware, plates, etc. In such a case, dining establishment employees have the duty of removing such unwanted markings and adhesive stickers. This is time consuming for the employees and costly for the dining establishment. The applicant is aware of several types of construction for prior art placemats and other entertainment products for dining establishments. A first known type of construction is a conventional preprinted placemat constructed from a rectangular sheet of bond paper with either one or two-sided printing. Such preprinting may convey a static design, such as a menu or pictorial scene. While such a design performs the sanitary purpose of a placemat and may convey information to customers, it fails to provide interactive, entertainment-oriented features. A second known type of construction for prior art placemats and other entertainment products for dining establishments is a preprinted placemat constructed from a rectangular sheet of bond paper with either one or two-sided printing. Typically, this type of construction allows for creative input from children and other interested patrons in the form of games to play, pictures to draw or adhesive stickers to adhere to the preprinted placemat. While the second known type of construction for the preprinted placemat itself is similar to that described in conjunction with the first known type of construction above, the second type of construction generally requires separate drawing instruments, such as pencils, pens, ink markers or crayons, and/or separate pressure sensitive adhesive or "lick-and-stick" dry gum stickers. Disadvantages of this second known type of construction include having to provide additional materials, i.e., the drawing instruments and/or the adhesive stickers, as well as potential clean-up problems due to misuse of these materials. U. S. Patent No. 4,778,153 to Bachman, et al. for a "Promotional Article with Pressure-Sensitive Adhesive Portions and Method of Manufacture" describes a promotional article and method of making same having a pressure-sensitive adhesive without laminating a separate release sheet to the sheet upon which the pressure-sensitive adhesive is applied. U. S. Patent No. 5,262,215 to Shields for a "Laminated Article for Having Separate Pieces for Detachable Placement on a Background" describes a laminated article which includes a web adhesively and detachable coupled with a carrier sheet. The web includes a support layer and a top layer releasably adhered thereto conFig.d to present a plurality of separable pieces. The carrier and pieces are imprinted with cooperating indicia for playing a game or creating a scene. Additionally, a dry release adhesive is used to adhere the respective marginal zones of the web and carrier. U. S. Patent No. 5,269,691 to Waldman for a "Sticker Activity and Coloring Book" describes a sticker activity and coloring book including a sticker page containing a plurality of removable adhesively backed stickers, a scene page associated with the sticker page and having a scene printed in color thereon and a release coating for receiving the stickers, an instructional page associated with the sticker and scene pages and showing, in black and white outline, the scene on the scene page and one arrangement of the stickers on the scene so that a user of the book may remove one of the stickers from the sticker page and transfer the removed sticker onto the scene page as shown on the instructional page and such transfer may continue until all of the stickers have been placed on the scene page and the instructional page having a surface adapted to receive coloring from a coloring instrument, so that the instructional page may be colored by the user. An object of the present invention is to provide a placemat which alleviates the aforementioned problems encountered with known placements. According to the present invention there is provided a placemat characterized by at least one integrated adhesive sticker or label, comprising: a bond paper sheet having a front surface and a rear surface, said bond paper sheet having a drawing portion and an integrated adhesive sticker portion; a liner adhered by an adhesive to at least a portion of said rear surface of said adhesive sticker portion of said bond paper sheet; and a die cut through said bond paper sheet to form said at least one integrated adhesive sticker. A preferred embodiment of the present invention is fabricated from a preprinted bond paper sheet having an underlying paper liner adhered to at least a portion of the rear surface of the printed bond paper sheet. Portions of the printed bond paper sheet have die cuts which permit removal of the preprinted designs on the integrated adhesive stickers or labels. Children and other interested patrons complete drawings on the placemats by placing or positioning the adhesive stickers or labels wherever the children or other interested patrons choose on the placemats. If desired, the adhered stickers and/or the remainder of the placemats may be further decorated or colored using various writing instruments, including pencils, pens, ink markers and crayons, to create a picture or artistic scene. An embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Fig. 1 illustrates a front plan view of a placemat having integrated adhesive stickers or labels in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a back view of the placement shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an exaggerated separated cross-sectional side view of the placement shown in Fig. 1, taken across lines 3-3 in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a front plan view of a preferred embodiment of a placemat having integrated adhesive stickers or labels showing an illustrative preprinted circus scene and associated preprinted adhesive stickers or labels; and Fig. 5 is a front plan view of a preferred embodiment of a placemat having integrated adhesive stickers or labels showing an illustrative preprinted underwater ocean scene and associated preprinted adhesive stickers or labels. Referring now to the drawings, in which like-referenced characters indicate corresponding elements throughout the several views, attention is first directed to Fig. 1 which illustrates a front plan view of a preferred embodiment of a placemat having integrated adhesive stickers or labels, generally identified by reference numeral 10. Placemat (10) having integrated stickers or labels generally includes bond paper sheet 12, preferably a rectangular sheet of 20 to 28 pound bond paper stock, most preferably 20 pound paper stock, adhesive 30 and liner 40. Bond paper sheet 12 preferably includes front surface 14 and rear surface 16 and in one preferred embodiment is a rectangular paper bond sheet approximately 10 1/2 inches in height by approximately 14 inches in width. In placemat having integrated adhesive stickers or labels 10 shown in Fig. 1, bond paper sheet 12 is separated into drawing portion 18 and integrated adhesive sticker or label portion 20. Drawing portion 18 is preferably separated from integrated adhesive sticker or label portion 20 by a series of perforations 22, which permits removal of drawing portion 18 from integrated adhesive sticker or label portion 20. Perforations 22 are most preferably micro-fine perforations which permit easy separation of drawing portion 18 and integrated adhesive sticker or label portion 20. Front surface 14 of drawing portion 18 of bond paper sheet 12 includes, if desired, a preprinted design and outside border 24, which preferably includes radiused corners, to indicate the boundary within which the adhesive stickers and labels are to be placed. Referring now to Figs 2 and 3, liner 40 is adhered by adhesive 30 to rear surface 16 of integrated adhesive sticker or label portion 20. Adhesive 30 is preferably a pressure sensitive adhesive and liner 40 is preferably a silicone coated draft paper, most preferably a 35# silicone - coated kraft liner. A series of continuous die cuts 26 extend through bond paper sheet 12, but not through liner 40, to form adhesive stickers or labels 28. Adhesive stickers or labels 28 can be removed along continuous die cuts 26 and placed at desired positions on drawing portion 18 inside outside border 24. Liner 40 preferably has a silicone coating which permits adhesive 30 to remain on rear surface 16 of adhesive stickers or labels 28 to permit adhesive stickers or labels 28 to adhere to drawing portion 18. As seen in Fig. 4, drawing portion 18 and adhesive stickers or labels 28 can be preprinted to represent, in this example, a circus theme. Similarly, as seen in Fig. 5, drawing portion 18 and adhesive stickers or labels 28 can be preprinted to represent, in this example, an underwater ocean scene. It will be appreciated that various other drawings and scenes can be preprinted on drawing portion 18 and/or adhesive stickers or labels 28 using the teachings of the present invention to provide entertainment and educational activities for children and other interested patrons. Furthermore, since drawing portion 18 and adhesive stickers or labels 28 are fabricated from a bond paper sheet material, they can be further decorated or colored using a variety of writing instruments, including pencils, pens, ink markers and crayons. Thus, it will be readily recognized that placemat (10) having integrated adhesive stickers or labels in accordance with the present invention provides entertaining and educational activities for children and other interested patrons without additional play items such as drawing instruments because adhesive stickers or labels 28 are used to decorate drawing portion 18. Adhesive 30 is preferably selected to be removable from restaurant fixtures and other items when adhesive stickers or label are misused by children and other interested patrons. Furthermore, since adhesive stickers or labels 28 are fabricated from a bond paper sheet material, they disintegrate in mechanical dishwashers if adhesive stickers or labels 28 are left adhered on tableware. Thus, it will be readily recognized that placemat (10) having integrated adhesive stickers or labels addresses many of the disadvantages inherent in known prior art placemat products. Various changes in the size, configuration and design of drawing portion 18 and adhesive stickers or labels 28 will be readily apparent to those having ordinary skill in the relevant art. For example, dining establishments could provide for special "prizes" under certain preselected stickers or labels. In one embodiment of this type, four stickers or labels are provided in the "prize" peel off section of placemat (10) having integrated adhesive stickers or labels giving the user four tries at winning a "prize". Prizes such as an ice cream cone, a box of crayons, etc. are preprinted on the surface of liner 40 below the "winning" adhesive stickers or labels 28. In such an arrangement, it is anticipated that "prize" messages would be preprinted on the back of liner 40 prior to application of liner 40 and die cutting. Furthermore, an opaque material would preferably be used for liner 40 to prevent the visibility of the "prizes" prior to removal of adhesive stickers or labels 28.

Claims: A placemat (10) characterized by at least one integrated adhesive sticker or label, comprising: a bond paper sheet (12) having a front surface (14) and a rear surface (16), said bond paper sheet (12) having a drawing portion (18) and an integrated adhesive sticker portion (20); a liner (40) adhered by an adhesive (30) to at least a portion of said rear surface (16) of said adhesive sticker portion (20) of said bond paper sheet (12); and a die cut (26) through said bond paper sheet (12) to form said at least one integrated adhesive sticker (28). A placemat according to claim 1, characterized in that said liner (40) is fabricated from silicone coated kraft paper and said adhesive (30) is a pressure sensitive adhesive. A placemat according to claim 2, characterized in that said liner is fabricated from a 35# silicone - coated kraft liner. A placemat according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said bond paper sheet (12) is 20 to 28 pound bond. A placemat according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a perforated line (22) separates said drawing portion (18) and said integrated adhesive sticker portion (20) of said bond paper sheet (12). A placemat according to claim 5, characterized in that said perforated line (22) is a micro-fine perforation which permits easy separation of said drawing portion and said integrated adhesive sticker or label portion of said bond paper sheet. A placemat according to claim 4, characterized in that said drawing portion (18) and said integrated adhesive sticker or label portion (20) are formed from a single sheet of 20 pound bond paper.

Inventors: HORTON KATHERINE C, ROGERS MARK C, HORTON, KATHERINE C., ROGERS, MARK C.
Applicants: NCR INT INC, NCR INTERNATIONAL, INC.
Application year: 1996
Main classification: A47G23
IPC codes: A63F9, B43L3, A47G23