Abstract:
A decorative pop-up sticker is formed of a decorative design element bendable along an intermediate line to form design sections at least one of which has adhesive on its back side, whereby to enable securing said design sections to a surface with the bent design section extending outwardly of said surface in a pop-up, three dimensional configuration.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to decorative stickers, and more particularly to decorative stickers that project outward from an underlying surface in a three dimensional configuration. 
     Decorative stickers provided heretofore are flat, thin, stamp-like objects provided with a film of adhesive over the back surface, for securing the sticker flatwise to a surface, in the two dimensional manner of a postage stamp. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The decorative pop-up sticker of this invention is a flat sheet foldable on predetermined lines and provided with pressure sensitive adhesive on portions of its underside, whereby portions may be bent outwardly and secured to a surface with unsecured portions projecting outwardly from said surface. 
     It is the principal objective of this invention to provide a decorative pop-up sticker that overcomes the aforementioned limitations of prior decorative stickers. 
     Another objective of this invention is to provide a method of making decorative pop-up stickers on an economical, mass production basis. 
     Still another objective of this invention is the provision of a method of making decorative pop-up stickers carried on an elongated ribbon in roll form. 
     A further objective of this invention is to provide a decorative pop-up sticker that may be displayed in various degrees of outward projection from an underlying surface. 
     The foregoing and other objects and advantages of this invention will appear from the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings of a preferred embodiment. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a fragmentary plan view of a length of decorative ribbon with narrow strips of adhesive shown in broken lines on the lateral sides of the underside of the ribbon. 
     FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line  2 — 2  in FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of a length of protective liner to be secured removably to the underside of the ribbon by means of the strips of adhesive. 
     FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line  4 — 4  in FIG.  3 . 
     FIG. 5 is a fragmentary plan view of the assembly of ribbon of FIG.  1  and underlying liner of FIG.  3 . 
     FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken on the line  6 — 6  in FIG.  5 . 
     FIG. 7 is a fragmentary plan view of the assembly of FIG. 5 with a plurality of decorative design elements formed as kiss cuts through the ribbon of FIG. 1 but not through the underlying liner of FIG.  3 . 
     FIG. 8 is a fragmentary plan view similar to FIG. 7 with the portions of ribbon outside the decorative design elements of FIG. 7 removed from the liner. 
     FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken on the line  9 — 9  in FIG.  8 . 
     FIGS. 10,  11  and  12  are side elevations showing the decorative pop-up sticker of FIG. 8 secured to an underlying surface in various conditions of folding to three dimensional configurations. 
     FIG. 13 is a front elevation of the decorative pop-up sticker shown in FIG.  11 . 
     FIG. 14 is a fragmentary plan view, similar to FIG. 8, of a third configuration of decorative pop-up sticker embodying the features of this invention. 
     FIG. 15 is a sectional view taken on the line  15 — 15  in FIG.  14 . 
     FIG. 16 is a side elevation showing the decorative pop-up sticker of FIG. 14 secured to and bent upward from an underlying surface in an animated configuration. 
     FIG. 17 is a fragmentary plan view, similar to FIG. 8, of a third configuration of decorative pop-up sticker embodying the features of this invention. 
     FIG. 18 is a sectional view taken on the line  18 — 18  in FIG.  17 . 
     FIG. 19 is a side elevation showing the decorative pop-up sticker of FIG. 17 secured to and bent upward from an underlying surface in an animated configuration. 
     FIG. 20 is a fragmentary plan view, similar to FIG. 8, of a fourth configuration of decorative pop-up sticker embodying the features of this invention. 
     FIG. 21 is a perspective view showing the pop-up sticker of FIG. 20 bent along the score lines and secured to an underlying surface to depict a rectangular arch. FIG. 22 is a fragmentary plan view, similar to FIG. 8, of an alternative to the construction of FIG. 20 to provide the toy block of FIG. 21 from a one-piece blank. 
     FIG. 23 is a perspective view showing the toy block formed from the one-piece blank of FIG.  22 . 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     FIG. 1 shows a length of decorative ribbon  10  having applied to the underside thereof narrow strips of pressure sensitive adhesive  12  adjacent the lateral sides of the ribbon, in the manner shown in FIG.  2 . 
     FIG. 3 shows a length of protective liner  14  to be secured removably to the underside of the ribbon  10 , by means of the adhesive strips  12  which the liner protects prior to use of the sticker. 
     The assembly of decorative ribbon and protective liner is shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. This provides for the mass production of decorative pop-up stickers. 
     Referring to FIG. 7 of the drawings, the decorative design of the pop-up stickers is illustrated to be a heart. It is formed by “kiss” cutting the decorative ribbon  10 , that is, without also cutting the liner  14 . In the embodiment illustrated, the kiss cuts  16  form the configuration of pairs of hearts disposed back-to-back across the width of the decorative strip  10 . The cuts may extend the full width of the strip  10 , as illustrated, although they may terminate inwardly of the lateral edges of the strip  10 , for the purpose described hereinafter. 
     The kiss cuts also are interrupted at the center between the pair of hearts, and the interrupted center line preferably is provided with a plurality of perforations  18  which serve to facilitate the bending of the two halves of the decorative design element when it is removed from the production strip shown in FIG.  8 . It is to be noted in FIG. 7 that a plurality of the pairs of design configurations are formed by kiss cuts along the length of the ribbon  10 . 
     After the decorative design elements have been formed by the kiss cuts illustrated in FIG. 7, the remaining portions of the decorative ribbon  10  are removed from between the decorative elements. It may be preferred to terminate the outer ends of the kiss cuts inwardly of the lateral edges of the decorative ribbon, to facilitate removal of the remaining portions outside the margins of the cuts, by peeling such remaining portions in one continuous strip. In either case, the removal of such remaining portions leaves the decorative elements secured to the underlying liner strip  14  by means of the narrow strips of pressure sensitive adhesive  12  provided at the outer portions of the pairs of design elements. The design elements thus may be packaged by forming rolls of the elongated ribbon of liner  14 , and each decorative element then may be removed from the liner strip, one at a time, by disengaging the adhesive-coated portions  12  from the liner. 
     The interconnected pair of design elements then are bent along the transverse line of perforations  18  and the terminal portions of the pair of design elements are bent outward for securing the pressure sensitive adhesive tips  12  to an underlying surface, such as a package. 
     FIGS. 10,  11  and  12  illustrate various configurations achieved by bending the two interconnected halves along the transverse line of perforations to various angles. In FIG. 10 the two halves are secured together by adhesive over all or part of the back side of one or both halves. FIG. 13 is a front view of either side of the bent configuration of FIG. 11, as it is secured to a surface. 
     Although the design element illustrated in FIGS. 7-13 of the drawings is in the shape of a heart, it will be understood that the decorative pop-up sticker may have any desired peripheral configuration and the adhesive applied to areas other than the lateral margins. Examples are illustrated in FIGS. 14-23. 
     FIGS. 14-16 illustrate a decorative pop-up sticker in the form of butterflies  22  produced by multiple kiss cuttings along the length of decorative ribbon, in the manner described hereinbefore with reference to FIG.  7 . The butterflies are shown in FIG. 14 in the same condition as the hearts in FIG. 8, i.e. with the portions of decorative ribbon outside the cut margins of the butterflies having been removed. 
     To form the butterfly pop-up sticker, a narrow strip of pressure sensitive adhesive  24  is applied to the underside of decorative ribbon, along the longitudinal centerline of the ribbon, and the ribbon bonded removably to an underlying ribbon of liner  26 . The butterfly configurations then are produced by kiss cutting through the decorative ribbon, but not through the liner, after which the excess decorative ribbon is removed, leaving the butterfly designs retained on the liner by the underlying strip of adhesive (FIG.  15 ). 
     Each butterfly sticker may be removed from the ribbon of liner and secured by the underlying adhesive  24  to a gift wrapper or other desired surface  28 . The wings of the butterfly then may be bent outward from such surface, along the center score or perforated line  30 , to display the butterfly in a three-dimensional configuration, substantially symmetrical about the central bending line, as shown in FIG.  16 . Internal interrupted kiss cuts may be provided to form wing segments  22 ′ within the dimensions of the main wings that may be bent outward along the interrupted portion, in the manner described in my U.S. Pat. No. 5,691,023 to enhance the three dimensional appearance. 
     FIGS. 17-19 illustrate a decorative pop-up sticker of this invention in the form of a flower having a central portion  32  and peripherally extending petals  34 . Score or perforation lines  36  are provided between the central portion  32  and petals  34  to enable bending the petals angularly upward from the central portion, to produce a three-dimensional configuration of the flower. As in the earlier embodiments, an elongated decorative ribbon is secured removably to an underlying strip of liner  38 , by means of longitudinally spaced spots of pressure sensitive adhesive  40 . Each of these spots of adhesive is positioned on the ribbon to define the center of the central portion  32 , and kiss cutting of the decorative ribbon around that center produces the configuration of the flower. The decorative pop-up sticker may be removed from the liner  38  and secured to a gift wrapper or other desired surface  42 , by means of the adhesive spot  40 . The petals  34  then may be bent upward, as in FIG. 19, to create a three-dimensional flower configuration. 
     In FIG. 20 a rectangular decorative pop-up sticker  44  is formed by kiss-cutting decorative ribbon secured to a liner ribbon  46  by lateral strips of pressure sensitive adhesive  48 . Four spaced score or perforated lines  50  define bending lines by which the sticker may be formed into an inverted U-shape, as shown in FIG.  21 . The end tabs carrying the adhesive  48  may be secured to an underlying surface, to form a decorative pop-up sticker in the shape of an open-ended box. Two such pop-up stickers  44  may be stacked one within the other at 90° displacement, to form a closed cube  52  which may be decorated with alphabet letters in the manner of a child&#39;s toy block, as illustrated in FIG.  23 . The cubic structure may form various other designs, and it may have an open top to form still other designs. 
     The toy block  52  in FIG. 23 may be formed by a one-piece blank  54  in the shape of a cross, as shown in FIG.  22 . Laterally spaced lines of adhesive  56  and longitudinally spaced lines of adhesive  58  are deposited on the underside of the ribbon, as previously explained, and the ribbon kiss-cut to form the cross shape with the lines of adhesive adjacent the outer ends of the cross components. Score or perforated lines  60  also are formed in the ribbon at the inner ends of the cross extensions, to facilitate bending to the closed cube shape of FIG.  23 . 
     It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the size, shape, type, number and arrangement of parts described hereinbefore. For example, the interconnected halves may be of the same peripheral contour, as are the hearts illustrated, or they may be of different peripheral contour. The underside of the ribbon may be colored correspondingly. The peripheral contour may form a border for internal artwork. The decorative pop-up designs may be made individually, of decorative material of various thicknesses. The only requirement is that the halves be interconnected at a common bend line. The perforations  18  defining the bend line may be replaced with a score line for the same purpose. These and other changes may be made, as desired, without departing from the spirit of this invention and the scope of the appended claims.