Abstract:
A UPC identification device for affixation to a product includes a label-bearing portion having a side bearing UPC information; and a tail portion fixed to said label-bearing portion and extending outwardly therefrom for attaching the identification device to a product. The tail portion is held in place by expanding the distal portion thereof, or by forming the tail portion into a loop for capturing the label-bearing portion thereof.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to UPC barcodes and information labels, and specifically to information labels for UPC bar codes and information which may be affixed to small objects. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The Universal Product Code (UPC) was the first widely adopted bar code symbology. In 1973, the grocery industry established UPC as the standard bar code symbology for product marking. The UPC not only speeds customer checkout at the time of purchase, it provides inventory control, and, in the case of retail establishments that identify customers through various membership schemes, provides information about individual customer buying habits. By 2005, all US retailers will have to be able to scan all UPC article numbers (8, 12, 13 and 14-digit). UPC symbols are fixed in length, can only encode numbers, and are continuous symbologies using four element widths. UPC version A symbols have 10 digits plus two overhead digits. The first overhead digit of a UPC version A symbol is a number related to the type of product. The UPC symbology was designed to make it ideal for coding products. The UPC symbol is decoded by measuring the distance from leading edges to leading edge of bars, trailing edge to trailing edge of bars and leading edge to leading edge of characters. Because UPC is a continuous code with exacting tolerances, it is more difficult to print on any equipment except printing presses, however, modem laser printers may be used to print UPC information on a variety of label materials. 
     Product codes and their respective manufacturers are available to all persons, and facilitate ordering of product by product type, model and manufacturer. If someone is opening up a sporting goods store, for example, it would save a lot of work to have a database of all the product numbers of the products carried by the store with their descriptions. The store, of course, will still have to enter the selling price for each product. The second reason for such a list is to identify the company that made the product. World Wide Web sites are available which provide product descriptions for all UPC-encoded products. Suppliers of products will generally provide their UPC product codes in a database which may be downloaded or provided on some form of computer-readable media. 
     An issue which has existed since the beginning of widespread UPC use is that many objects do not lend themselves to application of a label carrying the UPC. Such objects are generally of small size, and are not individually packaged. Bulk items commonly found at sporting goods stores and hardware stores, such as fishing flys, fishing sinkers, bolts, nuts, etc., would have a significant price increase to the consumer if such products had to be individually packaged in materials which could carry the required UPC information. Consumers also need to know what they are buying, and the provision of product information on a label carrying the UPC is of benefit to consumer and retailer alike, in that the consumer can read the information without the need to question a store employee. 
     A known form of identification device uses a tag having a T-bar tail portion, which is inserted into a product by aligning a T-shaped portion with a tail portion, and allowing the T-shaped portion to return to a 90° orientation to a tail portion once the tag is installed. This arrangement, however, will not work on products which have very small eyes, such as fish hooks. 
     Many products are sold in specialty stores in bulk, i.e., a consumer selects the products which are desired to be purchased, possibly placing the products in a bag, and writing the price of the product on the bag. Product SKU numbers may be provided by the individual retailer for inventory control and pricing. While this technique may reduce the product price to the consumer, there are issues of consumer counting of product and providing the proper product information. If a customer counts out 25 of a product, but miscounts and really has 27 items, a clerk is unlikely to catch the error. While this is a small matter with one customer, it becomes a major source of revenue loss with thousands of customers. 
     Another form of retailer that deals with small items is jewelry stores. Such stores generally apply price and product information on small tags which are fastened to the product by string or by a plastic insert, which holds two sides of a tag together. The tag, in the case of a ring or ear rings, must be removed before the product may be tried-on by the customer. The tag must then be re-applied. 
     The provision of an easily applied label which contains UPC information and product information is of benefit to retailer and consumer. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A UPC identification device for affixation to a product includes a label-bearing portion having a side bearing UPC information; and a tail portion fixed to said label-bearing portion and extending outwardly therefrom for attaching the identification device to a product. The tail portion is held in place by expanding the distal portion thereof, or by forming the tail portion into a loop for capturing the label-bearing portion thereof. 
     It is an object of the invention to provide an identification device which is affixable to small objects for displaying product information and UPC information. 
     Another object of the invention is to provide an identification device which is easy to affix to individual products. 
     A further object of the invention is to provide an identification device which may be affixed by a variety of affixation techniques. 
     This summary and objectives of the invention are provided to enable quick comprehension of the nature of the invention. A more thorough understanding of the invention may be obtained by reference to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the invention in connection with the drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a first embodiment of the identification device of the invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the device of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 3 is a side elevation of a second embodiment of the device of the invention. 
     FIG. 4 is a top plan view of a third embodiment of the device of the invention. 
     FIG. 5 depicts steps in the affixation of the first and second embodiments of the device of the invention to a product. 
     FIG. 6 depicts the first and second embodiments of the device of the invention as affixed to a product displaying UPC information on a first side of a label-bearing portion thereof. 
     FIG. 7 depicts the embodiment of the invention of FIG. 4 as affixed to a product, displaying product information on a second side of a label-bearing portion thereof. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring initially to FIGS. 1-4, three embodiments of the invention are depicted. The embodiments are provided to facilitate application of the identification device of the invention to various products, depending on product configuration. As previously noted, bulk items and small items are particularly difficult to price and track. 
     Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, two views of the identification device of the first embodiment of the invention are depicted, generally at  10 . Device  10  includes a label-bearing portion  12 , having a first side  12   a  and a second side  12   b , and a tail portion  14 . Label bearing portion  12 , also referred to herein as a tag portion, is provided in a size which is sufficient to allow application of UPC information which may be read by the usual scanning devices found in retail stores. In the preferred embodiment, tag portion  12  has a generally rectangular, planar shape, and is approximately 0.7 inches long and 0.4 inches high. It has a nominal thickness of 0.02 inches. Device  10  is formed of a polymer material, such as nylon, and may be provided in a clear, translucent or opaque form. 
     Tail portion  14 , in the preferred embodiment, extends from a side of tag portion  12 , and is co-planar therewith. Tail portion  14  has a nominal diameter along a proximal portion  14   a thereof of approximately 0.02 inches, which diameter narrows and is reduced along a distal portion  14   b  thereof to approximately 0.01 inches. Tail portion  14  has a nominal length in this embodiment of approximately 1.125 inches, with proximal portion  14   a  extending for approximately one inch, and distal portion  14   b  extending for approximately 0.125 inches. Tail portion may also be formed with a 0.01 inch diameter and a distal portion which has a diameter smaller than 0.01 inch. 
     FIG. 3 depicts a second embodiment  20  of the identification device of the invention, which is substantially similar to the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2, except that a tail portion  22  is of uniform diameter along its length. Tail portion  22 , in this embodiment has a nominal length of approximately 0.75 inches. The diameter of tail portion  22  may be 0.01 inches or 0.02 inches, depending on the intended use of the device. 
     FIG. 4 depicts a third embodiment  30  of the identification device of the invention, which includes tag portion  12  and a tail portion  32 . Tail portion  32  includes a first tail portion  34  and a second tail portion  34 , which are slightly spaced apart from one another, and a distal joiner  38  which joins the first and second tail portions. The overall length of tail portion  32  is approximately 1.25 inches in this embodiment, with distal joiner  38  occupying approximately 0.1 inches at the end of the tail portion. The first and second tail portions have a nominal diameter of 0.02 inches, corresponding to the thickness of tag portion  12 . 
     In order to secure devices  10  or  20  to a product  40 , and now referring to FIG. 5, the tail portion is passed through the product, in this case, through an eye  42  which is part of the product, and expanded into an expanded tail portion  14   c . As shown in the drawing, an expanding mechanism, specifically a heated element  44  is provided, which will cause the polymer of device  10  or  20  to expand, thereby capturing the product eye, and preventing removal or escape of device  10  or  20  from product  40 . Expansion may be accomplished by any number of techniques, including heating, crimping, flaring, spreading, etc. 
     The selection of identification device  10  or  20  is dependent on the size of the orifice in a product eye. For example, in the case of fly fishing hooks, hook sizes 24 to 18 have and internal eye diameter of between about 0.01 inch and 0.02 inch. Hook sizes 16 to 6 have an internal eye diameter of about 0.02 to 0.04 inches, while hook sizes 4 to 4/0 have an internal eye diameter of at least about 0.04 inches and larger. Thus, the embodiment of device  10  having a 0.01 inch tail portion and a further reduced distal portion is suitable for use with hooks of size 24-18, while other embodiments having a single tail portion may be selected for larger hooks. For hooks of size 4 and larger, any embodiment, including embodiment  30  may be selected. Devices  10  and  20  may also he used on fabric or webbed products, wherein the tail is passed through an opening in the weave and then expanded. This replaces the well known T-bar tail arrangement used on clothing items. 
     FIG. 6 depicts device  10  or  20  as affixed to a fishing fly  50 , which fly includes a fly body  52 , and a fish hook  54 , having an eye  56  therein. First side  12   a  of tag portion  12  is depicted with UPC information  58  carried thereon. UPC information may be affixed in any number of ways, including direct printing on the tag portion, printing on a label which is affixed to the tag portion, or the UPC information may be embossed into the identification device during tag formation, particularly if a large number of identification devices are going to be made for a specific product. 
     FIG. 7 depicts the affixation of identification device  30  to a ring  60 . This embodiment may be affixed to a product by passing the tail portion through the product, spreading the first and second tail portions apart, and passing tag portion  12  through the spread of first tail portion  34  and second tail portion  36 , which form a loop, thereby retaining the identification device on the product. Product information  62  is depicted on second side  12   b  of tag portion  12 . 
     Thus, a UPC identification device has been disclosed. It will be appreciated that further variations and modifications thereof may be made within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.