Patent Publication Number: US-2016236484-A1

Title: Unknown

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims foreign priority to Italian patent application MI2015A000052 filed on Jan. 21, 2015. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a decorated lamina of a decoration process of a visible lamina of an adhesive unit consisting of: preparing a transparent sheet having an outer face suitable to constitute a visible face of said adhesive unit and an inner face opposite said outer face and decorating by means of a first decorated layer. 
     2. Brief Description of the Prior Art 
     In particular, it relates to the decoration of a visible portion of a label or the like. As is known, adhesive units or labels or stickers are widespread. 
     These may be of various shapes, sizes, colours, designs and can customize, decorate and liven up walls, panels, doors, windows, shop windows, appliances, vehicle parts, and so on. 
     The aesthetic appeal of these adhesive units or labels is one of the basic reasons for which they are purchased and applied. 
     In the prior art already known of the labels have a visible surface which, when it is not uniform or of the type imitating a specific material, is printed or coloured or decorated using any available process, for example by digital printing or by conventional printing, in particular by silkscreen printing. 
     In various cases a layer of resin is then applied to the sheets to protect the decorations made thereon. 
     This situation has several drawbacks. 
     In particular, each printing process has its own specific limitations and thus the decorations are limited in terms of variety and quality. 
     For example, silkscreen printing requires substantial and expensive systems if a large number of colours are involved, because each colour requires its own screen. 
     In addition, the colours and shades used in silkscreen printing are “flat” and do not offer good shades. 
     The printing is also not very accurate. 
     For example, it is not easy to get a good reproduction of photographs, which tend to be of the “posterized” type i.e. with high-contrast, few nuances and simplified lines. 
     On the other hand, the colours utilisable and available can be chosen at will and in particular striking colours can be achieved. In this sense silkscreen printing is particularly versatile. 
     Digital printing instead permits high quality images in terms of accuracy, detail and nuance to be produced. Even photographs can be reproduced. 
     A single machine can then apply all the colours available. 
     One limitation however of digital printing is the impossibility, even by suitably combining the available colours, of obtaining highly attractive special effects, for example, fluorescent colours cannot be produced, which instead could clearly and pleasant characterise the visible laminas of the labels. 
     It should also be noted that the protection of the colours and inks applied with a layer of transparent protective resin is negative from many points of view: in terms of costs and the application procedures and in that the resin gives a shiny and vitreous appearance to the lamina it is applied to. 
     This shiny, vitreous layer makes the label appear not to blend in, showing it to be extraneous to the surfaces it is applied to. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In this situation the technical purpose of the present invention is to devise a decorated lamina of an adhesive unit and process of decoration of said lamina able to substantially overcome the drawbacks mentioned. 
     Within the sphere of said technical purpose one important aim of the invention is to devise a lamina and a process which allow both precision printing and a wide range of colours and shades, including of the unusual type. 
     A further object of no less importance is to devise a decorated lamina which has a resin-free, substantially non-vitreous surface, which can blend in smoothly with the surfaces it is applied to. 
     Said technical purpose and specified aims are achieved by a decoration process of a visible lamina of an adhesive unit consisting of: preparing a transparent sheet having an outer face suitable to constitute a visible face of the adhesive unit and an inner face opposite the outer face; and decorating by means of a first decorated layer applied to a portion of the inner face defining at least one area free of the first layer, and a second decorated layer structurally different from said first layer and applied to at least part of the at least one area free of said inner face. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The characteristics and advantages of the invention are clearly evident from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments thereof, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  shows a label with a visible lamina according to the present invention; and 
         FIG. 2  schematically illustrates the steps of the process according to the invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     With reference to the Drawings, reference numeral  1  globally denotes the decorated lamina according to the invention. 
     It shows the upper visible portion of an adhesive unit or label. 
     The latter may comprise—in addition to the decorated lamina  1 —an adhesive film possibly covered by a removable protection element. 
     The adhesive film may be part of a more complex bottom layer and in addition other elements may be provided for which add to the physical characteristics of the label. 
     According to the invention the decorated lamina  1  structurally comprises a transparent sheet  2 , in Polyvinylchloride (PVC), having a thickness to the order of one millimetre or less, for example 0.5 millimetres. 
     The transparent sheet  2  is preferably not shiny and has an outer face  2   a  suitable to define the visible face of the adhesive unit and an inner face  2   b  opposite the outer face  2   a , and facing the surface to which the label is applied. 
     Originally at least a first decorated layer  3  is provided for applied only to a portion of the inner face  2   b  which, therefore, has one or more zones free of the first layer  3 , i.e. not decorated by the first layer  3 . 
     The first decorated layer  3  may consist of a digital type print or impression i.e. obtained using a digital type machine, utilizing the inks available for such printers, known per se and widespread. For example it is possible to use a digital printer generically known as “inkjet” and operating with inks that are quickly dried and solidified by exposure to UV (ultraviolet) rays. 
     These digital machines can operate with great precision. 
     Preferably a plurality of decorated layers combined and suitably structurally different from each other, are arranged, on the inner face  2   b . Specifically, for example, said first decorated layer  3  and a second decorated layer  4  structurally different from the first layer  3  are provided for. Advantageously, the second decorated layer  4  is applied to at least part of at least one free zone of the inner face  2   b , not engaged by the first layer  3 . Optionally, the second decorated layer  4  may be applied on at least part of the first layer  2 . 
     The second layer  4  may consist of a print or impression obtained with traditional silkscreen printing. 
     Silkscreen printing is demanding in that for each colour of a design a specific colour must be prepared, and does not have the precision of digital printing, it being very difficult to reproduce nuances and the like, but provides the most varied inks, for example, inks having a fluorescent effect: they become luminescent when they are hit by a light radiation. 
     These inks, and others with various special effects known per se, such as simulating a gold or silver lamina or opalescent effect, are of great impact and of great interest to buyers. 
     It may then be provided for that the first layer  3  and second layer  4  are combined and structured so that the first layer  3 —printed first, and with greater accuracy using graphic printers—also defines the graphic motifs and/or design impressed on the inner face  2   b , while the second layer  4 —printed afterwards with silkscreen printing— can expand on the first layer, so as to be covered from view by the latter where high-precision printing and a close contiguity of colours is needed. 
     A further aspect of the decorated lamina  1  according to the invention is the presence of a bottom layer  5  also obtained by printing which covers the two layers  3  and  4  also protecting and covering any remaining free zones on the inner face  2   b  after the application of the first and second layers  3  and  4 . 
     The bottom layer  5  is preferably a uniform, non-glossy layer for example, white and made as convenient using any printing process known per se, such as digital printing or silkscreen printing. 
     The invention also teaches a new process for decorating a lamina  1  defining the upper visible portion of an adhesive label or unit. 
     The process consists of preparing a transparent sheet  2  having an outer visible face  2   a , when the lamina  1  is part of the label, and an inner face  2   b  opposite the outer and facing the surface to which the label is applied. 
     It then consists of decorating the lamina  1  by means of printing processes performed on the inner face  2   b  of said lamina. 
     A bottom layer  5 , also printed and suitable to both cover and protect the printed decorations is then applied over the printed decorations. 
     In detail, between the inner face  2   b  and the bottom layer  5  a plurality of decorated layers are arranged comprising at least a first layer  3  made first and a second layer  4  structurally different from the first layer  3  and made afterwards, i.e. after the first layer  3 . 
     The first layer  3  may be made by digital printing. 
     The first layer  3  is advantageously applied to only a portion of the inner face  2   b  of the transparent sheet  2 . The inner face  2   b  has, therefore, areas free of the first layer  3 , i.e. not decorated by the first layer  3 . 
     The second layer  4  may be made by silkscreen printing. 
     Innovatively, the second layer  4  is applied to at least part of one or more free areas of the inner face  2   b . Optionally, the second decorated layer  4  may be applied to at least part of the first layer  2 . 
     The two layers are combined together: the second layer  4  is arranged partly covered from view—when the label is applied—by the first layer  3  made by digital printing and the profiles of the graphic patterns of the decorated lamina  1  are defined by said first layer  3 . 
     In this situation the second layer  4  may be printed freely and without problems of inaccuracy using special inks such as in particular the fluorescent inks, existing in silkscreen printing. 
     The decorated lamina  1  can then be prepared and treated as indicated in the form of a wide sheet and then cut and shaped to the size of the labels being made. 
     The invention achieves the proposed objectives and permits important advantages. 
     In fact a decorated lamina  1  able to highlight the advantages of different decoration processes/techniques is disclosed. For example, the decorated lamina  1  can highlight both the advantages of digital printing and those of silkscreen printing, obtaining labels of great aesthetic value. 
     Furthermore, this advantage is accentuated by the fact that, since the first layer  3  is applied to only a part of the inner face  2 , the second decorated layer  4  is applied to free areas of the inner face  2   b  and, therefore, is not graphically altered by overlapping with the first layer  3 . 
     It is to be noted how the inventor has also innovatively provided for the possibility of applying the second decorated layer  4  on parts of the inner face  2   b  decorated with the first layer  2  so as, for example, to obtain particular aesthetic effects and/or conceal portions of the second layer  4 . 
     The decorated lamina  1  may thus be part of labels made in any way, or be directly associated to an adhesive film for direct engagement on any surface. The fact that the transparent sheet is thin and decorated on the inner face avoids glossy surface or colour effects, even in combination with the bottom layer  5  and makes it unnecessary to apply a layer of transparent resin on the surface. 
     Variations may be made to the invention without departing from the scope of the inventive concept defined in the independent claims and by their technical equivalents. 
     All details may be replaced with equivalent elements and the materials, shapes and dimensions may be any within the scope of protection defined by the independent claims and by their technical equivalents.