Patent Publication Number: US-2013236703-A1

Title: Rolled decorative adhesive tape product

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to adhesive tape and more particularly to plastic backed adhesive tape such as duct tape, packaging tape or office tape. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Duct tape and packaging tape are products widely available to consumers. Duct tape and packaging tape often are of a uniform color. Some duct tape products have designs printed on the backing. 
     Duct tape and packaging tape are available rolled upon a core in widths of 48 millimeters or two inches. The length of the tape in a particular product varies from a few yards, such as 10 yards in length to many yards, such as 60 yards in length and more. 
     SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     A rolled decorative adhesive tape product comprises an elongate backing of uniform width with an adhesive coated on one side of the backing and several different discreet image segments printed on the other side of the backing sequentially allowing the construction of an entire image wider than the backing width by separating succeeding image segments and applying the image segments to a substrate in parallel, adjacent and aligned relationship. 
     Further in accordance with the disclosure, a decorative adhesive tape product can contain image segments repeating multiple copies of the same entire image or segments forming multiple different entire images or a combination of the two. 
     Yet further in accordance with the disclosure, the rolled adhesive tape product has a low tack adhesive coating allowing the tape and image to remove from the substrate. 
     Still further in accordance with the disclosure the rolled adhesive tape product includes retroreflective portions allowing the construction of an informational image of large size visible at night from a two inch wide roll of tape. 
     Yet further in accordance with the disclosure, the image segments are separated from one another on the rolled product by perforations. 
     OBJECTS OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     It is the primary of the disclosure to provide a roll of tape product allowing a user to construct a large image on a substrate easily from a compact product. 
     It is yet another object of the disclosure to provide a roll of tape product allowing non-professionals to easily and neatly apply large images to a substrate using a compact roll of adhesive tape. 
     It is still another object of the present disclosure to provide a rolled adhesive tape product allowing the construction of large informational images visible at night quickly without a complicated application process. 
     These and other objects of the disclosure will become more fully apparent in the following specification and the attached drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic presentation of a rolled decorative adhesive tape product with the leading portion of the tape pulled away from the roll displaying image segments; 
         FIG. 2  is a plan view of a entire image wider than the roll of tape seen in  FIG. 1  constructed from the image segments seen in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a view similar to  FIG. 1  displaying a different set of image segments; 
         FIG. 4  is a plan view similar to  FIG. 2  showing a different entire image; 
         FIG. 5  is a view similar to  FIGS. 1 and 3  illustrating a rolled decorative adhesive tape product containing image segments for two different entire images; 
         FIG. 6  is a plan view similar to  FIGS. 2 and 4  showing the two different images constructed from the segments created from the roll of tape seen in  FIG. 5 ; 
         FIG. 7  is a plan view similar to  FIG. 6  showing an informational entire image constructed from tape segments on a single roll of tape; 
         FIG. 8  is a block diagram of a process for making a decorative adhesive tape product; 
         FIG. 9  is a schematic illustration of a backing blank used in creation of the rolled decorative adhesive tape product; and, 
         FIG. 10  is an illustration of a second backing blank used in creating the disclosed rolled decorative adhesive tape product. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring now to the drawings wherein the showings are for the purposes of illustrating preferred embodiments and not for the purposes of limiting the disclosure,  FIG. 1  shows an adhesive tape product  10  comprised of a length of adhesive tape  12  wound upon a core  14 . The core  14  is conventional and is either a plastic cylinder or cardboard cylinder or the like. The length of tape  12  comprises a plastic backing  16  with a printed design on a first side  18  and an adhesive on a second side  20 . The printed design comprises several different discreet image segments arranged sequentially upon the first side  18  of the plastic backing  16 . In the embodiment seen in  FIG. 1 , a first image segment  22  is seen on the very leading edge (the right end). Directly adjacent the first image segment is a second image segment  24  followed by a third image segment  26  and a fourth image segment  28 . Directly adjacent the fourth image segment  28  is a repeat of first image segment  22   a . Adjacent image sections may be separated by perforations, notches in the edges of the tape or otherwise made easily separable. Alternatively, the image segments may be printed on unperforated, unnotched tape for separation with scissors. Each of the image segments  22 ,  24 ,  26 ,  28  differ one from the other. Although they may be symmetrical or otherwise seem to repeat. 
     The image segments are separated from the roll of tape product  10  and applied to a substrate as seen in  FIG. 2  constructing an image having an overall width significantly wider than the width of the roll of tape product  10 . While the entire image  30  displayed in  FIG. 2  is rather simple, more complex images are provided in the same way as the simple entire image  30  seen in  FIG. 2 . Thus, image segments are separated from the adhesive tape product  10 , applied to a substrate  32  in parallel, adjacent an aligned relationship and the entire image  30  is completed. The substrate  32  can be anything from a wall, to the fender of an automobile, to a window or any other relatively receptive surface. The surface can be flat or gently curved or more aggressively curved. The substrate can have a smooth surface or a more texture surface such as concrete. The adhesive used can be of higher tack adhesive such as used on standard duct tape or a releasable adhesive allowing the entire image  30  to be removed from the surface without leaving an adhesive residue when desired. The film used as the plastic backing  16  can also be a light transparent film or a heavier stronger film such as used in conventional duct tape. The image segments on the tape can be separated one from the other by simple discontinuities in the images, marking such as dashed black print, or perforations  34  as shown in  FIG. 1 . Perforations make it easy to tear apart image segments one from the other without the use of a tool such as a knife or pair of scissors. 
       FIG. 3  shows another adhesive tape product  110  identical in all respects to the first adhesive tape product  10  except that a different set of image segments  122 ,  124 ,  126 ,  128  are printed onto the tape plastic backing  16 . 
       FIG. 4  shows the four image segments  122 ,  124 ,  126 ,  128  applied to a substrate  32  in parallel, adjacent and aligned relationship forming a second entire image  130 . 
     As in  FIG. 1 , the adhesive tape product contains multiple sequences of image segments. Thus, image segment  122   a  which is a repeat of image segment  122 , appears to the left of image segment  128 . This starts the presentation of image segments and sequence again after the first sequence. This continues for the entire roll of tape. 
       FIG. 5  shows another adhesive tape product  210  identical to the adhesive tape product seen in  FIG. 1  except for the image segments on the tape. The first four segments (from the right) are identical to the segments seen in  FIG. 1  and are identically numbered,  22 ,  24 ,  26 ,  28 . The following segments, however, are not identical to the first four segments of the first adhesive tape product  10 , but rather identical to the first four segments on the second adhesive tape product  110  and the segment visible in  FIG. 5  is identified as segments  122 ,  124 ,  126 ,  128 . These image segments are followed by a repeat of the first image segment marked  22   a . The first eight image segments separated from the third adhesive tape product  210  are shown arranged in parallel adjacent relationship on a substrate  32  in  FIG. 6 . Two complete images  30 ,  130  are thereby created as shown in  FIG. 6 . These two completed images can be disposed on the same substrate or on different substrates. The two images can be separated from the roll of tape at the same time and placed upon the same substrate or the first image  30  can be separated and used and the second image  130  can be left on the tape product  210  for separation and application to a substrate at a later time. More than two complete images  30  and  130  can be contained on a single roll. Thus, it is contemplated that adhesive tape products  10 ,  110 ,  210  can contain repeats of multiple image segments forming repeats of only one image or can intermix two different images or three or more images. The unifying concept is that multiple image segments are sequentially available on the tape for separation and application to a substrate to create an image having a width larger than the uniform width of the tape itself. The images can be as simple as the diamond and circle shapes as seen or more complex, for instance, reproductions of popular posters, reproductions of music covers, safety images, maintenance images, and other images can be deconstructed into uniform width strips, printed on tape as described, and constructed into large images on a substrate as described above. More than four image segments can be used to form an image. Less than four image segments can be used to form an image. 
       FIG. 7  shows another image constructed from image segments originally distributed on a roll of tape such as the adhesive tape product  10 . The adhesive tape product from which the image is constructed is a two inch wide duct tape-like product with four repeating image segments  332 ,  334 ,  336 ,  338  separated from the roll of tape and applied to a substrate in a parallel adjacent aligned relationship. As can be seen in  FIG. 7 , when the four segments are properly aligned, a sign eight inches high and about two feet wide presenting the letters “stop” is created. The letters are segmented for easy printing and storage on a roll of tape. The letters can be printed in retro-reflective ink with substantial width of the bodies of the letters. In this way, a police officer can carry a roll of tape or several rolls of tape in the trunk of his car. If a stop sign is found to be missing or damaged or destroyed in an accident, weather incident or otherwise, the officer can apply a substitute sign on an adjacent tree trunk, or any other appropriate surface as a temporary replacement. Because the sign is stored on a roll of tape, it is easily kept in the trunk of a police car and easily found and used when needed. 
     Even larger signs can be created using more tape segments. Thus, eight tape segments can be used to make a 16 inch high sign for use on interstate highways. An officer could apply a “reduce speed” message temporarily over a sign giving distance to a nearby city in an emergency situation. The tape is a duct tape with a message on it. The adhesive is sufficiently strong to stay on such substrates through a snow storm or other event requiring temporary signage. 
       FIG. 8  illustrates the steps in creating the adhesive tape products  10  described above in block diagram form. In an image creation step  40 , the image or images to be put on the tape are selected, the size of the image selected, and the image divided into segments for sequential printing on backing. Adhesive tape products are often manufactured using a backing of considerable width (several yards) which is later slit to appropriate width. Thus, images for many rolls of tape will be printed at the same time on a wide backing blank. This may include the printing of completed images which are divided into segments during the slitting operation. No matter how the images are arranged, the aim is that sequential image segments are provide on each finished roll of tape with all the image segments needed to create one complete image being adjacent on another. The printed backing blank is then coated in the coating step  42  with appropriate primers, release agents and adhesive. This coating step is conventional. 
     The coated backing blank is then slit to appropriate width, cut to appropriate length and rolled on cores in the slitting step  44 . The slitting step is also conventional. 
     The cores may be printed with appropriate product information such as length of tape, distributor name, image printed on tape and the like. Some products  10  are finished after the slitting and rolling state. Other products will require further packaging for compliance with consumer packaging requirements, consumer preferences, and the like. 
       FIGS. 9 and 10  illustrate backing blanks as created in the image creation step  40 . With respect to  FIG. 9 , a backing blank  50  is shown which is wide enough to form twelve rolls of tape. This is undersized when compared to many commercial tape production methods. However, this size is sufficient to illustrate the concept. Actual backing blanks will be considerably wider carrying considerably more images to make more rolls of tape. In  FIG. 10 , multiple copies of the same image are seen. The images are repeated one after the other along the length of the tape blank and also transversely across the width of the blank. Each succeeding image is displaced one step (a tape width) to the left in the longitudinal direction. In this way, image segments are staggered and image segments on each roll of tape are presented in a one, two, three, four order with each set of four creating a completed image when applied to a substrate. Obviously, the length of segments can vary with the size of the image desired. Additionally, the number of segments can vary depending upon the size of the complete image desired. 
       FIG. 10  is similar to  FIG. 9  except that it shows two different images on the same backing blank  60 . The images are staggered so that a first image is presented on each roll of tape in a one, two, three, four order followed by the second image also presented in a one, two, three, four order. These two sequences can be followed by a repeat of the two images for as long as the roll of tape lasts or more than two images can be supplied. 
     Large, detailed, readable images with bright colors, retroreflective areas, fluorescent areas, phosphorescent areas, transparent areas, and high contrast areas, can be provided. Thus, high quality decorative graphics can be easily applied to a substrate permanently or temporarily depending upon the adhesive selected. Moreover, temporary emergency signage which is precomposed, extremely readable and of appropriate size can be applied quickly with little training in an emergency situation. Such signage can improve safety on highways, at airports, or anywhere else where people may need clear readable directions in dealing with unusual situations. The graphics and signage are easily and safely sold and transported rolled as tape upon a core. They are not subject to easy damage and are easily applied without the need for training or special tools. 
     While considerable emphasis has been placed herein on the structures of the preferred embodiments, it will be appreciated that many modifications and alterations can be made in the embodiments herein illustrated and described without departing from the principles of the disclosure. Further, changes to details of the structure of the tape product will occur to others. Accordingly, it is to be distinctly understood that the foregoing descriptive matter is to be interpreted merely as illustration of the present disclosure and not as a limitation. Obviously, modifications and alterations will occur to others upon the reading and understanding of this specification. It is intended to include all such modifications insofar as they come within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof. Having thus, described the invention, it is claimed: