Patent Publication Number: US-8117777-B2

Title: Multi-layer wristband with removable labels incorporated into the wristband

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     The present patent application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 10/857,214, Chadwick, et al., Identification bracelet, filed 28 May 2004 and claiming priority from provisional patent application 60/474,189, filed 29 May 2003. U.S. Ser. No. 10/857,214 is hereby incorporated by reference into the present application for all permissible purposes. The present patent application also claims priority from U.S. provisional patent application No. 61/171,983 Robert Chadwick, Wristband with removable labels incorporated into the wristband, filed 23 Apr., 2009. The entire provisional patent application is also hereby incorporated herein by reference for all permissible purposes. The Detailed Description of the present application contains the entire Detailed Description and Drawing of U.S. Ser. No. 10/857,214; the new material begins with the section entitled Two-layered bracelets and includes  FIGS. 8 and 9 . 
    
    
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Not applicable. 
     REFERENCE TO A SEQUENCE LISTING 
     Not applicable. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to identification bracelets and more particularly to temporary identification bracelets for use in environments in which the bracelets are applied by people other than the wearer and are exposed to moisture and common solvents. 
     3. Description of Related Art 
     Identification bracelets are used in many situations where subjects require short-term identification. Examples of the use of identification bracelets include identification of participants at meetings, of guests in a resort, of passengers in transportation, and particularly patients in hospitals or other institutions. In the hospital setting, proper identification is particularly important: it prevents patients from receiving the wrong medication or medical procedure and it allows hospital administration to track the usage of hospital facilities by a patient for billing purposes. 
     The hospital environment places extraordinary demands on identification bracelets:
         They need to be produced where they are used, namely at the nurses&#39; stations;   They often need to carry photographs and barcodes, both of which require high resolution to be useful;   Both the bracelet and whatever is written or printed on it must be resistant to water and other common solvents;   The bracelet must be comfortable for the patient to wear;   The bracelet must be sanitary;   In many situations, the bracelet must be strong enough to withstand deliberate attempts by its wearer to remove it; and   The bracelet must be easy for the hospital personnel to make and apply.       

     Two main types of identification bracelets are presently used in hospitals and related institutions. The first type are bracelets that use paper protected by a plastic sleeves or an adhesive plastic film to make a band that is as printable as paper but has greater tear resistance and resistance to environmental degradation. An example of prior art of this type can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,510,634 to Riley, which discloses a multiple computer generated multi-web moisture proof identification bracelet. The Riley patent discloses an adhesive backed transparent film layer to encapsulate the paper strip. Problems with the first type of bracelet include the following:
         Film sleeves and adhesive backed films are difficult for hospital staff to handle. The strip of paper must first be printed or written upon. The strip is then inserted into the film sleeve, the sleeve is looped around the patient&#39;s wrist or ankle, and the ends of the bracelet are attached using a metal or plastic clasp or adhesive on the sleeve. When an adhesive backed laminate is used, the printed strip of material is placed on the adhesive backed film and the film is folded over the strip of material to encase the printed strip. A bracelet can then be formed in the same manner described above. Alternatively, the bracelet is first fitted to the patient and then encapsulated with the adhesive backed film.   The plastic sleeve or laminate is often not tight enough to protect any paper or print within from being destroyed when the bracelet is immersed in water.   Barcode readers can have difficulty reading barcodes through the film sleeve or laminate. The Riley patent solves this problem with a die cut window in the laminate for the barcode. The drawback of this feature is that the barcode is exposed to the environment and can therefore easily be destroyed.   Where the bracelets have barcodes, the paper must be printed with laser printers. “Wicking” of the water-based inks used in ink jet printers makes the barcodes unreadable.       

     The second type of identification bracelets are those made using a printable plastic strip. An example of this type of identification bracelet can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,641,048 to Schintz et al., which discloses a bracelet made of a strip of polyesterplastic. The strip is printable by a standard office laser printer. The strip has adhesive at both ends of its inner side and is made into a bracelet that fits closely to the patient&#39;s wrist or ankle as shown in  FIG. 1 : To form the bracelet from the strip of plastic  100 , the end with the first adhesive attachment point  101  must be looped and pressed against the inner surface of the strip  103 , creating an adhesive bond. The second adhesive contact point  102  is then looped over and pressed against the outer surface of the strip opposite  104 . Problems with the second type of bracelet include:
         The plastic strip must be printed by a laser printer and consequently cannot have a thickness beyond what a laser printer will accept. The Schintz patent discloses a 0.002 inch thick polyester film. A film of this thickness can be easily torn, either by accident or deliberately by its wearer, and can thus be easily removed by its wearer or lost. Stretching can further make the barcodes and other information unreadable.   The thin plastic used for the bracelet is also hard for hospital staff to handle, as can be seen from the foregoing description of how the Schintz band is applied. Moreover, the loop-back technique creates a space in the band where moisture or micro organisms can gather.       

     None of the bracelets presently being used has a good mechanism for making a close-fitting bracelet. Attachment mechanisms have included the following:
         Metal or plastic clasps; the problem with these is that the clasps are separate from the bracelet and easily lost.   Adhesive attachment mechanisms; these generally simply attach the ends of the bracelet to each other. The bracelet fits closely only where the patient happens to be the same size as the bracelet. Schintz solves this problem, as described above, but at the cost of a difficult application process.       

     The printable plastic bracelets described in U.S. Ser. No. 10/857,214 are easy to apply, fit precisely, are durable, and can be printed with standard office printers. The present patent application discloses a variation on the printable plastic bracelets of U.S. Ser. No. 10/857,214 which may be applied and printed on in exactly the same way as the bracelets of U.S. Ser. No. 10/857,214, but which have two layers instead of one. One advantage of the two-layered construction is that the bracelet can include removable labels; another is that the layers may have different properties; for example, the layer that is on the outside of the bracelet may be particularly adapted to being printed, while the layer that is on the inside of the bracelet may be particularly adapted to minimize irritation to the wearer&#39;s skin. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In one aspect, the invention is a band that is formable into a loop. The band has a head end and a tail and includes a first layer that, when the band is formed into the loop, is the outside of the loop, and a second layer that, when the band is formed into the loop, is the inside of the loop. The first and second layers are bonded to each other and there are a first portion of the band at the head end in which the first layer is bonded to the second layer and the second layer is a release liner with regard to the contact adhesive. The construction of the band permits the band to be formed into a loop by removing the second layer from the first portion and attaching the exposed contact adhesive to the first layer in the tail. 
     In another aspect, the invention is a business form for the band of the first aspect. The business form includes the band&#39;s first and second layers and the second layer has a first portion and a second portion which is separate from the first portion. The first portion is bonded to the head end of the band by a contact adhesive and is a release layer with respect to the contact adhesive. The second portion is bonded unreleasably to at least part of the first layer in the tail of the band. The band is die cut in the business form such that only the first layer is cut for the head end and both layers are cut for the tail. 
     In both aspects, the layers may be made up of materials having different properties; for example, the first layer may be printable and the second layer may be chosen to reduce skin irritation. The strengths of the first and second layers are such that when the band is made into the loop, the loop has the required strength. For example, if the second layer is chosen to reduce-skin irritation, the first layer will by itself have the required strength. 
     In a particular embodiment, the first layer includes a removable portion in the tail, and the second layer is releasably bonded to the removable portion. The first layer is printable and the releasable bond of the removable portion is a contact adhesive with regard to which the second layer is a release layer. The first layer includes printed identification information in its non-removable portion and the removable portion includes printed further information associated with the identification information. 
     Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the arts to which the invention pertains upon perusal of the following Detailed Description and drawing, wherein: 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a top view of a prior art identification bracelet. 
         FIG. 2  is a top view of a strip of material used to, produce an identification bracelet illustrating the placement of printed indicia on the bracelet. 
         FIG. 3  is a side view of  FIG. 1  highlighting the placement of adhesive on a single end. 
         FIG. 4  is a bottom view of a strip of material used to produce an identification bracelet with a single tab placed on the long side of the strip of material. 
         FIG. 5  is a top view of a strip of material used to produce an identification bracelet with a pair of tabs opposite each other on the long side of the strip of material. 
         FIG. 6  is a top view of a business form containing an array of bracelets. 
         FIG. 7  is a top view of a business form containing an array of bracelets and labels. 
         FIG. 8  shows the two-layered bracelet. 
         FIG. 9  shows a business form which contains the two-layered bracelet. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Identification Bracelets 
     Referring first to  FIG. 2 , the print side of an identification bracelet  200  made according to the current invention is shown. The bracelet includes two long edges  201  and  202 . The bracelet  200  can be of various lengths and thicknesses, allowing for bracelets that will fit all ages and sizes of subjects, and that have the resistance to tearing and stretching required for a particular type of subjects. The bracelet  200  is formed by looping the short edge  204  over the short edge  203  and pressing an adhesive area opposite  206  on the non-print side of the bracelet to the outer body  205  of the print side of the bracelet. The adhesive area opposite  206  on the non-print side of the bracelet has a width equal to the width of the bracelet. 
     An advantage of having adhesive at only one end of the bracelet is that short bracelets can be combined to make long bracelets simply by attaching the adhesive end of a first short bracelet to the printed side of the non-adhesive end of a second short bracelet and then attaching the adhesive end of the second short bracelet to the printed side of the non-adhesive end of the first short bracelet. Of course, any number of bracelets may be hooked end to end by this technique. 
     In a preferred embodiment the material of the identification bracelet  200  is itself impervious to environmental degradation and may be printed using a standard office ink jet printer. The printing has high resolution and is impervious to environment degradation as well. The material is the oriented and cross-laminated polyethylene film commercially known as VALERON®. With Valeron, the relationship between material thickness and tensile strength is as follows: 
     
       
         
           
               
               
               
             
               
                   
               
               
                   
                 Thickness in 
                 Tensile Strength 
               
               
                   
                 Inches 
                 (ASTM D-882 
               
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                   
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
            
               
                   
                 .0025 
                 21 LbF 
               
               
                   
                 .003 
                 22 
               
               
                   
                 .004 
                 24 
               
               
                   
                 .0065 
                 42 
               
               
                   
                 .0086 
                 47 
               
               
                   
                 .0125 
                 57 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     An advantage of Valeron is that its relatively great thickness when compared with plastic materials such as the ones used in Schintz&#39; bracelets gives it handling properties that are closer to those of paper than to those of thin plastic sheets. These handling properties in turn make bracelets made of Valeron easier to apply than those made of thin plastic sheets. 
     In an alternate embodiment, the material of which the bracelets are made is impervious to environmental degradation and may be printed using a standard office laser printer. The printing has the high resolution and imperviousness to environmental degradation characteristic of laser printing generally. The material is oriented polyethylene film with a symmetrical toner receptive coating. One commercially available form of this material is Solution II™ Xerographic Laser Film and is manufactured by ICI Imagedata. 
     The resolution of the printing in both embodiments permits machine readable bar codes  207 , thumbnail images  208 , institutional logos  209 , patient name  210 , admitting and age information  211 , color codes  212 , patient sex  213 , and allergy information  214 , as well as any other kind of information which can be fit onto the bracelet. 
     Referring next to  FIG. 3 , a side view of an identification bracelet  300  is shown. The strip of material contains a first surface with an area  301  for printing on. On a single end of the strip of material a contact adhesive  303  on the second surface is shown. The identification bracelet is formed by looping the end  303  over the contact area  302  until the bracelet fits properly then pressing the area  305  such that the contact adhesive  304  creates an adhesive bond on the contact area  302 . 
     Referring next to  FIG. 4 , a non-printed side of an identification bracelet  400  is shown. The strip of material includes two edges  401  and  402  which are the long edge of the strip used to form an identification bracelet. On a single end of the strip, a tab  405  projects from the long edge  402 . The second surface of the strip of material contains a contact adhesive  406  which is dispersed along the lateral tab  405  and the end of the strip of material  404 . The identification bracelet is formed by looping the end  404  over the first surface  408  causing the contact adhesive  406  to be pressed against the first surface opposite  408 . The lateral tab  405  is then folded over at the line  407  such that the adhesive on the second surface comes in contact with the second surface  408 . 
     Referring next to  FIG. 5 , identification bracelet  500  is harder for a wearer to remove than the identification bands of  FIGS. 2 and 4 . The strip of material includes two edges  501  and  502  which are the long edge of the strip used to form an identification bracelet. In a preferred embodiment the strip is wider than the strips of  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 4 . The wider strip makes the identification bracelet stronger and thus more resistant to stretching. On a single end of the strip two tabs  505  and  506  project laterally from the long edges  501  and  503  respectively. The second surface of the strip of material contains a contact adhesive opposite  509  which is dispersed along the lateral tabs  505  and  506  and the end of the strip of material  505 . In a preferred embodiment, the contact adhesive is resistant to softening at body temperature. The identification bracelet is formed by looping the end  504  over the first surface  508 , causing the contact adhesive opposite  509  to be pressed against the first surface  508 . The lateral tab  505  is then folded over at the line  511  such that the adhesive on the second surface comes in contact with the second surface opposite  508 . The lateral tab  506  is then folded over at the line  510  such that the adhesive on the second surface comes in contact with the second surface opposite  508 . The lateral tabs  505  and  506  when folded over meet but do not overlap. The two tabs anchor the end of the bracelet so that it cannot be pried up by the wearer. In a version of bracelet  500  used for adult wearers who may attempt to remove the bracelet,  500  the width of the bracelet  500  is 1 inch. The thickness of the identification bracelet  500  is a range of approximately 0.010 inches to approximately 0.020 inches. 
     Referring next to  FIG. 6 , a business form  600  with multiple plies and an array of identification bracelets is shown. The top ply  605  of the business form  600  is constructed with a strip of material from which bracelets are made. The identification bracelets  601 - 604  can be removed from the form  600  along a preferential line of weakness  606 . Interposed between the top ply  605  and the liner ply  607  is a contact adhesive on a single end  608  of each identification bracelet  601 - 604 . The liner ply  607  contains a release coating to allow the removal of the identification bracelets  601 - 604  with the adhesive end  608 . The business form  600  is inserted into the input tray of a standard office printer or manually fed into a standard office printer for the purposes of printing indicia on the surface of the identification bracelets  601 - 604 . 
     Referring next to  FIG. 7 , a business form  700  with multiple identification bracelets and a label are disclosed. The business form  700  contains an identification bracelet  701  suitable for wearing by a larger child. The form further contains a second identification bracelet  702  suitable for wearing by an infant or smaller pediatric patient. The form  700  also contains a label  703  suitable for labeling an item related to the patient such as the patient&#39;s file or medicine intended for the patient. 
     Two-Layered Bracelets:  FIGS. 8 and 9   
       FIG. 8  shows a presently-preferred embodiment  801  of a two-layered version of the identification bracelet of the parent. The Figure shows two-layered identification bracelet  801  as it appears after it has been printed and removed from the business form. Identification bracelet  801  can be printed in the same fashion as the identification bracelet of the parent and is made into a bracelet in the same fashion: portion  805  of the bracelet (termed the “head end” in the following) has contact adhesive on its underside and the bracelet is wrapped around the patient&#39;s extremity and the contact adhesive is attached to the surface of portion  807  of the bracelet  807  (termed the “tail in the following) at a point which results in a bracelet that fits snugly on the patient&#39;s extremity. As explained in the parent, head end  805  may have one or more tabs  815  which are wrapped around the tail  807  of the bracelet and secured to the underside of the bracelet to make the bracelet more difficult to remove. In the following, bracelet  801  is at times termed a “band” before it is made into a bracelet. 
     That band  801  has two layers is apparent at  817 , which shows cross section AA of band  803 . There are two layers:  819 , which forms the outside of the bracelet when the bracelet is made, and  821 , which forms the inside. In a preferred embodiment, layer  819  is 0.025 polyester which has been treated with a coating to make it printable by a laser printer. Layer  821  is also made of 0.025 polyester. Layers  819  and  821  are bonded together along line  829 . In a preferred embodiment, the bonding is done using an adhesive that is adapted to the materials of the layers. In a preferred embodiment, the portion of layer  819  which includes head end  805  extends beyond layer  821 , as shown at  820  in both view  803  and view  817 . The underside of the portion of layer  819  which extends beyond layer  821  has contact adhesive  823 , which permits attachment of head end  805  to tail end  807 . 
     In a presently-preferred embodiment, the two-layered construction of band  801  permits the inclusion of removable labels  813  in layer  819 . Four of the removable labels are shown at  811 . As may be seen from cross section  819  and more particularly at  825 , the removable labels have been “kiss cut”, i.e., die cut so that layer  819  is cut but not layer  821 . Further, the labels have contact cement  827  on their undersides and layer  821  has a UV release patch in the portion of that layer which is beneath labels  813  so that it serves as a release liner for the contact cement. Consequently, labels  813  may be removed individually from the bracelet. 
     In the preferred embodiment, each of layers  821  and  819  has the strength required for the bracelet by itself, and consequently, the labels can be removed from layer  819  without affecting the integrity of the bracelet. The contact cement on the labels permits the labels to be attached to other objects. In one application, bracelet  801  is used to identify a wearer of the bracelet who is, participant in an activity. The bracelet is printed with identification information for the wearer on the portion of tail  807  closest to head end  805  and the labels are also printed with such information. The labels can then be attached to objects belonging to the wearer in order to identify them as belonging to the wearer. 
       FIG. 9  shows a presently-preferred embodiment of a business form  901  for band  801 . Two views are presented in the figure:  902 , which shows the form as seen from the side of the form that receives the printed information, and  917 , which is a cross section of the form as seen at B-B. The form has the same two layers  819  and  821  as the band. When band  801  is on the business form, a laser printer may be used to print information on layer  819 . Other types of printers or marking devices may be used in other embodiments, depending on the properties of layer  819 . In a preferred embodiment, the web from which the business form is made moves through the machinery that makes the business form in either of the directions  915 ; when printed, the business form moves through the printer in either of the directions shown by line  919 . 
     In the areas of business form  901  which are not part of band  801 , layers  819  and  821  are held together by light adhesive which permits separation of the layers, as indicated by reference numbers  911 . Further, as shown at  903 , in the portion of business form that contains head end  805  of band  801 , layer  821  is split along line  913 . The portion of layer  821  that belongs to area  903  and is underneath head end  805  of the band has a release patch so that contact cement  823  on the bottom side of layer  819  does not stick to that portion of layer  821 . The split and a combination of kiss cutting through a single layer and die cutting through both layers permits band  801  to be removed from form  901  and contact cement  823  on head end  805  to be exposed by removing the portion of layer  821  that belongs to area  923  from contact cement  823 . In more detail, kiss cutting of layer  819  is employed around head end  805  as shown at  905  and around each label  813 , as shown at  909 , and die cutting through both layer  819  and  821  is employed around tail end  807 , as shown at  907 . When the person applying the bracelet to its wearer separates tail  807  from form  901 , head end  911  and split portion  903  of layer  821  accompany tail  807 . The kiss cutting of layer  819  around head end  805  and the release patch on split portion  903  under head end  805  permit the person applying the bracelet to separate split portion  903  from head end  805  and thereby to expose adhesive  823  for attachment of head end  805  to layer  819  at a point in tail  807  such that the bracelet properly fits the bracelet&#39;s wearer. Labels  813  may be removed from tail end  807  while the band is still attached to form  901 , after the band has been removed from form  901  but before it is applied to the recipient, or while the wearer is wearing the bracelet. 
     Two-layer bracelets like bracelet  801  may be used in any situation in which layers with different properties are useful. In bracelet  801 , layer  819  has two properties which distinguish it from layer  821 : it is printable by a laser printer and it includes removable components. Other situations where layers with different properties may be desirable include ones in which layer  819  may cause skin irritation, in which case, layer  821  may be made of a material which does not cause skin irritation, ones in which the material of layer  819  is too weak at some point in tail  807  to provide the necessary strength to bracelet  801 , ones in which layer  819  has a radically different appearance from layer  821 , for example, is made of a strongly reflective material, or ones in which layer  819  contains electronic or electromagnetic components which identify the user or make it possible to detect the user&#39;s presence or location. Examples here include bracelets which set off an alarm when the wearer passes a particular point or bracelets which broadcast the wearer&#39;s identification and/or location. 
     The relative strengths of the layers will depend upon the differences between them; for example, in the embodiment shown at in  FIGS. 8 and 9 , each of layers  819  and layer  821  must have by itself the strength needed for the bracelet. Layer  819  must have that strength because head end  805  has only layer  819  and it is head end  805  which attaches to tail  807  when the bracelet is formed. Layer  821  must have that strength because layer  819  is weakened in tail  807  by the presence of removable labels  813 . By contrast, if layer  819  has nothing on it which affects its strength and layer  821 &#39;s purpose is simply to reduce skin irritation, it is enough if only layer  819  has the strength needed for the bracelet. In some embodiments, the strengths of the layers may vary at different points in the bracelets. For example, in the embodiment of  FIG. 8 , layer  819  may be particularly strong at head end  805  and the adjacent portion of tail  807  and layer  821  may be particularly strong in the area underneath and adjacent to labels  813 . What is important, of course, is that the layers give the bracelet the strength it needs when it is being worn. 
     With bracelets that have removable labels, the labels may be used as described above to label objects belonging to the bracelet&#39;s wearer. The labels may also include electronic or electromagnetic components which identify the user and/or make it possible to locate the objects to which the labels have been applied. Another use of the removable labels is as admission tickets. For example, when a guest is admitted to a theme park that contains many attractions, the guest may specify the attractions he or she is interested in and pay for them on admission to the park. At that point, a bracelet with removable labels can be printed for the guest, with a label on the bracelet for each attraction the guest is interested in. To gain admission to an attraction, the guest must remove the label for the attraction from the bracelet and present the label to the ticket taker. In this application, of course, there would be no need for the label to have more adhesive than is required to keep it attached to layer  821 . 
     CONCLUSION 
     The foregoing Detailed Description has disclosed to those skilled in the relevant technologies how to make and use bracelets which are formed by attaching a head end of the bracelet that includes adhesive to a tail of the bracelet and which have layers with different properties. In a preferred embodiment, the bracelet is an identification bracelet and one of the layers is printable by a laser printer and includes removable labels. The properties of the layers, the materials with which the bracelet is constructed, the manner of its construction, and its appearance will of course all depend upon the purpose for which the bracelet is being used. Similarly, details of the business forms that contain the bracelets will depend on the properties of the layers, the manner in which the bracelet is constructed, and the technology used to print the bracelet. Finally, the bands disclosed herein may be used not only for bracelets, but in any situation where a band that is formable into a loop may be desired, for example, to identify luggage. For these reasons, the Detailed Description is to be regarded as being in all respects exemplary and not restrictive, and the breadth of the invention disclosed herein is to be determined not from the Detailed Description, but rather from the claims as interpreted with the full breadth permitted by the patent laws.