Patent Document

FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to an improved photograph and album system.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    Prior art photographic albums typically require the consumer to manually insert conventional prints into a classic sleeve, or use adhesive to bond conventional prints to blank album pages. This is a time consuming, difficult operation that provides less than satisfactory results. Consumers often procrastinate and do not place prints in albums when they receive them from the photofinisher, risking loosing time and event references. When adhesives are used to maintain the prints in the album, alignment becomes critical. Additionally, many adhesives can damage a print and often fail after time, thus, allowing the prints to fall out of the album. Also, in addition to purchasing separate binder album pages, adhesive and other items may need to be purchased.  
           [0003]    It is well known in the pressure sensitive adhesive industry to provide a pressure sensitive adhesive removability feature by carefully controlling the pressure sensitive adhesive coat weight within a certain range. While controlling the coat weight of the pressure sensitive adhesive does provide removability of the pressure sensitive adhesive for a period of time, the activation time for pressure adhesive with controlled coat weight varies considerably because of coat weight variation in the manufacturing operation. Repositioning pressure sensitive adhesive with controlled coat weight applied to image media would result in unpredictable repositioning time and ultimate bond strength for consumers and therefore would not be suitable for scrapbook and album applications where a predictable repositioning time and ultimate strength are required.  
           [0004]    In U.S. Pat. No. 6,045,965, a photographic member with a peelable and repositioning adhesive member is discussed. While the adhesive discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,045,965 does reposition to a variety of surfaces, the adhesive formulations disclosed do not form permanent bonds between the photographic member and cellulose paper album pages. Therefore, the photographic member is not optimized for scrapbooks and albums where a permanent bond is valued.  
           [0005]    An advantage of the present invention is that creators of photographic albums can easily and quickly mount their photographs in an album without the need for additional mounting means like adhesive. Unobjectionable guide indicia can be used to accurately align photographs on a mounting support. If the results are not satisfactory, the photographs can be repositioned. After sufficient time has passed, the photographs become permanently adhered thereby eliminating the possibility of falling out of the album. Also, the adhesive layer and the receiver layer are specifically designed for use with photographic materials thereby eliminating the possibility of damaging your photographs or album.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0006]    It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved photograph and album system.  
           [0007]    It is another object of the present invention to provide a photographic album having a photograph alignment feature without objectionable alignment indicia.  
           [0008]    It is still yet another object of the present invention to provide a photograph and album system that enables a creator to mount photographs in an album that are initially repositionable, and that become permanently mounted with the passage of an event. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]    [0009]FIG. 1A shows an image product for use in the present invention;  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 1B is a cross sectional view of the image product of FIG. 1A as taken along line  1 - 1 ;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 1C is a cross sectional view similar to FIG. 1B of a modified image product made in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 2A shows a mounting support on which the image product of FIG. 1A may be placed;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 2B is a cross sectional view mounting support of FIG. 2A as taken along line  2 - 2 ;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 2C is a cross sectional view similar to FIG. 2B of a modified mounting support made in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 3 shows multiple image products of FIG. 1A mounted on a mounting support of FIG. 1B in a first positional configuration of the image products;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 4 shows multiple image products of FIG. 1A mounted on a mounting support of FIG. 1B in a second positional configuration of the image products;  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 5 shows multiple image products of FIG. 1A mounted on a mounting support of FIG. 1B in a final positional configuration of the image products;  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 6 shows a modified mounting support having an unobjectionable alignment grid;  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 7 shows multiple mounting supports inserted into a photographic album;  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 8 shows a partial cross section of a repositional image product mounted on a mounting support as taken along line  5 - 5 ; and  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 9 is the same as FIG. 8 after the passage of time, and showing the image product now permanently mounted on the mounting support. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0022]    Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, there is illustrated an image product  10  that is designed to be positioned on a mounting support  12 (see FIG. 2A). In the particular embodiment illustrated, the image product  10  comprises a photographic print suitable for use on an album page having a front surface  14  and a back surface  16 . The front surface  14  having an image  18  formed thereon. The back surface  16  is provided with an adhesive layer  20 . Release layer  21  is provided to protect adhesive layer  20 . In the particular embodiment illustrated, the image product  10  comprises a silver halide photograph. However, the present invention is not so limited and can comprise any other type image on the front. Examples of the other types of images include, but are not limited to inkjet and thermal. It is also to be understood that the adhesive layer  20  may be comprised of any suitable pressure sensitive adhesive.  
         [0023]    A pressure sensitive adhesive is an adhesive system that forms a bond with a surface upon contact with the surface under pressure. Pressure sensitive adhesive generally can be placed into three performance categories. The first category is a pressure sensitive adhesive that forms a permanent bond. A permanent pressure sensitive adhesive bond is one that obtains peel strength of greater than 200-grams/5 cm. The second category of pressure sensitive adhesives is removable adhesives. Removable adhesives typically can be removed from a surface for the lifetime of the adhesive and generally have a peel strength of between 10 grams/5 cm and 120 grams/5 cm. The third category of pressure sensitive adhesives is repositional adhesives. Repositional adhesives provide a period of removability, generally 48 hours before the pressure sensitive adhesive bond becomes permanent. Repositional pressure sensitive adhesive systems are preferred for album and scrapbook applications in that they allow images to be repositioned on a page before the bond becomes permanent as most scrapbooks are intended to be durable and long lasting.  
         [0024]    In the particular embodiment, adhesive layer  20  is described as being repositional and comprises a tacky, crosslinked solvent dispersed acrylic polymer containing a layer of evenly dispersed non-adhesive solid particles having an average particle diameter of 10 to 60 microns wherein at least about half of the solid particles project from the surface of the adhesive layer to a height corresponding to at least about one-fourth of the average particle diameter of the solid particles. The solid particles comprises 20% by weight of polymer beads and 0.8% by weight of paraffin wax beads. The adhesive layer has a low initial adhesion strength which is enough to position the image product  10  on mounting support  12 , but not enough to prevent image product  10  from being relocated.  
         [0025]    Release layer  21  comprises a biaxially oriented polyolefin sheet having a matte finish on one side, and a cross-linked silicone coated biaxially oriented polypropylene sheet on the other side. Adhesive layer  20  can be reverse roll coated on the silicone coated side of release layer  21  which then extrusion laminated to back surface  16  of image product  10 . The adhesive layer coverage required is approximately 14 g/m2. The photographic print in this example can be processed on traditional photographic processing equipment such as the Gretag 750 Masterlab.  
         [0026]    Turning now to FIGS.  2 A- 2 B, mounting support  12  will be described in detail. Mounting support  12  comprises a base layer  22  having a mounting surface  24  on which there is provided a receiver layer  26  thereon. There is an optional protective layer  28  that is provided over the receiver layer  26 . In the particular embodiment illustrated, the base layer  22  comprises any suitable paper substrate or the like, and the receiver layer  26  comprises an aqueous solution of gelatin or poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA). This layer may also contain other hydrophilic materials such as naturally-occurring hydrophilic colloids and gums such as albumin, guar, xanthan, acacia, chitosan, starches and their derivatives, functionalized proteins, functionalized gums and starches, and cellulose ethers and their derivatives, polyvinyloxazoline, such as poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) (PEOX), polyvinylmethyloxazoline, polyoxides, polyethers, poly(ethylene imine), poly(acrylic acid), poly(methacrylic acid), n-vinyl amides including polyacrylamide and polyvinylpyrrolidone(PVP), and poly(vinyl alcohol) derivatives and copolymers, such as copolymers of polyethylene oxide and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PEO-PVA). Two receiver layers may be utilized, one comprising gelatin, and the other comprising poly(vinyl alcohol). The hydrophilic materials employed in the image-recording layer may be present in any amount that is effective for the intended purpose. In general, for a two-layer structure as described above, the preferred amount of gelatin is from about 5 g/m.sup.2 to 15 g/m.sup.2; while the preferred amount of poly(vinyl alcohol) is from about 0.5 g/m.sup.2 to 3.2 g/M.sup.2.  
         [0027]    The receiver layer  26  can be coated using a reverse roll coater at a thickness of approximately  10  micrometers. In addition to increasing the surface tension of base layer  22 , receiver layer  26  also acts as an ink receiver layer for manual and automatic printing. Protective layer  28  is provided over the receiver layer  26  to protect receiver layer  26  from damage and maintain the integrity of the receiver layer  26 . Protective layer  28  comprises a thin sheet of clear plastic, typically polyethylene or polyester.  
         [0028]    In this embodiment, receiver layer  26  and protective layer  28  are shown on one side mounting support  12  only. It should be understood that those skilled in the art that receiver layer  26  and protective layer  28  can also be supplied on both sides of mounting support  12  to provide a two-sided mounting support.  
         [0029]    Mounting holes  30  can be incorporated in mounting support  12  for the purpose of assembling into an album  62  having a ring binder system. As shown in FIG. 7, it should be understood that multiple mounting supports  12  can be assembled into an album  62 . However, the present invention is not so limited and can comprise any other type of binder attachment means well known in the art.  
         [0030]    To better understand the present invention, a brief description of its use will now be described with reference to FIGS.  3 - 5 . As shown in FIG. 3, a creator has decided to assemble his/her photographs in a photographic album. Typically the first thing the creator will do is take image product  10 , (in this example, image product  10  is represented by photographs  50 ,  52 ,  54 , and  56 ) and arrange them on mounting support  12 . If protective layer  28  is provided on mounting support  12 , it must be taken off at this time. The creator then removes release layer(s)  21  from image product(s)  10  and attaches image product(s)  10  to the mounting surface  24  of mounting support  12 .  
         [0031]    Adhesive layer  20  on image product  10  is made from a repositional adhesive, therefore as the creator decides that he/she is not completely satisfied with this arrangement, one or all of the photographs can be removed.  
         [0032]    Turning now to FIG. 4, you can see that the creator has removed photographs  54  and  56 , and positioned photograph  58  in their place. Still not completely satisfied, the creator has removed photographs  52  and  58 , and replaced photographs  54  and  56  as shown in FIG. 5. Finally satisfied, the creator can now add indicia such as text  60  or graphics to the mounting surface  24  of mounting support  12 .  
         [0033]    Upon the occurrence of a particular event, in this embodiment the application of pressure and the passage of time, the adhesive strength of the adhesive layer  20  develops. Therefore the bond between adhesive layer  20  on image product  10 , and the receiver layer  26  on mounting surface  24  of mounting support  12  significantly increases and becomes permanent. Specifically, the adhesive formulation provides a period of removability before the bond cures or migrates or to a permanent bond. The addition of solid particles to an adhesive is known in the art for producing an adhesive formulation that starts as a repositioning adhesive and becomes permanent. The beads provide an initial reduction in contact area, but over time the adhesive layer migrates around the solid particles to increase contact area as the images are stored on an album page due to the compressive forces in a scrapbook. Over time the adhesive migrates from a repositioning adhesive to the desirable permanent bond. The time period for the bond migration typically ranges from 24 hours to 48 hours.  
         [0034]    [0034]FIG. 8 shows image product  10  mounted on mounting support  12  with adhesive layer  20  adjacent receiver layer  26 . The wax and polymer beads contained in adhesive layer  20  are shown limiting the contact area between adhesive layer  20  and receiver layer  26 . The image product  10  shown in FIG. 8 has been mounted on mounting support  12  a relatively short period of time, and is considered repositional. Turning now to FIG. 9, image product  10  has been mounted on mounting support  12  a considerably longer period of time as compared to FIG. 8 and is now considered permanent. Adhesive layer  20  has migrated around the wax and polymer beads increasing the contact area between adhesive layer  20  and receiver layer  26 .  
         [0035]    Bond strength is defined as peel force, and a peel force greater than about 180-grams/5 cm is considered permanent. For instance, photographic prints were evaluated for the force required to separate the image at the adhesive layer and the force required to peel the image from a typical cellulose copier paper with an apparent density of 0.95 grams/cc at 23° C. and 50% RH. The copier paper was used as a reference material to test the repositioning force of the images. The peel forces were measured on an Instron using the 180° peel test at a crosshead speed of 1.0 meters/min and a peel distance of 10 cm (REF. ASTM 3033). The sample width used was 5 cm. The peel strength values for the force required to peel the image layer and imaging support from the copier paper are listed in Table 1 below.  
                       TABLE 1                       Image Peel               (grams/5 cm)   Image Peel (grams/5 cm)   Image Peel (grams/5 cm)       After 10 min   After 24 hrs   After 100 hrs                   40.2 +/− 10%   92.3 +/− 10%   220.2 +/− 10%                  
 
         [0036]    However, the present invention is not so limited and can comprise any other type of adhesive curing method well know in the art. Other curing methods include application of UV energy, visible light, application of heat or microwave, solvent evaporation, or some other criteria such that the bond strength of the adhesive becomes permanent.  
         [0037]    At this time, protective layer  28  can be replaced, and release layer  21  from photographs  50 ,  54 , and  56  can be discarded.  
         [0038]    As previously described, bond migration is controlled by the migration of the adhesive around the wax and polymer beads. In this first embodiment, the polymer and wax beads are contained in the acrylic polymer of the adhesive. It should be noted that similar bond migration would occur when the polymer and wax beads are contained in the gelatin or poly(vinyl alcohol) (PA) solution of receiver layer  26 .  
         [0039]    Referring to FIGS. 1C and 2C there is illustrated a modified embodiment made in accordance with the present invention, like numerals indicate like parts and operations as previously discussed. In this embodiment, the receiver layer and adhesive layer are provided on the opposite structures. FIG. 1 C illustrates image product  10  designed to be positioned on mounting support  12 . In this particular embodiment, image product  10  is provided with receiver layer  126  on back surface  116 .  
         [0040]    [0040]FIG. 2C illustrates mounting support  122 . In this particular embodiment, mounting support  122  is provided with adhesive layer  120  on mounting surface  124 . A protective layer  128  is provided over the adhesive layer  120  to protect adhesive layer  120  from damage and maintain the integrity of adhesive layer  120 .  
         [0041]    In the embodiment of FIGS. 1C and 2C, adhesive layer  120  and protective layer  128  are shown on one side mounting support  112  only. It should be understood that those skilled in the art that adhesive layer  120  and protective layer  128  can also be supplied on both sides of mounting support  112  to provide a two-sided mounting support.  
         [0042]    Practicing the invention as described in the modified embodiment of FIGS. 1C and 2C is very similar to the embodiment of FIGS. 1B and 2B. As shown in FIG. 3, the creator has decided to assemble his/her photographs in a photographic album. Typically the first thing the creator will do is take image product  10 , (in this example, image product  10  is represented by photographs  50 ,  52 ,  54 , and  56 ) and arrange them on mounting support  12 . After removing protective layer  28 , the creator attaches image product  10  to the mounting surface  24  of mounting support  12 . The adhesive layer  20  on mounting support  12  is made from a repositional adhesive, therefore as the creator decides that he/she is not completely satisfied with this arrangement, one or all of the photographs can be removed.  
         [0043]    Turning now to FIG. 4, you can see that the creator has removed photographs  54  and  56 , and positioned photograph  58  in their place. Still not completely satisfied, the creator has removed photographs  52  and  58 , and replaced photographs  54  and  56  as shown in FIG. 5. Optionally, after the image products have been placed in their final position, protective layer  28  can be replaced.  
         [0044]    Turning now to FIG. 6, there is illustrated a modified mounting support  112  made in accordance with the present invention, like numerals indicating like parts and operations as previously discussed. In particular, the mounting support  112  is provided with a base layer  22  (not shown) and mounting surface  24  (not shown), and either receiver layer  26  (not shown) or adhesive layer  20  (not shown) as previously discussed. In addition, there is provided a guide indicia  114  comprising a printed grid of horizontal and vertical lines that are visually perceptible at a working distance away from mounting support  12 , and substantially visually imperceptible at a viewing distance away from mounting support  112 . Guide indicia  114  can be printed using a printing plate exposed through a 10% screen and a specifically formulated printing ink comprising a 50/50 mixture of PMS silver (Pantone877) and opaque white. Guide indicia  114  is useful for alignment of image product  10  on mounting support  112 , and particularly useful for mounting multiple image products  10  on the same mounting support where the creator desires the horizontal and/or vertical edge alignment of the image products.  
         [0045]    While in the particular invention we have shown that guide indicia  114  obtained by a specific combination of printing plate exposure and printing ink, it should be understood that the providing of a grid that is visually perceptible in a first condition and substantially imperceptible in a second condition may be done in any appropriate manner well known in the are. For instance, guide indicia can be printed in ink that is only visible when irradiated by blacklight, UV, or IR light, or printed in ink that will fade over time with exposure to white light.  
         [0046]    The invention has been described in detail with particular reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention.  
       Parts List  
       [0047]    [0047] 10  image product  
         [0048]    [0048] 12  mounting support  
         [0049]    [0049] 14  front surface  
         [0050]    [0050] 16  back surface  
         [0051]    [0051] 18  image  
         [0052]    [0052] 20  adhesive layer  
         [0053]    [0053] 21  release layer  
         [0054]    [0054] 22  base layer  
         [0055]    [0055] 24  mounting surface  
         [0056]    [0056] 26  receiver layer  
         [0057]    [0057] 28  protective layer  
         [0058]    [0058] 30  mounting holes  
         [0059]    [0059] 50  photograph  
         [0060]    [0060] 52  photograph  
         [0061]    [0061] 54  photograph  
         [0062]    [0062] 56  photograph  
         [0063]    [0063] 58  photograph  
         [0064]    [0064] 60  text  
         [0065]    [0065] 62  album  
         [0066]    [0066] 112  mounting support  
         [0067]    [0067] 114  guide indicia  
         [0068]    [0068] 120  adhesive layer  
         [0069]    [0069] 122  mounting support  
         [0070]    [0070] 126  receiver layer  
         [0071]    [0071] 128  protective layer

Technology Category: g