GB2339721A

GB2339721A - Laminated card articles

Info

Publication number: GB2339721A
Application number: GB9816149A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Mark Lipscombe
Original assignee: LIPSCOMBE SARAH
Current assignee: LIPSCOMBE SARAH
Priority date: 1998-07-25
Filing date: 1998-07-25
Publication date: 2000-02-09
Also published as: GB9816149D0; GB9906802D0

Description

2339721 TITLE Laminated Card Articles DRSCRIMON This invention relates to

laminated card articles, and in particular to a method of manufacture of such card articles.

For centuries, paper and card have been extremely popular information carriers, card being preferred for articles which need a degree of rigidity or which will receive much handling and in cases where thickness, weight and expense are lesser issues. Even so, card articles can become dog-eared and torn with rough handling. More recently, techniques have been developed for covering the surfaces of card articles with thin transparent adhesive plastics films, so-called laminating. Not only does this toughen-up the article, but it also makes it resistant to staining and the like.

In many instances, there is a need to fold the card article. For example, a bar menu might be made from a single sheet of A4 card which is partly folded along its centre so that the menu can stand up by itself on the bar. As another example, a strip of card several metres long might be fan-folded and printed to form an educational numberline, time-line or history line. If laminated card is used for these purposes, the plastics films tend to make the folds or hinges too stiff. As a result, the bar menu will not lie flat when it is being read or is stored away, and the educational number-line will not fold and un-fold nicely.

The present invention is concerned with providing a method of manufacturing a laminated card article which can be easily folded and does not produce the problems mentioned above.

The manufacturing method of a first aspect of the present invention comprises the steps of: registering first and second sheets of card edgeto-edge with a gap between those edges; attaching the registered sheets of card together with at least two adhesive strips which bridge the gap; adhering laminating films to the faces of the attached sheets of card so that the laminating films also bridge the gap; and trimming the laminated sheets of card so that the adhesive strips are removed and so as to leave the sheets of card hinged together by the laminating films. By leaving the gap, the laminating films produce a distinct hinge between the sheets which is more pliable than the laminated card. By using the adhesive strips on the trimming margins of the sheets, a consistent gap can be produced, without leaving any evidence in the finished article of how this was done. The method of the first aspect of the invention lends itself particularly well to an at least partly manual, rather than automatic, process, which might be used for one-offs or small production runs.

The registration step preferably comprises the steps of: abutting said edges of the sheets of card against opposite sides of at least one registration member to define the gap; and abutting another edge of each of the sheets of card against a common registration edge so as to align the sheets of card.

The number of sheets or card in the article may be merely two, for example in the case where the article is a bar menu. However, further sheets of card may included and attached in succession in a similar manner to the attachment between the first and second sheets of card, for example so as to form an elongate fan-folded article, which may be used for example as a number- line, time-line or history-line educational aid.

Preferably, in the adhering step, the laminating films do not overhang the longitudinal edges of the sheets of card; and, after the trimming'step, the faces of the trimmed sheets of card are completely covered by the laminating films. It has been found that, if the laminating films do overhang one or both of the edges, then undesirable creasing of the laminating films can be caused upstream of the gaps, and this can also produce problems in feeding the sheets of card. Also, if the laminating films do overhang both of the edges of the sheets and if the trimming is to be performed by, for example, a guillotine, there is no positive reference edge of the sheets to register with the guillotine.

This latter feature can be provided independently of the first aspect of the invention. Accordingly, a second aspect of the present invention provides a method of manufacturing a laminated card article which can be easily folded, comprising the steps of: feeding at least first and second sheets of card in sequence edge-to-edge with a gap between those edges through a laminating machine in a longitudinal direction; adhering laminating films to the faces of the sheets of card so that the laminating films bridge the gap(s), the laminating films not overhanging the longitudinal edges of the sheets of card; and trimming the longitudinal edges of the sheets of card so that the faces of the trimmed sheets of card are completely covered by the laminating films.

Preferably, the width of the gap is between two and five times the thickness of the unlaminated sheets of card, and more preferably between 21/2 and four times the thickness of the unlaminated sheets of card. For instance, in one example, the width of the gap is 0.7 nun, and the thickness of the card is 230 jim, with each laminating fihn having a thickness of 75,um.

The method may further include the step of cutting the laminated sheets of card in a direction at right angles to the hinges so as to form more than one such laminated card article. For example, if each sheet of card is A4 size (plus trimming margin) and the sheets are hinged together short-edge-to-short-edge, the laminated sheets can then be cut into three so that the width and length of each hinged strip are 70 mm x 297 mm.

The step of adhering laminating films to the sheets is preferably performed by a conventional laminating machine with roll-fed laminating films.

Assuming the article is to bear information, the sheets of card are preferably pre- printed.

In accordance with a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a laminated card article manufactured by the method of the first or second aspect of the invention.

A specific embodiment of the present invention will now be described, purely by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a registration jig with sheets of card thereon; Figure 2 is a schematic side view of a laminating machine; and Figure 3 is a sectioned view through the hinge between two sheets of card.

Referring to Figure 1, the registration jig 10 comprises a base board 12 having a fence 14 along one edge. A pair of pins 16 each having a diameter equal to the gap to be provided between the sheets 18 of card are fitted onto the base board 12, spaced apart in a direction perpendicular to the fence 14. In this example, the diameter of each pin is 0.7 mm. (The diameters are exaggerated for clarity in the drawing.) In the example, the card sheets 18 have a size of 297 mm x 230 mm, ie A4 size with a trimming margin 20 of 10 mm along each longer edge. A pair of the card sheets 18 are placed on the base board 12, each with one of their shorter edges abutting opposite sides of the pins 16, and each with one of their longer edges abutting the fence 14. Thus, the pair of card sheets 18 are aligned shorter-edge-to-shorter-edge with a 0.7 mm gap therebetween. While in this position, a pair of self-adhesive paper labels 24 are stuck to the sheets 18 so as to join the sheets 18 and bridge the gap 22, with the labels 24 being in the trimming margins 20. Further sheets 18 may be attached in succession, in a similar manner, so as to form a series of sheets of the required length or number.

Referring now to Figure 2, the series 28 of sheets attached by their paper labels are placed on a feed table 30 for a conventional laminating machine 32 and are fed into the machine 32, with a pair of self-adhesive polyester laminating films 34,36 also being fed from respective rolls 38,40 into the machine 32. The machine 32 applies the films 34,36, with heat and pressure, to the lower and upper faces of the series 28 of card sheets, so as to laminate the sheets and also form the hinges between them, and the laminated sheets are output from the machine 32 into a fan-folded pile 42. The relative widths of the laminating films 34,36 and the series 28 of sheets and the relative alignment of them are such that longitudinal edges of the laminating sheets 34,36 are positioned part-way (and preferably half-way) across the trimming margins 20. The feed table 30 may be longer than is usual so as to accommodate the whole series 28 of sheets, and furthermore may be provided with an edge guide for one of, or each of, the longitudinal edges of the sheets so as to assist in feeding the series 28 of sheets straight.

The registration jig 10 described above with reference to Figure 1 may be provided at the upstream end of the feed table 30.

The trimming margins 20 are then cut from the laminated sheets, resulting in the paper labels 24 also being removed, leaving the sheets with consistent gaps between them and no sign of how the gaps were maintained during the lamination of the sheets, and leaving the sheets laminated across their whole width.

Depending on the application, the strip of sheets may be further cut lengthwise, for example along the two lines 44 shown in Figure 1, so as to produce three fan-folded strips of laminated card. If space permits, one or more longitudinal trimming regions may be provided between the trimming regions, and additional adhesive labels 24 may be attached to these additional trimming regions to assist in joining adjacent card sheets, the additional trimming regions and labels being removed after the sheets have been laminated.

The trimming of the margins 20 and any additional longitudinal cutting of the strip of sheets may be done by rotary cutters at the outlet of the laminating machine 32 or separately by a guillotine.

Referring to Figure 3, which is a sectioned view through the hinge 46 between two sheets 18 of card, it can be seen that the two plastics films 34,36 adhere to each other in the gap 22. The optimum width 9 of the gap 22 can be ascertained by trial and error, and is primarily dependent upon the thickness s of the card sheets 18 and the thickness f, elasticity and plasticity of the plastics films 34,36. With card sheets 18 having a thickness s = 230 /Am and polyester films 34,36 having a thicknessf = 75 /tm, the optimum gap width is about g = 0.7 mm. As a rough guide, preferably 2s:g g:5.: 5s, and more preferably 2.5s: g _- 4s. If the gap width g is too large, the hinge 46 becomes too wobbly, and if the gap width g is too small, the hinge 46 becomes too stiff.

It should be noted that the embodiment of the invention has been described above purely by way of example and that many modifications and developments may be made to it within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method of manufacturing a laminated card article which can be easily folded, comprising the steps of: registering first and second sheets of card edge-to-edge with a gap between those edges; attaching the registered sheets of card together with at least two adhesive strips which bridge the gap; adhering laminating films to the faces of the attached sheets of card so that the laminating films also bridge the gap; and trimming the laminated sheets of card so that the adhesive strips are removed and so as to leave the sheets of card hinged together by the laminating films.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the registration step comprises the steps of abutting said edges of the sheets of card against opposite sides of at least one registration member to define the gap; and abutting another edge of each of the sheets of card against a common registration edge so as to align the sheets of card.

3. A method as claimed in claim I or 2, wherein further sheets of card are included and attached in succession in a similar manner to the attachment between the first and second sheets of card.

4. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein:

in the adhering step, the laminating films do not overhang the longitudinal edges of the sheets of card; and after the trimming step, the faces of the trimmed sheets of card are completely covered by the laminating films.

5. A method of manufacturing a laminated card article which can be easily folded, comprising the steps of:

feeding at least first and second sheets of card in sequence edge-to-edge with a gap between those edges through a laminating machine in a longitudinal direction; adhering laminating films to the faces of the sheets of card so that the laminating films bridge the gap(s), the laminating films not overhanging the longitudinal edges of the sheets of card; and trimming the longitudinal edges of the sheets of card so that the faces of the trimmed sheets of card are completely covered by the laminating films.

6. A method as claimed in claim 4 or 5, in the adhereing step, the width of the laminating films is less than the width of the sheets of card.

7. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the width of the gap(s) is between two and five times the thickness of the unlaminated sheets of card.

8. A method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the width of the gap(s) is between 2.5 and four times the thickness of the unlaminated sheets of card.

9. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, further including the step of cutting the laminated sheets of card in a direction at right angles to the hinges so as to form more than one such laminated card article.

10. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the step of adhering laminating films to the sheets is performed by a conventional laminating machine with roll-fed laminating films.

11. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the sheets of card 5 are pre-printed.

12. A method of manufacturing a laminated card article, substantially as described with reference to the drawings.

13. A laminated card article manufactured by a method as claimed in any preceding claim.

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