CA1273789A

CA1273789A - Repositionable directional markers

Info

Publication number: CA1273789A
Application number: CA000536345A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Dan E. Corcoran
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1986-05-12
Filing date: 1987-05-05
Publication date: 1990-09-11
Also published as: JPS62268691A; EP0246022A2; AU7263987A; US4680210A; EP0246022A3

Abstract

REPOSITIONABLE DIRECTIONAL MARKERS
Abstract of the Disclosure An elongate directional marker has a tri-angular head and an elliptical body. Low-tack reposi-tionable adhesive applied to the head of the marker enables the marker to be repeatedly reused. The markers are manufactured in an array by pattern-gluing adhesive strips to face stock, laminating a liner to the face stock and die cutting the markers out of the face stock so that the triangular heads of the markers are inter-meshed in alternating orientation on the adhesive strips.

Description

~7378~

REPOSITIONABLE DIRECTIONAL MARKERS

Back~round of the Invention This invention relates to a stationery product and more particularly to repositionable, reusable direc-tional markers which include a directional portion having low-tack, repositionable adhesive thereon and which are configured to be highly functional, economically produced and attractively dispensed.
Rectangular repositionable notes having low-tack repositionable adhesive on a portion of the under-side of the note are a very popular stationery item and have many useful applications at home, office or school.
The low-tack repositionable adhesive enables the notes to be lifted off and repositioned on the same or another underlying object. Applying the adhesive to only a por-tion of the underside of the note permits the note to be conveniently grasped, lifted and repositioned by manipu-lating the portion of the note without the adhesive.
Such notes typically come in a compact pad with each note releasably attached to the underlying note in the pad. However, such notes are typically rectangular in shape and do not serve to indicate direction, the sharp corners of the rectangular notes tending to catch upon other papers in the clutter and shuffle of ordinary use.
The lack of repositionable directional markers is probably due to perceived problems in the production and dispensing of such markers.

~3~8 9 Summary of the Invention The present invention provides a repositiona~le elongate directional marker having a directional portion at one end and a non-directional portion at the other end. Low-tack, repositionable adhesive is applied to the directional portion, while the non-directional portion is substantially free of the adhesive. The elongate configuration provides an appropriate space for notations. The end of the elongate marker including the non-directional portion is defined by a curved, regular, smooth margin, free of projecting corners which might catch on other papers. The preferred embodiments of the marker are further characterized by a reduced neck between the non~directional portion and the directional portion.
The shape oE the marker facilitates an effi-cient and inexpensive manufacturing process. The expen-sive low-tack adhesive is applied to the face stock in an elongate strip, Thereafter an array of markers are cut from the face stock so that the directional portions of the markers are cut f rom the portion of the face stock including the adhesive strip while the non-directional portions are cut from the face stock on either side of the adhesive strip. The resulting array provides an attractive and convenient configuration to market and dispense the markers.
Accordingly, it i5 a principal object of the present invention to provide a repositionable direc-tional marker.

1;~7~

It is a further object of the present inven-tion to provide such a marker having a directional and non-directional portion.
It is an associated object of the present invention to provide such a marker having a reduced neck between ~he directional and non-directional portions.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a marker having low-tack repositionable adhesive applied to the directional portion of the marker.
It is a related object oE the present inven-tion to provide a marker adapted to receive notations thereon.
It is an associated object of the present invention to provide a marker having a pleasing and functional shape.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an elongate marker which has a regular curved margin on the end opposite the directional portion.
It is a further object of the present inven-tion to provide an inexpensive and efficient method of manufacturing the marker.
It is a related object of ~he present inven-tion to provide an array of such markers well-suited for appearance and functionality.
The foregoing and other objectives, features and advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description o~ the invention taken in conjunc-tion with the accompanying drawings.

~378~

Brief Description of the Drawings FIG. l illustrates an exemplary marker.
FIG. 2 shows the design components oE the marker of FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 illustrates another exemplary marker.
FIG. 4 illustrates a further exemplary marker.
FIG. 5 shows a card having an array of markers with their directional portions intermeshed.
FIG. 6 is a partial cross-sectional view of the laminate including face stock, adhesive and liner.
FIGS. 7a-c illustrate some of the steps in the process of producing the array shown in FIG. 5.
FIG. 8 is a schematic elevation view of the manufacturing process illustrated in FIGS. 7a-c.
FIG. 9 is an end elevation of the card of FIG. 5 which i5 bent into convex configuration.

Detailed Description of -the Invention Referring to FIG. l, an exemplary embodiment of the repositionable, elongate directional marker lO
includes a directional head 12 at one end and a non-directional body 14 at the other end. The exemplary marker is suhstantially planar, having a top side and a bottom side. The bottom side of the head includes a low-tack repositionable adhesive 16 which enables the marker to be repeatedly released and reapplied to an object. The elongate shape of the marker provides an elongate, appropriately shapedl space for making nota-tions on the top side of the marker without needlessly ~737~3~

obscuring the underlying object. Note that the direc-tional head of the exemplary marker directs attention along the axis 18 of the marker.
The body of the marker is free of adhesive and accordingly may be conveniently yrasped to remove the marker from its underlying object and reposition the marker on the same object or apply it to another object.
The end of the marker incorporating the body is defined by a regular, smooth, curved margin 20 free of project-ing corners which could catch on other papers and tear,remove, or disfigure the marker.
The exemplary embodiment of FIG. 1 includes a reduced neck 21 interconnecting the head and body. In actuality the reduced neck is part of the curved end of the elliptically shaped body. The reduced neck has several purposes. It serves to set oEf and accentuate the directional portion of the marker thereby empha-sizing the directional function oE the marker. Addi-tionally, it also provides a natural place for the marker to bend when a finger or other tool is inserted under the body of the marker preparatory to grasping and removing the marker. Bending of the marker at the neck permits the marker to remain applied to the underlying object until it is ~Eirmly grasped. Without such reduced neck the marker is liable to flip off the underlying object before the body has been securely grasped.
The design components of the exemplary marker oE FIG. 1 are shown in FIG. 2~ They comprise a triangle 22 and an ellipse 24.

~27378~3 FIGS. 3 and 4 show further exemplary embodi-ments lOa amd lOb of the marker of the present inven~
tion. These exemplary embodiments are also elongate and include a directional head 12 at one end and a non-directional body 14 at the other end joined toge~her bya reduced neck. Low-tack adhesive 16 is applied to the bottom side oE the head of these markers. Note that although the body of the markers shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 is relatively longer than the body of the marker of the exemplary embodiment shown in FIGo 1~ the end of the marker opposite the head is again characterized by a curved, smooth, regular margin devoid of corners.
The present invention includes a process for efficiently and economically producing an array of markers. The resulting array provides an attractive and practical configuration for distributing, packaging, displaying and dispensing the markers. The process and the array will be explained with reference to FIGS~ 5-9.
Referring to FIGS. 6-8, an elongate sheet of face stock 26 is fed from a roll 28 past a gluing sta~
tion 30 where low-tack, repositionable adhesive is "pattern-glued" onto one side of the face stock in a plurality of elonga~e adhesive strips 32, most readily seen in FIG~ 7a, arranged substantially parallel to the elongate sheet of ~ace stock. An elongate sheet of liner 34 is fed from a second roll 28 to a laminating station 36 where it is joined into a laminate 38 with the face stock, the adhesive strips 32 interposed bet-ween the face stock and the liner as shown in FIGS~ 6 73~89 and 7b. The laminate is then passed to a die cutting station ~0 where the face stock portion of the laminate is cut by a rotary die cutter into a plurality of arrays 42 of markers each array centered upon one o~ the adhe-sive strips. The die cutter does not cut the liner.
Alternatively, the laminate may be preassembled into a roll of pattern-glued "pressure sensitivel' paper and fed directly to the die cutting station. Another alterna-tive would include printing the face stock of the lami-nate,or of the pressure sensitive paper prior to diecutting to add a message, logo or the like to the individual markers.
Thereafter, the laminate may be passed to a stripping station 44 where the excess face stock is stripped away from the laminate leaving continuous arrays ~2 of markers adhering to the liner along the adhesive strips as partially shown in FIG. 7c. Such continuous arrays of markers with the excess face stock stripped away may be cut into rows, each row including one continuous array, and the rows assembled into com-pact rolls which may be dispersed like stamps.
Alternatively, the die cut laminate may be sent to a sheeting station, not shown, where the die cut laminate is cut into sheets, strips, or cards. FIG 5 shows a card 45 including an array 42 of markers, and the excess face stock 46~ To create the card shown in FIG. 5, the die cutter cuts the markers in arrays of ten markers and also cuts serrated lines 48 in the face stock to facilitate removal o~ the excess ace stock 46.

73~8~

A plurality of cards such as shown in FIG. 5 may be fastened together into a pad of cards. To remove indi-vidual markers from the array, each card may be grasped by its elongate sides and squeezed so that the face of the card is convex and the bodies 14 of the markers 10 in the array stand out from the card where the~ may be conviently grasped as shown in FIG. 9.
Referring to FIGS. 5 and 7c it will be seen that each array 42 of markers includes an elongate row of markers having their triangular heads adjacent to one another and intermeshed on the adhesive strip, the bodies of the markers forming two rows, parallel to and on either side of the adhesive strip. It should be noted that this arrangement, with the triangular inter-meshed heads pointing in the opposite direction fromadjacent heads, permit all of the adhesive strip to be encompassed by the triangular heads of the markers, the intermeshed triangular heads together approximating the the adhesive strip. Since the low-tack, repositionable adhesive is relatively expensive, the process and arra~
described above is an efficient use of the expensive glue. It should also be noted that the face stock is also efficiently used by this process and array by making the bodies of the markers approximately the same width as the heads. It will be appreciated that while the bodies may be of other dimensions, bodies wider than the heads would result in waste of the expensive glue, while bodies narrower than the heads would result in waste of face stock.

~73'7~9 The terms and expressions which have been employed in the foregoing specification are used therein as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention, in the use of such terms and expres-sions/ of excluding equivalents of the features shownand described or portions thereof, it being recoynized that the scope of the invention is defined and limi.ted only by the claims which follo~7.

_.9_

Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A stationery product comprising:
(a) a sheet of stock;
(b) an elongate adhesive strip of releasable, reusable adhesive arranged on said stock;
(c) said stock including an array of discrete elongate directional markers formed therefrom, said markers arranged sub-stantially perpendicular to said elongate strip;
(d) each of said markers including a direc-tional portion proximate one end, said directional portions of said markers arranged on said adhesive strip;
(e) each of said markers in said array including a non-directional portion, said non-directional portions of said markers in said array defining a pair of elongate rows parallel to and on either side of said adhesive strip; and (f) said directional portions of said markers are arranged adjacent to each other and intermesh with, and point in the opposite direction from, said adjacent directional portions.

2. The product of claim 1 wherein said adhesive strip includes substantially regular, subtan-tially parallel, spaced apart margins, each of said directional portions of said markers in said array includes a substantially triangular head, said triangu-lar heads of said markers in said array collectively approximating said adhesive strip.

3. The product of claim 1, including a sheet of liner arranged adjacent to and substantially coplanar with said sheet of stock so as to position said adhesive strip therebetween, said liner, stock and adhesive strip cooperating as means for causing said non-directional portions of said markers of said array to project away from said liner and said stock when said liner is bent along said adhesive strip.

4. The product of claim 1 wherein said markers of said array include a reduced neck between said directional portion and said non-directional portion.

5. A stationery product comprising:
(a) an elongate laminate including a sheet of face stock superimposed on a sheet of carrier;
(b) said laminate including an elongate median strip of releasable, reusable adhesive arranged on said face stock facing said carrier;

(c) said stock including an array of discrete elongate directional markers formed therefrom;
(d) each of said markers including a direc-tional portion and a non-directional portion; and (e) said markers arranged perpendicular to said median strip so that said direc-tional portions of said markers are superimposed on said median strip and are adjacent to each other with said adjacent directional portions pointing in opposite directions.

6. The product of claim 5 wherein said directional portions of said markers are intermeshed with said adjacent directional portions.

7. The product of claim 5 wherein said elongate median strip has substantially regular, sub-stantially parallel, spaced apart margins, said direc-tional portions of said markers are substantially triangular, the combined directional portions of said markers in said array substantially approximating said elongate median strip.

8. The product of claim 5 wherein said non-directional portions of said markers in said array define a pair of elongate rows parallel to and on either side of said elongate median strip.