Post card with decoration sticker and method for production thereof

Abstract

 A post card with a decoration sticker and a method for production of the post card. The sticker of the post card has an excellent decorating effect and an improved durability and is reusable, while the releasable mount paper printed with post card form may be used as a post card. One side of the mount paper is printed with figures or letters, while the other side is printed with a post card form. A release film layer is formed on the one side of the mount paper. An adhesive material layer is formed on the release film layer of the mount paper in predetermined figures through a silk screen printing. The adhesive material layer is heated so as to form a base layer on the adhesive material layer. A color print part is formed on the base layer by separately printing colors on the base layer using color print inks while carrying out a heat treatment after every color printing.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

[0001] The present invention relates in general to decoration stickers used for decorating a surface and, more particularly, to a post card with such decoration sticker as well as to a method for production of the post card, which sticker is directly formed on a releasable mount paper by forming an adhesive material layer as well as a base layer on one side of the releasable mount paper in desired figures through a silk screen printing so that the printed figures of the sticker are integrated with the base layer into a single body, thus to directly form the decoration sticker on the releasable mount paper, and which mount paper is printed with post card form on the other side thereof so that the mount paper with the decoration sticker may used as a post card.

Description of the Prior Art

[0002] In order to produce a typical decoration sticker, an adhesive material is totally applied on one side of a releasable mount paper. Thereafter, the raw material of sticker is bonded to the one side of the mount paper. At this time, the raw material is simply bonded to the paper due to viscosity of the adhesive material applied on the mount paper. The sticker raw material is, thereafter, printed with desired figures, thus to form a sticker sheet having the figures. The releasable mount paper with the printed sticker sheet in turn is subjected to a cutting step for cutting the mount paper as well as the sticker sheet into a desired shape. The cutting step is carried out using a cutter having a cutting edge of the same shape as the printed figures of the sticker. The remains of the mount paper as well as of the sticker sheet will be discarded after the cutting step. In use of the sticker, the sticker is released from the releasable mount paper and stuck on a surface to be decorated.

[0003] However, the decoration sticker produced by the above method has a problem that the adhesive material layer should be formed on all the one side of the releasable mount paper regardless of area of desired figures of the sticker and this increases the cost of the stickers. When releasing the sticker from the mount paper, the adhesive material may remain on the mount paper so that the sticking power of the sticker may be reduced. Moreover, the adhesive material may be stuck to user's fingers and make the fingers dirty. The desired figures are printed on the sticker raw material through a typical surface printing so that the printed figures will be smeared on others during use of the sticker. The figures, printed on the sticker raw material through the surface printing, also may be cracked or peel off due to difference of physical performances between the printed figures and the sticker raw material. Another problem of the above sticker is resided in that the sticker production method necessarily includes the cutting step for cutting the sticker sheet as well as the mount paper into the desired shape, which cutting step is carried out using the cutter having the cutting edge of the same shape as the printed figures of the sticker. Thus, the sticker production method becomes complicated. Furthermore, the cutting edge of the cutter should be formed using a mold having a specified shape corresponding to the desired figures of the sticker so that the cost of the stickers will be increased due to preparation of such a mold.

[0004] In addition, it is very difficult to produce the cutter, which will be used in the cutting step, with desired accuracy. In this regard, it is typical to form the cutter so that the cutter cuts the sticker sheet as well as the mount paper with a margin. Since the cutter cuts the sticker with the margin, high-skilled technique should be necessary in precisely aligning the cutter with the printed figures of the sticker sheet particularly when producing a sticker with delicate figures. When failing the precise alignment of the cutter with the printed figures of the sticker, bad quality of products will be caused and decorating effect of the sticker will be reduced. The remains of the sticker sheet as well as the releasable mount paper are discarded and this causes waste of sticker material and increase of the cost of the stickers.

[0005] When the sticker, after being stuck fast on a surface to be decorated, is forcibly took off the surface in order to reuse the sticker by sticking the sticker on another surface, the adhesive material layer is separated from the other side of the sticker and remains on the surface on which the sticker has been stuck. Moreover, the sticker may be stretched due to its ductility when taking the sticker off the decorated surface by force. When the sticker is stretched as a result of forcible taking of the sticker off the decorated surface as described above, the original shape of the sticker can not be recovered. In this case, the intended decorating effect of the sticker will be lost. Thus, it is impossible to reuse the sticker.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a post card with a decoration sticker in which the sticker has an excellent decorating effect and an improved durability and is reusable, and the releasable mount paper printed with post card form may be used as a post card with sticker or without sticker.

[0007] It is another object of the invention to provide a method for production of the post card with the decoration sticker.

[0008] The present invention provides a post card with a decoration sticker comprising: a mount paper, one side of the mount paper being printed with figures or letters so as to form a figure side, while the other side of the mount paper being printed with a post card form so as to form a post card side; a release film layer formed on the one side of the mount paper; an adhesive material layer formed on the release film layer in predetermined figures, the adhesive material layer being printed in the predetermined figures on the release film layer through a silk screen printing; a base layer formed on the adhesive material layer in the same figures as the adhesive material layer; a color print part formed on the base layer so that the color print part is integrated with the base layer into one body, the color print part being formed by separately printing colors on the base layer using color print inks while carrying out a heat treatment after every color printing, the color print ink including polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl butyrate, pigments and additives.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
   Fig. 1 is a sectional view of a post card with a decoration sticker in accordance with the present invention, showing a structure of the post card.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] In order to produce a post card with a decoration sticker of the invention, one side of a mount paper is printed with figures or letters, while the other side of the mount paper is printed with a post card form. A release film layer is formed on the one side of the mount paper through a conventional method which is well known to those skilled in the art, thus to prepare a releasable mount paper. The release film layer of the mount paper in turn is applied with an adhesive material so as to form an adhesive material layer in desired figures. The adhesive material layer is, thereafter, integrally covered with a base layer in the same figures as the adhesive material layer. The base layer in turn is printed with colors using color print ink, which ink was mixed with PVC (polyvinyl chloride), PVB (polyvinyl butyrate), appropriate pigments and varieties of additives in predetermined ratio, thus to form a color print part. The color printing for forming the color print part is carried out several times by colors. Every color printing is followed by a primary heat treatment for integrating the printed color figures with both the base layer and the adhesive material layer into a single body. After the last color printing, the color printed part is subjected to a secondary heat treatment at a fixing temperature, thus to finish the procedure for production of the post card with the decoration sticker.

[0011] That is, the other side of the mount paper 10 is printed with the post card form so as to form a post card side 11, while the one side of the mount paper 10 is printed with figures or letters so as to form a figure side 12 as shown in Fig. 1. The release film layer 13 is formed on the figure side 12 of the mount paper 10 through the conventional method which is well known to those skilled in the art, thus to form the releasable mount paper. The release film layer 13 of the mount paper 10 in turn is applied with an adhesive material so as to form the adhesive material layer 14 in desired figures. In the present invention, the adhesive material of the layer 14 may be selected from conventional oil adhesive materials and water adhesive materials. However, it is preferred to use a water adhesive material, whose chief ingredient is acrylic acid ester polymer, as the water adhesive material causes removing of sticker traces from a decorated surface to be more facilitated. The adhesive material layer 14 is formed only on the figures through a silk screen printing. When using the water adhesive material as the material of the layer 14, it may be impossible to form the base layer 15 on the adhesive material layer 14 through a conventional sticker production method since use of the water adhesive material causes surface hardening. In order to overcome this problem, the method for production of sticker of the invention will include additional step which will be described hereinafter. That is, the adhesive material layer 14 is coated with mixed liquid, which liquid was prepared by mixing PVC, PVB and the like to each other. The coating of the mixed liquid on the layer 14 is followed by a heat treatment at temperatures ranged from 150 °C to 180 °C, thus to form the base layer 15 on the adhesive material layer 14. At this time, the base layer 15 is formed in the same figures as the adhesive material layer 14 through the silk screen printing.

[0012] In the conventional sticker production method, the adhesive material layer is formed by totally applying an adhesive material on the one side of the releasable mount paper and, thereafter, subjected to heat treatment so as to provide appropriate adhesion effect for the one side of the mount paper. However, the sticker production method of the invention uses the water adhesive material for the adhesive material layer 14 so that an uneven surface is provided on the layer 14 as a result of surface hardening of the layer 14. The base layer 15 is formed on the adhesive material layer 14. In order to form the base layer 15, the mixed liquid, which was prepared by mixing PVC, PVB and the like to each other, is coated on the adhesive material layer 14 in the same figures as the adhesive material layer 14 through the silk screen printing. The adhesive material layer 14 coated with the mixed liquid in turn is subjected to the heat treatment at temperatures ranged from 150 °C to 180 °C, thus to make the two layers 14 and 15 integrated into one body. As the two layers 14 and 15 are integrated into one body as described above, the adhesive material layer 14 will not be separated from the sticker even when the sticker, after being stuck on a surface to be decorated, is took off the surface by force for reuse of the sticker.

[0013] The method for production of the post card with decoration sticker of the invention will be described in detail hereinafter.

[0014] In order to produce the post card, the other side of the mount paper 10, which paper 10 readily resists against the heat not less than 200 °C, is printed with the post card form so as to form the post card side 11, while the one side of the mount paper 10 is printed with desired figures or letters so as to form the figure side 12. The figure side 12 of the mount paper 10 is, thereafter, coated with Teflon or silicon, thus to form the release film layer 13 on the figure side 12.

[0015] The release film layer 13 of the mount paper 10 in turn is applied with an adhesive material having an appropriate adhesion effect, preferably with a water adhesive material whose chief ingredient is acrylic acid ester polymer, in desired figures through the silk screen printing, thus to form the adhesive material layer 14 on the releasable film layer 13.

[0016] The adhesive material layer 14 in turn is screen-coated with mixed liquid, which liquid was prepared by mixing PVC, PVB and the like to each other, in the same figures as the screen-printed adhesive material layer 14. The mixed liquid coated on the layer 14 is subjected to the heat treatment at temperatures ranged from 150 °C to 180 °C, thus to form the base layer 15 on the adhesive material layer 14. In order to control the softness or the hardness of the sticker in accordance with a use of the sticker, it is preferred to add an appropriate amount of plasticizer to the mixed liquid and to make the base layer 15 keeping an appropriate viscosity. The base layer 15 in turn is printed with colors in predetermined figures, thus to form the figure print part 16. This color printing is carried out by colors using color print inks, which inks were mixed with PVC, PVB, appropriate pigments and varieties of additives in predetermined ratio. When forming the figure print part 16, every color printing is followed by a primary heat treatment at 150 °C for integrating the printed color figure with the base layer 15 into a single body. After the last color printing followed by its own primary heat treatment, the figure print part 16 is subjected to a secondary heat treatment at a fixing temperature ranged from 180 °C to 200 °C, thus to produce the resulting product or the post card with the decoration sticker.

[0017] In the present invention, if the base layer 15 is provided with transparency by use of a transparent resin, the color figures of the sticker shows through on the other side of the sticker. When decorating a transparent material such as glass by sticking the transparent sticker on the transparent material, the sticker exhibits its color figures to one side as well as to the other side of the transparent material, thus to improve its decorating effect.

[0018] As described above, the present invention provides a post card with a decoration sticker. On one side of a releasable mount paper of the decoration sticker of the invention, a predetermined shape of base layer having an adhesive material layer is integrated with printed color figures into one body with somewhat hardness, thus to directly form the desired color sticker on the releasable mount paper. The sticker of the invention is thus produced through a simple procedure having no cutting step differently from the typical sticker production method. As the adhesive material layer is integrated with the base layer into one body, the adhesive material does not remain on a surface decorated with the sticker even when the sticker is forcibly took off the surface in order for reuse of the sticker. In accordance with the sticker production method of the invention, decoration stickers having excellent decorating effect are produced in mass production. The other side of the releasable mount paper of the sticker is printed with a post card form so that the releasable mount paper with the sticker or without the sticker may be used as a post card. Therefore, the present invention makes the best use of the mount paper of the sticker, thus to prevent waste of material.

[0019] Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.

Claims

1. An adhesive label assembly comprising:
   a mounting element (10), one side (12) of said mounting element (10) being a label side and the other side (11) of the mounting element (10) being an underside;
   a release film layer (13) formed on the label side (12) of the mounting element (10),
   an adhesive material layer (14) formed on the release film layer (13) in predetermined shapes corresponding to label shapes;
   a base layer (15) formed on the adhesive material layer (14) in the same shapes as the adhesive material layer (14); and
   a printed pattern (16) formed on the base layer so that the printed pattern is integrated with the base layer (15) into one body forming a label.

2. An adhesive label assembly as claimed in claim 1, in which the printed pattern (16) comprises a colour print, the colour print inks comprising polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl butyrate, pigments and additives.

3. An adhesive label assembly as claimed in any preceding claim in which the label comprises a decorative sticker.

4. An adhesive label assembly as claimed in claim 3, in which the label side (12) of the mounting element (10) is printed with a printed pattern.

5. An adhesive label assembly as claimed in any preceding claim in which the underside (11) of the mounting element is printed in a postcard form.

6. A method for producing an adhesive label on a base (10) comprising the steps of:
   forming a release film layer (13) on one side (12) of a mounting element (10), thereby to prepare a releasable mounting surface;
   applying a viscous adhesive material (14) on the release film layer (13) in predetermined shapes corresponding to label shapes through silk screen printing and, thereafter, heating the adhesive material (14) applied on the release film layer (13), thereby to form an adhesive material layer (14) and a base layer (15), integrated into one body forming a label; and
   forming a print (16) on the heat-treated adhesive material.

7. A method as claimed in claim 6, in which the step of forming a print comprises separately printing colours on the heat-treated adhesive material in the predetermined shapes using colour print inks while carrying out a heat treatment at approximately 150°C after every colour printing step.

8. A method as claimed in claim 7, in which said colour print inks comprise polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl butyrate, appropriate amounts of pigments and additives, and in which the step of forming a print further comprises heating the colour print part at a fixing temperature ranging from 180°C to 200°C.

9. A method as claimed in any one of claims 6 to 8, in which the mounting element (10) is prepared by printing a pattern on one side of the mounting element (10) so as to form a label side (12), and printing a post card form on the other side (11) of the mounting element (10) so as to form a post card side (11).

10. A method as claimed in any one of claims 6 to 9, in which the adhesive label comprises a decorative sticker.

Drawing