In-line tie articles and methods of manufacture and use

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10118430-B2
Application number	US-201615196854-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 29, 2016
Priority date	Feb 5, 2013
Publication date	Nov 6, 2018
Grant date	Nov 6, 2018

Abstract

A tie article that includes an attachment portion and a bib portion, where the bib portion includes at least one arm segment and at least one closure device (e.g., a retention wire, tin tie, clasp tie, and the like), where the attachment portion and the bib portion are integrally fabricated from a printed sheet having a first surface and a polymeric film adhered to the first surface of the printed sheet such that the closure device(s) is disposed between the first surface of the printed sheet and the polymeric film at the attachment portion. Multiple tie articles may be manufactured with an in-line process.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An in-line process for manufacturing tie articles, the in-line process including:
feeding a printed sheet of a paper-based material to a nip roller, wherein the printed sheet includes printed information;
feeding a plurality of closure devices to the nip roller with the fed printed sheet;
feeding an extruded polymeric material to the nip roller in contact with the printed information of the fed printed sheet and in contact with the fed closure devices;
forming a tie article sheet from the fed printed sheet, the fed closure devices, and the fed polymeric material such that the closure devices are encased between the printed sheet and the polymeric material; and
cutting the tie article sheet into a plurality of tie articles, at least some of the plurality of tie articles remaining partially connected to each other, at least one of the plurality of tie articles having:
an attachment portion with a first part of the fed polymeric material, a part of at least one of the plurality of closure devices, and a first part of the fed printed sheet; and
a bib portion extending from the attachment portion and including a second part of the fed polymeric material and a second part of the fed printed sheet with the printed information.

2. The in-line process of claim 1 , wherein cutting the tie article sheet into the plurality of tie articles includes cutting the at least one of the plurality of closure devices between adjacent tie articles.

3. The in-line process of claim 1 , wherein at least some of the plurality of tie articles are in a staggered back-to-back arrangement.

4. The in-line process of claim 1 , wherein the second part of the fed polymeric material is adhered to the printed sheet at the bib portion such that the printed information is visible through the second part of the fed polymeric material.

5. The in-line process of claim 1 , wherein at least some of the plurality of tie articles include parts of two of the plurality of closure devices per attachment portion.

6. A process for manufacturing a plurality of tie articles, the process including:
feeding a first web of a first material in a first direction;
feeding a first wire adjacent the first web in the first direction;
feeding a second web of a second material in the first direction, wherein the first web and the second web encase the fed first wire;
laminating the first web and the second web with the first wire therebetween to form a tie article web; and
cutting the tie article web to form a plurality of connected tie articles, at least one of the connected tie articles including:
an attachment portion including a first portion of the first web, a portion of the first wire, and a first portion of the second web; the attachment portion including a first arm and a second arm; and
a bib portion extending from the attachment portion and being configured to bear indicia, the bib portion including a second portion of the first web and a second portion of the second web.

7. The process of claim 6 further including extruding a polymer to form the second web.

8. The process of claim 6 wherein the laminating is accomplished by one or more nip rollers.

9. The process of claim 6 further including printing the indicia on the first web.

10. The process of claim 6 , wherein the cutting includes cutting the first wire between adjacent tie articles.

11. The process of claim 6 , wherein at least two of the plurality of connected tie articles have bib portions that are aligned with each other in the first direction.

12. The process of claim 11 , wherein:
one of the aligned bib portions bears first indicia; and
the other of the aligned bib portions bears second indicia that are upside-down relative to the first indicia.

13. The process of claim 6 wherein the tie article web includes a scrap portion between two adjacent tie articles, the process further including removing the scrap portion from the tie article web.

14. The process of claim 6 further including feeding a second wire between the first web and the second web in the first direction, wherein the cutting includes forming each tie article with the attachment portion including the portion of the first wire and a portion of the second wire.

15. The process of claim 6 further including rolling the tie article web.

16. The process of claim 6 wherein the cutting includes cutting the tie article web into a plurality of sheets.

17. The process of claim 6 further including folding the tie article web.

18. The process of claim 6 further including feeding a third web in the first direction, on an opposite side of the second web than the first web.

19. The process of claim 18 further including extruding a polymer to form the third web.

20. The process of claim 6 wherein the second web does not extend entirely over the bib portion.

Assignees

• Bedford Ind Inc

Inventors

• O'Donnell Colin
• Schiller David
• Schultz Mike
• Wass Axel
• Langland Terry
• Platt Joshua
• Milbrandt Jay
• Tschetter Jeffrey

Classifications

• B65B61/025

  for applying, e.g. printing, code or date marks on material prior to packaging · CPC title

• B65B27/10

  Bundling rods, sticks, or like elongated objects · CPC title

• G09F3/14

  by strings, straps, chains, or wires · CPC title

• B42D25/22 Primary

  for use in combination with accessories specially adapted for information-bearing cards · CPC title

• G09F3/0295

  Labels or tickets for tubes, pipes and the like · CPC title