Cube corner retroreflective sheeting having channels

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9465147-B2
Application number	US-201314047062-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 7, 2013
Priority date	Mar 6, 2003
Publication date	Oct 11, 2016
Grant date	Oct 11, 2016

Abstract

Retroreflective sheeting comprising cube corner microstructure and having channels substantially parallel to a longitudinal, peripheral edge of the sheeting.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A retroreflective sheeting, comprising:
full cube microstructured elements having non-triangular reflective faces and an average height ranging from about 0.001 inches to 0.010 inches; and
channels that are substantially parallel to a longitudinal peripheral edge of a roll of the sheeting and wherein the channels are selected from a group consisting of primary groove channels, structured channels, and cube cavity channels; and
wherein the full cube microstructures comprise a 1-2 dihedral angle error and a 1-3 dihedral angle error that are varied in opposition and differ in sign or magnitude by at least 1 arc minute.

2. The retroreflective sheeting of claim 1 , wherein the full cube microstructured elements have reflective faces that comprise rectangles, quadrilaterals, trapezoids, or pentagons.

3. The retroreflective sheeting of claim 1 , wherein the sheeting includes rows of the full cube microstructured elements.

4. The retroreflective sheeting of claim 3 , wherein the sheeting includes at least one channel for each row of full cube microstructured elements.

5. The retroreflective sheeting of claim 1 , wherein the sheeting has primary groove channels parallel to structured channels.

6. The retroreflective sheeting of claim 5 , wherein the structured channels are alternated with the primary groove channels.

7. The retroreflective sheeting of claim 1 , wherein the full cube microstructured elements are formed by a tool including cube corner cavities.

8. The retroreflective sheeting of claim 1 , wherein at least some of the channels include a substantially continuous planar face.

Assignees

• 3M Innovative Properties Co

Inventors

• Smith Kenneth L

Classifications

• B29D11/00605 Primary

  Production of reflex reflectors · CPC title

• Y10T428/2457

  Parallel ribs and/or grooves · CPC title

• G02B5/124 Primary

  plural reflecting elements forming part of a unitary plate or sheet · CPC title

• Y10S359/90

  Methods · CPC title

• B29K2069/00

  Use of PC, i.e. polycarbonates {or derivatives thereof}, as moulding material · CPC title