GB2228916A

GB2228916A - Labelling of washable rubber articles

Info

Publication number: GB2228916A
Application number: GB8905256A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Peter Charles Brazier
Original assignee: Walk Off Mats Ltd
Current assignee: Walk Off Mats Ltd
Priority date: 1989-03-08
Filing date: 1989-03-08
Publication date: 1990-09-12
Anticipated expiration: 2009-03-08
Also published as: GB2228916B; GB8905256D0

Abstract

Washable rubber articles such as floor mats 10 are labelled by affixing a fabric patch 12 to the rubber article 10 and attaching a wash-resistant identification label 14 to the fabric patch 12, for example by hot pressing a label 14 having a hot-melt on its surface in contact with the patch. <IMAGE>

Description

LABELLING OF WASHABLE RUBBER ARTICLES The present invention relates to the labelling of washable rubber articles such as floor mats, especially with identification labels such as labels containing barcodes or the like.

Washable rubber mats, such as the well known dust control mats having a rubber backing and a pile fabric upper surface, are usually hired to customers by rental firms which periodically collect the rented mats and launder them. They need to apply identification labels to the mats to assist in stock control, product tracing and the like, and it is known to use barcodes for this purpose.

Currently, barcodes are applied to rubber mats by printing onto a patch of unvulcanised (uncured) rubber and then vulcanising (curing) the patch onto the back of the mat by application of heat and pressure during manufacture of the mat. However, this procedure is economic only if the barcode is applied during manufacture, so that difficulties arise if the barcode becomes unreadable in use of the mat or needs to be altered. Moreover, it is not possible to use conventional silk screen printing techniques to produce the barcodes on the rubber patches because a set of barcodes needs to be printed as a set of numbers increasing sequentially from patch to patch.

It is therefore an aim of the present invention to provide an alternative means of labelling washable rubber mats.

It is known to form barcodes on adhesive-backed paper labels for application to a variety of goods but this is not satisfactory for application to rubber mats which are likely to be washed or laundered repeatedly as the paDer labels are readily destroyed or become detached during the washing or laundering operation.

Other commercially available barcode labels have the barcodes printed on woven fabric backed with a hot-melt adhesive. These labels are intended for application to fabrics such as workwear or other fabric garments by hot pressing to soften the adhesive and cause it to penetrate the garment fabric and form a secure mechanical lock which resists separation during repeated washing. However, such labels cannot be satisfactory applied to rubber surfaces because the softened adhesive cannot penetrate the rubber surface and thus does not form a strong bond with the surface that is capable of resisting removal during laundering.

There is thus a need to find a satisfactory alternatire.

We have found that a satisfactory alternative is to bond a fabric patch to the rubber mat, for example during manufacture of the mat, and to apply the identification label, e.g. barcode in the form of a wash-resistant label bonding in a wash-fast manner to the fabric patch. This procedure can be used for washable rubber goods in general.

According to the invention there is provided a washable rubber article having a rubber surface and an identification label. characterised in that the rubber surface bears an affixed fabric patch and the identification label is a wash-resistant label secured to the fabric patch in a wash-fast manner.

The invention also includes the corresponding unlabelled article already bearing the fabric patch.

The invention further provides a method of labelling a washable floor mat having a rubber surface with an identification label, comprising applying to the rubber surface of the mat during its manufacture a wash-resistant fibrous patch, and applying to the fibrous patch by hot pressing a wash-resistant identification label having a hot-melt adhesive on its surface in contact with the patch, whereby the adhesive is caused to flow into and bond wash-fast with the fibrous patch.

The fabric or fibrous patch can be formed of woven, nonwoven or knitted material and can be formed of any natural or synthetic organic fibre, for example cotton, nylon or polyester or mixtures thereof.

In order to affix the patch to the rubber surface in a wash-fast manner it is conveniently applies to the surface during the manufacture of the mat by a hot-press vulcanising or curing technique as this causes the fibres to become firmly fixed to the rubber. To assist fixing, the edges of the patch can be covered with uncured (unvulcanised) rubber strips which then bond firmly to the main rubber surface during the vulcanisation step.

The patch is conveniently placed on the surface of the mat which forms the underside in use, so that it is not visible in normal use, but it can be placed on the top surface if desired, for example where the mat has a rubber border around its upper surface. The patch may be of any convenient size to accommodate one or possibly two identification labels.

The rubber article is preferably a mat, which may be a conventional dust control mat having a backing surface, and optionally also a border around its top surface, formed of nitrile rubber or other synthetic or natural rubber or heavy duty plastics material (such as polyvinylchlorides, together with a pile fabric top surface of nylon or other fibrous material. This pile surface is not in general very suitable to receive the identification label because of its visibility in use of the mat and the length and nature of the pile. Articles other than mats which are subjected to regular or repeated washing may also be labelled in the same way.

The identification label is preferably made of a woven fabric, but other wash-resistant materials may be used. It bears identification data, for example a barcode. It is secured to the fabric or fibrous patch in a wash-fast manner, for example using a wash-resistant adhesive. One very suitable type of label is the known, commercially available label consisting of a woven fabric backed with a hot-melt adhesive and sold for use in identifying washable garments by application to them. Because the patch on the mat is of fabric or fibrous construction such labels can be applied to the patch by any of the conventional methods used for applying them to garments, basically involving the use of heat and pressure. The heat softens the adhesive and pressure causes it to flow into and around the fibres of the patch and forms a mechanically strong bond which resists removal of the label. The hot-melt adhesive may be any of the known fabric adhesives of this type which are not dissolved by water in a washing or laundering operation, for example adhesives based on thermoplastic synthetic resins such as polyolefins, ethylene/vinylacetate copolymers, polyamides or polyesters.

Preferably, when the rubber article, e.g. mat, is large in relation to the label the entire article is preheated when the label is applied to the patch otherwise the rubber in the article, e.g. mat, acts as a heat sink and drains the heat rapidly from the hot press.

Not only do labels fixed by means of the invention remain firmly fixed in all normal circumstances of use but in the unlikely event of a label becoming detached or requiring alteration it is possible to fix a fresh or replacement label to the patch by a similar technique, e.g.

hot pressing, without difficulty.

The invention is illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the back of a mat and Fig. 2 is a cross-section of a mat according to the invention.

Referring to the drawing a mat 10 has a nitrile rubber backing surface 11 to which a square fabric patch 12, of size 100 x 100 mm, formed of 65/35 polyester/cotton (weight 245g/m2) is attached with the assistance of thin (0.25-0.35 mm) unvulcanised rubber strips 13 around its edges. A fabric label 14 bearing a barcode identification is bonded to the patch 12 by a hot melt adhesive which penetrates into the fabric.

Claims

1. A washable rubber article having a rubber surface and an identification label, characterised in that the rubber surface bears an affixed fabric patch and the identification label is a wash-resistant label secured to the fabric patch in a wash-fast manner.

2. A method of labelling a washable floor mat having a rubber surface with an identification label, comprising applying to the rubber surface of the mat during its manufacture a wash-resistant fibrous patch, and applying to the fibrous patch by hot pressing a wash-resistant identification label having a hot-melt adhesive on its surface in contact with the patch, whereby the adhesive is caused to flow into and bond wash-fast with the fibrous patch.