In line manufacturing of documents with security elements

Apparatus for manufacturing a security document with a structured security element comprising a series of processing stations including:

• a substrate feeding station for feeding a continuous web of document substrate having a first surface on one side and a second surface on the opposite side;
• a station for applying a radiation sensitive coating to a security element area on the first surface of the document substrate;
• a security element forming station for forming a structured security element in the radiation sensitive coating, the security element comprising a structure extending to a height from the first surface such that, when a continuous web of the security documents is wound into a cylindrical roll, the roll contains areas of slack and areas of tension in the continuous web, or such that, when stacked as a plurality of separate sheets, a stack of the security documents will form a wedge shape;
• a station for applying one or more thickening layers to the first surface of the substrate, excluding the security element area, wherein the security element area is formed in a window or half window area of the document substrate, the thickening layers are opacifying coatings of ink, said application of the one or more thickening layers at least partially forms the window or half window area on the document substrate, and further wherein the one or more thickening layers have a combined thickness which differs from the height of the security element structure by less than 50% of the height of the security element structure and/or by less than 10 μm;
• and
• a station for collecting the security documents as a continuous web of a plurality of security documents in a cylindrical roll or a stack of a plurality of separate sheets.

A security document comprising:

• a document substrate having a first surface and a second surface;
• a structured security element positioned on a security element area of the first surface, the security element having a structure that extends to a height from the first surface such that, when a continuous web of the security documents is wound into a cylindrical roll, the roll contains areas of slack and areas of tension in the continuous web, or such that, when stacked as a plurality of separate sheets, a stack of the security documents will form a wedge shape;
• and
• one or more thickening layers on the first surface of the document substrate excluding the security element area, wherein the security element area is formed in a window or half window area of the document substrate, the thickening layers are opacifying coatings of ink, said application of the one or more thickening layers at least partially forms the window or half window area on the document substrate, and further wherein the one or more thickening layers have a combined thickness which differs from the height of the security element structure by less than 50% of the height of the security element structure and/or by less than 10 μm,
• wherein the security document forms part of one of a continuous web of a plurality of security documents in a cylindrical roll or a stack of a plurality of separate sheets.