High pressure lamination of electronic cards
AssigneeSoundcraft, Inc.
InventorJoel Smulson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Plastic cards with included electronic elements are made by laminating a carrier sheet bearing multiple electronic elements between top and bottom plastic sheets. The laminated composite is die cut into separate cards. Prior to lamination the carrier sheet is perforated in a web pattern such that the carrier sheet material is largely recessed from the side edges of the finished cards for better lamination and appearance of the finished card edges. The electronic elements may be obtained on continuous rolls of carrier material which is cut into sheets for lamination.
Claims13
A method for making laminated cards containing electronic elements, comprising the steps of:
- providing a plurality of electronic circuits supported on a carrier sheet in an n by m matrix wherein both n and m are greater than one;
- perforating said carrier sheet so as to define a carrier web including a plurality of carrier cards wherein each carrier card supports at least one of said electronic circuits, each carrier card having a plurality of carrier card edges and each carrier card being connected to one or more adjacent carrier cards by one or more links each having a link width small in relation to the total length of said carrier card edges
- interposing said carrier web with said electronic circuits between a top sheet and a bottom sheet of initially solid thermoplastic material;
- applying heat and pressure to said top sheet and said bottom sheet sufficient to form a laminate sheet containing said web and said electronic circuits;
- cutting said laminate sheet so as to define an n by m plurality of laminate cards, each laminate card having a plurality of laminate card edges and containing between said laminate card edges at least one said carrier card;
- said carrier card edges being recessed from said laminate card edges to define border areas of contact between said top sheet and said bottom sheet such that said carrier card edges are hidden within said laminate card whereby exposure of said carrier card along said laminate card edges is substantially limited to the width of said links thereby to provide for adhesion between said top sheet and said bottom sheet along said laminate card edges.
A method for high volume production of laminated cards containing electronic elements, comprising the steps of:
- providing a continuous roll of carrier sheet with electronic elements supported thereon in a regular pattern;
- cutting off a length of said carrier sheet from said roll to make a carrier sheet;
- perforating said carrier sheet so as to define a carrier web including a plurality of carrier cards in an n by m matrix wherein both n and m are greater than one and wherein each carrier card supports at least one of said electronic elements, each carrier card having a plurality of carrier card edges and each carrier card being connected to one or more adjacent carrier cards by one or more links each having a link width small in relation to the total length of said carrier card edges;
- interposing said carrier web with said electronic elements between a top sheet and a bottom sheet of initially solid thermoplastic;
- applying heat and pressure to said top sheet and said bottom sheet sufficient to form a laminate sheet containing said web and said electronic devices;
- cutting said laminate sheet so as to define an n by m plurality of laminate cards, each laminate card having a plurality of laminate card edges and containing between said laminate card edges at least one said carrier card;
- said laminate card edges overlapping said carrier card edges such that said carrier card edges are hidden within said laminate card whereby exposure of said carrier card along said laminate card edges is substantially limited to the width of said links thereby to provide for adhesion between said top sheet and said bottom sheet along said laminate card edges.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.