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US 7,770,801 B1Granted
Environmentally favorable reward cards
AssigneeI3 Plastic Cards, LLC
InventorMark H. Bailey
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A reward or retailer's card and a method of making a card having an overall recycle code of no greater than about 5. The card includes a core card stock made of a material having a recycle code of less than about 5. Variable indicia is printed on the card stock. A hot stamped substantially transparent foil layer is applied to at least the variable printed indicia on the card stock to protect the printed indicia.
Claims13
A reward card comprising:
- a core card stock comprising a material having a recycle code of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5;
- variable ink-jet printed indicia on the card stock;
- and
- a hot stamped substantially transparent foil layer consisting essentially of a material selected from the group consisting of cellulose acetate, cellulose butyrate, nitrocellulose, alkyl cellulose ethers, carboxy-alkyl cellulose ethers, hydroxy-alkyl cellulose ethers, mixed ether-esters of cellulose, polyvinyl acetate resins, polyvinyl chloride resins, copolymers of vinyl acetate and styrene, coumarone-indene resins, polyethylene resins, acrylic resins, polyamide resins, applied to at least the variable printed indicia on the card stock to protect the printed indicia,
- wherein the card is devoid of an amount of adhesive layer between the card stock and the foil layer sufficient to adhere the card stock and the foil layer to one another and wherein an overall recycle code for the reward card is 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5.
2 more elements
A method of making a retailer's card having a recycle code of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5, comprising:
- printing variable indicia using an ink-jet ink on a card stock having a recycle code of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5;
- ultraviolet (UV) light curing the variable indicia printed on the card stock;
- and
- hot stamping at least the UV cured printed indicia with a substantially clear foil layer consisting essentially of a material selected from the group consisting of cellulose acetate, cellulose butyrate, nitrocellulose, alkyl cellulose ethers, carboxy-alkyl cellulose ethers, hydroxy-alkyl cellulose ethers, mixed ether-esters of cellulose, polyvinyl chloride resins, polyvinyl acetate resins, copolymers of vinyl acetate and styrene, coumarone-indene resins, polyethylene resins, acrylic resins, polyamide resins, to protect the printed indicia,
- wherein the card is devoid of an amount of adhesive layer between the card stock and the foil layer sufficient to adhere the card stock and the foil layer to one another and wherein the retailer's card has an overall recycle code of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.