Method of producing sealed protective pouchs with premium object enclosed therein
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a premium object including a sealed protective pouch having a premium object such as a coupon enclosed therein, and a method which allows economical, continuous, on-line production of such premium items without the need for individual handling of the premium objects. More particularly, the invention hereof relates to a carrier sheet having adhesive coating thereon, a premium object having a backing sheet in contact with the coating, and a top sheet overlaying the premium object and marginally adhering to the carrier sheet in order to form the pouch and in order to form a continuous seal surrounding the premium object. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     Producers of packaged food products such as potato chips or the like often include premium objects such as coupons, baseball cards, and so forth in the food package as part of a merchandising program. The premium objects, however, must be enclosed in a sealed, protective pouch in order to protect the objects from oil, moisture, colorings, and so forth present in the food products, and to ensure that the premium object itself does not contact the food product. 
     Heretofor, premium objects have been enclosed in a protective pouch by first producing the objects and then individually placing them on a production line in which a cellophane wrapper, or the like, is placed around each premium object and heat sealed in order to form a protective pouch around the premium object. 
     Known prior art methods of producing premium objects enclosed by protective pouches are inefficient in that the premium objects must be first separately manufactured and then individually placed for enclosure by the pouch material. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The problems as outlined above are solved by the premium item and method of the present invention. That is to say, the invention hereof allows economical, continuous, on-line production of sealed protective pouches enclosing respective premium objects without the need for individual handling of the premium objects. 
     The premium item hereof comprises a premium object enclosed in a sealed protective pouch. The pouch includes a top sheet presenting a top wall portion positioned adjacent the top face of the premium object, and a top sealing zone surrounding the top wall portion and continuously extending marginally outwardly beyond the top face. The pouch also includes a bottom sheet (or carrier sheet) presenting a bottom wall portion positioned adjacent the bottom face of the premium object, and a bottom sealing zone continuously surrounding the bottom wall portion and continuously extending outwardly beyond the bottom face. Finally, the pouch includes means for sealing the top and bottom sealing zones in order to form a continuous seal marginally surrounding the premium object whereby the top and bottom sheets form a protective pouch enclosing the premium object. 
     Preferably, the premium object includes a backing sheet removably adhered thereto, and the bottom sheet includes an adhesive coating thereon. The backing sheet is in contact with the adhesive coating, and the top sealing zone sealed to the corresponding bottom sealing zone by means of the adhesive coating. 
     The preferred method comprises the steps of providing a carrier sheet, placing a premium web in aligned, superposed relationship with the carrier sheet, cutting the web in order to produce a plurality of spaced-apart premium objects and a waste matrix; removing the waste matrix; positioning a top sheet in aligned superposed relationship with the carrier sheet with the premium objects therebetween; and sealing the respective top sealing zones to corresponding carrier sealing zones in order to perform a plurality of continuous sealed zones respectively surrounding the premium objects. The sealed zone and the carrier and top sheets define a plurality of sealed protective pouches with the respective premium objects enclosed therein. 
     Preferably, the premium web includes a backing sheet releasably adhered thereto and the carrier sheet includes an adhesive coating on the top surface thereof. The web is placed on the carrier sheet with the web backing sheet in contact with the adhesive coating. The top sealing zones are sealed to the corresponding carrier sealing zones by means of the adhesive coating on the carrier sheet. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES 
     FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a label manufacturing machine used for producing the premium items and for implementing the method of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a plan view of an assembly of premium items produced by the machine of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a plan view of a sealed protective pouch with a premium object enclosed therein; 
     FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the premium item of FIG. 3 taken along line 4--4; and 
     FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 showing the top sheet partially torn away and the premium object partially removed from the backing sheet. 
     FIG. 6 is a view showing an alternative embodiment of forming an assembly into a roll. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a conventional pressure sensitive label manufacturing machine 10 such as the Webtron 650 manufactured by Webtron, Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Machine 10 is the apparatus of choice for implementing the method of the present invention although those skilled in the art will appreciate that other functionally equivalent machines can be used equivalently. Machine 10 is preferably used to produce premium item 12 of the present invention which includes sealed protective pouch 14 and a premium object 16. 
     Label manufacturing machine 10 includes web dispensing reel 18, web guide roller 20, conventional flexographic printer 22, carrier sheet dispensing reel 24, a pair of carrier-web engagement rollers 26, die cutter 28, anvil roller 30, matrix stripping roller 32, matrix takeup reel 34, top sheet dispensing reel 36, a pair of top-carrier laminating rollers 38, optional heat sealer 40, cutter 42, and premium item collection rack 44. 
     Machine 10 is supplied with web 46, bottom or carrier sheet 48, and top sheet 50, all in roll form. 
     Web 46 is preferably composed of eightpoint tag material and surface coated on the upper surface thereof to facilitate printing. Additionally, web 46 includes a release liner or backing sheet 52 composed of 40 pound kraft material removably adhered to the lower surface of web 46 by means of an adhesive layer 54 composed of conventional pressure sensitive adhesive. 
     Web dispensing reel 18 continuously dispenses the self-wound roll of web 46 including backing sheet 52 around web guide roller 20, through printer 22, and between carrier-web engagement rollers 26. 
     Printer 22 is conventionally used, for example, to print web 46 and backing sheet 52, with desired indicia and images in order to form a merchandising coupon or sports trading card having the image of a notable sports figure thereon. 
     Carrier sheet 48 is preferably received in the form of a self-wound roll of 1 mil, biaxially oriented polypropylene. Sheet 48 presents top surface 56 which includes adhesive coating 58 thereon preferably composed of acrylic emulsion adhesive known as Type 15T10, available from Devon Corporation which is oil, water, and grease resistant. 
     Carrier sheet dispensing reel 24 continuously dispenses sheet 48 between carrier-web engagement rollers 26 so that adhesive coating 58 comes into contact with the lower surface of web backing sheet 52. Engagement rollers 26 place web 46 and carrier sheet 48 in contact with one another so that top surface 56 is adhered to the lower surface of backing sheet 52 by means of adhesive coating 58. 
     Web 46 and carrier sheet 48 then continuously pass between die cutter 28 and anvil roller 30 so that die cutter 28 cuts through web 46 and backing sheet 52 in order to produce spaced-apart, premium objects 16 surrounded by waste matrix 60. 
     Matrix take-up reel 34 continuously removes waste matrix 60 by way of matrix stripping roller 32 which is in contact with the top surface of die cut web 46. 
     After removal of waste matrix 60, spaced-apart premium objects 16 remain in contact with and adhered to carrier sheet 48. The removal of waste matrix 60 exposes portions of top surface 56 and adhesive coating 58 which portions marginally and continuously surround each premium object 16. These exposed portions present a plurality of carrier sealing zones 62 respectively surrounding each premium object 16. 
     Carrier sheet 48 with premium objects 16 thereon then passes between top-carrier laminating rollers 38. 
     Top sheet 50 is preferably received as a self-wound roll of 75 gauge (3/4 mil) corona-treated, biaxially oriented polypropylene. 
     Top sheet dispensing reel 36 continuously dispenses top sheet 50 between top-carrier laminating rollers 38 which place top sheet 50 in contact with the upper surface of premium object 16 and with sealing zones 62. Preferably, top sheet 50 is the same width as carrier sheet 48 and thereby presents a corresponding plurality of top sheet sealing zones 64 corresponding to carrier sealing zones 62. 
     Rollers 38 place top sheet sealing zones 64 into contact with carrier sealing zones 62 which adhere together because of adhesive layer 54. Sealing zones 62 and 64 thereby form a plurality of corresponding sealed zones 66 continuously and marginally surrounding each premium object 16 as best viewed in FIG. 2. Carrier sheet 48 and top sheet 50 joined at sealed zones 66, thereby form an assembly 68 of premium items 12 each including a sealed protective pouch 14 and a premium object 16 enclosed therein. 
     Cutter 42 then separates premium items 12 from assembly 68 by laterally cutting through carrier sheet 48 and top sheet 50 about midway between each premium object 16. The separated premium items then fall into collection rack 48 or in the alternative, onto a conveyor system. Cutter 42 also cuts longitudinal, centrally disposed tear slits 70 at the juncture between adjacent premium items 12. Tear slits 70 extend partially into the sealed zones at opposed ends of each premium item 12. 
     Cutter 42 can also be used instead to cut lateral perforations or knife slits to act as feed slots between each premium item rather than completely separating them from assembly 68. In this way, assembly 68 can be formed into a self-wound roll if desired. 
     As illustrated in FIG. 2, asembly 68 moves to the right for premium item separation by cutter 42. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that assembly 68 can be arranged so that two or more premium items 12 are produced side-by-side whereby cutter 42 is configured appropriately to separate items 12 and cut slits 70. 
     Additionally, carrier sealing zones 62 and top sheet sealing zones 64 could be heat sealed together by means of heat sealer 40. If such is desired, a low tack adhesive would be needed to adhere web 46 to carrier sheet 48 during the operation of die cutter 28 and subsequent removal of waste matrix 60 and to hold premium objects 16 in place on carrier sheet 48 until the heat sealing operation is complete. 
     FIGS. 3, 4, and 5 illustrate in more detail the construction of premium item 12 preferably produced by the method of the present invention. Premium object 16 presents top face 72 and bottom face 74. Top sheet 50 presents a top wall portion 76 in juxtaposed relationship with top face 72. Top sealing zone 64 marginally surrounds top wall portion 76 and continuously extends marginally outwardly beyond top face 72. 
     Bottom (or carrier) sheet 48, presents bottom wall portion 78 in juxtaposed relationship with bottom face 74 with bottom (or carrier) sealing zone 62 marginally surrounding bottom wall portion 78. Sealing zone 62 also continuously extends marginally outwardly beyond bottom face 74. 
     Adhesive coating 58 is the preferred means for sealing top sealing zone 64 and bottom sealing zone 62 together to form continuous sealed zone 66 marginally surrounding premium object 16. With this construction, bottom sheet 48 and top sheet 50 cooperate to form pouch 14 enclosing premium object 16. 
     Preferably, premium object 16 includes a backing sheet 52 the bottom surface of which is adhered to top surface 56 of bottom wall portion 78 by means of adhesive coating 58. As discussed above, adhesive layer 54 adheres backing sheet 52 to premium object 16. 
     To remove premium object 16 from pouch 14, the user grasps item 12 on either side of tear slit 70 and then tears briskly downwardly. This causes bottom sheet 48 and top sheet 50 to continuously tear more or less centrally therethrough. Premium object 16 can then be grasped and peeled away from backing sheet 52. 
     Those skilled in the art will appreciate that adhesive layer 54 adhering premium object 16 to backing sheet 52 can be composed of a pressure sensitive adhesive whereby premium object 16, once removed, can then be adhered to another surface. Alternately, adhesive layer 54 could be composed of a very low tack or releasable adhesive, if desired. 
     Having thus described the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the following is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent: