MXPA99001319A - Self-adhesive labels and manufacture thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

A self-adhesive label (2) carried on a backing of release material (6), the label comprising a multilaminar label, a self-adhesive overlaminate (28) covering the multilaminar label and a self-adhesive overlabel (36) adhered to an upper surface of the overlaminate (28). The invention also provides a method of producing a succession of self-adhesive labels carried on a backing of release material, the method comprising the steps of providing an elongate web including a backing of release material, applying a succession of multilaminar labels to the elongate web, laminating over the succession of multilaminar labels a self-adhesive plastics overlaminate web, applying a succession of self-adhesive overlabels over the overlaminate and die-cutting through the overlabels, the overlaminate and the multilaminar labels to form the self-adhesive labels in each of which at least one overlabel is adhered to a portion of the overlaminate web which covers a multilaminar label.

Description

SELF-ADHESIVE LABELS AND MANUFACTURING THEMSELVES The present invention relates to self-adhesive labels and to a method for producing self-adhesive labels. In particular, the present invention. i rn is related to multi-layered self-adhesive labels in which the label incorporates a booklet or folded sheet to provide a large surface area for carrying printed information which is more than the surface area of the printing foot of the label. label 3. The labels of the present invention have particular application in the labeling of pharmaceutical products. A variety of so-called labels or < printed sheet or brochure labels are known in the art and a typical label construction is described in U.S. Patent No. 5,399,403 in the name of David J Instance. It is well known how to coat the printed sheet or brochure with a clear plastic self-adhesive layer. The laminar coating provides durability to the label against inadvertent damage or tear, also improves the aesthetic appearance of the label. In addition, the laminar coating can provide a structural portion of the label to allow the printed or follicle sheet label to be opened from a closed configuration by pulling the laminar coating from a surface of a product, such as a pharmaceutical container, the which is labeled to allow the printed page or booklet to be read by a user. In some labels, the laminar coating can be readhered to the product to return the label to its closed configuration. Typical plastic materials for use as a laminar coating include oriented polypropylene that carries a pressure sensitive adhesive on its back surface. U.S. Patent No. 4,529,229 discloses a self-adhesive label in which an adhesive strip is provided to retain a bent strip in its folded configuration by being adhered to a top panel and an underlying panel of the web. When pharmaceutical products are labeled, it is often necessary for the label to be printed with specific information, such as a batch or batch code and the expiration date. Such printing is generally achieved by providing a printed generic label for a particular pharmaceutical product and then printing on it a series of labels with the required lot or lot code and the expiration date. There is a technical problem in the art that there is a need to provide an overprint area and in particular an overprint area which is suitable for printing with suitable high-quality alphanumeric printing devices on the coated sheet or booklet labels. to print batch codes, expiration dates and the like. There is also a need in the art for such coated labels, particularly for pharmaceutical products, to be printed with bar codes which contain information related to lot codes, expiration dates, etc. - Overprinted and acting as a security feature which can be automatically scanned to verify that the required overprint has been made. The barcode needs to be small in the area still printed exactly so that it is readable by a machine at high speeds. When the information is overprinted on paper, that is, when a printed sheet or unrestored brochure label is printed, the ink is printed on the surface of the label paper and then a laser is used to evaporate some of the ink or to leave blank printing characters surrounded by the ink or to burn the printing characters on the surface of the paper. The present invention has attempted to duplicate this laser printing process on a plastic sheet coating, in particular a self-adhesive film of oriented polypropylene. However, after the laser treatment the appearance of the print is poor because the sheet tends to have a bubble effect imparted to it by the laser, which the inventor of the present invention is a result of the vapors which are emitted from the surface of the paper and the thermal distortion of the plastic sheet. Furthermore, it is believed that the laminar coating absorbs some of the energy of the laser, which may require the use of a relatively powerful laser, or a longer burning time, which in turn may exacerbate the problem of bubble formation. The inventor of the present has also attempted to overprint on a plastic sheeting using a thermal transfer printer. Such thermal transfer printers use a multi-element print head with a large number of thin heating elements that can be turned on and off in a desired pattern or configuration under the control of a computer to print selected alphanumeric characters. A ribbon or ribbon is pressed between the print head and the substrate to be printed and when the printhead elements are turned on to heat, the elements soften the coating on the surface of the tape or ribbon in contact with the substrate allowing that the coating adheres to the substrate as a dot pattern. The desired alphanumeric symbols to be printed are of course controlled by selectively activating the desired pattern of the heating elements. The inventor of the present has discovered that the plastic sheet coating surface tends not to be a receiver of some thermal transfer coatings. There is also the desire to overprint a plastic sheeting by means of wet printing. In wet printing a liquid vehicle of a wet printing ink is dried by absorption on the printed substrate. This is not possible with a plastic sheeting because the vehicle can not be absorbed therein, or it leads to the printed image becoming soiled. The present invention aims at solving at least partially those problems of the prior art. It is known to provide a printed sheet or two-component booklet label in which a printed sheet or booklet is coated with a transparent, self-adhesive plastic layer, which adheres on opposite sides of the printed sheet or booklet to a support of release material (or release liner), such as a paper coated with silicone. A typical tag having such construction is described in Figure 4 of U.S. Patent No. 5,399,403. Opposed foil portions on opposite sides of the booklet or printed sheet constitute the de-lane and back edges of the label in the direction of the length of the lining fabric of the release liner material. The self-adhesive printed sheet or booklet labels are automatically applied to the products to be labeled by providing a reel of labels supported in succession on the fabric of release support material and the reel is wound and the release material holder is pulled back on a release plate of the label applicator so that the front edge of the label moving forward is fed from the release support material on the product. When the front element of the label to be distributed consists of a laminated skirt, that is, simply the sheet coating which is initially adhered to the release material support, the flexibility of the sheet and its inherent lack of rigidity tend to make it difficult ensuring that the leading edge of the label defined by the sheet is broken off from the coating of the release support material on the release plate. In consecuense, it is known in the art, how to provide sufficient stiffness to the sheet to allow the printed sheet label or booklet to be distributed to be acceptable by the label applicator, so that a relatively thick sheet, for example a sheet of 0.002, is employed. inches (0.0508 mm) of thickness, which is greater than the thickness required both to give protection to the label and to ensure that with the next cut with matrix of the labels the sheet is strong enough to constitute a matrix fabric which pushes the residual cut portions of the release material labels. A further object of the present invention is to at least partially solve this problem of the prior art and in particular to provide sufficient rigidity to the leading edge of a label to allow it to be distributed by a label applicator without requiring a transparent, self-adhesive plastic sheet , excessively thick. A still further object of the present invention is to provide a coated label having sufficient thickness so that modifications to a standard label applicator are not required. The printed sheet and brochure labels may suffer from the disadvantage that when several versions of the same label construction are required that correspond to slight variations in the product to be labeled, it is necessary to have a fully separated printed sheet or booklet for each version Of the label. For example, a pharmaceutical product may require two versions of substantially the same label, a version for each particular strength of the same pharmaceutical product and for agrochemicals, two versions of the same label may be required for different bottle sizes, for example 1 liter and 5 liters. The requirement to manufacture a number of substantially similar labels that have slight variations in relation to product differences may be relatively inefficient for manufacturing, particularly for short manufacturing runs for labels, because this requires that parts of the label be manufactured. the folded printed sheet or brochure to keep a reserve of each label version. A further object of the present invention is to provide inexpensive printed sheet labels or brochure labels, particularly for multiple short-label brand versions of "the same label." The present invention provides a self-adhesive label supported on a support release material, the label comprises a multi-sheet label, an adhesive sheet coating covering the multi-sheet label and a self-adhesive upper label adhering to an upper surface of the sheet coating The present invention further provides a method for producing a succession of self-adhesive labels supported on a release material backing, the method comprises the steps of providing an elongated fabric including a release material backing, applying a succession of multi-layered labels to the elongated, laminar fabric over the succession of labels sheets Multiple a self-adhesive plastic laminar coating fabric, apply a succession of self-adhesive upper labels on the laminar coating and cut with matrix through. the upper labels, the laminar coating and the multi-layered labels to form the self-adhesive labels in each of which at least one label is attached to a portion of the laminar coating fabric which covers a multi-layered label. The present invention still further provides a self-adhesive label comprising a multi-sheet label selected from the group consisting of a folded printed sheet and a booklet, the multi-sheet label having a top sheet and a back sheet, a self-adhesive transparent plastic sheeting bonded adhered by means of a self-adhesive surface thereof on the upper sheet of the multi-layered label and extending along one edge of the multi-lamella label to form a first edge portion therefrom, a second opposite edge portion of laminar coating is located on an edge portion of the upper sheet, and a self-adhesive upper label which adheres to at least one of the first and second edge portions, the upper label it has an upper surface which is capable of being overprinted by means of an overprint device. The present invention further provides a self-adhesive label supported on a carrier of release material, the label comprises a base having a self-adhesive surface facing rearwardly, the rail adheres removably to a carrier of release material, a portion of multiple sheets printed on which adheres to the base and a printed, self-adhesive upper label, which is adhered by means of a second self-adhesive surface directed backwards to an upper surface of at least one of the base portion and of multiple sheets, the The upper label and the multiple sheet portion are each printed with different information related to a product to be labeled. The present invention still further provides a pharmaceutical product comprising a container of a pharmaceutical composition containing a self-adhesive label, the label comprising a base that has an autoadh surface backward-facing, which adheres to the container, a portion of multiple printed sheets which adheres to the base and a printed, self-adhesive upper label, which is adhered by a second self-adhesive surface directed rearwardly to an upper surface of the less one of the base and portion of multiple sheets, the upper label is printed with specific information of the pharmaceutical composition in the container and the multiple sheet portion is printed with generic information of the pharmaceutical product. The embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a plan view, in perspective, of the self-adhesive label supported on a support release material according to a first embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 is an exploded view of two of the labels of Figure 1 during manufacture, the position of the applied upper label and the cut edges with matrix is shown and the cut is generally taken along the line AA of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a plan view, in perspective, of a self-adhesive label supported on a release material support according to a second embodiment of the present invention; Figure 4 is an exploded cutting of the labels of Figure 2 during manufacture, the position of the applied upper label and the cut edges with matrix are shown and the cut is taken generally along the line BB of Figure 2; Figure 5 is a plan view, in perspective, of a self-adhesive label supported on a release material support according to a third embodiment of the present invention; Figure 6 is an exploded view of two of the labels of Figure 5 during manufacture, the position of the applied top label and of the cut edges with matrix is shown and the cut is taken generally along the line CC of Figure 5; Figure 7 is a plan view, in perspective, of a self-adhesive label supported on a support of the release material according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention; Figure 8 is an exploded view along line D-D of the label of Figure 7; Figure 9 is an exploded view along line E-E of the label of Figure 7; Figure 10 is a schematic elevation of an apparatus for producing labels according to the present invention and shown to be implementing a method for producing the self-adhesive label illustrated in Figure 5; Figure 11 is a plan view, in perspective, of a self-adhesive label supported on a release material support according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention; and Figure 12 illustrates a pharmaceutical product labeled with the label of Figure 11. In the drawings, the thickness of some of the layers has been exaggerated for the purpose of being clearer in the illustration. Referring now to Figure 1, there is shown a self-adhesive label 2 according to a first embodiment of the present invention when it is supported on a support 4 of the release material. Typically, a succession of such self-adhesive labels is supported on an elongated coating cloth of the carrier 4 of the release material and the holder 4 of the release material is wound onto a spool in a known manner for the automatic application of the labels to a succession. of products or containers to be labeled by means of a labeling machine. The self-adhesive label 2 comprises a self-adhesive base 6, typically made of paper or plastic, which is coated on its back surface with a layer of pressure-sensitive adhesive which adheres releasably to the support 4 of the release material. The base 6 comprises a major portion 8 and a minor portion 10 which are spaced apart in the longitudinal direction of the support 4 of the release material. On each of the major portion 8 and the minor portion 10 have been applied respective layers 12, 14 of adhesive, for example a water-soluble adhesive such as a PVA adhesive, which adheres a printed sheet folded 16 to the base 6. In alternative arrangements, a brochure may be used instead of a folded printed sheet. The printed folded sheet 16 in this modulate comprises a backsheet 18 and a superimposed top sheet 20 having an extended portion 22 which extends longitudinally along the free transverse edge 24 of the backsheet 18. However, others may be employed. forms of folded printed sheets. The backward facing surface of the backsheet 18 adheres to the major portion 8 of the base 6 by means of the adhesive layer 12 and the extended portion 22 of the folded printed sheet 16 adheres to the minor portion 10 of the base 6 by means of the adhesive layer 14. In this way, the folded printed sheet 16 is retained in a folded and closed configuration on the support 4 of the release material. The folded printed sheet 16 and a transverse edge portion 26 of the larger portion 8 of the base 6 which is not covered by the folded printed sheet 1.6 are coated with a transparent self-adhesive plastic material 28 which comprises a layer 30 of plastic such as propylene oriented or coated on its back side with a layer 32 of pressure sensitive adhesive so that the laminar coating 28 adheres to the upper surfaces of the transverse edge 26 and of the folded printed sheet 16. A pair of lines of perforation 34 extends through the laminar coating 28 and the upper sheet 20 of the folded printed sheet 16 so that when the label 2 is adhered by means of the base 6 to a product to be labeled, for example a "pharmaceutical" container , the tag 2 can be opened by tearing along the lines of perforations 34 to have access psx to the inside of the folded printed sheet 16. A perforation line is provided. additional portion 35 through the laminar coating 28, optionally aligned generally with a perforation line (not shown) on the folded printed sheet 16 in the vicinity of the fold 37 between the upper and rear sheets 20, 18. After the label 2 has been opened, the main portion of the upper sheet 20 and the laminar coating 28 adhered thereto can be torn from the remainder of the label 2. According to the present invention, a self-adhesive upper label 36 adheres to that portion 38 of the sheet covering which covers the extended portion 22 of the upper sheet 20 of the folded printed sheet 16. The upper label 36 comprises a paper layer 40 containing a sensitive adhesive the pressure 42 on its surface directed backwards. However, the upper label may be composed of any other suitable printable material. The label can be pre-printed with a solid color by laser engraving, or with the information required by all generic labels, that is, non-specific information in addition to the specific information of the batch that is required to be printed as described here. The upper label 36 has a higher surface which can be easily printed by laser printing, thermal transfer printing or wet printing, for example with printed information 43 such as the batch or batch code and an expiration date. This contrasts with the difficulty of printing the laminar coating 28, as discussed here above. It should be noted that after the label 2 has been opened and the main portion of the upper sheet 20 is removed, the batch code and information of the expiration date remain on the label 2, and thus on the labeled product. The label 2 illustrated in Figure 1 is manufactured as a succession of such labels 2 over a length of the support 4 of the release material. The structural arrangement of the different layers of the label 2 and the size and position of the original upper label are illustrated in Figure 2. It will be seen from Figure 2 that each self-adhesive label 2 comprises the major and minor portions 8, 10. of the base having respective adhesive layers 12, 14 applied thereon with the folded printed sheet 16 being adhered to the base 6 by the adhesive layers 12, 14 and with the entire label 2 being covered by the sheet coating 28 comprising the plastic layer 30 and pressure sensitive adhesive layer 32. The perforation lines 34 extend through the laminar coating 28 and the upper sheet 20 of the folded printed sheet 16. As shown in Figures 1 and 2, Self-adhesive labels 2 have been formed by cutting with matrix through the label layers downwards, but not through, the support 4 of the release material. The edges cut with matrix are represented by vertical dotted lines in Figure 2. The cut portions of the different layers that were formed during the step of cutting with matrix and were removed as a residual fabric matrix are illustrated in shaded form in the Figure 2 between the vertical lines that represent the cuts with matrix made during the step of cutting with matrix. As can be seen from Figure 2, the major portion 8 of the base 6 of the label 2 is originally integrated with the minor portion 10 of the base 6 of an adjacent label 2. The upper sheet 20 of the folded printed sheet 16 it extends along the adhesive layer 14 and the laminar coating 28 is applied as a continuous fabric. The upper labels 36 are applied to the laminar coating fabric 28 as a succession thereof. Each top tag 36 initially extends into a slot 46 which is cut between the adjacent labels 2 during the step of cutting with matrix between the vertical lines 44 of Figure 2 during the step of encoding with matrix, the portions of the upper label 36, the laminar coating 28, the upper sheet 20 of the folded printed sheet 16 and the base 6 were cut and then removed as a single matrix fabric. In an alternative arrangement, an adhesive layer 14 can also extend into the groove 46. The residual skeleton of the fabric of the laminar coating 28 acts as a vehicle to the calenal the remaining parts of the residual matrix adhere. In the modality of Figures 1 and 2, the upper label 36 is adhered on the transverse edge 48 of the label 2, which during the application of the labels constitutes the rear skirt 50 of the label of the printed sheet 2. In the second embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 4, the label of the first embodiment was modified by providing on the one hand an additional upper label 54 on the opposite transverse edge 52 of the label so that the second upper label 54 was provided on the skirt. front 56 of label 58 during the application of the succession of labels 58 to the products to be labeled by a label applicator. In Figures 1 to 4, similar parts were indicated by means of similar reference numbers. The label of the second embodiment was also modified by providing those perforation lines 60 which extend through the upper label 36. As can be seen a, starting from Figure 4, the provision of two upper labels 36, 54 to the opposite transverse edges 48, 52 of the label 58 provides that the labels 58 can be manufactured by applying a single composite top label 62 on the sheet coating 28 following therefore, the matrix cutting of a central portion 64 of the composite upper label 62, is to cut and remove to form the two upper labels 36, 54 on adjacent self-adhesive labels 58. The perforation lines 60 are separated by a distance enough, so that an expiration date 66 is printed in the area between the perforation lines 60. This can cause when If label 58 is opened, the information on the initial expiration date is removed. For example, when the label 58 is used to label pharmaceutical products, for example antibiotics in powder form, the label 58 and in particular the folded printed sheet 16 includes information that allows the antibiotic powder to be reconstituted by the pharmacist. The information on the expiration date printed between the perforation lines 60 is related to the expiration date for the powder and that information is removed when the pharmacist opens the label. After the pharmacist has reconstituted the antibiotic powder to remain in liquid form, the pharmacist can print a second expiration date relevant to the reconstituted mixture on either of the two upper labels 36, 54, b can add his own label or remove it from the label on the bottle. A third embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in Figures 5 and 6. This embodiment is a further modification of the embodiment of Figures 1 and 2, in which the upper label 36 has been omitted but an upper label 54 was provided, corresponding to the upper label 54 of the second embodiment illustrated in Figures 3 and 4, in the front skirt 56 of the label 70. In addition, this embodiment was modified with respect to the first and second embodiments by omitting the base 6 As shown in Figures 5 and 6, the adhesive layers 12, 14 were applied directly to the support 4 of the release material and the transverse edge 68 of the sheet covering 28 is directly adhered to the support 4 of the release material by means of a layer 32 of pressure sensitive adhesive located on the rearwardly directed surface of the plastic layer 30. In this embodiment, the provision of the upper label 54 illustrates the rig idez of the front skirt 72 of the label which, in the absence of the upper label 54, would simply consist of the relatively flexible laminar coating 28. During the manufacture of the self-adhesive labels 70, the upper label 54 was cut from an applied top label. , which extends into slot 46, which was cut with matrix between adjacent labels 70 as shown in Figure 6. A fourth embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in Figures 7 to 9. In this embodiment, the The first modality label was modified by providing a brochure in place of a folded printed sheet and in addition a printed cover sheet of plastic or paper was provided between the booklet and the self-adhesive laminar coating. The minor portion of the base and its superimposed adhesive layer were omitted. The free transverse edge of the cover sheet was cut with a die to provide a release tab and adjacent thereto a self-adhesive surface exposed to the back of the sheet coating which adhered directly to the release material backing to detachably hold, therefore, the label in a closed configuration. The resulting label is removable and the perforation lines were omitted. More particularly, the self-adhesive label 102 comprises a self-adhesive base 104 supported on a support 106 of the release material. A booklet 108 is placed on the base 104 and a cover sheet 110 is adhered by a first layer of adhesive 112 to a transverse edge 113 of the base 104 and by a second layer 114 of adhesive to an upper surface 116 of the booklet 108 along the spine or back 118 of the brochure 108. The cover sheet 110 is provided at its free transverse edge 120 opposite the other transverse edge 122, the yarn is adhered to the base 104 with a cut edge 12a matrix. The edge die cut 124 defines on a longitudinal edge 126 of the label 102 a release tab 128. A clear self-adhesive plastic sheeting 130 is adhered by means of its self-adhesive surface onto the cover sheet 110. The sheet coating 130 extends along the die cut edge 124 of the cover sheet 110 at a location adjacent transversely to the release tab 128 to form an edge portion 132 thereof. or, which has a self-adhesive surface exposed to the rear 134, which adheres directly to the support 106 of the release material. When the label 102 adheres to a product, e.g. a pharmaceutical container, a user can manually pull the release tab 128 thereby pulling the edge portion 132 of the laminar liner 130 of the product to open the label 102. that the brochure 108 has been read by the user, the label 102 can be returned to its closed configuration by reworking the edge portion 132 of the sheet covering 130 over the surface of the product. According to the present invention, an upper label 136 comprising a paper layer 138 having an underlying self-adhesive layer 140 of pressure-sensitive adhesive is adhered by means of the layer 140 of pressure-sensitive adhesive to an edge portion. opposite 133 of the laminar material 130. The upper label 136 is printed with the information 142, such as an expiration date. Figure 10 illustrates an apparatus, generally designed with the reference numeral 150, for the manufacture of the self-adhesive labels according to the present invention and in particular with the self-adhesive labels of the third embodiment of the present invention. The labels of the third embodiment of the present invention do not require a self-adhesive base. However, it should be appreciated of course by those skilled in the art that the method and apparatus illustrated and described with respect to Figure 10 can be easily modified to manufacture labels according to the invention incorporating such a base, such as the labels of the first, second and fourth modalities. In addition, other modifications to the method of the invention will be readily apparent from the following description of the illustrated apparatus and its operation to enable other modifications of the labels of the invention to be made. Referring to Figure 10, a spool 152 comprising a support 154 of the release material is unraveled and is fed by a fabric driving mechanism represented by a roller 156 to an adhesive application station 158 in which layers of adhesive are applied. adhesive 160, 162 (corresponding to the layers 12, 24 of the adhesive illustrated in Figure 5) to the upper surface of the support 154 of the release material by means of an adhesive applicator 164. A succession of bent printed sheets 166 is applied. to a succession of pairs of adhesive layers 160, 162 by means of a multiple sheet label application system schematically represented by the plate 168 in Figure 10. In the illustrated embodiment, each folded printed sheet 166 corresponds to the folded printed sheet 16 illustrated in Figure 5 and the back sheet 18 and the extended portion 22 of the upper sheet 20 adhere respectively to the adhesive layers 160, 162 at a label application station of multi-sheet 170. Subsequently, the lining fabric of the backing 154 of the release material is brought to a laminar coating station 172 in which an adhesive transparent plastic sheeting fabric 174 is fed from a reel 176 thereof and applied with a roller 178 on the assembly of the succession of bent printed sheets 166 on the support 154 of the release material. The coated assembly is then passed to an upper label application station 180 in which a reel of self-adhesive upper labels 182 is carried on a second support 184 of the release material fed from a reel 186 thereof. The support 184 of the release material is pulled along a release plate 188, which represents a self-adhesive label applicator known in the art, so that the upper labels 182 are detached from the support 184 and applied successively to the portions of the laminar coating 174 between adjacent pairs of bent printed sheets 166. The support 384 is again wound onto a winding spool 190. The combined assembly is then passed to a matrix cutting station 192. A cutting roller is provided with upper die 194 and an opposite lower support roll 196. The die cut roll 194 is provided with a raised cutting surface which cuts the required labels 198 from the different layers of material, the waste cloth matrix 200 It is removed from the support 154 of the release material and rolled into a residue rail 202. The succession of labels au. Toadhesive 198 is wound onto a winding reel 204. It should be apparent to those skilled in the art that although the method and apparatus illustrated in Figure 10 are to be used in the production of the labels of Figure 5, the method and apparatus may be be easily modified to produce labels having the structure illustrated in Figures 1 and 3, in which the folded printed sheet is adhered to the self-adhesive base. For those embodiments, the initial elongated fabric that includes the release material support that was unrolled from a reel thereof includes a succession of adhesive bases supported thereon. In the embodiment illustrated in Figure 7 in which an adhesive layer is provided on the upper surface of the booklet, the application step of the adhesive can apply adhesive on the lower surface of a cover sheet. In the die-cutting step, any required perforation lines through the upper label and / or the laminar coating and / or the folded or folded printed sheet are formed simultaneously by the matrix cutting roller. Alternatively, the perforation lines may be formed in a cutting step with subsequent matrix in another matrix cutting station. A self-adhesive label according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in Figure 11. In this embodiment, the self-adhesive label 250 includes a self-adhesive base portion 252 which is adhered by means of its self-adhesive surface directed back to a support 254 of the detachment material. A self-adhesive upper label 256 is adhered by means of its self-adhesive surface directed rearwardly to the upper surface 258 of the base portion 252. The upper label 256 has an upper surface 260 printed with printed information 262. The self-adhesive label 250 also includes a portion of folded printed sheet 264 which is supported on the base portion 252 and in the illustrated embodiment is adhered in a folded and closed configuration by two separate layers 266, 268 of adhesive on the upper surface 258 of the base portion 252. The folded printed sheet 264 is printed with printed information 270. In accordance with this aspect of the present invention the self-adhesive label 250 has a structure which is intended to be suitable for labeling a number of slightly different, different versions of the same product. The printed information 270 on the relatively expensive folded sheet 264 is common or generic information which is required by each version of the label and the printed information 262 on the relatively inexpensive upper label 256 is information specific to the version or specific product. For example, when the label is intended to label a range of pharmaceutical products, the folded printed sheet is printed with the name of a product, the manufacturer of the product, instructions for a pharmacist on how to reconstitute the pharmaceutical composition, details on how to take the pharmaceutical composition, details about any contraindications, etc. and the upper label is printed with information such as the number of tablets in the particular container, the batch number and expiration date of the pharmaceutical composition, the particular dose of the pharmaceutical composition, etc. In this way for a number of versions of the label, only a single relatively expensive printed sheet is required, which increases the efficiency of the label production and any differences between the different versions of the labels can be accommodated using different top labels relatively cheap. As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the self-adhesive label illustrated in Figure -11 can be modified in numerous aspects without changing the essential aspect of the invention. For example, a booklet may be used instead of a folded printed sheet, the folded printed sheet or booklet may be provided with tear-off lines and may be at least partially removable from the base and the entire label may be covered with a plastic sheet self-adhesive Figure 12 shows the label of Figure 11 when the label is on a pharmaceutical product 274 such as a pharmaceutical composition. The upper label 256 is printed with information 262 related to the specific product in the container, for example, the batch number and the expiration date and the particular dosage range of the pharmaceutical product and the folded printed sheet 264 is printed with information 270 related to the product in general, such as the brand, instructions for its use, warnings of risks and contraindications, etc. In accordance with the preferred embodiments of the present invention, the labels can provide a surface for overprinting which may be the same as that currently used on conventional pharmaceutical labels to print specific information such as lot or batch code, expiration date, etc. regardless of whether the labels of the invention are printed sheet or booklet labels which have been coated with a self-adhesive plastic layer. The surface of the upper label can be optimized for the overprint process since the surface does not work to do anything other than act as a surface to accept the overprint. The top label is provided with a suitably selected adhesive which ensures a sufficiently strong bond to the sheet so that the overprint area is permanently bonded to the underlying sheet coating. - The printed sheet or brochure labels of the preferred embodiments of the present invention also provide the advantage that when the label is not provided with an underlying self-adhesive base, the addition of the upper label to the leading edge of the sheet may serve to stiffen that edge, what enough to ensure that the automatic application of a succession of labels to products through the use of an automatic labeling machine can at least be achieved reliably as for conventional self-adhesive labels for similar products. The use of an upper label of pressure sensitive adhesive as an additional layer on the front machine skirt may allow the use of a thinner sheet than currently employed for such printed sheet or booklet labels incorporating such a sheet skirt. This allows the cost savings achieved by the use of a thinner laminar coating which can compensate for the additional cost of the upper label. For example, in the embodiment of Figure 5 since the laminar coating layer is coated at the leading edge of the label by the upper label, this allows the use of a laminar coating having a thickness of 0.001 inches (0.0254 mm) as opposed at a thickness of 0.002 inches (0.0508 mm) due to the requirement of thickness reduction and consequent stiffness for the laminar coating on the front edge of the label.

Claims (18)

1. A self-adhesive label supported on a support of coating material, the label is characterized in that it comprises a multi-layered label, a self-adhesive laminar covering covering the multi-layered label and a self-adhesive upper label permanently adhered to an upper surface of the laminar coating.

The self-adhesive label according to claim 1, characterized in that the multi-layered label has first and second opposite transverse edges, the laminar coating extends along the first transverse edge to form an edge portion thereof and the label superior adheres to such edge portion.

The self-adhesive label according to claim 2, characterized in that it further comprises a line of perforations through at least the sheet coating which separates the upper label from a central portion of the label.

The self-adhesive label according to claim 1, characterized in that the multi-lamella label has opposite first and second transverse edges, the laminar coating extends longitudinally along the first transverse edge to form an edge portion thereof and the upper label is adhered to the laminar coating on the second transverse edge.

5. The self-adhesive label according to claim 4, characterized in that it further comprises a line of perforations through at least the laminar coating that separates the upper label from a central portion of the label.

The self-adhesive label according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that it further comprises at least one adhesive layer by means of which the multi-layered layer adheres to the support of the release material.

The self-adhesive label according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that it further comprises a self-adhesive base supported on the release material support and at least one adhesive layer by means of which the multi-lamella label is adhered to a corresponding base.

The self-adhesive label according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that it further comprises a printed cover sheet which covers the multi-layered label and on which the self-adhesive laminar coating is adhered.

9. The self-adhesive label according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the upper surface of the upper label is overprinted with the information.

The self-adhesive label according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the upper label has an upper surface which is selected so that it can be printed by at least one of the laser printing and thermal transfer printing.

The self-adhesive label according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that it further comprises a pair of lines of separate perforations extending at least through the upper label and the sheet coating and wherein the information is printed on the surface upper label between the perforation lines.

12. The self-adhesive label according to claim 1, characterized in that the multiple sheet label is selected from the group consisting of a folded printed sheet and a booklet.

13. A method for producing a succession of self-adhesive labels supported on a support of release material, the method is characterized in that it comprises the steps of providing an elongated fabric that includes a support of release material, applying a succession of labels of sheets multiple to the elongated fabric, laminate over the succession of multi-layered labels a laminar coating fabric of adhesive plastic, applying a succession of self-adhesive upper labels on the laminar coating and cutting with matrix through the upper labels, the laminar coating and the multi-layered labels form the self-adhesive labels in each of which there is permanently adhered at least one upper label "a portion of the laminar coating coating, which covers a multi-lamella label

14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that it also comprises the step of applying a succession of layers of adhesive to the support of the release material. of the elongated fabric and wherein the multi-layered labels are applied to the adhesive layers

15. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that the elongated fabric further includes a succession of self-adhesive bases supported on the release material support. and the method also includes the step of applying a succession of adhesive layers to the self-adhesive base before the step of applying the multi-sheet label and in the step of cutting with matrix, the bases are cut through the release material support.

16. The method according to any of claims 13 to 15, characterized in that the upper labels are applied by a self-adhesive label applicator. The method according to any of claims 13 to 16, characterized in that it further comprises the steps of forming at least one line of perforations through at least one laminar coating. The method according to any of claims 13 to 17, characterized in that each applied upper label comprises a composite upper label, in which the cutting step with matrix is cut to form two upper labels, each one is adhered to a respective laminar coating portion of a respective self-adhesive label. 19, A pharmaceutical product, characterized in that it comprises a container of a pharmaceutical composition containing a self-adhesive label, the label comprises a base having a self-adhesive surface directed backwards which adheres to the container, a multi-layered label adhered to the base , a self-adhesive laminar coating covering the multi-sheet label, and a self-adhesive upper label permanently adhered to an upper surface of the laminar coating, the upper label is imprinted with the specific information for the pharmaceutical composition in this container and the multi-lamella portion It is printed with the generic information of the pharmaceutical product.