Iconex LLC

A novel barrier coating for non-top-coated (NTC) phenol-free direct thermal paper enhances humidity resistance while maintaining cost-effectiveness and environmental sustainability. The coating atop the thermal-sensitive layer protects against moisture and high heat conditions, preserving image quality and density. Comprising a specific formulation of hard and soft film-forming acrylic emulsions, the barrier coating melts during printing, ensuring non-interference with thermal image formation. This innovation addresses limitations of traditional top-coated papers, offering improved performance without increased costs or environmental impact. The coating process involves precise application and drying techniques, resulting in a product that balances humidity resistance, print quality, and eco-friendliness for various applications, including labeling, ticketing, and receipt printing.

An apparatus for testing label-liner separation is provided. The apparatus comprises a roller, a plurality of replaceable printer peel bars, and a weight. Each peel bar associated with its own unique radius for its disengage edge. A label-liner web is fed under the roller and up to a given peel bar of a given radius over the corresponding disengage edge. A string is attached on one end to a liner portion of the web and the weight is attached to the other end of the string with the weight freely hanging unsupported under the liner portion. A label portion of the web is pulled over the disengage edge to determine whether the label portion separates from the liner portion of the web during the pulling. If no separation occurs a different peel bar with a different radius is selected and tried. This repeats until separation is achieved.

A label with varying degrees of adhesive coat weights is provided. A backside of the label includes first channel areas in which there is no adhesive. The backside of the label also includes second channel areas in which the adhesive is flood coated. Furthermore, the backside of the label includes third channels in which the adhesive is disposed in a coat weight that is less than what is achieved via flood coating.

Label-liner combinations are provided, each label-liner combination includes a liner substrate and a label substrate. The label substrate includes a first adhesive coated on the backside of the label substrate and an adhesive patch atop a portion of the first adhesive in an area that defines a piggyback label within the label substrate. The label substrate further includes die cuts around a periphery of the adhesive patch. The liner substrate includes a back cut for a removal tab of the piggyback label. The front side of the liner substrate is joined with the backside of the label substrate to form a label-liner combination with an embedded and independent piggyback label defined in an area of the label substrate by the adhesive patch, the die cuts, and an area associated with the back cut in the liner substrate for the removal tab.

A combined primary label and secondary label comprises a first piece of paper, a first release coating disposed on a portion of the first piece of paper, a second piece of paper, a second release coating different from the first release coating and disposed on a portion of the second piece of paper. The combined primary and secondary label further comprises an adhesive layer disposed between the first and second pieces of paper such that (i) a primary label can be peeled away with at least some adhesive of the adhesive layer from the second release coating disposed on the portion of the second piece of paper, and (ii) a secondary label can be peeled away with at least some adhesive of the same adhesive layer from the first release coating disposed on the portion of the first piece of paper.

A label is constructed with multiple separate adhesives or a mixture of a non-moisture activated adhesive and a moisture-activated adhesive and applied in multiple patterns on a backside of the label. The label maintains adhesive bonding characteristic when the backside of the label is affixed to dry, cool, warm, and wet surfaces.

A container content apparatus comprises two inserts. Each insert comprises a top portion, a bottom portion, and two side flaps. Each top portion comprises a die cut handle. The apparatus is adapted to be inserted into an inside of a container adjacent to interior walls of the container. An area defined by the inserts is adapted to receive a stack of media. When the inserts are removed via the handles, a gap or space exists between the outer edges of the stack and the interior walls of the container providing automatic alignment of the stack centered on the inside of the container and providing proper alignment to feed the stack directly from the container to an infeed of a printer.

An apparatus for testing label-liner separation is provided. The apparatus comprises a roller, a plurality of replaceable printer peel bars, and a weight. Each peel bar associated with its own unique radius for its disengage edge. A label-liner web is fed under the roller and up to a given peel bar of a given radius over the corresponding disengage edge. A string is attached on one end to a liner portion of the web and the weight is attached to the other end of the string with the weight freely hanging unsupported under the liner portion. A label portion of the web is pulled over the disengage edge to determine whether the label portion separates from the liner portion of the web during the pulling. If no separation occurs a different peel bar with a different radius is selected and tried. This repeats until separation is achieved.

A method is provided of processing a food order in a table service restaurant. The method comprises receiving a food order including a table identifier, and electronically by a computer terminal, printing a food order label including the table identifier and providing the printed food order label. The method also comprises by a food preparer, preparing a food dish based upon the printed food order label, and by the food preparer, placing the prepared food dish in a position in vicinity of the printed food order label. The method further comprises by the food preparer or a food server, picking up the prepared food dish and attaching the printed food order label to the food dish with the table identifier being visible, and by a food server, delivering the prepared food dish to the table indicated by the visible table identifier on the printed food order label and thereby delivering the prepared food dish to a customer in the table service restaurant.

A liner free label includes a substrate having first and second sides, a radio frequency identification (RFID) inlay on the substrate which includes a chip and an antenna, and an adhesive applied to at least a portion of the first or second side. The RFID inlay may be embedded within the adhesive, function as a sense mark, or be accompanied by a separate sense mark. The antenna may comprise a printed antenna, foil antenna, or a combination thereof. The RFID inlay may be purchased from an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) or include an OEM chip with a separately manufactured antenna. A roll of liner free labels includes multiple such labels with adhesive applied as a flood coating, discontinuous patches, continuous patches, or patterns. The labels may be separated by perforations. The technology combines the waste reduction benefits of liner free labels with the tracking capabilities of RFID technology.