Bandage imprint

Abstract

The invention relates to a bandage for use on the human or animal body, the bandage comprising a fiber-containing material. At least one longitudinal end of said material is provided with a neatened edge and additionally has a zone that contains an information element. The invention further relates to a method for producing a bandage of the above type.

Claims

1. A bandage (10, 20, 30, 50, 60) for placing on the human or animal body, composed of a fiber-containing material comprising a band material having a longitudinal direction and a transverse direction as well as two transverse edges which are situated opposite in the longitudinal direction and two longitudinal edges which are situated opposite in the transverse direction, wherein the bandage (10, 20, 30, 50, 60) has a first region (13, 23, 33, 53, 63) which adjoins a transverse edge lying in the longitudinal direction, and wherein the bandage (10, 20, 30, 50, 60) has a second region (15, 25, 35, 54, 66), the first region (13, 23, 33, 53, 63) has a layer containing fibers which are covered at least partially with a thermoplastic material or the interspaces of which are impregnated at least partially with a thermoplastic material, the second region has a first layer and at least a second layer disposed over the first layer, the second region defining a transverse dimension extending in the transverse direction and terminates at the two longitudinal edges, the first layer comprises fibers which are covered at least partially with a thermoplastic material or the interspaces of which are impregnated at least partially with a thermoplastic material, and the at least a second layer including a varnish layer comprising a non-thermoplastic material and an information element (14, 24, 34, 57, 64), wherein the varnish layer is spaced from the fibers of the first layer and covers the first layer over a major portion of the transverse dimension of the second region, and wherein the thermoplastic material of the first region and the thermoplastic material of the first layer of the second region are both a single-component polyester polyurethane based on an aromatic diisocyanate.

2. The bandage (10, 20, 30, 50, 60) of claim 1, wherein the information element incorporated in the second layer of the second region is a code which specifies a uniform resource locator of an Internet site that contains use-specific information and/or technical data relating to the bandage.

3. The bandage (10, 50) as claimed in claim 2, wherein the code is a two-dimensional matrix code (14, 57).

4. The bandage (10, 20, 30, 50, 60) of claim 1, wherein the fiber-containing material comprises a woven fabric, a knitted fabric, a crocheted fabric or a nonwoven material.

5. The bandage (10, 20, 30, 50, 60) of claim 1, wherein the thermoplastic materials incorporated in the first and in the second region are identical materials.

6. The bandage (10, 20, 30, 50, 60) of claim 1, wherein the first region has a width of from 6 mm to 20 mm.

7. The bandage (10, 20, 30, 50, 60) of claim 1, wherein the second region (15, 25, 35, 54, 66) is connected to the first region (13, 23, 33, 53, 63).

8. A method for producing a bandage as claimed in claim 1, comprising the steps of: a) providing a bandage band (40a) composed of a fiber-containing material, b) providing a first material composed of at least two layers, the first layer of which consists of a thermoplastic material and the second layer of which consists of a non-thermoplastic material, c) providing a second material composed of at least two layers, the first layer of which consists of a thermoplastic material and the second layer which completely overlies the first layer and which consists of a non-thermoplastic material, such that the second layer consisting of the non-thermoplastic material is a varnish layer and is spaced from fibers of the fiber-containing material, d) applying the mentioned first material to a first region, e) applying the mentioned second material to a second region, f) exposing the first and the second region to a pressure of at least 1.5 bar and a temperature of 60-300 C., g) transporting the bandage band (40a) to a measuring, winding and cutting-to-length device, and h) severing the bandage band (40a) within the first region from one longitudinal edge to another the other longitudinal edge.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein step f) is carried out at a temperature of from 178 C. to 220 C., a pressure of from 4 bar to 6 bar and a contact time of from 1.5 s to 4 s.

10. The bandage of claim 1, wherein the thermoplastic material is plastically deformable at a temperature between 122 C. and 125 C.

11. The bandage of claim 1, wherein the fibers are covered and/or impregnated with the thermoplastic material, and the second layer is applied in a single step.

12. The bandage of claim 1, wherein the fibers are selected from the group consisting of cotton, cellulose, viscose, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyamide, polyester, derivatives thereof, and mixtures thereof.

13. The bandage of claim 1, wherein said second region consists of said first and second layers.

14. The bandage of claim 1, wherein the information element is a QR code.

15. The bandage of claim 1, wherein the thermoplastic material of the first region and the thermoplastic material of the first layer of the second region each consist of the single-component polyester polyurethane based on an aromatic diisocyanate and pulverized copolyamide.

16. A bandage (10, 20, 30, 50, 60) comprising a first region (13, 23, 33, 53, 63) and a second region (15, 25, 35, 54, 66), the first region (13, 23, 33, 53, 63) having a layer containing fibers which are covered at least partially with a thermoplastic material or the interspaces of which are impregnated at least partially with a thermoplastic material, the second region having a first layer and at least a second layer disposed over the first layer, the first layer containing fibers which are covered at least partially with a thermoplastic material or the interspaces of which are impregnated at least partially with a thermoplastic material, the at least a second layer comprising a color layer having an information element (14, 24, 34, 57, 64) and a third layer comprising a non-thermoplastic material, the thermoplastic material of the first region and the thermoplastic material of the first layer of the second region each comprising a single-component polyester polyurethane based on an aromatic diisocyanate, wherein the third layer comprising the non-thermoplastic material is spaced from the fibers of the first layer and completely covers the color layer and the first layer.

17. A bandage (10, 20, 30, 50, 60) comprising a first region (13, 23, 33, 53, 63) and a second region (15, 25, 35, 54, 66), the first region (13, 23, 33, 53, 63) having a layer containing fibers which are covered at least partially with a thermoplastic material or the interspaces of which are impregnated at least partially with a thermoplastic material, the second region having a first layer and at least a second layer disposed over the first layer, the first layer containing fibers which are covered at least partially with a thermoplastic material or the interspaces of which are impregnated at least partially with a thermoplastic material, the at least a second layer comprising a color layer having an information element (14, 24, 34, 57, 64) and a third layer comprising a non-thermoplastic material, the thermoplastic material of the first region and the thermoplastic material of the first layer of the second region each consisting of a single-component polyester polyurethane based on an aromatic diisocyanate, wherein the third layer comprising the non-thermoplastic material is spaced from the fibers of the first layer and completely covers the color layer and the first layer.

18. The bandage (10, 20, 30, 50, 60) of claim 16, wherein the third layer, made of non-thermoplastic material, is a varnish layer.

19. The bandage (10, 20, 30, 50, 60) of claim 17, wherein the third layer, made of non-thermoplastic material, is a varnish layer.

20. The bandage of claim 1, wherein the varnish layer withstands up to 50 washing operations at a washing temperature of up to 95 C., chemical cleaning with tetrachloroethylene or perchloroethylene, a light fastness and weather resistance of up to 2000 h and an abrasion resistance in accordance with DIN ISO 53754.

21. The bandage (10, 20, 30, 50, 60) of claim 1, wherein the at least a second layer is spaced from the fibers of the first layer over the entire transverse dimension of the second region.

22. The bandage (10, 20, 30, 50, 60) of claim 1, wherein the at least a second layer comprises a color layer and the varnish layer, the varnish layer disposed over the color layer.

23. The bandage (10, 20, 30, 50, 60) of claim 22, wherein the varnish layer covers the entirety of the color layer.

24. The bandage (10, 20, 30, 50, 60) of claim 23, wherein the varnish layer is disposed over the entire second region.

Description

(1) Specific configurations of the present invention are illustrated in more detail below on the basis of FIGS. 1 to 6.

(2) FIG. 1 schematically shows a bandage according to the invention, in which the information element contains a QR code.

(3) FIG. 2 schematically shows a bandage according to the invention, in which the information element contains an RFID transponder.

(4) FIG. 3 schematically shows a bandage according to the invention, in which the information element contains a geometric symbol as stretch indicator.

(5) FIG. 4 schematically shows a method for producing a bandage according to the invention.

(6) FIG. 5 shows a portion of an intermediate product produced by a method according to the invention.

(7) FIG. 6 shows a portion of a further intermediate product produced by a method according to the invention.

(8) FIG. 1 shows a bandage (10) according to the invention which is wound up on a roll (12). The bandage comprises a fiber-containing bandage material (11). Present on the outer end of the bandage is a region (13) which comprises a cut-edge fixing means. This region (13) contains fibers which are covered at least partially with a thermoplastic material or the interspaces of which are impregnated with a thermoplastic material. The bandage (10) has a second region (15) different from the first region of the cut edge (13). Said second region comprises a first and a second layer. The first layer contains fibers which are covered at least partially with thermoplastic material or the interspaces of which are impregnated with a thermoplastic material. The second layer comprises a non-thermoplastic material and contains an information element in the form of a QR code (14).

(9) FIG. 2 shows a bandage (20) according to the invention, which is wound up on a roll (22). The bandage comprises a fiber-containing bandage material (21). Present on the outer edge of the bandage is a region (23) which comprises a cut-edge fixing means. This region (23) contains fibers which are covered at least partially with a thermoplastic material or the interspaces of which are impregnated with a thermoplastic material. The bandage (20) has a second region (25) different from the first region of the cut edge (23). Said second region comprises a first and a second layer. The first layer contains fibers which are covered at least partially with thermoplastic material or the interspaces of which are impregnated with a thermoplastic material. The second layer comprises a non-thermoplastic material and contains an information element in the form of an RFID transponder (24).

(10) FIG. 3 shows a bandage (30) according to the invention which is wound up on a roll (32). The bandage comprises a fiber-containing bandage material (31). Present on the outer end of the bandage is a region (33) which comprises a cut-edge fixing means. This region (33) contains fibers which are covered at least partially with a thermoplastic material or the interspaces of which are impregnated with a thermoplastic material. The bandage (30) has a plurality of second regions (35) different from the first region of the cut edge (33). Said second regions comprise a first and a second layer. The first layer contains fibers which are covered at least partially with thermoplastic material or the interspaces of which are impregnated with a thermoplastic material. The second layer comprises a non-thermoplastic material and contains an information element in the form of a geometric symbol in the form of a diamond (34). The diamond is configured such that it is pulled during stretching of the bandage (30) and assumes the form of a square during ideal stretching.

(11) FIG. 4 schematically shows a method according to the invention for producing a bandage according to the invention. A bandage band (40a) composed of a fiber-containing material is conducted to a printing unit (45). The printing unit (45) has a heated pressing punch (46) and is loaded with a roll of a carrier material (47), on which roll a multilayer material (48) referred to as heat transfer is deposited in a repeating sequence. The heated pressing punch (46) presses the carrier material (47) onto the bandage band (40a) such that a layer of the heat transfer (48) composed of a thermoplastic material comes directly into contact with the surface of the bandage band (40a). By virtue of the temperature present in the pressing punch (46) and the applied pressure, the thermoplastic material of the heat transfer (48) is brought into a plastically deformable state and delivered into the material of the bandage band (40a) such that fibers of the bandage band (40a) are covered at least partially with thermoplastic material or the interspaces of which are impregnated with thermoplastic material. The now printed bandage band (40b) is conducted to a measuring, winding and cutting-to-length device (not shown).

(12) FIG. 5 shows a detail of a bandage (50) according to the invention which has a first region (53) and a second region (54). The first region (53) is severed in a cutting-to-length device (not shown) along a cutting line (55) from the one longitudinal side to the other longitudinal side, such that subsequently the first region (53) encompasses a first partial region (53a), which constitutes an end fixing means at the end of the bandage, and a second partial region (53b), which constitutes an end fixing means at the start of the bandage. In the present case, both the first and the second partial region (53a, 53b) contain an inscription which is applied to a layer containing fibers which are covered at least partially by a thermoplastic material or the interspaces of which are impregnated at least partially with a thermoplastic material. On the top side of the inscription, the entire first region (53) contains a layer of a varnish composed of a single-component polyurethane based on an aliphatic diisocyanate. The detail has a second region (54) which contains an information element in the form of a graphic illustration (56) and a QR code (57). The second region (54) contains a layer with fibers which are covered at least partially by a thermoplastic material or the interspaces of which are impregnated at least partially with a thermoplastic material. Arranged directly on this layer is a color layer which contains both a graphic illustration (56) and a QR code (57). This layer contains dyes and a single-component polyester polyurethane based on an aromatic diisocyanate. On the top side of this layer, the entire second region (54) contains a layer of a varnish composed of a single-component polyurethane based on an aliphatic diisocyanate.

(13) FIG. 6 shows a detail of a bandage (60) according to the invention which has a first region (63) and a second region (64). The first region (63) is severed in a cutting-to-length device (not shown) along a cutting line (65) from the one longitudinal side to the other longitudinal side, such that subsequently the first region (63) encompasses a first partial region (63a), which constitutes an end fixing means at the end of the bandage, and a second partial region (63b), which constitutes an end fixing means at the start of the bandage. In the present case, both the first and the second partial region (63a, 63b) contain an inscription which is applied to a layer containing fibers which are covered at least partially by a thermoplastic material or the interspaces of which are impregnated at least partially with a thermoplastic material. On the top side of the inscription, the entire first region (63) contains a layer of a varnish composed of a single-component polyurethane based on an aliphatic diisocyanate. The detail has a second region (66) which contains an information element in the form of a white color layer (64), the white dye of which can have a batch number applied to it in a further process step using a laser (not shown).