Title of Invention

A METHOD OF MANUFACTURING ELECTRICALLY DETECTABLE TAMPER EVIDENT UTILITY METER SEAL

Abstract

A method of manufacturing electrically detectable tamper evident utility meter seal comprises of (a) a double sided silicone release resin coated substrate is coated with formulated compound to manufacture a base film, (b) coating of adhesive with high tack on another double sided silicone release substrate and then by laminating it to the said base film to get theself adhesive label stock for electrically datectable tamper evident utility meter seal, (c) the said self adhesive label stock is slit in desired length and size in roll form, (d) the slit rolls are printed with conventional flexographic or screen printing inks in generic form and/or customer specific message/logo etc., (e) printing of electrically conducting ink on the slit roll by water based, solvent based or Ultra Violet Curable electrically conducting silver inks, (f) partial lamination of the electrically conducting ink with destructible metallised holographic film coated with acrylic adhesive and (g) cutting of the printed and laminated film to desired shape and size, optionally, printing individual label with barcodes and serial numbers.

Full Text

FORM 2 THE PATENTS ACT, 1970 (39 of 1970) & THE PATENTS RULES, 2003 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (See Section 10 and rule 13) 1. TITLE OF THE INVENTION "ELECTRICALLY DETECTABLE TAMPER EVIDENT UTILITY METER SEAL AND THE METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME." 2. APPLICANTS (a) Name : PRS Solutions Private Limited (b) Nationality: Indian (c) Address : 63, Bombay Samachar Marg, Mumbai - 400 001, Maharashtra State, India The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed FIELD OF INVENTION The present invention relates to Electrically Detectable Tamper Evident Utility Meter Seal And The Process of Manufacturing The Same. It is a tamper evident pressure sensitive adhesive label designed for serving as utility meter seal where tampering of seal can be detected by means of simple electric devices used for checking the continuity of electrically conducting circuit / path. A partial lamination of the printed electrically conducting path with destructible metallised holographic film coated with acrylic adhesive provides the desired protection to the printed conducting path from mechanical damage during storage and application. The base film coated with pressure sensitive adhesive and used for making labels has unique in built features such as very high tack, solvent destructible, heat destructible etc. which makes removal and reuse of the pressure sensitive label difficult. Few variants of the base film such as silver, bronze or other sparkling colours are possible. Several hidden features can be incorporated which are based on specialized inks that can be only seen under Ultraviolet or Infrared lights. This 'tamper evident seal' has specific printed electrically conducting path which eliminates dependence on manual or visual inspection for evidence of tampering. These seals are most apt for use in utility meters installed in line for estimating of consumption and calculations of revenue. Few such applications of these meter seals may be electricity, water, gas, taxi and auto meters. This prevents the fraudsters and counterfeiters from illegal, unauthorized and unintended use of the product. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART Pilferage and theft of utilities are international problems. Billions of rupees / dollars worth electricity and other utility are stolen annually. These costs are routinely passed on to consumers in the form of higher rates. Fraud methods are increasing day- by-day as recent breed of fraudsters are armed with enhanced technical knowledge. Utility providers use several security seals to prevent such theft and loss of revenue. Seals are tamper evident devices which provide an indication of tampering, pilferage and unauthorised access. Labels used as tamper evident seals are most cost effective and are designed to protect against fraudulent warranty claims, product tampering, equipment identification, calibration, warning and other countless applications. A seal does not need to be physically resistant to access. The purpose of the seal is to reveal evidence of tempering. Unlike intrusion or burglar alarms, seals report unauthorised use after the unauthorised act. They must be inspected to determine if unauthorised access has taken place. At a time when sophisticated digital scanning and photography allows for exact replication of any printed label, merely visual inspection of the seal to look for tampering is not enough. Fraud methods are increasing day- by-day and seal manufacturers are looking for foolproof and reliable security seal to enable utility corporations to effectively check such thefts. This utility meter seal is specially designed for use on electric and any other utility meters and has been designed to make it impossible to tamper the seal without trace. All utility meters are made essentially of two halves, base housing which contains the main assembly and a cover which protects the components of a meter. For sealing the meter against unauthorized opening a label is invariably pasted in such a way that part of the label is sticking on the base and remaining portion remains on the cover. One of the common method adopted by fraudsters to open such meters is to give a very sharp cut at the junction point of base housing and its cover which is not easily detectable by any visual inspection alone. This type of visual inspection gets further defeated by the fact that many a times the utility meters are housed at a place where proper lighting and/ or easy access to the inspector for visual inspection is not available. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to development of a meter seal in which tampering of the seal can be detected by means of checking the continuity of a printed electrically conducting path. This eliminates the need for trained and experienced inspectors to determine if meter tampering has taken place. Such inspections can be easily done by any person with the help of electricity continuity indicating devices which are used to detect the continuity of the printed electrically conducting path as they will show glowing of bulb or audio signal, if not tempered. The present invention provides a unique solution to detect tampering and prevent theft of utility services provided by utility providers who are charging their customers for the utility service availed and the same is determined by monitoring the extent of use of such services by means of measurement through meters such as electric meters, water meters, gas meters , Taxi/auto meters etc. at a very low cost. The present invention relates to the development and process of manufacturing of electrically detectable tamper evident utility meter seal. The seal is in the form of a label printed with electrically conducting ink and it does not show continuity of electric current when checked with suitable electricity continuity detecting devices if someone tempers with or cuts the said label affixed on the meters. To prevent physical removal of the label and its reuse, these seals are made out of a solvent destructible and heat destructible base film having very high tack pressure sensitive adhesive coated on one side. A method of manufacturing electrically detectable tamper evident utility meter seal comprising of coating the formulated compound to manufacture a base film on a double sided silicone release resin coated substrate. Thereafter, the said base film is coated on another side with high tack adhesive using another silicone release resin coated substrate to get self adhesive label stock. Then the said self adhesive label stock which consists of base film, high tack adhesive and silicone release resin coated substrate is slit in desired length and width and thereafter the label stock is wind wound in roll form. Thereafter, the said roll is printed as per the customer specific requirements such as messages or logo or device (a) with conventional water based flexographic / screen inks, Ultra Violet and/or Infra Red readable inks, and (b) electrically conducting path using special electricity conducting water based, solvent based or Ultra Violet curable silver inks. The said film is printing ink-receptive, thermal transfer printable and can be easily printed with water based printing inks, invisible and other security inks available in the market. To protect the printed electrically conducting path from possible mechanical damage during storage and application a destructible metallised holographic strip coated with a clear acrylic adhesive is partially laminated on the top of the printed electrically conducting path. The lamination of the holographic strip is done in such a way so as to leave at least two point in the printed electrically conducting path exposed which can be used to detect continuity of the electric path at any time using regular electricity continuity detecting meter. The entire construction of the seal can be printed with a generic pattern inscribing the name/logo of the customer using regular flexo / screen printing inks or special UV, IR readable or any other security ink. Tamper evident label is having inherent property of exhibiting different coloured glow when exposed to UV light or optionally in-built silver/bronze or other sparkling effects. The printed roll is then punched to desired shape and size which may be then printed with barcodes and/or serial numbers using inkjet or thermal printing techniques. Each seal is thus raised to still higher level of security which provide unique identification and traceability of the location and /or user of the utility recipient. The base film of this meter seal is formulated by a combination of thermoplastic Acrylic polymer with a vinylic copolymer in ratios of 32:100 to 9:100 to form a solution made in regular aromatic solvent. This solution is coated on a double sided silicone release resin coated substrate by conventional method of coating equipment to form a uniform base film followed by using known drying-methods. The film obtained has a suitable thickness maintaining desired properties. The film has a special property of being strong enough to facilitate dispensing in its final (label) form at the same time strength low enough to prevent its removal after being applied on the substrate without tearing in the end product form. A special adhesive having high tack is coated on a double sided silicone release resin coated substrate and laminated to the said film to convert the film into a self adhesive label stock which forms the basic raw material for manufacturing of the said electrically detectable tamper evident utility meter seal. The high tack adhesive is applied by process using conventional method of coating equipment followed by using known drying-methods. The said special high tack adhesive exhibits property of adhering to regular substrates as well as low energy surfaces like polypropylene, polyethylene etc. The high tack special adhesive is manufactured by blending various materials comprising natural and/or synthetic rubbers, tackifying resins of natural/synthetic type, antioxidants followed by solvating with hydrocarbon/ aromatic solvents to form a compound of proper consistency to facilitate coating and texture commensurate to the coating equipment. The said special high tack adhesive includes a tackifier which can be formed of hydrocarbon resins, rosin and rosin derivatives, polyterpenes, coumarone-indene resins, any compatible conventional tackifier or mixtures thereof along with mineral oils which serve as plastisizers. The said double sided silicone release resin coated substrate may be prepared from backing materials such as different Glassine / Kraft papers or various polymeric films like Polyester, Polyethylene, Polyvinyl Chloride etc. or polycoated papers. The said self adhesive label stock formed by using the aforesaid technique and ingredients is utilized as the base material for making the electrically detectable tamper evident utility seals. For achieving this, the self label stock is slit in to the desired width. This self adhesive label stock in roll form is mounted on a centre drum based flexo printing machine equipped with an unwind and windup stations for printing as well as laminating one or more self adhesive films on one another. Similar printing can also be achieved by screen printing technique. The self adhesive label stock can be printed on the non adhesive side with generic printing of customer name/logo with regular flexographic inks or Ultra Violet, Infra Red readable inks or other security printing inks. The electrically conducting ink is then printed by flexo printing or screen printing technique using one or two printing stations followed by partial lamination of destructible metallised holographic film coated with clear acrylic adhesive over it. The printing inks used for electrically detectable conducting path is water based / solvent based or Ultra Violet curable conducting silver inks suitable for flexographic and/or screen printing. The seal can be further raised to still higher level of security by printing barcodes and serial numbers using a separate pass on a separate barcode and/or serial numbering machine by known devices. The following is the schematic representation of the construction of the electrically detectable tamper evident utility meter seal labels: HHHHHH Destructible holographic film AAAAAA Acrylic adhesive CCCCCCCC Electrically conducting path ink PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP UV/IR readable printing, barcode /serial number FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF Tamper evident, heat sensitive, solvent sensitive film. AAAAAAAAAAAA High tack adhesive LLLLLLLLLLLLLL Silicone release resin coated substrate WE CLAIM;- 1. A method of manufacturing electrically detectable tamper evident utility meter seal comprises of the following : (a) a double sided silicone release resin coated substrate is coated with formulated compound by use of conventional coating methods followed by drying with conventional methods to manufacture a base film; (b) coating of adhesive with high tack on another double sided silicone release resin coated substrate by use of conventional coating methods followed by drying with conventional methods and then by laminating the said base film formed in the step 1 (a) to get the self adhesive label stock which has pressure sensitive adhesive coated solvent destructible, heat destructible, tamper evident base film for electrically detectable tamper evident utility meter seal.; (c) the said pressure sensitive adhesive coated base film obtained in step 1 (b) is slit in desired length and size in roll form; (d) the slit rolls obtained in step 1 (c) are printed with conventional flexographic or screen printing inks, Ultra Violet and Infra Red readable special security printing inks in generic form and /or customer specific message/logo etc.; (e) printing of electrically conducting ink on the slit roll obtained in step 1 (d) by water based, solvent based or Ultra Violet Curable electrically conducting silver inks; (f) partial lamination of the electrically conducting ink printed in step 1 (e) with destructible metallised holographic film coated with acrylic adhesive; (g) cutting of the printed and laminated film obtained in step 1 ( f) to desired shape and size by conventional die cutting tools; (h) optionally, printing individual label obtained in 1 (g) with barcodes and serial numbers by inkjet or thermal printing. 2. A method of manufacturing electrically detectable tamper evident utility meter seal as claimed in claim 1, wherein the said film is made by combination of thermoplastic acrylic polymer with vinylic copolymer in ratios of 32:100 to 9:100 to form a paste in regular aromatic solvent with consistency and flow properties required and commensurate with the coating method and equipment to be used ; 3. A method of manufacturing electrically detectable tamper evident utility meter seal as claimed in claim 1, where in the said high tack adhesive is made by blending various materials comprising natural and/or synthetic rubbers, tackifying resins of natural/synthetic type, antioxidants, a tackifier which can be formed of hydrocarbon resins, rosin and rosin derivatives, polyterpenes, coumarone-indene resins, any compatible conventional tackifier or mixtures thereof along with mineral oils which are used as plastisizers followed by solvating with hydrocarbon/ aromatic solvents to form a compound of proper consistency to facilitate coating and texture commensurate to the coating equipment. 4. A method of manufactuirng electrically detectable tamper evident utility meter seal as claimed in claim 1, wherein the said double sided silicone release resin coated substrate may be made from Glassine / Kraft papers or polymeric films like Polyester, Polyethylene, Polyvinyl Chloride or polycoated papers. 5. A method of manufacturing electrically detectable tamper evident utility meter seal as claimed in 1, wherein the film is printed with conventional water based flexo / screen inks and/or UV/IR readable special security printing inks. 6. A method of manufacturing electrically detectable tamper evident utility meter seal as claimed in 1, wherein electrically conducting path is printed by water based, solvent based or U V curable conducting silver inks using flexographic or roll to roll screen printing machines. 7. A method of manufacturing electrically detectable tamper evident utility meter seal as claimed in 1, wherein the printed electrically conducting path was partially laminated with destructible metallised holographic film coated with acrylic adhesive. 8. A method of manufacturing electrically detectable tamper evident utility meter seal as claimed in 1, wherein each seal is with unique barcode and serial number printed by inkjet or thermal printing technique. 9. A method of manufacturing electrically detectable tamper evident utility meter seal as claimed in Claims 1, 2, 3,4,5,6,7 and 8 above by which "electrically detectable tamper evident utility meter seal" is obtained. Dated this 16th day of January, 2007 ABSTRACT . A method of manufacturing electrically detectable tamper evident utility meter seal comprises of (a) a double sided silicone release resin coated substrate is coated with formulated compound to manufacture a base film, (b) coating of adhesive with high tack on another double sided silicone release resin coated substrate and then by laminating it to the said base film to get theself adhesive label stock for electrically detectable tamper evident utility meter seal, (c) the said self adhesive label stock is slit in desired length and size in roll form, (d) the slit rolls are printed with conventional flexographic or screen printing inks in generic form and /or customer specific message/logo etc., (e) printing of electrically conducting ink on the slit roll by water based, solvent based or Ultra Violet Curable electrically conducting silver inks, (f) partial lamination of the electrically conducting ink with destructible metallised holographic film coated with acrylic adhesive and (g) cutting of the printed and laminated film to desired shape and size, optionally, printing individual label with barcodes and serial numbers.

Documents:

132-mum-2007-abstract.doc

132-mum-2007-abstract.pdf

132-MUM-2007-CLAIMS(AMENDED)-(15-10-2012).pdf

132-MUM-2007-CLAIMS(AMENDED)-(18-10-2013).pdf

132-mum-2007-claims.doc

132-mum-2007-claims.pdf

132-MUM-2007-CORRESPONDENCE(1-10-2008).pdf

132-MUM-2007-CORRESPONDENCE(16-9-2013).pdf

132-MUM-2007-CORRESPONDENCE(20-2-2008).pdf

132-MUM-2007-CORRESPONDENCE(26-2-2010).pdf

132-mum-2007-correspondence-received.pdf

132-mum-2007-description (complete).pdf

132-MUM-2007-FORM 18(1-10-2008).pdf

132-mum-2007-form 18(21-2-2008).pdf

132-MUM-2007-FORM 2(TITLE PAGE)-(15-10-2012).pdf

132-mum-2007-form 2(title page)-(23-1-2007).pdf

132-mum-2007-form 9(16-10-2007).pdf

132-mum-2007-form-1.pdf

132-mum-2007-form-2.doc

132-mum-2007-form-2.pdf

132-mum-2007-form-26.pdf

132-mum-2007-form-3.pdf

132-mum-2007-form-5.pdf

132-MUM-2007-OTHER DOCUMENT(18-10-2013).pdf

132-MUM-2007-REPLY TO EXAMINATION REPORT(15-10-2012).pdf

132-MUM-2007-REPLY TO HEARING(18-10-2013).pdf

132-MUM-2007-SPECIFICATION(AMENDED)-(15-10-2012).pdf