Pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet material

Claim 1

NORMALLY TACKY AND PRESSURE-SENSITIVE ADHESIVE COATED SHEET MATERIAL HAVING HIGH PACKAGING VALUE AND COMPRISING A THIN FLEXIBLE BACKING MEMBER AND, FIRMLY ADHERENTLY BONDED THERETO, A COATING OF A COPOLYMER OF MONOMERS CONSISTING ESSENTIALLY OF (A) MONOMERIC ACRYLIC ACID ESTER OF NON-TERTIARY ALKYL ALCOHOL THE MOLECULES OF WHICH HAVE FROM ONE TO 14 CARBON ATOMS, THE AVERAGE BEING ABOUT 4-12 CARBON ATOMS, AT LEAST A MAJOR PROPORTION OF SAID MOLECULES HAVING A CARBON-TO-CARBON CHAIN OF AT LEAST FOUR CARBON ATOMS TERMINATING AT THE HYDROXYL OXYGEN ATOMS, SAID CHAIN CONTAINING AT LEAST ABOUT ONEHALF THE TOTAL NUMBER OF CARBON ATOMS IN THE MOLECULE, SAID ACRYLIC ACID ESTER BEING FURTHER CHARACTERIZED AS BEING PER SE POLYMERIZABLE TO A STICKY, STRETCHABLE AND ELASTIC, ADHESIVE POLYMER MASS; AND (B) AT LEAST ONE MONOMER COPOLYMERIZABLE TO A STICKY, STRETCHABLE AND ELASTIC, FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF ACRYLIC ACID, METHACRYLIC ACID, ITACONIC ACID, ACRYLAMIDE, METHACRYLAMIDE, ACRYLONITRILE, AND METHACRYLONITRILE IN AN AMOUNT BY WEIGHT WITHIN THE RANGE OF ABOUT 3-12 PERCENT OF THE TOTAL OF SAID MONOMERS (A) AND (B), SAID MONOMERS AND THE PROPORTIONS THEREOF BEING FURTHER SELECTED TO PROVIDE A NORMALLY TACKY AND PRESSURE-SENSITIVE ADHESIVE COPOLYMER.