Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Methods – Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
Reexamination Certificate
2001-02-07
2003-05-27
Lorengo, J. A. (Department: 1734)
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Methods
Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
C156S230000, C156S236000, C156S247000, C156S277000, C156S289000, C427S146000, C427S147000, C427S149000, C428S042100, C428S195100, C428S202000, C428S914000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06569277
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an art object, and more particularly to an art object having an image displayed on a surface of a substrate, such as stone, plaster, or a tree leaf, and a method for creating the art object by creating the image on a transfer sheet in the form of a computer printer transparency sheet, and transferring the image from the transparency sheet to the surface of the art object.
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY
It was my desire to create an art object of strikingly unique appearance having an image created by a variety of arts including drawing, painting, photography, computer imagery, or a combination of these arts, permanently deposited on the surface of a wide range of naturally occurring and man made substrate materials including plaster, concrete, drywall, marble, stone, cork, leaves, Plexiglass™, glass, fabric, leather, plastic, metal, wood, paper, and/or paper products, ceramics and painted surfaces.
It was also my desire to develop a method for conveniently creating such an art object in a manner that could be practiced by artists using equipment and materials commonly available in the consumer marketplace at reasonable cost. And it was my further desire to develop a method that could utilize computers and computer printers so that original photographs and works of art could be duplicated without destruction and transferred to a new substrate material, and be modified in appearance, in creating the unique art objects that I desired to produce. It was also my desire to develop a method by which an artist or a photo shop operator could quickly and inexpensively create a series of proofs, using different colors or artistic treatments, and allow a customer to preview the final art object prior to the step of permanently affixed to the substrate material.
One difficulty that had to be dealt with is that many of the substrate materials that I envisioned using, such as slabs of stone or plaster, leaves, drywall panels, concrete walls, pillars, doors, or windows, could not be passed through standard consumer computer printer equipment. Another difficulty was that the surfaces of these substrate materials were in many cases resistant to accepting an image of high resolution, or even an image of low resolution, for that matter.
Yet another difficulty was that I was envisioning an art object that might include several sequentially applied layers of different types of media, some of which were opaque, and some of which were relatively transparent and would allow features in the substrate, such as veining in marble, to show through. While it seemed possible to apply these layers sequentially “from the bottom up” on the substrate, a tremendous amount of pre-planning would be involved, and some form of registration system might need to be devised to keep various layers in proper alignment. Working from the bottom up directly on the surface of the substrate in sequential layers would also make it difficult to experiment with alternate colors and effects, and preclude the possibility of allowing a customer to choose between several proofs.
To overcome the difficulties addressed above, I envisioned my method generally including the steps of generating a source image on, or transferring a source image to, a carrier sheet, in the form of a computer printable transparency sheet, to make a carrier image on the transparency sheet, and then transferring the carrier image to a destination surface of one of the materials mentioned above to create the art object that I desired to create. I also contemplated that in creating the unique art object I envisioned, I might wish, in some instances, to modify the carrier image while it was on the carrier sheet, prior to transferring the carrier image to the surface of the substrate, and in yet other instances that I might wish to modify the carrier image after it was permanently transferred to the substrate surface.
As described below, my initial attempts at producing the type of art object that I envisioned by this process were unsuccessful, however. Success was achieved only after a lot of experimentation, and discovering that certain components of standard computer transparency printing needed to be significantly modified or replaced by alternative materials and processes.
Although the method that I envisioned is similar in some respects to known methods for affixing an image to a substrate through a series of steps, which typically involve, creating a source image, transferring the source image to a carrier in the form of a transfer sheet of paper or plastic to form a carrier image, and transferring the carrier image to a destination surface to form a destination image, none of these was entirely satisfactory in producing the art object that I envisioned. Simply stated, they did not produce the unique art object that I envisioned, and generally were unsuitable in terms of achieving my goal of producing my art object in a convenient manner with equipment and materials commonly available in today's consumer marketplace at reasonable cost.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 470,899, issued to Robinson in 1899 discloses a Method for Decorating Wood and Other Surfaces, in which an original image created on a piece of paper is transferred to a receiving surface prepared with a previously applied coating of shellac or some other resinous or gummy material capable of being dissolved by a chemical—such as wood alcohol. The original image is printed, painted, or otherwise applied to the sheet of paper. A transfer sheet is created by coating one side of a sheet of plain white paper with a coating of the same shellac or resinous or gummy material used to prepare the receiving surface.
The transfer of the original image in Robinson's method is accomplished in two steps. In the first step, the sheet of paper upon which the original image is applied, is immersed in a bath of wood alcohol, and pressed into intimate contact with the transfer sheet, with the wood alcohol dissolving the image and the coating on the transfer sheet such that the image is transferred from the paper to the coated surface of the transfer sheet, and then removing the sheet of paper upon which the original image was applied in flakes or fragments. In the second step, the transfer sheet with the transferred design is immersed in the same solvent and pressed in intimate contact with the shellac coating on the receiving surface, and the transfer sheet removed in flakes and fragments to leave the image on the surface.
Robinson discloses that in some instances it is possible to dispense with the transfer sheet and apply the original—saturated in solvent—directly to the shellacked surface of the body to be decorated, or when the body to be decorated is a material such as celluloid which is softened by the solvent, that the step of shellacking the surface can be eliminated. Robinson further discloses that the solvents other than wood alcohol can be used in practicing his method, and that in some cases the solvent may be applied to the surface to be decorated before the transfer sheet is applied to it.
Although the method of Robinson was similar to the method that I envisioned, it was unsuitable for producing the art object I desired to produce for several reasons. Robinson's method involved the use of materials that were not compatible with some of the types of original images that I wished to transfer, such as photographs and computer generated images, and in general, the process did not appear to be capable of producing the level of detail necessary for transferring photographs and originals having fine detail. Robinson discloses the use of his method for transferring pictures printed from wood-cuts in ordinary printing ink, ordinary lithographs printed in colors, water color designs painted by hand, and prints or impressions made from steel engravings, but makes no mention of photographs, and of course computer generated designs of extremely fine resolution were completely unknown in 1899 when the Robinson patent issued.
The solvent dissolvable coatings—of
Crowe Lawrence E.
Lorengo J. A.
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