Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Methods – Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-26
2001-09-04
Ball, Michael W. (Department: 1733)
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Methods
Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
C029S281500, C029S464000, C156S580000, C269S021000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06284088
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to optical films, and more particularly relates to bonding of several optical films, and even more particularly relates to methods and apparatuses for maintaining critical parameters of angular alignment between several bonded optical films.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the past, optical films have been bonded together during fabrication of liquid crystal displays and other optical devices. Avionics engineers have routinely endeavored to utilize predetermined portions of previously manufactured optical film sheets because of the preferred nature of the portion in comparison to other portions of the optical film. When multiple optical films are used, in which each film has a predetermined preferred portion, it is often desirable to attempt to align these preferred portions during the process of bonding the optical films together. One approach has been to use a pen or other marker to encircle the preferred portion of each film and then attempt to manually align the encircled portions by a simple visual alignment of one encircling line on a first optical film with another encircling line on a second optical film.
While this approach has benefits of simplicity and ease of use, it also has significant drawbacks. A significant problem of this type of approach is that it often fails to provide sufficient angular alignment of the critical axes of the various films as is often required by the most rigorous performance specifications.
Consequently, there exists a need for improved methods and apparatuses for aligning preferred portions of optical films in a multi-film bonding process.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide high performance multi-film optical components.
It is a feature of the present invention to utilize a grid plate reference to aid in angular alignment of films.
It is an advantage of the present invention to achieve more precise angular alignment of the various optical axes of numerous films with respect to their predetermined preferred portions.
It is another advantage of the present invention to reduce any gradual accumulation of angular alignment errors caused by basing each successive film alignment upon placement with respect to a potentially already misaligned film.
It is another feature to use a vacuum chuck to maintain angular alignment of such films.
It is another advantage of the present invention to provide stability of the films during the rollering process often used in bonding multiple films.
The present invention is an apparatus and method for bonding multiple optical films which are designed to satisfy the aforementioned needs, provide the previously stated objects, include the above-listed features and achieve the already articulated advantages. The present invention is carried out in an “angular misalignment-less” manner in a sense that angular misalignment of the films has been greatly reduced.
Accordingly, the present invention is a method and apparatus which includes an indexed grid plate and in an alternate embodiment, a vacuum chuck, both for cooperation with optical films during a rollering segment of the film bonding process.
REFERENCES:
patent: D. 391822 (1998-03-01), Appelbaum
patent: 3761344 (1973-09-01), Mrozek et al.
patent: 5592288 (1997-01-01), Sampica et al.
Campbell Mel L.
Nemeth Paul R.
Sampica James D.
Ternes Dennis M.
Ball Michael W.
Eppele Kyle
Jensen Nathan O.
Kilkenny Todd J.
Rockwell Collins
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