Coating processes – Direct application of electrical – magnetic – wave – or... – Electrostatic charge – field – or force utilized
Reexamination Certificate
2003-06-19
2004-09-21
Parker, Fred J. (Department: 1762)
Coating processes
Direct application of electrical, magnetic, wave, or...
Electrostatic charge, field, or force utilized
C427S258000, C427S261000, C427S289000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06793977
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a primitive display plate and a method of manufacturing a display plate, and a method of manufacturing a display apparatus, and particularly to a manufacturing technique suitable for manufacturing a timepiece dial.
BACKGROUND ART
In general, in manufacturing a wristwatch, a desired surface pattern (including numeric characters, characters, time scales, etc.) is formed in a predetermined design on the surface of a metal plate by coating, printing or surface treatment, and separated in a predetermined shape to form a dial. The dial is then attached to a timepiece movement, and finally set in a watch case. As a method of forming the desired surface pattern on the dial, pad printing, screen printing, offset printing, and the like, which are described in Special Printing (written by Kazuo Matsumoto, issued by Insatsu Shuppan Kenkyusho), Introduction to Special Printing (written by Ichiro Ikeda, issued by Society of Printing, Editing Section), etc. are frequently used. In these printing methods, a block copy is created by a photomechanical technique and is used for each print color.
However, the conventional method of forming a dial is suitable for forming a great number of dials having a predetermined design, but in multi-kind and small-quantity production, which has been recently increasingly required, the method requires the creation of a plate at each change of the design, thereby increasing the production cost and requiring more time before the start of production. Thus it requires, at least, about 1 to 2 weeks before the delivery date. Particularly, a watch provided with an original pattern has been recently increasingly required. In this case, the number of the products is small enough to further increase the production cost per product, and delivery of a watch having a dial having a required pattern within a short time is very difficult because more time is required for forming a plate.
In displaying a character on the dial, in some cases, many plates are needed because five colors or more are required, thereby inevitably increasing the production cost and delaying the delivery date. Particularly, in printing after the formation of each of the dial shapes, more time is required for positioning a plurality of plates and a dial, and color matching, thereby requiring a skilled worker.
Furthermore, in printing on the dial, a general-purpose printing apparatus cannot be easily used, thus an expensive special machine is required, and an installation place for the special machine must be secured, causing the need for steps taken against noise and dust during an operation of the machine. In addition, the printing step requires the use of a printing ink using an organic solvent and a cleaning solution, thereby requiring environmental measures and safety and health measures and creating heavy incidental equipment costs.
Accordingly, the present invention has been achieved for solving the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a novel primitive display plate, and methods of manufacturing a display plate and a display apparatus, which are capable of rapidly manufacturing a display plate having a surface pattern having a required design and a display apparatus comprising the display plate as various display plates such as a watch dial, which are capable of minimizing an increase in the manufacturing cost by a simple work process, and which are capable of decreasing equipment cost.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
In order to achieve the object, a primitive display plate of the present invention comprises a supporting portion comprising a positioning structure formed to be positioned by engagement with another member, a display plate shape portion formed to have a predetermined positional relation to the positioning structure and having the planar shape of a display plate to be manufactured, and a connecting portion for connecting the display plate shape portion and the supporting portion, which are integrally provided, wherein an ink-receiving layer is formed on the surface of the display plate shape portion, for holding received ink droplets thereby.
In the present invention, the supporting portion having the positioning structure, and the display plate shape portion comprising the ink-receiving layer provided on the surface thereof are connected through the connecting portion to permit ink jet system printing in which ink droplets are ejected onto the display plate shape portion on the basis of the positioning structure, and permit separation of a display plate by cutting the connecting portion after printing. Therefore, an appropriate print pattern can be formed on the surface of the display plate without using a plate, thereby permitting the rapid manufacture of the display plate while minimizing an increase in manufacturing cost even under conditions of multi-kind and small-quantity production. By using the primitive display plate, printing and cutting of the connecting portion can be carried out by general-purpose small equipment without using a special large manufacturing equipment, and thus the display plate can be manufactured in an appropriate place, thereby rapidly and flexibly complying with demands of customers.
In the present invention, the surface of the connecting portion is preferably lower than the surface of the display plate shape portion.
In the present invention, since the surface of the connecting portion is lower than the surface of the display plate shape portion, it is possible to decrease damage such as a defect, peeling, swelling in a printed pattern on the surface and a lower layer structure below the printed pattern at the edge of the display plate shape portion even by cutting the connecting portion.
In the present invention, the ink-receiving layer is preferably not formed on the positioning structure.
In the present invention, since the ink-receiving layer is not formed on the positioning structure, it is possible to decrease the possibility of deteriorating the engagement precision of the positioning structure due to the thickness of the ink-receiving layer, thereby positioning the display plate shape portion with high precision.
In the present invention, preferably, a coating layer is formed on the surface of the display plate shape portion, and the ink-receiving layer is formed on the surface of the coating layer, the ink-receiving layer being transparent or semitransparent.
In the present invention, since the ink-receiving layer is formed on the coating layer, and the ink-receiving layer is transparent or semitransparent, the color tone, the texture, etc. of the coating layer can be observed through the ink-receiving layer, and thus the color tone, the texture, etc. of the printed pattern formed by adhering ink droplets can be set in a wide range, thereby widening a variation of appearance designs of the display plate, and increasing the expressiveness of the display plate. Also, the surface of the coating layer can be formed with a color tone suitable for, for example, printing a white color (unpatterned) to improve the coloring property of the printed pattern and the reproducibility of the color tone, whereby the color tone and pattern having high quality can be formed.
In the present invention, the positioning structure preferably comprises a through hole formed in the supporting portion.
In the present invention, since the positioning portion comprises a through hole, positioning can easily be performed with high precision by simple positioning means such as a pin.
In the present invention, with the ink-receiving layer comprising a porous surface, in some cases, the ink-receiving layer comprises a material having high absorbency for the ink droplets.
The primitive display plate of the present invention is preferably formed from a shaped substrate. By using the shaped substrate, i.e., the substrate having a predetermined outer shape, a common positioning jig or an apparatus having a common structure can be ordinarily used, and thus the display plate shape portion can be easily h
Karasawa Koichi
Kasahara Sachio
Magario Akio
Miyasaka Haruyuki
Parker Fred J.
Seiko Epson Corporation
Watson Mark P.
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