Printing – Special article machines – Rotating object
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-09
2001-07-10
Yan, Ren (Department: 2854)
Printing
Special article machines
Rotating object
C101S124000, C101S129000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06257136
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved registration control in an intermittent motion type decorating machine for increasing the quality of printed indicia and precision of indicia registration on a workpiece and, more particularly, to improving the interrelationship and construction of drive components used for synchronously moving a decorating screen and a workpiece to apply decoration to workpieces especially to avoid registration errors in the placement of multicolor decorations in a given decoration area of a workpiece.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,231,535; 2,261,255; 2,721,516; 3,251,298; and 5,524,535 intermittent motion type decorating machines are known in the art and provide an indexing drive system to impart intermittent traveling motion to an endless chain conveyor used to supply workpieces such as containers made of glass or plastic. A container is moved by the endless chain conveyor through a predetermined distance, stopped, moved again through a predetermined distance, stopped and again moved until each container through the sequence of motions moves completely through each of all of the decorating stations of the decorating machine. A decorating station is provided at one or more places along the conveyor. A decorating screen is displaced by an associated squeegee into line contact with the surface of the container while the container is stopped from traveling motion and the container is rotated about a longitudinal axis thereof During the decorating process a synchronous speed relation must be maintained between the linear displacement of the screen and the peripheral speed of the rotating container at the line of contact established by the squeegee. The squeegee remains stationary during the decorating process. Decorating machines of this type are particularly useful to decorate bottles and carryout the decoration while the surface of the bottle being decorated is horizontally oriented.
In the above U.S. Pat. No. 2,261,255 there is disclosed a drive for moving each of a body screen to decorate a cylindrical body of a bottle and a shoulder screen to decorate a tapered or straight neck portion of the bottle at the corresponding peripheral and linear speeds. The decorating machine disclosed in the aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 3,251,298, provided a production rate of about 125 bottles per minute. The decoration is carried out by dividing a machine cycle into two decoration cycles, each essentially made up of two equal parts. One half each decoration cycle is used for the decoration of a workpiece and the remaining half the decoration cycle is used for indexing movement of the bottles by the conveyor through the decorating machine. There is no overlap between the decorating and indexing cycles. During the first part of the decoration cycle, the decoration screen is moved along a linear path in only one direction at a speed that is synchronous with the peripheral speed of the decoration receiving surface of the rotating bottle to avoid smearing the printing media. The drive for the entire decorator is powered by a single motor to synchronize the operation by various drive trains to maintain a timed sequence at synchronous speed of operation by a screen drive and a bottle rotator. When the decoration screen moves to the end of its linear path of travel, the bottle rotator completes a rotation cycle of 360°. The second part of the decoration cycle, powered by the drive motor, provides that the screen drive enters a dwell period to maintain the decoration screen stationary for the remaining part of the decoration cycle while the decorated bottle is removed from the decorating station and an undecorated bottle is installed at the decorating station. The newly installed bottle at the decorating station is decorated by the same timed sequence of operation in the second decorating cycle of the machine cycle. Important, however, is the fact that the operation of the same decorating screen in the second decorating cycle is accomplished by reversing the linear travel of the decorating screen by providing a continuous cam track of a rotating cam used to drive the decorating screen in a reverse direction of screen travel for decoration of a workpiece in the second decorating cycle of the machine cycle. This reversal to the direction of screen travel necessarily requires the drive elements transmitting torque between the screen drive cam and the decorating screen to pass from one state of torque transmitting, and metal-to-metal relationship through necessary operating clearances in the drive train and into a different state of torque transmitting, metal-to-metal relationship during displacement of the decorating screen in the reverse direction of travel. The machine cycle uses a preestablished position relationship between the decoration site on the bottle surface and the pattern of decoration in the decorating screen. This preestablished position relationship is created by providing a registration station at the entry end of the workpiece conveyor for rotating each bottle about the longitudinal axis of the bottle into a preestablished orientation in a bottle carrier that is part of the workpiece conveyor of the decorating machine.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,338,574, there is shown a workpiece carrier device for supporting a bottle in a horizontal orientation while intermittently moved along a path of travel through a decorating apparatus. The bottle is supported at its opposite ends by clamping chucks one of which has a journal extending from a bearing support and the other of which can move releasably to contact a bottle for causing rotation about a horizontal axis. The bottle is rotated by a drive member brought into a driving relation with the protruding journal part of the bearing support. The clamping chucks are operatively supported on a base secured to chain-links forming an endless conveyor chain extending along the path of travel of bottles through the decorating apparatus.
Robustly constructed drives are necessary to withstand the forces of inertia and impact loading which occur due to the intermittent conveyor motion moving the bottles to and from each of the decorating stations, the rotation of each bottle for the decorating process and the drive mechanism for reciprocating each decorating screen at each decorating station. More recently as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,535 an improved intermittent decorating machine cycle is provided to increase the rate for decorating bottles. Two decorating cycles making up a machine cycle are each provide that during the decoration cycle a portion for conveyor indexing has a reduced duration to provide an increase to the duration of the decoration cycle in which the screen is linear displaced while the bottle is rotated for decoration.
In such intermittent motion decorating machines, thermosetting ink is usually the printing medium particularly when multiple color decoration is needed. Ink of only one color is applied at each decorating station and to decorate with multiple colors requires corresponding multiple decoration stations. When the different colors interleave in a given area of the bottle, the same area is contacted with the screens for each color and therefore it is necessary that the applied ink/color is solidified and will not smear when additional ink/color is applied. Although the ink is solidified after each printing operation, curing the ink by feeding the bottles through a furnace after discharging from the decorating machine is necessary. In co-pending patent application Ser. No. 09/079,753 filed May 15, 1998 there is disclosed an intermittent decorating machine providing curing of ink decoration applied at one station before additional decoration is applied so that the decoration on a bottle delivered from the decoration machine is cured and the bottle can be loaded directly into a shipping container without the need for curing the ink decoration. The decorating medium cures very rapidly when exposed to electromagnetic wave en
McCoy Gary W.
Strutz Carl J.
Tweedy Mark R.
Zwigart John M.
Carl Strutz & Co., Inc.
Poff Clifford A.
Yan Ren
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