Printing – Work supporting members – Work held on flat surface
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-14
2001-08-21
Colilla, Daniel J. (Department: 2854)
Printing
Work supporting members
Work held on flat surface
C101S115000, C101S126000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06276274
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the field of screen printing. Particularly, the present invention relates to platens for an automatic printing machine.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Printed indicia for applying to items of clothing, such as T-shirts, sweatshirts, golf shirts, shorts, hats, and the like, as well as other cloth and paper goods, such as banners, posters, bags, flags, and the like, have become very popular over the last 20 years. Boutiques specializing in printing fanciful and textual indicia such as slogans, college names, sports team names and logos, licensed characters, and the like, on these various media, are commonly seen in stores across the country. The indicia available at these stores can be pre-printed on a substrate and applied with a heated press by operators at such boutiques to any of the aforementioned items purchased by a consumer, or they can be screen printed directly onto the items for later purchase.
In the screen printing process, a stencil screen is typically blocked (called “masked” in the industry) to embody the desired indicia and is then placed over the item to be printed. Ink of one color is then added to the screen surface and flooded onto the indicia by a flood bar of conventional design. The ink may be of any type well-known in the industry for screen printing. After the ink is flooded onto the screen, the ink is squeegeed through the screen interstices onto the item, leaving ink of the desired color where the interstices in the screen are unblocked. The squeegee can be of any type known in the art.
After the item is printed on, it is moved to a station where one or more operators transfer the article to a drying rack, conveyor surface leading to a dryer, or the like. This requires quick and deft handling by the operator because the cycling of the printing machine may print a shirt every four to six seconds. Further, as the articles are typically adhered to the platen with an adhesive, the article must be lifted at an angle to break the adhesive seal without smudging the print on the article.
The quick, repetitive movement may take its toll on the operator after some amount of time. Therefore, it is advantageous to automate such a repeatable process. A few reasons for automatically unloading an article from a printing surface of a printing machine are: (1) to allow printing machine operators to concentrate on other areas of printing; (2) to diminish the likelihood of ruining printed articles; (3) to increase the repeatability of the exact placement of unloaded articles; and, (4) to reduce injury risk to printing machine operators.
In automating any task, it is often necessary to make alterations to existing equipment to accommodate new techniques or processes, especially where human senses, such as sight and touch, are being replaced by inanimate machinery. The present invention is no exception.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention, a new platen is provided for use with an apparatus for unloading or removing an article from a printing machine, and preferably transferring the same to a suitable drying surface. One embodiment of the disclosed platen includes a support surface, means for attaching the support surface to the printing machine, and at least one recessed area for allowing extendable gripping means of the automated unloader to engage the supported article.
Additionally, it is an aspect of the present invention to provide at least one platen attached to the printing machine in a manner allowing the extendable gripping means to vertically extend from the support frame to an area of the platen(s). To permit gripping of the articles, the platen are notched at the area corresponding to the extendable gripping means.
Alternatively, the platen may include a ledge at the area corresponding to the extendable gripping means. This ledge also allows the supported article to be gripped by the gripping means. The extendable gripping means may take a variety of forms including as a pair or numerous pairs of automatic jaws. Each automatic jaw corresponds to a notch in a ledge (or recessed area of a ledge) or notch in the support surface of the platen.
It is further an aspect of the present invention to provide at least one gripping area on the platen. The gripping area allows all manner of automated devices to engage the supported article and remove the article from the support surface of the platen. Such gripping areas may include recessed edges, surface contours, ledges, extensions, peripheral devices, and the like, as part of the platen.
It is an aspect of the present invention to prevent, or at least minimize, the ruining of the printed indicia by maintaining the article in a taut manner as it is unloaded from the printing machine. Accordingly, the present invention includes a telescoping rod for each vertically extending pair of automatic jaws. Preferably, the jaws, via the telescoping rods, will move diagonally upward from two ends of the article to slightly stretch the article upon lifting.
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Biel Boguslaw
Hoffman, Jr. Richard C.
Iaccino Alex
Magda Boguslaw
Tkacz Dariusz
Colilla Daniel J.
M&R Printing Equipment Inc.
Wallenstein & Wagner Ltd.
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