# US 11,077,676 B2 · Digital-to-garment inkjet printing machine

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- Number: US 11,077,676 B2
- Document ID: US11077676B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 16/657,744
- Filed: 2019-10-18
- Published: 2021-04-22
- Granted: 2021-08-03
- Earliest claimed: 2019-10-18
- Assignees: M&R Printing Equipment, Inc.
- Applicants: M&R Printing Equipment, Inc.
- Inventors: Tolga Efendi; Piotr Latka; Stephen Chuddy
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11077676B2

## CPC

- B41J 3/4078: {Printing on textile}
- B41J 2/2117: {Ejecting white liquids}
- B41J 11/002: {Curing or drying the ink on the copy materials, e.g. by heating or irradiating}
- B41J 11/00214: {using UV radiation}
- B41J 11/00216: {using infrared [IR] radiation or microwaves}
- B41J 11/00218: {Constructional details of the irradiation means, e.g. radiation source attached to reciprocating print head assembly or shutter means provided on the radiation source}
- B41J 11/0024: {using conduction means, e.g. by using a heated platen}
- D06P 5/30: Ink jet printing
- B41J: TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
- D06P: DYEING OR PRINTING TEXTILES; DYEING LEATHER, FURS OR SOLID MACROMOLECULAR SUBSTANCES IN ANY FORM

## Abstract

Disclosed is a carriage for a direct to garment inkjet printing machine. The machine has a frame having a leading edge, a trailing edge, and a pair of opposed lateral edges. A first row of slots is positioned on the leading edge and a second row of slots is positioned on the trailing edge. The second row of slots is spaced from the first row of slots by a gelling gap. A shelf on the frame supports tanks of white ink and tanks of color ink and a first plurality of tubing connects a tank of white ink positioned on the shelf with a print head in the first row of slots. A second plurality of tubing is for connecting a tank of color ink positioned on the shelf with a print head in the second row of slots. A pair of side heaters attached to opposed lateral edges of the first frame.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A carriage for a direct to garment inkjet printing machine comprising:
a frame having a leading edge, a trailing edge and a pair of opposed lateral edges, a first row of slots is positioned on the leading edge and a second row of slots is positioned on the trailing edge, the second row of slots being spaced from the first row of slots by a gelling gap, each slot of the first row of slots and the second row of slots has a print head board receiving area and a print head receiving area spaced from the print head board receiving area;
a shelf on the frame for supporting tanks of white ink and tanks of color ink above the print head receiving area;
a first plurality of tubing for connecting a tank of white ink positioned on the shelf with a print head in the first row of slots;
a second plurality of tubing for connecting a tank of color ink positioned on the shelf with a print head in the second row of slots; and
a first side heater attached to a first lateral edge and a second side heater attached to an opposed lateral edge of the first frame.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The carriage of claim 1 wherein each of the pair of side heaters has a heat source that is a conductive heat source or an inductive heat source.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The carriage of claim 2 wherein the conductive heat source is a heat sink.

### Claim 4 (depends on 2)

The carriage of claim 2 wherein the inductive heat source is selected from the group consisting of an ultra violet light (UV) source, an infrared (IR) light source, a visible light source, a microwave source, a radio wave source, and combinations of the same.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The carriage of claim 4 wherein the IR light source is an IR quartz lamp.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The carriage of claim 1 wherein the first plurality of tubing comprises a first segment of tubing connected at one end to a first end to a first tank of white ink and at an opposed end to a junction, a second segment of tubing connected at one end to a second tank of white ink and at an opposed end to the junction, and a third segment of tubing connecting the junction to a white print head.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The carriage of claim 1 further comprising a printing area having a height dimension and a width dimension, the frame being mounted for reciprocating translational movement over the printing area along the width dimension.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The carriage of claim 7 further comprising a controller for moving the frame through the printing area and printing ink with a width of X.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The carriage of claim 8 wherein the gelling gap is equal to from 2 to 10 times the width of X.

### Claim 10 (depends on 8)

The carriage of claim 8 wherein the controller advances the frame along the height dimension in incremental steps of Y.

### Claim 11

A method of inkjet printing an image on a textile comprising:
providing a frame having a leading edge, a trailing edge, and a pair of opposed lateral edges, a first row of slots is positioned on the leading edge and a second row of slots is positioned on the trailing edge, the second row of slots being spaced from the first row of slots by a gelling gap, each slot of the first row of slots and each slot of the second row of slots has a print head board receiving area and a print head receiving area spaced from the print head board receiving area;
providing a shelf on the frame for supporting tanks of white ink and tanks of color ink;
providing a first plurality of tubing for connecting a tank of white ink positioned on the shelf with a print head in the first row of slots;
providing a second plurality of tubing for connecting a tank of color ink positioned on the shelf with a print head in the second row of slots;
providing a pair of side heaters attached to opposed lateral edges of the frame;
moving the frame across a printing area in a first printing pass along a first line and depositing a rectangular band of white ink on a textile in the printing area while exposing the white ink to gelling conditions with the pair of side heaters, the band having a height and a length;
indexing the frame inwardly of the printing area along a second line transverse to the first line by an incremental distance less than the height of the rectangular band;
moving the frame across the printing area in a second printing pass along the first line depositing a second rectangular band of white ink to overlap a portion of the first printing pass of white ink and to add to the height dimension of the white ink;
exposing the white ink to gelling conditions during the second printing pass;
repeating the steps of printing white ink on the textile and indexing the frame along the image height dimension until the height of the white ink is equal to the gelling gap;
moving the frame across the printing area printing with the print head in the second row of slots a first line of color ink on top of the white ink while simultaneously printing a band of white ink with the print head in the first row of slots on the textile in a location ahead of the color ink; and
repeating the steps of printing white ink and color ink until the image is complete.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The method of inkjet printing of claim 11 wherein each of the pair of side heaters has a heat source that is a conductive heat source or an inductive heat source.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The method of inkjet printing of claim 12 wherein the conductive heat source is a heat sink.

### Claim 14 (depends on 12)

The method of inkjet printing of claim 12 wherein the inductive heat source is selected from the group consisting of an ultra violet light (UV) source, an infrared (IR) light source, a visible light source, a microwave source, a radio wave source, and combinations of the same.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The method of inkjet printing of claim 14 wherein the IR light source is an IR quartz lamp.

### Claim 16 (depends on 11)

The method of inkjet printing of claim 11 wherein the first plurality of tubing comprises a first segment of tubing connected at one end to a first end to a first tank of white ink and at an opposed end to a junction, a second segment of tubing connected at one end to a second tank of white ink and at an opposed end to the junction, and a third segment of tubing connecting the junction to a white print head.

### Claim 17 (depends on 11)

The method of inkjet printing of claim 11 further comprising mounting a textile on a pallet and moving the pallet into a preheating station prior to applying white ink.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The method of inkjet printing of claim 17 further comprising the step of heating the textile to a prescribed temperature.

### Claim 19 (depends on 18)

The method of inkjet printing of claim 18 further comprising a temperature sensor and a controller, the temperature sensor mounted on the frame for measuring a temperature of a textile and generating a signal representative of the temperature and sending the signal to the controller.

### Claim 20 (depends on 19)

The method of claim 19 wherein the controller is in electrical communication with the side heaters for controlling the side heaters.