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US 2019/0291407 A1Published application
Custom printing of cups, glasses, and other vessels
AssigneeJet Printers L.L.C.
InventorJames Schwartzburg
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for printing on containers or vessels, such as plastic cups, may use one or more inkjet printer head to produce an image on the exterior of a vessel. A planar digital image may be transposed to a surface corresponding to the surface of a vessel being printed upon. A dial driven by an indexer may bear a plurality of mandrels through stations within the system to print, cure, and process images and/or the vessel surface. Each mandrel may receive a vessel and then transport the vessel to at least one printing station and at least one curing station before the vessel is removed from the mandrel.
Claims16
A printing system for printing upon vessels, comprising:
- a dial having a plurality of mandrels, each of the mandrels having a size and shape corresponding to vessels to be printed upon;
- an indexer that rotates the dial having the plurality of mandrels to move the mandrels between a variety of stations;
- a mandrel rotational system that rotates each mandrel at a known rate of rotation;
- a feeding system that places a vessel for printing onto a mandrel at a first station when the mandrel is positioned at the first station, such that the mandrel may bear the vessel through additional stations;
- an inkjet printer head that applies ink to the vessel as the vessel rotates upon the mandrel, the inkjet printer head controlled by a computer processor executing computer readable code to print ink of desired colors at desired locations on the rotating vessel by coordinating the application of ink to the vessel with the measurement of an encoder that measures the degree of rotation of the mandrel bearing the vessel, the inkjet printer head being at a station after the first station as the dial rotates;
- a curing station that illuminates a vessel with ultraviolet light to cure the ink deposited by the inkjet printer head, the curing station being after the inkjet printer head as the indexer rotates the dial;
- and
- an unloading station that removes vessels from mandrels, the unloading station being after the inkjet printer head and the curing station as the indexer rotates the dial.
5 more elements
A system for printing on the exterior of cups, the system comprising:
- at least one printing station, the at least one printing station comprising an ultraviolet light source and an inkjet print head under the control of a computing system to print ink on a cup to be printed;
- a cup delivery system that moves the cup to be printed to the at least one printing station, the cup delivery system comprising a mandrel that retains the cup to be printed while the mandrel rotates the cup at a known rate of rotation and an encoder that interfaces with the computing system controlling the inkjet print head to enable the computing system to cause the inkjet print head to deposit ink at desired locations on the rotating cup retained by the mandrel;
- a cup loading system that places the cup to be printed onto the mandrel of the cup delivery system before the cup delivery system moves the cup to be printed to the at least one printing station;
- and
- a cup unloading system that removes the cup from the mandrel of the cup delivery system after the cup has been printed by the at least one printing station;
- and
- a mandrel rotation system that rotates the mandrel and cup while the mandrel and cup are positioned at the printing station, the mandrel rotation system engaging the mandrel when the mandrel is positioned at the printing station and disengaging from the mandrel when the mandrel is moved from the print station, the mandrel rotation system comprising at least a drive system and an encoder, the encoder interfaced with the computing system controlling the inkjet print head to apply ink to at desired locations on the exterior of the cup as the cup rotates using the encoder to determine what locations of the cup are presented to the inkjet print head,
- and wherein the ultraviolet light source emits ultraviolet light that at least partially cures the ink applied by the inkjet print head as the mandrel and cup rotate.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.