High definition stencil
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsWilliam W. Kann, Minsu Kim, Niles Kinman
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A stencil for use in stenciling complex symbols incorporates a stencil substrate employing a flexible material, having a plurality of symbols arranged thereon. A plurality of folding stiffeners are incorporated in the substrate, each stiffener being positioned to split symbols having stencil cutouts forming isolated elements within an interior of the symbol. The stiffeners are foldable about a vertex, to collapse into a raised position and bring together the split symbol, with the stiffeners supporting the isolated elements created by the cutouts and portions of the stencil cutouts forming the symbols that extend into coincident channels in the folding stiffeners, to bridge adjoining portions of said split characters.
Claims20
A stencil for use in stenciling complex characters, comprising:
- a stencil substrate having a plurality of cutouts for symbols arranged thereon;
- a plurality of raised stiffeners vertically oriented and arranged to bridge across specific cutouts with isolated elements, the plurality of raised stiffeners supporting the isolated elements,
- wherein portions of said specific cutouts are coincident with channels through a part of the plurality of raised stiffeners, and
- wherein the stencil substrate and the plurality of raised stiffeners are formed by an additive manufacturing process.
A method for forming a stencil to apply a painted marker on a surface comprising:
- introducing symbols desired on a stencil into a substrate to form cutouts for paint transmission to a surface;
- introducing a removable filler into the cutouts at locations spanning the cutouts at isolated elements for placement of desired ribs;
- applying vertical ribs spanning the symbol in a manner to overlap the filler;
- and
- removing the filler.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.