Jig and process for contact printing
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsBurn Jeng Lin, John Sebastian Mentesana, William Godfrey Santy, Janusz Stanislaw Wilczynski
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A jig for positioning an image mask and image receiving medium which includes a housing having a central bore, first means within the bore for supporting a mask or image receiving medium, a flexible diaphragm, second means for drawing vacuum, and a third means for applying superatmospheric pressure on one side of the diaphragm to deform it towards the first means to ensure proper positioning of the mask and image receiving medium. Also, the process for positioning the mask and image receiving medium is provided.
Claims10
A jig for positioning an image mask and an image receiving medium for contact or proximity printing, comprising:
- a housing having a central bore;
- first means located within said central bore for supporting an image mask or an image receiving medium;
- a flexible diaphragm attached to said housing surrounding the periphery of said central bore and juxtaposed to said first means to permit both said image mask and said image receiving medium to be located between said flexible diaphragm and said first means;
- second means for drawing a vacuum in said central bore on one side of said flexible diaphragm to move said image mask or said image receiving medium toward said first means and into position for contact or proximity printing;
- and
- third means for applying superatmospheric pressure to the other side of said flexible diaphragm to urge said flexible diaphragm toward said first means to ensure intimate contact of said image mask and said image receiving medium, and
- wherein said flexible diaphragm extends into said central bore a limited extent sufficient for forming a vacuum seal when drawing a vacuum in said central bore, and being positioned short of the center of the bore for permitting radiant energy exposure of said image mask and said image receiving medium.
A contact or proximity printing process which includes supporting a first image mask or first image receiving medium within the central bore of housing of a jig;
- positioning the other of the image mask or image receiving medium between a flexible diaphragm and the first image mask or first image receiving medium;
- drawing a vacuum in the central bore of the housing on one side of said flexible diaphragm to move the image mask and image receiving medium into position for contact or proximity printing;
- said flexible diaphragm extending into the central bore to a limited degree sufficient so that it acts as a seal for said vacuum;
- applying superatmospheric pressure on the other side of the diaphragm to urge the flexible diaphragm towards the image mask and image receiving medium to ensure intimate contact of the image mask and image receiving medium;
- and
- exposing the image mask and image receiving medium to radiant energy, whereby said flexible diaphragm is positioned short of the center of the bore to permit the exposing of said image mask and image receiving medium.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.