US 4,648,317 A · Manually operated screen printing apparatus

Abstract

A manually operated silk screen printing apparatus having a printing bed and a chase overlying the printing bed for removably mounting a screen in alignment with the overlying printing bed. Preferably, a single ball-shaped handle or joystick is mounted on the top of the squeegee carriage for pushing or pulling to slide a squeegee carriage mounted on a lever arm over the center of the screen. The carriage travels on a three-point bearing arrangement with a guide or track surface on the lever arm. Flipping of the handle through an overcenter position reverses the squeegee and the carriage for the respective flood and print strokes. More specifically, the lever arm includes a generally horizontal guide track overlying the chase and extending approximately the length of the screen. The guide track is centered with respect to the chase and guides the carriage. The squeegee blade is centered in perpendicular relationship along its length to the guide track and is movable through a predetermined angle with respect to an axis perpendicular to the surface of the stencil screen for both the print and return stroke.

Claims15

Dependent claims

In a manually operated screen printing apparatus, the combination comprising:

a printing bed for holding a substrate to be printed,
a screen holding means and a screen mounted therein over the printing bed for printing onto the substrate,
a squeegee blade for engaging the screen in flood and print strokes for forcing ink or the like through the screen to print onto the substrate,
a squeegee carriage means for carrying the squeegee blade back and forth across the screen through the print and flood strokes, means mounting the squeegee blade at a first inclination during a print stroke and a second inclination for flood stroke, and
track means centered with respect to the centerline of the screen for guiding the carriage for rectilinear movement during the print and flood strokes and to center the squeegee blade and carriage over the screen, said squeegee blade being pivotally mounted with respect to said track means, means for pivotally mounting said track means for swinging in a lift direction to move said squeegee blade into and from contact with said screen, and an operating handle on the carriage means for grasping by the operator to manually move the squeegee carriage means along the track means in a direction parallel to the track means and the lift direction,
said operating handle being centered over the track means and the center of the screen so as to apply equal force to the squeegee blade halves on opposite sides of the screen centerline.

3 more elements

A manually operated screen printing apparatus comprising,

a printing bed supported on a frame to receive a substrate,
a chase means and a screen for receiving ink in alignment with and overlying the printing bed to print onto the substrate, said screen being pivoted to turn about an axis, and
a squeegee assembly associated with the screen comprising track means overlying the screen and centered with respect to the screen, said track means being centered on the screen means, said track means being perpendicular to said axis of said screen, carriage means movable along the track means in a direction parallel to the track means, squeegee blade means for contacting the screen secured to the carriage means and centered in perpendicular relation along its length to the track means, a handle means on the carriage means centered over said track means to be grasped by one hand for moving the carriage and the squeegee blade means through a predetermined angle with respect to an axis perpendicular to the surface of the screen as the carriage means moves on the track means to cause the squeegee blade means to travel across the screen in response to manual actuation while grasping the handle means, said squeegee blade means having fixed angles with respect to said perpendicular axis for a flood stroke and a print stroke.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Manually operated screen printing apparatus

Life of this patent

Manually operated screen printing apparatus

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims15