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AssigneeL&P Property Management Company
InventorRichard N. Codos
Estimating the term…
Ink jet printing is provided onto rigid panels such as office partitions, which have surfaces that are contoured, textured or made of another three-dimensional material, or are otherwise differently spaced from the plane of the panel such that the distance between a printing element and the point on the surface on which ink is to be deposited is not always the same or exactly predictable. Preferably, three dimensional covered panels are printed using ink jet printing, preferably using ultraviolet (UV) light curable ink, which is first, at least partially cured with UV light and then subjected to heating to more completely cure and dry the ink to remove, by evaporation, further curing or otherwise, the uncured monomers. The panel surface may be contoured by quilting or molding processes. Print head to panel spacing is adjustable to maintain a predetermined constant distance from the printing element to the surface of the panel where the ink is to be applied. Each of a plurality of print heads is provided and independently moveable to control the spacing of the print heads from the substrate surface. Sensors on the print head carriage measure the shape, or vertical position of the print heads. The position or focal length of the UV light curing head may also be varied to maintain focus of the UV light on the ink on a contoured surface of the substrate.
A method of printing on a substrate comprising:
A method of printing on rigid panels comprising the steps of:
An apparatus for printing on three-dimensional surfaces of substrates comprising:
A method of printing on a substrate comprising automatically separately adjusting the position of each of a plurality of ink jet print heads applying ink onto the substrate such that a uniform distance is maintained across which ink is jetted between each respective print head and the substrate during printing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.