US 6,578,476 B2Granted

Print product on demand

AssigneeTLCD Corp.

InventorsThomas A. Liguori, Robert T. Jennings

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Abstract

A system and process for placing printed color images on a series of objects including: generating digital data representing a plurality of different color images; providing a print medium composed of a substrate carrying a releasable coating which is formulated to retain printing inks; supplying the generated digital data to a digitally controlled color printer having a plurality of print heads; feeding the print medium through the printer while operating the print heads under control of the generated data; and placing a portion of the printed coating in contact with an objects and transferring the image to the object. The printed medium may be incorporated into a mold. Alternatively, this may be accomplished by: providing a digitally controlled color printer having a plurality of print heads; feeding the objects to be printed upon past the printer; and operating the print heads under control of the generated digital data to print the color images on the objects.

Claims14

Dependent claims

A process for placing printed color images on a series of objects, each object having a curved exterior surface, the process comprising the steps of:

generating digital data for printing onto a print medium to form a plurality of color images, wherein the data represents a plurality of color images and a location where the colors may be printed to form the images;
providing a print medium, said medium having first and second sides, with the first carrying a coating which is releasable from the medium and is formulated to retain printing inks, wherein the print medium is constituted by an elongated web which is in the form of a roll;
providing a digitally controlled color printer having a plurality of print heads for dispensing printing inks of respectively different colors;
supplying the generated digital data to the printer;
feeding the print medium through the printer and past the print heads such that the web is unwound from the roll for feeding through the printer and operating the print heads under control of the generated data to print the color images on the coating;
arranging the images to be printed onto the coating of the print medium to form at least one column of images;
providing a transfer positioning conveyor for placing the objects to be printed at a desired location relative to the print medium;
moving a succession of the objects to be printed by the conveyor to a position adjacent to the print medium;
placing a portion of the coating on which an image has been printed in contact with the object;
and
applying heat by means of a heater to the print medium, wherein the conveyor is disposed adjacent to the first side of the print medium and the heater is disposed adjacent to the second side of the print medium;
and
transferring the image to the curved exterior surface of the object by rotating the object such that (i) the curved exterior surface of the object comes into contact along a portion of the coating on which an image has been printed;
(ii) printing of the object begins and ends at predetermined times;
and (iii) the object and coating are maintained in a non-sliding contact with one another.

12 more elements

An apparatus for placing printed color images on a series of objects, each object having a curved exterior surface, through the intermediary of a print medium, said print medium having a first and a second side, with the first side carrying a coating, which is releasable from the medium and is formulated to retain printing inks, and wherein said print medium is constituted by an elongated web and wherein the images are arranged side by side on the coating to form at least one column of images, the apparatus comprising:

means for generating digital data representing at least one color image;
a digitally controlled color printer having a plurality of print heads;
a printing controller connected to receive the digital data from the means for generating digital data and for supplying printer control signals to the print heads;
and
means for feeding the print medium through the printer and past the print heads while operating the print heads under control of the printer control signals to print the color images on the coating;
a transfer positioning conveyor for placing the objects to be printed at a desired location relative to the print medium;
heating means for supplying heat to the print medium, wherein the conveyor is disposed adjacent to the first side of the print medium and the heating means is disposed adjacent to the second side of the print medium;
and
rotating means for rotating the object such that(i) the curved exterior surface of the object comes into contact along the portion of the coating on which the image to be transferred has been printed;
(ii) the printing of the object begins and ends at predetermined times;
and (iii) the object and coating are maintained in non-sliding contact with one another.

8 more elements

A process for placing printed color images on a series of objects, each object having a curved exterior surface, the process comprising the steps of:

generating digital data for printing onto a print medium to form a plurality of color images, wherein the data represents a plurality of color images and a location where the colors may be printed to form the images;
providing a print medium, said medium having first and second sides, with the first carrying a coating which is releasable from the medium and is formulated to retain printing inks, wherein the print medium is constituted by an elongated web which is in the form of a roll;
providing a digitally controlled color printer having a plurality of print heads for dispensing printing inks of respectively different colors;
supplying the generated digital data to the printer;
feeding the print medium through the printer and past the print heads such that the web is unwound from the roll for feeding through the printer and operating the print heads under control of the generated data to print the color images on the coating;
arranging the images to be printed onto the coating of the print medium to form at least one column of images;
providing a transfer positioning conveyor for placing the objects to be printed at a desired location relative to the print medium;
moving a succession of the objects to be printed by the conveyor to a position adjacent to the print medium;
coating one of the objects to be printed with adhesive;
placing a portion of the coating on which an image has been printed in contact with the object;
and
applying heat by means of a heater to the print medium, wherein the conveyor is disposed adjacent to the first side of the print medium and the heater is disposed adjacent to the second side of the print medium;
and
transferring the image to the curved exterior surface of the object by rotating the object such that (i) the curved exterior surface of the object comes into contact along a portion of the coating on which an image has been printed;
(ii) printing of the object begins and ends at predetermined times;
and (iii) the object and coating are maintained in a non-sliding contact with one another.

13 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 09/800,374Filed 5 Mar 2001
Published: US 2002/0162472 A17 Nov 2002
Granted: 17 Jun 2003
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification12 codes

B41F 17/08
Printing apparatus or machines of special types or for particular purposes, not otherwise provided for: for printing on filamentary or elongated…
B41M 3/12
Printing processes to produce particular kinds of printed work, e.g. patterns: transfer pictures or the like, e.g. decalcomanias
B41M 5/0256
By transferring ink from the master sheet: the transferable ink pattern being obtained by means of a computer driven printer, e.g. an ink jet or…
B43K 19/16
Non-propelling pencils; Styles; Crayons; Chalks: making non-propelling pencils