Continuously updatable rotary pad printing apparatus and method

A method for pad printing an image onto a receiving surface, comprising:

• (a) providing a rotatable shaft having an axis,
• (b) providing a plurality of resilient pads secured to said rotatable shaft, each of said plurality of resilient pads having an arcuate ink-receiving-and-releasing surface, said arcuate ink-receiving-and-releasing surface having an axis that is coaxial with said axis of said rotatable shaft,
• (c) providing a first motive source for rotating said shaft,
• (d) providing an ink source containing ink of at least one color,
• (e) providing an image source that supplies at least one reverse-reading image,
• (f) providing at least one ink-applicator means extending parallel to said axis of said shaft and spaced a predetermined distance from said axis of said shaft, said applicator means being connected to said image source and supplied with said ink from said ink source and arranged to print said reverse-reading image with said ink directly onto said surface of at least one of said pads while said shaft rotates and without use of an intermediate release surface,
• (g) providing a second motive source arranged to urge said receiving surface and said surface of said at least one of said pads into stamping contact at a predetermined time,
• (h) providing a control unit where said control unit causes:
• (1) said first motive source to cause said shaft to rotate,
• (2) said ink applicator means to print said reverse-reading ink image directly onto said surface of said one pad while said pad rotates beneath said ink-applicator means,
• (3) said first motive source to rotate said one pad over said receiving surface and stop with said one pad positioned over said receiving surface, and
• (4) at said predetermined time, said second motive source to urge said one pad into stamping contact with said receiving surface while said first motive source is stopped so that said reverse-reading ink image is transferred by stamping onto said receiving surface as a right-reading ink image,
• whereby said reverse-reading ink image is printed with said ink onto said one of said pads while said one of said pads rotates, and then rotation of said one of said pads is stopped and said one of said pads is urged into stamping contact with said receiving surface while said one of said pads is stopped in order to transfer said reverse-reading ink image from said one of said pads onto said receiving surface as said right-reading ink image, thereby printing said right-reading ink image onto said receiving surface while improving reliability by requiring few parts and eliminating degradation of said right-reading ink image by using only a single transfer of said ink from said pad to said receiving surface.

A pad printing system for printing a right-reading ink image onto a receiving surface, comprising:

• (a) a plurality of non-contiguous, resilient pads, each pad having a circularly arcuate surface having an axis of curvature and arranged to directly receive and temporarily retain a reverse-reading copy of said ink image, each of said pads rigidly secured to a rotatable shaft having the same axis as said pads,
• (b) a control unit for issuing commands for operation of said system,
• (c) an actuable first motive source for rotating said shaft,
• (d) a second motive source for urging said surface of at least one of said plurality of resilient pads into stamping contact with said receiving surface while said first motive source is inactivated,
• (e) an image source containing at least one original image that has been separated into a plurality of reverse-reading images comprising a plurality of respective color components of said original image,
• (f) said first and said second motive sources and said image source being responsive to commands from said control unit,
• (g) a plurality of ink applicators, each of said ink applicators being connected to an ink source, each of said ink sources being arranged to supply ink of the same color as said respective color components of said original right-reading image, each of said ink applicators being an equal distance from said shaft,
• (h) each of said ink applicators being responsive to said commands from said control unit for applying said color component portion of said original image directly, without use of an intermediate release surface, from said ink applicator onto said surface of said pad in registration with said original image while said first motive source is actuated and said shaft rotates,
• whereby, when urged by said commands from said control unit, said color components of said image are applied as said reverse-reading images to said pad while said pad rotates, and then said pad is stopped and urged into stamping contact with said receiving surface, thereby simultaneously transferring all of said color components of said image in registration as a right-reading image onto said receiving surface at the same time while obviating the need for an intermediate release surface.