Patent Grant
10252544
The present invention is directed to apparatuses and methods for depositing a substance onto an article, including apparatuses and methods of printing directly on three-dimensional articles, as well as the articles printed thereby or having a substance deposited thereon.
Various apparatuses and methods of printing are disclosed in the patent literature and on the internet. Patent publications disclosing apparatuses and methods of printing include: U.S. Pat. No. 6,135,654, Jennel; U.S. Pat. No. 6,699,352 B2, Sawatsky; U.S. Pat. No. 7,210,408 B2, Uptergrove; U.S. Pat. No. 7,467,847 B2, Baxter, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 8,522,989 B2, Uptergrove; U.S. Pat. No. 8,579,402 B2, Uptergrove; U.S. Pat. No. 8,667,895 B2, Gerigk, et al.; and US Patent Application Publication Nos. US 2011/0232514 A1, Putzer, et al.; US 2013/0019566 A1, Schach; US 2014/0285600 A1, Domeier, et al.; and PCT Publication WO 2015/036334, Till. In addition, Xennia Technology has posted a video on You Tube entitled “Digital Outdoor Textile Printing” that shows a printing process on a moving banner material using a print mechanism that moves in an indexing manner. Other types of apparatuses and methods include the apparatus and method disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Pub No. US 2012/0031548 A1, “Apparatus and Method for Applying a Label to a Non-Ruled Surface”, filed in the name of Broad.
A number of current efforts are being directed to printing, particularly inkjet printing, on three-dimensional articles such as bottles and the like. Current printing apparatuses may either be of the single pass or the multi-pass type. Single pass apparatuses have the advantage that they are faster than multi-pass apparatuses. Multi-pass apparatuses can achieve better quality, but since the print heads must pass over the article multiple times in an indexing fashion, they are slower than single pass apparatuses. Unfortunately, with current inkjet technology and current printing apparatuses, the quality of labels that can be formed by printing directly on three-dimensional articles is not as good as that formed on separately printed flat labels. Most of the efforts appear to be directed to attempting to improve the quality of single pass apparatuses. A need exists for improved apparatuses and methods of printing, particularly for printing on three-dimensional articles.
The present invention is directed to apparatuses and methods for depositing a substance onto an article, including apparatuses and methods of printing directly on three-dimensional articles, as well as the articles printed thereby or having a substance deposited thereon.
In some cases, the apparatuses and methods involve creating a recirculating relative motion between at least one article and a substance deposition device. In some embodiments, the articles can be conveyed in a closed loop path past one or more substance deposition devices. The articles can be conveyed past the substance deposition device(s) one or more times, and during each pass by the substance deposition device(s), a portion of a predetermined pattern may be applied to the articles by the substance deposition device(s).
The embodiments of the method, apparatus(es), and articles shown in the drawings are illustrative in nature and are not intended to be limiting of the invention defined by the claims. Moreover, the features of the invention will be more fully apparent and understood in view of the detailed description.
The present invention is directed to apparatuses and methods for depositing a substance onto an article, including apparatuses and methods of printing directly on three-dimensional articles, as well as the articles printed thereby or having a substance deposited thereon. The term “method” may be used interchangeably herein with the term “process”.
The apparatus 20 can be used to deposit a substance or material 22 on numerous different types of three-dimensional articles 10. Such articles include, but are not limited to: caps, closures, bottles; boxes; cans; cartons; containers; laundry dosing balls; razors; components of consumer products such as razor blade heads and handles; sprayer triggers; tubs; tubes including, but not limited to tampon tubes; and deodorant stick containers. The articles may include primary packages for consumer products, including disposable consumer products. Additional articles include components of containers or packages including, but are not limited to: bottle caps; and bottle pre-forms that are subsequently blown into the form of a finished bottle. The apparatus 20 can be used to convey and print empty containers, partially filled, or full containers. The containers can have a rigid or flexible structure in whole or in part. Such containers may be capped or uncapped. The articles can be made of any suitable material, including but not limited to: plastic, metal, and/or cardboard.
The substance deposition device(s) (“deposition device”) 26 can deposit any suitable substance (or “material”) on the article 10. Suitable materials include, but are not limited to: inks (including UV-curable inks, and acrylate-based inks), coatings, and lotions. The material can be deposited in any suitable form. Suitable forms include, but are not limited to: liquids, powders, and hot melts (the latter being solids that may be heated to flow). The material can be deposited in any suitable pattern. Suitable patterns can be regular or irregular and include, but are not limited to: designs, images, text, an indicium, a texture, a functional coating, and combinations thereof. The deposition device 26 can be any suitable type of device including, but not limited to an inkjet print head, nozzles, and other types of material deposition devices.
The apparatus 20 and method may create one or more types of relative motion between the articles 10 and the deposition device(s) 26. The relative motion can be created by: (1) moving the article(s) 10 with respect to the deposition device 26; (2) moving the deposition device 26 relative to the article(s) 10; or by moving both the article(s) 10 and the deposition device 26 relative to each other. There may be more than one different type of relative motion between the article(s) 10 and the deposition device(s) 26. In cases in which the apparatus and method create more than one different type of relative motion between the articles and the deposition device, these will be referred to herein as a first type of relative motion, a second type of relative motion, etc.
The first type of relative motion, shown by arrow F in
In some embodiments, the at least partially non-linear motion can be achieved by providing the article conveyor 24 in the form of a re-circulating loop. The re-circulating loop can be in any suitable configuration. The conveyor 24 may move (and, thus, move the articles 10) in a curvilinear path such as a circular path; or in a path that comprises both linear portions and curvilinear portions. Non-limiting examples of such paths include: circular paths, elliptical paths, race track configured paths, and other closed loop paths. The re-circulating loop comprises during at least a portion thereof, moving the article(s) 10 about an axis that is different from (e.g., offset from) the article's own axis. Thus, spinning the article about its own axis (such as spinning a can about its own axis on a mandrel), would not be considered to be a “re-circulating loop”.
The re-circulating loop allows the article(s) to be presented to the deposition device multiple times at a higher rate (articles per unit time) than a linear-moving carriage-type device to enable multi-pass deposition of material on the article(s) 10. For instance, one type of flatbed carriage-type device that uses two passes to deposit a substance on a three-dimensional article prints at a rate of 12 articles per minute. Depending on the size of the article(s), the method of the present invention may be capable of printing up to 60, or more, articles/minute.
The conveyor 24 can be any suitable type of device for conveying the article(s) 10 past the deposition device 26. Suitable conveyors include, but are not limited to: turret conveyors, star wheel conveyors, endless loop conveyors which may be in the form of tracks, belts, chains, and the like. As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
In other embodiments, as shown in
In other embodiments, the deposition device(s) 26 could be located inside the path of travel P of the articles 10. In addition, if the carrier 28 in either of the embodiments shown in
The apparatus shown in
Thus, as shown and described above, the first type of relative motion F can be contrasted with current multiple pass printing processes and apparatuses that typically involve moving a carriage containing a print head linearly back and forth over an article and indexing the carriage or the article. The first type of relative motion F can also be contrasted with current multiple pass printing processes and apparatuses that hold the print head steady and index an article relative to the print head. Unlike indexing motions, in the case of the first type of relative motion F, the path along which the article(s) 10 move (and any axis defining the same) may remain fixed between cycles. Thus, neither the axis, nor the path P needs to shift between cycles.
The articles 10, if three-dimensional, will typically have at least two opposing ends. For example, a bottle will have a base and a top. The articles 10 may also have a front, a back, and sides. The articles 10 will also have a surface 12. The articles 10 may be solid as in the case of some razor blade handles, or hollow in the case of bottles, for example. If the articles are hollow, they will also have an interior. The surface of the articles 10 may be flat or curved. The entire surface need not be either flat or curved. For example, the surface of the articles 10 may have: portions that are flat; portions that are curved; or, the surface may have both flat portions and curved portions. For instance, in the case of bottles, at least a portion of the surface may have a convex curvature. It is also possible that some articles may have a surface in which a portion thereof has a concave curvature.
The method and apparatus are particularly useful for printing on articles with curved surfaces. The apparatus and method deposit the substance 22 on the surface of the article(s) 10. The apparatus and method are also particularly useful for printing directly on the surface of the article(s) 10. For instance, instead of attaching a pre-printed label to an article such as a bottle, the apparatus and method can be used to directly print the subject matter of the label on the article. Of course, the apparatus and method are not limited to printing subject matter which serves as a label on the articles. The apparatus and method are also useful in printing designs and the like on articles.
The articles 10 can be in any suitable orientation on the article conveyor 24. For example, the articles 10 may be situated in an upright orientation, or an upside down orientation on the conveyor 24 (and in any article holders 30). Alternatively, the articles 10 may lay flat on the conveyor 24 (and in any article holders 30). The only requirement is that the portion of the surface of the articles 10 on which the substance 22 is to be deposited should be exposed to the deposition device 26 at the time it is desired to deposit the substance 22 on the article 10.
The conveyor 24 can hold any suitable number of articles at a given time. Suitable numbers of articles 10 can range from 1-20, or more articles. If there are multiple articles on the conveyor at a given time, they may be referred to herein as a “batch” of articles. The batch of articles will typically all travel on the same path P, until the articles are removed from the conveyor 24 for subsequent processing. The number of articles 10 on the conveyor 24 at a given time may be less than, equal to, or greater than the number of deposition device(s) 26 disposed adjacent the conveyor 24. The apparatus 20 may, thus, provide a cost advantage in comparison to certain other apparatuses by using fewer deposition device(s) including, if desired, only one deposition device on the apparatus.
The deposition device 26, as discussed above, can be any suitable type of device including, but not limited to print heads, nozzles, and other types of material deposition devices. The deposition device 26 may be a non-contacting type of deposition device. By “non-contacting”, it is meant that the deposition device 26 does not contact the surface of the article(s) 10 on which the substance 22 is to be deposited. In the case of print heads, any suitable type of print heads can be used including, but not limited to inkjet print heads, piezo print heads, electrostatic print heads and/or printing valve print heads. The print heads may be of a drop-on-demand type of deposition device. By “drop-on-demand”, it is meant that the print heads can apply droplets of ink only where needed such as to form a pattern in the form of words, figures (e.g., pictures), or designs. Ink jet print heads are typically digitally actuatable and can print images provided by a computer.
Ink jet print heads will typically comprise multiple nozzles 40. As shown in
The droplets of ink formed by an ink jet print head can range in diameter from about 10 microns or less to about 200 microns, or more. The droplets of ink can be distributed in any suitable number over a given area. Typically, in ink jet printing, the ink droplets form a matrix in which the number of drops per inch (DPI) is specified in the direction of movement of the print head or article to be printed, and in a direction on the surface of the article perpendicular thereto. A two dimensional representation of such a matrix of ink droplets 42 is shown in
The apparatus 20 can comprise any suitable number, arrangement, and type of deposition device(s) 26. For example, the apparatus may comprise between 1-20, or more, deposition device(s) 26. Thus, there may be a plurality of deposition devices 26. The deposition device(s) 26 may be arranged in a spaced apart relationship along the article conveyor 24. Alternatively, one or more of the deposition device(s) 26 may be positioned adjacent and in contact with another one of the deposition device(s) 26. The deposition device(s) 26 may be positioned above the articles 10 in the article conveyor 24, or to either of the sides of the articles 10 that are inside or outside of the path of movement P.
When the deposition device(s) 26 comprise print heads, one or more of the deposition devices 26 may comprise a printing unit (or “printing station”). The ink jet print heads may be configured to print black, or color. Each printing unit may comprise any suitable number of print heads, from one to four or more. For example, in some cases, the printing unit may comprise four print heads for a CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and key (black)) color scheme for producing different color sets of a multicolor print. The printing unit may also comprise additional print head(s) for additional colors, e.g., white and or special colors, for a priming coat as a first printing step or for a base layer, e.g., an adhesive, and/or for applying a transparent sealing or protective coating. In some embodiments, there may be multiple continuously re-circulating loops, such as one or more for a base coat, one or more for a decoration coat, and one or more for a top coat.
The apparatus 20 may further comprise one or more additional stations or devices that are positioned at any desired location along the conveyor 24. Such additional devices may include, but are not limited to pre-treatment devices 48 for pre-treating the surface of the articles, such as flame treatment, corona treatment, and plasma jet treatment devices. Such additional devices may also include devices 50 for drying or curing the articles after printing or other treatment (such as ultra-violet (UV) light sources or electron beam sources).
The substance, such as the ink(s) may be applied directly to the article(s) 10 in a predetermined pattern. The term “predetermined pattern”, as used herein, refers to any type of printed pattern including but not limited to words, figures (e.g., pictures), or designs that is determined prior to the initiation of printing. As discussed above, an inkjet printed image is typically made up of a plurality of ink droplets that are arranged in a matrix of droplets or pixels.
The deposition device, such as print head(s) 26 may deposit only a portion of the predetermined pattern on each article 10 in each pass of the article past the deposition device 26. The portion of the predetermined pattern may take several possible forms. For instance, the predetermined pattern will typically cover a given area of the article. In some embodiments, a first portion of the total area of the pre-determined pattern (e.g., the upper half of an image) may be printed on the article during the first pass of the article past the print head(s) 26. Then, in a subsequent pass (such as the second pass), another portion (or the remainder of the image (such as the lower half)) of the image may be printed on the article. Of course, such embodiments are not limited to printing half of the image in one pass, and the other half in a second pass. Any suitable portion of the image can be printed in each pass in any suitable number of passes to form a complete image.
In other embodiments, as shown in
The apparatus and method described herein is not limited to the examples shown in the drawings. It will be appreciated that the apparatus and method described herein allows any portion of any predetermined pattern to be applied to an article during each pass. In addition to printing any portion of the predetermined pattern of ink during each pass, the predetermined pattern could also comprise a base coat under the ink and/or a protective coat such as a clear coat disposed over the ink. In such cases, if desired, the base coat may be applied under all, or only a portion of the predetermined pattern of ink. Likewise, if desired, the clear coat may be applied over all, or only a portion of the predetermined pattern of ink.
In some embodiments, in order to deposit different portions of the predetermined pattern, the apparatus and method may create more than one type of relative motion between the articles 10 and the deposition device 26. For instance, the print head(s) 26 may move relative to the article(s) 10 in order to align with a different portion of the article(s) 10 between passes such as between the first and second (or subsequent) pass of a given article 10 past the print head 26. The print head(s) 26 may move in any suitable manner relative to the article(s), with any suitable type of movement.
The substance deposition device 26 may move between one position such as S1 and another position, such as S2. In some embodiments, if the deposition device 26 is an ink jet print head, the positions S1 and S2 may be established such that when the deposition device 26 is at these positions, the ink nozzles 40 will be positioned entirely outside of one side of the area on the surface of the article 10 that is to be provided with the predetermined pattern. In such an arrangement, when the print head 26 is moved with respect to the article 10, all of the nozzles will be capable of applying ink to the article 10 from one side of the area on the surface of the article 10 that is to be provided with the predetermined pattern to the opposite side of the area to be provided with the predetermined pattern. Of course, S1 and S2 can be set so that the deposition device 26 will move to any suitable extent with respect to the article(s) 10.
In some cases, the print head(s) 26 may print while moving at least part of the distance between one position such as S1 and another position S2 when an article 10 is in position adjacent thereto for receiving a substance such as ink thereon. In some cases, the print head(s) 26 may print while continuously moving from one position to another position when an article 10 is in position for receiving a substance such as ink thereon. In other cases, the print head 26 may index between subsequent passes of a given article 10 past the print head 26 before it starts printing again. In other words, the print head 26 may move or shift a certain distance in a direction substantially parallel to the axis of the nozzles L between subsequent passes of a given article 10 past the print head 26. In the case of an indexing print head 26, the print head 26 may be stationary when printing.
Other types of relative motion are also possible. For example, in certain embodiments, it may be desired to move the article 10 in order to present a different portion of the article to the deposition device 26. For instance, the article 10 could be turned or rotated in any suitable manner between the first and subsequent pass of a given article 10 past the print head 26.
If there is more than one deposition device 26, one or more deposition devices may be movable and one or more deposition devices may be stationary. If there is more than one movable print head 26, the different print heads 26 may all move with the same type of movement. Alternatively, certain print heads 26 can move with one type of movement, and other print heads 26 can move with a different type of movement.
If desired, the surface of the article can be treated prior to printing. Common surface treatment techniques include flame treatment, corona treatment, and plasma jet treatment. If desired, the deposited material 22 may be cured after any pass, including after each pass. For example, if the substance 22 is a UV-reactive ink, such an ink could be cured after one or more passes by exposure to UV light or an electron beam.
After the desired predetermined image is applied to the article(s) 10, the article(s) in the batch of articles may be transferred by the conveyor 24 to another conveyor or apparatus for further processing. For example, if the article(s) 10 are bottles, the bottles may be transferred from the conveyor 24 to a filler, and capper.
The dimensions and values disclosed herein are not to be understood as being strictly limited to the exact numerical values recited. Instead, unless otherwise specified, each such dimension is intended to mean both the recited value and a functionally equivalent range surrounding that value. For example, a dimension disclosed as “90°” is intended to mean “about 90°”.
It should be understood that every maximum numerical limitation given throughout this specification includes every lower numerical limitation, as if such lower numerical limitations were expressly written herein. Every minimum numerical limitation given throughout this specification will include every higher numerical limitation, as if such higher numerical limitations were expressly written herein. Every numerical range given throughout this specification will include every narrower numerical range that falls within such broader numerical range, as if such narrower numerical ranges were all expressly written herein.
All documents cited in the Detailed Description of the Invention are, in relevant part, incorporated herein by reference; the citation of any document is not to be construed as an admission that it is prior art with respect to the present invention. To the extent that any meaning or definition of a term in this written document conflicts with any meaning or definition of the term in a document incorporated by reference, the meaning or definition assigned to the term in this written document shall govern.
While particular embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described, it would be obvious to those skilled in the art that various other changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is therefore intended to cover in the appended claims all such changes and modifications that are within the scope of this invention.
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