Patent Application
20060068687
This invention relates to an apparatus for dry footing or for creating a sharp line between paint that has been applied to the inside and outside surfaces of a ceramic piece before the piece is fired.
In a ceramic studio, paints, which are called “underglazes,” are used to decorate a fired ceramic piece known as bisqueware. After the bisqueware or ceramic piece is painted, the entire ceramic piece is dipped in a clear dipping glaze and thoroughly dried before being placed in a kiln. Before a ceramic piece is placed on the kiln shelf, it either needs to be stilted on a small kiln stilt which has a ceramic base with tiny metal points sticking up from it to support the ceramic piece and keep it from touching the kiln shelf, or the ceramic piece needs to be dry footed which entails removing the dipping glaze and/or underglaze from the bottom or “foot” of the ceramic piece so that the piece will not adhere itself to the kiln shelf because the underglazes or dipping glazes would permanently adhere the ceramic piece to the kiln shelf if the two surfaces touched during firing. The foot or bottom of the ceramic piece might have a raised rim from the manufacturing of the piece or it may just have a flat bottom. The usual process in ceramic studios is to stilt the pieces in the kiln or to remove the glaze from the bottom of the ceramic pieces by hand sanding or rubbing the bottom with an abrasive pad. The procedure of dry footing creates glaze dust which is then introduced into the air that is breathed in the studio as well as producing unsightly dust.
In addition, the inside of a ceramic piece is often painted with one color and the outside of the ceramic piece is painted with another color (a cup or bowl, for example). This creates a dilemma with having the colors “meet” at the top lip of the piece with a clean, sharp definition between the two colors, thereby giving the ceramic piece a professional, finished look.
The subject invention solves both of these problems by providing an apparatus which facilitates the removal of the dipping glaze from the foot of a ceramic piece or sanding the top lip of a ceramic piece to remove paint from it, and simultaneously collects the resulting dust. A support has an opening passing through it and a carrier which will readily pass air is located in the opening below the top surface of the support. A porous, abrasive pad fits in the opening on top of the carrier. A vacuum device attached to the support pulls air through the pad. The device is used by placing the foot of a ceramic piece covered with dipping glaze, or the lip of a painted ceramic piece that has not yet been dipped into dipping glaze downwardly on top of the pad and moving it around the pad to remove the dipping glaze or paint. The dust that is generated by this process is drawn through the pad by the vacuum device where it is collected and then can be disposed of.
The foregoing and other objectives, features, and advantages of the invention will be more readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Referring now to
Located on top of the carrier is a porous, abrasive pad 22. Pads of this type are well known in the prior art. A typical pad of this type is the SCOTCH-BRITE pad which is used as a hand pad for cleaning purposes. The SCOTCH-BRITE pad is made from three-dimensional non-woven nylon webs which are impregnated with abrasive minerals. The pad 22 is sized to fit in the opening above the carrier 14 and substantially fill the opening. The pad has a thickness which causes its upper surface 24 to be flush with or slightly above the top surface 16 of the support 10.
Attached to the bottom of the support 10 below the opening 12 is a shell 26. The shell forms a plenum 28 whose inlet is the opening 12. The outlet of the plenum is a tube 30 which is connected to a vacuum device having a dust collection container, all shown schematically at 32. The collection container can either be a container that is emptied when full or a disposable bag which is replaced when it is full. When the vacuum device is operated air is drawn into the plenum through the pad 22.
One use of the apparatus is to dry foot ceramic pieces by removing the dipping glaze from the annular rim 34, or foot, at the bottom of the ceramic piece after the dipping glaze has dried but before the piece is fired in a kiln,
Another use of the apparatus is to remove paint from the top lip 36 of a ceramic piece,
The terms and expressions which have been employed in the foregoing specification are used therein as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention, in the use of such terms and expressions, of excluding equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof, it being recognized that the scope of the invention is defined and limited only by the claims which follow.
