The present invention relates to an apparatus that grips spherically symmetrical objects to facilitate printing images across the circumference of spherically symmetrical objects utilizing a flatbed printing device. Specifically, the invention provides an apparatus with a quick-release mechanism, which when placed within the confines of a flatbed printer, facilitates printing onto a plurality of spherically symmetrical objects in succession.
With the development of fast-curing flatbed printers capable of printing color-rich textured or embossed features, there has been a significant increase of a sector of print shops dedicated to printing designs directly onto accessories, giftware, ceramics, and many more products. These objects are planar in geometry and easily compatible with a stock flatbed printer setup.
With a market saturated in planar objects, an increased market demand has arisen for developing various apparatuses and machines that provide the customization, via printing, of non-planar objects such as spheres, cylinders, and similar non-planar shapes.
Various efforts exist to develop devices and methods for printing on such spherically symmetrical objects. One such effort involves placing a fixture inside a flatbed printer with several rows and columns of spherically symmetrical objects. Devices designed this way focus on a fixture that orients the spherically symmetrical object such that a single plane tangent to the surface of the printhead is available to be imprinted upon, like a pad printing process. See JP 2010-162265 A of Matsui et al.
Other efforts involve the development of a computer-controlled apparatus for printing specifically on spherically symmetrical objects. See Pub. No. US 2005/0178279 A1 of Valls, Pat. No. US 6,418,843 B1 of Givler, Pat. No. US 6,538,767 B1 of Over et al., and Pub. No. US 2009/0255423 A1 of Valls. Similarly, additional efforts focus on computer-controlled machinery with a high throughput of printed objects for mass production. See Pub. No. 2011/0292146 A1 of Sigismondo and KR 20-0492888 Y1 of Jaehoon.
It is evident that there has been development of accessories for flatbed printers that allows for printing onto a single tangent plane of a spherically symmetrical object, and there have been additional efforts into the development of novel machines for printing fully around a spherically symmetrical object. From these current efforts, it becomes apparent that there is a need for an apparatus to convert commonly used flatbed printers to be capable of printing fully around spherically symmetrical objects. This invention seeks to meet the needs of modern print shops to adapt their current equipment to implement various marketable products.
The present invention addresses the problems described above by providing an apparatus for use with currently marketed flatbed printers, acting as an accessory, allowing for printing onto spherically symmetrical objects having curved, non-planar, or non-linear surfaces. These objects include, but are not limited to, spherically symmetrical objects such as golf balls, ping pong balls, and ornaments.
A system, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, includes a spherically symmetrical object holder assembly composed of multiple detents throughout which spherically symmetrical objects are held together via spring compression. Two end mounts enclose the holding assembly, a driving end mount and a reload end mount, and are attached to a baseplate. Between the end mounts, ball-cup assemblies hold the spherically symmetrical objects. In the invention’s preferred embodiment, a driving end mount houses a bearing by which a cup attaches and can rotate. The cup’s design consists of a hollowed cylindrical volume with a chamfered edge conforming to the spherically symmetrical object’s radius, such that a spherically symmetrical object is partially contained inside the volume of the cup while a volume remains open for printing. Following the placement of an object into the initial cup, a ball-cup assembly is seated upon two rails that run transverse to the holding assembly; the rails attach to the two end mounts and allow for longitudinal adjustment of the ball-cup assembly. The ball-cup assembly contains a bearing housing that affixes to the rails, and upon the front and back face of the assembly, an aforementioned cup for gripping the spherically symmetrical object is attached. The assembly holds the back end of one spherically symmetrical object on the front-facing side and the front end of one spherically symmetrical object on the back-facing side. This process of cupping an object via ball-cup assemblies repeats until, in the preferred embodiment, three spherically symmetrical objects are held between the two ends of the holding assembly. The final ball-cup assembly, closest to the reload end mount, features a gripping handle on the back face instead of a cup. This specific ball-cup assembly is known as the ball-release assembly, and between the casing of the ball-release assembly and the reload end mount sits a spring on each rail. The spring is contained between the ball-release assembly and reload end mount, compressing along the length of the rails. When the spring is partially disengaged, the spherically symmetrical objects align to the center of the cups and the cups, attached to the ball-cup housing with a bearing inside, create a rigid rod with which the object and cups can rotate. When the spring is engaged by pulling the gripping handle and securing it to the reload end mount, the spherically symmetrical objects are released from the cups at a prescribed distance and sit on a chamfered edge atop the baseplate, allowing for replacement of the objects.
One aspect of the present invention is the ability to rotate a plurality of spherically symmetrical objects as previously described in the holding assembly. A rotary rack [a piece of equipment used with flatbed printers to allow for printing on cylindrical objects by converting the longitudinal motion of the flatbed into rotational motion in the rotary rack rollers] is used to accomplish this function. The present invention interfaces with the rotary rack via a quick-release front mount and a quick-release end mount. The quick-release front mount has a recessed shelf into which the holding assembly is inserted. The quick-release end mount consists of one piece with two small tabs on the ends that slot into the sides of the holding assembly. A driving assembly is attached to the quick-release front mount through a fastener. Both quick-release parts attach to the mounting holes available on a rotary rack device. These quick-release pieces fix the holding assembly in all directions except directly above, respectively, preventing assembly movement during rotation while allowing movement when replacing the objects in the holders. To interface between the rotary rack and the driving assembly, a belt is connected to the rotary rack rollers and situated onto a groove of a pulley connected to the driving assembly, allowing for the transmission of the rotational motion of the rotary rack rollers to the driving assembly pulley. The driving assembly comprises the aforementioned pulley, a bearing housing affixed to the quick-release front mount, a keyed shaft, and a gear. The pulley runs through the bearing housing, and a fastener connects the pulley to the keyed shaft where the gear is mounted. The same keyed shaft and gear are set on the opposite face to the cup of the previously mentioned driving end mount. These shafts offset one another the distance of the diametral pitch of the gear, such that the holding assembly gear meshes with the driving assembly gear allowing for the rotation of the spherically symmetrical objects for printing.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the presented invention to provide an accessory to a standard flatbed printer that interacts with a rotary rack to allow the printer’s conversion from working with planar objects to spherically symmetrical objects.
An additional objective is to hold a plurality of spherically symmetrical objects between detents by which the objects can be loaded and unloaded by compressing a spring via pulling a gripping handle and fastening it to the reload end mount therebetween the spring resides.
Another objective of this invention is to provide a system for quick-release where many baseplate assemblies can be prepared and quickly mounted and unmounted from the quick-release assembly without the need for fasteners.
These and other objects, aims, and advantages of the presented invention will become more readily apparent from the following disclosure, appended claims, and the attached drawings of a preferred embodiment of the invention.
Some embodiments of the present invention are illustrated as an example and are not limited by the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like references may indicate similar elements and in which:
Reference will now be made in detail to a preferred embodiment of the invention, non-limiting examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
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This application is a continuation of Provisional U.S. Pat. Application Ser. No. 63/276,104, filed Nov. 5, 2021.
Number | Date | Country | |
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63276104 | Nov 2021 | US |