In general, the invention relates to digital printing machines for printing a flexible work piece, such as textile, fabric, garment, or T-shirt, etc., and more particularly, to a unique digital printing machine that is featured by a drum-based structure, a stationary printing head, a synchronized drum rotating movement and a linear movement for creating a helical printing trajectory, and a mechanism of single and/or double-sided printing of a flexible work piece.
From the point of view of printing movements, there are basically two types of digital printing machines for ink printing a flexible work piece.
The first type is an X-Y linear coordinating platform with the X-axis controlling the horizontal linear movement of a printing head and the Y-axis controlling the vertical linear movement of a printing table where a flexible work piece is attached. Representative prior arts include U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,095,628 and 7,607,745. The common disadvantage of an X-Y coordinating platform-based digital printing machines is that the ink printing head has to travel in a high speed along the X-axis with left and right reciprocal motions. In addition, the ink printing head does not work efficiently as it has to decelerate when approaching to one end (left or right) and accelerate when departing from that end.
The second type is a combined linear and rotational mechanism where a drum wrapped with a flexible work piece rotates about its own axis while a printing head placed on the top of the drum moves reciprocally parallel to the drum axis. Representative prior arts include U.S. Pat. No. 10,131,143 and United Patent Application Publication 2017/0239961. Even though the above two inventions may benefit from a configuration of the printing machine with a rotatory drum, such as the former can print pictures on seamless textiles that are fitted on a rotating drum and the latter can print pictures on the entire external side of a textile embraced on a rotary drum, they also have the common disadvantage of an X-Y coordinating platform-based digital printing machines simply due to the high-speed reciprocal movement of the printing head.
To overcome the common disadvantage of the prior art digital printing machines as above-described, the present invention presents an innovative digital printing machine having a stationary printing head when printing and a drum with synchronized control of a drum rotation and a linear motion along the drum axis for a smooth helical printing trajectory.
The embodiments as presented in this invention may relate to a digital printing machine for printing a flexible work piece that is featured by a cylindrical drum moving in a linear direction along its central axis and synchronously rotating about its central axis. The greatest advantage of having a stationary ink printing head is the constant printing speed without left to right (or right to left) reciprocal motions.
According to one embodiment of this invention, with both the drum rotary movement and the drum linear movement being seamlessly and synchronously controlled by a drive control system of the digital printing system, the printer continuously and smoothly prints a helical trajectory on a flexible work piece attached on the same drum.
According to another embodiment of this invention, the cylindrical drum comprises a longitudinal open slot parallel to the drum axis and a clamp bar to lock a flexible work piece onto the drum. After the first side (or front side) of a flexible work piece completes the printing, the clamp bar lifts the clamped flexible work piece a little bit, and allows the drum rotating reversely until the second side (or the back side) of the flexible work piece is exposed and wrapped on the drum. If there is a need for a second side printing, the flexible work piece may be secured again by the clamp bar, then a new printing operation may start.
The present invention is related to a digital printing machine for printing various kinds of flexible work pieces (textiles, garments, fabrics, etc.) with different shapes (rectangle, pants, T-shirts, knitted vest, etc.). The digital printing machine is featured by a stationary ink printing head that will eliminate many problems caused by the conventional digital printing machines with a high-speed reciprocal movement of the printing head.
A unique cylindrical drum is constructed featuring a synchronized drive control for a linear movement along the drum central axis and a rotary movement about its central axis thus to result in a precisely controlled helical trajectory for any point on the drum periphery. The combined stationary ink printing head and synchronous drum helical movements seamlessly work together to produce a smooth and stable printing trajectory on a flexible work piece, providing a printed flexible work piece with better quality and reduced cost. Furthermore, the present invention presents a new mechanism to provide the capability of double-sided (front and back) printing for a flexible work piece with only one load operation.
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Each of the patents and other documents identified herein are hereby incorporated in their entirety by reference herein only to the extent that the incorporated material does not conflict with existing definitions, statements, or other disclosure material set forth in this disclosure. As such, and to the extent necessary, the disclosure as set forth herein supersedes any conflicting material incorporated herein by reference. Any material, or portion thereof, that is said to be incorporated by reference herein, but which conflicts with existing definitions, statements, or other disclosure material set forth herein is only incorporated to the extent that no conflict arises between that incorporated material and the existing disclosure material.
Other embodiments of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from a consideration of the specification or a practice of the invention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification and examples are illustrative only and are not intended to be limiting on the scope of the invention. The true scope and spirit of the present invention is indicated by the following claims.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20220032655 A1 | Feb 2022 | US |