Claims
- 1. A method for producing a print image on a carrier material, comprising the steps of:defining ink-attracting and ink-repellant areas on a surface of a print carrier in conformity with a structure of the print image to be printed, said ink-repellant areas to be made ink repellant, providing the ink-repellant areas with a layer of an ink-repellant medium, supplying ink onto the surface, said ink adhering to the ink-attracting areas and being not picked up by the ink-repellant areas, printing the ink distributed on the surface onto the carrier material, using a substance in its solid phase as the ink-repellant medium in said ink-repellant areas, said substance being in a liquid state at room temperature, cooling the surface of the print carrier to produce the solid phase of the substance on the surface of the print carrier, said cooling resulting in cooling to below room temperature.
- 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein said cooling step cools the surface to a temperature below the solidification temperature of the substance for producing the solid-phase of the substance.
- 3. A method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:initially completely covering the surface of the print carrier with a layer of the substance in the solid phase; and producing areas on the surface which are free of the substance in the solid phase in a structuring process as the ink-attracting areas in conformity with the structure of the print image to be printed.
- 4. A method according to claim 1, wherein said cooling step uses a coolant system for cooling the print carrier.
- 5. A method according to claim 1, wherein said cooling step includes electro-thermally cooling said surface.
- 6. A method as claimed in claim 5, wherein said electro-thermally cooling step uses Peltier elements.
- 7. A method according to claim 1, wherein said printing step includes directly transfer printing ink on the print carrier onto the carrier material.
- 8. A method according to claim 1, wherein said printing step includesinitially transferring the ink onto an intermediate carrier and transfer printing from the intermediate carrier onto the carrier material.
- 9. A method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of: repeatedly inking ink attracting areas on the print carrier.
- 10. A method according to claim 1, wherein the surface of the print carrier is composed of metal.
- 11. A method according to claim 10, wherein the surface of the print carrier is composed of a material selected from the group consisting of stainless steel, chromium and nickel.
- 12. A method according to claim 1, wherein said step of providing the ink-repellant areas with the layer of the ink-repellant medium further includes:producing a thin liquid film as the ink-repellant medium on the surface by spraying on the liquid.
- 13. A method according to claim 1, wherein the substance in the solid phase is a parting agent.
- 14. A method according to claim 13, wherein the parting agent is a material selected from the group consisting of wax, fat, resin and fatty acid amide.
- 15. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of providing the ink-repellant areas with the layer of the ink-repellant medium includes the substep of: producing a thin liquid film on the surface by rolling on the liquid.
- 16. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of providing the ink-repellant areas with the layer of the ink-repellant medium further includes:producing a thin liquid film as the ink-repellant medium on the surface by rolling on the liquid.
- 17. An apparatus for producing a print image on a carrier material, comprising:a print carrier having a surface defined with ink attracting areas and ink repelling areas in conformity with a structure of the print image to be printed, said ink repelling areas to be ink repelling, a layer of an ink-repellant medium on said ink repelling areas of the surface of the print carrier, said ink repellant medium being a substance in its solid phase, and a cooling mechanism mounted to cool the surface of the print carrier so that the solid phase of said substance is produced on the surface of the print carrier, said cooling mechanism cooling the surface to below room temperature to reach the solid phase of the substance.
- 18. An apparatus according to claim 17, wherein said cooling mechanism is operable to cool the surface of the print carrier to a temperature below the solidification temperature of the substance.
- 19. An apparatus according to claim 17, wherein said layer of said ink-repellant medium is structured with areas free of the substance in the solid phase as the ink-attracting areas in conformity with the structure of the print image to be printed.
- 20. An apparatus according to claim 17, wherein said cooling mechanism is an electro-thermally cooling mechanism.
- 21. An apparatus as claimed in claim 20, wherein said electro-thermically cooling mechanism includes Peltier elements.
- 22. An apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising:a radiation emitter mounted to direct radiation toward said surface, the radiation emitter being selected from the group consisting of a laser, a laser diode, an LED and an LED array.
- 23. An apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising:heating elements mounted to generate areas on said surface free of the solid phase of said substance.
- 24. An apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising:a roller system mounted to ink the surface of the print carrier.
- 25. An apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the print carrier is mounted to directly transfer print onto the carrier material.
- 26. An apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising:an intermediate carrier mounted between the print carrier and the carrier material.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
197 02 861 |
Jan 1997 |
DE |
|
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This is a Continuation Application of Ser. No. 09/355,432, filed Sep. 21, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,295,928.
US Referenced Citations (14)
Foreign Referenced Citations (4)
Number |
Date |
Country |
460 035 |
Apr 1928 |
DE |
24 48 325 |
Apr 1976 |
DE |
0 099 731 |
Feb 1984 |
EP |
1 208 731 |
Oct 1970 |
GB |
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09/355432 |
Sep 1999 |
US |
Child |
09/915673 |
|
US |