Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B44—DECORATIVE ARTS
  • B44C—PRODUCING DECORATIVE EFFECTS; MOSAICS; TARSIA WORK; PAPERHANGING
  • B44C1/00—Processes, not specifically provided for elsewhere, for producing decorative surface effects
  • B44C1/16—Processes, not specifically provided for elsewhere, for producing decorative surface effects for applying transfer pictures or the like
  • B44C1/165—Processes, not specifically provided for elsewhere, for producing decorative surface effects for applying transfer pictures or the like for decalcomanias; sheet material therefor
  • B44C1/175—Transfer using solvent

Definitions

• the present invention concerns a new decalcomania suitable for transferring a colour in a permanent manner.
• the invention also concerns the process for architectural decoration using said new decalcomania.
• the field of the invention is that of the transferable decalcomanias, i.e. that technique which allows the application of an industrially ready-made colour on a selected support such as a masonry or a wooden wall.
• the colour may consist in a painting, a drawing, a fresco, a decoration in general and the like, which is printed on a decalcomania and, from this decalcomania, is transferred on the support to be decorated.
• the decalcomania with the colour consists of a sheet of coated paper, i.e. treated with layers of colloidal substances, the sizing, which has the purpose of preventing the colour from seeping into the fibres of the paper itself, which would compromise the following transfer.
• the actual decalcomanias have a coating material which is particularly suitable for dissolution when in contact with cold water.
• the water has in fact the aim of dissolving the sizing in order to cause the detachment of the colour from the paper and to activate the adhesive, usually albumen, which fixes the colour to the support to be decorated.
• the colour after being transferred, tends to come off the support when in the presence of humidity and abrasions such as scratches, rubbings and the like, so hindering its application, for instance, on outside masonries.
• the decalcomania is ready-made with a water-based adhesive, which serves to fix it on the support to be decorated.
• a water-based adhesive which serves to fix it on the support to be decorated.
• this is industrially applied by "zones" or "areas" on the decalcomania. Due to technical reasons of the industrial production, the adhesive material usually exceeds the margins of the drawing outline, so forming glossy zones which give the decoration the look of a ready-made and glued figure instead of a hand-made drawing as desired.
• the main aim of the present invention is to provide a decalcomania which allows the transfer, in a permanent manner, of an image on a support so that it becomes resistant to abrasions, weather inclemensies, etc.
• a further aim of this invention is to supply a decalcomania that, even if industrially ready-made, when applied to the support to be decorated, gives it a look as similar as possible to the one of a craft decoration or a hand-made image.
• Another aim of the invention is to provide a new process which, when using the decalcomania of the above said type, allows the decoration, in a permanent manner, of a masonry, a wooden wall or another not perfectly smooth or regular surface, provided that it is compact, not pulverizing, not absorbing and washable, with a painting which can be compared for its high affinity or similarity with craft or hand-painted decorations.
• a further aim of the invention is to provide a process for transferring an image on a support by the use of the above-mentioned decalcomania as defined in claim 4 and in the following claims from 5 to 7.
• the one object of the present invention provides the important advantage that it is of a permanent type, due to its characteristic of resistance, once transferred, to abrasions and to atmospheric agents. For this reason, unlike similar known products, the decalcomania object of the present invention, is also suitable for application on outdoor as well as indoor masonry surfaces.
• the colour transferred according to the decalcomania of the invention is characterized by a natural look, due to the direct application of the adhesive at the moment of the colour setting up on the support to be decorated.
• the adhesive material may be selected so that it shows the best possible aesthetical compatibility with the support, in order not to have oustanding prominences in the image area.
• This method allows a fixing no more by zones, but located point by point on the transferred image.
• the invention shows the important advantage of creating images or decorations which form a substantial unity with the support, giving the impression that these are directly made on it, as, e.g., in the case of a painting on plaster.
• the decalcomania of the invention unlike known decalcomanias, has the advantage that it can also be applied on slightly defective surfaces, such as plastered walls or not perfectly uniform supports.
• a suitable surface for decoration with the decalcomania of the invention is preferably a wall of interior or exterior architecture, made with building materials, painted or not, such as plaster, stucco, plastic, metal or fabrics treated with stucco or plaster, provided that they have a compact, non-pulverising, non-absorbing and washable surface.
• Other supports which can be used effectively in the invention are the ones compatible with the adhesive for the image transfer, such as, cardboard, wood or plastered, painted or coloured fabrics, etc.
• the paper used for the manufacture of the decalcomania of the present invention is a paper permeable to water and steam (rag pulp, whitened cellulose, wood pulp and the like), but still seep-resistant.
• This paper is moreover of a kind suitable for printing according to the usual technologies of the printing field, i.e. offset, serigraphy, typography, rotogravure, flexography and computerized print with printers and plotters or by manual application.
• the paper coating material has the property of being cold water resistant, while it reacts when in contact with stern or hot water, preferably at a temperature above 70°C.
• the coating which has the traditional function of preventing the colour from penetrating inside the paper, is also suitable for the same purpose as for the adhesive used to fix the drawing on the support to be decorated.
• substances that, when used separately or in a mixture of two or several of them, are suitable for the preparation of the coating of the decalcomania of the present invention, are flour glue, animal gelatine glue, starch and tragacanth gum being the animal gelatine glue and the starch selected among those which are, once applied, only soluble in warm conditions.
• the coating is applied to the paper in one or more layers: this is a technology which helps to increase the coating resistance to the action of cold water.
• the compounds forming the coating composition of the paper do not require to be present in critical amounts. It is in fact sufficient that the weight ratio of the different compounds is such as to give the composition, dissolved in water, those properties which make it suitable to be applied in thin layers on the decalcomania paper.
• the colour used for the printing on the paper of the decalcomania of the invention is a colour which, when dry on the coated paper, can resist to the action of the water and the adhesive used.
• Examples of colours that can be used are those suitable for printing in offset, rotogravure, flexography, serigraphy, plotter technologies, by hand with brush and the like.
• the use of the decalcomania of this invention includes the use of an adhesive resin which, applied at the moment of the decoration set up according to the procedure hereinafter described, serves to transfer the colour from the paper and, after its solidification, to fix it definitively, and in a permanent manner, on the support to be decorated.
• Suitable adhesives are the water soluble ones based on acrylic, vinylic, epoxidic, polyurethanic resins and similar, such as DUCOTONE (registered trademark of DUCOTONE SpA), CERAMIZZANTE EXTRA 082103 (registered trademark of LECHLER SpA), CAPAPLEX S product (registered trademark of CAPAROL GmbH).
• DUCOTONE registered trademark of DUCOTONE SpA
• CERAMIZZANTE EXTRA 082103 registered trademark of LECHLER SpA
• CAPAPLEX S product registered trademark of CAPAROL GmbH
• the decalcomania prepared with the coated and pre-printed paper according to the previously described technique, is wetted with cold water.
• This operation has the aim of softening and lengthening the paper so as to give it the degree of flexibility necessary both to avoid formation of creases at the moment of the following treatment with the adhesive, and to allow the paper to combine perfectly with the outline of the support to be decorated.
• the previous lengthening of the paper by wetting has in particular the purpose of avoiding that the same phenomenon happens at the moment of contact of the pre-printed coated paper with the adhesive.
• the lengthening of the paper in this phase would cause creasing of the paper itself thus provoking a consequent imperfect adhesion to the support and absorption of the adhesive.
• wetting the paper with water prevents the adhesive, subsequently applied, from clogging the pores of the paper on the surface, which would compromise its required permeability to steam or to the following treatment with hot water.
• the adhesive consisting of a resin selected from the above cited ones, is spread with a brush, a roll or suitable means on the coloured side of the decalcomania and is preferably also spread on the support to be decorated.
• the spreading is preferably carried out on a surface slightly larger in size than that corresponding to the area really occupied by the decalcomania.
• the surface of the decalcomania carrying the colour is laid on the support to be decorated, sticking it thereon by means of the previously applied adhesive.
• a sponge soaked in cold water can be laid, pressed and rubbed on the outstanding surface of the decalcomania in order to eliminate the excess of resin on the surface to be decorated as well as possible air and adhesive bubbles between the coated paper and the support, and to carry out a first levelling or smoothing of the decalcomania.
• the materials used in coating the paper can be of any type, provided that they are suitable for keeping the colour during the contact of the decalcomania with cold water and for releasing it for a successive treatment under warm-damp conditions.
• a roller having a felt or a foam-rubber or similar surface, optionally wetted with cold water, is made to roll, under a certain pressure, on the facing external surface of the decalcomania which is glued on the support to be decorated. In this way the residual unevenness from the previous operation (bubbles, folds, etc.) are completely eliminated.
• the decalcomania now well adherent to its support, is allowed to rest for the required time necessary to complete the adhesive setting. In the absence of hardeners the time required may be longer than 10 hours.
• the adhesive has completed the setting of the colour on the surface to be decorated so the paper can be removed to provide the required transfer of the figure.
• the facing external surface of the decalcomania is treated with a source of hot and damp air, giving a disgregating effect on the coating supporting the colour.
• This result can be obtained by a steam jet or by wetting the paper with water followed by evaporation of the same by means of an appropriate device, such as the hot surface of an iron or simply by wetting the paper with hot water.
• the steam tends to diffuse from the external surface of the decalcomania through the fibres of its paper support so reaching and dissolving the coating layer which fixes the image on the decalcomania.
• the paper used for preparing the decalcomania is permeable to both water and steam and has a thickness depending on the size of the decalcomania itself.
• the coating material consists of gelatine and white flour, dissolved in water in equal proportions.
• the adhesive is Ceramizzante Extra 082103 and the detachment of the paper is carried out using a stern jet iron or a similar device.
• the animal gelatine is made to swell in cold water and subsequently is dissolved in a bain-marie on hot water.
• the wheat flour is dissolved in cold water, then, under stirring, it is brought to boiling temperature until a homogeneous and semitransparent mixture is obtained.
• the mixture is added under stirring to the gelatine, optionally adding further water if necessary to obtain a liquid which can be perfectly spread in a thin layer on the paper.
• Operation is carried out using tragacanth gum as coating material.
• said tragacanth gum is plunged into the water for a couple of days after its mincing in order to let it swell.
• the mixture no longer shows, under stirring, traces of fragments, the mucilage is warmed to boiling temperature and maintained under stirring for 1-2 hours. The mixture is then ready to be used as sizing.
• the starch powder is dissolved in water and then warmed to boiling temperature in order to obtain a semitransparent substance. After its application on paper as sizing and after printing, the phases of gluing and successive paper detachment with hot water can follow.
• the materials used in the paper coating can be of any type, provided that they are suitable to keep the colour during the contact of the decalcomania with cold water and to release it by a subsequent hot treatment.
• water-based resins for gluing the colour on the surface to be decorated can be different from the ones previously indicated, provided they are suitable for fixing the colour and compatible with the material of the support to decorate.

Landscapes

• Decoration By Transfer Pictures (AREA)
• Adornments (AREA)
• Vehicle Interior And Exterior Ornaments, Soundproofing, And Insulation (AREA)
• Toys (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=11379017

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (2)

Cited By (2)

• 1998
  • 1998-02-20 IT ITMI980334 patent/IT1298430B1/it active IP Right Grant
• 1999
  • 1999-02-18 EP EP19990103163 patent/EP0937584A2/fr not_active Withdrawn

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