BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
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The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing an artificial nail and an artificial nail produced using the same method, and more particular, to a method of manufacturing an artificial nail which has a three-dimensional appearance because the artificial nail is comprised of a plurality of printed layers, and an artificial nail produced using the same method.
Description of the Related Art
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Generally, in order to give nails a natural and good appearance and to provide a decorative effect, decorative stickers have been used.
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However, this method is troublesome in that a user needs to separately store stickers, it is difficult to attach the stickers on nails having curved surfaces, and the stickers attached on such curved surfaces are easily separated because the stickers generally have planar surfaces.
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Further, this method has further problems in that users wanting to decorate their nails have to directly attach the stickers to their nails, but it is difficult to place and attach the stickers at the precise location. Still further, there is a problem in that the process of preparing the stickers is complicated.
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For example, such stickers are difficult to manufacture because they are manually prepared by attaching sticker materials onto films using acryl powder or foaming ink, coloring the sticker materials, and drying the colored sticker materials in a dry tunnel at 185°C for 45 minutes.
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The manufacturing method in which sticker materials are directly placed on artificial nails after acryl powder is put onto the artificial nails and foamed takes a very long time. Further, since the manufacturing method is manually performed, the failure rate is high, it costs high because it consumes a large amount of raw material, and furthermore, reproducibility thereof is low because it is difficult to place sticker materials at the precise location.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
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Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing an artificial nail which has a three-dimensional appearance because it is comprised of a plurality of printed layers, and an artificial nail produced through the same method.
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In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the above and other objects can be accomplished by the provision of a method of forming an artificial nail comprising preparing a nail body, forming a first printed layer on the nail body, and forming one or more printed layers on the first printed layer.
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The artificial nail produced through the method can have a three-dimensional appearance due to the plurality of printed layers.
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The printing may comprise moving an ink tank toward a printing groove formed on a cliche, filling the printing groove with ink in the ink tank, wiping the upper surface of the cliche using a doctor blade while moving the ink tank, painting the ink on a lower surface of a printing pad by moving the printing pad toward the printing groove, and forming the first printed layer by bringing the ink painted on the lower surface of the printing pad into contact with a surface of the nail body. Since the printing time is short, mass production of the artificial nails becomes possible. Further, the manufacturing and drying process can be performed at room temperature. It is possible to make a variety of colors of printed layers. The printed layers can be printed on the nail bodies having a variety of surface shapes.
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According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided an artificial nail comprising a nail body and a plurality of printed layers formed on the nail.
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Since each of the printed layers has a different pattern, a variety of patterns can be made on the artificial nail, which makes the artificial nail good-looking. Further, a fine and complex pattern can be made on the surface of the artificial nail because the printed layers have different patterns.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
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The above and other objects, features and other advantageous effects of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
- FIG 1 is a perspective view illustrating a printing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention;
- FIG 2 is a schematic view illustrating the flow of operation of the printing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention;
- FIG 3 is a perspective view illustrating an artificial nail according to a further embodiment of the present invention; and
- FIG 4 is a sectional view illustrating the artificial nail according to the further embodiment of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
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Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
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For reference, configurations of the embodiment of the present invention that are similar to those of inventions of the related art will not be redundantly described herein, and reference is to be made to the related art inventions.
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FIG 1 is a perspective view illustrating a printing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention, FIG 2 is a schematic view illustrating the flow of operation of the printing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, FIG 3 is a perspective view illustrating an artificial nail according to a further embodiment of the present invention, and FIG 4 is a sectional view illustrating the artificial nail according to the further embodiment of the present invention.
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As shown in FIG 3 and FIG 4, the artificial nail according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises a nail body 500 and a plurality of printed layers 520 formed on the upper surface of the nail body 500.
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The nail body 500 has a shape corresponding to the shape of a fingernail or a toenail of a user. That is, the nail body 500 has a curved shape such that the middle portion of the nail body 500 protrudes.
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On the upper surface of the nail body 500, five or more printed layers 520 are stacked.
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The printed layer 520 can be formed using solvent base ink, UV base ink or foam ink.
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The solvent base ink contains a solvent-based (a kind of thinner) additive so that the ink does not solidify and is easily dried after printing.
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The UV base ink does not contain a solvent-based additive, and thus it is not harmful to the environment or to human bodies, and the ink does not solidify. This ink is dried using UV rays.
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The foam ink can give a slightly three-dimensional appearance to the nail because it contains a foaming agent.
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The printed layers 520 can be formed using a variety of different inks according to the characteristics and design of the nail, and the characteristics of the printing apparatus.
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As shown in FIG 3, each of the printed layers 520 can have a different pattern.
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Since the printed layers 520 have different patterns, the artificial nail may be made to look good because it may have a fine and complex pattern overall.
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Unlike the embodiment described above, the printed layers 520 may also have the same pattern.
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The printed layers 520 may be formed on a portion of the nail body, so a portion of the nail body 500 has the shape of a two-dimensional plane and the other portion of the nail body 500 has a three-dimensional shape.
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As described above, if the printed layers 520 are stacked on the upper surface of the nail body 500, the nail may look good and seem to be three-dimensional.
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A printing apparatus for forming the printed layer on the nail body comprises a cliche 200 provided with a printing groove 210, an ink tank 300 having a doctor blade 310 at a lower portion thereof and horizontally moving on the upper surface of the cliche 200, and a printing pad 400 for transferring ink in the printing groove 210 to the surface of the nail body 500.
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The cliche 200 has the printing groove 210 used to form a pattern at a portion of an upper surface thereof and a standby part 220 at another portion of the upper surface, which has the smooth surface.
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The ink tank 300 moves horizontally while it is in contact with the upper surface of the cliche 200.
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The ink tank 300 has a discharge hole at a lower portion thereof so that ink is discharged through the discharge hole, and, furthermore, has the doctor blade 220 surrounding the discharge hole.
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The printing pad 400 is made of a flexible material which is easily deformed when pressure is applied thereto, so that it can be in tight contact with the curved surface of the nail body 500.
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Hereinbelow, a method of forming the artificial nail according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described.
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The method of forming the artificial nail according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a molding step of molding a nail body 500, a first printing step of printing a first printed layer on a surface of the nail body 500, and an additional printing step of printing one or more additional printed layers on the first printed layer.
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The nail body 500 is made through an extrusion molding method.
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On the nail body 500, the first printed layer is formed.
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As shown in FIG 2, the first printing step includes a step of moving the ink tank 300 toward the printing groove 210 formed on the cliche 200, a step of filling the printing groove 210 with ink in the ink tank 300, a step of wiping the upper surface of the cliche 200 using the doctor blade 310 while moving the ink tank 210, a step of painting the lower surface of the printing pad 400 with the ink by moving the printing pad 400 down to the printing groove 210, and a step of forming the first printed layer by bringing the ink on the printing pad 400 into contact with the surface of the nail body 500.
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FIG 2 illustrates the printing pad 400 before the printing pad 400 is moved down to the printing groove 210 and after the printing pad 400 is moved down and pressed. FIG 2 further illustrates the printing pad 400, which is pressed first, and is then moved up as it is wet with the ink to the nail body 500.
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The ink tank 300 placed on the standby part 220 of the cliche 200 is moved to the printing groove 210 so that the ink is inserted into the printing groove 210. After that, the ink tank 300 is moved back to the standby part 220 and at the same time the upper surface of the cliche 200 is wiped by the doctor blade 310 so that the ink is left only in the printing groove 210. Next, the printing pad 400 is moved down so as to pick up the ink in the printing groove 210, and then presses the printing pad 400 against the printing groove 210 of the cliche 200. Next, the printing pad 400 is moved so that the ink is left on the upper surface of the nail body 500 placed on a nail support, and then the printing pad 400 is pressed down against the upper surface of the nail body 500, resulting in formation of the printed layer 520 on the surface of the nail body 500.
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Thanks to the above-described printing method, printing time is reduced, so mass production of the artificial nails is possible. Further, the artificial nails can be manufactured and dried at room temperature. The printed layers 520 of the artificial nail can have a variety of colors, and the printed layers 520 can be formed on nail bodies 500, upper surfaces of which have a variety of shapes.
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Since one or more additional printed layers 520 can be formed on the upper surface of the first printed layer, the artificial nail may have a plurality of printed layers stacked on each other so that the artificial nail has a three-dimensional appearance.
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As described above, the artificial nail and the method of manufacturing the artificial nail have the following advantageous effects.
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Since the artificial nail comprises a plurality of printed layers, the artificial nail has a three-dimensional appearance. Further, thanks to the printed layers, the artificial nail has strong adhesion ability in comparison with acryl powder or stickers.
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Since the first printing step includes the step of moving the ink tank to the printing groove formed in the cliche, the step of filling the printing groove with ink in the ink tank, the step of wiping the upper surface of the cliche using a doctor blade while moving the ink tank, the step of moving the printing pad down toward the printing groove and painting the ink onto the lower surface of the printing pad, and the step of forming the first printed layer by bringing the ink on the printing pad into contact with the surface of the nail body, the printing time is short, and thus mass production of the artificial nails is possible. Further, the artificial nails can be manufactured and dried at room temperature. Since it is possible to form printed layers having a variety of colors, a user can have a wide range of color choice for the artificial nails. Further, the printed layers can be applied on nail bodies having a variety of shapes.
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Since the printed layers have different patterns, the artificial nail may have an attractive pattern throughout, and a fine and complex pattern can be made on the artificial nail.
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Although the artificial nail and the method of manufacturing the artificial nail according to the present invention have been described with reference to embodiments of the present invention, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.
