GB2225285A

GB2225285A - Forming design on surfaces

Info

Publication number: GB2225285A
Application number: GB8822073A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Jennifer Ann Hill
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1988-09-20
Filing date: 1988-09-20
Publication date: 1990-05-30
Also published as: GB8822073D0

Abstract

A design is formed on a surface using a mask carrying a representation of the design in the form of a series of apertures; the mask is superimposed on the surface, and coating material, eg ink or paint, is directed through the apertures by a carrier gas to form discrete dots on the surface. Multi-colour effects are achieved with a series of stencils, for example, the yellow areas of a bird design 13, 14 and 15 follow cyan and magenta applications. The ink or paint is supplied from an aerosol or airbrush, and may be liquid or particulate; alternatively, adhesive can be sprayed for subsequent flocking. Specified uses are for designs on furniture, motor vehicle bodies, internal or external walls, textiles and metal components. Stencils can be adhered by light-tack adhesive to the surface during spraying. <IMAGE>

Description

IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO THE APPLICATION OF COATINGS TO SURFACES This invention relates to the application of a coating to a surface and is concerned with a method of forming a coating on a surface and a means for enabling the method to be carried out.

It is, of course, well known to apply coatings to surfaces by various techniques such as, for example, printing processes, including letter press, lithographic, intaglio and silk screen printing processes, and by photographic techniques. However, each of these conventional processes requires skilled operatives and/or expensive and complicated equipment to carry them out.

It is an object of the invention to provide a simple method whereby coatings may be applied to a surface in a very effective manner economically and by relatively unskilled persons.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of forming a coating on a surface which method comprises: (i) providing a mask carrying a representation of the design comprising a series of apertures, (ii) superposing the mask on the surface, and (iii) directing coating material through the apertures by means of a carrier gas to form discrete dots on the surface.

The method of the invention is greatly superior to conventional screen printing methods in that the latter require a squeegee to be used to ensure that the ink passes through the screen and onto the underlying surface to be printed. The need for a squeegee is avoided in accordance with the invention by spraying the coating material through the apertures in the mask by means of the carrier gas. Further, conventional screen printing invariably requires the surface to be printed to be held horizontal so that gravity assists the flow of ink onto the surface. In accordance with the method of the invention the surface can be a vertical surface.

The invention is particularly useful for applying the coating in the form of a desired design.

In this case, the series of apertures in the mask constitute a representation of at least part of the design so that the resultant dots on the surface constitute the desired design or part thereof.

The design may be of any desired subject and may be in the form of, for example, a plan or illustration and the surface to which the design is applied can be any suitable surface such as, for example, an article of furniture, a motor vehicle body, an internal wall of a room, the exterior wall of a building, textile material, or a metal component.

The apertures in the mask are discrete apertures and they may be of the same size and be at a constant spacing. Alternatively, the mask may include apertures of different size and/or different spacing in order to obtain different affects. In principle, the actual size of the apertures is not particularly critical except that it needs to be appropriate to the nature of the coating material used in order to ensure that the coating material will pass through the aperture. By suitably selecting the size of the apertures, it is possible to apply very detailed designs to the surface in a very simple manner.

The or each mask may take any desired form.

Thus, for example, it may be in the form of an impermeable substrate formed of for example paper, cardboard, hardboard, plastics material, and the like in which the apertures have been provided mechanically by a hand punch or pounce wheel, or by any other suitable technique. For example, the apertures may be formed in the substrate by using a computer controlled plotting or scanning machine as used in graphics manufacturing systems (such as marketed by Gerber Scientific Products or Sign-Tronic Ltd) with a perforating wheel fitted instead of the pen or scribe conventionally used with such machines. Alternatively, the apertured mask may be made photomechanically by appropriately exposing a radiation sensitive sheet so as to produce pin holes. In a further alternative, the apertures may be formed in the substrate by means of a computer controlled punching machine.

In accordance with another embodiment, the mask may be formed from a silk screen or like mesh formed of plastics material, textile material or metal carrying an impermeable stencil in those areas of the mesh where apertures are not required, the areas not covered by the stencil constituting the series of apertures. The stencil may, for example, be applied to the mesh by adhering or otherwise suitably securing an impermeable sheet of desired shape to the mesh.

Alternatively, it may be formed photomechanically by applying a radiation sensitive material to the mesh, image-wise exposing the material to actinic radiation, and developing the exposed material to selectively remove the more soluble areas and reveal the mesh underneath, the image-wise exposure being such that the areas of mesh revealed on development constitute the desired apertures. In the case where the mesh is not self-supporting, e.g. where it is formed of silk or other fabric it may be supported by means of a more rigid frame formed of for example cardboard.

In yet another embodiment, the apertured mask may be constituted by, for example, a piece of lace fabric.

The mask may be such as to produce a design such that the surface resembles, for example, leather or linen.

The mask may be used with other masks which are not provided with apertures as required in accordance with the present invention such as, for example, a leaf skeleton, in order to obtain special effects.

The mask should be located in close proximity to the surface during application of the coating material. This may be achieved by coating the back of the mask with a light tack adhesive which is sufficient to hold the mask to the surface but insufficient to remove from the surface coating material which may have been previously applied.

The coating material applied to the mask when carrying out the invention may be either in the form of liquid droplets or in the form of particulate material.

Thus, for example, it may be any suitable ink or paint.

The carrier gas is preferably air and the coating material may be, for example, water based such as emulsion paint or an acrylic ink or paint. Cellulose paint and oil based paint may also be used. The coating material is essentially applied to the mask by spraying using, for example, an air brush or in the form of an aerosol.

The finer the size of the droplets in the spray or mist, the finer the apertures which can be used and the finer the detail which can be reproduced onto the surface.

The ink used may be of the type used in thermographic printing which swells on being heated so as to give the appearance of an embossed design. In this case, the ink may be applied at elevated temperature and/or the surface may be preheated so that the ink dries instantly on contact with the surface.

In alternative embodiments, the coating material may be an adhesive which is sprayed through the mask so that localised areas of the surface are coated with the adhesive. In this case, particulate material, such as flock, metallic powders, glitter and the like can then be subsequently applied to the surface so as to be selectively adhered to the areas coated with adhesive and produce the desired design.

In a further embodiment, the surface may be first given an overall coating with adhesive and, thereafter, coating material in the form of, for example, flock, metallic powders, glitter and the like is sprayed through the mask so that coating material becomes adhered to localised areas only of the adhesive coating and produces the desired design.

In yet another alternative the coating material may be a lacquer or an ultra violet curable varnish which can be applied to a design already formed on the surface in accordance with the present invention or by some other suitable means.

In one embodiment of the invention, the design is in the form of a line drawing in which case the apertures of the mask are located along lines corresponding to the lines of the drawing. In this case, after the design has been applied to the surface, it can be completed manually by the application of one or more solid areas of colouring material using the lines of the drawing as a guide. Since the outline of the drawing has already been produced utilising the mask, it is a relatively easy matter for a non-skilled person to complete the drawing by applying solid areas of colouring material.

In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, a plurality of different masks is used to form a plurality of designs superposed on one another on the surface. In this case, the coating material may be colouring material with different coloured colouring material being applied to the surface through each mask so that the respective designs formed by the masks are in different colours. In accordance with this embodiment, it is particularly preferred for four masks to be used and for the colouring materials to be transparent inks such as the four process colours magenta, yellow, cyan and black. In this way, a true full colour illustration can be formed on the surface.

Alternatively, three of said masks can be used with three of the above mentioned process colours with the fourth colour being applied to the surface in the form of a solid area of colour rather than as discrete dots of colour so as to produce a false full colour illustration.

In the case where a plurality of the masks is superposed as above described, it is particularly preferred for the apertures in each mask to be arranged regularly in lines and for the lines of apertures of one mask to be disposed at angles to the lines of apertures of the other masks. In this way, moire patterns can be avoided. Preferably, the lines of apertures are located at the angles conventionally used for contact screens when preparing colour separation negatives.

In the case where multicolour designs are to be produced in the above manner, the size of the apertures and the number of apertures per linear inch in each mask can be varied in dependence upon the screen percentages per colour which it is desired to obtain in order to achieve a particular colour on the surface.

The present invention has application in the field of applying decorative designs in industrial processes such as, for example, to articles of furniture during their manufacture and to the exterior of articles generally. Moreover it finds application in, for example, colouring components of manufactured articles for, for example, colour coding purposes. The designs can be applied to the surface by, for example, robotic machines which include a spray nozzle for applying the coating material, a means of supporting one or more of the apertured masks, and a means of positioning the spray nozzle and the mask(s) in relation to the article to be coated such that the coating material is applied to the desired area of the surface of the article.

Another application of the invention is for domestic use in, for example, the decoration of house walls and the like. Accordingly, another aspect of the present invention provides a kit for this purpose comprising an apertured mask and a prcsouriood container of coating material for application to a surface through the mask in accordance with the abovedescribed manner. Preferably, the kit includes a plurality of such masks each comprising a plurality of apertures representing a design forming part of an illustration and a plurality of pressurised containers of coating material of different colours.Preferably the apertures are located in a series of lines in which case the lines of apertures of each mask are at different angles to the lines of apertures of the other masks so that when each mask is superposed on a surface in turn in registry and coating material is applied thereto to form discrete dots of coating material on the surface, the illustration constituted by the superposed designs is free of moire patterns.

For a better understanding of the invention, and to show how the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a mask suitable for producing a design on a surface in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, Figures 2, 3 and 4 show first, second and third masks suitable for producing a design on a surface in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 5 shows a fourth mask for use with the masks of Figures 2 to 4.

Referring now to Figure 1, the mask comprises a substrate 1 formed of waxed paper or similar paintand ink-impermeable material. It carries a representation of a line drawing of a bird. The representation comprises a series of apertures in lines 2,3, 4 and 5 corresponding to those lines of the line drawing which define the head, body, wing and tail areas and the general outline of a bird. About 150 apertures per linear inch are provided.

In use, the mask is superposed on the wall or like surface which is to receive the design and ink or paint is sprayed onto the mask. Droplets of the ink or paint can only pass through the mask where there are apertures and thus a clear design constituted by lines of discrete dots corresponding to the apertures of the mask is formed on the surface. Different areas of the design within the dots can then be filled in with solid colour by hand in a relatively easy manner to give an aesthetically pleasing decoration on the wall.

Referring now to Figures 2 to 5, these show four masks for use in producing a multi-coloured illustration on a surface.

Figure 2 is a first mask for use with black ink or paint and it is in the form of a substrate 6 carrying a representation of a line drawing of a bird.

Thus, it includes lines defining areas 7,8, 9 and 10 corresponding to the head, body, wings and tail, respectively of the bird. A part of the representation viz the wing and tail areas 9 and 10 and a part of the head area 7 is provided with a series of apertures located in a plurality of equispaced parallel lines 11 at an angle of 450.

Figure 3 is a second mask similar to the first and carrying the same representation. In this case, however, the body area 8 is provided with a series of apertures located in a plurality of parallel lines 12.

Lines 12 are at an angle of 750 Figure 4 is a third mask similar to the first and second masks and carrying the same representation.

In this case, parts 13, 14 and 15 of the head, body and wing areas are provided with a series of apertures located in a plurality of parallel lines 16. The lines 16 are at an angle of 1050.

Figure 5 shows a further mask which is also formed of an impermeable substrate. This includes a single large aperture of a shape corresponding to the head, wing and tail areas 7,9 and 10 of the representations on the masks of Figure 4.

In use, the mask of Figure 5 is first superposed on the surface and cyan ink or paint is applied, e.g. by spraying, to the surface through the mask to produce a solid cyan coloured area in the shape of the head, wing and tail areas of the bird.

Thereafter, the mask of Figure 2 is superposed on the surface in registry with the cyan area and black ink or paint is sprayed onto the mask so that it passes through the apertures in the head, wing and tail areas 7,9 and 10 and is thus superposed on the cyan colour previously applied in those areas. Then the mask is removed and replaced by the mask of Figure 3 which is again put in registry with the design already applied to the surface and magenta ink or paint is sprayed onto the mask so that it passes through the apertures in body area 8 and is applied to the underlying surface.

Then, the mask is removed and replaced by the mask of Figure 4 which is again placed in registry with the designs previously applied to the surface. Process yellow ink or paint is sprayed onto the mask so that it passes through the apertures located in parts 13, 14 and 15 of the head, body and wing areas 7, 8 and 9 and is thus superposed on parts of the previously applied process red and black. In this way, a multi-coloured design is obtained on the surface in accordance with conventional full colour printing principles.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A method of forming a design on a surface which method comprises: (i) providing a mask carrying a representation of the design comprising a series of apertures, (ii) superimposing the mask on the surface, and (iii) directing coating material through the apertures by means of a carrier gas to form discrete dots on the surface.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the apertures in the mask are of the same size and at a constant spacing.

3. A method according to claim 1 wherein the apertures are of different sizes and/or different spacing.

4. A method according to any preceding claim wherein the mask is in the form of an impermeable substrate in which the apertures have been provided mechanically.

5. A method according to claim 4 wherein the apertures have been provided by a hand punch or pounce wheel.

6. A method according to claim 4 wherein the apertures have been provided by means of a computer controlled plotting or scanning machine fitted with a perforating wheel or by a computer controlled punching machine.

7. A method according to any one of claims 4 to 6 wherein the substrate is formed of paper, cardboard, hardboard, or plastics material.

8. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the mask has been produced photomechanically by appropriately exposing a radiation sensitive sheet so as to produce pin holes.

9. A method according to claim 1 wherein the mask is formed from a silk screen or like mesh carrying an impermeable stencil in those areas of the mesh where apertures are not required, the areas not covered by the stencil constituting the series of apertures.

10. A method according to claim 9 wherein the stencil is formed by adhering or otherwise suitably securing an impermeable sheet of desired shape to the mesh.

11. A method according to claim 9 wherein the stencil is formed photomechanically by applying a radiation sensitive material to the mesh, image-wise exposing the material to actinic radiation, and developing the exposed material to selectively remove the more soluble areas and reveal the mesh underneath, the image-wise exposure being such that the areas of mesh revealed on development constitute the desired apertures.

12. A method according to any preceding claim wherein the mask is lightly adhered to the surface during application of the coating material.

13. A method according to any preceding claim wherein the coating material is in the form of liquid droplets.

14. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 12 wherein the coating material is in the form of particulate material.

15. A method according to any preceding claim wherein the carrier gas is air.

16. A method according to any preceding claim wherein the coating material is applied to the mask in the form of an aerosol.

17. A method according to any preceding claim wherein the coating material is an adhesion which is sprayed through the mask so that localised areas of the surface are coated with the adhesive, particulate material being subsequently applied to the surface so as to be selectively adhered to the areas coated with adhesive and produce the desired design.

18. A method according to claim 17 wherein the particulate material is flock, a metallic powder, or glitter.

19. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 16 wherein the surface is first given an overall coating with adhesive and, thereafter, the coating material in the form of particulate material is sprayed through the mask so that coating material becomes adhered to localised areas only of the adhesive coating and produces the desired design.

20. A method according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the design is in the form of a line drawing in which case the apertures of the mask are located along lines corresponding to the lines of the drawing.

21. A method according to claim 20 and comprising the additional step of completing the design manually by the application of one or more solid areas of colouring material using the lines of the drawing as a guide.

22. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 16 wherein a plurality of different masks is used to form a plurality of designs superposed on one another on the surface.

23. A method according to claim 22 wherein the coating material is colouring material with different coloured colouring material being applied to the surface through each mask so that the respective designs formed by the masks are in different colours.

24. A method according to claim 23 wherein the colouring materials are transparent inks.

25. A method according to claim 24 wherein four masks are used and the transparent inks have the four process colours magenta, yellow, cyan and black.

26. A method according to any one of claims 22 to 25 wherein the apertures in each mask are arranged regularly in lines and the lines of apertures of one mask are disposed at angles to the lines of apertures of the other masks.

27. A method in accordance with claim 1 substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

28. A kit comprising an apertured mask and a container of coating material for application to a surface through the mask in accordance with the method claimed in any of the preceding claims.