GB2486285A

GB2486285A - Apparatus for Making Patterns

Info

Publication number: GB2486285A
Application number: GB1101906.4A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Peter John Charles Spurgeon
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2010-12-03
Filing date: 2011-02-04
Publication date: 2012-06-13
Also published as: GB201101906D0; GB201020521D0

Abstract

An apparatus for making patterns comprises an image applied to a transparent sheet 3 and a further image applied to at least one other transparent sheet 6 wherein the sheets may be moved relative to each other to produce different images or patterns. The apparatus further comprises at least one sheet of optically active material 14. A source of polarised light 11 may also be provided. The apparatus may provide scales in kilometres and/or miles for use with a map (Figure 5b). A method for making patterns on curtains and floor coverings is also described.

Description

t V.' INTELLECTUAL ..* PROPERTY OFFICE Application No. GB 1101906.4 RT1VI Date 2 June 2011 The following terms are registered trademarks and should be read as such wherever they occur in this document: Sellotape Cellophane Intellectual Properly Office is an operating name of the Patent Office www.ipo.gov.uk Apparatus to Make Patterns

Background

Patterns are printed onto fabrics, paper or floorcoverings by apparatus that includes stencilling, silk-screen printing, printing by by means of inked rolls, photographic and computer-controlled ink-jet. In the case of an abstract design the size of the design repeat' is often determined by the size of the printing rolls, plattens or computer images. Patterns are sometimes printed wet on wet so that the colours may mix to make another colour or wet on dry where the second colour more or less obscures the dry colour. The underlaying fabric may be wholly or partially obscured by the pattern layers. This leads to expensive tooling and the inability to vary the size of the repeat or the actual patterns produced.

The invention enables large numbers of variations of geometric and patterns to be tested with different colour combinations. Finally a limited number of printing masters can be produced for predictable results, pattern repeats being designed for minimum product wastage.

The invention enables a background pattern to be utilised to provide decoration and scale to overlaying non-registered graphics that may be representative of distance, such as maps. Since the overlaying patterns do not need to be registered with the background pattern it is feasible for the background pattern to be printed in high volume for later printing with the representative graphics.

The invention enables a background pattern to be colour co-ordinated with a decor or theme, later to be overprinted with different graphics.

As an example, the curtains and other furnishings in an area of a cruise ship could all have the same background pattern and colour but cushions could have illustrated maps of different destinations over-printed, having a text to inform ofthe scale of the map relative to the background pattern.

Items of table linen and tableware in a land restaurant could include a representation of surrounding features to entertain visitors whilst they await their meal, all with the advantage of the scaled, colour-co-

ordinated background.

Some items, such as placemats could be printed on both sides, one side having a background pattern representing distances in imperial units (eg miles) whilst the other side represents distances in metric units (kilometres).

In a wet-on-wet process, or where the background colour is transparent, the background pattern can be printed on top of the foreground graphic.

In a case where the background pattern is printed in two or more layers a line pattern can be printed on top ofa colour-filled pattern, for example the filled pattern may consist of a chequer pattern, the sides of the squares representing miles which is then overlaid with a square grid of lines spaced at intervals representing kilometres.

Where the foreground graphic represents geographic features it may be desirable that the pattern does have aNorth-South alignment.

Where the photograph or graphic contains solid colour which may obscure parts of the background it is desirable not to print certain areas over the background; a photograph could leave a border unprinted, or the sky or the foreground could be unprinted or transformed into line outlines. Most maps have sufficiently large unprinted areas to enable the backgound scaled pattern to be seen but they could also be treated as above with borders or by having areas of water or low ground left unprinted (water areas could have any coastlines marked in blue).

In the case of a map that is to be printed centrally on a background pattern (for example a map on the table-top of a given hotel or restaurant where the centre of the map corresponds to the location), it may be desirable for the background pattern to be centralised also. The background pattern may then consist of circles spaced at distances representing miles or kilometres the rings, or segments of the rings, being filled with the decor background colour. A second background pattern could be a line pattern depicting an angular or geographical direction grid -both clearly defining North (or perhaps Mecca in some cases). The foreground map pattern has then to be properley registered to the location.

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Description

The invention applies to patterns that have two or more printing stages. Each stage prints a geometric pattern and the overlapping of a pattern from another stage results in a more complex pattern. Conven-tional printing utilizes patterns on each stage which have a fixed relationship with one another, be it concentric circles or the different colours in foliage or flowers. The patterns of the invention comprise of the variously coloured and sized geometric figures that occur when uniform patterns of geometric shapes are superimposed. If the pitch of the patterns is identical then a repeat' occurs at that same pitch interval but when the pitches are different the repeat occurs only when an integral number of pattern repeats of one image is equal to integral number of repeats of each of the other layers. This would enable the length of the pattern repeat to be changed by changing only one of the rolls or screens of the printing equipment. In the case of curtains the length of the repeat could be adjusted in this way accord-ing to the length of the curtains, In the case of a floor covering the pattern could be adjusted to the length of the room and set to achieve a symmetry about the centre of the room. The method can also be applied to visual effects on display screens or to display means consisting of transparent sheets that may be superimposed. In further inventions effects resembling stained glass could be achieved by means of transparent sheets of different colours being superimposed. If the method is applied to a multi-roll continuous printing machine then each roll must have an integral number of pattern repeats for that roll; however, by having a different number of pattern repeats on other rolls then the longer overall repeat will be achieved. To apply the method to a step-and-repeat process, such as that used in screen print-ing, then it is also possible to change the step distance to accommodate different sizes of screen used on the same fabric in separate processes. The method and results can be demonstrated by overlaying computer images or by having a number of transparent patterned films which may be overlaid and moved relative to each other. In general the method is most appropriate for abstract or geometric patterns where accurate registration is not necessary for preserving detail.

Detailed Description

In figure 1 a, a chequered pattern of small squares I is on a transparent sheet 2. In figure lb transparent sheet 3 is printed with a chequered pattern of larger squares 4, such that the length 5 of five large squares is equal to that of eight small squares. The different hatching represents different colours, or tones whilst the sheet is clear and colourless. Figure Ic shows the effect of the sheets being overlapped in front of a white background 6, the patterns being registered at the top left corner. This results in an array of rectangles of four colours, those being the background colour 7, the small square colour 8, the large square colour 9 and the superposition of the small and large squares resulting in colour 10. The pattern repeat length 5 is apparent. The demonstration of figure 1 could be repeated with different motifs and repeat lengths to result in an array of variously shaped overlaps.

In figure! dan apparatus according to the invention comprises of a source of polarized light 11, a transparent sheet 3, a transparent sheet 6 and a polarizing filter 14. The resulting pattern 12 is observed by the eye 13 or may be recorded by a camera or other light detecting device whilst rotating the polar-izing filter 14 or othercomponents of the system to obtain an optimum result. The typical result is a change in intensity of the pattern but no change of colour, however, with some sheet materials the plane of polarization is rotated differeently according to the wavelength of the light. This results in the white light becoming split into different colours -those colours becoming visible as the polarizing filter 14 is rotated. Several clear plastic (eg cellophane, celluloid, acrylic and cellulose acetate sometimes used in food packaging) materials have been found to rotate the plane of polarization, some also rotate the plane ofpolarization according to the stress locked into the material during manufacture or stresses which may be induced into it during observation. The patterned plates may be constructed of clear material with the motifs added inthe form of shaped pieces of self-adhesive clear tape. Some Sellotape brand tape has been found to be particularly effective.

This apparatus may be used as an educational toy in demonstrating the principles of polarised light and also the way in which white light may be split into different colours. If the polarising filter 14 is set in Apparatus for Making Patterns Page 2 spectacles then the effect will be invisible to all observers excepting the wearer of the spectacles.

in figure 2 patterns containing circles having three and four repeats and the effect of superimposing them using transparent sheets is shown.

In figure 3 one of the sheets has a pattern of different shaped motifs and a second sheet has the same pattern at right angles causing a complicated superimposed pattern which comes into register over a long repeat distance.

In figure 4a a background chequer pattern is shown representing miles: this has been overprinted with a map in figure Sb. The figures would illustrate the appearance better if it were possible to show the colour of the squares instead of shading, and to show the colour of the map features also. This illustra-tion was produced by printing the chequered pattern onto a map. If this were to be done with shaded squares then the ink would need to be sufficiently transparent not to obscure the print on the map or, should the map be printed on top of the chequer pattern the map needs to have significant areas not printed.

In figure 5a a first background pattern of a chequer pattern representing miles has been overprinted with a second background pattern of a square line grid representing kilometres. Figure Sb shows the background of 5a overlaid with a map. The figures would illustrate the appearance better if it were possible to show the colour of the squares instead of shading, and to show the colour of the map fea-tures also. This illustration was produced by printing the chequered pattern onto a map. If this were to be done with shaded squares then the ink would need to be sufficiently transparent not to obscure the print on the map or, should the map be printed on top of the chequer pattern the map needs to have significant areas not printed.

Scaled maps of the types shown in figures 4b and Sbwould be of use in places visited by tourists and travellers where they are waiting for a meal, a train or a bus. Similarly when they are actually travelling a scaled map is more informative than one where the scaling has to be searched out in one corner. Even a footpath map of a visitor attraction would be conveniently scaled in this way to enable the visitor to judge the distance ofa walk. The London Underground map is more difficult to overlay because its scale varies over the map but it is, nevertheless, possible to overlay it with rectangles whose width scales with the river Thames whilst the heights can be approximated to represent the distances between stations. Figure 6 shows an overlay that can be scaled to print over the underground mapthat enables the user to judge whichjourneys are short enough to walk. The vertical and horizontal sides of each rectangle represent a distance of approximately 2km.

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Claims

Claims 1. The apparatus for making patterns comprises at an image applied to a transparent sheet and a further image applied toat least one other transparent sheet that may be moved relative to each other to pro-duce different images or patterns, and at least one transparent sheet of optically active material.
2. The apparatus for making patterns according to claim 1 Including at least one image printed on a non-transparent sheet.
3. The apparatus for making patterns according to arty one of the previous claims including a linearly polarizing sheet.
4. The apparatus for making patterns according to any one of the previous claims including a circularly polarizing sheet 6. The apparatus for making patterns according to any one of the previous claims using a display screen as a source of polarized light.7. The apparatus for making patterns according to any one of the previous claims using a reflective surface as a source of polarized light.8. The apparatus for making patterns according to any one of the previous claims being observed through a linearly polarizing filter.9. The apparatus for making patterns according to any one of the previous claims using a clear adhesive tape as an optically active component.10. The apparatus for making patterns according to any one of the previous claims in which any opti-cally active component is rotated in order to change the colour or tones of the pattern.11. The apparatus for making patterns according to any one of the previous claims in which new colour elements arise due to the overlapping of the printed patterns.12. The apparatus for making patterns according to any one of the previous claims in which the pattern on one sheet is a scaled version of that on another sheet.13. The apparatus for making patterns according to any one of the previous claims in which one pat-terned sheet has a chequered pattern.14. The apparatus for making patterns according to any one of the previous claims in which one pat-terned sheet contains rectangular shapes.15. The apparatus for making patterns according to any one of the previous claims in which the pattern repeat of one pattern layer is five-eights the size of another pattern layer (being the ratio of kilometres to miles).16. The apparatus for making patterns according to any one of the previous claims for use as an educa-tional toy.Apparatus for Making Patterns Page 4