ITFO960008A1 - PROCEDURE AND MEANS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF DECORATIONS WITH CERAMIC PIGMENTS IN ONE OR MORE COLORS, TRANSFERABLE ONTO TILES FOR COVERINGS AND - Google Patents

Description

Description of the invention entitled "PRO-CEDIMENTO AND BEZZI FOR THE PRODUCTION OF DECORATIONS WITH PIGIENT CERAMICS, IN ONE OR MORE COLORS, TRANSFERABLE ON TILES FOR COVERINGS AND OTHER ARTI-COLI IN CERAMIC AND GLASS"

DESCRIPTION

Once ceramic tiles were decorated by hand, but this method would be impossible today, for industrial production in large series, as it is excessively expensive and above all because it would require particular artistic skills combined with specific expertise in the use of ceramic pigments. , or powdered oxides known to be subject to chromatic mutations during cooking.

Currently, the decoration of ceramic and glass tiles is obtained by intervening directly with printing techniques such as lithography and screen printing, or by means of decals.

The decals intended for this use consist of a special paper support bearing a sandwich with the silk-screen printing of the decoration interposed with two layers of transparent varnish: one to facilitate detachment from the paper and the other to protect it until fired.

Even if the methods in use today are to be preferred to traditional hand decoration, the process in question offers even more appreciable economic and practical advantages, thanks above all to the fact that, in replacement of the usual lithographic and screen printing systems, which until now were indispensable, the present invention provides for and allows the use of a thermal transfer printer which, of a known type, is controlled by a computer to reproduce, with ceramic pigments and on transfer paper, the decoration just processed or selected from those stored. In practice, in order to ensure the prompt production of the new decorations periodically inserted in the catalog, it will no longer be necessary to have prepared the relative and expensive lithographic or screen printing systems but, much more simply, it will be enough to have magnetically memorized the design.

A further and appreciable economic aspect of the invention is offered by the possibility of creating, without any actual increase in production costs, personalized and exclusive decorations expressly requested by the clients.

All this will be more clearly understood from the following description and from the attached drawing tables where, for indicative purposes only and not indicative, are represented:

FIGS. 1-2-3-4-5-6 which schematize, in its transfer, the various stages of the procedure starting from the laying of the ceramic pigments on the film for the thermal printer and up to the insertion of the decorated tiles in the kiln;

FIG. 7, which shows the operation of a printer, thermal transfer and continuously driven by the computer.

According to the process conceived and with reference to the attached drawings, the film A, of plastic material and preferably of polyester, is subjected, on one face, to the coating (FIG. 1) of a mixture B of powdered oxides (ceramic pigments) and resinous clinging substances.

The coating plant 1, exemplified in FIG. 1, shows indicatively one of the possible ways to simultaneously apply ceramic pigments of several colors on films to be managed subsequently in a thermal transfer printer which, like the one shown in FIG. 2, each time uses a section of film AB comprising as many pigmented areas as there are colors to be reproduced in succession to compose the decoration.

The pigmented film AB is inserted into a printer 2, of a known type, whose thermal impulse head 3, driven by the computer 4 according to the programmed pattern, moves against the back of the film and reproduces the pattern, on the opposite side, on a transfer paper sheet C where, for the fusion of the adhesion resins, the ceramic pigment B of the film zone is transferred from time to time in direct contact with the sheet.

Once the reproduction of the design in the different colors that compose it is completed, the decorated sheet CB passes to a screen printing system 5, of the flat or drum type and in any case known, so that the entire decoration is protected by a uniform layer of collodion D.

The whole CBD thus formed is a sort of sandwich with decoration B, in one or more colors and in ceramic pigments, located between the decal paper C and the collodion layer B.

Appropriate drying, possibly accelerated by ventilation at room temperature or even heated, will give the collodion the consistency of a film.

The CBD elements thus obtained can be handled in complete freedom and stored until the moment of their use which, as shown in FIGS. 3-4-5, first of all involves soaking in water to separate the decal paper C from the whole BD, or rather from the collodion film with the decoration pigments. Together BD, still wet, is made to adhere perfectly to the ceramic or glass tile E by placing the decoration pigments in contact with it (FIG. 5).

The BDE set thus obtained, after suitable drying, is passed into an oven (FIG. 6) where, at a temperature of about 750-880 °, the pigments are melted and the collodion is volatilized without traces.

Possible variations could arise from the use of printers, in any case with thermal transfer, different from the one already described and represented in FIG. 2.

In this regard, observing FIG. 7, we note that in the continuous printer 6, driven by the computer 8 according to the programmed design, a plurality of thermal bars 7, equipped with micro-resistances, transfer the ceramic pigments from as many AB pigmented films to a continuous sheet of transfer paper C.

Obviously said films, of plastic material and preferably of polyester, are coated with a mixture of powdered oxides (ceramic pigments) and resinous adhesion substances.

Each thermal bar, thanks to computer impulses, transfers the pigments of a certain color and, once the design is completed, the decorated sheet CB is covered, for the known reasons, with a uniform layer of collodion spread, preferably, by means of an implant. drum screen printing.

Regardless of the type of thermal transfer printer adopted, it is possible to replace the known transfer paper with a paper covered with a layer of wax or thermo-activatable resins. In this way the thermal transfer of the pigments would take place on the thermo-activatable layer to be subsequently brought into contact with the ceramic or glass surface where the decoration is carried out by heat and directly from the aforementioned sheet. A similar variant would make it possible to avoid the silkscreen application of the collodion and its subsequent detachment from the paper to remove the pigments of the decoration. It is obvious that, without prejudice to the general characteristics illustrated and described, the process and the devised means may be susceptible to further modifications and variations, however included in this patent area.

Claims (1)

CLAIMS 1) "PROCEDURE AND MEANS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF DE-CORI WITH CERAMIC PIGMENTS, IN ONE OR MORE COLORS, TRANSFERABLE ON TILES FOR COVERINGS AND OTHER ARTICLES IN CERAMIC AND GLASS", characterized mainly by the creation and use of a film which, consisting of plastic and preferably polyester material, has a face covered with a mixture of ceramic pigments and resinous bonding substances so that, by means of a thermal transfer printer controlled by a computer, said ceramic pigments can be transferred, according to the programmed drawing, on a sheet of transfer paper or other equivalent means. 2) "PROCEDURE AND MEANS ...", as in the previous claim, characterized by the fact that the polyester film or other suitable plastic material, in relation to the type of thermal transfer printer with which to use it, could have a uniform coating of pigments ceramic of a single color, or be divided into zones with ceramic pigments of different colors and managed in succession in the composition of the decoration according to the design stored in the computer to which the printer is connected. 3) "PROCEDURE AND MEANS -", as in the previous claims, characterized by the fact that, after the reproduction of the design with ceramic pigments of one or more colors and on transfer paper, the entire decorated surface is protected with a uniform layer of collodion which, preferably spread with a flat or drum-type screen printing system, takes on the consistency of a film incorporating the pigments upon drying without altering its design. 4) "PROCEDURE AND MEANS ...", as in the previous claims, characterized by the fact that the sheets of transfer paper on which the ceramic pigments covered by the collodion layer-film are located, at the time of their use are soaked to to be able to separate the paper from the rest and then place the collodion film with the pigments incorporated in it on the ceramic or glass surface to be decorated. 5) "PROCEDURE AND MEANS ...", as in the previous claims, characterized by the fact that, after suitable drying of the elements to be decorated and already covered by the collodion film with the ceramic pigments, these are passed in the oven so that, to a temperature of about 750-880 °, the melting of the pigments and the volatilization without traces of the collodion are obtained. 6) "PROCEDURE AND MEANS ...", as in claim 1), characterized by the fact that the decal paper can be replaced by other paper covered with a layer of wax or heat-activated resins. In this way, the ceramic pigments of the decoration, applied by the thermal printer on said layer, are transferred onto the ceramic or glass surface directly from the paper, by heat and by direct contact. 7) "PROCEDURE AND MEANS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF DE-CORI WITH CERAMIC PIGMENTS, IN ONE OR MORE COLORS, TRANSFERABLE ON TILES FOR COVERINGS AND OTHER ARTICLES IN CERAMIC AND GLASS", as in all the previous claims, substantially as illustrated and described for the specified purposes and regardless of those modifications or variations which in practice may be made without departing from the present patent scope.