JP2006150820A - Method and equipment for combination printing - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To subject the same printing object to a plurality of different printing processes. <P>SOLUTION: This method comprises a process wherein the printing object is covered with a foil at a prescribed position by a foil printing method and a process wherein a structure and/or a mark is put by a structure method and/or a stamping method. On the occasion, the printing object passes through these processes sequentially without residence. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for producing printed products that are printed in different ways.

  Printing devices are known per se and are widely used. In these printing apparatuses, paper, cardboard, foil, or the like as a printing substrate, that is, a sheet or rolled article, is guided so as to pass through an ink mechanism through a roller gap or a cylinder gap. In the ink mechanism, the ink is transferred to the surface of the printing base each time by various transfer methods. These methods include, for example, offset printing and screen printing.

  Furthermore, foil printing is known per se from known techniques. Common to all known foil printing methods is that the foil is partially placed under pressure and permanently fixed on a printing substrate, such as paper, cardboard or foil as a sheet or roll article That is. A foil with a gold or silver gloss, for example a so-called transition foil, is used as the printing foil, but various colored printing foils with a light gloss or silk gloss surface are also known.

  Placing printing foil on the ground is usually done with stamping foil printing technology. This printing technique is similar to letterpress printing in its basic form, and as far as book printing. A decisive common feature is that the printing parts of the printing plate are located higher than the non-printing parts that surround these parts. During the printing process, the printing plate is indirectly heated and kept at a constant temperature. The printing medium that moves from the printing foil to the substrate during the printing process consists of a transition layer in the form of a thin multilayer dry film, which is usually removably attached to a transparent support via a separating layer. . This separation layer is composed of two layers of silver aluminum vapor deposition and mostly colored coating layer. This double transition layer is provided with a synthetic resin layer that can be adhered upon heating.

  During the printing process, the transfer foil is passed through the printing mechanism together with the substrate to be printed, with the transfer layer being supported by the pressing force of the heated printing plate at a location determined by the raised elements of the printing plate. Remove from foil and transfer to substrate. Since the separation layer between the support foil and the transition layer evaporates due to heat transferred from the printing plate, the transition layer is easily detached from the support foil. On the other hand, since the synthetic resin layer is activated from the dry state to the sticky state under the action of heat, the synthetic resin layer forms an adhesion layer between the base and the transition layer. As a result, at the location set by the printing plate, the transition layer permanently adheres to the substrate, for example in the form of a golden glitter layer.

The disadvantage of this known foil printing method is that the production and installation of the printing plate, i.e. the line drawing letterpress, requires a very long preparation and installation time. Since this preparation and installation time is almost half of the total production time, the known foil printing process as a whole is very time consuming and is accompanied by high production costs. In addition, heating in part above 200 ° C is common, which results in very high energy costs.

  In order to overcome the above drawbacks, in the foil printing method already proposed by Patent Document 1, under the action of pressure on the substrate to be printed, a support foil, a transition layer, a support foil and a transition layer The transfer foil having a separation layer disposed between and is placed, and in the process connected before the foil placement, the transfer layer adheres to the place set for the foil placement on the surface of the base In the process of attaching the layer and connecting it after placing the foil, the substrate is subjected to a pressing force exceeding the action of the pressure during the placing of the foil together with the transfer layer adhered thereon by the adhesion layer. This method is called the foil transfer method.

  Although the above-described foil printing method according to Patent Document 1 has a good reputation in practical use, it has a drawback in that it is difficult to carry out another processing of the base with a transition layer, for example, printing, engraving and the like. It is therefore necessary to store the substrate once in a separate location after the transfer layer has been applied, and in some cases the substrate is pre-cut to size. The substrate with the transfer layer can then be supplied in a separate work step to another processing device, such as a printing device, to perform another processing, such as printing the substrate. The intermediate storage of the substrate with the transfer layer and the additional work steps for supplying the substrate to another processing apparatus are not only time consuming but also very expensive. This is because, in order to ensure that the separate processing steps carried out separately are precisely tailored to both the substrate and the transfer layer deposited on the substrate, work with the highest accuracy. Because it is necessary to do. In the past, errors and misprints have occurred quite frequently with respect to other processing steps, resulting in an inconvenient increase in the number of defective products, which is very expensive especially in the context of a substrate with a transfer layer.

The same applies to the case where the printing substrate to be coated with foil is pretreated, for example preprinted or stamped. Again, a completely separate second step is required to supply the pretreated print substrate to the foil transfer after the processing step is finally completed, including optionally drying, cutting, etc. .
European Patent No. 0578706

  In light of the above-described known technology, an object of the present invention is to provide a printing method and apparatus that enable different methods to be used for the same printed product in directly following operations.

  In order to solve this problem technically, according to the present invention, a method for manufacturing a printed product by combining various processing methods that are directly followed is proposed. In this case, the substrate is coated with a foil at a predetermined position by the foil printing method in one process, and the structure and / or the marking is applied by the structure and / or the marking method in another process, and the substrate is not stored without intermediate storage. The above steps were sequentially passed.

  The method according to the invention is characterized by an in-line method implementation. Several steps for treating the substrate can be connected one after the other and carried out in one method step. Thus, unlike the prior art, it is not necessary to first store the substrate with the foil or transition layer in a separate location first and then perform additional processing of the substrate in a separate work step. Rather, the method according to the invention makes it possible to carry out a continuous process, the result being a substrate coated with a transfer foil or transfer layer, which is additionally provided with structure and / or inscription. Therefore, according to the present invention, the foil printing method and the structure and / or the stamping method are adjusted in sequence and coupled to each other.

  According to a first variant of the invention, the substrate is first coated with foil and then provided with structure and / or inscription. Alternatively, the substrate may be first structured and / or engraved and then covered with foil. In any case, however, the process according to the invention is carried out continuously in-line. That is, the foil printing method is connected immediately before or after the structure and / or engraving process. There is no intermediate storage of the substrate.

  The inscription intended in the present invention means that a convex portion and / or a concave portion is provided on the base regardless of whether or not it is already covered with a foil. In this case, the convex part and / or the concave part can form an arbitrary pattern in their entire impression by selection. For example, it is possible to form a convex part and / or a concave part in all the places covered with the underlying foil before or after the foil coating.

  The formation of the structure intended in the present invention means that a uniform pattern including convex portions and / or concave portions is provided on the base before or after the foil coating. Therefore, the structure can be formed so that, for example, linear convex portions and / or concave portions extending at equal intervals in the vertical direction, the horizontal direction, and other directions are arranged on the base. Of course, other patterns can be formed, and imagination is not limited. All that is decisive is that the structure assignment is performed within a continuous method implementation.

  In accordance with another feature of the invention, the substrate is printed with ink in a printing process having at least one ink mechanism in a separate process. In this case, the substrate can be ink-printed before or after the foil coating, or before or after the engraving process. According to this method variant, the foil or transition layer and the structure or imprinted substrate can be first dried and prepared for another printing step. Subsequent to drying, a foil or transfer layer and a printed structure or imprinted substrate is performed. The result of this method is a substrate with a foil or transition layer and structure or inscription, and additional printing, which is further cut into predetermined dimensions as required, and depending on the desired application. Can be further processed. In either case, however, unlike the prior art, the application of the foil or transition layer, the formation of structures and / or inscriptions, and the printing of the substrate do not have to be carried out in several laborious steps. To that extent, the method according to the invention is much simpler to implement and is much less expensive.

  In the above-described variation of the method configuration, the base may be printed in a process connected immediately before the application of the foil or the transition layer, and then dried. The structure and / or stamp can then be performed on a substrate that has already been printed and provided with a transfer foil. This method variation also features an inline method implementation. However, in contrast to the first variant, according to the implementation of the method, additional printing of the substrate is carried out before the transfer layer application or before the structure and / or the step of forming the inscription. At that time, the base is first printed in the first step. Then, the substrate printed in the drying process is dried. The printed substrate is then provided with a foil or transition layer and structure and / or inscription in the manner described above. Needless to say, it is also possible that the printing process is followed by a stamping process first, and then a foil or transition layer is applied to the printed and stamped substrate. As a result, the implementation of this method also results in a substrate having a foil or transition layer and additionally printed and structured or engraved. In this alternative method change example, as in the first method change example described above, it is not necessary to implement a method consisting of a plurality of parts.

  It is obvious that the order and frequency of some steps can be arbitrarily changed within the framework of the present invention. For example, the substrate can be stamped first, then printed, and finally a transfer foil. Here, the printing may be, for example, multicolor printing, and the original drawing is printed in a number of ink mechanisms / printing mechanisms in a manner known per se from the prior art, each accompanied by necessary processing steps such as drying. What is important in this case is to dry the finished product in each step with respect to printing or foil printing, so that this product is of any kind as an intermediate product, but always in-line, i.e. To be provided without the need for intermediate storage. This can be done in any order and frequency even if another printing step follows the transfer foil coating or another foil transfer step is performed. The same applies to the structure and / or the marking method. However, after the printing process, the foil transfer process or the structure process and / or the stamping process, the state of the intermediate product is always adjusted first. For this reason, in accordance with another feature of the present invention, the substrate was dried in a separate step, and this drying was performed following foil coating and / or following ink printing. In this case, multiple foil coatings and / or color prints can be provided as described above, but drying is performed following each foil coating and / or following each color print.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the drying process can be performed by infrared radiation, fan blowing and / or similar methods. The drying process is important for the implementation of the method so that the subsequent processing steps can be carried out with the correct dimensions and in some cases the result of the wet substrate can not interfere with the implementation of the method. Fan blowing and infrared radiation have proved particularly suitable for the drying process. Of course, there are other suitable drying possibilities, which can be used as needed depending on the method implementation. However, the above method is characterized by being efficient and minimizing costs.

  In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, the transfer foil supplied to the substrate within the method implementation frame is supplied to a width-stretching roller fitted with foil pieces in an additional step. This allows the transition foil to be rubbed smoothly and stretched in the width direction, which advantageously improves the formation of the printed image conditioned on the transition layer. In accordance with a particular advantage of the present invention, the width stretching roller is made shorter than the width of the foil transfer mechanism. The width-stretching roller is usually a roller equipped with rubber-like flakes. These flakes are, as a rule, directed outward from the center plane of the roller towards the opposite ends of the roller. This means that the material passed through these rollers is always stretched outwards, i.e. in the width direction, by the pressure applied by the flakes. For example, when the printing width or transition width of the apparatus is not fully utilized, a width-stretching roller formed in an asymmetric shape can be used. When only half of the transition width is used, the center is located after about a quarter of the length of the width-stretching roller, and the flakes inclined toward the end or center of the roller respectively emerge from the center. Therefore, only half of the equipment width can be used. For example, the second half of the width-stretching roller can be constructed without forming any foil pieces.

  The method according to the invention makes it possible to use a printing surface which is smooth and possibly elastic for the pressure action during the foil mounting. The magnitude of the pressure action during the placement of the foil is set to such an extent that this pressure action is not sufficient to push the printed foil edge into the substrate. However, this pressure action must be large enough to remove the transition layer partially or planarly from the support material.

  In order to be able to carry out the foil printing process continuously, in an extension of the process it is exemplified that the foil mounting takes place between two rollers rotating in the opposite direction of the transfer calendar. Furthermore, it is advantageous to apply the pressing force necessary to ensure the final fixing of the transition layer between two rollers rotating in opposite directions.

  If the substrate is applied with an adhesive layer in a one-color mechanism or a multi-color mechanism according to the method configuration, commercial and printing mechanisms can be used for this part of the method implementation, so the purchase and operating costs are relatively low. The adhesion layer is covered with a primer if the substrate absorbs too strongly. A two-color printing mechanism is particularly suitable for this. With a two-color printing mechanism, a two-component adhesive can also be satisfactorily applied as an adhesion layer.

  In order to form the structure and / or stamp, preferably a structure and / or stamp calendar is provided. This calendar is provided with rollers which are arranged in the height direction and are rotated in the opposite direction and spaced apart from each other. The structure or imprinted substrate is fed to the roller and passed through the formed roller gap. Obviously, the roller gap between the at least two rollers can be adjusted by selection. In this case, one of the two rollers is equipped with a relatively hard surface, while the other roller has a relatively hard surface, for example formed from an elastic material, for example rubber. Has been. The harder of the two rollers supports the pattern to be engraved on the substrate in a negative shape. The other roller that faces this roller acts as a pressure roller, and presses the substrate with the structural pattern and / or the stamp pattern against the stamp roller. The result is a structured or imprinted substrate that, as described above, can be provided with transfer foil and / or printing within the frame of another in-line method implementation.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a circuit can be printed on the substrate. Such a circuit can include, for example, a conductive path that can later be used as an electronic unit. The application of one circuit or multiple circuits can be connected before, after or during the above steps. There are no restrictions on this.

According to another feature of the present invention, a safety motif can be applied to the substrate. The present invention contemplates. A safety motif may be a motif that is not visible under normal conditions, such as sunlight. These motifs become visible only when, for example, ultraviolet rays are incident. Such a safety motif can be used as an authentic standard, for example. The formation of the safety motif can also be connected before, after or during the process already described. Structural calendars, imprint calendars and printing mechanisms are suitable for applying circuits and / or safety motifs.

  In particular, it has become clear that the foil printing method is particularly suitable for forming circuits. As the transfer foil, a support foil having a cylinder as a transfer layer is used. It goes without saying that other conductive materials besides the body are also considered. The only thing that is crucial is that the printed image formed by foil printing reproduces the conductive path that should be applied to the substrate to form the desired circuit.

Another fundamental problem with the above technology arises from the structure of the impression cylinder. For example, the standard circumference of the impression cylinder is 920 mm, but only 720 mm is provided as a printing area. The remaining 200mm has a gripper for the printing foil. The 200 mm range, referred to as the groove area in the impression cylinder, extends approximately the entire cylinder length parallel to the longitudinal axis of the cylinder. When the transition foil with the transition layer is continuously rotated around the impression cylinder for the purpose of transition, a dead space of 200 mm is not available for the purpose of transition every 720 mm. This is indeed over 20%, and this range will eventually become defective, so that much foil is lost. The present invention provides a unique solution to this problem regardless of the solutions, advantages and features described above. The solution is that the transfer foil can be controlled without depending on the rotation of the impression cylinder. For this purpose, in terms of the method, the transition foil is temporarily stopped and / or guided in the opposite direction with respect to the rotation of the impression cylinder. For this purpose, the transition foil can be lifted from the impression cylinder at least in a predetermined area. In this case, for example, the foil is stopped over the above 200 mm or even conveyed in the opposite direction, whereas the impression cylinder advances forward so that the groove area is not forced to produce a foil defect. The above solution can also be used for transfer mechanisms belonging to the prior art, independent of all other solutions described in this application.

  In order to technically solve the problems described at the outset, at least one structure and / or engraving calendar and at least in order to produce a printed product by combining different processing methods that directly follow one another. An apparatus with one foil transfer device is implemented.

Further in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, a printing device having at least one ink mechanism connected in series with a foil transfer device and a structure and / or stamping calendar may be proposed.
An apparatus suitable for carrying out the method provided by the present invention comprises at least one structure and / or engraving calendar and at least one printing mechanism, the printing mechanism comprising a transfer foil feeding device, a transfer foil discharging device, and a printing And a printing gap through which the substrate to be printed, which is partitioned by the surface and the mating surface, passes along with the transfer foil supplied from the transfer foil supply device, and is further connected in front of the printing mechanism to attach an adhesion layer to the substrate An adhesive mechanism including an adhesive member, and a pressing mechanism that is connected after the printing mechanism and includes a pressing gap that passes through the printed substrate partitioned by the pressing surface and the pressing counterpart surface. This device is complemented by a drying device connected after the pressing mechanism and a printing device connected after the drying device. In addition, or alternatively, a printing device connected in front of the bonding mechanism and a drying device arranged between the printing device and the bonding mechanism are provided. The structure and / or engraving calendar can also be connected before or after the printing device or foil transfer device.

  The above apparatus variants advantageously make it possible to implement an in-line method according to the invention. In this case, the drying device is connected before or after the pressing mechanism according to the first alternative configuration. The significance and purpose of this drying device is to dry the substrate with the foil or transition layer and prepare it for subsequent processing steps. Such drying can be performed by fan blowing or infrared radiation. Subsequent to the drying process, the printing or stamping of the substrate already provided with a foil or transfer layer takes place, for this purpose a printing device or structure and / or a stamping calendar is connected after the drying device. The printing device can be composed of an upper roller and a lower roller, and the upper roller is preferably used in the original printing process, whereas the lower roller is formed as a counter roller for the upper roller, It is possible to guarantee a proper pressing force.

  According to another apparatus variation, the substrate is printed in a previously connected printing process before being applied with a foil or transition layer as described above, and is imprinted in a connected marking process after the printing process. be able to. For this purpose, a printing device was connected before the bonding mechanism. That is, the substrate is printed and engraved before the adhesive layer is applied to the substrate and the foil or transition layer is applied. In order to ensure that the adherent layer can be properly applied following the printing of the substrate, a drying device is provided between the printing device and the adhesive mechanism. This drying device dries the preprinted substrate, after which the substrate is further applied with an adhesive layer. It goes without saying that the substrate is first engraved in an engraving process, then printed, and finally a transfer foil is applied.

  According to a particular advantage of the present invention, several structures of the foil transfer machine are arranged directly in series in an inline fashion, which enables an inline method implementation with the advantages already mentioned.

  According to another characteristic of the invention, the width-stretching roller fitted with a flake is a component of the foil transfer machine according to the invention. In accordance with another feature of the invention, the stretch roller can be formed asymmetrically with respect to the placement of the flakes. That is, as described for the method, the portion of the width-stretching roller with the flakes does not extend over the entire length of the width-stretching roller, and can be disposed asymmetrically with respect to the center plane of the roller. In this way, the partial width of the equipment can be used.

  This foil transfer machine is configured such that the pressing surface and the pressing counterpart surface are formed by two smooth surface rollers of a printing calendar. In this case, the printing surface and the mating surface are also preferably present on the smooth surface roller that forms the transfer calendar.

In another configuration, the printing mechanism and the pressing mechanism form a structural unit, in which case the previously connected adhesive mechanism can be configured as a known one-color mechanism or a multi-color mechanism.
Together, the one-color or multi-color mechanism, the printing mechanism or transfer mechanism and the pressing mechanism form a foil transfer machine that allows in-line foil transfer. It is possible without difficulty to connect and attach this foil transfer machine after a continuous printing machine, a web printing machine or a label printing machine for the purpose of in-line production. The mechanical unit composed of the printing mechanism and the pressing mechanism can be connected as an additional unit after the existing printing mechanism or adhesive applicator.

In the context of the method, the invention has been described without regard to all other solutions, advantages and features for bridging the groove area of the impression cylinder. In order to move the impression cylinder forward against the stopped foil, or even the foil that is reversed, without feeding the transfer foil over the area of the groove area of at least 200 mm, on the machine side the transfer foil is moved around the impression cylinder via a so-called dancer roller. It is proposed to guide you. This is a shaft body having a movable axis. Cam control, preferably drum cam control and corresponding drive devices can be used to adjust at least one of the used dancer rollers relative to the foil by movement of the axis to control the tension on the transfer foil. Thereby, it becomes possible to idle the impression cylinder over at least a certain outer peripheral range with respect to the transition foil. In addition, in order to reduce the friction surface, the transition foil can be guided with respect to the impression cylinder so that the transition foil abuts only in the transition gap in the impression cylinder. Thereby, the foil feeding can be controlled almost arbitrarily with respect to the impression cylinder. This solution of the apparatus does not depend on the above-mentioned solution, advantages and features of the present invention, and is a unique invention.

  Other details and advantages of the subject matter of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments of the inventive method and the inventive device are shown. The actual size ratio is not shown correctly in the drawing.

  The printing unit shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 is composed of a plurality of individual structures. These structures are a smoothing device formed from the bonding mechanism 1, the transfer or printing mechanism 7, the pressing mechanism 8, the drying device 26, the printing device 29, the structure and / or the stamping calendar 33 and the width extending roller 23. .

  The bonding mechanism 1 shown in the drawing comprises a conventional two-color printing mechanism, which in the frame of the invention applies a substrate 2 to be printed to a thin adhesive layer 3, for example a thin one- or two-component adhesive. Used to partially coat with a membrane. For this purpose, the adhesive mechanism 1 has in particular a lower roller 4 and an upper roller 5, and the upper roller 5 acting as an adhesive member can be formed as a rubber blanket cylinder, which has a predetermined adhesive film. According to the pattern, the substrate 2 is partially transferred to the base 2, which is passed through the gap between the lower roller 4 and the upper roller 5, for example, a seasoned strip or a cardboard strip.

  As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, the transfer mechanism 32 is followed by the transfer mechanism or printing mechanism 7 and the pressing mechanism 8 in the transport direction 32. In the illustrated embodiment, these are all integrated into one facility and housed in one housing 6. Of course, a single process, module arrangement, etc. can also be realized. This is because what is important here is functional integration, not structural integration.

In the printing mechanism 7, the transfer foil 10 wound around the supply winding body 9 is partially transferred to the base 2 passed through the printing mechanism 7 in a printing gap formed by two rollers. For this purpose, the transfer foil 10 is guided via two clamping rollers 11 to a smooth, possibly elastic printing roller 12 and then to the collecting roller 14 via an intermediate roller 13. The printing roller 12 runs on the chrome-plated counter roller 15 with a prescribed pressure under the interposition of the base 2 and the transfer foil 10, and forms a transfer calendar together with the counter roller.

  The pressing mechanism 8 is also composed of a calender having two rollers. Among these rollers, the upper roller 5 forms a smooth pressing roller 16, and the lower roller similarly forms a smooth pressing partner roller 17. The pressing force generated between the pressing roller 16 and the pressing counterpart roller 17 far exceeds the pressure between the printing roller 12 and the opposing roller 15.

According to the first device variant shown in FIG. 1, a drying device 26, a printing device 29 and a structure and / or stamping calendar 33 are connected in the transport direction 32 before or after the pressing mechanism 8. In the transfer mechanism, the foil 10 is smoothed in the width direction by the width stretching roller 23. Smoothing is originally performed in the longitudinal direction based on the roller guide. This ensures that a smoothed foil support web is introduced between the printing roller 12 and the mating roller 15 for transfer. In order to keep the foil support smooth, that is, in order to avoid distortion and breakage in the range of the printing roller, the width extending roller 23 can also be arranged in the discharge range. The base 2 with the transfer layer 20 passes through the drying device 26 before reaching the printing device 29. The substrate 2 with the transfer layer 20 is dried in a drying device 26 by fan blowing or infrared radiation, and this is particularly the case when the adhesion layer 3 previously applied to the substrate 2 is applied.
It works to dry out completely. This drying step is necessary as long as subsequent printing of the substrate 2 with the transfer layer 20 can be carried out properly in-line, i.e. without intermediate storage of the substrate 2 with the transfer layer 20. This printing process is performed in a printing device 29 connected after the drying device 26 in the transport direction 32. This printing device 29 preferably comprises an upper roller 30 and a lower roller 31, preferably the upper roller 30 performs the original printing of the base 2, while the lower roller 31 serves as a counter roller for the upper roller 30. It is formed and functions to form a counter pressure necessary for printing by the upper roller 30. Since the ink mechanism and other original drawing guide devices are known per se from the prior art, they are not shown for the sake of clarity.

  A structure and / or engraving calendar 33 is arranged between the drying device 26 and the printing device 29. The structure and / or the marking calendar 33 serves to apply a structural pattern and / or a marking pattern to the base 2 that has been previously dried by applying the transition layer 20. As described above, the base 2 is printed by the printing device 29 following the marking process.

  The structure and / or stamping calendar 33 is composed of a rubber cylinder 34 or a steel cylinder serving as a pressing roller, and a structure and / or stamping roller 35, and the surface of the structure and / or stamping roller 35 is a structure to be attached to the base 2. Alternatively, the inscription to be applied to the base 2 is supported in a negative shape.

  Further, as can be seen from FIG. 1, the drying device 26 includes an upper body 27 and a lower body 28. Thus, the substrate passed through the foil transfer machine is dried on both sides in a single process step. Alternatively, only the upper body 27 or only the lower body 28 may be provided. However, in this case, in order to achieve a sufficient drying process, it is necessary to form the drying device 26 correspondingly longer in the conveying direction 32 which is the longitudinal direction.

  FIG. 2 shows a printing unit according to a second embodiment of the present invention. Unlike the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, printing of the base 2 is performed before the transfer layer 20 of the foil 10 is transferred to the base. For this purpose, a printing device 29 is connected in front of the bonding mechanism 1 in the transport direction 32. Here, the base 2 is printed as described above, but the base 2 is not yet provided with the transfer layer 20 unlike the embodiment shown in FIG. In order to adequately ensure that the adhesion layer 3 is applied and then the transfer layer 20 is placed, a drying device 26 is provided connected immediately after the printing mechanism 29. As described above, the drying device 26 includes the upper body 27 and the lower body 28, and it is preferable that infrared drying or drying with a fan is performed using the drying device. The printed and dried substrate 2 is then fed to the bonding mechanism 1 and subsequently the transfer layer 20 is secured to the already printed substrate 2 as described above. Further, in order to ensure proper formation of the transition layer 20, a width stretching roller 23 is provided for stretching the transition layer 20 in the width direction of the base 2.

  Further, unlike the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the substrate 2 to be printed later and to which the transfer layer 20 is applied is first imprinted and transported for that purpose. A structure and / or stamping calendar 33 is connected in front of the printing device 29 in the direction 32. The structure and / or stamping calendar 33 includes the rubber roller 34 and the structure and / or stamping roller 35 as described above. The illustration of the structure and / or other components of the stamped calendar 33 has been omitted for clarity.

FIG. 3 shows another configuration change example of the present invention. According to this variant, the structure and / or stamping calendar 33 is connected in front of the bonding mechanism 1. As described above, the bonding mechanism 1 is followed by the transfer or printing mechanism 7, the pressing mechanism 8, the drying device 26 and the printing device 29. Within the framework of the method implementation according to the embodiment shown in FIG. Adhesive 3 is then applied, followed by application of transfer foil 20. The substrate 2 with the transfer foil 20 is then dried and printed at the end. The implementation of the above method is particularly suitable when the transfer foil 20 is subsequently applied or printed to the inscription placed on the substrate 2 by means of the structure and / or the inscription calendar 33.

  FIG. 4 shows a configuration example of the width extending roller 23. The width-stretching roller 23 includes a drum body 24 on which thin pieces 25 arranged asymmetrically are mounted. The asymmetric arrangement of the flakes 25 is provided when the base is covered with the transition layer 20 only in a specific range or when a narrow original drawing is printed. It is obvious that the symmetrical shape of the width-stretching roller can be selected depending on the conditions. Thus, it is possible to use only half the width, etc., but also only in the central area of the roller.

Implementation of the foil placement of the transition foil 10 in the printing mechanism is shown in the left part of FIG. The total thickness of the transfer foil 10 which is only about 12 μm consists of three layers in total. The innermost layer placed directly on the printing roller 12 is formed as a support foil 18, and a transfer layer 20 is disposed on the support foil 18 via a separation layer 19 serving as an adhesion base. Therefore, the transition layer 20 can be detached from the support foil 18 with relative ease. The transition layer 20 itself is also usually composed of two layers, consisting of a thin deposited aluminum layer and, for example, a colored paint layer. This two-layer configuration of the transition layer 20 is not clearly shown in the drawing.

  When the foil is placed, the substrate 2 to be printed is passed through a printing gap formed between the two rollers by the peripheral speed of the printing roller 12 or the counter roller 15, The transfer foil 10 guided together on the fabric surface of the printing roller 12 is partially transferred to the substrate 2. This transition takes place exclusively at the location of the substrate 2 to which the adhesion layer 3 has been applied within the previously connected adhesive mechanism. The transfer foil 10 is not transferred to the base 2 as a whole, but only the transfer layer 20 that can be easily detached from the support foil 18 is transferred. Therefore, when leaving the printing mechanism 7, the transfer layer 20 adheres to the base 2 at a location where the adhesion layer 3 has been partially applied in advance. The transition layer 20 is formed, for example, as a gold foil, where the aluminum layer produces a metallization effect, while the gold color is caused by a yellow or ocher paint layer.

  In some applications, in order to provide the durability necessary for the foil placement performed in the printing mechanism 7 in this way, the base 2 on which the transfer layer 20 is bonded is then applied to the pressing mechanism 8 of the calendar unit. It may be necessary to guide between the pressing roller 16 and the pressing counterpart roller 17. This unit can often be dispensed with. The pressure action in the printing mechanism 7 need only be sufficient to ensure foil placement, i.e., transfer of the transition layer 20 from the support foil 18 to the underlayer 2, while the transfer layer 20 and underlayer 2 are tightly coupled. The pressing force in the pressing mechanism 8 that causes a strong coupling is much higher.

  The implementation of the foil placement in the printing mechanism 7 is shown for a printing example in FIG. In the continuous printing frame, the base 2 is composed of printing sheets 21 each having 4 × 5 sections. For the sake of clarity, this printed sheet 21 is provided with five types of printing motifs 22 that are repeated four times on each printed sheet 21. In the left part of FIG. 6, the printing sheet 21 is shown in a state before passing through the printing mechanism including the printing roller 12. In the area of the individual print motifs 22, the printed sheets 21 have already been partially applied with an adhesion layer 3. After leaving the printing roller 12, the printing sheet 21 is provided with a transfer layer 20 in the region of the partial adhesion layer 3, thereby forming a printed printing motif 22. In the range of the print motif 22, as shown in the right part of FIG. 5, the transfer foil 10 in contact with the printing roller 12 does not have the transfer layer 20.

  Instead of the transition foil 10 shown in FIG. 6 extending over almost the entire width of the transition calender composed of the printing roller 12 and the counter roller 15, a plurality of individual transition foil webs can also be used. This is particularly desirable when the print motif 22 is distributed only over a portion of the web width. In order to save on the transition foil, it is also possible to guide the transition foil periodically by at least temporarily separating the transport of the transition foil from the transport of the substrate by means of the opening of the transition calendar. A plurality of narrow foil webs can be used, or the transition calendar can be subjected to periodic pressure.

The printing motif 22 illustrated in FIG. 6 can be formed so as to be raised or press-fitted by stamping, that is, with reference to the plane of the base 2 as described with reference to FIGS.
The embodiments described above are for illustrative purposes and are not limiting. In particular, the unit according to the present invention can change the order of conventional printing and foil transfer, the frequency of replacement, and the like. Furthermore, it is within the framework of the present invention that the use of a calendar following the foil transfer is optional. This is only necessary if, for example, the foil is concerned about swimming on the adhesive or if other post treatments are required.

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of the printing unit according to the first embodiment with a part cut away. FIG. 9 is a schematic side view showing a part of a printing unit according to a second embodiment by cutting away. FIG. 9 is a schematic side view showing a part of a printing unit according to a third embodiment by cutting away the part. The side view which cuts and shows a part of width extending roller formed asymmetrically. 3 is a detailed view showing the printing mechanism and the pressing mechanism shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 in a shortened manner. FIG. FIG. 5 is a partial plan view of the printing mechanism shown in FIG. 4.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Adhesion mechanism, 2 ... Base | substrate, 3 ... Adhesion layer, 4 ... Lower roller, 5 ... Upper roller, 6 ... Housing, 7 ... Printing mechanism, 8 ... Pressing mechanism, 9 ... Supply winding body, 10 ... Transfer foil, 11 ... Clamping roller, 12 ... Print roller, 13 ... Intermediate roller, 14 ... Collecting roller, 15 ... Pairing roller, 16 ... Pressing roller, 17 ... Pressing roller, 18 ... Support foil, 19 ... Separation layer, 20 ... Transition layer , 21 ... printed sheet, 22 ... printing motif, 23 ... width stretching roller, 24 ... body, 25 ... thin piece, 26 ... drying method, 27 ... upper body, 28 ... lower body, 29 ... printing method, 30 ... upper roller 31 ... Lower roller, 32 ... Conveying method, 33 ... Structure and / or marking calendar, 34 ... Rubber roller, 35 ... Structure and / or marking roller.

Claims (17)

A method of manufacturing a printed product by successively executing a plurality of different processing methods on a substrate, the step of covering the substrate with a foil at a predetermined position by the foil printing method, and a structure A method in which a structure and / or a marking is applied by at least one of a printing method and a marking method, and a substrate is sequentially passed through the two steps without yield. The method according to claim 1, wherein the covering step is performed prior to the structure marking step. The method of claim 1, wherein the structure marking step is performed prior to the coating step. 4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of printing the substrate with ink using at least one ink mechanism. The method according to claim 1, wherein the printing step is performed before or after the coating step, or before or after the marking step. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising a step of drying the substrate after the covering step and / or the printing step. The method according to claim 1, wherein the width of the transfer foil supplied for the foil printing method is stretched. The method according to claim 7, wherein the transfer foil is stretched only in a region that occupies a partial region of the printing apparatus. The method according to claim 1, wherein the substrate is processed by a pressing step after the coating step. 10. The method according to claim 1, wherein when the transfer foil is fed to the impression cylinder, the transfer foil can be controlled independently of the rotation of the impression cylinder. 11. Apparatus for carrying out the method according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising at least one structure and / or stamping calendar and at least one foil transfer device. 12. Apparatus according to claim 11, characterized in that it comprises at least one printing device having an ink mechanism. 13. A device according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that it comprises a drying device arranged after the printing device and / or the foil transfer device. 14. A method according to any one of claims 11 to 13, wherein the foil transfer device comprises a width stretching roller. 15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the width stretching roller is shorter than the width of the foil transfer apparatus. 16. A device according to any one of claims 11 to 15, characterized in that the foil transfer device has a calendar. 17. A device according to any one of claims 11 to 16, characterized in that the transfer foil is guided by at least one roller with a shaft movable in a direction transverse to the direction of rotation.

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