JPS6334141A - Method and device for attaching pattern from heating peeling transfer paper by transfer pad - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the decoration or other patterning of articles by applying a graphic layer to the surface of the article from a heat release transfer paper by means of a deformable transfer pad.

For example, in decorating industrially produced ceramic tableware, the use of transfer paper has long been one of the decorative techniques that can be used where appropriate. Such transfer papers consist of a thin film-like picture layer which can be separated from the backing sheet supporting it before use. The image layer is affixed to the backing sheet during manufacture by an adhesive in the form of an adhesive which can be activated and separated during use.

Furthermore, it is preferable to provide an adhesive layer so as to cover the pattern layer. Depending on the type of transfer paper, the image layer can be attached to the article by an activated adhesive applied to one or the other side of the image layer.

The known constructions of such transfer papers involve various combinations of adhesive layers and a variety of adhesive materials are used.

However, the present invention exclusively uses a heat-activated adhesive to attach the image layer to the backing sheet prior to use and (as explained below) to temporarily attach it to the transfer pad. With regard to the use of such transfer papers, such transfer papers will also be referred to herein as heat release transfer papers.

Various proposals have been made to apply the graphic layer from the heat release transfer paper to the curved surface of the article by using a deformable pad to lift the graphic layer from the backing sheet and apply the graphic layer to the article. Such a pad is suitably made of a silicone rubber material and has a dome-shaped working surface similar to the pads well known for applying decorative colors to articles in offset printing of ceramic tableware. It is good that it is shaped like this.

An early proposal of this kind was made in British Patent Specification No. 1388029. The method described herein involves heating the transfer paper to activate the transfer, adhesive material on the paper, and then pressing a pad against the transfer paper to lift the image layer from the backing sheet. Although no specific explanation is given, it appears that a radiant heater is used to heat the transfer paper, as there is mention of removing the heat source before pressing the transfer pad down onto the activated transfer paper.

A more recent proposal is European Patent Specification Patent Publication No. QO
No. 55395 (with search report),
Although the disclosure herein primarily relates to the specific construction of heat release transfer paper, it also mentions several devices as being suitable for use in applying the transfer paper. In each of these devices, a method has been proposed in which the transfer paper is heated by a heating plate that supports the transfer paper before and during lifting of the pattern layer by the transfer pad. In this document, a proposal is made to heat the pad, and reference is also made to the possibility of heating only the pad.

However, this proposal is not explained in further detail and the device for heating the pad is not fully explained.

A more recent disclosure in this field is U.S. Pat.
It is carried out in issue 425. Again, the adhesive layer of the transfer paper is activated by the heat of the hot plate that brings the transfer paper to the transfer pad. This i! The idea is that the adhesive is activated by further heating the transfer pad to the temperature of the hot plate (but to a lower temperature than the hot plate) while transporting the pattern layer from its backing sheet to the container to be painted. maintain the viscosity of Various methods of heating the pad from the inside have been described, and it has also been proposed to heat the pad with a radiant heater. Further, it is mentioned that the pad may be heated by periodically pressing it against a graphic hot plate, whereas it is generally preferred to use a separate (internal) heating element. "This is because this heating element provides a greater degree of temperature control and is the most reliable way to maintain the pad at the desired temperature level."

All these documents mainly indicate that heat release transfer paper is
The method is activated by heating the support surface before applying a pad to lift the image layer from the backing sheet. European Patent Specification No. 0055395 further suggests heating the pad instead, but no further explanation is given to suggest that there are indeed advantages to implementing the method in that way. No explanation has been given nor is there any endorsement of the practice of such a method to encourage its use.

Transferring the transfer paper to an unactivated pad (this concerns at least the adhesive layer between the picture layer and the unactivated backing sheet, so the structure of the transfer paper remains in close contact) , and it has been found that favorable results can be obtained by using heat from the pad to activate the adhesive. In particular, the following disadvantages caused by the adhesive between the pattern layer and the backing sheet becoming fluid when the transfer pad is applied can be avoided. That is, (i) When a normal dome-shaped pad is pressed against the transfer paper, first the center of the pad comes into contact with the transfer paper.Next, as the pressure between the pad and the transfer paper support plate increases, the contact area decreases. increases gradually around the center of the pad, so that the pad extends over the entire area of the picture layer. The outward spreading under pressure tends to spread the fluid adhesive material between the pattern layer and the backing sheet, resulting in non-uniform adhesive distribution across the pattern layer.

(ii) Since the film-like pattern layer is supported by the fluid base of the adhesive, distortion (e.g., elongation) may occur in the pattern layer when the pressure of the expanding pad is applied.

<iii) There is a risk that an excessive amount of adhesive will be absorbed by the backing sheet, so that very little adhesive remains on the pattern layer, and subsequent reliable adhesion to the product cannot be achieved.

- It was also found that the method of heating the pad is very important in order to reliably implement the method of activating the transfer paper with heat from the pad. Embedding heating elements in a pad (as encouraged in US Pat. No. 4,511,425) can have the undesirable effect of negatively impacting the physical behavior of the pad. If the pad surface is to be heated uniformly, very careful installation is required for radiant heating of the pad, and each change in the shape of the pad to suit the different shape of the article to be decorated requires a very careful installation. There is a tendency for repairs to be required.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved method of decorating or otherwise patterning articles using heat release transfer paper.

According to one aspect of the invention, the invention provides a method of applying a graphic layer from a heat release transfer paper to the surface of an article using a transfer pad, the method comprising: Heating the surface of the transfer pad by increasing the temperature to a high temperature and separating the pad and the pad heating surface after a suitable heating time and at least the adhesive between the image layer of the transfer paper and the backing sheet is still active. does not change, and
Keep the pad pressed against the transfer paper long enough so that the heat from the pad activates the adhesive on the transfer paper.
Pressing the heated transfer pad and the heat-peelable transfer paper placed on the board against each other, and separating the pad and board so that the pattern layer of the transfer paper is attached to the surface of the pad and the backing sheet remains on the board. pressing the pad and the article to be decorated against each other to apply a pattern layer to the surface of the article;
It consists of separating the pad and article while leaving the pattern layer attached to the product.

According to another aspect of the invention, the invention provides a suitable apparatus for carrying out the method as set out in the previous paragraph to apply a graphic layer from a heat release transfer paper to the surface of an article. The device includes a deformable transfer pad;
A pad heating device having a pad heating surface, a heating device arranged to heat the pad heating device and maintain the pad heating surface at an elevated temperature, a heated release transfer paper, a transport plate, and an article support. the mounting device supports the pad, the pad heating device, and the article support, and the mounting device supports the pad, the pad heating device, and the article support; (ii) allowing the transfer to occur between the pad and the carrier plate, and allowing the pad and the pad heating surface to be pressed together; and (iii) allowing for an occurrence between the pad and the article support and pressing the pad and the article attached to the support against each other.

The pad heating surface is preferably the surface of a heated plate;
The pad is pressed against this plate to increase the active area of the pad's surface on this plate. The plate may be maintained at a substantially constant temperature by a thermostatically controlled electric heating element that conductively heats the cough plate.

When carrying out the method continuously, the temperature of the carrier plate should be above ambient temperature, so that each time the hot pad engages the transfer paper on the plate, some heat is transferred to the plate. . The temporary temperature increase is not detrimental to the method, as long as no significant heating effects occur on the transfer paper; primarily important, the transfer paper is heated before the adhesive is activated and therefore the pads are engaged. This means that the transferred image is not heated to such an extent that it loses its structural integrity. Before carrying out the method, it is desirable to heat the pad in an oven for a period of time to directly warm the material of the pad before touching the pad heating surface to maintain the required surface temperature.

The exact temperature required to carry out the method will, of course, be determined by the particular physical characteristics of the transfer paper used.

A method illustrating the invention and an apparatus for carrying out the method will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG.

The apparatus for use in decorating ceramic tableware with heat-release transfer paper in a repetitive manufacturing process consists of a horizontal reciprocating transport plate lO
, a pad heating plate 12 , a vertical reciprocating transfer paper positioning head 14 , a cassette 16 for stacking transfer papers T so that the positioning head 14 can lift one sheet at a time, and a vertical reciprocating transfer pad 18 . , and a turntable 20 including a plurality of article supports 22 spaced apart in the circumferential direction. The apparatus also includes a brush 24 which is arranged to sweep the surface of the plate 10 in a lowered position when the temporary 10 is moved beneath the brush. The apparatus also includes a collection container 26 for collecting the used slats B (FIGS. 2(f) to 2(i)) that have been cleaned from the tent 10 by the brush 24.

The components of the apparatus for supporting the transfer pad 18 and the positioning head 14 for vertical movement are designated in FIG. 1 by reference numerals 19 and 15, respectively. The mounting apparatus also includes a vertical shaft 21 supporting a turntable 20 that performs a rotational indexing motion to sequentially bring the article support 22 beneath the transfer pad 18 . The transport plate 10 and the pad heating plate 12 are commonly attached to the horizontal slide path 11 of the device, and the device can be operated to perform a desired movement along the slide path independent of the plates 10 and 12. Similarly, the apparatus includes a conventional operating device (not shown) for reciprocating the positioning head 14 and transfer pad 18 up and down, and for indexing the turntable 20. include.

The temporal continuity of the operation of the various operating devices in continuously repeated operating cycles is controlled automatically by the device in a conventional manner.

The carrier plate 10 includes a smooth, horizontally flat top surface and, when the apparatus is used continuously as described below, the pad 1
8 is kept hot, and the metal carrier plate 10 becomes concomitantly warmed by the repeated brief holding of the pads. If the hot pad is unduly cooled by the ambient temperature plate, an electric heating element is incorporated in the plate to initially warm the plate, solely to facilitate the start of operation of the device. Once operation of the device has stabilized, switch off the heating element.

On the other hand, the flat pad heating surface of the hot plate 12 is maintained hot during use by conductive heating from a thermostatic heating element within the hot plate.

The transferred pattern positioning head 14 includes a plurality of suction devices,
As a result, the head moves from 16 to 1 sheet of transfer paper T.
You can grasp its surface to lift it.

For this operation, the vacuum created at the suction W position can be released to place the transfer paper on the upper surface of the transport plate. The transport plate 10 is constructed with air passages leading through holes in the top surface, and a vacuum can be created by a device to hold a taut sheet of transfer paper on the surface of the plate when necessary during operation. The transfer pad 18 is made of a suitably elastically deformable silicone rubber material and is shaped with a dome-shaped active area on its surface. The precise shape of the pad is selected to match the surface contours of the product to be decorated.

Before starting operation of the device, it is preferable to preheat the transfer pad 18, for example in an oven, to warm up the entire material of the pad. Once this is done, the pad is mounted on the device, and the transfer plate lO is warmed and the pad is heated. Once the transfer papers T have been stacked in the cassette 16 and the articles W (FIGS. 2(a) to 2(i)) have been prepared for decoration, avoiding undue cooling, a continuous repetitive operation is carried out. cycle can be started. Starting at an appropriate point for purposes of explanation, one complete operating cycle will be fully described.

Referring to FIG. 2(a), it can be seen that the positioning pad 14 is gripping a sheet of transfer paper at a raised position above the transport plate 10. An article W is attached to one article support 220, which is illustratively directly below the transfer pad 18. Pad 18 is in the raised position. Similarly, the hot plate 12
It is located directly below the transfer pad 18 and above the article W on the article support. Similarly, the brush 24
It is placed in a raised position so as to sweep the upper surface of the o.

Figure 2(b) shows transfer paper T (the pattern layer is on the top)
The positioning head 1 is lowered to place the
4 is shown. The transfer pad 18 is lowered to the hot plate 1
It is shown pressed against 2. At this time, the pad and the hot plate are pressed against each other so that the entire active area of the pad is sufficiently spread over the surface of the hot plate.

Pad 18 is maintained against the hot plate for an appropriate amount of time. The heating time depends on many different factors and usually has to be determined experimentally in each case. However, in one example of the method, the heating time of the pad is approximately 2 seconds in order to maintain the surface temperature of the hot plate at approximately 180°C and to recover the surface temperature of the pad from approximately 105°C to approximately 125°C. In that case, the transcription activation temperature is 115°C.

A transfer paper T is placed on a transport plate 10, suction is applied through the perforated top surface of the plate to hold the transfer paper in place, and when the suction grip on the transfer paper is released, the positioning head 14 is raised from the plate. This is shown in Figure 2(c);
The figure also shows transfer pad 18 raised from hot plate 12 after the desired heating time.

Next, the conveying plate is moved horizontally so that the transfer paper T on its upper surface is brought directly below the written transfer pad 18 (FIG. 2(a)), and the heating plate 12 is displaced to one side. .

When the transfer pad 18 is now lowered, the active area of its surface is spread over and pressed against the as yet unactivated transfer paper.

This is shown in FIG. 2(e). According to the figure given as an example in the three previous paragraphs, the surface temperature of the pad by this time is approximately 115°C. Heating to such temperatures by the pad causes activation of the adhesive layers between the graphic layer and the pad and between the graphic layer and the backing sheet. That is, the previously solid adhesive layer softens and becomes sticky and fluid. The adhesive material is such that the picture layer adheres more strongly to the transfer pad than to the backing resheet B, so that when the pad is raised (Fig. 2(f)) Lifted from the backing sheet. The behavior of such transfer papers is of course known per se in the art.

As shown in FIGS. 2(e) and 2(f), the positioning pad 14 is operated to move the next transfer sheet T from the cassette 16.
On the other hand, the transfer pad is operated to lift the pattern layer from the transfer paper on the conveying plate 10.

In the next step, as shown by Figure 2(g),
In order to lower the brush 24 and move the conveying plate 10 far from under the pad 18 to receive the next transfer paper T,
The transfer paper is again returned to the predetermined position directly below the positioning head 14 that sucked it. When the plate 1o moves under the brush 24,
The brush sweeps the used backing sheet from the surface of the platen into a collection container 26. The sheet can be swept out by temporarily releasing the suction that holds the sheet on the surface of the plate.

Next, the brush is raised and separated from the conveying plate, and the transfer pad 18 on which the pattern layer is placed is lowered, and the pad and the article W are pressed against each other directly below the pad as described, so that the pattern layer is transferred to the surface of the article. Attach to Since the pattern layer selectively adheres to the article rather than to the pad, when the pad is then raised (Figure 2(i)), the pad leaves the pattern layer on the article.Then the next operation cycle begins. Then move the hot plate 12 to a position directly below the pad.

Once steady state is achieved with continuous operation of the device, the pad is reliably heated by the hot plate 12 to ensure uniform heating of the surface of the pad and to prevent activation of the adhesive on the transfer paper. This will ensure an appropriate temperature for this purpose. Changing the pad to suit the different shapes of the articles to be decorated presents no difficulties with the hot plate, and suitable hot plate temperatures and pad heating times can easily be obtained empirically.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the main components of the device. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the successive steps in implementing the method using the device. 10...Horizontal reciprocating conveyance plate 11...Slip path
12... Pad heating plate 14... Vertical reciprocating transfer paper positioning head 16... Cassette 18... Vertical reciprocating transfer pad 20... Turntable 22.
...Article support 24...Brush 26...Collection container B...Backing sheet D...Picture layer
T...transcription

Claims (5)

[Claims] (1) A method for applying a pattern layer from a heat separation transfer paper (T) to the surface of an article (W) to be decorated, the method comprising:
A deformable transfer pad (18) is used to lift the image layer from a heat-activated backing sheet of transfer paper and apply the image layer to the article, the method comprising: a plate (10) carrying the pad and the transfer paper; ) are pressed against each other; separating the pad and board such that the pattern layer of the transfer paper is adhered to the surface of the pad and the backing sheet remains on the board; and pressing the pad and the article to be decorated against each other. In a method comprising applying a pattern layer to an article by pressing, and separating the pad and article while the pattern layer remains attached to the article, the heat necessary for activating the transfer paper is removed from the pad, and the method , increasing the temperature of the pad and pad heating surface (12) together;
and heating the surface of the pad by separating the pad and pad heating surface after a suitable heating time, and heating the pad so that at least the adhesive between the image layer of the transfer paper and the backing sheet is not yet activated. and the transfer paper placed on the board are pressed together, and the heat from the pad is sufficient to activate the adhesive on the transfer paper before pressing the pad and board together to adhere the pattern layer to the pad. and maintaining the pad pressed against the transfer paper for a period of time. (2) A suitable device for applying a pattern layer from a heat-release transfer paper (T) to the surface of an article (W) to be decorated, said device comprising a deformable pad (18); A transport plate (10), an article support (22), and a mounting device (19, 11, 21) that supports the pad, plate, and article support.
), said device also comprising a pad heating surface and a pad heating device (12) having a heating device (13).
), the heating device heats the pad heating surface to maintain the pad heating surface at an elevated temperature, and the mounting device device (
11) also supports a pad heating device (12);
and the attachment device arrangement (11) is such that the relative movement of approximation and separation occurs between (i) the pad (18) and the pad heating surface (1);
(ii) between the pad (18) and the carrier plate (10) and press the pad and the pad heating surface against each other; and the transfer paper placed on the pad and board (
(iii) between the pad (18) and the article support (22) and the article (W) attached to the pad and the support; A device characterized in that it can press the two against each other. (3) The conveyor plate (10) is flat and the pad heating device (
12) Apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that 12) has a flat pad heating surface. (4) The pad (18) can be moved up and down in sequence towards and away from the pad heating device (12), the transport plate (10) and the product support rod (22) by means of the mounting device (19). the carrier plate (10) and the pad heating device (12) are capable of horizontal movement placing the carrier plate and the pad heating device in sequence directly beneath the pad to be engaged by the pad. An apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the apparatus is supported in such a manner that the apparatus is supported in such a manner that the apparatus is supported as follows. (5) The transport plate (10) is positioned directly below the positioning head (14) of the device so that the transfer paper (T) can be placed on the plate, and the transfer paper is placed on the plate with the pad (18) lowered. Claim (4) characterized in that the device is supported so as to be movable between a position where it can be pressed against
The equipment described in section.