US1741770A - Method for decorating flexible material - Google Patents

Description

7 Dec. 31, 1929. c. A. HANINGTON METHOD FOR DECORATING FLEXIBLE MATERIAL 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 16, 1926 ATTORNEYS.

Dec. 31, 1929. c. A. HANINGTON 1,741,770

- METHOD FOR DECORATING FLEXIBLE MATERIAL I Fild Jan. 16. 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 i W 5' L @ITORNEW'.

Patented Dec. 31, 1929 STATES PATENT FFHE CHARLES A. I-IANINGTON, OF FREEPORT, HEW YGBK Application filed January 16, 1926.

, My invention relates to method and apparatus for decorating flexible material, such, for instance, as cloth in the piece, paper, etc., and is particularly directed to the decoration of such material by the application thereto of a design, and imbedding in the design material one or more kinds of decorative substances, as for instance, metallic particles and/0r beads.

1 My invention will be better understood by reading the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming a part thereof, and in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation of apparatus suitable for carrying out my process;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of one of the means for forcing the decorative material onto the designs;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the means for catching and collecting some of the excess decorating material;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a modified apparatus suitable for the carrying out of my process;

Fig. 5 is a detail showing means for carrying the goods through the machine;

Fig. 6 is a detail showing modilied means for carrying the goods through the machine;

Fig. 7 is a view of one of the decorative units on an enlarged scale, illustrating the preferred position of the decorative elements; and

Fig. 8 shows another arrangement of means for decorating material by use of a loop alone.

Referring to Fig. 1, the machine consists of a suitable framework 1 upon which are mounted rollers 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8. Each of the rollers is provided with a sprocket 9 at each end having teeth which cooperate with a chain 10 attached to the edges of a belt. The belt acts as a support for the material 12 to be decorated. One form of belt is made up as shown in Fig. 5 and consists of a strip of ""mesh material 11 at each edge, which is attached in any convenient manner to chains 10 which pass over two sprockets 5, one at each edge of the belt. In the form shown in Fig. a piece of canvas 11 is placed between the two mesh strips and slats ll" are attached to Serial No. 81,660.

ears or lugs on the chains 10. It is desirable that the cloth, or other material being decorated, extend out beyond the edges of the canvas 11 and onto the mesh material so that any beads or other ornamenting material may pass out through the openings in the mesh and not get back between the belt and the cloth and cause bumps which would interfere with the operation of decorating; the canvas and the slats act to support the cloth or other material.

The decorating material such as finely divided metallic particles, or small glass beads, or other comminuted material, may be placed in the container 13 provided with a controllable outlet 14 through which the particles are allowed to pass into the intake 15 of a rotary fan 16. A rotating distributor 17 is placed in the intake 15 for the purpose of dis tributing the particles as they go into the fan. The fan 16 is driven by any suitable means and forces the particles onto the cloth 12 through a nozzle 18, which causes the particles to go onto the material to be decorated with considerable force and in a thin flat stream. The nozzle 18 is located as shown in Fig. 1, so that the particles are applied to the material as it passes from roller 3 to roller 4 and a suitable guard 19 surrounds tne nozzle and collects the excess decorating material which falls downwardly into the legs 20 of the guard 19 and from there discharges into receptacles 21, from which it may be taken and placed back in the container 13 for re-use. That part of the guard 19 adjacent the nozzle 18 is arranged to fit rather closely to the material being decorated, although not sufficiently close to engage the same. The particles are applied through the nozzle 18 to the material While the design material is wet and the force with which the particles are discharged through the nozzle is sufficient to partially imbed the same in the design material, which is of an adhesive character. The result is that the design becomes partially covered by the particles, although the particles discharged through the nozzle could be in a sufficient quantity to completely cover the design. Obviously, those particles which are forced against the 010th W e e there is 110 design material will not adhere thereto permanently. Some of these particles, however, will remain on the material, but only a small portion will do so.

It is often desirable to place line metallic particles on the designs, as above described, and subsequently thereto apply glass beads 01 other material to the designs also. The beads referred to here are those well known in the art. These may be applied by placing the same in the receptacle 22 which has a discharge chute 23 for conducting the heads down into the loop in the material which is formed by the passage of the belt, chain and blanket supporting slats 11 around the sprockets 5. By placing a substantial quantity of beads in this fold or loop of the material a consider-- able pressure is produced on those immediately against the material. This pressure is sufiicient to thoroughly imbed the beads into the design material which is still plastic, whereupon the beads remain upon the design. The beads in the trough, or loop, which are being continually replenished from receptacle 22, keep working toward the outside of the trou h and spill oil through netting or mesh in the belt into suitable receptacles. As the material passes up over the roller 6 mostof the heads will separate from the material at all places except the designs. The material is then passed over the roller 7 and from there it is conducted to any suitable place where the designs are permitted to dry and the particles and beads become substantially a uni tary part thereof. The material may then be brushed and all loose material removed.

The belt passes around all of the rollers in an endless fashion in the usual well-known manner.

I have shown in Fig. l: a modification oi? the apparatus for carrying out the method. The apparatus comprises a suitable iramework 25 provided with rollers 26, 2'1 28, Q9, 30, 31, 32, 34, and 353. A belt 3? like that heretofore described, is carried on the rollers 26 to 20, inclusive, and a similar belt 38 is carried on the rollers 30 to 36, and a driving belt 39 connects the rollers 29 and 30 together. At 33 is shown a sprocket similar to 5 of Fig. 5, for forming a loop and leaving an open space for the decorating material to .t'all away as soon as it leaves the material being decorated. Each of the rollers also has sprockets tor engagen'ient with the chains at the edges of the belt. Decorating material of the desired character is placed in a receptacle 40 and discharged into the rotary fan 41 and onto the material through the nozzle l2, as already explained. A guard 43 is placed near the nozzle and has the same function as that heretofore explained. A fan a l blows the excess decorating material from the material being decorated through I a nozzle 45 placed close to the material. This insures that the material being decorated will come to the next operation in a clean condition.

Beads, or other suitable material, are placed in the receptacle 46 from which they are introduced into a rotary fan I? which forces the beaus onto the material being decorated through the nozzle 48 in a manner similar to the action through the nozzle 42, and in a sutlicient uantity to cause them to keep replenishing t ie mass of beads or other units in the loop formed by sprocket where they keep working toward the edge or material and spill oil through netting or mesh into the receptacle below. The material with the decorations thereon is then run up over the roller 35, and the material 50 which is decorated is then conducted to any desired location where it is permitted to dry, as already described.

In Fig. 6, I have shown a modified form of belt in which the canvas strip is omitted and the netting, or open mesh material, er.- tends from one chain 10 to the other. As in the form shown in Fig. 5, slats 11 are also provided.

In Fig. 7 I have shown one of the units of a design on an enlarged scale, and have illustrated the arrangement of the decorative material. Obviously, the arrangement shown is partly illustrative, each unit diflers from the other for obvious reasons. It will be seen that a unit consists of a mass of adhesive material 52 in which metallic particles 53 are imbedded, and in which beads 54: are also partially imbedded in those portions of the adhesive which are not occupied by the particles of metallic. It is understood that a series of dots or units, such as that shown in Fig. 7, are suitably arranged to produce any desired design or configuration. I prefer to separate the units constituting a design so hat asmall area of the material being decorated will remain undecorated between the uni s. This allows greater flexibility of the finished product and also results in less liability of breaking or enlarging the design upon the necessary bending of the finished product.

In this connection, I call attention to my previously issued Patent No. 1,329,900.

In Fig. 8, I have illustrated still another form of my invention. In this figure two tables '56 and 57 are placed in line with each other with a space between. In this space a loop 58 in the material 59 formed and support may be used to support cloth or other material at the loop 58. The supporting trough 60 is held in place by brackets 61 on the tables. A receptacle 62 contains decorating material which may be discharged into the loop 58 through a nozzle 63 controlled by valve As shown in Fig. 8, an excess amount of decorating material 65 is placed in the loop and as the cloth or other material 59 is moved with this decorating material thereon the same causes a pressure which forces the particles of decorating material into the wet designs which have previously been placed on the cloth or other material. As the material to be decorated passes through the loop some of the decorating material remains thereon and this is replenished from the receptacle The decorating material also passes out and over the ct ges of the material into suitable receptacles 66 from which the material may be placed back i the receptacle 62 and again placed in the loop. The process above described may be a continuous one as when decorating cloth in the piece or it may be intermediate where it is desired to decorate lengths of material.

hen metallic particles and beads, or other similar decorating material, are both used the metallic usually covers only a portion of the units and the beads, or other material, cover the remainin portion of the adhesive mass of each unit. As is well. known, the metallic particles have sharp edges, whereas the beads, or similar products, are relatively smooth. By placing the metallic on the ad hesive first and applying the beads thereafter, the metallic particles are imbedded to a deeper degree than the beads in the adhesive and the sharp points and edges thereof are protected by the beads and the units are given a smoother surface than would be the case if the decorationwere done with the metal particles only.

The chief oifference between the form of apparatus shown in Fig. 1 and that shown in Figs is a separation of the means for applying the metallic particles and that for applying beads, or similar material, so that the metallic particles and beads do not become mixed in the operation of the apparat-us, as shown in Fig. i, as they do to some extent in. that shown in Fig. 1.

\Vhile I prefer to use both metallic and beads or material similar to each of these in decorating the material. I may use one of such materials alone without the other. In such a case the trough, or loop, such as that shown around the sprockets 5 in Fig. 1 and around the sprockets 33 in Fig. 4 alone, may be used to apply the decorating material, al.- though the nozzle may be used alone or both together with the same material, but they are not necessary.

Usually it is advisable to brush the finished product after the same has become completely dried so as to remove any loosely adhering decorating material therefrom.

By the use of the foregoing apparatus and process indefinite lengths of material may be decorated rapidly and therefore economically, and T have successfully decorated material with this machine at a much more rapid rate than has been possible with any machine or method heretofore used, to my knowledge.

Material may be passed through the machine at a speed of about 18 yards per minute. The machine and method, therefore, have many advantages which will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

I may use a loop alone formed by a belt or by letting the weight of the decorating material force the cloth itself into a rigid trough so that as the cloth is pulled the weight of the decorating material continually for es the cloth being decorated into a loop in the trough and the decorating material keeps working toward the edge of the cloth where it may spill oft into receptacles. The cloth may run free so that a loop is formed by reason of the weight of the cloth and the decorating material and as the cloth is pulled along the decorating material forces itself into the wet design and also keeps working toward the edges of the cloth and spills off. The loop is continually formed by new cloth to be decorated.

I claim:

. 1. The method of decorating sheet material which consists in applying a series of designs to the material, forming a loop in the material bearing the designs, placing an excess amount of decorating material in the loop and moving the material being decorated whereby decorating material will be imbedded by its own weight in the material of the designs.

2. The method of decorating sheet material which consists in applying a series of designs to the material, continuously moving the material and forming a loop therein, supporting said material on an open-mesh Work support, supplying an excess of decorating material tosaid supported loop, whereby decorating material is imbedded in the designs and the excess decorating material allowed to escape over the edges of the material being decorated.

3. The method of decorating sheet material which consists in applying a series of designs to the material, continuously moving the material and forming a loop therein, supporting said material on an open-mesh work support, supplying an excess of decorating material to said loop, whereby decorating material is imbedded by its own weight in the designs, and the excess decorating material passes continuously off the edges of the material being decorated.

4. The method of decorating cloth in the piece which consists in placing a design thereon, continuously moving the cloth and at the same time forcing the matallic particles on the wet design, forming a loop in the material, applying an excess of beads to said loop whereby said beads are imbedded in the design by their own weight, removing the excess beads and drying the design.

5. The method of decorating cloth in the piece which consists in applying a design thereto, forcing metallic particles into the wet design while the cloth is in motion, removing the excess particles, forming a loop in the material, supporting said loop on an open-mesh support, forcing heads into the design and removing the excess beads over the edges of said material and through the open-mesh support.

6. The method of decorating material which consists in placing designs on the material, forcing line particles of a metallic nature onto the designs with sufficient force to partially imbed the particles in the material of the designs, removing the excess particles andthen "forcing heads onto the designs with sufiicient force to partially imbed the beads in the design material.

7. The method of decorating material, con sisting of applying a design to the material, forcing metallic particles on the material while the design is wet so as to partially cover the surface of the design, removing the excess particles and forcing beads on the material also while the design is wet so that said beads adhere to the design not covered by said particles, and removing the excess beads therefrom.

8. The method of decorating cloth in the piece which consists in placing a design thereon, continuously moving the cloth and at the same time forcing metallic particles on the wet design to cover a portion only of the design, continuously forcibly applying heads to the design to cover the remaining portions of the design, removing the excess heads and drying the design.

9. The method of decorating cloth in the piece which consists in applying a design thereto, forcing metallic particles into the wet design while the cloth is in motion to cover a portion only of the design, removing the excess particles, forcing heads into the design to cover the remaining portion of the design and removing the eXcess beads.

10. The method of decorating material which consists in placing designs on the material, forcing fine particles of a metallic na-' ture onto the designs with snfiicient "force to partially imbed the particles in the material of the designs to cover a portion of the surface of the designs, removing the excess particles and then forcing heads onto the designs with suflieient force to partially imhe the beads in the remaining uncovered design material.

CHARLES A. I LXNINGTON.

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