US2693658A

US2693658A - Apparatus for producing decorative sheet material

Info

Publication number: US2693658A
Application number: US284250A
Authority: US
Inventors: George V Nobis
Original assignee: Bonafide Mills Inc
Current assignee: Bonafide Mills Inc
Priority date: 1952-04-25
Filing date: 1952-04-25
Publication date: 1954-11-09
Anticipated expiration: 1971-11-09

Description

NOV. 9, 1954 G v, NOBls 2,693,658

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING DECORATIVE SHEET MATERIAL Filed April 25, 1,952

3 Sheets-Sheet 1 I INVENTOR. BY Gauge M M523 Nov. 9, 1954 a. v. NOBIS 2,693,658

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING DECORATIVE SHEET MATERIAL Filed April 25, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 k INVENTOR.

I age M%J/s EB-m4. MM.

,47'TORNEY Nov. 9, 1954 G. v. NOBIS 2,693,658

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING DECORATIVE SHEET MATERIAL Filed April 25. 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 V INVENTOR.

Georg e K 0 041: 8

9. SM mu w.

United States Patent APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING DECORATIVE SHEET MATERIAL George V. Nobis, Readfield, Maine, assigns:- to Bonafide Mills, lno, Lisbon, Maine, a corporation of Maine Application April 25, 1952, Serial No. 284,250

2 Claims. (Cl. 41-1) This invention relates to an apparatus for producing decorative sheet material for wall and floor coverings.

The object of the invention is to provide a novel and superior apparatus for producing sheet material for wall and floor coverings and the like by which various decorative effects may be produced upon the surface of the sheet material in an economical, simplified and practical manner.

With this general object in view and such others as may hereinafter appear, the invention consists in the apparatus for producing the decorative sheet material and in the various structures, arrangements and combinations of parts hereinafter described and particularly defined in the claims at the end of this specification.

In the drawings Fig. l is a perspective of a suflicient portion of the present machine to enable the invention to be understood; Fig. 2 is a more or less diagrammatic View in side elevation of the complete machine for the application of the colors to the base web and for the production of the decorative effects; Figs. 3 and 4 are views in perspective and inverted plan respectively of the preferred form of dispersion member; Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are views illustrating the color patterns produced by each of the several printing blocks; Fig. 8 is a view illustrating the efiect produced by the printing of the color pattern shown in Fig. 6 upon the portion of the web to which the color pattern of Fig. has been applied; Fig. 9 is a similar view illustrating the effect produced by the printing of the pattern of Fig. 7 on the pattern of Fig. 8; Fig. 10 is a View illustrating one decorative effect produced by dispersion of the colors of the sheet shown in Fig. 9; Fig. 11 is a detail in side elevation illustrating the present dispersion member and the preferred angular disposition of the dispersion elements in the direction of travel of the web; Fig. 12 is a front elevation of the dispersion member as mounted in the machine; Fig. 13 is a plan view illustrating a portion of one form of decorative sheet which may be produced in accordance with the present invention; and Figure 14 is a horizontal section through one corner of the apparatus.

In general, the present invention contemplates a novel apparatus for the production of decorative sheet material for wall and floor coverings, wherein color is applied to the fibrous base Web and, provision is made for moving the color relative to the web to produce a decorative effect. Preferably, the invention contemplates the application of a plurality of different colored paints to the fibrous base web, preferably in a known form of intermittently operating block-printing machine, and provision is preferably made in accordance with the present invention for intermingling or dispersing the different colored paints in a novel and superior manner and by novel apparatus to produce various decorative effects upon the surface of the sheet material. The intermingling or dispersion of the different colored paints on the surface of the web is, in accordance with the present invention preferably effected by a series of spaced individual relatively stiff members each having a limited amount of inherent flexibility. For convenience of description, such individual members will be referred to as dispersion members and in practice may take the form of small-diameter Wire members. These dispersion members are preferably alfixed to a rigid backing to depend therefrom and form a unit capable of being moved with relation to the web surface. In the present apparatus the rigid backing member with its spaced depending dispersion members is mounted to be capable of movement of the web through the machine and so; that the dispersion members normally lightly and continuously rest on the surface of the Web. These relatively stiff but slightly flexible dispersion members are, arranged to be oscillated in a direction transversely of: the web but are otherwise stationary with respect to the. frame of the machine. Provision is made for effecting the oscillation of the dispersion members during the advancing movement of the web whereby the combined effect of the oscillation and the movement of the web operates to cause each individual dispersion member to engage and move a small increment of the paint, the net result being to so intermingle and disperse one color into another to produce superior and desirable decorative effects, and particularly effects characterized by the absence of streaks and closely simulating the appearance of natural marble. The decorative effect may simulate a cloudy appearance rendering the wall or floor-covering material suitable for use in simulating a certain type. of marbled effect. The present method and apparatus lend themselves with slight modifications and adjustments to the production of a wide variety of decorative effects, as will be more completely hereinafter described.

Referring now to the drawings, I have illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, more or less diagrammatically, a suliicient portion of the essential elements of a machine for the application of a series of colors to the surface of the web of fibrous base material and the dispersion thereof producing the present decorative sheet, to enable the invention to be understood. The machine may take various forms, preferably the portion of the machine for effecting the application of the colors comprising a standard bloclo printing machine of the intermittently operating type which is Well known in the art and has been commercially used for a long period of time. Essentially, this machine includes a pair of web-advancing belts 10, 12 arranged to run in suitable guides (not shown) lengthwise along the machine and having a series of pins 14 projecting upwardly therefrom for piercing the marginal portions of the Web and advancing the same lengthwise in the machine. In practice, these web-advancing belts 10, 12 pass around suitable sprockets, one of which is indicated at 1.6, and are arranged to intermittently advance the web lengthwise thereof through successive increments, which usually in practice may comprise 18, 27, 36 inches, or any other increment so as to present a portion of the web successively under succeeding spaced printing blocks 20. The printing blocks and the accompanying printing mechanism may comprise those usually employed in prior block-printing machines of the type referred to, and furthe! illustration or description of their operation may be omitted except to state that the blocks are intermittently depressed to apply a plurality of colors to the underlying portion of the web, and in practice, a series of different colors may be applied in either overlapping or non-overlapping relationship by successive blocks of the printing mechanism, depending upon the ultimate decorative effect that it is desired to produce.

It will be understood that suitable driving mechanism is provided to effect the timing of the incremental advance of the web 13 by the advancing belts 10, 12 With relation to the intermittent printing operation so that in the operation of the machine, after the printing blocks have been depressed to print the colors upon the particular portion of the Web underlying the particular block and are again elevated by the standard cam method, the web is advanced through an increment which usually in practice comprises 18 inches, but which may be of any other distance as above indicated.

Provision is made for utilizing this incremental advance of the web in a direction longitudinally for effecting the intermingling and dispersion of the colors which have been previously applied by the printing mechanism, and in accordance with present invention, the desired decorative effects may be produced by a dispersing member 30 preferably comprising a relatively large number of 3 I 32. The backing member 32 is preferbacking' member the machine so that the ends of the wires ably mounted in lightly and continuously engage the surface of the web.

As previously described, in the operation of the machine and in practicing the present method, the web is intermittently moved in a direction lengthwise of the machine and lengthwise of the web, and the printing of the plurality of different colors upon the web takes place while the web is stationary and between successive increments of movement. The dispersion member 30 is mounted so that the wires 31 engage the web shortly after the application thereto of the last of the colors to be marbleized, and during a succeeding incremental movement of the web such colors are moved under the wires 31 of the dispersion member. Provision is made during such incremental advance of the web for imparting a reciprocatory motion to the dispersion member in a direction generally transversely of the web and of its movement, and preferably, this movement imparted to the dispersion member takes the form of a relatively small number of rapid but short reciprocations of the dispersion member transversely of the web. As herein shown, the wires 31 forming the active portion of the dispersion member are mounted so that the entire body of the wires from the marginal portions of the web sufliciently to permit the short rapid oscillations or reciprocations of the wires in a transverse direction while remaining entirely within the marginal portions of the web so as not to interfere with the movement of the web-advancing pins 14 of the marginal belts. In this manner, interference with the incremental advance of the web is prevented while imparting to the dispersion member the necessary movement which in combination with the longitudinal movement of the web effects the desired dispersion of individual portions of the fluid and previously applied colors to produce the desired decorative effect.

As shown in Fig. l, the backing member 32 of the dispersion member may be attached to a rigid elongated bar 33 of substantial width and which is arranged to extend beyond the sides of the web and between guide rolls 40 mounted on guide brackets 41 attached to the machine frame. An additional roller 43 is provided at each side to engage the upper surface of the bar. The guides at each side of the machine a rigid structural steel member 44 from which a series of rollers 45 depend to engage the upper surface of the backing 32 and thus insure the maintenance of the backing member in a position to cause the ends of the wires to lightly and continuously engage the surface of the web. The bar 33 is provided with an upstanding lug 46 pivotally connected to a link 48. The latter is connected to one arm 49 of a bell crank 50. The bell crank is pivoted in lugs forming a part of the machine frame. The second arm 52 of the bell crank is pivotally connected by an adjustable link 54 to an adjustable eccentric 56 mounted upon a shaft 58 journalled in suitable bearings 59 in a portion of the machine frame, and the shaft 58 is arranged to be driven in timed operation to the intermittent movements of the web-advancing belts 10, 12. As diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. l, the web-advancing belts 10, 12 are driven from a suitable source of power (not shown), and the rotation of the shaft 58 upon which the eccentric is mounted is effected through motion imparted thereto from a driven sprocket 60 mounted on the shaft 62 upon which the belt sprocket 16 is mounted, through a chain 64 running around a smaller sprocket 66 and thence through a large sprocket 68 and second chain 69 to a small sprocket 70 mounted upon the eccentric shaft 58, as diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 1. In this manner, when the sprocket 16 is rotated to advance the belts 10, 12 and consequently to advance the web, the eccentric shaft 58 is rotated and the motion of the eccentric is transmitted through the linkage described to cause rapid reciprocation of the supporting member through a series of short reciprocations, and when the sprocket 16 is brought to rest at the end of each increment of movement of the web-advancing belts 10, 12, then the operation of the eccentric terminates.

From the description thus far, it will be observed that the dispersion member 30 is not moved in a direction lengthwise in the machine and that the only movement imparted thereto occurs during the incremental movement of the belts 10, 12 and the web, and that this move ment takes the form of reciprocatory motion imparted in a direction transversely of the web and transversely lies Within and is spaced 4 with relation to its movement through the machine. It will also be observed that the ends of the wires making up the dispersion element remain in contact with the surface of the web at all times both during the movement of the web and during its period of rest.

In order to produce most desirable decorative effects, it is preferred to utilize wires in the dispersion member of a size and temper such that each wire will deflect only to a limited degree when the dispersion member is moved transversely of the machine and also under the influence of the moving web upon which it rests. The spacing of one individual wire from the adjacent wires is preferably related to the stiffness of the wires and their inherent flexibility so as to prevent adjacent wires contacting during the operation of the machine, thereby preventing any mass movement by the wires of one color into another. In order to insure that this result is secured, it is preferred to mount the individual wires making up the dispersion member in a rigid backing member so as to confine any flexing of the wires to that inherent in their own flexibility and so that no additional flexing may occur by reason of the character of the backing or the manner of mounting the wires therein.

An important requisite for most successful operation is that the wires 31 be properly spaced from one another in order that each wire may operate to push its individual amount of color independently of the adjacent wires during the dispersing operation. I have experienced satisfactory results utilizing steel wire of approximately .015 inch in diameter arranged in equally spaced relation and with 36 wires per square inch. The size and spacing may be varied depending upon the stiffness of the wires. I have found that too dense a concentration of the wires 31 has the effect of producing some mass movement of the colors interfering with the production of certain desired decorative effects. In addition, the provision of the proper and suificient spacing between the individual wires eliminates the necessity of employing any means such as 1 a doctor blade in smoothing the surface of the final have secured to the top thereof product.

Referring now to Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, I have illustrated more or less diagrammatically the printing color patterns which may be applied at each printing cycle. In Figs. 5, 6 and 7 I have illustrated typical color patterns which may be simultaneously produced upon adacent sections of the base web by the operation of the three printing blocks. At the end of one cycle the web s advanced an increment such as to position the portion illustrated in Fig. 5 under the second printing block and at the same time to position the portion illustrated in F1g. under the third printing block so that on the next print ng operation the color pattern such as is illustrated m F g. 8 is produced. Similarly, at the next cycle of pr1nting operation the portion of the partially printed web represented by Fig. 8 is moved under the third printing block and printed with the third color producing the color pattern shown in Fig. 9. After the three colors have been printed as described, the web is moved under and in contact with the dispersion member 30, and during the movement of the wee, reciprocation of the. dispersion member combined with the movement of the web effects the dispersion of the colors to impart a marbleized and cloudy appearance to the web as illustrated in Fig. 10. It Wlll be understood that the individual color patterns may be varied in accordance with the decorative effect to be produced.

The particular character of the decorative eifect and decorative appearance of the product produced in accordance with the present invention may be varied widely, and several factors enter into the control of the particular eftect produced. For example, it has been found that the width of the dispersion member 30, that is the width in the direction of movement of the web, controls to a substantial extent the degree of cloudiness in the product shown in F g. 10. satisfactory results have been experienced using a dispersion member of a total width of about 18 inches, and it has been determined that by decreasing the width a less cloudy appearance is imparted to the final product, whereas by increasing the width a more cloudy appearance is imparted. Another factor entering into the particular type of decorative effect produced by the dispersion of the various colors one into the other, 1n accordance with the present invention, includes the extent of reciprocatory motion imparted to the dispersion member from the eccentric 56 through the con nections illustrated. The throw of the eccentric may be adjusted by means of the slot 57 provided in the eccentric and the position of the eccentric block 61 therein. In addition, the design of the bell crank may be varied to adjust or obtain different degrees of reciprocations. The adjustability of the link 54 provides a means of positioning the dispersion member with relation to the web, and this is particularly useful in controlling the movement of the dispersion member transversely of the movement of the web to confine it within the marginal portions of the web and thus prevent interference with the movement of the web-advancing pins 14 of the marginal belts. In addition, the exact positioning of the dispersion member is important when it is desired to print border portions upon the Wall covering.

For some purposes it may be desirable to print the borders 72, 74 on the marginal portions of the decorative wall or floor-covering sheet, and this may be accomplished by the use of the usual form of printing roller (not shown) forming a part of the usual block-printing machine. In order to permit such borders to be printed, the dispersion member will be provided with spaces 70 of sufiicient width to take care of the transverse reciprocation and still leave space sufficient for the printing of the border.

In the illustrated type of dispersion member and as shown in Figs. 2 and 11, the individual dispersion elements therein shown as wires, are arranged at an acute angle with the vertical and extend in the direction of movement of the web as shown. An angle of approximately 15 has been found to be satisfactory. In the event that the dispersion member wears unevenly it is possible by adjustment of the pressure exerted upon the backing member to insure the maintenance of the entire surface of the dispersion member in contact with the surface of the web. Any wrinkles or unevenness in the web can more readily lift the individual wires slightly because of this slight angularity of the dispersion members.

In producing the present color dispersion member, I prefer to utilize card clothing and to render rigid the usual fibrous member through which the U-shaped wires of the card clothing are extended by saturating such member with a resin of a type capable of hardening into a rigid mass and then enveloping such member within a coating of such resin. Upon hardening, the resinous mass firmly anchors the wires in the rigid backing thus produced.

While it is preferred to utilize a dispersion member of the type embodying wires as above described secured to a fibrous or other rigid backing member, such as leather, plastic, wood, metal or other suitable material, if desired the individual spaced dispersion members and the backing member may be formed integrally as, for example, by the formation of the entire backing and dispersion elements of nylon or other suitable plastic material.

From the above description it will be observed that in the operation of the illustrated machine and in the practicing of the present method, the dispersion member 30 remains in contact with the web at all times and also that the dispersion equipment occupies no more space than the space of one print block of the usual blockprinting machine. The intermittent operation of the reciprocating dispersion members through a series of short reciprocations produces the motion which is at a nonuniform rate passing from rest at the beginning of each reciprocation to a maximum at about midway of each reciprocating stroke of the dispersion members.

It will be understood that as used throughout the specification and claims the term transverse movement is intended to define and include any movement which it may be desired to impart to the dispersion member which does not coincide with the direction of movement of the web as it is advanced through the machine, so that the dispersing action is caused by a combination of the transverse movement and the movement of the web, such as reciprocation at right angles to the direction of the web movement and at angles other than a right angle, as well as combinations of movements including movements in a curved or circular path depending entirely upon the decorative efiect which it is desired to produce in the final product.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for producing a decorative sheet, comprising; means for supporting and guiding a web of material for movement in a direction longitudinally thereof, intermittently actuated drive means arranged to intermittently move said web in said direction, means arranged to apply a plurality of colors to the upper surface of said web while the latter is stationary, color dispersing means including discrete elements engaging said applied colors, means mounting said dispersing means over said web for rectilinear reciprocation transverse to the direction of movement of said Web, said mounting means being arranged to maintain said discrete elements at all times in engagement with said colors, actuating means for reciprocating said dispersing means, and a driving connection from said intermittently actuated drive means to said actuating means whereby said discrete elements are reciprocated only when said web is moving and are in contact with said colors at all times.

2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said dispersing means includes a substantially rigid base member and wherein said discrete elements are stiff wires secured to said base member and extending downwardly therefrom and forwardly in the direction of movement of said web.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 596,905 McCoy Jan. 4, 1898 1,256,757 Willberg Feb. 19, 1918 2,233,099 Humphreys Feb. 25, 1951