US3021816A - Apparatus for the deposition of liquid materials - Google Patents

Description

E. S. L. BEALE Feb. 20, 1962 APPARATUS FOR THE DEPOSITION OF LIQUID MATERIALS Filed May 5, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATT Y Feb. 20, 1962 E. s. L. BEALE 3,

APPARATUS FOR THE DEPOSITION OF LIQUID MATERIALS Filed May 5, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 /N VE N T R ATTORNEY Feb. 20, 1962 E. s. BEALE 3,021,816

APPARATUS FOR THE DEPOSITION OF LIQUID MATERIALS Filed May 5, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 EgQ.

31 33 lNl/ENTOR ATTORNEY United States 3,021,816 Patented Feb. 20, 1962 free fined areas on surfaces, the apparatus being of the kind in which the surface to receive the deposit is brought into contact with the operative face of a matrix having a number of shallow cavities in that face for the reception of materials to be deposited introduced through conduits leading through the matrix to the cavities so that deposition takes place on the surface in patches or areas defined by the boundaries of the cavities in the matrix.

The materials to be deposited are such as will remain in the accurately defined areas in which they have been deposited when the surface and matrix are separated.

The deposition is most commonly effected on paper or card sheets, the sheets being placed upon a flat platen which can be raised and lowered by suitable power operated means to engage the sheet with and disengage the sheet from the matrix.

It is highly desirable that the movements of the platen shall take place with a minimum of departure of the surface of the platen from the position of parallelism with the operative surface of the matrix in order for example to avoid indentation of the paper or card on the platen by edges or corners of or on the matrix.

On the other hand it is also desirable that the platen be able to accommodate itself to the surface of the matrix when the surfaces of the matrix and platen are not in perfect parallelism, as well as to accommodate the surface of a sheet or card of non-uniform thickness on the platen to the surface of the matrix in order to achieve uniform load distribution between the surfaces to receive the deposit and the whole of the face of the matrix and efiec tive sealing of the cavities in the matrix by the sheet or card, against escape of liquid usually introduced into the cavities under pressure.

In accordance with the invention an apparatus of the kind indicaed above is provided having a rising and falling platen, power operated means for applying lift at the approximate centre of the underside of the platen, a pair of guides fixed in spaced relationship on the platen in or near the general plane thereof and movable on a pair of spaced and fixed vertical guide posts, and at least one arm rigidly connected at one end to the underside of the platen at a point spaced from a line passing through the axes of said pair of guides and extending at a downward inclination and carrying at the other end a further guide also movable on a fixed vertical guide post, said arm or arms being of a stiffness such as to maintain the platen parallel to itself during its free rising movement but such as to yield to permit the platen to accommodate itself to slight departure from parallelism between the face of the matrix and the surface carried on the platen intended to receive the deposit, as said surface makes pressure engagement with the face of the matrix.

The arm or arms of moderate stiffness is or are preferably attached to the platen at or in the region of the center of the underside thereof so that any bending moment applied to the point of attachment shall cause a minimum amount of distortion of the table.

One or other or both of the first mentioned pair of spaced and fixed vertical guide posts may also serve as the vertical guidepost or posts for the guide or guides on the other end of the arm or arms or alternatively one or more separate guide posts may be provided for the guide or guides on the lower end or ends of the arm or arms.

- The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings inwhich I FIG. 1 is a view in side elevation of a complete machine-embodying the invention.

' FIGS. 2 and 3 are views in-underside plan and elevation respectivelyof a matrix'as used on a machine as shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 being taken on the line IlI-III of FIG. 2. v f

FIG. 4 is a view in end elevation of the parts of the machine relevant to the present invention taken on the line IV-IV of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a guide means therefor.

FIG. 6 is a view in elevation showing a part of the platen and one of the guides therefor looking from below in FIG. 3.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the arm of moderate stiffness separated from the machine.

FIG. 8 is a view in side elevation of the arm of FIG. 7 and FIG. 9 is a view in section of the main taken on the line IX--IX of FIG. 7.

Referring to FIG. 1 the machine shown is in general of the kind fully described in the specification of co-pending application Ser. No. 690,825 and comprises a hollow base 1 on which is mounted a rectangular base frame 2 supporting four rigid vertical corner posts 3 of circular section and an open top frame 4 fixedly connected with the upper ends of the posts 3.

To the underside of the top frame 4 is fixedly connected a matrix 5 of known kind as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 consisting of a metal block having hollow shallow cavities 6 formed in its operative under face, the cavities being bounded by ridges 7 of small height of the order of a few thousandths of an inch, extending from the surface of the matrix.

Holes 8 are provided in the matrix leading from the upper side thereof to the interiors of the cavities 6 and the upper ends of the holes are threaded for the connection of tubes 9.

A support 10 carried fixedly by a pair of arms 11 extending upwards from the top frame 4 support a plurality of plunger pumps 12 for the liquid to be deposited. The inlet of each pump is connected through a flexible tube 13 with one of a number of reservoirs 14 for paint or other liquid to be deposited carried in a convenient location above the apparatus, and the delivery end of each pump is connected with one end of one of the tubes 9 leading to the holes 8 through the matrix. The tubes 9 are of metal or other substantially inextensible material.

On the rectangular base frame 2 and in the space within the four posts 3 of the frame structure and below the matrix 5 is located a vertically disposed hydraulic press 15, the cylinder 16 of which is supported on the base frame 2;. The vertical ram 17 of the press 15 carries a platen 18 the upper surface of which is disposed parallel with the operative face of the matrix 5, both usually being horizontal as shown, the p1at en18 being raised and part of the platen and the part of the arm lowered by the ram 1 7.

Sheets of paper, card or the like upon which deposits are to be made are placed singly in succession on the surface of the platen 18 in the lowered position of the latter and the platen raised by the hydraulic press 15 to urge the sheet into pressure engagement with the underside of the matrix in such a manner as to seal oil the cavities 1'5, and thereafter the pumps 12 are operated to feed the liquid under pressure from the reservoirs 14, through the matrix 5 to the cavities 6 in order to deposit it on the sheet in areas defined by the ridges 7. The platen 5 after cessation of feed by the pumps is lowered to enable the sheet with the deposit thereon to be removed and a next succeeding sheet substituted on the platen.

It is important that the surface of the platen 18 shall remain, within close lirnits, parallel to the operative surface of the matrix 5 in order to avoid undesirable indentation and possible penetration of a sheet by premature engagement of some part of vthe matrix such as an edge or corher of oiie or more of the veavity bounding ridges 7, and also to ensure that an eifective seal shall be achieved between uiefshest on the platen 18 and the boundary ridges 7 of the cavities of the matrix and that smudging of deposit material at the boundaries of the cavities when the sheet and the matrix are parted shall be avoided.

on the other hand non-uniformity of thickness as between edges of sheets of paper or card is frequently encountered and furthermore absolute and constant accuracy in parallelism between a moving platen and a matrix is in practice very diflicult to achieve and it is desirable therefore that the platen shall be able to accommodate itself and the sheet carried thereby to the surface of the matrix to achieve uniform load distribution between the surface of the sheet and the operative face of the matrix despite small departures from parallelism by the platen or varialiOflS in thickness of the sheet.

With a view to meeting this requirement there is employed in the case illustrated, a platen 18 of rectangular form in plan and the ram 17 of the hydraulic press 15 is engaged with the centre of the underside of the platen.

The platen 18 is provided at each end of one of its edges, the right hand edge in FIG. 1, with a guide 19, these two guides 19 being arranged in or close to the plane of the platen and to slide up and down on two of the vertical posts 3. V V

The selected guide posts 3 are precision ground and chromium plated and the guides are shown as each comprising two half bearings 20, 21 in flat. plates 22, 23, the flat plates having clearance holes 24 for the passage of fixing bolts 25 taking into brackets 26 bolted to the two corners of the platen so that the half bearings 20, 21 can be adjusted accurately in position for free sliding without play on the posts 3. I

An arm of moderate stifiness, that is, one which is normally rigid but has some degree of inherent resiliency may be formed by a length of channel section metal 27 as shown in FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 welded at one end to a bracket 28 as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 to which is welded a semicircular yoke 29 of a size to embrace the upper end of the ram 17 of the hydraulic press 15.

The other end of the arm 27 is welded to a bracket 30 including a slotted flat plate 31 to which is bolted the two halves 32, 33, of a bearing similar to the above described bearings 20, 21, 22 and 23 on the platen 18.

The yoke 29 and the plate 31 of the bracket 30 lie in parallel planes inclined at an angle e.g. of 45 to the longitudinal direction of the arm 27.

The yoke 29 is bolted to the underside of the platen in a position substantially concentric with the ram 17 of the hydraulic press, with the arm 27 extending downwards at an inclination to the vertical, the bearings 32, 33 in the bracket 30 being engaged and adjusted about one of the two vertical posts 3 engaged by the guide bearings 20, 21 on the platen itself, so as to be slidable without play thfifeoflv.

In setting up the machine, the matrix 5 is mounted beneath the top frame 4 so that the operative underside of the matrix is parallel or as near as possible parallel with the surface of the platen 18.

The stiffness of the arm 27 is selected so that during rising and falling movements of the platen 18 whilst not engaged with the matrix 5, the platen makes guided movements parallel to itself without any redundant restraint, by virtue of sliding movement of the two bearings, formed by the two sets of parts 20, 21, constituting the guides 19 on the platen itself, on the two posts 3, and the third guide formed by the bearing comprising the two parts 32, 33 on the lower end of the inclined arm 27 on one of the guide posts 3, but also so that in the event of some slight lack of parallelism between the face of a sheet on the platen 18 and the operatiyeface of the matrix 5 as the sheet makes pressure contact with the matrix the platen is permitted to accommodate itself to compensate .for such lack of parallelism by bending yield. of the arm 27. The ar m 27 being connected hrough the yoke 29 with the approximate centre of the underside of the platen, any bending moment applied at the point of attachment as the arms yields, will involve only a minimum and negligible amount of distortion oi the pl-aten18. i, yoke 29 at the upper end of the arm 27 is preferably connected with the platen 18 by means of necked studs (not shown) designed to break oil if any large foreign body is accidentally left between the platen 18 and the matrix 5.

I a m:

1. Apparatus for depositing thin layers of liquid in ac]- curately definedareas on surfaces comprising a matrix having a plurality of shallow cavities in one face, support means supporting said matrix in fixed position with the cavity-containing face lowermost, means for controllably feeding liquids to be deposited onto the surfaces through the body of the matrix to the cavities, at least two fixed and par allel vertical guide posts, a vertically movable platen, power-operated means applying lift at the approximate centre of the underside of said platen, spaced guides fixed to said platen in the region of the general plane of the platen and each slidably engageable with a close guiding fit with one of said vertical guide posts, at least one arm connected at one of its ends to the underside of the said platen at a point spaced flom a vertical plane containing two of the spaced guides, said arm extending downwards from the said platen at an inclination to the vertical, and a further guide carried at the lower end of said arm and slidably engageable with a close guiding fit with one of said vertical guide posts as the platen is raised and lowered, said arm being normally rigid but having a sulficient degree of inherent resiliency to permit said platen to assume parallelism with the matrix when in contact therewith, under the force of the power-operated means.

2. Apparatus for depositing thin layers of liquid in accurately defined areas on surfaces comprising a matrix having a plurality of shallow cavities in one face, means for controllably feeding liquids to be deposited onto the surfaces through the body of the matrix to the cavities, support means supporting said matrix in fixed position with the cavity-containing face lowermost, at least two fixed and parallel vertical guide posts, a vertically movable platen, said guide posts being in a common vertical plane spaced from the center of said platen, power-operated means including a ram connected with the centre of the underside of the platen and applying lift to the platen, a pair of spaced guides fixed to said platen in the region of the general plane of the platen and each slidably engageable with a close guiding fit' with one of said vertical guide posts, an arm, a yoke rigid with one end of said arm and in a plane inclined to said arm and fixed to the underside of the platen with the yoke embracing the ram and the said arm extending downwards at an inclination wis vertical, n a v t er i ds wr a h le e end of said arm and slidably engageable with a close guiding fit with one of said vertical guide posts as the platen is raised and lowered, said arm being normally rigid but having a sufiicient degree of inherent resiliency to permit said platen to assume parallelism with the matrix when in contact therewith, under the force of the power-oper- 5 ated means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,591,941 Innerfield Apr. 8, 1952 2,779,059 Kruft Jan. 29, 1957 2,794,415 Hillman June 4, 1957

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