Registration device for use in silk screen printing

A registration device for use in silk screen printing of garments and other articles. The device facilitates the accurate positioning of the garment or other article to be printed. The device has a support arm which is held in a fixed position in respect to the platen of the silk screen printing apparatus. The support arm holds a frame which is affixable to a transparent sheet. The sheet is taped to the platen and marked with the silk screen indicia. The frame is then moved over the transparent sheet and taped to the sheet. The sheet is then detached from the platen and moved away therefrom on the frame. The garment to be marked is then placed on the platen, and the transparent sheet and frame is temporarily returned to its original position and placed over the garment to be marked. The garment is then alignd so that the spot on the garment to be marked is directly below the indicia on the transparent sheet. The frame and sheet are then moved away and the garment is accurately printed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The field of the invention is silk screen printing apparatus, and the 
invention relates, more particularly, to means and apparatus for 
positioning the garment or article to be printed in an accurate manner. 
The silk screening of T-shirts and other garments has grown in popularity. 
It is often important that the garment be marked directly in the center of 
a pocket or other relatively exact location. In the past, this was done by 
several methods. In one method, it was accomplished by taping a piece of 
relatively thick cardboard in the spot where the printing is to be done 
and then placing the garment to be marked in the correct location by 
feeling the cardboard through the garment. This method was inherently 
inaccurate, and it often happened that the garment was mismarked and the 
cost of printing garments was increased whenever a garment could not be 
sold other than as a second. Any method for positioning garments must be 
capable of being used when the indicia to be printed is large, or of 
unusual shape or orientation. Sometimes the garment to be marked is 
relatively thick such as a sweat shirt and the approach of feeling a layer 
of cardboard under the sweat shirt was not practical. Other articles such 
as signs printed on cardboard, wood or other substances can also require 
accurate positioning. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is, thus, an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and 
a process for the accurate positioning of the marking of a silk screening 
apparatus on a garment or other object. 
The present invention is for an apparatus and the process of using the 
apparatus consisting of a registration device for use in silk screen 
printing of garments and other materials to facilitate the accurate 
positioning of the garment or other article to be printed. The 
registration device has a support arm affixed in a fixed position in 
respect to the platen of a silk screen printing apparatus. A frame holding 
arm support block and frame holding arm assembly is affixed to the support 
arm. The frame holding arm has a fixed end where it is attached to the 
support block and a free end. The support block pivotally holds the arm in 
a manner which permits it to move in a generally horizontal plane. The 
support block has stop means to accurately position the frame holding arm 
in a specific home position. Frame means are adjustably affixed to the end 
of the frame holding arm, and the frame is movable to contact the platen 
of the silk screening apparatus when the frame holding arm is in its home 
position. A transparent sheet, having the indicia to be printed on its 
upper surface is affixed to the frame whereby when an object to be silk 
screened is placed on the platen, the transparent sheet can be placed in 
its home position over the garment or object and the object moved so that 
the indicia on the transparent sheet is directly over the desired spot for 
printing. Preferably, the home position is caused by the movement of a cam 
and cam follower combination between the fixed end of the frame holding 
arm and the support block. Furthermore, it is preferable that the frame be 
a heavy wire frame which may be adjusted to any position at the movable 
end of the frame holding arm.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
The registration device of the present invention is shown in FIG. 1 and 
indicated generally by reference character 10. Registration device 10 has 
a support arm 11 which includes a bracket 12 which is attachable to a silk 
screen printing apparatus shown in phantom lines and indicated generally 
by reference character 13. The silk screen printing apparatus has a platen 
support shelf 14 which supports platen 15. The silk screen printing 
apparatus is conventional, and the registration device of the present 
invention may be affixed to most of the commonly used silk screen printing 
machines or table tops. It is important that the registration device 10 be 
fixable in a fixed position with respect to the platen of the silk screen 
printing apparatus to which it is attached so that it may accurately 
return to its home position and carry out the function set forth below. 
The term, "silk screen printing apparatus," is intended herein in a broad 
sense and includes table top mounted equipment. 
The registration device has a frame holding arm support block 16 affixed to 
the support arm. Support block 16 has a slot 17 which pivotally holds a 
pivot block 18 which, in turn, pivotally holds a frame holding arm 19. A 
pin 20 holds pivot block 18 to support block 16 and a pin 21, likewise, 
holds frame holding arm 19 to pivot block 18. 
A heavy wire frame 22 is affixed to the free end 23 of frame holding arm 
19. The details of the attachment of the heavy wire frame 22 are shown in 
exploded, perspective view in FIG. 6 where it can be seen that frame 22 
passes through an opening 24 in threaded pin 25. Threaded pin 25 passes 
through a hole 26 at the free end 23 of arm 19. Wing nut 27 threads onto 
the end of threaded pin 25 and pulls it tightly against toothed lock 
washer 28 thereby holding frame 22 in the desired position. Returning to 
FIG. 1, it can be seen that by loosening wing nut 27 that the frame may 
move back and forth at the end of arm 19 and, in fact, the threaded pin 25 
may be moved along any of the four sides of the rectangular frame 22. 
Furthermore, frame 22 may be pivoted downwardly from its position, as 
shown in FIG. 1, a full one hundred eighty degrees so that it may be moved 
to the close side of platen 15 and, thus, by the adjustment of frame 22, 
it may cover any part of platen 15 and permit printing to be accurately 
made over essentially the entire upper surface of platen 15. 
The device of the present invention is used by first taping a transparent 
sheet 30 to the upper surface of platen 15. Readily removed tape, such as 
masking tape, 31 and 32 is preferable since sheet 30 will soon be released 
from the surface of platen 15. Next, indicia indicated on the under 
surface of silk screen 33 by reference character 34 will be marked in the 
position shown by the dotted line identified by reference character 35 on 
the upper surface of transparent sheet 30. As described in further detail 
below, pivot block 18 is readily movable to a preset "home" position where 
the frame is over the platen as shown in FIG. 2. After the indicia 34 has 
been printed, the heavy wire frame is moved into its "home" position from 
its remote position indicated in phantom lines and by reference character 
38 in FIG. 2. The movement from its remote position is indicated by the 
arrow 36 in FIG. 2. The frame is then securely taped in its "home" 
position to the transparent sheet 30, and the two lengths of masking tape 
31 and 32 are removed and discarded. The frame is taped by four lengths of 
masking tape indicated by reference character 37 in FIG. 2. After 
transparent sheet 30 has been securely taped to heavy wire frame 22, it is 
moved to the remote position indicated by reference character 38 in FIG. 2 
and a garment 39, such as a T-shirt, is placed on the upper surface of 
platen 15. The frame and transparent sheet are next moved back to their 
home position. Since the registration device is capable of accurately 
returning arm 19 and frame 22 to the same position repeatedly, which is 
referred to as the "home position," it is apparent that indicia 34 will 
always be printed at the same spot that it temporarily is placeable by 
moving the transparent sheet to its home position. Thus, garment 39 may be 
moved freely under transparent sheet 30 until indicia 34 is in the exact 
desired position. The frame 22 and arm 19 are then moved upwardly as 
indicated by arrow 39 and outwardly back to the remote position shown by 
reference character 38 where it is free and away from any interference 
with the silk screen 33. Silk screen 33 is then moved downwardly and the 
indicia printed by a squeegee or roller in the usual manner. However, 
unlike the usual manner, the indicia is accurately placed at the exact 
desired location. 
The manner in which the home position is found is shown in FIG. 3 where it 
can be seen that support block 16 supports a cam follower 40 which is 
placed in an opening 41 which holds biasing means such as helical spring 
42. The end 43 of cam follower 40 contacts cam surface 44. The home 
position of the registration device is shown in phantom lines in FIG. 3 
and indicated by reference character 45 where side 47 of pivot block 18 
contacts face 48 of slot 17. This contact provides stop means to hold the 
frame holding arm 19 in its home position 45. The position at which the 
transparent sheet is free from any interference with the silk screen 
printing apparatus is indicated by reference character 46. 
It is also beneficial that the frame holding arm 19 be capable of pivoting 
upwardly so that it may readily be moved away from any interference with 
the garment to be printed. This is readily accomplished by the affixing of 
arm 19 to block 18 by a pin 21 and by rounding off the fixed end of arm 19 
as indicated by reference character 46 in FIG. 5. 
The registration device of the present invention can be used to add words, 
letters or color after a design print is cured. Furthermore, because of 
its transparent sheet, it is readily possible to print between the lines 
of a garment to produce a superior printed product than heretofore 
practical. The positioning of the garment is fast, and the use of the 
device of the present invention requires very little training. 
While the apparatus of the present invention uses a cam and cam follower 
positioning method, other positioning methods, such as a spring with a 
catch to hold the arm out of the way, may alternatively be used. While the 
term, "silk screening," has been used herein, other screen media other 
than silk may, of course, be used. 
The present embodiments of this invention are thus to be considered in all 
respects as illustrative and not restrictive; the scope of the invention 
being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing 
description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of 
equivalency of the claims are intended to be embraced therein.