METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR UV INK JET PRINTING ON FABRIC AND COMBINATION PRINTING AND QUILTING THEREBY

Abstract: A method and apparatus for inkjet printing is provided onto fabric (15) using ultraviolet (UV) light curable ink, the ink is first partially cured with UV light (24) and then is subjected to heating to more completely cure the ink. The printing is provided in a quilting machine (10) having a quilting station (27) and a printing station (25) located upstream of the quilting station. Preferably, at the printing station, only a top layer of fabric is printed with a multi-colored design under the control of a programmed controller (35). UV curable ink is jetteed onto the fabric with a dot volume of about 75 picoliters. A conveyor (20) moves the printed fabric from the printing station through a UV curing station (24) where a UV curing light head moves either with the print head or independent of the print head to expose the deposited drops of UV ink with a beam of about 300 watts per linear inch of energy, at a rate that applies about 1 joule per square centimeter. The conveyor then conveys the fabric through a heated drying station or oven (26) where the fabric is heated to about 300 degree F for about 30 seconds up to three minutes. Forced hot air is preferably used to apply the heat in the oven, but other heating methods such as infrared or other radiant heaters may be used. Before, or preferably after, the heat curing, the fabric is combined with other material layers and a quilted pattern is applied in program controlled coordination with the printed pattern.

Description: METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR UV INK JET PRINTING ON FABRIC AND COMBINATION PRINTING AND QUILTING THF.IIF.BV The present invention relates to printing on fabric, and particularly to the printing of patterns onto fabric used m quilting such as onto multiple layer materials such as mattress covers, comforters, bedspreads and the like The invention is more particularly related to the ink jet printing onto fabric, and to ink jet printing with ultra-violet light (UV) curable inks Background of the Invention Quilting is a special art in the general field of sewing m which patterns are stitched through a plurality of layers of matenal over a two-dimensional area of the matenal The multiple layers of matenal normally include at least three layers, one a woven primary or facing sheet that will have a decorative finished quality, one a usually woven backing sheet that may or may not be of a finished quality, and one or more internal layers of thick filler material, usually of randomly oriented fibers The stitched patterns maintain the physical relationship of the layers of material to each other as well as provide ornamental qualities Frequently, a combining of stitched patterns with printed patterns is desirable, such as in mattress covers and other quilt manufacture Producing a printed pattern on a mattress cover requires the application of ink to fabnc, which, unlike paper, plastic or other smooth surfaces, presents a texture, third dimension or depth, to the surface on which the printing is applied Furthermore, printing onto substrates that are more than several feet, or a meter, wide, referred to as the special category of "wide width" printing, into which category the printing of mattress ticking and most other quiltable matenals would fall, is beyond many of the limitations of conventional printing methods A number of techmcal problems exist that have detened the development of the printing of wide fabrics such as mattress covers, upholstery, automobile seat cover fabrics, office partitions and other wide width fabrics Wide width products are frequently printed in relatively small quantities Traditional printing typically involves the creation of a plate, a mat, a screen, or some other permanent or at least tangible, physical image from which ink is transfened to the object being printed Such images contribute a relatively high set up cost that is only economical where the number of identical copies of the product is large At the other extreme, office printers, for example, print a single copy or a small number of copies of a given document or other item, and are cunently of the type that uses no permanent, physical image transfer element, but which rather prints from a software or program controlled electronic image, which can be changed from product to product Such "soft" image printers are sometimes referred to as digital printers, although the "soft" image need not necessarily be "digital" in the sense of a set of stored discrete numerical values A common type of such "soft" image or digital printers in use today is the ink jet printer Ink jet printers print by projecting drops of ink on demand onto a substrate from one or more nozzles on one or more print heads Office printers and other narrow width ink jet printers usually dispense water based or other solvent based inks onto the substrate by heating the ink and exploding bubbles of the ink out of the nozzles These printers are commonly called bubble jet printers The ink dries by evaporation of the solvent Sometimes additional heat is used to evaporate the solvent and dry the ink Printing onto wide width substrates with bubble type ink jet printers, or ink jet prmters that use high temperature techniques to propel the ink, severely limits the life of the print head The heat used to expel the ink and the evaporation of the solvents, particularly during downtime, and the thermal cycling of the heads, causes these print heads to clog or otherwise fail after as little as 20 milli ters of ink is dispensed Office printers are, for example, often designed so that the print head is replaced every time a reservoir of ink is replenished For this reason, for larger scale ink jet printing processes, such as wide width printing of films used for outdoor advertising, signage and architectural applications, print heads that use mechanical ink propulsion techniques are more common Such mechanical print heads include piezo or piezo-crystal print heads, which convert electrical energy into lntra-crystal vibrations that cause drops of ink to be ejected from print head nozzles Piezo print heads are particularly useful for applying inks that dry by polymerization which can be brought about after the ink leaves the print head and is deposited onto the substrate, usually by exposure to some form of energy medium such as electromagnetic or particle radiation Inks have been formulated for ink jet printing that can be polymerized by exposure to a radiation curing source such as a focused beam of ultra violet light (UV) or high energy beams of electrons (EB) The inks generally incorporate stabilizers which prevent premature curing due to low levels of light exposure Therefore, the inks usually require exposure to some threshold level of energy that is necessary to initiate a polymerization reaction Unless exposed to such threshold energy levels, such inks do not polymerize and remain stable, with a low tendency to dry in the nozzles or elsewhere unless cured by adequate exposure to the energy medium Solvent based inks are primarily cured by evaporation of the solvents Some solvent based inks cure only by air drying, while others require the application of heat to enhance the evaporation of the solvent In some cases, heat will facilitate a chemical change or polymerization of the ink along with an evaporation of a solvent Polymenzable inks include monomers and ohgomers that polymerize, and other additives UV curable inks polymerize when exposed to UV light at or above the threshold energy level These UV curable mk formulations include photomitiators which absorb light and thereby produce free radicals or cations which induce crosshnkmg between the unsaturation sites of the monomers, ohgomers and polymers, as well as other additive components Electron beam-cured inks do not require photoinhibitors because the electrons are able to directly initiate crosshnkmg Heat or air curable inks that are organic solvent based or water based inks often do not have as high a color intensity as UV curable or other polymenzable inks because the pigments or dyes that produce the color are somewhat diluted by the solvent Furthermore, organic solvents can produce an occupational hazard, requiring costly measures be taken to minimize contact of the evaporating solvents by workers and to minimize other risks such as the risks of fire Solvent based inks whether applied with heat or not, tend to dry out and eventually clog ink jet nozzles In addition, solvent based inks set by forming a chemical bond with the substrate, and accordingly, their formulation is substrate material dependent As a result, the selection of solvent based ink varies from fabric to fabric Specific ink compositions are paired with specific fabnc compositions to improve the fastness of the ink to the fabric, which results from chemical or electrostatic bonds formed between the ink and the fabric With UV and other radiant beam-curable inks such as electron beam-cured inks, the bonding between the ink and fabric is pnmanly mechanical and not limited to specific combinations of ink and fabric Polymenzable inks, particularly those cured upon exposure to a radiation or energy medium, are difficult to cure on three dimensional substrates such as fabric While UV curable inks are capable of providing higher color intensity and do not present the hazards that many solvent based inks piesent and can avoid nozzle clogging, printing with UV curable ink onto fabric presents other problems that have not been solved in the prior art To cure UV ink, for example, it must be possible to precisely focus a UV curing light onto the ink UV ink, when jetted onto fabric, particularly onto highly textured fabric, is distributed at various depths over the texture of the fabric surface Furthermore, the ink tends to soak into or wick into the fabric As a result, the ink is present at various depths on the fabric, so that some of the ink at depths above or below the focal plane of the UV curing light evade the light needed to cause a total cure of the mk In order to cure, UV ink must be exposed to UV light at an energy level above a curing threshold However, increasing the intensity of the curing light beyond certain levels in order to enhance cure of the mk can burn, scorch or otherwise have destructive effects on the deposited ink or the fabric Furthermore, ink jet pnntmg can be carried out with different mk color dots applied m a side-by-side pattern or in a dot-on-dot (or drop-on-drop) pattern, with the dot-on-dot method bemg capable of producing a higher color density, but the higher density dot-on-dot pattern is even more difficult to cure when the cure is by UV light In addition, UV mk can be applied quickly to reduce wickmg and UV ink can be developed to allow minimized wickmg Some wickmg, however, helps to remove artifacts Further, inks developed to eliminate wickrng leave a stiff paint-like layer on the surface of the fabric, giving the fabric a stiff feel or "bad hand" Therefore, to reduce the UV curing problem by eliminating wickmg is not desirable UV curing of jetted ink on fabric has a limited cure depth that is determined by the depth of field of the focused curing UV light When UV cuiable ink is jetted onto fabnc, UV light may proceed to cure an insufficient portion of the mk A large uncured portion of the deposited mk can cause movement or loss of the ink over time, resulting m deterioration of the printed images Even if a sufficient portion of the ink is cured to avoid visibly detectable effects, uncured ink at some level has the possibility of producing symptoms m some persons who contact the printed fabric The amount of uncured monomers or ink components that can cause problems by inhalation or direct skin contact has not been officially determined, but standards exist for deteimin ng limits for components of packaging matenal ingested with food For example, if more than approximately 100 parts per million (PPM) of ink from packaging matenal is present m food, some persons who are sensitive to the uncured monomers may suffer reactions and others may develop sensitivities to the material Such cnteπa assumes that 1 square inch of packaging matenal makes contact with ten grams of food Thus, to interpret this criteria, it is assumed that each PPM of ink component in packaged food is equivalent to 15 5 milligrams of mk component migrating out of each square meter of packaging material into the food While this does not provide an exact measure of the amount of uncured ink components that might be harmful to humans, it suggests that approximately 10% of uncured ink components on items of clothing, mattress covers or other fabrics with which persons may be in contact for extended periods of time, may be unacceptable For the reasons stated above, UV curable inks have not been successfully used to print onto fabnc where a high degree of cure is required Heat curable or other solvent based inks that dry by evaporation can be cured on fabric As a result, the ink jet pnntmg of solvent based inks and heat curable or air dryable solvent based mk has been the primary process used to print on fabric Accordingly, the advantages of UV or other radiation cuiable ink jet printing have not been available for printing onto fabric There exists a need in printing of patterns onto mattress tickmg and mattress cover quilts, as well as onto other types of fabrics, for a process to bring about an effective cure of UV curable inks and to render practical the printing with UV curable inks onto fabric Summary of the Invention An objective of the present invention is to provide an effective method and apparatus for wide width "digital" or "soft" image pnntmg onto fabric Another objective of the invention is to effectively apply and cure UV curable and other energy medium polymenzable mk onto fabric, and particularly using inkjet pnntmg A further objective of the invention is to successfully apply and effectively cure ink jetted onto fabric with a piezo or other mechanical or electro-mechanical print head A particular objective of the mvention is to provide for the pnntmg of UV ink or other inks that are curable by exposure to impinging energy, onto fabnc, particularly highly textured fabrics such as, for example, quilts or mattress cover ticking A particular objective of the invention is to provide for the effective curing of UV inks jetted onto fabric by reducing uncured monomers and other extractable non- solvent polymerization reactants, including reactant byproducts, or components of the ink, to a level most likely to be tolerable by or acceptable to persons contacting the printed substrates According to the principles of the present mvention, ink is digitally printed onto fabric and polymerization of the mk is initiated by exposure to an impinged energy beam, such as UV, EB or other such energy beam, then the partially polymerized or cured ink is thereafter subjected to heat to reduce the unpolymenzed polymenzable reactants and other extractable components of the ink to low levels that are likely to be tolerable or otherwise acceptable to persons contacting the fabric In certain embodiments of the mvention, UV curable ink is jetted onto fabric and the cure of the mk is initiated by exposure to UV light Preferably, a non-bubble jet print head such as a piezo-crystal or other mechanical mk ejection transducer is used to jet the ink Heat may be applied to the piezo-crystal or other mechanical mk injection transducer during operation, but generally only for ink viscosity reduction With or following the exposure to the UV light, the printed fabric is subjected to a heated air stream which either extends the UV light initiated curing process, drives off uncured components of the ink, or both More particularly, UV curable ink is jetted onto a fabric, and the jetted ink is exposed to UV cuπng light to cure the ink to an extent sufficient to stabilize the mk such that the printed image is substantially resistant to further wickmg, which is generally about 60 to 95% polymerization depending on ink density, substrate porosity and composition, and substrate weight and thickness Then, the fabric beanng the partially cured jetted ink is heated with heated air in a heat curing oven, at which the UV light initiated polymerization may continue, or uncured monomers are vaporized, or both, in order to produce a printed image of UV mk that contams a reduced level of uncured monomers or other components of the ink which is likely to be tolerable by persons sensitive or potentially sensitive to such ink components Preferably, the uncured components of the mk are reduced to an order of magnitude of about a gram per square meter, for example, and generally not more than about 1 55 grams per square meter of uncured monomer on the fabric substrate Accordmg to the prefened embodiment of the mvention, UV mk is jetted onto a highly textured fabnc such as a mattress cover tickmg material, preferably pnor to the quilting of the fabnc into a mattress cover The ink is preferably jetted at a dot density of from about 180x254 dots per mch per color to about 300x300 dots per inch per color, though lower dot densities of from about 90x254 dots per inch can be applied Preferably, four colors of a CMYK color palette are applied, each in drops or dots of about 75 picohters, or approximately 80 nanograms, per drop, utilizmg a UV ink jet print head A UV curing light head is provided, which moves either with the print head or mdependent of the print head and exposes the deposited drops of UV mk with a beam of about 300 watts per linear inch, applying about 1 joule per square centimeter Generally, UV ink will begin to cure, at least on the surface, at low levels of energy in the range of about 20 or 30 millijoules per square centimeter However, to effect curing m commercial operation, higher UV intensities m the range of about 1 joule per square centimeter are desired Provided that some minimal threshold level of energy density is achieved, which can vary based on the formulation of the ink, the energy of the beam can be vaned as a function of fabnc speed relative to the light head and the sensitivity of the fabric to damage from the energy of the beam The fabnc on which the jetted mk has been thereby partially UV cured is then passed through an oven where it is heated to about 300°F for from about 30 seconds up to about three minutes Forced hot air is preferably used to apply the heat m the oven, but other heating methods such as mfrared or other radiant heaters may be used The UV energy level, oven heatmg temperature and oven heat tune may be varied withm a range of the above listed values depending on the nature of the fabric, the density and type of the applied ink and the speed of the fabric during processmg relative to the UV curing light head Thus, a higher ink density applied to the fabnc will generally require more UV energy, higher oven heating temperature, longer oven heat time or a combination of these variables, to effect the necessary curing on the particular fabnc Generally, the upper limits for the UV or other impinging beam of energy and oven heating temperature are those values which, when applied to the specific ink and fabric, begm to damage or otherwise adversely affect the applied mk, the underlying fabric or both The mvention has the advantage that, for different inks and usmg different cntena for the desired residual amount of uncured ink components remaining on the fabric, the parameters can be vaned to increase or reduce the residual amount By increasing or decreasing the intensity of energy, or using a different form of energy than UV, or by increasing or decreasing the time of exposure of the ink to the energy, the amount of remaining unpolymenzed non-solvent ink components can be changed Additionally, using higher or lower temperatures, or more or less air flow, or greater or less heating time in the post curing oven, can change the final composition of the ink on the substrate Care, however, should be taken that the energy curing or heating process does not damage the fabric or the ink The invention makes it possible to print images on fabric with UV curable ink by providing effective curing of the k, leavmg less than a nominal 1 55 grams of uncured monomers per square meter of printed material and usually leavmg only about 0 155 grams per square meter of uncured monomers Thus, the invention provides the benefits of using UV curable ink over water and solvent based inks, including the advantages of high color saturation potential, low potential sensitivity or toxicity, and without clogging the jet nozzles and enabling the use of piezo or other high longevity print heads Furthermore, the ability to print on wide width fabrics with polymenzable inks, which do not form chemical bonds with the substrates, and therefore are not material dependent, provides an advantage, particularly with fabrics such as mattress covers and other furniture and bedding products These and other objects of the present mvention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description of the prefened embodiments of the invention Brief Description of the Drawing The figure is a diagrammatic perspective view of a one embodiment of a web-fed mattress cover quilting machine embodying principles of the present mvention Detailed Description ol the Preferred Embodiment The figure illustrates a quilting machine 10 having a stationary frame 11 with a longitudmal extent represented by an anow 12 and a transverse extent represented by an arrow 13 The machme 10 has a front end 14 into which is advanced a web 15 of ticking or facing material from a supply roll 16 rotatably mounted to the frame 11 A roll of backmg material 17 and one or more rolls of filler matenal 18 are also supplied in web form on rolls also rotatably mounted to the frame 11 The webs are directed around a plurality of rollers (not shown) onto a conveyor or conveyor system 20, each at various pomts along the conveyor 20 The conveyor system 20 preferably includes a pair of opposed pm tenterrng belt sets 21 which extend through the machme 10 and onto which the outer layer 15 is fed at the front end 14 of the machme 10 The belt sets 21 retam the web 15 in a precisely known longitudmal position thereon as the belt sets 21 carry the web 15 through the longitudmal extent of the machine 10, preferably with an accuracy of 0 to 1/4 inch The longitudmal movement of the belts 21 is controlled by a conveyor drive 22 The conveyor 20 may take alternative forms including, but not limited to, opposed cog belt side securements, longitudinally moveable positive side clamps that engage and tension the material of the web 15 or other securing structure for holdmg the facmg material web 15 fixed relative to the conveyor 20 Along the conveyor 20 are provided three stations, mcludmg an ink jet printing station 25, a UV light curing station 24, a heated drymg station 26, a quilting station 27 and a panel cutting station 28 The backmg matenal 17 and filler matenal 18 are brought mto contact with the top layer 15 between the drymg station 26 and the quilting station 27 to form a multi-layered material 29 for quilting at the quilting station 27 Preferably, the layers 17, 18 are not engaged by the belt sets 21 of the conveyor 20, but rather, are brought into contact with the bottom of the web 15 upstream of the quilting station 27 to extend beneath the web 15 through the quiltmg station 27 and between a pair of pmch rollers 44 at the downstream end of the quilting station 27 The rollers 44 operate m synchronism with the belt sets 21 and pull the webs 17,18 thiough the machine 10 with the web 15 The printing station 25 includes one or more ink jet printing heads 30 that are transversely moveable across the frame 11 and may also be longitudinally moveable on the frame 11 under the power of a transverse drive 31 and an optional longitudinal drive 32 Alternatively, the head 30 may extend across the width of the web 15 and be configured to prmt an entire transverse lme of pomts simultaneously onto the web 15 The mk jet printing head 30 is configured to jet UV ink at 75 picohters, or approximately 80 nanograms, per drop, and to do so foi each of four colors accordmg to a CMYK color pallette Preferably, the printing head 30 does not undergo a heating step during operation A mechanical or electromechanical print head such as a piezo prmt head is prefened The dots are preferably dispensed at a resolution of about 180 dots per mch by about 254 dots per inch The resolution may be higher or lower as desired, but the 180x254 resolution is preferred If desirable for finer images or greater color saturation, 300x300 dots per mch is preferable The drops of the different colors can be side-by-side or dot-on-dot Dot-on-dot (sometimes refened to as drop-on-drop) produces higher density The prmt head 30 is provided with controls that allow for the selective operation of the head 30 to selectively prmt two-dimensional designs 34 of one or more colors onto the top layer web 15 The dnve 22 for the conveyor 20, the drives 31,32 for the print head 30 and the operation of the prmt head 30 are program controlled to prmt patterns at known locations on the web 15 by a controller 35, which includes a memory 36 for storing programmed patterns, machme control programs and real tune data regarding the nature and longitudinal and transverse location of printed designs on the web 15 and the relative longitudinal position of the web 15 in the machme 10 The UV curing station 24 includes a UV light curing head 23 that may move with the print head 30 or, as is illustrated, move independently of the print head 30 The UV light curmg head 23 is configured to sharply focus a nanow longitudinally extending beam of UV light onto the printed surface of the fabnc The head 23 is provided with a transverse drive 19 which is controlled to transversely scan the printed surface of the fabric to move the light beam across the fabric Preferably, the head 23 is intelligently controlled by the controller 35 to selectively operate and quickly move across areas having no prmtmg and to scan only the printed images with UV light at a rate sufficiently slow to UV cure the ink, thereby avoiding wasting time and UV energy scanning unpπnted areas If the head 23 is included in the printing station 25 and is coupled to move with the print head 30, UV curing light can be used in synchronism with the dispensing of the ink immediately following the dispensing of the mk The UV curing station 24, m the illustrated embodiment, is located immediately downstream of the pnntmg station 25 so that the fabric, immediately following printing, is subjected to a UV light cure In theory, one photon of UV light is required to cure one free radical of ink monomer so as to set the mk In practice, one joule of UV light energy is supplied by the UV curing head 23 per square centimeter of prmted surface area This is achieved by sweeping a UV beam across the printed area of the fabric at a power of 300 watts per lmear mch of beam width and exposing the surface for a time sufficient to deliver the energy at the desired density Alternatively, if fabric thickness and opacity are not too high, curing light can be projected from both sides of the fabric to enhance the curing of the UV ink Using power much higher can result in the burning or even combustion of the fabric, so UV power has an upper practical limit The heat curmg or drying station 26 is fixed to the frame 11 , preferably immediately downstream of the UV light curmg station With sufficient UV cure to stabilize the ink such that the printed image is substantially resistant to further wickmg, the mk will be sufficiently color-fast so as to permit the drymg station to be off-line, or downstream of the quiltmg station 27 When on-line, the drymg station should extend sufficiently along the length of fabric to adequately cure the printed ink at the rate that the fabric is printed Heat cure at the oven or drying station 26 maintains the temperature of the mk on the fabric at about 300°F for up to three minutes Heating of from 30 seconds to 3 minutes is the anticipated acceptable range Heating by forced hot air is prefened, although other heat sources, such as mfrared heaters, can be used as long as they adequately penetrate the fabric to the depth of the ink The exact percentage of tolerable uncured monomers varies from mk to mk and product to product Generally, it is thought that uncured monomers of UV curable ink should be reduced to below about 0 1%, or 1000 PPM In the prefened embodiment of the invention, uncured monomers of UV curable ink are reduced to less than 100 PPM, and preferably to about 10 PPM As explained above, each 1 PPM is equivalent to about 15 5 milligrams extractables per square meter of printed material As used herem, the percentage or portion of remaining uncured monomers refers to the mass of extractable matenal that can be removed fiom a given sample of cured ink by immersing the cured ink sample m an aggressive solvent such as toluene, and measurmg the amount of material in the solvent that is removed from the ink by the solvent The measurements are made with a gas chromatograph with a mass detector In the prefened embodiment of the invention, the measured amount of material removed from a given sample of the ink is less than 1 5 grams extractables per square meter of printed matenal Measurements of higher than 100 PPM or 1 5 grams extractables per square meter of printed material are undesirable Measurements of 10 PPM are prefened Table 1 below sets out the extraction data generated on a single fabric printed with different patterns The individual fabric samples for each run are cut from the same relative location on the web and contain the same printed pattern The fabric sample containing the printed ink is immersed m a contamer havmg a fixed quantity of toluene and stored under ambient conditions for several days to extract any non-polymerized ink component The fabric is a 51% polyester/49% cotton blend The first pattern is a flower pattern with imprinted fabric sections, the second is a full color prmt consisting of four color CMYK with 100% jetting of each color dot-on-dot over the entire available fabric surface TABLE 1 The quiltmg station 27 is located downstream of the oven 26 m the prefened embodiment Preferably, a single needle quiltmg station such as is described m U S Patent Application Serial No. 08/831,060 to Jeff Kaetterhenry, et al and entitled Web-fed Cham-stitch Smgle-needle Mattress Cover Quilter with Needle Deflection Compensation, \\ hich is expressly incorporated by reference herein, now U.S Patent No 5,832,849 Other suitable single needle type quilting machmes with which the present mvention may be used are disclosed m U S Patent Applications Serial Nos 08/497,727 and 08/687,225, both entitled Quiltmg Method and Apparatus, expressly incorporated by reference herem, now U S Patents Nos 5,640,916 and 5,685,250, respectively The quiltmg station 27 may also include a multi-needle quilting structure such as that disclosed in U S Patent No 5,154,130, also expressly incorporated by reference herem In the figure, a single needle quilting head 38 is illustrated which is transversely moveable on a carnage 39 which is longitudinally moveable on the frame 11 so that the head 38 can stitch 360° patterns on the multi-layered material 29 The controller 35 controls the relatn e position of the head 38 relative to the multi-layered material 29, which is maintained at a precisely known position by the operation of the drive 22 and conveyor 20 by the controller 35 and through the storage of positioning information in the memory 36 of the controller 35 In the quiltmg station 27, the quiltmg head 38 quilts a stitched pattern m registration with the printed pattern 34 to produce a combmed or composite prmted and quilted pattern 40 on the multi- layered web 29 This may be achieved, as m the illustrated embodiment by holdmg the assembled web 29 stationary m the quilting station 27 while the head 38 moves, on the frame 11, both transversely under the power of a transverse linear servo drive 41, and longitudinally under the power of a longitudinal servo drive 42, to stitch the 360° pattern by driving the servos 41,42 m relation to the known position of the pattern 34 by the controller 35 based on information in its memory 36 Alternatively, the needles of a smgle or multi-needle quiltmg head may be mo\ ed relative to the web 29 by moving the quilting head 38 only transversely relative to the frame 11 while moving the web 29 longitudinally relative to the quilting station 27, under the power of conveyor dnve 22, which can be made to reversibly operate the conveyor 20 under the control of the controller 35 In certain applications, the order of the printing and quiltmg stations 25,27, respectively, can be reversed, with the printing station 25 located downstream of the quiltmg station 27, for example the station 50 as illustrated by phantom lmes in the figure When at the station 50, the printing is registered with the quilting previously applied at the quiltmg station 27 In such an anangement, the function of the curmg station 26 would also be relocated to a pomt downstream of both the quilting station 27 and pnntmg station 50 or be included in the printing station 50, as illustrated The cutoff station 28 is located downstream of the downstream end of the conveyor 20 The cutoff station 28 is also controlled by the controller 35 m synchronism with the quilting station 27 and the conveyor 20, and it may be controlled m a manner that will compensate for shrinkage of the multi-layered material web 29 during quiltmg at the quiltmg station 27, or m such other manner as described and illustrated m U S Patent No 5,544,599 entitled Program Controlled Quilter and Panel Cutter System with Automatic Shrinkage Compensation, hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein Information regarding the shrinkage of the fabnc during quiltmg, which is due to the gathermg of material that results when thick, filled multi-layer material is quilted, can be taken mto account by the controller 35 when quiltmg in registration with the printed pattern 34 The panel cutter 28 separates individual printed and quilted panels 45 from the web 38, each bearing a composite printed and quilted pattern 40 The cut panels 45 are removed from the output end of the machme by an outfeed conveyor 46, which also operates under the control of the controller 35 Piezo print heads useful for this process are made by Spectra of New Hampshire UV curing heads useful for this process are made by Fusion UV Systems, Inc , Gaithersburg, Maryland The above descnption is representative of certain prefened embodiments of the mvention Those skilled m the art will appreciate that various changes and additions which may be made to the embodiments described above without departing from the principles of the present invention

Claims: Therefore, the following is claimed 1. A quiltmg method comprising the steps of jetting UV curable mk onto a fabric to form a printed pattern on the fabric, curing the ink on the fabric, combining one or more secondary layers of material with the fabric, and quiltmg a quilted pattern on the combined layers of material and fabric over the pattern printed on the fabric 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the curing step includes the steps of exposmg the UV curable ink jetted onto the fabnc to UV light to at least partially cure the ink on the fabric, and heating the fabnc havmg the at least partially cured UV light cured ink thereon to reduce uncured UV curable ink 3. The method of claim 2 further comprising heating the fabric having the at least partially cured UV light cured ink thereon to reduce uncured UV curable mk to 100 PPM or less 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the curing step includes the steps of exposmg the UV curable ink jetted onto the fabric with a beam of about 300 watts per lmear inch of UV light at a rate sufficient to apply about 1 joule per square centimeter of the ink, and heatmg the fabnc havmg the at least partially cured UV light cured mk thereon to reduce uncured UV curable ink 5. The method of claim 1 wherein the curing step includes the steps of exposmg the UV curable ink jetted onto the fabnc to UV light to at least partially cure the ink on the fabric, and heating the fabric having the at least partially cured UV light cured ink thereon to about 300°F for at least about 30 seconds to reduce uncured UV curable ink 6. The method of claim 1 wherem the curmg step includes the steps of exposmg the UV curable mk jetted onto the fabnc with a beam of about 300 watts per lmear mch of UV light at a rate sufficient to apply about 1 joule per square centimeter of the ink, and heatmg the fabric having the at least partially cured UV light cured ink thereon to about 300°F for at least about 30 seconds to reduce uncured UV curable ink to less than 100 PPM 7. A method of printing on fabric comprising the steps of jetting UV curable mk onto a fabric to form a printed pattern on the fabric, then substantially curing the jetted mk on the fabric by exposing the UV curable ink to UV light, the curing resulting in substantially cuied UV mk on the fabnc containing more than an acceptable level of uncured monomers of the UV curable ink, then heatmg the fabnc havmg the substantially cured UV light cured ink thereon and thereby reducing the level of the uncured monomers of the UV curable ink on the fabric to an acceptable level 8. The method of claim 7 wherein the heating step includes the step of. heatmg the fabric havmg the substantially cured UV light cured ink thereon and thereby reducmg uncured monomers of the UV curable ink on the fabric to 100 PPM or less 9. The method of claim 7 wherem the heatmg step includes the step of heatmg the fabnc havmg the substantially cured UV light cured ink thereon and thereby reducmg uncured monomers of the UV curable ink on the fabric to less than 100 PPM. 10. The method of claim 7 wherein the ink jetting step includes the step of jetting the UV curable ink at a dot density of at least about 180 dots per mch, each dot including about 75 picohters of the ink 11. The method of claim 7 wherein the curing step includes the step of exposmg the UV curable ink jetted onto the fabnc with a beam of about 300 watts per lmear mch of UV light for a time that is sufficient to apply about 1 joule per square centimeter of the ink 12. The method of claim 7 wherein the heating step includes the step of heating the fabric havmg the substantially cured UV light cured mk thereon to about 300°F for at least about 30 seconds 13. A fabric printing apparatus compπsmg a supply of UV curable ink, an inkjet print head positioned to deposited a dot pattern of UV curable ink onto a fabric, a UV light curmg head positioned relative to the ink jet print head and configured to expose the dot pattern deposited by the ink jet prmt head on the fabnc to UV light of sufficient energy to substantially, but not completely, cure the ink, a heat curmg station positioned relative to the UV light curing head to heat the fabric having the exposed dot pattern thereon with energy sufficient to substantially reduce the fraction of uncured monomers of the UV curable mk on the fabric, and means for conveying the fabric sequentially past the print head, then the curmg head, then the heat curing station 14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherem the UV light curmg head is operative to expose the pattern to UV light at an intensity sufficient to cure the UV curable ink deposited on the fabric to at least 60% cure, and the heat curing station is operative to heat the exposed pattern to a temperature and for a time sufficient to reduce the portion of uncured UV curable ink on the fabric 15. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the UV light curmg head is operative to expose the pattern to UV light at an intensity sufficient to cure the UV curable ink deposited on the fabric to at least 60% cure 16. The apparatus of claim 13 wherem the heat curmg station is operative to heat the exposed pattern to a temperature and for a time sufficient to reduce the portion of uncured UV curable ink on the fabric 17. A quiltmg apparatus comprising the printing apparatus of claim 13 and further compπsmg a quiltmg station positioned to quilt a quilted pattem onto the fabric 18. The apparatus of claim 13 wherem the ink jet prmt head is configured to dispense the UV curable ink onto the fabric at a dot density of at least about 180 dots per inch, each dot mcludmg about 75 picohters of the ink 19. The apparatus of claim 13 wherem the UV light curing head is configured to expose the UV curable ink on the fabnc to a beam of about 300 watts per linear inch of UV light for a time sufficient to apply about 1 joule of UV light energy per square centimeter of the mk 20. The apparatus of claim 13 wherem the heat curing station is configured to heat the at least partially cured UV light cured ink on the fabric to about 300°F for at least about 30 seconds 21. A method of printing onto a substrate comprising the steps of depositing polymenzable ink onto the substrate, polymerizing the ink by initiating a polymerizing reaction m the ink and maintaining the reaction until the mk is substantially polymerized but contains at least some volatile unpolymenzed monomers, then drymg the substantially polymerized mk to reduce content of volatile unpolymenzed monomers in the mk deposited on the substrate 22. The method of claim 21 wherein the depositing of the mk includes jetting mk onto the substrate to form a printed pattern on the substrate 23. The method of claim 21 wherein the depositing of the ink includes depositing UV curable ink onto the substrate, and the polymerizing of the mk on the substrate includes exposing the UV curable ink to UV light 24. The method of claim 21 wherem the drying of the ink includes heating the substantially polymerized ink on the substrate and thereby reducing volatile ink components on the substrate to tolerable levels 25. The method of claim 24 wherem, the drying includes flowing hot air onto the substrate having the substantially polymerized UV curable ink thereon 26. The method of claim 21 wherem the depositing of the ink mcludes jetting UV curable ink onto the substrate to form a printed pattern on the substrate, the polymerizing of the jetted ink on the substrate includes exposing the UV curable ink on the substrate to UV light, the drymg of the ink mcludes heating the substantially polymerized UV light curable ink on the substrate and thereby reducing volatile UV curable ink components on the substrate to tolerable levels 27. The method of claim 26 wherein, the drying includes flowing hot air onto the substrate having the substantially polymerized UV curable ink thereon 28. The method of claim 26 wherem, the drying includes flowing hot air onto the substrate having the substantially polymerized UV curable ink thereon to evaporate at least some of the unpolymenzed monomers of ink from the substrate 29. The method of claim 26 wherein, the drying includes flowing hot air onto the substrate having the substantially polymerized UV curable ink thereon to further polymerize at least some of the unpolymenzed monomers of ink from the substrate 30. A method of printing onto a substrate comprising the steps of digitally depositing polymenzable ink onto the wide width substrate, impinging a beam of energy onto the deposited ink and thereby maintaining a polymerizing reaction in the ink until the mk is substantially polymerized but contains at least some extractable unpolymenzed polymerization reactants; then heatmg the substantially polymerized ink to reduce the content of unpolymenzed reactants in the ink deposited on the substrate 31. The method of claim 30 wherein, the drymg mcludes flowing hot air onto the substrate havmg the substantially polymerized curable ink thereon. 32. The method of claim 30 wherem, the depositing of the ink is by jetting the ink from at least one print head. 33. The method of claim 30 wherem, the depositing of the ink is by jetting the ink at low temperature from at least one prmt head 34. The method of claim 30 wherem, the depositing of the ink is by jetting the mk from at least one prmt head by essentially mechanical action of a print head element 35. The method of claim 30 wherein, the depositing of the mk is by jetting the ink from at least one piezo-electπc print head. 36. The method of claim 30 wherein, the depositmg of the ink includes depositing UV curable ink and the impmgmg of the energy beam includes focusing a beam of ultraviolet light onto the deposited ink. 37. The method of claim 30 wherem; the depositing of the mk includes depositing EB curable ink and the impmgmg of the energy beam mcludes focusing a beam of electrons onto the deposited ink. 38. The method of claim 30 wherein, the depositing of the mk mcludes depositmg polymenzable ink contammg no substantial amount of solvent.

Inventors: BADOVINAC MILAN, CODOS RICHARD N, COLLAN WILLIAM W, COMERFORD ROBERT B, QUATTROCIOCCCHI ANGELO, BADOVINAC, MILAN, CODOS, RICHARD, N., COLLAN, WILLIAM, W., COMERFORD, ROBERT, B., QUATTROCIOCCCHI, ANGELO
Applicants: BADOVINAC MILAN, CODOS RICHARD N, COLLAN WILLIAM W, COMERFORD ROBERT B, L & P PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO, QUATTROCIOCCCHI ANGELO, BADOVINAC, MILAN, CODOS, RICHARD, N., COLLAN, WILLIAM, W., COMERFORD, ROBERT, B., L & P PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMPANY, QUATTROCIOCCCHI, ANGELO
Application year: 2000
Main classification: B41J2
IPC codes: B32B5, B41J2, B41J3, B41J11, B41M5, C09D11, D05B11, D06B11, D06P5