Patent Publication Number: US-10783859-B2

Title: Method of drumhead imaging

Description:
This Application is a Continuation-in-Part of Prior application Ser. No. 12/929,269 filed Jan. 12, 2011 now U.S. Pat. No. 8,148,619. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to the area of musical instruments. More particularly, the invention is directed to a method for forming a dye sublimation image of a simulated animal skin or some other graphic in a vibrating membrane employed in a musical instrument. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     The use of graphic art on musical drumheads is well known in the prior art. Images on drumheads are used for all kinds of purposes, including, for example, simple aesthetics, to create a theme or personality for a musician or a band, or for general promotion. Examples of prior art graphic applications include silk screening, hand painting, stenciling or attaching the graphic born on a separate medium with adhesive. The dye sublimation process itself is also not new in the art, and has been used to apply a large assortment of graphic images of various colors and designs to drumheads of all kinds and sizes, including, without limitation, tom-toms, snares and bass drums. 
     Screened, stenciled or painted images are applied directly to the surface of the membrane and, thus, are inclined to peel or wear off over time due to the constant pounding of drumsticks, exposure to weather and other factors. The use of an adhesive backing introduces still another physical medium to the membrane, which tends to deaden its sound. With regard to all these applications, in addition to problems with delamination of the graphic from the substrate, the musical sound qualities and durability of the drumhead are severely undermined. Even with the dye sublimation process, there are instances when the application of a graphic image to a drumhead membrane, though aesthetically appealing, will produce a sound of inferior quality due to the inferiority of or other problems associated with the process itself. This concern is especially high in regard to drumheads used for timpani drums and for ethnic drums, including, for example, congas, bongos, Djembes and Doumbeks, which in the past have used heads made from actual animal skins. Synthetic drumheads then replaced the animal skins to improve the longevity of the heads, which resisted moisture brought about by changing climate and other weather conditions. The ability to apply a graphic to a drumhead, particularly one that so realistically simulates a genuine animal skin, and maintain and even enhance the quality of the synthetic drumhead sounds in the process is just another important benefit of the technology of the present invention. Nevertheless, except for some small, though important, advances in the art involving the use of simulated animal skins or other kinds of graphics with synthetic heads, nothing, until now, has succeeded in achieving a method for producing a synthetic drumhead with the superior musical sound qualities and the delamination and wear resistant properties of the present invention. The present invention results in a significantly superior dye sublimation imaging method for drumhead membranes than heretofore were unattainable in the prior art. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides a method for forming a dye sublimation image in a vibrating membrane employed in a musical instrument comprising the steps of: providing an image, digitally prepared or otherwise, consisting of a simulated animal skin or another form of graphic; printing the image on a substrate employing a heat transfer ink dye; joining the substrate with the printed image with a sheet of a gas permeable membrane comprised of bi-axially oriented non-woven polyester fibers having a plurality of surface pores and vibrating and musical note producing capability; applying a combination of heat and pressure to the joined substrate with the printed image and the membrane to cause the individual surface pores to expand to enable the dye to gasify and permeate the surface pores to transfer the image; and, cooling the membrane to enable the surface pores to seal closed and encase the image within the surface of the membrane to protect against delamination and wear when the membrane vibrates which results from the intense and constant pounding of a drumstick, a mallet, a person&#39;s hand or some other rigid-like object. 
     Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved method to more effectively and permanently form a dye sublimation image within a vibrating membrane employed in a musical instrument. 
     It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved method to more effectively and permanently form a dye sublimation image within a vibrating membrane employed in a musical instrument comprised of bi-axially oriented non-woven polyester fibers having a plurality of surface pores and a vibrating and musical note producing capability. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved method to more effectively and permanently form a dye sublimation image within a vibrating membrane that can resist normal delamination and wear when constantly pounded by a rigid object. 
     A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved method to more effectively and permanently form a dye sublimation image within a vibrating membrane that enhances the tonal qualities produced by a musical instrument. 
     A still further object of the present invention is to provide an improved method to more effectively and permanently form a dye sublimation image within a vibrating membrane that enhances the visual qualities of the musical instrument. 
     A still further object of the present invention is to provide an improved method to more effectively and permanently form a dye sublimation image within a vibrating membrane that produces the image of an authentic animal skin. 
     A still further object of the present invention is to provide an improved method to more effectively and permanently form a dye sublimation image within a vibrating membrane that enables the mass production of a variety of musical drumheads with integrated dye sublimation images. 
     Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an improved method to more effectively and permanently form a dye sublimation image within a vibrating membrane that is easy and cost effective to use. 
     Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following specifications when considered in light of the attached drawings wherein the preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a transfer substrate with a printed graphic of a simulated animal skin in accordance with the method of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2A  is a perspective view of the membrane substrate in accordance with the method of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2B  is a cross-section of the membrane substrate with closed surface pores as shown and defined by circular line  2 B in  FIG. 2A . 
         FIG. 2C  is a cross-section of a version of the membrane substrate shown and defined by circular line  2 B in  FIG. 2A  with open surface pores. 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the transfer substrate with the graphic image (bottom) being covered by the membrane substrate in accordance with the method of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4A  is a perspective view of the press and heating apparatus consisting of top and bottom platen and conforming substrates in between for performing the method according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 4B  is a perspective view of the apparatus consisting of top and bottom platen pressing the conforming substrates in between for performing the method of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5A  is a cross-sectional view of the apparatus and substrates shown in  FIG. 4B  for performing the method of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5B  is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the apparatus and substrates shown in  FIG. 4B  used for performing a further step of the method of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5C  is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the apparatus and substrates shown in  FIG. 4B  used for performing a further step of the method of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5D  is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the apparatus and substrates shown in  FIG. 4B  used for performing a further step of the method of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5E  is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the substrates shown in  FIG. 4B  used for performing a further step of the method of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5F  is a perspective view of the membrane substrate with integrated encased image in accordance with the method of the present invention. 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view of a transferred image of a simulated animal skin on a bass drum produced in accordance with the method of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the preferred embodiment shown in  FIGS. 1 through 6 . 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a transfer substrate  10  typically comprised of a standard presentation grade paper or any other suitable medium. A desired image  12 , such as a simulated animal skin or some other type of graphic, is prepared using any conventional electronic or mechanical method or means. Employing a computer-based method, for example, the computer instructs a printer to print a digital image  12  onto the transfer substrate  10 , in this example standard presentation grade paper, using standard dye-sublimation or heat transfer inks  11 . The paper onto which image  12  is transferred simply acts as a carrier for the inked image, which is eventually transferred to another, more permanent substrate  14 , usually consisting of polyester, as described below. 
     Polyester is comprised of long chain polymers chemically composed of an ester, a dihydric alcohol, and a terephthalic acid. The family of polyesters include, among a variety of chemical materials, linear, light molecular weight thermoplastics, such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET). 
     Woven polyester, PET or otherwise, requires continuous filaments or fibers, which are converted into fabric using looms or knitting machines to produce, for example, a variety of apparel products. 
     In contrast, non-woven polyester materials are typically manufactured by combining fibers in the form of a sheet or web and then bonding these fibers together, either mechanically, chemically or thermally. Because these materials are not made by weaving or knitting, there is no need to convert the fibers to yarn, as required with the process used to produce woven materials. 
     Woven fabric contains filaments or fibers oriented typically in one direction, generally in parallel relation. In contrast, non-woven fabric or film of the plastic kind, for example, is bi-axially oriented with the placement of filaments generally normal to one another. 
     One of the most common, if not the predominant, material used to manufacture the modern day synthetic drumhead is polyethylene terephthalate film, which is an extruded and bi-axially oriented version of PET fiber which, for example, DuPont™ sells under the well-known trademark MYLAR™. 
     Again, with reference to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, transfer substrate  10  and permanent substrate  14  are joined and then exposed concurrently to heat between 250 and 394 degrees Fahrenheit and pressure between 20 and 100 PSI for a period of 30 seconds to 3 minutes. Variance in the temperature, pressure and time depend on the material composition of the substrates. 
       FIGS. 2B and 2C  are cross-sections of substrate  14  shown in  FIG. 2A .  FIG. 2B  shows multiple closed surface pores  16  in substrate  14  before heat  18  is applied and the image transfer process begins.  FIG. 2C  shows multiple open surface pores  17 , but open prepared to receive the transfer of image  12  from transfer substrate  10 . 
       FIG. 3  shows transfer substrate  10  with printed graphic image  12  on the bottom with permanent substrate  14 , again, with this embodiment a polyester film membrane, being laid over the top. 
       FIG. 4A  shows the preferred embodiment of apparatus  21  used for performing the method of the present invention. Shown are two rectangular platen, including top platen  20  and bottom platen  22 , and the joined substrates  10  and  14  in between. An appropriate press apparatus (not shown) is used to cause platen  20  and platen  22  to converge and apply the necessary pressure  24  to joined substrates  10  and  14  ( FIG. 4B ). A heat source using any conventional means (also not shown) compels the transfer of heat  18  through platen  20  and platen  22  into substrates  10  and  14  to cause closed surface pores  16  in substrate  14  to open allowing ink  11  from printed image  12  in substrate  10  to permeate ( FIGS. 5A-5E ). Heat  18 , along with required pressure  24 , is sufficiently intense to permit ink  11  to bypass a liquid state and gasify instead. With sufficient pressure, ink  11  permeates open surface pores  17  in substrate  14  and then open surface pores  17  are fused. When the transfer of image  12  is complete, substrate  14  with the integrated transferred image is allowed to cool permitting, in turn, now closed surface pores  16  within substrate  14  to cure and permanently encase image  12  ( FIG. 5F ). This ensures that image  12 , despite the amount and intensity of the pounding it receives when the drumhead membrane is struck, is delamination and weather resistant. 
       FIG. 6  is an example of imbued image  12  within the vibrating membrane or head  26  of a bass drum  28 . 
     Other alternatives available for performing the method of the present invention include the use of heated and pinch rollers (not shown) similar to a steam press or a lamination machine in lieu of platen  20  and platen  22  described herein. 
     While the invention will be described in connection with a certain preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that it is not intended to limit the invention to that particular embodiment. Rather, it is intended to cover all alternatives, modifications and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.