Patent Publication Number: US-2005126408-A1

Title: All-in-one textile and media preparation machine for digital printing applications

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
      Not applicable  
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT  
      Not applicable  
     REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING, A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING COMPACT DISK APPENDIX  
      Not applicable  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      For sometime the Textile, Apparel and Signage Industries have had the capability to utilize digital printing technology as an alternative to the traditional production methods, especially in the areas of Proofing, Sampling and Short-run Production.  
      Digital Textile Printing, however, has not received widespread acceptance, due, in a large part, to the lack of a simple and cost effective venue for the user to prepare and print on an adequate number of textile media, including his/her own textile fabrications. Proper preparation of textile media is essential to achieve acceptable printed output quality.  
      Each textile media requires specific treatment, based on the specific textile fibers and the type of digital printing fluid used. Up to now, the limited variety of treated media available and its cost have limited the use of digital printing on textiles. Most of the media available is “standard off the shelf” and is very costly.  
      Lack of availability and high cost cause the majority of potential users to continue to utilize analog processes to fulfill their needs, missing out on the many advantages presented by digital printing technology.  
      This invention has been developed specifically to help fill this void and to open up the possibilities for users to produce a large variety of digital-ready textiles for use in a large number of applications, including, but not limited to, signage production, apparel and home furnishing design, proofing and sample production.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      This invention will coat, cure and process fabric suitable for printing with ink on large format digital printers. Due to its small size, in comparison to currently available, single-purpose processing machines, this invention will offer users a studio-sized, multipurpose alternative. A variety of fabrics can also be processed, giving the user greater choice of media and the ability to change fabric types in a short time span. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING  
       FIG. 1  shows the main frame of the invention in a perspective view. Rollers depict its portability.  
       FIG. 2  shows an end view cut away of the inside of the machine indicating the approximate placement of component parts. The possible flow path of fabric is indicated. Also shown is an external mounting frame for rolls of fabric, the bottom roll feeding fabric into the machine and the upper most roll receiving the finished product as coated, cured and laminated fabric. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
      Coating and curing fabric for printing in large volume is currently accomplished on very large printing presses, most of which are overseas from the U.S. Small volume printing on such machines is neither cost effective nor geographically convenient to the user market, thus the need for digital printing and subsequent localized fabric preparation.  
      Current coating machines for the digital printing market are still too large and costly for design studio work spaces. The invention will allow users with limited space and budgets to process fabric in their local marketplace and thus be more responsive to market trends.  
      The invention will allow users to mount a roll of fabric or textile product of any width or length (also called “raw print media”) and to perform the following processes:  
      A. Preparation of Raw Textile Fabrics for Digital Printing. 
          This process is used to apply a uniform liquid ink-receptive coating, remove excess liquid and dry the fabric to the desired humidity content.        

      The machine is designed to use any ink-receptive coating that can be applied in a liquid form including preparations for reactive, acid, dispersed, pigmented, solvent-based and water-based inks. After the drying, the fabric (now digital print media) can be further laminated in the machine with An adhesive paper backing making the print media stiff and stable (no gathering or wrinkles) so it can be printed on with a large format digital printer. After laminating, the finished product is either rolled up on an external take up roller or fed directly into a digital printer, which could be mounted onto the machine or kept separate.  
      B. Post-Printing Color Fixation 
          The machine will fix or cure certain fabrics with certain ink types applied to obtain a permanent bond between the digitally printed media and the applied ink types. As an example, 100% polyester and polyester blended fabrics printed with dispersed inks can be fixed by applying heat at a specified temperature for a set period of time. Another example describes fabrics printed with pigmented inks, which also require exposure to heat in order to achieve a permanent bond. These curing processes are achieved by processing the fabric media through the machine drying and curing function.        

      The drawings describe these processes. A drive motor near the top of the machine draws untreated fabric mounted on an external roller rack into the base of the machine. A tensioning system maintains a steady pull on the fabric to keep it from being wrinkled as it passes over the powered kiss roller submerged in a bath of ink-receptive coating liquid.  
      The kiss roller applies a uniform coating of liquid to the fabric as it then proceeds up the machine through the heating and curing process. Here infrared heaters cure and dry the fabric which is then allowed to collect in the “J box” in the mid section of the machine. The fabric is then drawn up to the top of the machine by a powered take up roller and laminated with an adhesive paper roll mounted on the external roller rack.  
      The finished product is then rolled onto a take up roll mounted at the top of the external roller rack.