Patent Publication Number: US-2011067585-A1

Title: Fabric printing method

Description:
REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is being filed as a Continuation-in-Part of patent application Ser. No. 12/219,256, filed 18 Jul. 2008, currently pending. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The instant disclosure relates to a fabric printing method, and more particularly, relates to a fabric printing method using a flexile underlayer under the fabric to be printed. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     The fabric printing method of the prior art is implemented by screen printing (such a decorative pattern on a fabric), big figure outputting (such as a fabric flag on the road or a poster), or heat transfer printing (such as figures on fabric), etc. The figures and the text are attached on the fabric. The conventional screen printing is to directly scraping the printing ink onto the fabric via a screen to color the fabric. However, because soft fabric may shrink after being wetted by the ink, the printing ink exaggerates due to the capillarity. The color will not be easily processed onto the fabric. The figures and the text on the fabric will be blurred. Furthermore, the quality of the screen printing also is affected by the worker&#39;s experience and the climate. Screen printing uses a color block as a unit. The layered appearance of complex figures cannot be printed by a single screen. Therefore, a plurality of screens is required to show the layered appearance of the figure. The cost is high. 
     In order to emphasize the printing effect, a digital printing method, such as the big figure outputting, is used for printing the poster. The big figure outputting is implemented by a large-scale inkjet printer. Although the big figure outputting can make the printed fabric more beautiful, the printing process is time-consuming, and the format of the figure file for the big figure outputting is limited to a specific one. The printing quantity is little. For printed fabrics with a great amount of quantity, such as books, posters, or calendars, the cost also is high. 
     Heat transfer printing uses sublimated ink to print a figure on the fabric. The molecule structure of the sublimated ink is transferred from the liquid state to the gaseous state (sublimation) by heating. However, the heat transfer printing is implanted at 160˜200° C. Therefore, the heat transfer printing usually is applied to ceramics, metal, or artificial fiber fabric. Moreover, because the fabric will shrink under high temperature, the figures printed by heat transfer printing easily chap, or lose the color. The figures cannot be mass produced by the heat transfer printing. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     One particular aspect of the present invention is to provide a printed fabric and a manufacturing process thereof. The printed fabric is delicate and beautiful, and can be mass produced by machine to reduce the cost and the manufacturing time. 
     The manufacturing process for a printed fabric includes the following steps. 
     A flexile underlayer and a fabric are provided. One surface of the flexile underlayer is coated with a glue layer, and the fabric is pasted on the flexile underlayer via the glue layer. 
     The flexile underlayer and the fabric are cut into the dimension of the printed fabric, and the flexile underlayer and the fabric are smoothly pressed. 
     A printed figure is provided, and the three original colors (RGB) of the figure are converted into four colors (CMKY) for printing. 
     A plurality of printing plates for the four colors are respectively produced, and the plurality of printing plates are installed in ink troughs of a printer. 
     The flexile underlayer and the fabric are sent to the printer to perform a UV printing to suddenly dry the UV ink printed on the fabric. 
     Finally, the flexile underlayer and the fabric are processed by an offspring process to be a printed fabric. 
     The present invention has the following characteristics. The printed fabric of the present invention uses the flexile underlayer and the fabric to perform the UV printing. Because the UV light has a characteristic of being high power and the UV ink can be suddenly dried, the UV ink printed on the fabric can be suddenly dried to prevent the UV ink from expanding due to the capillarity. Therefore, the figures on the printed fabric can be more dedicate, beautiful and clear. The printed fabric can be mass produced by machine to reduce the cost and the manufacturing time. 
     For further understanding of the invention, reference is made to the following detailed description illustrating the embodiments and examples of the invention. The description is for illustrative purpose only and is not intended to limit the scope of the claim. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The drawings included herein provide a further understanding of the invention. A brief introduction of the drawings is as follows: 
         FIG. 1  is a flow chart of the manufacturing process for a printed fabric of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram of the flexile underlayer being combined with the fabric in the manufacturing process for a printed fabric of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the printer for the manufacturing process for a printed fabric of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram of the printer for the manufacturing process for a printed fabric of the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  is an exploded perspective view of the printed fabric of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 6  is a cross-sectional view of the printed fabric of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Reference is made to  FIGS. 1˜4 , which show the manufacturing process for a printed fabric of the present invention. The manufacturing process for a printed fabric includes the following steps. 
     A flexile underlayer  1  and a fabric  2  are provided (S 101 ). Part of the flexile underlayer  1  and the fabric  2  are rolled and received on a roller. A gluing machine  4  (as shown in  FIG. 2 ) is used for coating a glue layer  3  on one surface of the flexile underlayer  1  (as shown in  FIG. 5 ). The thickness of the glue layer  3  is 0.015 mm. The fabric  2  and the flexile underlayer  1  are pressed by two rolling wheels  5  to be pasted together. The pressure is 300 KG per square inch. Thereby, the glue layer  3  is in-between the flexile underlayer  1  and the fabric  2 . 
     The flexile underlayer  1  of the instant disclosure is made of flexile material, such as paper or thin plastic layer, for providing adequate support for the fabric  2  as the fabric undergoes a printing process through a printer. The fabric  2  may be natural silk fabric, flannelette, or other fabrics that one wishes to have a pattern printed on. For flexile underlayer  1  made of paper, the glue layer  3  is preferably water glue. For flexile underlayer  1  made of plastic, the glue layer  3  can be organic glue. The thickness of the flexile underlayer depends on particular operational requirements, as long as the underlayer provides adequate supporting force for the fabric  2  to smoothly pass through the printer. 
     In one embodiment of the instant disclosure, the flexile underlayer  1  and the fabric  2  are cut into dimensions of the printed fabric, such as a standard-sized sheet, a semi standard-sized sheet or a quarter standard-sized sheet (S 103 ). Next, the flexile underlayer  1  and the fabric  2  are smoothly pressed by a hydraulic press (not shown in the figure). When the quantity of the printed fabric is little, the flexile underlayer  1  and the fabric  2  are smoothly pressed by manpower. 
     A printing figure (not shown in the figure) is then provided (S 105 ). By using a computer or other digital electronic equipment, the three original colors (RGB) of the figure are converted into four colors (CMKY) for printing. 
     A plate making machine (not shown in the figure) is used for manufacturing a plurality of printing plates  6  for the four colors. In this embodiment, the quantity of the printing plates  6  is four. Next, the plurality of printing plates  6  are respectively plugged at one side of the printer  7  (as shown in  FIG. 4 ), and the printing plates  6  will be rolled in ink troughs  74  of the printer  7 . 
     The paint is then coated on an aluminum plate and corresponds to the four colors (CMKY) for printing to be exposed to be manufactured as a pre-costing and sensing plate (PS plate). 
     The exemplary printer  7  is a six-color printer that can perform digital printing. The printer  7  has an input terminal  71 . The input terminal  71  has a hoister  711  for placing the flexile underlayer  1  and the fabric  2 . The input terminal  71  is connected with a base  72 . The interior of the base  72  has a transmitting machine  73  for transmitting the flexile underlayer  1  and the fabric  2  to another side of the printer  7  via the input terminal  71 . The top of the base  72  has six ink troughs  74 . The top of each of the ink troughs  74  has an opening  741  for adding the UV ink  21 . The interior of the ink trough  74  has an ink roller  742  and a rubber roller  743 . The rubber roller  743  is located below the ink roller  742  and above the transmitting machine  73 . The rubber roller  743  is flexible and can enhance the effect of transferring printing. A UV lamp  75  (As shown in  FIG. 4 ) is located in the interior of the base  72  and respectively is located between the ink troughs  74 . The UV lamps are located above the transmitting machine  73  for shining the UV ink  21  printed on the fabric  2  and drying the LTV ink  21  as the first time. Another side of the base  72  that is opposite to the input terminal  71  is connected with an output terminal  76 . The output terminal  76  has a hoister  761  and a control panel  762 . The hoister  761  is used for carrying the flexile underlayer  1  and the fabric  2  outputted from the transmitting machine  73 . The control panel  762  is used for setting the printer  7 , such as the quantity of the printing lines (the dot per inch) and the printing pressure. There are five UV lamps  75  located in the base  72  and located between the ink troughs  74  and the output terminal  76  for shining the UV ink  21  printed on the fabric  2  and drying the UV ink  21  for the second time. 
     The flexile underlayer  1  and the fabric  2  are sent to the printer  7  to perform a UV printing so that the UV ink  21  printed on the fabric are suddenly dried (S  109 ). 
     The UV printing is implemented by using principle of the lithographic printing. The principle is the water being repelled with the ink. Due to the chemicals, the figure on the printing plate  6  has the characteristic of absorbing ink and repelling the water, and area of the printing plate  6  without the figure has the characteristic of absorbing water and repelling the ink. Therefore, firstly, the printing plate  6  passes through water. The ink roller  742  coats the UV ink  21  on the printing plate  6 . The printing plate  6  transfers and prints the figure on the rubber roller  743 . Next, the rubber roller  743  prints the figure on the fabric  2  transmitted by the transmitting machine  73 . Finally, the UV lamps  75  shine the LTV ink  21  to suddenly dry the UV ink  21 . 
     Finally, the flexile underlayer  1  and the fabric  2  are processed (such as mounting, pasting, and cutting) to be a printed fabric (S 111 ). When the flexile underlayer  1  is made of paper, the printed fabric is a cover of book, a magazine, a bag, an envelope, a paper clipper, a card clipper, a box, a name card, a desk calendar, a year/month calendar, a poster or a menu, etc. 
     By using the above manufacturing process for a printed fabric, the printed fabric (as shown in  FIGS. 5 and 6 ) is developed. The printed fabric includes the flexile underlayer  1 , the fabric  2 , the glue layer  3  and the UV ink  21  etc, and the structure is not repeated again. 
     The present invention sends the flexile underlayer  1  and the fabric  2  to the printer  7  to perform the UV printing. Because the UV light has a characteristic of being high power and the UV ink  21  can be suddenly dried, the UV ink  21  printed on the fabric  2  can be suddenly dried by the UV lamps  75  to prevent the UV ink  21  from expanding due to the capillarity of the fabric  2 . Therefore, the figures on the printed fabric can be more dedicate, beautiful and clear. The printed fabric can be mass produced by the printer  7  to reduce the cost and the manufacturing time. 
     The description above only illustrates specific embodiments and examples of the invention. The invention should therefore cover various modifications and variations made to the herein-described structure and operations of the invention, provided they fall within the scope of the invention as defined in the following appended claims.