Hybrid silk screen and direct-to-garment printing machine and process

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10967650-B2
Application number	US-202016851702-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 17, 2020
Priority date	Aug 14, 2015
Publication date	Apr 6, 2021
Grant date	Apr 6, 2021

Abstract

A hybrid printing machine is described having both silk screening stations and a direct-to-garment digital printing station with a raster image processor to control a portion of a printing process.

First claim

We claim:

1. A hybrid digital and screen printing system comprising:
a direct-to-garment (DTG) printing station having a print head moveable into a printing zone;
a direct to screen (DTS) printing machine for preparing a silk screen for use in the DTG printing station;
a raster image processor (RIP) electronically coupled to the DTG printing station and the DTS printing machine, the RIP having a processor, and a memory storing computer readable instructions when executed by the processor takes the following steps:
store in the memory a digital art file containing an electronic representation of the colors and their locations to be printed on the substrate to produce an indicia;
sending a first signal to the DTS printing machine representative of a base coat of the indicia; and
sending a second signal to the at least one DTG printing station representative of the cyan, magenta, yellow, and black colors of the indicia.

2. The hybrid digital and screen printing system of claim 1 wherein the print head has a plurality of print heads positioned in an array of rows and columns.

3. The hybrid digital and screen printing system of claim 2 wherein there are from 1 to 10 print heads in each row.

4. The hybrid digital and screen printing system of claim 3 wherein there are from 4 to 20 print heads in each column.

5. The hybrid digital and screen printing system of claim 3 wherein each row is dedicated to a single color.

6. The hybrid digital and screen printing system of claim 5 wherein the rows follow in an order of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.

7. The hybrid digital and screen printing system of claim 6 wherein a first row will have n number of print heads and an adjacent row will have n-x number of print heads where x is from 1 to 3 print heads.

8. A hybrid digital and screen printing system comprising:
an endless conveyor;
a direct-to-garment (DTG) printing station positioned proximate the conveyor and having a print head moveable into a printing zone;
a direct to screen (DTS) printing machine for preparing a silk screen for use in the DTG printing station; and
a raster image processor (RIP) electronically coupled to the DTG printing station and the DTS printing machine, the RIP having a processor, and a memory storing computer-readable instructions.

9. The hybrid digital and screen printing system of claim 8 wherein when the computer-readable instructions are executed by the processor it takes the following steps:
store in the memory a digital art file containing an electronic representation of the colors and their locations to be printed on the substrate to produce an indicia;
sending a first signal to the DTS printing machine representative of a base coat of the indicia; and
sending a second signal to the at least one DTG printing station representative of the cyan, magenta, yellow, and black colors of the indicia.

10. The hybrid digital and screen printing system of claim 9 wherein the print head has a plurality of print heads positioned in an array of rows and columns.

11. The hybrid digital and screen printing system of claim 10 wherein there are from 1 to 10 print heads in each row.

12. The hybrid digital and screen printing system of claim 11 wherein there are from 4 to 20 print heads in each column.

13. The hybrid digital and screen printing system of claim 12 wherein each row is dedicated to a single color.

14. The hybrid digital and screen printing system of claim 13 wherein the rows follow in an order of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.

15. The hybrid digital and screen printing system of claim 14 wherein a first row will have n number of print heads and an adjacent row will have n-x number of print heads where x is from 1 to 3 print heads.

16. A hybrid digital and screen printing system comprising:
a printing press comprising:
an endless conveyor;
a plurality of object supports connected to the conveyor and spaced from one another and moveable with the conveyor, each of the object supports defining a printing zone;
a digital-to-garment (DTG) printing station positioned proximate the conveyor and having a print head moveable into the printing zone;
a direct to screen (DTS) printing machine separate from the printing press and outside the printing zone for preparing a silk screen for use in the DTG printing station;
a raster image processor (RIP) electronically coupled to the DTG printing station and the DTS printing machine, the RIP having a processor, and a memory storing computer-readable instructions when executed by the processor takes the following steps:
store in the memory a digital art file containing an electronic representation of the colors and their locations to be printed on a substrate to produce an indicia;
sending a first signal to the DTS printing machine representative of a base coat of the indicia; and
sending a second signal to the at least one DTG printing station representative of the cyan, magenta, yellow, and black colors of the indicia.

17. The hybrid digital and screen printing system of claim 16 wherein the print head has a plurality of print heads positioned in an array of rows and columns.

18. The hybrid digital and screen printing system of claim 17 wherein there are from 1 to 10 print heads in each row.

19. The hybrid digital and screen printing system of claim 18 wherein there are from 4 to 20 print heads in each column.

20. The hybrid digital and screen printing system of claim 19 wherein each row is dedicated to a single color.

Assignees

• M & R Printing Equip Inc

Inventors

• Hoffman Jr Richard C
• Baxter Geoff

Classifications

• B41F17/003

  Special types of machines for printing textiles (using the screen printing process B41F15/00; printing on knitted fabrics B41F17/38) · CPC title

• B41J3/4078 Primary

  Printing on textile · CPC title

• B41J3/546

  Combination of different types, e.g. using a thermal transfer head and an inkjet print head · CPC title

• B41M5/0047

  by ink-jet printing · CPC title

• B41F15/0863

  with a plurality of flat screens mounted on a turntable · CPC title