US2748696A - Printing or decoration of ceramic or other ware - Google Patents

Description

June 5, 1956 G. 1.. MURRAY 2,748,696

PRINTING OR DECORATION OF CERAMIC OR OTHER WARE Filed Jxine 10, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IIIIIII Inventor GUY LESLIE HURRAI June 5, 1956 G. L. MURRAY 2,748,696

PRINTING OR DECORATION OF CERAMIC OR OTHER WARE Filed June 10, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 L 2 .\\\wk=v 3? H15. 11. Elia/7m, Fm. i2.

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W 6 31 fi 'f 20 3 20k I 38 FJEQ J50 Inventor GU! LESLIE IURRAY y 2% mfg Attorney United States Patent PRINTING OR DECORATIDN ()F CERAMIC OR OTHER WARE Guy'Leslie Murray, Cheltenham, England; Lilian Murray and Basil Guy Murray, executors of the estate of said Guy Leslie Murray, deceased Application June It), 1952, Serial No. 292,689 2 Claims priority, application Great Britain June 13, 1951 6 Claims. (Cl. 101-41) This invention relates to the printing or decorating of ceramic or other ware such for example as articles of glass or plastics.

In the decoration of ceramic ware, particularly fine china and earthenware, it is the usual practice tomake a thin paper transfer from an engraved, litho or etched plate which transfer is applied to the article so that it closely follows the contour or profile of the latter. The transfer is then rubbed in to transfer the colour which it has taken from the engraved or etched plate to the article whereafter the transfer paper is washed off to leave a finished printed design on the article or an outline for the guidance of the decorator or artist. The foregoing are separate processes all carried out by hand.

. The main object of the present invention is to provide a method of printing or decorating ceramic Ware which will obviate the use of paper or other transfers in the printing process. A further object is to provide a process which will also be applicable in the printing or decoration of other goods such as glass and plastic ware.

In accordance with the invention the colour is transferred from an engraved, litho, or etched plate to the article to be printed or decorated by means of a resilient fiat or profiled pad which is first pressed against the engraved or etched plate to extract the colour therefrom and then against the article to cause the design or other matter to be printed thereon. As will be well understood, the design may constitute the final printing or decoration of the article or it may be an outline for the guidance of a decorator or artist.

The invention may be applied to the printing or decoration of ceramic ware by underglaze printing, the design or other matter being produced on the article in the biscuit-ware stage, i. e. after it has left the biscuit-oven. If desired, however, the printing may be effected in the gloss stage of the article in an overglaze printing process.

The method of carrying the invention into effect will now be described, by Way of example with reference to the accompanying diagramatic drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is an illustration of one form of the resilient pad-inside elevation in position to be pressed against the engraved, litho or etched plate, the deformation which the pad undergoes in extracting the colour from the design on the plate being shown in chain-dotted lines,

Figure 2 is a plan view of the engraved, litho or etched plate,

Figure 3 is a similar view to Figure 1 but illustrating the resilient pad in chain-dotted lines in its normal position and in full lines pressed against the article to be printed,

Figures 4 and 5 are views of engraved, litho or etched plates having design areas of different shapes from that illustrated in Figure 2,

Figures 6 and 7 are respectively a side elevation and vertical section of other forms of resilient pad, Figure 6 also illustrating an article to be printed or decorated,

Figures 8 and 9 illustrate further forms of resilient pad in vertical section,

Figure 10 illustrates the operation of the resilient pad in printing or decorating convex outer surfaces,

Figures 11 and 1-2 are part-sectional side elevations of a resilient pad and means for controlling the radial spread of the pad under pressure, the parts being illustrated, together with an article to be printed or decorated, in the positions occupied before application of pressure and on maximum pressure application respectively,

Figure 11a is a fragmentary view, corresponding to Figure 11, of an alternative form of spread-controlling device,

Figures 13 and 14 are similar views to Figures 11 and 12 but illustrating a fixed guide mounting for a resilient pad which slides relatively to the guide when pressure is applied to press the pad against the article to be printed, and

Figure 15 illustrates a resilient pad provided with a fixed guide as shown in Figures 13 and 14 and employed to print or decorate the interior concave surface of an article.

Referring to Figures 1 to 3, the resilient pad 20 is of substantially paraboloidal shape and is attached, for example by adhesion, to a base plate 21 through which pressure is applied to the pad, such pressure being applied along the axis of the parabolid in the direction of the arrow. The pad is of any suitable resilient material possessing the property of being able to take up the colour from the usual plate 22 bearing the design to be printed and impart it to the surface of the article 23 by pressure application in each case and being sufficiently resilient to conform to the shape or contour of the article. Organic, vegetable or mineral jelly, for example a gelatine or gelatine-based material, has been found to be suit able for the purpose.

As shown in Figure 1, the application of progressively 1 increasing axial pressure'to the pad causes progressively increasing radial spread of the latter, the surface of which rolls over the surface of the plate 22 bearing .the design. Such design is formed in intaglio on the plate and may be produced thereon by an convenient engraving, lithographic or etching process, such plate being hereinafter referred to as an engraved plate which term is intended to include plates produced by any suitable lithographic, etching or other processes as well as hand engraved plates. In the position of maximum pressure, for example that indicated by the chain-dotted lines in Figure l, the periphery of the section 1 of the pad has just made contact with the plate 22 and, due to the aforesaid radial spread, such periphery generates a bounding line 1 of an area of the surface of the plate. Between the full-line or'no pressure position of the pad and the chain-dotted or maximum pressure position already mentioned it will be appreciated that there is an infinite number of inter mediate pressure positions in which the peripheries of increasingly large sections of the pad generate the bounding lines of increasingly large areas of the surface of the plate. By way of example six pad sections are indicated by the reference numerals '1 6 in Figure 1 whilethe bounding linesof the areas of the plate-surface generated by the peripheries of such sections .are likewise indicated by the same reference numerals 1 6, 'the periphery of section 6 generating the bounding line 6, that of the section 5 theboundingline 5 and'so on.

On reference to Figure 2 it will be seen that the do sign 24 engraved on the surface of the plate .22 lies wholly within the area of the bounding line 1. After ap: plication of the paint or ink to the plate22 and removal of the superfluous material from the plane portion of the surface of the latter in the usual manner, for example with' the aid of a doctor blade, the plate is placed beneath the resilient pad 20 and the latter ispresse'd thereagainst through the various stages represented by the reference numerals 6 1 in Figure l. to take up the complete design therefrom. When the pad is withdrawn from the plate in the opposite direction to the arrow the design 24 is deposited in colour on its surface in the same relative formation. The pad is then pressed against the upper surface of the article 23 and undergoes whatever deformation is necessary to conform to the contour or profile of the article so that the complete design is applied to the surface of the latter which is required to be printed.

As illustrated in Figure 3 the article 23 is an article of ceramic ware, such as a plate or saucer, which is to be printed or decorated both in the trough and also on the flange or rim, and accordingly the paint or ink applied to the plate 22 and extracted therefrom by the pad 20 is a ceramic paint or ink. Assuming an underglaze printing or decorating process is being carried out, the article 23 to be printed or decorated will be in the biscuit-Ware stage, i. e. in the state in which it leaves the biscuit-oven. Accordingly, due to the fragility of the article in this stage, it is mounted in a resilient support or bed 25 which may be of the same material as that of which the pad 20 is made so that as the latter is pressed against the article 23 equilisation of the pressures on both sides of the article is ensured whereby the risk of breaking even the most fragile ware is obviated. As the pad 20 is pressed against the article 23 it undergoes deformation, as shown in full lines in Figure 3, and closely follows all profiles, contours, reverse curvatures and the like which may be present between the trough and the flange or rim of the article, depositing the design which it has extracted from the plate 22 on the surface of the article 23 by means of the same bounding lines 6 1 thereon by an accurate generating process, and forcing the paint or ink into the pores of the article at high pressure.

It will be seen that the design 24 in Figure 2 covers a roughly circular area of the plate 22 and that the bounding lines 1 6 in that figure are accordingly circles. In such case, and assuming the article 23 to be substantially circular in plan form, the pad 20 of Figures l and 3 may be a paraboloid of revolution about its axis. However, if ware of other than substantially circular shape is to be printed or decorated, for example articles of substantially oval or rectangular shape, the designs on the plate 22 may cover roughly oval or rectangular areas, as shown by the series of bounding lines 1 6 in Figures 4 and 5 respectively, and the resil ient pad may be correspondingly a paraboloid of substantially oval or rectangular shape in plan form, i. e. the sections 1. 6 of the pad may be respectively oval or rectangular in shape.

If desired the resilient pad 20 may be applied by hand although usually a mechanical, hydraulic, compressed air or electric press is used to bring the pad down with the article 23 held in the suitably located and preferably profiled support or bed 25. In this way the necessary uniform support is provided for the ware so that, despite the fragility of the latter, it does not break under the pressing operation.

It is found in practice that the design is perfectly reproduced on the surface of the article 23, or at least as perfectly as is at present accomplished with the aid of paper transfers, the pad 20 being sufficiently resilient to conform to any reverse curvatures formed by ornamental ribs or other projections or hollows on the ware. After printing, the ware is either finished or ready for the decorator or artist before the article goes to the oven for the final glazing process. By means of the process described underglaze printing is effected without the use of paper or other transfers as commonly used in the decoration or printing of ceramics and without having recourse to silk screen or other methods of printing.

Referring to Figures 6 and 7, the alternative forms of resilient pad illustrated therein comprise a substantially paraboloidal portion 20a which merges into a wider base portion 20b by which the pad 20 is attached to the base plate 21 as already described. The pad is thus of profiled form but it will be noted that the outline or profile of the pad 20 when undeformed is not identical with the profiled surface of the article 26 to be printed or decorated, as shown in Figure 6, this arrangement ensuring that no air pockets are formed between the surfaces of the resilient pad and the article when axial pressure is applied to the pad in the direction of the arrow, as already described. The pads illustrated in Figures 6 and 7 may be paraboloids of revolution about their axes or they may be of other than circular shape in plan form as already described with reference to Figures 1 and 3. If desired the pad may be formed with a hollow base or cavity 27, as shown in Figure 7, such cavity being of suitable shape to assist the deformation under pressure of the operative profiled surface of the pad.

In Figures 8 and 9 resilient pads comprising separate resilient laminations are illustrated, the laminations 20c, 20d respectively forming the operative surfaces of the pads being made, for example, of more resilient material than the base portions 20a, 20] by which the composite pads 20 are attached to the base plates 21. Alternatively, for certain classes of work, the laminations 20c, 20d may be of material of lesser resilience than that of the portions 20a.

Figure 10 illustrates the use of a resilient pad 20 of substantially paraboloidal shape attached to a base 21 for printing or decorating the convex outer surface of a substantially cylindrical article 28, such for example as a cup or bowl.

Referring to Figures 11 and 12, the pad 20 of substantially paraboloidal shape is attached to a base plate 21 as already described, and the base plate also carries means for controlling the radial spread of the pad 20 under pressure. Such means consist of a pressure ring 29 of metal or other suitable material which surrounds the portion of the pad nearest the base plate and compels the material of the pad to flow in the required direction by restraining the pad from swelling unduly near the base plate 21. As illustrated in Figure 12, which shows the pad under deformation in its position of maximum pressure, the pressure ring 29 enables much larger areas of article 30 to be printed or decorated, and at reduced pressures, whereby the life of the pad 20 is extended. If desired, the pressure ring 29 may also carry adjustable stops 31 which accurately control the downward movement of the pad on to the article 30 to be printed or decorated and determine the maximum pressure limit by engagement with the bed 32 upon which the article 30 is supported during the printing or decorating operation. Instead of the pressure ring 29 being cylindrical it may conform closely to the periphery of the portion of the pad nearest the base plate 21, as shown at 29a in Figure 11a, so that the base portion of the pad is encased in the metal or other ring.

Figures 13 and 14 illustrate a resilient pad 20 having a profiled operative surface 2011 and mounted so as to be pressed against the surface of the article 33 to be printed or decorated by sliding movement in a fixed cylindrical guide 34 in the direction of the arrow. The pad 20 is attached to a base plate 21, as already described, and is also provided with a cylindrical surround or lining 35 which slides with the pad during pressure application so that the pad does not itself bear against the cylindrical guide 34, whereby the useful life of the pad is extended. The lining 35 may be of linoleum or like material and is preferably longitudinally split to enable the pad to swell freely when it emerges beyond the cylindrical guide 34 to apply pressure to the article 33, as shown in Figure 14, the pad 20 being sheathed by the guide 34 when in its inoperative position. The cylindrical guide 34 may be attached to any suitable rigid and fixed member-or cylinder 36 as shown in the drawing.

In Figure a resilient pad is illustrated attached to a base plate 21 and mounted for slidable movement within acylindrical guide 34, as before. In this embodiment however such cylindrical guide 34 fixedly carries a cylindrical lining element 37 of any suitable material within which the pad 20 slides during the printing or decorating operation. The pad is substantially cylindrical in shape with a rounded operative end 20k, this form of pad being particularly suitable for printing the interior concave surface of an article 38 which is cupor bowl-like in form. When pressure is applied to the base plate 21 to press the pad axially in the direction of the arrow the pad first prints the design on the substantially flat bottom portion of the article 38 and then by radial spread of the pad completes the printing of the design upon the concave wall portions of the article, the pad conforming exactly to the interior shape of the article 38 under axial pressure.

It will be understood that, although the invention lends itself to outline work in one colour, it can be readily applied to multi-colour work. In fact, in the application of the process to ceramic, glass or plastic ware which may only require a stoving process after the printing operation, the printed pattern need not be merely an outline but may constitute the finished singleor multi-colour design or decoration of the final product.

It will also be appreciated that, with the various forms of resilient pad described, the engraved plate 22 need not be of the substantially plane form illustrated in Figure l; cylindrical or other curved plates may be used since the resilient pad will conform by deformation to the surface of the plate to extract the design therefrom in the same manner as has been described when pressure is applied by the resilient pad in the printing or decoration of the article.

I claim:

1. A process for the decoration of ceramic articles and other ware having a surface to be decorated which is curved and contoured, which comprises pressing a substantially solid resilient pad having a smooth convex operative surface the radius of curvature of which is less than that of the article to be decorated against an engraved surface of a plate while allowing radial spread of the convex surface of the pad over the engraved surface of said plate to extract the design therefrom and then pressing said resilient pad against an article of ware to be decorated while allowing radial spread of the pad over said curved and contoured surface of the article to print the design thereon during which printing process said pad, owing to its resilience, undergoes whatever deformation is necessary to conform to the curvature and contour of said surface of the article.

2. A process for the decoration of ceramic articles and other ware having a curved surface, which comprises pressing a resilient pad having a smooth, convex operative surface of smaller radius of curvature than that of the surface of said article against an engraved plate while allowing radial spread of the convex surface of the pad over the engraved surface of said plate to extract the design therefrom, and then pressing said operative surface of the resilient pad against the curved surface of the article while again allowing radial spread of the pad over said surface to print the design thereon.

3. A process for the decoration of ceramic articles and like ware having a surface to be decorated which is curved and contoured, comprising pressing a resilient pad having a substantially paraboloidal gelatinous body which, at least at the center, has a radius of curvature smaller than that at the center of the article to be decorated, against an engraved plate to extract the design from the engraved surface of the latter by pressure applied along the axis of the paraboloid while allowing radial spread of thepad withthe peripheries of sections of thepad normal'to said axis and of increasingly large area generatingboundinglines of correspondingly larger areas of the engraved surface of the plate due to'such radial spread, and subsequently pressing said resilient pad against said curved and contoured surface of the article, while again allowing radial spread of the pad and equalising the pressures on both sides of the article at all points through its area by cushioning the article upon a resilient bed, to develop the design on said curved and contoured surface by means of the same bounding lines by an accurate generating process.

4. A process for the decoration of ceramic articles and other ware having a surface to be decorated which is curved and contoured, which comprises pressing a resilient pad having a smooth convex operative surface of smaller radius of curvature than that of the surface of the article to be decorated against an engraved plate while allowing radial spread of said convex operative surface over an engraved surface of said plate to extract the design therefrom, and subsequently pressing said operative surface of the resilient pad against said curved and contoured surface of the article, while equalising the pressures on both sides of the article at all points throughout its area by cushioning the article upon a resilient bed and again allowing radial spread of the pad over said surface of the article to print the design thereon.

5. A process for the decoration of ceramic articles and other ware having a surface to be decorated which is curved and contoured, which comprises pressing a solid resilient pad having a smooth curved operative surface, and the polar portion at least of which is substantially paraboloidal and of smaller radius of curvature than that of said surface of the article, against an engraved plate to extract the design from the engraved surface of the latter by pressure applied to the pad while allowing radial spread of the latter with the peripheries of sections of the pad normal to the direction of said pressure and of increasingly large area generating bounding lines of correspondingly larger areas of the engraved surface of the plate due to such radial spread, subsequently pressing the operative surface of said resilient pad against said curved and contoured surface of the article, while again allowing radial spread of said pad and equalising the pressures on both sides of the article at all points throughout its area by cushioning the article upon a resilient bed, to deposit thereon the design, which it has extracted from said plate, by means of the same bounding lines by an accurate generating process, and restraining the pad from swelling unduly at the portion thereof remote from said curved surface only during the final stages of the pressing operation in order to control said radial spread of the pad and compel the material of the pad to flow in the required direction during said pressing operation.

6. A process for the decoration of ceramic articles and other ware having a curved surface, which comprises pressing a resilient pad having a smooth, convex operative surface, the polar portion at least of which is substantially paraboloidal in shape and of a smaller radius of curvature than that of the central portion of the curved surface of the article, against an engraved plate while allowing radial spread of the convex surface of the pad over the engraved surface of said plate to extract the design therefrom, and then pressing said operative surface of the resilient pad against the curved surface of the article while again allowing radial spread of the pad to develop said convex operative surface over said curved surface of the article to print the design thereon.

(References on following page) References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Howell Aug. 7, 1917 Walters Aug. 23, 1927 Talbot Jan. 24, 1928 Simonton Apr. 19, 1938 Rowell July 26, 1938 8 Pattison May 28, 1940 Keller Aug. 28, 1945 Emerson Jan. 10, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Oct. 20, 1947 Great Britain Nov. 22, 1950

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