Digital printing device with improved pre-printing textile surface treatment

Abstract

A digital printing machine prints textiles. The machine comprises a wetting unit for wetting fabric to be printed prior to printing, a printing head for printing on said fabric and a flattening unit located between the wetting unit and the printing head for exerting pressure on the fabric to flatten outwardly extending fibers of the fabric after wetting and before printing. The flattening provides a smoothed surface for digital printing.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit of priority under 35 USC 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Nos. 61 / 245,333 and 61 / 272,436, both filed on Sep. 24, 2009, and of 61 / 232,494 filed on Aug. 10, 2009. The contents of the above applications are hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to a digital printing device for printing and, more particularly, but not exclusively to a digital printing device for printing on textile surfaces, with pre-printing treatment to improve the textile as a printing surface.[0003]Digital ink jet printing employs a printing head having several ink injectors, each injector applying one color, a controller for coordinating relative motion between the printing head and the printed substrate and for instructing the ink injectors when and where precisely to inject ink. To speed up the printing process, a digital printing system may co...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0012]The present embodiments thus provide a printing machine, which causes outwardly extending fibers to stick to the fabric before printing, and thereby provides a smoother plane for printing. A flattening unit presses on the fabric of an item to be printed to flatten the fibers of the fabric after wetting and before printing. Such an operation of flattening after wetting and before printing presses the extending fibers against the fabric and keeps the extending fibers adhering to the fabric during printing so that they no longer interfere with the paths of the ink drops. Thus, the thin fibers no longer stand out from the fabric or catch drops of ink on their way to the fabric. Such a process of pressing may also have the effect of eliminating the need for ironing the textile before printing.

[0036]In an embodiment, the exerting flattening pressure after the wetting is to an extent sufficient to cause outwardly extending fibers of the fabric to adhere back to the fabric, thereby to provide a smooth surface for printing.

Problems solved by technology

Thus, the thin fibers no longer stand out from the fabric or catch drops of ink on their way to the fabric.

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