U.S. patent number 3,900,641 [Application Number 05/451,579] was granted by the patent office on 1975-08-19 for method of forming decorator panels.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Lancaster Products Company. Invention is credited to Henry C. Jacoby, Joseph Uscher, Gerald A. Woodman.
United States Patent |
3,900,641 |
Woodman , et al. |
August 19, 1975 |
Method of forming decorator panels
Abstract
Simulated stained glass panels are produced from a clear plastic
sheet upon which are printed transparent colors in a desired
pattern and simulated lead strips separating the various colored
areas. A silk screen printing method is taught to achieve this
result involving special inks and silk screen materials.
Inventors: |
Woodman; Gerald A. (Bel Air,
CA), Uscher; Joseph (Studio City, CA), Jacoby; Henry
C. (North Hollywood, CA) |
Assignee: |
Lancaster Products Company
(Redondo Beach, CA)
|
Family
ID: |
26914374 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/451,579 |
Filed: |
March 15, 1974 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
|
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219895 |
Jan 21, 1972 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
428/38; 101/129;
427/259; 156/277; 427/265; 427/282; 428/207; 428/195.1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B44F
1/063 (20130101); B41M 1/30 (20130101); B41M
3/00 (20130101); Y10T 428/24901 (20150115); Y10T
428/24802 (20150115) |
Current International
Class: |
B44F
1/00 (20060101); B44F 1/06 (20060101); B41M
1/30 (20060101); B41M 3/00 (20060101); B41M
1/26 (20060101); B41M 001/12 (); B41M 001/30 () |
Field of
Search: |
;117/15,38,45,107,5.5
;101/128.3,129 ;156/277 ;96/5PL |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Lusignan; Michael R.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Kleinberg; Marvin H.
Parent Case Text
This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 219,895, filed Jan.
21, 1972, now abandoned.
Claims
It is therefore claimed:
1. A simulated stained glass made by creating a raised boundary
grid pattern around colored panels located on a sheet of clear
plastic, employing the method comprising the steps of:
a. placing a coarse silk screen, approximating the mesh size used
to strain and clean batches of paint, over the plastic sheet;
b. placing a mask including the desired grid pattern over the
screen;
c. applying a thick viscous opaque paint to the plastic sheet
through the masked screen;
d. removing the screen and mask from the surface of the plastic
sheet; and
e. drying the viscous opaque paint.
2. The product-by-process of claim 1 in which the coarse screen
used in the process is composed of monofilament threads having a
spacing of approximately 20 threads per inch.
3. The product-by-process of claim 1 in which the mask used in the
process is created by applying a photographic emulsion having a
thickness of approximately 3 mils directly to the coarse
screen.
4. The product-by-process of claim 1 in which the appearance of
leading is achieved by applying through the mask and screen a black
paint having a substantially higher viscosity than normal, and
which has a substantially rapid drying time over the coarse
screen.
5. The product-by-process of claim 1 in which the appearance of
leading is achieved by applying a thick viscous paint over the
screen at least twice, to achieve a three-dimensional effect of
lead by repeating the steps of the method at least once using the
same screen.
6. A simulated stained glass panel made by the process of first
creating a transparent colored panel on a transparent plastic
surface, and comprising the steps of:
a. removing the electrical surface charge on a sheet of clear
transparent plastic;
b. placing a silk screen mesh over the surface of the plastic sheet
and a mask over the screen;
c. applying a dye ink having the desired color to the sheet through
the mask and the screen;
d. slowly removing the screen and the mask from the plastic,
thereby leaving the plastic with the panels of color in the desired
configuration;
e. drying the dye ink thus applied; and
f. repeating steps (b), (c), (d) and (e) using different colors of
dye ink and different masks respectively corresponding thereto,
whereby a transparent panel is produced having the desired
configuration of colored transparent areas.
7. The product-by-process of claim 6 in which the electrical
charges on the surfaces of the sheet of clear plastic are removed
by a thorough cleaning of all areas of the surface with a volatile
solvent solution to prevent the formation of bubbles and other
imperfections in the colored areas.
8. The product-by-process of claim 6 in which the desired colored
dye ink is applied to the sheet by spreading the dye ink evenly and
slowly by hand over the mask and screen.
9. The product-by-process of claim 6 in which the mask and screen
are removed very slowly and evenly from the plastic after each
application of a colored dye ink.
10. A simulated stained glass panel having colored areas on a
plastic surface, separated by boundaries simulating leading made by
the process comprising the steps of:
a. removing the electrical surface charge on the sheet of clear
plastic;
b. placing a silk screen mesh over the surface of the plastic sheet
and a mask over the screen;
c. applying special colored transparent paint having the desired
color to the sheet of plastic through the mask and screen;
d. slowly and deliberately removing the screen and the mask from
the plastic, thereby leaving the plastic with the areas of the
desired color;
e. repeating steps (b) and (c) using different colors and masks to
create a panel having all of the required color areas; and
f. creating a raised boundary pattern around the colored areas to
simulate lead holding the stained glass in place, comprising the
steps of:
i. placing a coarse silk screen of a mesh size approximating the
mesh size used to strain and clean batches of paint over the
surface of the sheet of plastic;
ii. placing a mask over the screen;
iii. applying a thick viscous paint to the surface of the plastic
sheet through the mask and screen; and
iv. removing the screen and mask slowly and deliberately from the
sheet of plastic.
11. A simulated stained glass panel produced by the method
comprising the steps of:
a. placing a silk screen mesh over one surface of a clear,
transparent plastic sheet;
b. applying a first mask to the screen;
c. applying through the unmarked areas of the screen to the surface
of the sheet a solution of a first bright, transparent,
vividly-colored, alcohol-soluble dye ink in solvent;
d. slowly and deliberately removing the screen and the mask from
the surface of the sheet, thereby providing deposited areas of the
first color on the surface;
e. drying the dye ink in said areas;
f. repeating steps (a), (b), (c), (d) and (e) with different masks
and different bright, transparent, vividly-colored, alcohol-soluble
dye inks to completely cover the surface of the sheet with
discrete, transparent, vividly-colored, contiguous areas;
g. forming a grid of simulated stained glass leading by depositing
a raised, opaque strip overlapping the boundaries of the contiguous
colored areas comprising the steps of:
i. placing a coarse silk screen of a mesh size approximately the
mesh size used to strain and clean batches of paint over the
surface of the sheet;
ii. placing a mask over the screen having openings in said grid
pattern overlapping said contiguous boundaries;
iii. applying a thick, viscous paint through said opening in the
mesh onto said boundaries to form a raised strip in the form of
said grid;
iv. removing the screen and mesh slowly and deliberately from the
surface of the sheet; and
v. drying the thick viscous paint.
12. The product-by-process of claim 11 wherein the method further
includes the step of dissipating charge on said surface before
applying any of said dye inks.
13. The product-by-process of claim 11 in which said coarse screen
contains about 20 threads per inch.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a novel decorator panel and, more
particularly, to a panel presenting the appearance of stained
glass. Decorator panels are used as room dividers, movable or fixed
shutters for windows or doors, and for a variety of other uses in
an attempt to provide the interiors of residential structures with
utilitarian as well as artistic expression.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many of such panels are formed of plastic such as polystyrene, with
coloring agents dispersed either uniformly or non-uniformly
throughout the plastic. Others are formed of clear or opaque
material on whose surface a pattern has been printed by
conventional silk screen or other techniques. Neither these nor any
other known techniques has proven to be suitable for the simulation
of a stained glass structure. The reasons for this are, first, that
colors have not heretofore been available which can be used with
transparent or semitransparent plastics which yield the rich colors
attainable in glass materials. Normally available colors have a
soft, dull appearance which is not typical of actual stained glass
panels, and, by their use, the achievement of the intensity of
color required has not heretofore been possible, second, in actual
stained glass panels, the glass segments are separated and held in
place by lead strips, which can be bent to any desired
configuration. The use of lead provides a raised three-dimensional
pattern which is characteristic of all stained glass. Obviously,
prior art silk screen techniques do not provide either an actual or
acceptable simulated grid pattern, and alternative techniques
lending themselves to large scale production at reasonable cost
must be employed.
The manufacture of realistic simulations of stained glass panels,
therefore, requires two significant advances in the present state
of the art of decorator panel manufacture; that is, coloring agents
or dyes are required which would duplicate the colors
conventionally used in the manufacture of stained glass, and a
novel technique for the formation of a raised grid structure is
also necessary.
The dyes suitable for use in practicing the present invention are
available from Specialty Coatings and Chemicals Inc., of North
Hollywood, Calif., under the trademark Special T as noted below,
and will be discussed further in connection with the description of
the application process. The novel techniques for the application
of these dyes together with a method for applying a raised grid
pattern to the surface of a plastic base will be discussed in
detail below.
Briefly described, this invention is a novel and improved silk
screen process adapted to apply the coloring agents or dyes
described above to selected areas of a clean clear plastic material
such as a polystyrene panel, together with a novel technique for
depositing a relatively thick layer of opaque paint in a grid
pattern, providing an extremely realistic simulation of the lead
grid used in stained glass panels.
Considering first the process of applying color to selected areas
of a plastic base, a high-impact polystyrene plastic sheet which is
relatively transparent has been used as the base material.
Each of the plurality of colors to be applied requires the
preparation of a silk screen by conventional photographic
techniques. A relatively coarse silk screen having a No. 10XX mesh,
160 threads per inch, has proved to be most suitable, since the
particular coloring agents used attain a "poured" look and richer
color when applied with the relatively coarse screen.
Care must be taken to clean the surface of the plastic initially
with a solvent, such as alcohol, both to remove dust particles and
to discharge the static electric charge which normally exists on
the surfaces of such plastics. Failure to clean the surface
properly results in imperfections or bubbles which mar the finished
appearance.
After an appropriately masked silk screen has been laid on the
surfaces of the plastic base, ink of the desired color is applied
over the surface of the silk screen. The screen is then removed and
the color allowed to dry before additional colors are applied. Care
must be taken when removing the silk screen, however, to remove the
screen relatively slowly to prevent fuzziness around the edges of
the color pattern.
The particular above-identified inks used to provide the vivid
colors required may be characterized as "dye" inks, rather than
"resin" inks conventionally used in silk screen processes. It has
been found that such dye inks give clear transparent colors whereas
resin inks yield at best cloudy colors which were neither
transparent nor bright.
On the other hand, a choice of dye inks presented the problem,
normally associated with the use of such inks, that particles of
imperfectly dissolved dye tend to be deposited on the base surface.
The use of the novel ink formulations referred to above together
with slower application of the ink and slower removal of the silk
screen, have proved to yield satisfactory results. Such inks are
commercially available from Specialty Coatings & Chemicals,
Inc. of North Hollywood, California, under their trade mark
"Special-T" specially identified and coded "BL-4 Special-T Stained
Glass Coating", specifying color by name.
After the desired bright multicolor pattern has been applied to the
surface of the plastic, a black raised grid pattern is then applied
by a novel silk screening technique. As has been stated above, it
is necessary, in order to give a realistic stained glass effect, to
apply an extremely thick layer of paint. Naturally, a thick,
viscous paint is required which will hold its shape after the silk
screen used for deposit of the paint has been removed. It is also
necessary, from a production point of view, that the process be
relatively simple and that it is to consume a comparatively short
period of time.
In applying the grid, a screen much coarser than any which has
heretofore been used with silk screen techniques has been used.
This screen is composed of monofilament threads having a spacing of
approximately 20 threads per inch. Although such silk screens can
be purchased from at least one manufacturer, they have been used,
we are informed, only for straining operatings like cleaning
batches of paint, and have not been used in silk screen
reproduction.
In addition, to the coarse silk screen, a special photographic
emulsion is used to create the mask pattern upon the silk screen
itself. This photographic material has a thickness of three mils
and must be obtained specially since the material is not in general
use for silk screen or other processes.
A special black paint having substantially higher viscosity than
normal paint, as well as extremely rapid drying time has also been
developed for use in the process described. Such a suitable black
paint is available from Specialty Coatings & Chemicals, Inc.,
under the code name "FP-22 Special-T Black `Lead` Coating".
Particular care must be taken that an adequate quantity of paint is
used, and it is necessary to apply it by hand over the silk screen,
at least twice, to achieve the desired, "lead" effect. It is also
necessary to remove the silk screen with great care and very
slowly.
The detailed steps of the preferred method include removing the
electrical surface charge on the substrate by cleaning the surface
with a solvent, such as alcohol;
placing a first of the silk screens over the surface of the plastic
sheet, after suitably masking the screen;
applying the clear dye ink of the desired color, through the
screen;
carefully removing the screen and mask, permitting the ink to
dry;
replacing the screen with a screen for a second color;
repeating the silk screening steps until all of the colors have
been imparted to the panel;
next, using an extremely coarse silk screen and appropriate masks,
applying a thick viscous paint to the surface of the plastic sheet,
to create boundaries having a leaded appearance;
slowly and deliberately removing the screen and mask from the
panel; and
after the thick and viscous paint has dried, making a second
application of the thick viscous paint through the very coarse
screen. It is important to note that at each silk screening step,
the screen should be removed slowly and deliberately, with great
care, to avoid smearing or overlapping any of the colors. Further,
it is desirable to be sure that the inks have thoroughly dried
after each step, before screening on a different color ink.
The use of the process described above produces a decorator panel
which simulates an authentic stained glass structure and which
presents an extremely attractive effect. While the techniques
specified represent what are believed to be optimum choices,
modifications in the materials used in the processes are
permissible, without departing from the spirit of the invention
described.
* * * * *