초록 ▼

Distortions during printing and laminating are minimized by printing the design on a stable base, preferably release paper, and then transferring the printed design to a hot plastic web made continuously by an extruder. A stress relieved hot plastic film is then laminated to the printed web to provi

Distortions during printing and laminating are minimized by printing the design on a stable base, preferably release paper, and then transferring the printed design to a hot plastic web made continuously by an extruder. A stress relieved hot plastic film is then laminated to the printed web to provide a protective wear coat. To emboss in register with the printed design, the laminated product is first aligned by means of registration marks that are printed along with the design. Embossing is then made using a conventional engraved roll having raised sections which are images of the printed design. After embossing, the web is partially cooled and annealed. It is then aligned with a die cutter using the same registration marks as used for alignment during embossing. As a result, individual tiles can be cut automatically in register to the printed and embossed pattern.

대표청구항 ▼

A method of making, on a continuous basis, a composite vinyl tile comprising the steps of: forming a continuous base web on a moving supported surface, said web being formed from a vinyl composition, said moving surface being made of a material such that the base web will adhere to the surface when

A method of making, on a continuous basis, a composite vinyl tile comprising the steps of: forming a continuous base web on a moving supported surface, said web being formed from a vinyl composition, said moving surface being made of a material such that the base web will adhere to the surface when the web is hot but can be removed from it when the web is cooled, raising the temperature of said plastic web, transferring a printed design from a pre-printed stable carrier sheet to the continuous base web after said web has been heated, said printed design being formed by a vinyl material compatible with said base web, said printed design including a first portion which constitutes a decorative design for the finished product and a second portion which provides registration indicia for use in the manufacture thereof, laminating a clear plastic wear layer over the printed design on the hot base web, after the web is laminated, aligning the web by means of the printed registration indicia so that the web is aligned with an embossing roll in both the direction transverse to the direction of travel of the web and the direction that is the same as the direction of travel of the web, mechanically embossing the printed side of the base web with depressions in registration with the printed decorative design, cooling the base web, stripping the cooled web from the moving surface, after it has been stripped from the moving surface, annealing the web to remove the strains imparted by laminating and embossing, aligning the annealed web by means of the printed registration indicia so that the web is aligned with a cutting tool in both the direction transverse to the direction of travel of the web and the direction that is the same as the direction of travel of the web, cutting the continuous base web into discrete tiles so that the decorative design is in register with the edges of the tile, and cooling the cut tiles.