US2971860A

US2971860A - Method of decorating articles of tableware

Info

Publication number: US2971860A
Application number: US641544A
Authority: US
Inventors: Royden M Fitzgerald
Original assignee: Onondaga Pottery Co
Current assignee: Onondaga Pottery Co
Priority date: 1957-02-21
Filing date: 1957-02-21
Publication date: 1961-02-14
Anticipated expiration: 1978-02-14

Description

Feb. 14, 1961 R. M. FITZGERALD METHOD OF DECORATING ARTICLES OF TABLEWARE Filed Feb. 21, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V EN TOR. A 0 mz/v M F/rzam/iw Feb. 14, 1961 R. M. FITZGERALD METHOD OF DECORATING ARTICLES OF TABLEWARE Filed Feb. 21, 1957 4 Sheets-$heet 2 INVENTOR.

Feb. 14, 1961 R. M. FITZGERALD 2,971,860

METHOD OF DECORATING ARTICLES 0F TABLEWARE Filed Feb. 21, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 cfazlrtgaszsa, g M

jiga INVENTOR. /?0 YDE/V ,44. firzazzmm E? MW War/19 Feb. 14, 1961 R. M. FITZGERALD METHOD OF DECORATING ARTICLES 0F TABLEWARE Filed Feb. 21, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 D 5 m N E 5 I V 3 3 N H I r 7.

I fo 2 & w 2 a 5 |||I| 2:; i e l I I F w w 5. 5 2 43 2 V 3 4 0 I. "W K w 5 5 3 Z @M m AK a m a M H i M M United States Patent 3 METHOD OF DECORATING ARTICLES OF TABLEWARE Royden M. Fitzgerald, Solvay, N.Y., assignor to Onondaga Pottery Company, Syracuse, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Feb. 21, 1957, Ser. No. 641,544

3 Claims. (Cl. 117-45) This invention relates to a new and improved method of decorating flatware, such as plates, dishes and the like, to give a particularly new and pleasing design to such flatware.

Primarily, the method consists of supporting the flatware on a turntable and depositing a quantity of two color materials in the center of a piece of flatware and rotating the turn table on which the piece of ware is supported to distribute the color materials over the upper surface of the piece of ware by centrifugal force. The two colors may contain the same vehicles and be deposited simultaneously on the piece of flatware and when so deposited and the piece of ware is rotated, a mottled efiect is produced.

The colors may contain immiscible vehicles, such as water and lacquer, and be deposited successively, the ware being spun after the deposit of each color. For example, a color material containing a water vehicle is deposited in the center of the piece of ware on the turntable, the ware spun, then a second color material is deposited containing a lacquer vehicle and the ware again spun. These vehicles being immiscible, the lacquer color is spread over the surface of the piece of ware in the form of radial lines giving a particularly pleasing decoration to the piece of ware.

As a final step whether the colors contain the same or immiscible vehicles, a portion of the colors may be removed from a portion of the ware. For example, after the final spinning of the ware the coloring in the center portion may be removed leaving only the rim or edge of the ware decorated.

The. advantages of decorating ware by my method are that the decoration is particularly pleasing and distinctive from any possible form of hand decoration, the color materials are applied evenly and uniformly over the surface of the ware, and the application of the color materials is considerably cheaper than could be achieved by any possible type of attempted hand decoration.

Oil base colors are used of necessity for the application of decoration to tableware, as by printing and lining. With the use of oil base colors, it is necessary to permit the pieces of ware to set or dry for a long period of time, often of several days duration, before the ware is glazed and fired. Otherwise, the oil base color bubbles and forms holes through the glaze. By my method, water and lacquer base colors are used which do not require any drying time between the application of the color and the time the piece of ware normally reaches the glazing department, and these color materials do not bubble, or form any holes, in the glaze, whereby the piece of ware decorated by my method is of superior quality and can be produced at a much higher production rate.

The apparatus described hereinafter is disclosed solely for the purpose of illustrating the steps in my new and improved method of decorating flatware.

The invention consists in the novel features and in the 2,971,860 Patented Feb. 14, 1961 Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a partial cross-section of the jack carrying the color dispenser.

Figure 5 is an elevation of one of the color dispensers shown partly in section.

With reference to Figure 1, the letter B indicates a bench structure having

cross members

10, 11 and 12, and a top surface 13. A shaft 14 is journalled vertically in a bearing member 15 mounted on the cross member 12, and a bearing member 16 mounted on the bench top 13 and has afiixed to its upper end a tum-table T for supporting dishes. Rotation of the shaft 14 is effected by a motor. 17 mounted on the

cross members

10, 11, the connection being effected by a belt 20.

A pair of dispenser units D are mounted for movement individually into and out of registration with the axis of the turn-table T, and are positioned above the turn-table. Each dispenser is provided with a dispensing valve which, when opened and when the dispenser is positioned above a piece of ware on the turn-table T, discharges an amount of color material onto the center of the piece of ware.

The dispensers D are mounted on the ends of supporting arms 22, these arms being supported by structure for adjusting the arms vertically.

A pair of shafts 24 are mounted in foot members 25 affixed to the table top 13 and each of the shafts 24 has mounted at its upper end a crank member 26 having a handle 27, the crank members 26 being restrained against vertical movement by a shouldered screw 28 threading into the upper ends of the shafts 24. Each crank member 26 has fixedly secured to it a depending sleeve 30 threaded internally at its lower end for connection with an elongated tubular member 31 mounted for axial movement on the shafts 24. Each tubular member 31 is provided intermediate its ends with a fixed collar 34 secured to a cross member 35, as by screws 36.

The lower ends of the tubular members 31 are threaded to receive a nut 37 which serves as an adjustable collar to support sleeves 40 rotatably mounted on the lower end of the tubular members 31 and provided with bushings 41. The sleeves 40 are fixedly secured to the arms 22 carrying the dispenser units D. A washer 42 is interposed between each arm 22 and the under side of the cross member 35.

With this arrangement, when the upper sleeves 30 are rotated by the crank members 26, the tubular members 31 are adjusted vertically on the shafts 24 and the cross member 35 and the dispenser arms 22 move with the sleeves 31.

The cross member 35 is provided with rearwardly extending

brackets

44, 45, and the arms 22 are formed with rearwardly extending projections 46. A cylinder and piston structure 48 is connected to the rearwardly extending portion 46 of one of the arms 22 and to the brace 45. A similar piston and cylinder structure 50 is secured at one end to the brace 44, and at its opposite end to the rearwardly extending part 46 of the other dispenser arm 22. These piston and cylinder structures may be employed to effect swinging movement of the arms 22 about the shafts 24 to move the dispensers D over the turn-table T for the discharge of colored material onto the pieces of ware positioned on the tum-table. The

brackets

44, 45, are provided with adjustable stop. screws 52 to effect registration of dispensers with the pieces of ware, and the ends of the cross member 35 has depending pins 56 engageable by the arms 22 to limit the outward movement of the dispenser units.

Each dispenser unit D has a conical shaped bottom 60 to which is secured an internally threaded collar 61 to receive a cylindrical member 62. having a discharge aperture 63. A valve stem 64 is suitably guided in the dispenser and has affixed to its lower end a valve 65, the peripheral portion of which overlaps the marginal surface about the aperture 63 and 'is yieldingly held in such position by a compression spring 66 interposed between the valve 65 and a shoulder 68 formed on the member 61, see Figure 5. 1 The upper ends of the stems 64 are provided with nuts 70 between which there is received one end of a bar 71 which is pivotally mounted in between its ends on a pin 72 carried by a bracket 73 mounted on the arms 22. The opposite ends of the bars 71 are connected to solenoids 74 also carried by the arms 22. When the solenoids 74 are energized, the valve stems .64 are elevated to permit discharge of the color material through the aperture 63.

The'arms 22 may be manually swung into and out of registration with the turn-table, or the movement of the arms may be effected by the cylinder and

piston structures

48, 50, previously referred to. A cabinet 75 is supported by a pair of angle iron brackets 76 extending upwardly from the bench top 13 and

timer elements

77, 78, 79, may be'mounted in the cabinet 75. Also, a control cabinet 80 may be mounted on the front side of the bench structure in which switches 84, 85, 86, may

be mounted, and a main switch 87.

Members 62, Figure 5, having difierent size apertures 63 may be attached to the dispensers, and the timers 77, 79, so adjusted relative to the size of the aperture 63 as to. dispense the desired amount of colored material on 'a piece of ware. The quantity of material is controlled by the length of time the respective solenoids 74 are energized. The timer 77 may control the length of time one dispensing valve is opened, and the timer 79 controls the other valve. A timer 78 may be employed to determine the length of time that the spindle motor isenergized, the

switches

84, 85, 86, being employed to initiate the functioning of each color dispenser and the spindle motor 17 If the

cylinders

48, 50 are used to effect movement of the arms 22, double throw switches 90, e en p vedv o op rate. soleno d l g no shown, to control the flow of fluid to the cylinders.

The apparatus herein described is particularly adapted to the efiicient carrying out of my method although it is onlyby way of illustration, as other specific forms of apparatus could be employed, or the coloring material couldv be measured and deposited on the ware by hand.

What I claim is:

1. The method of applying color decoration to articles of tableware, such as plates, the steps consisting in successively applying two liquid decorative materials of different color and having the same vehicle to the center of a piece of ware and then rotating the piece of ware about a vertical axis to spread the color materials over the surface of the ware.

2. The method of applying decoration to articles of tableware, such as plates, the improvement consisting in applying a predetermined quantity of liquid decorative material to the center of a piece of ware, rotating the ware about a vertical axis to spread the decorative mate rial over the surface of the wane, applying a second liquid decorative material of different color and containing a vehicle immiscible with the vehicle of said first decorative material to the center of the ware, rotating the piece of ware to spread said second decorative material over the surface of the ware, and removing said decorative materials from a portion of the surface of the ware.

3. The method of applying decoration to articles of tableware, such as plates and the like, comprising the steps of applying a first liquid decorative material to the center of the ware; spinning the ware to spread said firstdecorative material over the surface of the ware by centrifugal force, applying a second liquid decorative material'of difierent color and having a vehicle immiscible with the vehicle of the first decorative material, and spinning the ware to spread the second decorative material over the surface of the ware before the first decorative material is dry.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

Claims

2. THE METHOD OF APPLYING DECORATION TO ARTICLES OF TABLEWARE, SUCH AS PLATES, THE IMPRIVEMENT CONSISTING IN APPLYING A PREDETERMINED QUANTITY OF LIQUID DECORATIVE MATERIAL TO THE CENTER OF A PIECE OF WARE, ROTATING THE WARE ABOUT A VERTICAL AXIS TO SPREAD THE DECORATIVE MATERIAL OVER THE SURFACE OF THE WARE, APPLYING A SECOND LIQUID DECORATIVE MATERIAL OF DIFFERENT COLOR AND CONTAINING A VEHICLE IMMICIBLE WITH THE VEHICLE OF SAID FIRST DECORATIVE MATERIAL TO THE CENTER OF THE WARE, ROTATING THE PIECE OF WARE TO SPREAD SAID SECOND DECORATIVE MATERIAL OVER THE SURFACE OF THE WARE, AND REMOVING SAID