Nuarc Company, Inc.

Charles J Leonhart

William R Walters

G B Meacham

A vacuum frame apparatus including a latching system with means to assist in repressurizing the vacuumized area of the frame includes a vacuum blanket support frame pivotally mounted along one side of a glass panel for holding workpieces in precise registration against the glass panel for making copies includes a hollow rectangular frame around a flexible vacuum blanket. The frame members have a plurality of small vacuum ports on the underside inside a peripheral bead seal for evacuating the space between the flexible vacuum blanket and the glass panel when a vacuum is pulled on the interior of the hollow peripheral frame by a vacuum pump. Large size frontal ports are provided on the front side member of the frame to cooperate with batch mechanisms for clamping and holding the frame tightly against the glass panel during copy making. The latch members serve a dual function of latching and holding the frame in a closed position for exposure of material and automatically closing and opening the frontal ports, respectively, when the latch mechanisms are operated to speed up breaking of the vacuum and opening of the frame at the end of a copy making cycle in readiness for the next operation.

Latchable vacuum blanket frame assembly

Vacuum frame apparatus is provided for maintaining precise registration between and an image forming sheet to be reproduced and a light sensitive sheet adapted for controlled exposure to light. The apparatus includes a light transmitting glass panel having a planar surface for contact with the image sheet and a vacuum blanket assembly including a blanket of thin, flexible sheet material adapted to contact the light sensitive sheet and bias the sheets toward the planar surface of the glass panel while maintained in precise registration. The vacuum blanket assembly includes a peripheral edge seal around the blanket for sealing engagement with the planar face of the glass panel and means for evacuating the space inside the peripheral edge bead between the planar face of the panel and the blanket of the vacuum blanket. A novel platen system is provided for moving the vacuum blanket and sheets thereon bodily toward the glass panel in a direction perpendicular thereto to engage the peripheral edge bead in a floating manner whereby the sealing pressure is equal along the entire length thereof. Thereafter a vacuum can be rapidly drawn between the sheets, the vacuum blanket and the planar surface of the glass panel.

Vacuum blanket lifting apparatus

A vacuum blanket apparatus for maintaining precise registration between an image forming sheet and a light sensitive sheet when subjected to controlled exposure to light passing through a glass panel includes a vacuum blanket having an upper cover of flexible sheet material adapted to contact the light sensitive sheet for biasing the same and said image sheet toward a planar face of the glass panel when the panel is locked in position parallel to the vacuum blanket. The blanket cover is formed with at least one elongated slot for receiving one or more registration pins for registering the image forming and light sensitive sheets. At least one deformable resilient pressure element in the slot is deformable to bias the sheets toward the glass panel.

Vacuum blanket for pin registration

A new and improved graphic arts device for exposing copy sheets to controlled light from a light source passed through an image sheet includes a light source and a glass frame including a rigid panel of transparent material having a surface against which an image sheet and a copy sheet are pressed during an exposure cycle. A vacuum blanket is provided for biasing the image and copy sheets against the planar surface of the transparent panel. A yoke is provided for supporting the glass frame between the vacuum blanket and the light source at a convenient working level for movement between a horizontal, closed position used during exposure and a second, upwardly sloping open position for permitting removal and placement of the image and copy sheets on the transparent panel. The glass frame is normally locked in position on the yoke but can be unlocked for a full 360.degree. pivotal action about a central axis of the frame extending transversely between opposite legs of the yoke at said points thereon. This permits the transparent panel to be easily cleaned from the front of the device on both faces of the panel. The glass frame is formed of elongated frame member of extruded material, each frame member supporting an edge portion of the transparent panel. The panel is readily removed by detachment of one of the frame members by withdrawing a pair of fasteners used to attached the frame member to other frame members at right angles thereto. In addition, the graphic arts device is provided with a linkage mechanism for automatically lowering the vacuum blanket assembly away from the glass frame whenever the glass frame is pivoted upwardly toward the open position.

Graphic arts apparatus

A graphic arts exposure device includes a cabinet defining a work surface at a convenient working level and having a forward wall facing an operator utilizing the device. A drawer is positioned immediately below the working level movable between an extended position outwardly of the forward wall of the cabinet and a retracted position within the cabinet. A control panel for the exposure device is mounted on the drawer facing upwardly in the same general field of view for the operator as the working surface of the device. The drawer is supported on sloped slides in the cabinet below the work surface for movement between the extended and retracted positions and the slides are sloped downwardly and outwardly to automatically bias the drawer and control panel to the outwardly extended position ready for receiving operator inputs of the necessary control data while at the same time allowing the operator to view the control panel and working surface in the same general field of vision. After inputting the needed information, the drawer can be directed rearwardly by leg pressure, permitting the operator to have extended reach toward the rearward portions of the working surface without interference from an outwardly projecting control panel.

Graphic arts exposure device

An overhead exposure unit includes a light source for exposing sheets of light sensitive material carried on a supporting table. The light source is mounted at a fixed elevation above a floor or other surface and a support system is provided for moving the film support table up and down beneath the light source to provide the desired distance between the light source and the film for making plates or other photographic reproductions. The film support table is movable between a convenient working level and is raised or lowered to the selected level to provide a desired spacing or distance between the light source and the film while controlled light exposure takes place.

Overhead exposure unit

An overhead light exposure unit for making copies on pre-sensitized sheets from images on film includes a base supporting a vacuum blanket for pressing the sheets and film together against a transparent panel. The transparent panel is mounted in a frame that is pivotally secured to the base for movement between a closed horizontal position for making copies and an upwardly tilted, open position for unloading and loading film, sheets and media into place. A light source is positioned above the panel for directing controlled, high intensity light downwardly through the panel to reproduce film images on the pre-sensitized sheets held in place by the vacuum blanket. A support system is provided for holding the light source in an exposure position space directly above the transparent panel for directing controlled intensity light downwardly through the panel to reproduce an image on a silk screen, sheet or film held in place by the vacuum blanket. The support system is operative to move the light source away from the exposure position to an open position to afford better access to and viewing of the working space above the horizontal position of the vacuum blanket for loading and unloading film media, etc., when the frame is in an open position. The light source is maintained within a space above the base defined within an upwardly extending periphery thereof even in the open position and the exposure distance between the light source and the film sheets is minimized when the light source is in the exposure position to reduce the exposure time interval required.

Overhead light exposure apparatus

A latch system for a vacuum frame has a plurality of separate latching mechanisms interconnected with a common actuator rod so that the glass frame can be unlatched and raised with one hand.

Latch system for vacuum frame assembly

Apparatus for laminating pieces of sheet material comprising a base of rigid material having a flat upper surface formed with a plurality of spaced apart perforations distributed substantially uniformly over the surface, a support member having a flat upper surface supporting an underside of said base and having a plurality of concentric interconnected grooves defined and in communication with said perforations, means for developing a partial vacuum in said grooves for causing fluid flow through said perforations around one or more pieces of sheet material placed in contact with the upper surface of the base, a cover of flexible, fluid impervious transparent sheet material movable between an open position out of overlaying relation with said base and a closed or overlaying position covering said base along with any pieces of sheet material places on the base to be laminated together and means for sealing around the periphery of said base and said cover when said cover is in said overlaying position.

Apparatus for laminating sheet material

A portable processing station comprising an enclosure having a bottom wall, a top wall, a pair of side walls, a rear wall and a front wall defining an entrance opening, said walls being formed of strong, thin sheet material with integral flange means for joining adjacent ends of said walls forming light tight joints therebetween, a light tight entrance curtain for opening and closing said entrance and means for causing a flow of ventilating air through said enclosure when said entrance curtain is closed.

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Schaumburg, IL, United States of America

Charles J Leonhart