Avery Dennison Corporation

Nikhil R Agashe

John D Peck

Michael E Hannington

Steven R Chapman

Ethelbert Galicia

Ying Chang

Anita Juby

The invention relates to a process for producing a printed image on a substrate comprising the steps of selecting eight or fewer process colors from a known process ink color set; providing two or more spot colors, forming a color set comprising the process colors and the spot colors; and optionally printing the image using the formed color set. The ratio of the number of spot colors to the number of process colors is at least 0.5:1.

Ink jet print method with integrated spot color and process color

Various geometries are described for forming retroreflective structures in polymeric sheets or films. The geometries enable venting of volatile gases that can otherwise become trapped between the embossing surface and the polymeric sheet or film. The geometries are incorporated in tooling belts or other pattern forming surfaces.

Vented tooling belt for production of structured surfaces

A printed retroreflective film has a planar surface on a front side and a plurality of retroreflective elements on a back side. A halftone printed ink layer is deposited on the planar surface formed from uniformly spaced, discrete dots of deposited ink. The areas between the dots provide light-transmissive openings that receive incident light and transmit retroreflected light. The aggregate area of the dots forming the half-tone pattern preferably covers between about 60% and 90% of the area of the half-tone pattern. The use of such a halftone pattern of ink increases the reflectivity of the printed retroreflective sheeting by reducing the amount of light absorbed by the ink, and by reducing the amount of light scattered by the layer of ink. The use of such a halftone pattern of ink further obviates the need for an anti-light scattering topcoat or film over the front surface of the retroreflective sheet.

Retroreflective sheeting having a halftone printed front surface

A retroreflective article includes a prismatic film having prismatic elements with a metallized coating wherein the metallized coating is laser etched to provide one or more light transmissive regions to expose underlying material that one or more provides high contrast images that contrast with the retroreflective film. The underlying material can include one or more contrasting elements. The article may be back-lighted to increase the contrast especially during conditions of reduced lighting.

Retroreflective article

A retroreflective sheet, which may be a beaded retroreflective sheet or a prismatic retroreflective sheet, is comprised of a substrate having a first and second surfaces with a plurality of retroreflective elements disposed on the second surface of the substrate to form the retroreflective sheet having an initial performance standard and a printed pattern disposed on the second surface, the pattern provided in an amount ranging from 30% to about 100% of an area of the second surface to change a performance level of the retroreflective sheet from the initial performance standard to a selected performance standard. A method for producing the retroreflective sheeting and a system for controlling the retroreflectivity of the retroreflective sheeting by altering a surface of the retroreflective sheeting is provided.

Growing community of inventors

Naperville, IL, United States of America

Nikhil R Agashe