METHOD OF MANUFACTURING AN ALUMINUM DESIGN TAB END USING AN INK JET PRINTING FOR A BEVERAGE CAN
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a design tab end of a beverage can by using an inkjet printing, and more particularly, to a method for manufacturing a design tab end of a beverage can by using an inkjet printing, in which a variety of designs made by a computer graphic or provided on a web site are printed on a tab coil by inkjet printing and then the tab coil is coated with varnish, whereby productivity of the product is improved. Description of the Related Art
A beverage can is generally used with the advantages that the beverage is able to be preserved for a long period of time and it can be used easily, and the beverage can is used for containing soda water, fruit beverage, mixed beverage as well as beer. The beverage can is generally comprised of a cylindrical body made of a metallic material excluding iron, such as steel or aluminum, and an aluminum end seamed on the upper side of the body. The aluminum end is formed with a score line so that the opening of the beverage can is torn easily. Further, a tab for opening the beverage can by pushing the score line is joined on the end.
Thus, in order to drink the contents in the beverage can, the score line formed on the end has to be torn by pulling the tab. In this situation, the beverage in the can is discharged through the outlet formed by the torn score line, so a man can drink the beverage conveniently. The present invention is related to the manufacturing method for producing a
design tab end of the beverage can that can function as an ornament by applying a design on the tab joined on the end, where the design includes a logo of the beverage brand, an image, advertising words, a suggestive word about the property of the product, a variety of animation characters for the promotion of the product, a caricature of a figure, an image of a fruit in case of a fruit beverage, a logo and a mascot of a sports game, or a logo and a trademark of a company.
One of the conventional arts for giving an ornamental function to the tab has been disclosed on the United States Patent No. 300,554 applied by Coca Cola. In the method disclosed in the same, various information is applied on the tab after forming the tab, however, according to the current manufacturing process of the can end, the productivity becomes lowered seriously if the information is applied on the tab after the tab is formed completely.
In the mean time, there has been proposed an ornamentation method using a laser etching technology. But it also has a problem of high cost caused by the laser etching process, so it is inappropriate for the mass production.
To solve the above problems, the applicant of the present invention has proposed a manufacturing method of a design tab end in the Korean Patent Application No. 2001-8020 filed on February 17. 2001, in which a tab coil is painted with a base color, printed with a design and varnished, and then the tab coil is fed to a tab forming process and a conversion press process that is a stacking process, by using a pitch arrangement tool.
However, the tab end manufacturing method that a design is printed separately after the base color is painted is, in manufacturing a design tab end made of aluminum which does not need a anticorrosive process, comprised of the steps for printing a
desired design after the base color is firstly painted on an exact part of the tab coil to be formed to a tab in the tab forming process, coating a varnish for preserving the printing quality, arranging the pitch of the varnished tab coil, forming the designed aluminum tab with a conversion press, and joining the designed aluminum tab on a fed shell. However, children or youngster accustomed to a digital age wants various and individualized designs, which cannot be satisfied by the conventional mass manufacturing method. Therefore, a new method of manufacturing design tabs for producing various kinds of products with a small amount is required. In particular, a man using the Internet frequently has great concern to the characters and products on the cyber space, however, those are not developed as design tabs yet.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been proposed to solve the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing a design tab end of a beverage can by using an inkjet printing, which can satisfy various and individualized needs of the customer and enhance the competitiveness of the product by making it possible to produce various kinds of product with small amount, by painting a base color after arranging the position of the base color of the printed tab to be an exact position and intervals before a tab forming process of a conversion press in case of a tab of which curl part is close, printing the design made by a computer graphic or downloaded from a web site through Internet, and then forming and stacking the tab after coating a varnish for preventing deterioration of printing quality while forming and distribution of a product.
The above object can be accomplished by the method for manufacturing a
design tab end of a beverage can by using an inkjet printing according to the present invention, which comprises the steps of: painting a base color on an exact surface position of an aluminum tab coil which is to be formed to a tab through the tab forming process; printing a computer graphic design on the surface of the tab coil on which the base color has been painted, by using the inkjet printing; coating a varnish for preventing a deterioration of printing quality during forming and distribution of a product, on the surface of the tab coil on which the design has been printed; arranging a pitch of the tab coil so as to determine an exact position of the tab coil which has been coated with the varnish; press-forming the arranged tab coil with a conversion press; and stacking the tab formed by the press-forming to join the tab on a center of a shell which has been fed previously, wherein the processes for painting the base color, printing the design, and coating the varnish for preserving the printing quality are performed by an integral type of design tab printer using a pitch arrangement tool.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The above-mentioned object and feature of the present invention will be more apparent by describing the preferred embodiment of the present invention by referring to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a flow chart for illustrating the method for manufacturing a designed aluminum tab of a beverage can by using an inkjet printing according to the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Hereinafter, the method for manufacturing a design tab end of a beverage can
using inkjet printing according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention is described in detail with reference to FIG. 1.
In order to satisfy the various and individualized needs of the customers and enhance the productivity in printing the design, such as a logo of a company or a mascot, on the surface of the tab of which curl part is close, the preferred embodiment of the present invention propose the method for printing the design made by a computer graphic or downloaded from the web site on the Internet after the completion of the painting of the base color on a tab coil by inkjet printing. The tab coil on which the design has been printed undergoes a varnish coating process with the same pitch as the printing process, and is fed to a forming process with the same pitch. Afterwards, the tab forming process and stacking process are performed to complete the manufacturing of the tab end for the beverage can.
In such a situation, if the pitch is not arranged exactly, the tab punching process of the conversion press is not performed on the exact position, so the painting of the base color, printing of the design by the inkjet printing, and varnish coating are performed before the tab punching, after the pitch has been arranged by the pitch arrangement tool.
Hereinafter, the above processes are described in more detail.
As the aluminum tab coil is drawn little by little from a winding roll, both sides of the aluminum tab coil are painted with a desired base color.
Next, the surface of the tab coil painted with the base color is printed with multi-color. In such a situation, for the printing of the design, the present invention uses the inkjet printing. The design printing can also be performed by a laser printer, however, it is preferable to use the inkjet printer since the laser printer requires high cost.
In that situation, the design to be printed on the tab coil by the inkjet printing can be downloaded from a web site on the Internet or directly designed by a computer graphic.
The tab coil printed with the design by the inkjet printing undergoes the varnish coating in order to protect the design printed on the surface while the tab is being formed and the product is being distributed. In the varnish coating process, it is preferable to use UV painting material for protecting from ultraviolet rays or anticorrosive material of rapid-drying property. At this time, the coating process is performed using multiple rollers, and both sides of the coil are coated while the coating material such as the UV painting material or the anticorrosive material of rapid-drying property is supplied continuously.
In such a situation, the tab printing process is performed while the tab is arranged by a pitch arrangement tool so that the position of the base color of the tab is exactly arranged on the desired position of the tab to be formed, and the tab coil printed with the design undergoes the varnish coating with the same pitch as the printing process.
After completing the varnish coating, the tab coil, of which pitch has been arranged to be the same as that in the printing process and the varnish coating process, is conveyed to the tab forming process by a belt conveyer, and then is press-formed to a predetermined tab shape by the conversion press. Then, the tab formed by the conversion press is stacked by being joined on the center of the shell that has been fed previously.
The summarized process of the tab manufacturing method is as follows.
The present invention is comprised of the steps of: painting a base color on an exact surface position of an aluminum tab coil which is to be formed to a tab through
the tab forming process; printing a computer graphic design on the surface of the tab coil on which the base color has been painted, by using the inkjet printing; coating a varnish for preventing a deterioration of printing quality during forming and distribution of a product, on the surface of the tab coil on which the design has been printed; arranging a pitch of the tab coil so as to determine an exact position of the tab coil which has been coated with the varnish; press-forming the arranged tab coil with a conversion press; and stacking a tab formed by the press-forming to join the tab on a center of a shell which has been fed previously.
According to the present invention, in case of the tab of which curl part is close, before the tab forming process of the conversion press, a base color is painted while the position of the base color of the tab is arranged to an exact position and intervals, the design made by a computer graphic or downloaded from a web site through Internet is printed, and then the tab is formed and stacked after being coated with a varnish for preventing deterioration of printing quality during the forming and distribution of a product, whereby various and in individualized needs of the customer can be satisfied and the competitiveness of the product can be enhanced since it possible to produce various kinds of product with small amount.
Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention should not be limited to the described preferred embodiment, but various changes and modifications can be made within the spirit and the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the scope of the present invention is not limited within the described range but the following claims.