Claims:I/We claim:

1. A hot stamping apparatus which broadly comprises of Stand (1), XZ Axis Assembly (2), Heater Assembly (3), Foil Unwinding Assembly (4), Foil Rewinding Assembly (5), Foil Guide Assembly (6), Fixture with Tooling (7), Part to be stamped (8), Foil Path (9), Foil Guide Arm (10), cylindrical elastomer assembly (11) and other parts and accompany accessories.

2. A hot stamping apparatus as claimed in claim 1, which comprises of a high temperature cylindrical elastomer having movement in two axis(2), which is pressed on a located article with foil between them; high pressure is used to transfer the metalizing/ink from the foil which is heated at a very high temperature, on the article, using interpolation of two axis(2) based on CNC movement of stamping cylindrical elastomer, the profile of the article to be stamped will be traced by stamping cylindrical elastomer.

3. A hot stamping apparatus as claimed in claim 1 & 2, which comprises of a high temperature cylindrical elastomer assembly (11) consisting of the cylindrical Elastomer, heating plates, and motor to rotate the elastomer, mounted on the XY axis.
4. A hot stamping apparatus as claimed in claim 1 & 2, which comprises of a XY axis assembly consisting of ball nuts and two ball screw.

5. A hot stamping apparatus as claimed in claim 1 & 2, which comprises of a Fixture with Tooling (7) which is placed on a stand.

6. A hot foil stamping apparatus as claimed in claim 1 and 2, which can stamp Profile shape articles in a single stroke. , Description:Title
Hot foil stamping machine for profile stamping.

Field of the Invention and use of Invention

This invention relates to hot foil stamping machine.
Hot foil and Cold foil finishing options can provide the ultimate in decorative appeal. Hot foil stamping is one of the oldest forms of stamping and produces excellent results. Hot stamping is the process of transferring a very thin coating (typically metallic) onto substrate such as paper or plastic through a combination of heat and pressure. Typical decorative applications of hot stamp foils include greeting cards, book covers and packaging media, Caps and Closures, consumer packaged articles, exterior parts of products, bottles, personal care products, etc. For advertising and aesthetic purpose, metallic effect and similarly printed imprints are popularly decorated on consumer products to attract attention and increase appeal.

The process is used on a wide range of products to create decorative finishes and anti-counterfeiting measures. In the packaging industry applications include food, pharmacy, tobacco, and luxury goods packaging, as well as labels for products such as wine and spirits. Beyond packaging, hot foil stamping is extensively used on banknotes, automotive components, and consumer white goods components and throughout commercial print.

Prior Art and problem to be solved

Hot foil stamping provides a decorative finish to enhance an article's appeal. They are not limited to gold and silver foils, but extend to an impressive range of pigmented, pearlescent, opalescent, holographic and security foils.

Hot Foil Stamping involves the transfer of a pre-applied and dried ink, coating or metallization (or a combination of either) from a carrier foil held in register to (and in contact with) the substrate surface. Hot Stamping is the combination of Temperature, Pressure, & Dwell time, taking into consideration the stamping foil, die, machine, article to be decorated, and the article's nesting fixture, to transfer a printed or deposited area from a foil to an article. Typical decorative applications of hot foil stampings include greeting cards, book covers and packaging media, bottle, bottle caps and Closures, consumer packaged articles, exterior parts of products, bottles, personal care products, etc. For advertising and aesthetic purpose, metallic effect and similarly printed imprints are popularly decorated on consumer products to attract attention and increase appeal.

For flat-hit (platen, reciprocating) processes, a relief die can be contoured to the form of the substrate surface provided there is no risk of foil wrinkling. In a rotary mode, for peripheral decoration, the simplest example is an internally or externally heated silicone-covered banding wheel equipped with a counterweight in order to regulate pressure. For complex shapes in rotation and printing detail, computer numerical control (CNC) controlled movements can avoid the need for expensive non-adjustable substrate-specific mechanical cams and multiple strokes.

Advantages of hot foiling
1. Very high degree of vibrancy and brilliance possible.
2. "Brand security" through use of optically variable finishes such as holograms to offer increased defense against counterfeiting.
3. Finer detail can be achieved
4. An extensive range of foil colour shades and decoration variants are available
5. Full-surface or partial decoration or selective area can be decorated
6. High Visibility :- Hot foil printing results in a top quality, high visibility embellishment. Consumer psychology has shown that the more appealing the product packaging is, the more likely consumers are to pay attention.
7. In addition, consumers not only pay attention, but their attention is drawn to this type of packaging before any other as it stands out on the shelf. As a result, product sales can soar.
8. As many luxury items and finest consumer products of the past century have used foil stamping, particularly metallic finishes such as gold and silver as embellishments on their products, foil stamping has become associated with higher perceived quality. In the consumer market, where perception is essential to action, this is a huge advantage.
9. Colour choices -- Hot Foil stamping is the prominent printing method that is dry and that can create metallic finishes similar to electroplating and vacuum metallising process, and can decorate in pigmented, hologram, or multicolour printed foils.
10. In addition, there are a range of foil effects that can be applied to article(s) giving them a whole new outlook. These included finishes such as wood-grain, marble, chrome, brushed stainless, etc.

Dis-advantages of conventional hot foil stamping methods
1.Set up time is longer
2. Profile shape articles require more than one stroke to stamp.
3. Very complex to hot stamp profile shaped articles in single stroke.

Presently, there are different kinds of stamping machine using different principles to achieve stamping on flat, round, oval, curved articles. But, a profile consisting of a combination of these shapes cannot be stamped on one single machine. If there is a C, L, or a multi-faced profile, then, with the present available stamping machines in market, such a profile cannot be hot stamped in one single stroke. There are different stamping machines based on different principles of roller movement or the part movement to achieve the desired stamping. But there does not exist a machine
which can stamp such an article in a single stroke with constant stamping speed and pressure, to achieve a very high quality of hot foil stamping.

Thus, there is a need to stamp profile articles in a single stroke to save labour, cost and increase efficiency and for better quality

Our invention can be used to transfer foil on flat shaped or profile shaped articles in single stroke using a proprietary mechanism and CNC programming to control the stroke movement of the heated roller. (Conventionally more than 1 stroke is required to stamp the same article). Our invention can stamp profile articles in a single stroke with constant pressure and speed, thus savings in stamping time. Improved stamping quality. More variety of articles can be stamped that were not conventionally possible to stamp. Manpower can be reduced by using the invention. Productivity of the stamping machine will increase.

Objects of the Invention

It has already been proposed CNC Hot foil stamping machine for profile stamping.

The principal object of this invention is to hot stamp Profile shape articles in a single stroke.

A further object of this invention is to stamp profile articles which were conventionally not possible to stamp.

Another object of this invention is to save labour.

A further object of this invention is to decrease cost.

Another object of this invention is to increase efficiency .

A further object of this invention is to improve quality.

Summary of the Invention

Presently, there are different kinds of stamping machine using different principles to achieve stamping on flat, round, oval, curved articles. But, a profile consisting of all these together cannot be stamped on one single machine. If there is a C, L, or a multi-faced profile as given in example (Fig:-9,10,11 and 12), then, with the present available stamping machines, this profile cannot be stamped in one single stroke. There are different stamping machines based on different principles of roller movement or the part movement to achieve the desired stamping. But there does not exist a machine which can stamp such a product in a single stroke with constant stamping speed and pressure, to achieve a very high quality of hot foil stamping.

Our machine overcomes the problems of prior art.
It is an object of our invention to provide CNC Hot foil stamping machine for profile stamping in a single stroke.
Our invention can stamp profile articles which were conventionally not possible to stamp.Thus, it saves labour, decrease cost, increase efficiency and improve quality.

Our invention is a Hot foil stamping machine that comprises of a high temperature cylindrical elastomer assembly(11) having movement in two axis, which is pressed on a located article with foil between them. High pressure is used to transfer the metalizing/ink from the foil which is heated at a very high temperature, on the article. Using intertpolation of two axis based on CNC movement of stamping cylindrical elastomer assembly (11), the profile of the article to be stamped will be traced by stamping cylindrical elastomer(11).

Advantages of our invention:-
The major advantage of our invention is that it can hot stamp Profile shape articles in a single stroke. Moreover it can
stamp profile articles which were conventionally not possible to stamp. Thus it saves cost of labour, increases efficiency and improves quality.

Detailed Description of the Invention

A preferred embodiment of CNC Hot foil stamping machine for profile stamping in a single stroke with reference to accompanied drawing is described.

FIGURE 1: Shows the front view of the hot stamping apparatus which broadly comprises of Stand (1), XZ Axis Assembly (2), Heater Assembly (3), Foil Unwinding Assembly (4), Foil Rewinding Assembly (5), Foil Guide Assembly (6), Fixture With Tooling (7), Part to be stamped (8), Foil Path (9), Foil Guide Arm (10), cylindrical elastomer assembly (11) and other parts and accompanied accessories.

FIGURE 2: Shows the top view

FIGURE 3: Shows the side view

Figure 4: Initially the profile Part to be stamped (8) is loaded manually on fixture provided with proper location. The Foil path (9) at the time loading will be as shown in Fig-04. Heater Assembly (3) will be at park position at the time of loading. Loading of part on fixture is done manually. Foil rewinding motor (5) is on for maintaining desired foil tension. Foil guide arms (10) of fixture are situated above the profile part to be stamped in such a way so as to provide space for loading the part.

FIGURE 5: After loading the part to be stamped (8) on fixture, as start push button is pressed, foil guide arms (10) will move to lower side so that foil will wrap on part area that is to be stamped. When foil guide arms (10) move to lower side, foil unwinding motor releases foil so that foil wrapping is done smoothly & avoid foil breakage. Foil path (9) will be as shown in fig-05. Heater assembly (3) with silicon roller move to start position as shown in Fig-05 Interpolation of X&Z axis. Interpolation of both axis is done to reach desired position. Heater with its cover rotates to avoid fouling with part before reaching to start position. Start position can be set from user interface, according to the profile of part to be stamped.

FIGURE 6: Heated roller with heater assembly (3) will follow profile of object with constant speed & constant pressure as shown in Fig-05, Fig-06 &Fig-07. Constant pressure is applied by the heated roller within heater assembly (3) onto the part to be stamped through foil. Constant pressure & constant speed help to enhance foil transfer quality. Profile of the part to be stamped will be traced using XZ axis drive based on CNC principle for the part’s profile co-ordinates, programmable through user interface.

FIGURE 7: Heated assembly (3) cover with heater is rotating such that its axis will be always perpendicular to the tangent passing through contact point of silicon roller, as shown in Fig.07.

FIGURE 8: At the end, heater assembly (3) after tracing complete path, will move to park position & Foil guide arm (10) will move to upper side, as shown in fig.08. When foil guide arm move upward at the same time foil rewinding motor take foil, so that extra foil is taken before part loading. Stamped length of foil is taken so that new foil is at its position for stamping next part.

FIGURE 9: Example 1
Before Stamping –

FIGURE 10:
After Stamping –

FIGURE 11:
Example 2
Before Stamping –

FIGURE 12:
After Stamping –