Systems For Treating A Garment With Pre-Treatment Solution, And Related Methods

Abstract

A system for treating a garment with a pre-treatment solution includes a fluid application assembly configured to dispense pre-treatment solution onto pre-determined target areas of the garment. A fluid supply and delivery assembly is coupled with the fluid application assembly and configured to provide a supply of pre-treatment solution to the fluid application assembly for dispensing onto the garment at fluid pressures of between about 5 and about 30 psig. A garment movement assembly is configured to move the garment with respect to the fluid application assembly so that the target areas of the garment can receive the pre-treatment solution.

Description

REFERENCE TO PRIOR PROVISIONAL APPLICATION[0001]This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61 / 673,746, filed Jul. 20, 2012, the content of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to direct-to-garment printing operations, and more particularly to applying a pre-treatment solution to a garment before a printing operation.BACKGROUND[0003]Direct-to-garment printing is a popular technique for providing garments with graphics, designs, and other decoration. In a typical direct-to-garment printing operation, a printing system is used to dispense inks directly onto a garment. Pre-treatment solutions have been developed that improve the visual appearance of the decoration provided by the printing operation. In particular, pre-treatment solutions can be applied to a garment before the printing operation, and then the ink is applied onto the garment having the pre-treatment solution ...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

There are drawbacks with such an approach, however.

First, known dispensing systems tend to apply the pre-treatment solution to a much larger portion of the garment than is required.

Second, known dispensing systems also dispense the pre-treatment solution in a gross manner so that some of the pre-treatment solution that is directed at a garment is actually oversprayed and misses the garment.

Third, known dispensing systems tend to impart so much energy to the pre-treatment solution that the pre-treatment solution hits the garment at a high speed, causing some of the pre-treatment solution to bounce off the garment.

Thus, known dispensing systems have problems that tend to waste pre-treatment solution.

Moreover, pre-treatment solutions can be corrosive and tacky, and because of the problems with pre-treatment solution being oversprayed and bouncing off a garment, prior dispensing systems often included enclosure devices within which pre-treatment operations were performed.

Some of these known dispensing systems used catch trays to collect pre-treatment solution that would otherwise be wasted (by overspray or bouncing off a garment, for example), but such efforts yielded only mediocre results and did nothing to address the mess created and damage caused by the corrosive and tacky pre-treatment solution.

The corrosive and tacky nature of pre-treatment solutions, however, required that the mechanical components be cleaned and maintained on a relatively frequent basis.

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