Abstract: A stencil printing, coating or coloring machine has a flexible hollow metal cylinder in contact with the stencil, and a perforate strip in the area of contact between the stencil and cylinder. The ends of the cylinder are sealed by deformable covers, and the interior of the cylinder is at least partially filled with printing, coating or coloring material.

Abstract: A screen printing machine wherein one end of a rotary stencil is driven by a power train which receives torque from a motor. The other end of the stencil is driven by the power train through the medium of a cylindrical squeegee which is disposed in the stencil and drives an idler gear in the frame of the machine. The idler gear rotates a gear which drives the other end of the stencil. The ends of the stencil are coupled to driving sleeves which are rotatable in discrete bearing members each of which is adjustable relative to the machine frame. That bearing member which receives the driving sleeve for the one end of the stencil is pivotable in the frame about an axis which is normal to the axis of the stencil and is also movable in the axial direction of the stencil. The other bearing member is pivotable in the frame about an axis which is normal to the axis of the stencil and is also movable transversely of the axis of the stencil.

Abstract: An adjustable holder secures the squeegee or doctor blade within the rotary stencil of the machine to swing or rock about an axis which is above, and closely adjacent to the contact line of the screen and the printer's blanket or backing cloth, as supported by a support rail, resiliently pressed against the screen to form the contact line at which material to be printed is engaged by the screen.

Abstract: In a doctor-blade system consisting of a strip of flexible material supported by a blade-holder fitted with resilient means for applying the free marginal portion of the doctor-blade against the screen during printing, at least one internal longitudinal passageway is formed within the blade-holder body and communicates at intervals with the internal blade face and with the resilient means, any trace of ink which may have infiltrated into the system being discharged to the exterior by means of an external supply of fluid under pressure.

Abstract: A dyestuff applicator, overlying an area of a movable printing screen through which dyestuff is to be fed to a substrate, comprises a horizontal supply tube which supports an axially extending dyestuff-distributing member with freedom of relative movement in a vertical axial plane of the tube. The distributing member, resting under pressure on the screen, forms a discharge slot communicating with the interior of the tube through a multiplicity of conduits closely spaced along the tube axis, the conduits being disconnectable from the slot with the aid of a slidable or rotatable shutter lodged in the distributing member and controlled by an external actuator mounted on the supply tube.

Abstract: A dyestuff applicator, located inside a cylindrical printing screen, comprises a horizontal ink tube which supports an axially extending ink-distributing member with freedom of relative mobility in a vertical axial plane of the tube. The distributing member, resting on the inner screen surface, forms a discharge slot communicating with the interior of the tube through a multiplicity of conduits closely spaced along the tube axis, the conduits being disconnectable from the slot with the aid of an axially slidable or rotatable shutter common to all the conduits and lodged in the distributing member. This distributing member is weighted down by the pressure of the ink in an overlying space, or by springs or fluid cushions inserted between that member and the tube.

Abstract: A downwardly open applicator housing, surrounding and mounted on a dyestuff-supplying tube within a cylindrical printing screen, carries an elastic diaphragm which spans its lower end in a slack state so as to hang down with a convex underside under the weight of a load of dyestuff in the housing and a pair of bars bearing upon the diaphragm from above. The central region of the diaphragm, flanked by the weighting bars, has a series of axially spaced openings for the discharge of the dyestuff; a flexible but substantially inextensible reinforcing strip of low-friction material, having a longitudinal slot registering with these openings, is bonded to the underside of the diaphragm to facilitate relative sliding of the screen and seal the gap region against leakage of dyestuff onto the inner screen surface. The upper diaphragm surface may have gap-bridging elements such as threads or wires bonded thereto as additional reinforcements.

Abstract: A dyestuff applicator inside a cylindrical printing screen comprises an elongate hollow body with a bottom portion contacting the inner screen surface and an outlet for ink supplied to that body through one of two tubular extremities thereof, these extremities being clamped in respective mountings with their axes disaligned to generate stresses counteracting the forces of gravity and friction which tend to deform the outlet from its linear shape. Each end mounting may comprise a pair of axially spaced rigid rings with toroidal inner surfaces, of adjustable relative elevation, or an elongate sleeve cradled in a vertically adjustable bearing frame in which the sleeve can be immobilized at a desired inclination to the horizontal and the vertical. The sleeve may have a yieldable lining or be braced by damping springs and dashpots against oscillations of the applicator body.

Abstract: A rotary screen printing machine of the type including at least one cylindrical stencil, each with a squeegee blade for forcing a printing fluid such as paint or paste through apertures in the stencil onto a textile web or sheet of paper. The squeegee of the present invention is formed as a thin flexible metal strip having a thickness less than 1% of the width of the portion of such strip protruding from its holder. The squeegee blade is suspended at two locations mounted in a holder, at least one location having transverse slot permitting lateral expansion and contraction to compensate for vertical deflection of the blade or of the holder.

Abstract: A squeegee assembly for use on a screen printing machine which includes a squeegee holder and associated squeegee blade having a liquid filled tubular member for exerting a liquid or hydraulic pressure on the squeegee blade in a manner whereby the pressure exerted by the squeegee blade is equalized along the entire length thereof and to provide the squeegee blade with the flexibility necessary to conform to a printing surface. The assembly may also include a piston and cylinder assembly to vary the liquid pressure exerted on the squeegee blade and/or a contour bar through which the liquid pressure is transmitted to the squeegee blade.