Abstract: Residual moisture is removed from an article by placing the article in a chamber, supplying heated fresh air to the chamber via one or more air knives, and evacuating the chamber to remove the residual moisture. The air knives entrain ambient air from within the chamber by Coanda effect air flow, thereby circulating a mixture of fresh air and ambient air about the article. The supply of air to the chamber is interrupted while the chamber is being evacuated to reduce the air pressure within the chamber to on kPa to vaporize residual moisture in the article.

Abstract: An article is dried in a vacuum and sublimation is prevented by controlling both the heat applied to the article and the heat lost through evaporation. The article is placed in a vacuum chamber having a plurality of infrared lamps disposed around the interior of the chamber and the chamber is heated to a predetermined temperature prior to evacuation. Heat loss is controlled by maintaining the pressure above approximately 5 torr, which controls the rate of evaporation. The drying cycle also cleans the article.

Abstract: A process for printing an image on the surface of an article. The process provides a thixotropic thermal curable ink in a recess of a printing plate which is a facsimile of the image to be printed on the article. The ink is adapted to adhere to the printing plate upon contact therewith. The ink is adapted to conform to the facsimile of the image formed in the recess of said printing plate upon application stress to the ink.