JPH0315544B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for marking golf balls.

Traditionally, golf balls have a manufacturer's name, number,
Characters, symbols, figures, etc., such as brand names, etc., are marked. For example, the marking method involves heating and pressing a transfer film onto the outer surface of the golf ball using a mold engraved with a pattern such as characters. The pattern is created using a mold (piece) pressing method for transferring, or by heating and pressing a transfer film on which a transfer layer such as letters has been previously formed onto the outer surface of the golf ball using a presser made of silicone rubber lined with an aluminum or steel plate. A silicone rubber pressing method is used to transfer the pattern onto the ball, or a metal or plastic plate engraved with a predetermined pattern is coated with ink, and a doctor is used to remove the ink from areas other than the concave areas. There are methods such as tacho printing, in which the ink (pattern) in the recesses is transferred to the pad by pressing the pad against the plate, and then the pattern is transferred to the ball by pressing this pad onto the ball, but this method is difficult due to work efficiency. Currently, the silicone rubber pressing method is most commonly used due to the beauty of the printed matter.

To mark a golf ball using this silicone rubber pressing method, as shown in Fig. 2, a flat elastic material a made of silicone rubber is lined with a backing material b such as an aluminum plate or a steel plate, and this is placed on a hot plate or the like. A transfer film e, on which a transfer layer of characters, etc. has been formed in advance, is heated and pressed onto the outer surface of the golf ball f by a pressing member d attached to a heating member c, and the transfer layer (pattern) is transferred to the ball f. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 3, an elastic material a having a curved concave surface g corresponding to the outer peripheral surface of the ball f is used, and a transfer film e is heated and applied to the outer surface of the ball f using a pressing member d. It is transferred by pressing.

However, as shown in Figure 1, on the outer surface of the ball f, there is a dimple h with an outer diameter of about 2 to 4 mm and a depth of about
Approximately 300 to 400 recesses of 0.1 to 0.3 mm are formed, and when marking, it is difficult to transfer markings to the inner peripheral surface of the dimple h compared to transfer to the outermost surface other than the dimple h. , this is compensated for by the elastic deformation of the elastic material a. However, the pressing body d
When pressing the transfer film e onto the outer surface of the ball f, as shown in FIG. 4, first, as shown in FIG. In the case of a, the transfer film e is brought into contact with the outermost surface of the dimples other than the dimples h, and the dimples h are hermetically covered with the transfer film e. Then, by pressing, the elastic material a is attached to the dimples as shown in FIG. dimple h.
By sending the air inside to the outside, dimple h
The pattern is transferred to the inner peripheral surface, but the air cannot be completely sent out, and due to the residual air with no escape, the transfer to the bottom of the dimple h is incomplete, resulting in part of the transferred pattern being chipped. It was hot. This phenomenon is particularly likely to occur at the center of the pattern. The reason for this is that the surface of the elastic material a of the pressing body d is smooth, so the transfer film e comes into close contact with the outer peripheral edge i of the dimple h and attempts to prevent the air inside the dimple h from being sent out to the outside. be. This occurs regardless of whether the elastic material a is a flat silicon rubber as shown in FIG. 2 or a silicon rubber having a curved concave surface g as shown in FIG.

Therefore, if the transferred pattern is chipped,
The base paint must be removed with a paint remover, and after cleaning, the base coat must be applied again and the transfer must be repeated, which requires additional processes such as inspection and rework, which is time-consuming. It was a production problem.

The present invention solves these problems and provides a method for marking golf balls in which the transferred pattern is not chipped and does not require retransfer. Therefore, a feature of the present invention is that in a method for marking characters, symbols, figures, etc. on the outer surface of a golf ball by heating and pressing a transfer film with a pressing body, the pressing surface of the pressing body is The rough surface allows the air inside the dimples to be sent out to the outside during heating and pressurization.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail based on illustrated embodiments.

In FIG. 6, 1 is a pressing body, which includes a flat elastic material 2 made of silicone rubber, and a backing material 3 such as an aluminum plate or a steel plate that is lined with the elastic material 2.
A pressing body 1 is constituted by a heating member 4 such as a hot plate to which an elastic member 2 is attached via the backing material 3 and heated by a heating source not shown.

Thus, the pressing surface 5 of the pressing body 1, that is, the surface of the elastic material 2, is made into a rough surface with minute irregularities formed thereon. To form this rough surface, for example,
The surface of the elastic material 2 can be polished by sanding the surface of the elastic material 2 with No. 30 sandpaper or by shot blasting with 50-10 mesh sand to roughen the surface of the mold for molding the rubber plate. is roughened. Note that if the minute irregularities formed on the surface of the elastic material 2 are too large during roughening, the minute irregularities of the elastic material 2 will remain on the ball surface during marking, so it is preferable to use sand of #120 to #60. It is best to sand the rubber with paper or shot buff the mold surface with 20-10 mesh sand.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a transfer film, which is formed by sequentially laminating a release agent layer 8, a transfer pattern layer 9 such as letters, and a heat-sensitive adhesive layer 10 on a carrier film 7 such as a polyester film as shown in FIG.

11 is a golf ball, and the outer surface 12 of the ball 11 has a large number of concave dimples 13...
... is recessed.

Therefore, in order to mark characters or the like on the outer surface 12 of the ball 11, the transfer film 6 is placed between the ball 11 and the pressing member 1 in such a way that the heat-sensitive adhesive layer 10 is located on the ball 11 side. Insert as
After heating and pressurizing, the carrier film 7 is peeled off. Due to this heat and pressure, the transfer film 6 is pressed against the outer surface 12 of the ball 11 by the pressing body 1, and is moved along the inner circumferential surface of the dimple 13 by the pressing force of the elastic material 2 inserted into the dimple 13. 8th
As shown in the figure, the transfer film 6 is pressed.

That is, the transfer film 6 is pressed onto the ball 1 by the pressing member 1.
1, the transfer film 6 first contacts the outer peripheral edge 14 of the dimple 13 or the outermost surface other than the dimple 13, and the dimple 13 is hermetically covered with the transfer film 6. Then, the elastic material 2 is bent into the dimple 13 by the pressing operation of the pressing body 1, and the pressing surface 5 of the elastic material 2 is a rough surface with minute irregularities.
The outer surface 12 of the ball 11 and the transfer film 6 are not in complete contact with each other, and the air inside the dimple 13 is sent out from the non-contact portion of the outer peripheral edge 14 of the dimple 13 due to the bending of the elastic material 2. Because,
Patterns such as letters are perfectly transferred to the inner peripheral surface of the dimples 13 without any air remaining inside the dimples 13. After marking, a transparent paint is applied to the entire surface of the ball and dried to form a transparent protective layer on the outer surface of the ball, completing the golf ball.

As described in detail above, the present invention has a rough pressing surface 5 of the pressing body 1, and when the pressing body 1 heats and presses the transfer film 6 onto the outer surface 12 of the golf ball, the air inside the dimples 13 is removed. Since the configuration is configured to send out the dimple 1 to the outside, it solves the conventional problem of poor transfer caused by insufficient adhesion within the dimple 13 due to residual air.
It was possible to form a pattern layer that was completely transferred to the bottom of the pattern, and it became possible to completely transfer even the central part of the pattern, which was conventionally thought to be prone to transfer defects. In particular, the pressing surface 5 of the pressing body 1 can be roughened by a simple method such as polishing the pressing surface 5 with sandpaper, or roughening the surface of the molding die by shot blasting. It is possible to completely transfer patterns such as characters without making a large capital investment. In addition, since there are no transfer defects, there are no defective products, and the extra processes of inspection and retransfer work are unnecessary, making it less time-consuming and time-consuming.
It has become possible to save labor and improve productivity.

The conventional marking method is used in a very wide range of applications such as household electrical appliances, office equipment, cosmetics and pharmaceutical containers, stationery, and toys, but in all cases, the pressing surface 5 is smooth. However, if a rough surface with minute irregularities as in the present invention is formed on the pressing surface 5, no transfer defects occur.
The minute irregularities remain on the surface of the product, causing the opposite effect. However, the present invention has been made as a result of experimental research that breaks the conventional wisdom that a perfect transfer pattern can be obtained by making the pressing surface 5 rough with respect to golf balls, and it is an excellent invention. I can say that.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a golf ball illustrating a conventional example, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are simplified diagrams illustrating the conventional example, respectively.
FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are enlarged sectional views of main parts, respectively, illustrating the pressing state of the conventional example. FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of a main part showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of a transfer film, and FIG. 8 is an enlarged sectional view of a main part in a pressed state. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Pressing body, 5... Pressing surface, 6... Transfer film, 12... Outer surface, 13... Dimple.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a method of marking characters, symbols, figures, etc. on the outer surface 12 of a golf ball by heating and pressing the transfer film 6 with the pressing body 1, the pressing surface 5 of the pressing body 1 is made to be a rough surface. A method for marking a golf ball, characterized in that air within the dimples 13 is sent out to the outside during heating and pressurization.