US 12,202,287 B2
Method for manufacturing a bullnose tile and a bullnose tile
Claudio Caselli, Dallas, TX (US); and Rahul Patki, Richardson, TX (US)
Assigned to Dal-Tile, LLC, Dallas, TX (US)
Filed by Dal-Tile, LLC, Dallas, TX (US)
Filed on Mar. 26, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/830,348.
Prior Publication US 2021/0300099 A1, Sep. 30, 2021
Int. Cl. B41M 5/00 (2006.01); B41M 7/00 (2006.01); E04F 15/08 (2006.01)
CPC B41M 5/007 (2013.01) [B41M 5/0047 (2013.01); B41M 7/0045 (2013.01); E04F 15/08 (2013.01)] 12 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for manufacturing a bullnose tile comprising the steps of:
providing a ceramic tile, the ceramic tile comprising a base body made of a ceramic material, wherein the base body has a main surface and a bullnose edge;
printing a decorative layer comprising a décor and a background color in a single pass printing operation on top of the bullnose edge, comprising:
printing at least one radiation curable ink and two extra radiation curable inks with a printer comprising a plurality of printing units to form the décor and the background color, wherein the at least one radiation curable ink is a radiation curable (CMYK) set of inks comprising cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, and wherein the two extra radiation curable inks are white and yellow radiation curable inks, and
advancing the ceramic tile along an advancing direction, the plurality of printing units aligned along the advancing direction; and
curing the at least one radiation curable ink and the two extra radiation curable inks,
wherein the at least one radiation curable ink and/or the two extra radiation curable inks, after printing, are in direct contact with the ceramic material of the base body,
wherein a first set of printing units is configured for printing the at least one radiation curable ink and a second set of printing units is configured for printing the two extra radiation curable inks, the second set of printing units being disposed upstream of the first set of printing units, and
wherein the two extra radiation curable inks are used to form the background color and the CMYK set of radiation curable inks is used to form the décor printed on top of the background color.