An imprinting apparatus includes an imprinting platform, an imprinting roller, a transfer module and a lifting and pressing mechanism. The imprinting roller is disposed above the imprinting platform. The transfer module includes a transfer film, wherein the transfer film is located between the imprinting roller and the imprinting platform. The lifting and pressing mechanism is linked with the imprinting roller, wherein the lifting and pressing mechanism drives the imprinting roller to move along a normal direction of the imprinting platform and selectively pressurizes the imprinting roller.

Disclosed herein is a method for allowing forming & sealing films to be embossed/debossed with various shapes such as geometric, organic, or fractal and/or combination and various dimensions and depths. The texture or pattern is transferred to the film from an insert. The pattern on the forming & sealing film is then transferred onto the surface of the various proteins including but not limited to chicken, turkey, beef, pork, and plant proteins during the form-fill-seal and cook process. The forming and/or sealing inserts can form various thermoforming films with functional and/or decorative embossing and/or debossing without the use of knitted, elastic, extruded, tightly weaved, plastic netting, and/or compression forming molds and/or release agents for netting removal. Since the forming inserts are constructed using additive manufacturing processes, almost any design can be embossed/debossed onto the forming & sealing film.

An imprint method includes contact step of bringing imprint material on shot region of substrate and pattern region of mold into contact with each other, alignment step of aligning the shot region and the pattern region after the contact step, first irradiation step of, before the alignment step is completed, irradiating frame-shaped portion of the imprint material with light, second irradiation step, started after the first irradiation step is started, irradiating at least part of the imprint material on the shot region with light under condition different from condition in the first irradiation step so that alignment error between the shot region and the pattern region is reduced, third irradiation step of irradiating the entire imprint material on the shot region with light after the alignment step is completed.

An imprint method includes bringing a mold and an uncured imprint material supplied onto a substrate into contact with each other, enhancing viscoelasticity of the imprint material, making position adjustment of the mold and the substrate, and curing the imprint material. The imprint material is supplied onto a shot region of the substrate, and time between bringing the mold brought into contact with the imprint material and starting enhancing viscoelasticity is shorter when the shot region includes an outer periphery of the substrate than when the shot region does not include the outer periphery of the substrate.

A forming apparatus forms a formable material using a mold including a contact region to be brought into contact with the formable material on a substrate. The apparatus includes a controller configured to perform processing of bringing the contact region and the formable material on the substrate into contact with each other. The controller controls the processing so as to bring the mold and the substrate close to each other at a first relative speed and then bring the mold and the substrate close to each other at a second relative speed lower than the first relative speed, and controls switching from the first relative speed to the second relative speed so as to compensate a manufacturing error of the mold.

Disclosed herein is a method comprising transporting a conduit and a template through a guide tube; the template being disposed on an outer surface of the conduit between the conduit and the guide tube; and transferring a texture from the template to the conduit as the conduit and the template are transported through the guide tube. Disclosed herein too is an apparatus comprising a guide tube; the guide tube being operative to facilitate a transfer of a pattern from a template to a conduit; a first feed spool and a first take-up spool for feeding the conduit through the guide tube and for taking up the conduit after it has travelled through the guide tube respectively; and a second feed spool and a second take-up spool for feeding the template through the guide tube and for taking up the template after it has travelled through the guide tube respectively.

Provided is a resin for nanoimprinting, which is capable of preventing removal of a transfer-receiving resin from a substrate when a mold is separated during nanoimprinting, and which is also capable of transferring a pattern on a mold to a transfer-receiving resin with high accuracy during thermal nanoimprinting, while improving the throughput. A resin for nanoimprinting, which is represented by formula (1). ##STR00001## (In the formula, each of R.sub.1-R.sub.5 independently represents —H or —OH, and at least one of the R.sub.1-R.sub.5 moieties represents —OH; R.sub.6 represents a linear, branched or cyclic alkyl group having 1-20 carbon atoms, an aryl group having 6-20 carbon atoms or an aralkyl group having 7-20 carbon atoms; X represents an amide or an ester; Y may be absent, or represents an amide or an ester; P represents an integer of 1-10; and each of m and n represents an integer of 1 or more.)

A synthetic nonwoven fabric having bonded fibers forming channels surrounding unbonded fibers forming raised slip resistant spots. The fabric is made by extruding hot polymer through a spinneret die onto a moving belt to form a sheet of random fibers, which sheet undergoes a calendering process between a pair of heated rollers, one of which rollers having a plurality of cavities defined in its surface. The resulting fabric can be laminated and otherwise combined with other layers as desired to provide an end product having good slip resistant properties.

Forming features in the surface of a bicycle component involves depositing a substance onto a substrate in a geometric pattern to form a transfer medium. Forming features may also involve positioning the transfer medium relative to an unformed bicycle component, and forming a negative of the geometric pattern in the bicycle component through the application of heat and/or pressure to the transfer medium and the unformed bicycle component. The transfer medium may be configured for use in the molding of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (“CFRP”) bicycle components and may include a substrate formed of a flexible material, and a geometric pattern formed of a hard material, the hard material different than the flexible material.

An imprint apparatus that molds an imprint material on a substrate with a mold, the imprint apparatus including a applying device that includes a discharge surface in which a discharge opening is formed, the applying device applying the imprint material to the substrate through the discharge opening, and a measuring device that measures the position of the discharge opening by having the measuring device measure a position of an uneven structure formed in a protruded shape or a recessed shape with respect to a direction perpendicular to the discharge surface.