A marking machine for marking an article and a method of operating the same. The marking machine has a marking head including a support and at least one punch. The marking machine also includes a positioning system configured to position the article with respect to the punch. The punch has rotational mobility about an axis of rotation that is fixed with respect to the support.

A laser-engravable pad printing plate comprising at least (a) a metal support, (b) an adhesion layer, (c) a laser-engravable recording layer having a layer thickness of 20 m to 200 m, (d) a cover film,
characterized in that the laser-engravable recording layer (c) comprises (c1) 40 to 95 wt % of a polyvinyl alcohol, (c2) 5 to 50 wt % of an IR absorber, (c3) 0 to 30 wt % of an inorganic filler, (c4) 0 to 20 wt % of a crosslinker, and (c5) 0 to 10 wt % of further additives.

A pad printing device includes: a jig body having a jig recess in an upper surface thereof; a pad on the jig body; and a plurality of guide pins on side portions of the jig body. The jig recess is configured to accommodate a window, and the guide pins are configured to reciprocate toward the jig recess.

A method for fabricating a composite timepiece or jewellery component: a base is made in a substrate with an apparent surface remaining visible; each visible apparent surface is mirror polished; each polished apparent surface is coated with a first transparent or coloured semi-transparent layer of a first material in a dry process, or PVD or CVD or ALD process, or lacquering or zapon varnish process; a decorative element is affixed and bonded to an external surface of the first layer; the first layer and each decorative element is coated with a second layer of a transparent treatment material in a dry process, or PVD or CVD or ALD process, or lacquering or zapon varnish process.

A cover glass printing pad, a method of manufacturing the cover glass and the cover glass are provided. The cover glass printing pad includes a jig portion, a body portion in which a first surface contacts the jig portion and at least a part of a second surface is parallel to the first surface and a pad portion including an outer frame portion disposed on at least one side of the body portion and protruding in a first direction perpendicular to the second surface.

A pad printing machine (1) to print an object (8) in at least two stages, said machine comprising at least one printing pad (6) to print said object and at least two printing plate zones (10) within each of which a printing plate (14) may be moved into the desired position, the pad printing machine furthermore comprising an image recorder (44) generating an image of at least a partial area of at least one printing plate zone (10), and a comparator (46) to compare the image generated by said recorder (44) with reference data.

An offset printing method is provided that, while using an ink with a viscosity that allows for printing of a print image on a printing plate by an ink-jet process, enables a precise print image to be transferred from the printing plate to a print medium by use of a printing blanket. The offset printing method includes a printing-plate making step of printing an inked image on a printing plate by an ink-jet process, an ink drying step of evaporating a solvent contained in the ink of the inked image to increase the viscosity of the ink, a transferring step of transferring the inked image to the surface of a printing blanket, and a printing step of pressing the printing blanket against a print medium.

A printing apparatus includes: a printing pad having a surface that is deformable to a shape of a surface to be printed; a printing original plate having a surface on which ink is placed; a plate stage on which the printing original plate is placed; a printing stage on which an item to be printed is placed; and a head configured to print an image on the printing original plate by an ink jet system. The printing pad is configured to be moveable between an area above the plate stage and an area above the printing stage, and to move perpendicularly to and vertically from and to the plate stage or the printing stage. The head includes a plurality of storage portions to store each of a plurality of inks including intermediate color ink, and nozzles configured to discharge each of the plurality of inks toward the printing original plate.

A new method of combining pad printing with digital printing is presented, where the pad printer lays down a layer of ink and adhesive primer to accept the digital image. The pad printed surface is baked and a high-definition digital image is printed on top of the primer coat. The result is clear-coated and the coating treated with UV curing.

A method and system for printing multiple-color at multiple positions on a golf ball is disclosed herein. A printing station of the system and method is capable of printing as many as twenty different colors in a single cycle. The printing station preferably has a four stamping stations, four curing stations and four reorientation stations.