The invention relates to a pad printing instrument comprising an ink supply system capable of control the temperature, viscosity and colorant concentration of an ink in an ink cup. Such controls are achieved by continuously adding and mixing a cold ink having a composition identical to the ink in the ink cup but having a lower temperature. The continuous addition of a small amount of a cold ink into the ink cup could compensate heat generated by the friction between the ink cup and a cliché and could minimize the evaporation of a diluent in the ink and change in the concentration of colorants in the ink and ink viscosity. The invention also relates to use of a pad printing instrument comprising an ink supply system of the invention for producing colored hydrogel or silicone hydrogel contact lenses.

The invention relates to a pad printing instrument comprising an ink supply system capable of control the temperature, viscosity and colorant concentration of an ink in an ink cup. Such controls are achieved by continuously adding and mixing a cold ink having a composition identical to the ink in the ink cup but having a lower temperature. The continuous addition of a small amount of a cold ink into the ink cup could compensate heat generated by the friction between the ink cup and a cliché and could minimize the evaporation of a diluent in the ink and change in the concentration of colorants in the ink and ink viscosity. The invention also relates to use of a pad printing instrument comprising an ink supply system of the invention for producing colored hydrogel or silicone hydrogel contact lenses.

An edible body marking device that forms a marking pattern on an edible body by scanning a laser spot. The marking pattern includes, as additional information, positional information of one or more index dots that are made by partially deforming or removing one or more dots of the laser spot, or newly adding one or more dots of the laser spot with respect to a basic pattern that is obtained by forming a plurality of the dots of the laser spot.

A conveyer mechanism (110) may include one or more composition inspection units provided along the intended product transport path. The product's composition, e.g., it's ink composition, is compared with a predetermined standard, to determine whether the product is acceptable. A bar code (48, 45.1, 47.1, 85) may be provided to an external surface of the article for identification/traceability purposes.

A conveyer mechanism (110) may include one or more composition inspection units provided along the intended product transport path. The product's composition, e.g., it's ink composition, is compared with a predetermined standard, to determine whether the product is acceptable. A bar code (48, 45.1, 47.1, 85) may be provided to an external surface of the article for identification/traceability purposes.

A tablet printing apparatus 1 includes an inspection unit 53 determining whether or not the printed tablet T is good product, a good product collecting device 43 collecting the tablet T of the good product from the carrying belt 31a, a defective product collecting device 41 collecting the tablet other than the good product from the carrying belt 31a, a discharge confirming sensor 41c detecting whether or not the tablet other than the good tablet is collected by the defective product collecting device 41, and a re-inspection product collecting device 42 collecting the tablet T other than the good product from the carrying belt 31 a when a collecting operation for collecting the tablet T other than the good product is performed by the defective product collecting device 41, and the discharge confirming sensor 41c detects that the tablet T other than the good tablet is not collected.

A tablet printing apparatus 1 includes an inspection unit 53 determining whether or not the printed tablet T is good product, a good product collecting device 43 collecting the tablet T of the good product from the carrying belt 31a, a defective product collecting device 41 collecting the tablet other than the good product from the carrying belt 31a, a discharge confirming sensor 41c detecting whether or not the tablet other than the good tablet is collected by the defective product collecting device 41, and a re-inspection product collecting device 42 collecting the tablet T other than the good product from the carrying belt 31 a when a collecting operation for collecting the tablet T other than the good product is performed by the defective product collecting device 41, and the discharge confirming sensor 41c detects that the tablet T other than the good tablet is not collected.

Embodiments of a method and system for applying patterns on the surfaces of articles and inspecting the patterns are disclosed. A laser irradiation system has a laser transmission element, irradiation zone and irradiation inspection element. A set of articles is positioned within the irradiation zone and irradiated with laser energy from the transmission element during an irradiation period. The irradiation causes interactions between a beam and the article surfaces which transiently generate localized illuminations at the article surfaces during the interactions. The interactions also collectively form post-irradiation patterns in the article surfaces that persist after the interactions. An irradiation inspection image of the irradiation zone is captured during the irradiation period by the irradiation inspection element. The irradiation inspection image includes illumination patterns defined by the localized illuminations. If an illumination pattern fails to match the corresponding target pattern to which it is compared, the respective article is rejected.

In a forward movement, an article is conveyed to a printing device via a transfer position while being kept mounted in a first holder for printing by the printing device. The article is returned to the transfer position together with the first holder after printing. An article to be printed after the above article is mounted into a second holder in parallel with at least a part of the forward movement, the printing and a return movement. This is capable of printing on the articles in a short throughput time also when the articles are those having a three-dimensional shape such as bottles and in-vehicle components.

A conveyer mechanism (110) may include one or more composition inspection units provided along the intended product transport path. The product's composition, e.g., it's ink composition, is compared with a predetermined standard, to determine whether the product is acceptable. A bar code (48, 45.1, 47.1, 85) may be provided to an external surface of the article for identification/traceability purposes.