A foil transfer device which transfers foil onto a sheet is disclosed herein. When a nip/release mechanism moves a first roller and starts causing a foil film to be pressed against a confined surface region on a sheet, located apart from a leading edge of the sheet, a controller executes: a first process of causing a conveyor roller to start conveyance of the sheet, while the first roller is positioned in a separate position; a second process of causing the conveyor roller to stop conveyance of the sheet before a foil transfer area reaches a transfer position; a third process of causing the nip/release mechanism to start moving the first roller from the separate position to a nipping position while the conveyance of the sheet is stopped; and a fourth process of causing the conveyor roller to restart conveyance of the sheet before the first roller reaches the nipping position.

The present invention relates to a refined product comprising a substrate having a pattern of a lacquer layer, and a hot stamping foil layer located on the lacquer layer, the lacquer layer having been obtained by inkjet printing from an aqueous lacquer composition comprising a binder composition comprising a polyacrylate and a polyurethane, at least one humectant, and water, the lacquer composition having a binder solids content of at least 20% by weight, preferably at least 30% by weight, based on the total weight of the lacquer composition. The present invention further relates to a process for producing said refined product.

Methods, apparatus and system for decorating plastic articles having an uneven surface or hollow structure are disclosed. An assembly comprising a transfer pad and a flexible heat transfer die comprising a thermal interface material (TIM) replace the hard rubber die in a hot-stamping process to fuse indicia into the surface. The assembly modifies ordinary pad printing into a hot-stamping process that transfers indicia onto uneven surfaces. A pad printing machine or other robotics is used to move the assembly from a position of heating to a position of compressing the ink transfer to the surface of the article.

The device for hot stamping a part of a vehicle body is provided. The device includes a strip including a carrier film and a decorative film; at least one motorized arm capable of moving; at least one head mounted movably in rotation on one end of the arm, the head comprising pressure means capable of applying pressure on the strip; and means for unwinding the strip in front of the head.

An image forming apparatus includes a housing, a toner image forming portion, a foil transfer unit, a sheet tray, and a discharge portion. The toner image forming portion is provided in the housing and configured to form a toner image on a sheet. The foil transfer unit is configured to superpose a foil with a surface of the sheet. The sheet tray is installable in the housing in an inserting direction and configured to accommodate a sheet to be supplied to the toner image forming portion. The first discharge portion is configured to discharge the sheet from the foil transfer unit to the outside of the housing in a discharging direction opposite to the inserting direction. The second discharge portion is configured to discharge the sheet from the toner image forming portion to the outside of the housing without passing through the foil transfer unit in the discharge direction.

An optical device is formed by hot stamping a demetallized hologram to an optically variable foil or to a coating of optically variable ink. In another embodiment a hologram is hot stamped to a banknote or document printed with a color-shifting ink.

A printed material includes a base material, an image layer, and an adhesive layer. The image layer includes an image of a first shape. The adhesive layer has a second shape. The image layer and the adhesive layer are on opposite sides of the base material.

An image forming apparatus includes a housing, a toner image forming portion, a foil transfer unit, a sheet tray, and a discharge portion. The toner image forming portion is provided in the housing and configured to form a toner image on a sheet. The foil transfer unit is configured to superpose a foil with a surface of the sheet. The sheet tray is installable in the housing in an inserting direction and configured to accommodate a sheet to be supplied to the toner image forming portion. The first discharge portion is configured to discharge the sheet from the foil transfer unit to the outside of the housing in a discharging direction opposite to the inserting direction. The second discharge portion is configured to discharge the sheet from the toner image forming portion to the outside of the housing without passing through the foil transfer unit in the discharge direction.

The invention describes a process for recycling a transfer product (1) and a transfer product (1) suitable for it having a non-water-soluble carrier film (2) and a non-water-soluble transfer ply (4) at least partially arranged on the carrier film (2), wherein a water-soluble detachment layer (3) is arranged between the carrier film (2) and the transfer ply (4) and wherein the following step is carried out in the process:

x) dissolving the water-soluble detachment layer (3) by means of a washing liquid (6), preferably in a washing liquid bath, wherein the transfer ply (4) is detached from the carrier film (2).

A method includes storing, in a database, different design templates. Each template includes (i) a print component configured to be printed and (ii) a foil component configured to be foil-stamped. The print component of each design template is associated with inner crop marks and outer crop marks. The foil component of each template is associated with alignment marks that are configured to be aligned with the inner crop marks for the respective template. Both the foil component and the foil alignment marks are embossed on a foil-press die.