Screen print table with conveying and sheet registering means

Claim 1

A screen printing apparatus comprising a table having a top surface with plurality of apertures, therethrough means connecting each of said apertures with a vacuum source, said table top surface having a plurality of elongated openings, a pair of belt conveyors which are parallel and are provided through said elongated table openings for feeding a sheet material to be printed on said table, first stop means for checking the feeding movement of the sheet material fed onto said table by said belt conveyors, means to move said first stop means vertically, a second stop means provided at one end of said table parallel to said belt conveyors, a diverting means for pushing the sheet material against said second stop means, means for lifting said table to a predetermined printing position with said belt conveyors remaining below the top surface of said table, a screen provided above said table, and a squeegee above said screen and movable in a direction transverse to the feed movement of said belt conveyors, wherein said second stop means is a plate having a flat upper surface whose level is on the same horizontal plane as the upper surface of the sheet material when said table is lifted to said predetermined printing position; said table having a plurality of slots, and said diverting means comprises a flat upper plate and vertical plates attached to said flat upper plate and guided through said slots formed in said table for pushing the sheet material against said second stop means, said flat upper plate having substantially the same thickness as the sheet material, whereby in said printing position the squeegee may move smoothly over the flat surface formed by said upper surface of said second stop means, said upper surface of the sheet material and the upper surface of said flat upper plate of said diverting means.