Dyestuff applicator for screen printer

Claim 1

In a printing machine, in combination: a movable printing screen provided with apertures for the passage of dyestuff to an underlying substrate; a dyestuff-supplying tube spacedly overlying a limited area of contact between said screen and said substrate; applicator means mounted on said tube for facilitating the penetration of said dyestuff through said screen in said area of contact, said applicator means comprising a metallic doctor blade extending substantially radially downward from said tube and curving in the direction of screen movement, said blade approaching said area of contact substantially tangentially to said screen and terminating in a free edge bearing resiliently upon said screen; elastic strip means hugging said blade on the concave side thereof for reinforcing same, said strip means having a thickness greater than that of said blade and extending over the major part of the blade surface with a curvature conforming to that of said blade and terminating short of said free edge thereof and of the inner screen surface, said tube being provided with a pair of radially extending lips clamping sections of said blade and of said strip means between them, said lips being angularly offset from the vertical in a direction opposite the direction of screen movement.