Elongated carrier with a plurality of spot-sources of heat for use with stereolithographic system

Claim 1

An improvement for use in a stereolithographic system for producing a three-dimensional object from a heat curable fluid medium which is capable of solidification when subjected to heat, the stereolithographic system including: a. a computer-aided design controller which generates a plurality of sets of output signals each set of which corresponds to one of a plurality of successive cross-sectional laminae of a three-dimensional object; b. a container which has a front wall, a rear wall and two side walls and which is filled with the heat curable fluid medium the surface of which provides a designated working surface; c. an elevator platform which is movably coupled to the container and which is disposed in the heat curable fluid medium; and d. a servo mechanism which incrementally drives the elevator platform in response to the output signals, said improvement comprising: a. an elongated carrier which has a bottom surface and which is disposed perpendicular to the two side walls and parallel to the front and rear walls of the container; b. driving means for incrementally driving said elongated carrier along the two side walls of the container in response to the output signals; c. a plurality of spot-sources of heat, each of said spot-sources of heat being individually switched on and serially disposed on and fixedly coupled to said bottom surface of said elongated carrier adjacent to the designated working surface; and d. switching means for individually switching on each of said spot-sources of heat in response to each set of output signals whereby said bottom surface of said elongated carrier travels across the plane of the designated working surface in order to produce a cross-sectional lamina and when the cross-sectional lamina has been produced the elevator platform moves incrementally down the thickness of one of the cross-sectional laminae in order to produce the next cross-sectional laminae.