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AssigneeVelcro BVBA
InventorsLuis Parellada Armela, Josep M. Soler Carbonell, Mark A. Clarner, Andrew P. Collins, Paul R. Erickson, Christopher M. Gallant, David Villeneuve
Estimating the term…
Techniques are disclosed for connecting a printing plate to a print cylinder or surface. The techniques may be implemented, for instance, with respect to a printing plate, a print cylinder, a print sleeve, or some combination thereof. In an embodiment, a field of mechanical fasteners is provisioned on a printing plate, and a complementary field of mechanical fasteners is provisioned on a print sleeve or cylinder. The mechanical fasteners collectively operate to provide a mechanical bond or interface that inhibits lateral and rotational movement of the plate during printing operations, and can also be configured to manage backlash between engaging surfaces of the interface. In some cases, backlash management includes use of cushion effect integral with the mechanical bond itself and/or unidirectional and possibly angled fastener elements to provide a snugging effect. The mechanical bond may be implemented with hook-and-loop, hook-and-hook, hook-to-channel, male/female-type fittings, vacuum, suction, and/or magnetics.
A fastening system for mounting a print plate to a print cylinder, comprising:
A method for forming a print plate for a cylinder-based printing system, the method comprising one of extruding a field of mechanical fasteners onto a print plate or a print plate blank, or co-extruding a field of mechanical fasteners and a print plate or print plate blank, the field of mechanical fasteners including metal pieces embedded within the print plate and at proximate edges of the print plate, and wherein concentration of the metal pieces at the edges is higher than a concentration of metal pieces elsewhere in the print plate, the field of mechanical fasteners configured to form a mechanical bond with a corresponding print machine element having a complementary field of mechanical fasteners, the magnetic metal pieces forming a magnetic bond with corresponding magnetic elements in the print machine element, the mechanical and magnetic bonds inhibiting lateral and rotational movement of the print plate with respect to the print machine element during printing operations.
A print plate for a printing system, the print plate comprising an integral field of mechanical fasteners that form a mechanical bond with a corresponding print machine element having a complementary field of mechanical fasteners, wherein the integral field of mechanical fasteners includes metal pieces embedded within the print plate and proximate edges of the print plate, and wherein concentration of the metal pieces at the edges is higher than a concentration of metal pieces elsewhere in the print plate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.