Printing plate picking system and process

A printing plate picking mechanism, comprising:

• (i) plate transport pinch rollers adapted to direct a printing plate along a plate transport path;
• (ii) a paper disposal unit;
• (iii) a plate cassette stacking mechanism including:
• (a) an array of plate cassettes, each plate cassette adapted to hold a plurality of printing plates separated by intervening sheets of paper;
• and
• (b) a plate cassette movement mechanism adapted to move a selected plate cassette to a printing plate loading position thereby exposing a leading edge of a topmost printing plate in the selected plate cassette;
• (iv) a plate picker adapted to contact and hold the leading edge of the topmost printing plate and transport it to the plate transport pinch rollers in a first direction and orientation along the plate transport path while maintaining said orientation;
• (v) a paper picking unit including;
• (a) a paper picker adapted to contact and hold a leading edge of a topmost sheet of paper in the selected plate cassette and transport the sheet of paper in said first direction along a paper transport path as said plate held by said plate picker is transported to said plate transport pinch rollers, such that said paper and printing plate are transported substantially simultaneously;
• and
• (b) a plate guide positioned above the paper picker, said plate guide forming a part of said plate transport path, wherein the printing plate held by said plate picker is transported over said plate guide to said plate transport pinch rollers, said plate transport path being located on a first side of said plate guide and said paper transport path being located on a second side of said plate guide opposite to said first side, wherein said plate held by said plate picker is transported along said first side of said plate guide as said paper held by said paper picker is transported along said second side of said plate guide in said first direction;
• and
• (vi) an alignment system adapted to move the array of plate cassettes or the plate picker and the paper picking unit in a vertical direction to align the plate picker and the paper picking unit with the selected plate cassette.