US 2002/0000170 A1Published application

Arrangement for providing and feeding transfer material for a thermographic process for producing printing plates on a plate cylinder

AssigneeMAN Roland Druckmaschinen AG

InventorsJosef Gottling, Thomas Hartmann, Franz Weissgarber

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

A first structural unit includes a laser image-setting head, and a second structural unit includes a loading compartment to accommodate a cassette housing having a thermal transfer ribbon on spools having hubs. After a cassette is inserted in the loading compartment, the compartment is closed so that drive rollers engage the hubs without play. To produce a printing plate, the second structural unit is then brought over the first structural unit in the manner of a telescope by a moving device, and the thermal transfer ribbon is brought to the laser image-setting head. The thermal transfer ribbon inserted into the loading compartment is guided by self-centering means so that it does not contact the cassette housing, and is positioned with respect to the plate cylinder by guide rollers. Wear-free and therefore fast ribbon guidance can be performed, and automation of the movement sequences of the thermal transfer ribbon can be achieved.

Claims17

Dependent claims

An apparatus for providing and feeding transfer material for a thermographic process for producing printing plates on a plate cylinder, said apparatus comprising

a first structural unit comprising a laser image setting head which can interact with a thermal transfer ribbon to apply transfer material thereon to said printing plate on said cylinder,
a second structural unit comprising a loading compartment to accommodate a cassette housing containing a thermal transfer ribbon on spools having hubs, means for positioning the thermal transfer ribbon with respect to said cassette housing, means for driving the spools, and means for centering the thermal transfer ribbon in said loading compartment without contacting said cassette housing,
means for moving the second structural unit over the first structural unit so that said cassette can be loaded into said second structural unit and said thermal ribbon can be positioned with respect to said laser image setting head, and
a traversing unit for moving said first structural unit along the plate cylinder so that an image can be transferred to said printing plate.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.