Anti-Marking Coverings for Printing Presses

A method of printing a sheet in a printing press having at least a first printing station applying a first color to the sheet, a second printing station applying a second color to the sheet and a plurality of cylinders for moving the sheet through and transporting the sheet between the printing stations, comprising:

• transporting the sheet to the first printing station;
• applying a first color to the sheet by the first printing station;
• applying a plurality of cylinders to move the sheet through the first printing station and transport the sheet to the second printing station, at least one of the plurality of cylinders including a sheet supporting covering, the sheet supporting covering having:
• an inner flexible material that is resilient to compressive forces, wherein the inner flexible material comprises a microcellular layer;
• and
• an outer flexible substrate layer provided on the inner flexible material and having a textured surface protruding from a first side in a direction away from the inner flexible material for supporting the freshly printed sheet material;
• wherein the sheet supporting covering is disposed on the transfer cylinder so that the inner flexible material faces in the direction of the transfer cylinder and the outer flexible substrate layer faces away from the transfer cylinder;
• applying a second color to the sheet by the second printing station.