Printing device using endless belt-shaped printing plate, printing method thereof, and method for attaching belt-shaped printing plate

A printing method using an endless belt-shaped printing plate wound about a plate cylinder and a guide roller for printing on a continuous form supplied between the plate cylinder and an impression cylinder, wherein

• said plate cylinder and impression cylinder are each composed as a solid cylinder,
• said plate cylinder is provided with feed pins which are disposed in rows at an even pitch along an outer periphery of the plate cylinder at both ends in the axial direction of the plate cylinder so as to project out of the plate cylinder surface at least in a region opposite to the guide roller with respect to the plate cylinder,
• said endless belt-shaped printing plate is provided with pin feed holes formed at the marginal zones thereof, and moved and guided by sequentially engaging the pin feed holes with said feed pins of the plate cylinder, thereby guiding the movement of the endless belt-shaped printing plate, and
• an ink is applied onto a plate surface of the endless belt-shaped printing plate and transferred onto a continuous form supplied between the plate cylinder and the impression cylinder, thereby performing printing.

A method of attaching an elongated printing plate to form an endless belt-shaped printing plate wound about a plate cylinder and a guide roller, wherein

• said plate cylinder is provided with feed pins which are disposed in rows at an even pitch along an outer periphery of the plate cylinder at both ends in the axial direction of the plate cylinder so as to project and retract freely and guided by a fixed cam ring so as to project out of the plate cylinder surface at least in a region opposite to the guide roller with respect to the plate cylinder,
• an elongated resinous relief printing plate is provided with pin feed holes at an even pitch in marginal zones at both ends in its width direction along with a longitudinal direction, and also provided with a concavo-convex or zigzag unevenness pattern at both longitudinal ends thereof and along a width direction,
• said resinous relief printing plate is inserted from the guide roller side and moved to above and wound around the plate cylinder while engaging the pin feed holes of the resinous relief printing plate with the feed pins of the plate cylinder one by one,
• then, a front end of the resinous relief printing plate is taken out from between the plate cylinder and the impression cylinders, wound about the guide roller, and reversely returned toward the plate cylinder,
• the front end is abutted to and engaged with a rear end of the resinous relief printing plate, and an adhesive tape is applied over the front end and the rear end engaged with each other onto the printing surface side of the resinous relief printing plate, thereby joining the front and rear ends to form an endless belt-shaped printing plate, and
• then the guide roller is retreated from the plate cylinder to adjust a tension exerted to the endless belt-shaped printing plate, thereby attaching the endless belt-shaped printing plate to a printing apparatus.