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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
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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:
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A print plate for a cylinder-based printing system formed by the method of claim 29, the plate comprising an integral field of mechanical fasteners that form a mechanical bond with a print sleeve or print cylinder having a corresponding field of mechanical fasteners.
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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.
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A print plate for a printing system, the 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 plate and proximate edges of the plate, and wherein concentration of the metal pieces at the edges is higher than a concentration of metal pieces elsewhere in the plate.
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Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.