Ink metering assembly for printing press

In an ink fountain the combination comprising a frame defining a horizontal slot having parallel walls, a fountain roller rotatable in the frame adjacent the slot, a metering assembly mounted in the slot and having a presented front edge arranged in abutting relation with the surface of the roller, the frame being shaped to support a body of ink adjacent the metering assembly so that a film of ink is formed on the roller by the assembly as the roller is rotated, the metering assembly being in the form of a series of rectangularly shaped slides arranged side by side in coplanar relation with their laterial edges lying closely adjacent one another so that the presented front edge is substantially continuous, the lateral edges of the slides adjacent the front ends thereof being formed with registering notches of uniform size, the registering notches being occupied by slightly oversized buttons of resilient sealing material, the resilience of the oversized buttons tending to spread the slides slightly away from one another to establish uniform spacing between them, vertical end plates at the respective ends of the assembly for clamping the slides together with the buttons of resilient material in compression with the lateral edges of the slides in free relatively sliding relation and so closely spaced as to seal the assembly against leakage of ink, and cam assemblies at the rear ends of the slides for individually adjusting the position of each slide with respect to the fountain roller thereby to meter ink in predetermined thickness in respective zones upon the fountain roller.