Planetary inker for offset printing press

In an offset printing press having a blanket cylinder, a plate cylinder rotating in contact with the blanket cylinder, and ink fountain means, the combination therewith of a planetary inker for supplying ink to a plate on the plate cylinder from the ink fountain means without significant ghosting and comprising:

• a single rubber coated ink form roller positioned to rotate in rolling contact with the plate on said plate cylinder,
• said ink form roller being of greater diameter than said plate cylinder,
• a first gear coupled to said ink form roller at one end thereof in axial relationship thereto for effecting rotation of the ink form roller,
• said first gear having an effective diameter approximately equal to that of the ink form roller;
• a second gear secured to said plate cylinder axially thereof, of approximately equal diameter to that of the plate cylinder and in operable intermeshing relationship to the first gear to effect rotation of the ink form roller at the same surface speed as that of the plate cylinder;
• a series of metal distributor rollers of varisized diameters around and in rolling contact with the form roller, one of the distributor rollers being operably associated with
• the ink fountain means for receiving ink therefrom and supplying such ink to the form roller at a controlled rate,
• there being at least six distributor rollers of which at least two form a pair that are longitudinally oscillatable vibrator rollers in circumferentially spaced relationship about the periphery of the form roller and at least one non-oscillatable distributor roller between each adjacent pair of oscillatable vibrator rolls;
• a planetary gear secured to an end of each of the vibrator rolls, of approximately the same diameter as a respective vibrator roller and located to intermesh with said first gear on the ink form roller to cause all of the vibrator rollers to rotate at the same surface speed as the ink form roller and said plate cylinder;
• and
• gear drive means for positively driving at least one of said first and second gears.