Arrangement for metering the ink quantity in inking units on printing presses

In an ink fountain combination comprising a frame defining a generally horizontal slot having parallel walls, a fountain roller rotatable in the frame adjacent the slot and having means for slowly driving the same, a metering assembly mounted in the slot and having a presented front edge arranged in abutting relation to 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 flat slides fitted in the slot and arranged side by side in coplanar relation with their lateral edge lying closely adjacent one another so that the preferred front edge is substantially continuous, means at the rear ends of the respective 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 foundation roller, the front portion of each slide having embedded therein a blade of wear-resistant spring metal, each said slide having a tip portion formed of a generally rectangular piece of resilient material, the tip portion of each slide being relieved in the region just behind the blade to accomodate rearward flexing movement of the blade, such relief being provided by a transverse groove substantially filled with a yieldable strip of soft material flush with the top surface of the groove such that each slide presents only planar surfaces free of nooks and crannies behind the blade, the blade being coextensive with the width of the slide and so oriented in the slide as to present a flat face to the fountain roller defining with the fountain roller a sharply acute cusp faced in such direction that the surface of the roller moves out of the cusp so that (a) when the slide is slightly retracted from the fountain roller in a metering mode a gap is created for the feeding of a film or ink on the roller surface at a metered rate which depends upon the degree of retraction and so that (b) when the slide is advanced to close the gap in a sealing mode the edge of the blade bears against the surface of the fountain roller flexing broadwise resiliently and accommodatingly to achieve a seal between the blade and the fountain roller with only a limited reaction force being exerted between them.