Arrangement for supplying ink to the printing plate of a printing press

In an inking system for a lithographic printing press, the combination comprising a main frame, a plate cylinder journalled in the main frame and having a plate mounted thereon, the plate having a non-ink accepting column position, a source of dampening fluid having means for applying dampening fluid the width of the plate, a source of ink, an ink form roller in rolling engagement with the plate, means including a series of rollers for conveying a film of ink from the source to the form roller for applying ink the width of the plate accompanied by a tendency toward emulsification of the ink on the form roller in the non-ink accepting column position, the conveying means also including an ink drum interposed early in the series of rollers, a relatively narrow endless ink belt presenting a flat ink-accepting surface, a pair of correspondingly narrow guide rollers widely spaced from one another for supporting the belt in an elongated loop, a subframe for journalling the guide rollers, a cross bar on the main frame, the subframe being slidable on the cross bar into a position in which the narrow ink belt is aligned with the non-ink accepting column position on the plate, a narrow roller segment on the subframe, said roller segment being in rolling engagement with the plate at a position adjacent the downstream side of the form roller and also in rolling engagement with one end of the loop of belt to remove from the plate ink, particularly any emulsified ink, which may be applied by the form roller to the non-ink accepting areas in the column position, the other end of the loop being in ink-transferring relationship to the ink drum for transferring the removed ink to the drum thereby to prevent contamination of non-inked areas of the plate in the non-ink accepting column position.