Film and plate registration system

Abstract

A registration system for flexible printing plates includes a drill apparatus and a registration table which, used in conjunction, makes registration and mounting of flexible printing plates on plate cylinders relatively quick and easy. The drill apparatus includes a table with spaced, opposed drills slideably mounted on tracks in the table to accommodate different plate widths. The registration table includes a guide against which the plate cylinder is positioned and a slideably mounted plate mounting bar to which the flexible plate is pinned. The plate mounting bar is swept parallelly toward the cylinder guide and the plate rolled on to the cylinder, and adhered by double sided sticky tape. The pins affixing the plate to the mounting bar are removed and the remaining plate material rolled on to the cylinder. The process ensures that a selected longitudinal axis of the plate will be in registration, or aligned, with the longitudinal axis of the cylinder.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.