Method of mechanically joining the marginal portions of a blank of a printing plate for rotary printing, and printing plate thus produced

Abstract

The marginal portions of a printing plate for rotary printing are joined together to form a cylindrical printing plate, which can be mounted on a printing roller, for example, on a printing roller of extensible diameter. The joint is made by stripping the photosensitive coating of the printing plate at the two marginal portions forming a pocket in one marginal portion and inserting the other marginal portion, bent by about 90.degree., into the pocket. The joint can be made along a circumferential line of the cylinder or along a line which is inclined relative to the circumferential lines of the cylinder. The plate can be mounted with the bent-off and radially inwards-projecting marginal portions, or these marginal portions can be arranged at an inclination to the cylinder radius. The inlet between the two adjacent panels of the pocket is filled with a hardenable material. Thus, a joint is created which forms a continuous, smooth surface for the printing plate in the circumferential direction. The filling material can be removed after the printing plate has been used, so that storage of the printing plate as a flat plate becomes possible. Alternatively, the joint between the plate ends can also be made durable by introducing an adhesive between the marginal portions, in other thus to form a durable joint also in the axial direction.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.