Combined offset and flexographic printing and decorating system

Abstract

The present invention consists of a combined offset and flexographic printing apparatus. The preferred embodiment of the present invention provides apparatus for printing both quasi-random numbers and a plurality of different images on cylindrical objects. In this preferred embodiment, the invention consists of a cylindrical container printing and decorating press incorporating a blanket cylinder with a plurality of peripheral segments on which rubber offset blankets are mounted. A random number printing unit and a polygonal multi-image printing unit are provided between two segments of the blanket cylinder. Preferably, a plurality of random number/multi-image printing unit pairs are provided, one located between each pair of adjacent segments. A plurality of printing stations are arranged around the blanket cylinder, each featuring a master plate for transferring a single color image to the printing faces of the offset blankets, the random number printing units and the hexagonal multi-image printing units. The portion of the image transferred to the printing face of the offset blankets consists of the actual design being transferred to the printed objects. The resultant image transferred from the blanket cylinder to the object being printed is a combination of a pure offset image printed by the offset blankets of the printing cylinder together with flexographic images printed by the printing faces of the random number and hexagonal multi-image printing units.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.