Method and apparatus for making spiral wound sleeves for printing cylinders and product thereof
AssigneeE. I. Du Pont de Nemours and Company
InventorRonald F. McConnell
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A printing sleeve for a flexographic printing process is prepared by spirally winding successive adhesive coated tapes onto a forming mandrel such that the outer tape covers the seam in the previous layer, providing heat to the thermoplastic adhesive layers at the initial contact point between two tapes, providing sufficient tension to ensure consolidation, and advancing the resultant printing sleeve off the mandrel by means of a drive belt.
Claims8
A sleeve for supporting flexible printing plates, said sleeve having inner and outer surfaces, said sleeve comprising a multi-layer structure with the outermost layer of said structure comprising:
- a first layer of resinous material of uniform thickness bonded to a second layer of resinous material of uniform thickness by a third layer of thermoplastic adhesive, said adhesive having a thickness that is in the range of from about 25% to about 70% of the sum of the thicknesses of said first, second and third layers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.