Doctor band displaceable parallel to cylinder's axis of rotation

A rotary intaglio printing machine including at least one printing mechanism having a rotary plate cylinder having an axis of rotation and a peripheral printing surface, and a doctor arrangement comprising:

• an elongate doctor bar extending along the plate cylinder adjacent thereto in at least substantially parallel relationship with the axis of rotation thereof and having a slot extending in the doctor bar along the longitudinal direction of the doctor bar;
• a respective winding device arranged in the region of each of the ends of the plate cylinder;
• and a doctor for scraping ink from the peripheral surface of the plate cylinder;
• the doctor comprising an elongate doctor band which is of a length substantially greater than the axial length of the plate cylinder and which is so flexible that it can be wound and unwound about axes extending transversely to its longitudinal direction, the doctor band being disposed in the slot in the doctor bar and moved slidably in the longitudinal direction thereof by being wound between one of said winding devices and the other of said winding devices;
• said doctor arrangement further comprising means to switch from a first feed speed for the doctor band corresponding to a normal operating condition to a second higher feed speed, to move a defective location of the doctor band quickly out of the region of contact with the plate cylinder.