Web fed rotary printing press with movable printing units
AssigneeHeidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
InventorCharles Henry Dufour
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention is directed to a multicolor web fed rotary printing press having printing units that can be moved along a linear section of a web by a positioning mechanism to allow easy access to each of the printing units. The easy access to the printing units significantly reduces maintenance costs and downtime of the press. In addition, the invention provides a printing press that has a reduced overall size and allows the printing units to be arranged in a nested formation during printing operations. This nested formation reduces fanout and paper waste. The linear web section can be oriented vertically or horizontally.
Claims20
A web fed rotary printing press for printing images on a web, comprising:
- a first printing unit for printing a first color on the web;
- a second printing unit for printing a second color on the web;
- and
- a lifting and positioning system for moving the first and second printing units relative to each other along a path of the web;
- wherein the web path is substantially linear through the printing units, and the web path is substantially vertical, and wherein each of the first and second printing units comprises at least one blanket cylinder, at least one plate cylinder associated with the at least one blanket cylinder, and at least one inker unit arranged to supply ink to the at least one plate cylinder.
A method for accessing a web fed rotary printing press having a plurality of printing units movably arranged along a substantially linear section of a web for receiving images from the printing units, comprising the steps of:
- providing the plurality of printing units each printing unit comprising at least one blanket cylinder, at least one plate cylinder associated with the at least one blanket cylinder at least one inker unit arranged to supply ink to the at least one plate cylinder, and at least one drive motor;
- moving at least one of the printing units along the linear section to separate two adjacent printing units with a distance sufficient to allow access to at least one of the two adjacent printing units;
- and
- controlling the drive motors based on movement of the printing units along the web section to maintain a registration between the web and the printing units.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.