Arrangement for determining register deviations of a multicolor rotary printing machine

Device for obtaining register deviations in a multi-color rotary printing machine having a plurality of printing units, including a last printing unit having a printing slot, comprising:

• an opto-electronic scanning device disposed behind the printing slot of the last printing unit, said opto-electronic scanning device disposed in alignment with a register mark line printed on a printing material, and formed of a plurality of reference marks, and a plurality of register marks, printed in respective colors of the printing units, and wherein said scanning device is operative for generating signals representing edges of the reference marks and the register marks caused by relative movement of the printing material relative to the scanning device;
• a signal processing device for processing the edges of the reference marks and register marks connected with said scanning device, for determining as an actual value, for each register mark the time distance of at least one signal edge from a respective signal edge of a reference mark;
• wherein the reference marks each have two parallel edges perpendicular to the relative movement of the printing material;
• wherein the reference marks are each printed in exactly one color and have a defined distance between adjoining reference marks;
• and
• wherein at least one reference mark is disposed between two register marks in close proximity thereto.