Multi-color printing method and system including a plurality of removable ink drums
AssigneeTohoku Ricoh Co., Ltd.
InventorsHironobu Takasawa, Manabu Wakamatsu
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Abstract
A multicolor printing method and system including a master making device having plurality of removable ink drums replaceable with each other and a printing device. The plurality of removable ink drums are fed with respective masters to be used for printing, by fixed master feeding devices smaller in number than the removable ink drums. The removable ink drums fed with respective masters are then used by the printing device for printing onto paper. The method and system provides multicolor printing with lower cost, reduced size and accurate registration between the respective masters, as compared to conventional methods and systems.
Claims14
A multicolor printing system, comprising:
- a first master making device capable of feeding a new master and discharging a used master and allowing at least one ink drum to be removably mounted thereto;
- a second master making device capable of feeding a new master and discharging a used master and allowing at least one ink drum to be removably mounted thereto;
- a multicolor printer adapted to be loaded with a plurality of different removable ink drums, one after the other, from the first and second master making device, but void of a master making arrangement including a master feeding function and a master discharging function;
- at least one ink drum shared by said first master making device and said multicolor printer;
- and
- at least one ink drum shared by said second master making device and said multicolor printer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.