EP0316515B1 - Farbübertragungswalze aus mit Kupfer beschichtetem anodisiertem Aluminium - Google Patents

Farbübertragungswalze aus mit Kupfer beschichtetem anodisiertem Aluminium Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0316515B1
EP0316515B1 EP19880112225 EP88112225A EP0316515B1 EP 0316515 B1 EP0316515 B1 EP 0316515B1 EP 19880112225 EP19880112225 EP 19880112225 EP 88112225 A EP88112225 A EP 88112225A EP 0316515 B1 EP0316515 B1 EP 0316515B1
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EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
roller
ink
metering roller
layer
anodized
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
EP19880112225
Other languages
English (en)
French (fr)
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EP0316515A1 (de
Inventor
Stanley H. Hycner
Thomas A. Fadner
Shem-Mong Chou
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Boeing North American Inc
Original Assignee
Rockwell International Corp
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Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Rockwell International Corp filed Critical Rockwell International Corp
Publication of EP0316515A1 publication Critical patent/EP0316515A1/de
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Publication of EP0316515B1 publication Critical patent/EP0316515B1/de
Expired legal-status Critical Current

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    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41N—PRINTING PLATES OR FOILS; MATERIALS FOR SURFACES USED IN PRINTING MACHINES FOR PRINTING, INKING, DAMPING, OR THE LIKE; PREPARING SUCH SURFACES FOR USE AND CONSERVING THEM
    • B41N7/00—Shells for rollers of printing machines
    • B41N7/06—Shells for rollers of printing machines for inking rollers
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41N—PRINTING PLATES OR FOILS; MATERIALS FOR SURFACES USED IN PRINTING MACHINES FOR PRINTING, INKING, DAMPING, OR THE LIKE; PREPARING SUCH SURFACES FOR USE AND CONSERVING THEM
    • B41N2207/00—Location or type of the layers in shells for rollers of printing machines
    • B41N2207/02—Top layers
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41N—PRINTING PLATES OR FOILS; MATERIALS FOR SURFACES USED IN PRINTING MACHINES FOR PRINTING, INKING, DAMPING, OR THE LIKE; PREPARING SUCH SURFACES FOR USE AND CONSERVING THEM
    • B41N2207/00—Location or type of the layers in shells for rollers of printing machines
    • B41N2207/10—Location or type of the layers in shells for rollers of printing machines characterised by inorganic compounds, e.g. pigments

Definitions

  • an integral and important means for controlling the input of ink to the inking rollers of the printing press involves the use of a celled metering roller. Sequential and continuous means are generally supplied to first overfill the well-defined cells in the surface of the metering roller with fresh incoming ink. A scraping or doctor blade is provided to remove virtually all of this excess ink from the metering roller excepting that residing in the cells and the ink-filled cells then transfer a known quantity of ink to an appropriate set of coextensive inking rollers.
  • the inking rolls in turn convey the ink as a more-or-less uniform film to the image areas of the printing plate, thence to the printing blanket, and then to the paper or other substrate being printed in a form corresponding to the image areas of the printing plate.
  • the inking rollers also serve to return that portion of the incoming ink not required to refresh the printing plate image format to a location in the inking system where it is continuously removed and returned to the input portion of the inking system for reuse.
  • Conventional lithographic inking systems do not utilize the removal and reuse components characteristic of keyless inking.
  • all successful lithographic inks when sampled from the inking system rollers are found to contain from about one percent to about as high as 50 percent of water, more or less, within and after a few revolutions to several thousand revolutions after start-up of the printing press.
  • some of the inking rollers must unavoidably encounter surfaces containing water, such as the printing plate, from which contact a more or less gradual buildup of water in the ink takes place, proceeding eventually back through the inking train, often all the way to the ink reservoir. Consequently, the presence of water in the ink during lithographic printing is a common and expected occurrence.
  • the first essential property for successful operation of a celled metering roller in keyless lithographic printing is the capability of forming and retaining correctly-dimensioned cells in the surface of the roller during manufacturing. This allows a known amount of ink to be delivered to the inking roller of the press.
  • the technology and art of selecting cell patterns, cell geometry, percentage of non-celled area termed lands or land area, and the like are well-known in the practice of printing with celled roller inkers. It is equally well-known that the three practical means for forming cells in an appropriate metering roller surface are mechanical engraving or knurling or embossing, diamond-stylus engraving or gouging or cutting, and laser engraving or energetic blasting of holes in the roller's surface.
  • One or another of the desired cell patterns and one of these three means for forming the cells are selected depending upon the materials' properties and the materials' requirements for the printing process under consideration.
  • a second requirement for a celled ink metering roller is resistance to wear erosion of the roller surface and therefore of the cells themselves caused by the scraping blade and by any inking rollers than may be running in physical interference with the metering roller.
  • this requirement translates into a hardness value of about Rockwell 70 or higher on the C scale.
  • Prior art technologies have utilized chromium plated over copper, nitriding of the steel surface, and flame-sprayed ceramic coatings such as chromium oxide, aluminum oxide or tungsten carbide. Achieving this hardness quality minimizes how often the metering roller must be replaced due to wear in order to maintain consistent day-to-day ink delivery performance of the keyless printing press system.
  • the surface of a metering roller to be used in the lithographic printing process must not only meet the first and second requirements but also must be oleophilic, or oil-loving, and hydrophobic, or water-repelling. This means that when both an oil-based lithographic ink and the dampening water are present at the metering roller's surface, the roller will tend to retain the ink rather than the water on and in its surface and thereby continue to function as an ink metering roller despite the presence of the water. None of the hard materials commonly used in flexographic, letterpress or gravure printing are suitable for use in lithography since they are all hydropholic.
  • flame-sprayed ceramic coatings applied over a steel base roller are naturally hydropholic and porous and therefore require treatment for instance with an adherent water-impermeable organic polymeric material that functions to seal the ceramic layer pores thereby protecting against diffusion of water through the ceramic to the steel core.
  • Another means for avoiding the effect of corrosion on a steel-based metering roller is to chemically render the steel surface simultaneously hard and corrosion resistant, for instance by nitriding the steel as disclosed by Fadner et al in US 4,537,127 and by Sato et al in US 4,637,310.
  • Chemical conversion of the steel surface to an iron nitride results in a hard surface layer that remains an integral part of the base steel roller and unlike the sharp boundary typical of an applied coating, has a naturally stronger diffuse or gradual boundary leading from the bulk steel to the hard nitrided surface layer.
  • This property together with the higher inherent resistance of nitrided steel to oxidative corrosion appropriately renders the surface of the base steel alloy both wear and corrosion resistant.
  • Rollers based on nitriding technology require prior mechanical engraving of the unhardened steel surface. Both these prior art technologies necessarily result in heavy finished meter rollers. Both also rely on use only of mechanical engraving to form the cells.
  • Fadner in US 4,601,242 discloses means for rendering the surface of a celled base roller hard and oleophilic and hydrophobic by applying a thin copper coating to the celled base roller followed by a thin porous flame-sprayed ceramic coating such as alumina over the copper.
  • the copper layer serves to protect or seal the steel from spurious corrosion due to the omnipresent water and presents an oleophilic and hydrophobic surface upon which to anchor the oily lithographic ink despite the presence of water once the ink has migrated through the thin, porous ceramic coating.
  • the outermost surface of the roller is celled because of the thinly applied coatings, hard because of the last applied ceramic material and once filled with ink functions as an oleophilic and hydrophobic surface for the subsequent metering of ink on press.
  • This technology is also limited to the art of mechanical engraving to form the cells and by stated example involves use of heavy steel base roller material.
  • This technology involves application of two distinct material layers and therefore has two interfacial boundaries, steel to copper and copper to ceramic, both of which could fail because of chemical or mechanical stresses imposed during manufacture or during use on a printing press.
  • Fadner in 4,567,827 avoids the perceived wear and corrosion disadvantages of uncoated engraved steel rollers by first applying to a suitably engraved base roller a hardenable electroless nickel layer, heating the roller to harden the nickel, then applying a thin copper layer on the nickel to supply the required oleophilic and hydrophobic properties.
  • any suitable base roller material such as a steel or aluminum alloy may be used.
  • Fadner has disclosed that at least some of the copper stays in place on the nickel during doctor blade scraping for up to 40 million printing impressions. It must however eventually wear off the relatively smooth nickel base coating, exposing the oleophilic but hydrophilic nickel layer, producing roller failure because the roller can no longer pick up ink in the presence of both ink and water. Additionally, this technology also has two interfaces that can potentially fail because of chemical and/or mechanical stresses, namely steel to nickel and nickel to copper.
  • a particular disadvantage in using a steel base roller to fabricate any celled metering roller for use in lithographic printing press systems is that the required cells cannot be formed by means of diamond-stylus technology.
  • steel alloys are too hard for practical, repetitive cutting by the diamond-stylus technique.
  • otherwise advantageous and relatively operating-independent, electronically-controlled diamond stylus techniques such as represented by Hell Helioklishograph and American Engraving and Machine Co., which are well-developed for use in cutting cells in softer metals such as copper for manufacture of rotogravure printing cylinders, are precluded from use in manufacture of most prior art ink metering rollers for keyless lithography.
  • This invention relates to method, materials and apparatus for metering ink in modern, high-speed, keyless, celled metering roller, lithographic printing press systems, wherein means are provided to make and use novel and advantageous celled metering rollers required in the operation of said systems.
  • the amount of ink reaching the printing plate is typically controlled primarily by the dimensions of depressions or cells in the surface of a metering roller and by a coextensive scraping or doctor blade that continuously removes virtually all the ink from the celled metering roller except that carried in the cells or recesses.
  • the ink metering roller of this invention is composed of an aluminum core of suitable length and diameter, engraved or otherwise manufactured to have accurately-dimensioned and positioned cells or recesses in its face surface and lands or bearing regions which comprise all the roller's face surface excepting that occupied by cells, which cells together with a scraping doctor blade serve to precisely meter a required volume of ink.
  • the metering roller core is anodized to form a hard oxidized face layer.
  • the anodized roller is then coated with an adherent, hydrophobic and oleophilic material layer, preferably composed substantially of copper.
  • a primary objective of this invention is to provide an improved and inexpensive manufacturing method and roller made therefrom that ensures the economically practical operation of a simple system for continuously conveying ink to the printing plate in keyless lithographic printing press systems.
  • Another object of this invention is to provide a light-weight metering roller with a surface that is sufficiently hard and wear-resistant to allow long celled-roller lifetimes despite the scraping, wearing action of a doctor blade and or inking rollers substantially in contact with it.
  • Another object of this invention is to provide material means whereby electronically controlled stylus engraving can be used to make celled rollers for keyless lithographic printing presses.
  • Yet another object of this invention is to provide material and method for assuring that aqueous lithographic dampening solutions and their admixtures with lithographic inks do not interfere with the capability of a celled ink-metering roller to continuously and repeatedly pick-up and transfer precise quantities of ink.
  • a still further object of this invention is to provide an improved light weight inking roll having a composite structure that combines high degrees of ink attraction and ink retention with a long wearing surface.
  • an inker configuration suited to the practice of this invention in offset lithography consists of an ink-reservoir or ink-fountain 10 and a driven ink-fountain roller 11, a press-driven oleophilic/hydrophobic engraved or cellular roller 12, a reverse-angle metering blade or doctor-blade 13, and friction driven form rollers 14 and 15, which supply ink to a printing plate 16 mounted on plate-cylinder 20 and this in turn supplies ink to for example a paper web 21 being fed through the printing nip formed by the blanket cylinder 25 and the impression cylinder 26. All of the rollers in Figures 1 and 2 are configured substantially parallel axially.
  • the celled metering roller 12 of Figures 1 through 5 is the novel element of this invention. It consists of mechanically engraved or diamond-stylus engraved or otherwise-formed, patterned cells or depressions in the face surface of an aluminum roller, the volume and frequency of the depressions being selected based on the volume of ink needed to meet required printed optical density specifications.
  • This special roller is made clear elsewhere in this disclosure and additionally in part, in Figures 3, 4 and 5 which depict suitable alternative patterns and cross-sections.
  • the celled metering roller will be rotated by a suitable driving mechanism at the same speed as the printing cylinders 20, 25 and 26 of Figure 1, typically from about 500 to 2000 revolutions per minute.
  • the doctor blade 13 depicted schematically in Figure 1 and in perspective in Figure 2 is typically made of flexible spring steel about 6 to 10 mils thick, with a chamferred edge to better facilitate precise ink removal. Mounting of the blade relative to the special metering roller is critical to successful practice of this invention but does not constitute a claim herein since doctor blade mounting techniques suitable for the practice of this invention are well known.
  • the doctor blade or the celled metering roller may be vibrated axially during operation to distribute the wear patterns and achieve additional ink film uniformity.
  • rollers 14 and 15 of Figure 1 are preferred in inking systems to help reduce ghosting in the printed images.
  • These rollers will generally be a resiliantly-covered composite of some kind, typically having a Shore A hardness value between about 22 and 28.
  • the form rollers preferably are mutually independently adjustable to the printing plate cylinder 20 and to the special metering roller 12 of this invention, and pivotally mounted about the metering roller and fitted with manual or automatic trip-off mechanisms as is well known in the art of printing press design.
  • the form rollers are typically and advantageously friction driven by the plate cylinder 20 and/or metering roller 12.
  • steel when used as the base roller material is subject to the deleterious corrosive influences of shipping, pressroom and dampening solution environments.
  • Steel rollers can weigh much more than one man can conveniently or safely handle even with mechanical lifting devices.
  • a surface-hardened engraved aluminum solid or pipe roller when overcoated with a thin copper coating will function to supply all of the necessary primary attributes for use in keyless lithographic ink-metering systems, namely engravability of the unhardened aluminum for accurate cell formation, surface hardness for wear resistance, oleophilic or oil-ink loving and hydrophobic or water-shedding.
  • the metering rollers made according to this invention are strong enough to withstand the mechanical forces when positioned in the keyless printing press system yet sufficiently light weight to readily accomplish installation to and removal from the press with less auxiliary equipment and less manual labor than heavy steel counterparts of the prior art.
  • aluminum rollers will weigh only about 22 to 62 Kg (about 50 to 135 pounds).
  • the base roller material one of the many aluminum alloys that are readily anodized, such as grades designated 2021, 6061 or 7075. Generally these will be aluminum alloys that have a suitable combination of mechanical strength, workability for engraving, and anodizability for hardening.
  • the base material Prior to anodizing, the base material is turned to a near net cylindrical shape then subjected to mechanical engraving or diamond stylus engraving to form the preselected cell pattern in the roller's surface.
  • Laser engraving of the aluminum roller may be employed but is more expensive and forms smaller-diameter cells or holes in the surface. Surface growth during subsequent anodizing would have a large negative effect on the cell carrying capacity partially negating the original intention of the engravature.
  • the engraved aluminum base roller is then subjected to one of the many well-known, often proprietary, anodizing operations to form a relatively rough, porous and hard oxide layer at and within the aluminum surface generally ranging from about one to three ⁇ m (microns) in depth.
  • anodizing about half of the anodized layer thickness formed corresponds to regions where the aluminum has been chemically eroded away from the surface and half of the layer thickness is formed by re-deposition of eroded aluminum and by uptake of oxygen to form the oxide.
  • a coating of surface hardness above about 70 on a Rockwell Hardness C scale can readily be formed, yet retain the basic dimensional integrity of the previously engraved cells.
  • the anodized aluminum surfaces are known to be both hydrophilic and oleophilic. Either ink or water will wet the surface and adhere thereto. In the presence of both oil and water, however, water will sooner or later displace or disbond oil and will also disbond lithographic ink from an anodized aluminum surface. This property explains why anodized aluminum sheet stock has become the standard for manufacture of lithographic printing plates. For the same reason, the roller at this stage of manufacture is not suitable for metering inks in keyless lithographic printing systems.
  • copper is an ideal oleophilic and hydrophobic material once it has been exposed to normal atmospheric environments.
  • a thin layer of copper is applied to an anodized engraved aluminum base roller either by electrolytic or electroless or vacuum deposition.
  • the doctor blade instead of the doctor blade rapidly striping off or wearing off the copper layer, the resulting metering roller functions as if it was composed of a single hard, oleophilic and hydrophobic material.
  • This not only provides a large surface area that enhances adhesion but also may provide minute hard aluminum oxide protrusions that extend through the copper layer which function to support the coextensive doctor blade and inking rollers, between which are valleys or interstices or pockets of copper which function to maintain the overall surface of the roller oleophilic and hydrophobic.
  • a 914.4 mm (36-inch) face length 112.3 mm (4.42 inch) diameter 6061T6 aluminum alloy roller was mechanically engraved by Pamarco, Inc., Roselle, N.J. using a standard 98.4 lines/cm (250 lines/inch), truncated quadrangular engraving tool, resulting in a patterned, celled roller face configuration similar to Figure 2.
  • the engraved roller was subsequently hardface processed by Webex, Inc.
  • the treatment results in a hard anodized engraved surface coating about 0.05 mm (0.002 in.) thick during which the roller radius increased more-or-less uniformly by about 0.025 mm (0.001 in.)
  • the engraved hardfaced celled roller was then cyanide copper electroplated by Krel Laboratories to produce a nominally uniform 0.008 mm (0.0003 in.) copper layer on the roller's outermost surface.
  • the roller was then fitted into the metering roller position of a keyless printing press configured similar to the Figure 1 illustration and used for printing 40,000 copies of typical format to demonstrate excellent ink carrying properties despite the presence of dampening water.
  • the roller was subsequently transferred to a non-printing but otherwise similar doctor blade scraping device and rotated first for ten million equivalent printing impressions, then removed to the printing press for print testing, then onto the wear device for another ten million impressions, and again print tested. All three print tests appeared virtually identical.
  • the roller exhibited excellent keyless inking printing results and no measurable wear nor loss of outermost copper layer.

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  • Inking, Control Or Cleaning Of Printing Machines (AREA)
  • Printing Plates And Materials Therefor (AREA)

Claims (6)

  1. Farbdosierwalze für die Verwendung beim zonenschraubenlosen lithographischen Drucken, im wesentlichen bestehend aus:
    a) einer gravierten Walze auf Aluminiumbasis mit geeignetem Durchmesser und geeigneter Länge, die eine anodisierte Außenfläche mit einer Härtre von wenigstens etwa 70 Rc aufweist,
    b) einer auf der anodisierten Schicht abgeschiedenen Kupferschicht.
  2. Farbdosierwalze nach Anspruch 1, bei welcher die anodisierte äußere Oberflächenschicht eine Dicke von etwa 1-3 µm hat.
  3. Farbdosierwalze nach Anspruch 1, bei welcher die anodisierte Außenflächenschicht im wesentlichen aus Aluminiumoxid besteht.
  4. Farbdosierwalze nach Anspruch 1, bei welcher die anodisierte Außenflächenschicht aus einem porösen Oxid besteht.
  5. Einfärbungssystem für die Verwendung beim lithographischen Drucken mit mehreren zusammenwirkenden Farbwalzen, von denen die eine eine Farbdosierwalze ist, enthaltend:
    a) eine gravierte Walze auf Aluminiumbasis mit geeignetem Durchmesser und geeigneter Länge, die eine anodisierte Außenfläche mit einer Härte von wenigstens etwa 70 Rc aufweist,
    b) eine auf der anodisierten Schicht abgeschiedene Kupferschicht.
  6. Verfahren zum Herstellen einer Farbdosierwalze für die Verwendung beim zonenschraubenlosen lithographischen Drucken, enthaltend:
    a) Vorsehen einer Walze auf Aluminiumbasis mit geeignetem Durchmesser und geeigneter Länge, die eine gravierte Außenfläche aufweist;
    b) Anodisieren der gravierten Außenfläche zur Bildung einer harten, porösen Aluminiumoxidschicht;
    c) Ablagern einer Kupferschicht auf der Oxidschicht an der Außenfläche.
EP19880112225 1987-11-13 1988-07-28 Farbübertragungswalze aus mit Kupfer beschichtetem anodisiertem Aluminium Expired EP0316515B1 (de)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US12027487A 1987-11-13 1987-11-13
US120274 1987-11-13

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0316515A1 EP0316515A1 (de) 1989-05-24
EP0316515B1 true EP0316515B1 (de) 1992-03-11

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ID=22389267

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Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP19880112225 Expired EP0316515B1 (de) 1987-11-13 1988-07-28 Farbübertragungswalze aus mit Kupfer beschichtetem anodisiertem Aluminium

Country Status (5)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0316515B1 (de)
JP (1) JPH074993B2 (de)
AU (1) AU610914B2 (de)
CA (1) CA1318182C (de)
DE (1) DE3869064D1 (de)

Families Citing this family (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE9305742U1 (de) * 1993-04-16 1993-06-17 Heidelberger Druckmaschinen Ag, 6900 Heidelberg Feuchtwerk für Offsetdruckmaschinen
JP4824725B2 (ja) * 2008-06-27 2011-11-30 証治 森 即席食品用包装容器の食後の容器と食べ残しの分別処理方法

Family Cites Families (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB371050A (en) * 1930-01-24 1932-04-21 Vogtlaendische Maschinenfabrik Improvements in or relating to the inking or colouring apparatus of printing machines
FR2218153B3 (de) * 1973-02-19 1975-10-24 Bertin & Cie
JPS59204558A (ja) * 1983-05-09 1984-11-19 Tokyo Kikai Seisakusho:Kk 平版印刷用メツシユロ−ル
US4601242A (en) * 1985-02-04 1986-07-22 Rockwell International Corporation Copper and ceramic composite ink metering roller
US4567827A (en) * 1985-02-04 1986-02-04 Rockwell International Corporation Copper and nickel layered ink metering roller
DE3615141A1 (de) * 1986-05-03 1987-11-05 Zecher Gmbh Kurt Farbuebertragungswalze mit oxidschicht

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
AU2008188A (en) 1989-05-18
EP0316515A1 (de) 1989-05-24
AU610914B2 (en) 1991-05-30
JPH074993B2 (ja) 1995-01-25
CA1318182C (en) 1993-05-25
JPH01150584A (ja) 1989-06-13
DE3869064D1 (de) 1992-04-16

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