EP1178887B1 - Lockable adapter sleeve - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to an impression cylinder adapter sleeve arrangement for a printing press for receiving a carrier sleeve for printing plates. Systems of this type are referred to as sleeve-on-sleeve systems or SOS systems , with the adapter sleeve being able to be pushed onto a pressure cylinder provided with air outlets by means of a compressed air cushion with elastic expansion, and the carrier sleeve for the printing plate then being pushed onto the adapter sleeve.

The carrier sleeves for printing plates are single or multi-layer built up, the wall thickness of which is to be used Printing cylinder diameter, the circumference to be printed (printing length), the printing plate to be used (cliché) and the accompanying adhesive tape for fixing the cliché on the Carrier sleeve determined.

In order not to support sleeves with correspondingly very different Outside diameters always the same outside diameter the pressure cylinder has to be adjusted, which is the case with large outer sleeve diameters necessarily with a considerable Weight and high cost associated with the carrier sleeves would be, the carrier sleeve with a very low Wall thickness formed and between the support sleeve and the Printing cylinder adapter sleeves with adapted diameters are used. Through a range of interchangeable adapter sleeves Only the thin-walled and light carrier sleeves with applied printing block be, resulting in significantly more economical warehousing leads.

Starting from such pressure cylinder adapter sleeve arrangements is the object of the invention, the assembly or disassembly of both the adapter sleeve on the printing cylinder as well as to simplify the carrier sleeve on the adapter sleeve, to make a very quick change from To achieve print jobs in the printing press.

This object is achieved by that described in claim 1 Device solved.

The special feature of this invention is the possibility of quick assembly and disassembly of adapter sleeve and carrier sleeve, which is achieved in that by the locking device between adapter sleeve and pressure cylinder these two components are rigidly connected to each other, so that pushed onto the adapter sleeve carrier sleeves or simply can be pulled down again without this undesirably pulled or moved the adapter sleeve becomes. The device according to the invention enables especially the use of only a single air connection in the pressure cylinder, which is used both for loading the between Inner cylinder forming pressure cylinder and adapter sleeve Air gap as well as that between the adapter sleeve and carrier sleeve forming outer air gap is used.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the Locking device a projection, which is preferably in Printing cylinder, but alternatively also provided in the adapter sleeve can be the one with a matching recess in the corresponding counterpart (pressure cylinder or adapter sleeve) interacts. The locking device is particularly preferred designed as a bayonet catch. At this Training, the locking device is designed such that when pushing on the adapter sleeve on the The cylinder protrudes into the axially exposed L-shaped Recess or groove is inserted after reaching the Stop position this locked in the circumferential direction Position is rotated. Then there are undesirable axial ones Relative movements between adapter sleeve and pressure cylinder are safe locked out.

Most conveniently, the projection is designed as a radial pin and attached to the impression cylinder and works with one provided in the inner surface of the adapter sleeve, L-shaped groove accessible from the front.

In order not to impair the wear resistance of the adapter sleeve, a ring element is preferably provided in which the L-shaped groove is embedded, and this ring element is otherwise in the manufacture of the adapter sleeve preferably made of fiber-reinforced plastic adapter sleeve molded or laminated into this.

To make the respective air cushions as practical as possible to enable, the pressure cylinder at least instructs its free end area (from where Adapter sleeve is started) at least one radial air outlet in its outer surface, being in the inner surface the adapter sleeve has an annular groove in place is the at least in the locked end position is opposite an air outlet in the pressure cylinder. This ring groove is radial with at least one, preferably several running air channels connected in the outer surface emerge from the adapter sleeve and serve between Adapter sleeve and carrier sleeve that facilitate the push-on process Training air cushions.

Also at the beginning of the slide-on process of the carrier sleeve the corresponding outer peripheral edge the adapter sleeve preferably bevelled.

Another preferred embodiment of the invention provides before that in the outer surface of the adapter sleeve radially opposite for the L-shaped groove a registration projection for the carrier sleeve is arranged.

Fig. 1:

eine schematische Seitenansicht eines Druckzylinders;

Fig. 2:

einen schematischen Längsschnitt durch eine Adapterhülse;

Fig. 3a:

eine schematische Darstellung der L-förmigen Nut;

Fig. 3b:

eine schematische Ansicht von der Stirnseite der Adapterhülse; und

Fig. 4:

eine Ansicht einer Trägerhülse mit aufgebrachtem Druckklischee.

The invention is further explained below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It shows:

Fig. 1:

is a schematic side view of a printing cylinder;

Fig. 2:

a schematic longitudinal section through an adapter sleeve;

Fig. 3a:

a schematic representation of the L-shaped groove;

3b:

a schematic view of the end face of the adapter sleeve; and

Fig. 4:

a view of a carrier sleeve with applied printing block.

1 shows a schematic side view of a printing cylinder 10 for a printing press. This essentially consists of a central hollow cylinder, on the two end faces of which two axes 12a, 12b are formed. At a distance a from one end face of the printing cylinder, a plurality of air outlet openings 14 are provided distributed around the circumference, which communicate with the cavity 16 located inside the printing cylinder 10 and indicated by dashed lines. This cavity 16 is connected via an air connection 18 provided in one axis 12b to a device (not shown) for generating or supplying compressed air. The pressure cylinder 10 also has a plurality of axially spaced further air outlet openings 20 in the embodiment shown. At the end of the pressure cylinder 10 opposite the air outlet openings 14 , a pin-like projection 22 is arranged at a distance b from the end face.

2 shows a schematic longitudinal section of the adapter sleeve 30 according to the invention, which essentially consists of three concentric shells, namely an inner sleeve 32 , a middle sleeve 34 and an outer sleeve 36 . The inner sleeve 32 preferably has a wall thickness of approximately 1 mm and is manufactured according to the method described in the European patent EP 0 366 395 A2 and particularly preferably consists of a fiber-reinforced plastic.

The second layer or middle sleeve 34 consists of an open-pore, compressible, preferably approximately 1 mm thick cell structure. This second compressible center sleeve 34 allows the inner sleeve 32 to expand when it is pushed onto the pressure cylinder 10 in the slide-on process described later.

The outer sleeve 36 , which may have different wall thicknesses after bridging to the support sleeve to be pushed on, is preferably made of fiber or polyester reinforced, dimensionally stable plastic.

In the area of the one axial end of the adapter sleeve 30 , a circumferential groove 38 is let in at a point which, when in the unlocked state pushed onto the pressure cylinder 10, lies above the air outlet openings 14 and communicates with a plurality of radially extending through bores 40 , which in turn lead to outlet openings 42 in FIG guide outer surface 44 of the adapter sleeve 30 .

At the opposite axial end, an annular element 46 is formed on the inside, in which the L-shaped groove 48 is embedded. The inner diameter of the ring element 46 is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the printing cylinder 10 .

It should be emphasized that FIGS. 1 and 2 are not to scale, since the through bore 50 arranged centrally in the adapter sleeve 30 has a diameter within the inner sleeve 32 that is slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the printing cylinder 10 .

At the point radially opposite the L-shaped groove 48, a pre-registration projection 52 is provided on the lateral surface 44 , which serves as a stop for the carrier sleeve 60 to be pushed on.

At the axial end of the adapter sleeve 30 , on which the circumferential groove 38 is provided, the outer circumferential edge of the adapter sleeve 30 is milled and accordingly has a chamfer 54 in order to facilitate the pushing on of the carrier sleeve 60 shown in FIG. 4.

In FIGS. 3a and 3b, the ring element 46 , which has a wide B and is preferably made of metal or hard plastic for wear reasons, is not shown to scale to FIG. 2. The shape of the L-shaped groove 48 can be clearly seen in FIG. 3a.

Finally, FIG. 4 shows a carrier sleeve 60 that can be pushed onto the adapter sleeve 30 and has an applied printing plate 62 . The inner diameter of the carrier sleeve 60 is shown by dashed lines 64 , which is slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the adapter sleeve 30 on the circumference of the lateral surface 44 .

The interaction of the elements according to the invention is like follows:

First, the cavity 16 of the pressure cylinder 10 is charged with compressed air via the air connection 18 , which can escape through the air outlet openings 14 and 20 . In this state, the adapter sleeve 30 - seen from the left in FIG. 1 - is pushed on, the adapter sleeve 30 being pushed on from the end face in which the L-groove 48 is provided.

During the slide-on process, the ring element 46 first comes onto the pressure cylinder 10 . Once the inner sleeve slid 32 is effected, which facilitates under elastic Zusammdrücken the central sleeve 34 and an expansion of the inner sleeve 32 with an air film between the pressure cylinder 10 and the adapter sleeve 30 is formed after passing through the air outlet openings 14 to further Aufschiebevorgang. During this push-on operation, the operating personnel must ensure that the free entry opening (FIG. 3b) of the L-groove 48 is axially aligned with the projection 22 in the pressure cylinder 10 , so that this projection 22 can enter the L-groove 48 . As soon as a further axial movement is no longer possible, the adapter sleeve 30 is rotated in the one possible direction in the circumferential direction, the projection 22 coming to rest on the closed end of the L-groove 48 . In this position, the adapter sleeve 30 is fixed axially immovably on the pressure cylinder 10 , even if an air cushion is still present between the two elements due to the air outlet through the air outlet openings 20 . In this end position, the circumferential groove 38 also lies radially above the air outlet openings 14 , so that the air emerging from the cavity 16 through the air outlet openings 14 can reach this circumferential groove 38 . The compressed air passes from the annular space of the circumferential groove 38 via the radial through bores 40 and exits via the outlet openings 42 in the same way from the outer surface 44 of the adapter sleeve 30 , as was the case with the air outlet openings 14 of the pressure cylinder 10 . Now, a thin carrier sleeve 60 with a fixed printing plate 62 can be axially pushed onto this adapter sleeve 30 , this pushing-on process being facilitated by the chamfer 54 . Again, as in the Aufschiebevorgang the adapter sleeve 30 serves the exiting through the outlet openings 42 of compressed air to form 60 an the Aufschiebevorgang Lightening compressed air cushion between lateral surface 44 of the adapter sleeve 30 and the carrier sleeve, with elastic deformation of the support sleeve 60 and printing plate 62nd The slide-on process is completed by the abutment of the front axial end of the carrier sleeve 60 on the registration projection 52 .

The particular advantage of the invention results from the fact that different carrier sleeves 60 can be exchanged very quickly and easily in this way, and these carrier sleeves 60 can be designed very easily and with a small wall thickness. When processing a new print job of the printing machine equipped according to the invention with a different diameter of the carrier sleeve 60 to be used, the adapter sleeve 30 is simply removed in the reverse order of the assembly process described above and replaced by another, then suitable adapter sleeve, which differs by a different thickness of the outer sleeve 36 , is otherwise constructed identically to the adapter sleeve 30 described here.

After the air supply has been released, the pressure cylinder 10 , adapter sleeve 30 and carrier sleeve 60 form a unit. All three elements are absolutely fixed to each other and secured against rotation. When switching on the air supply 18 during disassembly of the support sleeve 60, in turn, an air cushion forms between both the impression cylinder 10 and the adapter sleeve 30, as well as between the adapter sleeve 30 and support sleeve 60th The sole removal of the carrier sleeve 60 from the adapter sleeve 30 without aids and without also pulling the adapter sleeve 30 from the printing cylinder 10 is made possible without problems by the locking device according to the invention between the printing cylinder 10 and the adapter sleeve 30 .

• Die Innenhülse 32 erhält einseitig im axialen Bereich die Luftaustrittsöffnungen 40 des Druckzylinders 10 in der Innenseite eine ca. 5 mm breite und ca. 0,3 mm tiefe Umfangsnut 38.
• Nach Fertigstellung der Innenhülse 32 erfolgt das gleichmäßige Aufbringen der kompressiblen Zellstruktur der Mittelhülse 34.
• In einem weiteren Arbeitsgang erfolgt das Auflaminieren der dritten Lage bzw. Außenhülse 36 auf die vorgegebene Wandstärke bei gleichzeitigem Einlaminieren des vorgefrästen metallischen oder aus Kunststoff gefertigten Ringelements 46 gegenüber der Seite, in welche die Umfangsnut 38 eingearbeitet wurde.
• Der Innendurchmesser des Ringelements 46 sollte um ca. 0,2 mm größer sein als der Außendurchmesser des Druckzylinders 10, um ein einwandfreies Montieren und Demontieren zu gewährleisten.
• Nach erfolgter Schleifung der Mantelfläche 44 der Außenhülse 36 auf den Enddurchmesser werden in Höhe der Umfangsnut 38 vier bis sechs radiale Durchgangsbohrungn 40 mit einem Durchmesser von 1,5 bis 2 mm durch alle drei Hülsen 32, 34, 36 hindurch gelegt, so daß ein ungehinderter Luftstrom von der Durchgangsbohrung 50 zu den Austrittsöffnungen 42 gewährleistet ist.
• Im nächsten Arbeitsgang wird die Umfangskante 54, welche die Stirnseite der Adapterhülse 30 an der Seite, an der sich die Durchgangsbohrungen 40 befinden, mit der Mantelfläche 44 bildet, leicht angeschrägt, so daß das Aufschieben der Trägerhülse 60 erleichtert wird. Die Adapterhülse 30 erhält damit einen sogenannten Suchrand.
• Im letzten Schritt erfolgt dann das Einbringen eines Registriervorsprungs 52 aus Metall oder Kunststoff, der einen Durchmesser von 5,0 bis 6,0 mm und eine Höhe von ca. 3 mm aufweist, gegenüber der L-förmigen Nut 48. Dieser Registriervorsprung 52 dient zur Vorregistrierung für montierte Trägerhülsen 60.

The adapter sleeve according to the invention is manufactured in several process sequences. It is primarily a thick-walled sleeve, consisting of three plastic layers or sleeves. The manufacturing process of the adapter sleeve 30 has the following sequence:

• The inner sleeve 32 is provided on one side in the axial area with the air outlet openings 40 of the pressure cylinder 10 on the inside with an approximately 5 mm wide and approximately 0.3 mm deep circumferential groove 38 .
• After completion of the inner sleeve 32 , the compressible cell structure of the middle sleeve 34 is applied evenly.
• In a further operation, the third layer or outer sleeve 36 is laminated to the predetermined wall thickness while the pre-milled metallic or plastic ring element 46 is laminated in opposite the side into which the circumferential groove 38 has been machined.
• The inner diameter of the ring element 46 should be approximately 0.2 mm larger than the outer diameter of the pressure cylinder 10 in order to ensure proper assembly and disassembly.
• After dismantling of the jacket surface 44 of the outer sleeve 36 to the final diameter, 38 are four having a diameter of 1.5 to 2 mm in height of the circumferential groove to six radial through Bohrungn 40 through all three sleeves 32, 34 36 defined therethrough, so that an unimpeded Air flow from the through hole 50 to the outlet openings 42 is ensured.
• In the next step, the peripheral edge 54 , which forms the end face of the adapter sleeve 30 on the side on which the through bores 40 are located, with the lateral surface 44 , is slightly chamfered, so that the sliding on of the carrier sleeve 60 is facilitated. The adapter sleeve 30 thus has a so-called search edge.
• In the last step, a registration protrusion 52 made of metal or plastic, which has a diameter of 5.0 to 6.0 mm and a height of approximately 3 mm, is then introduced opposite the L-shaped groove 48 . This registration projection 52 serves for pre-registration for mounted carrier sleeves 60 .

Claims (14)

1. A printing cylinder adapter sleeve assembly for a printing press for adapting a mounting sleeve (60) for printing plates (62), comprising a printing cylinder (10) including at least one air outlet (14) at the shell surface and an adapter sleeve (30) comprising at least one radially oriented air passage (40) and which in exploiting an air cushion can be slide mounted on said printing cylinder (10), said printing cylinder (10) and said adapter sleeve (30) being provided with an interlocking means to prevent axial radial movement between the two.
2. The printing cylinder adapter sleeve assembly as set forth in claim 1, characterized in that said interlocking means comprises a protuberance (22) on said printing cylinder (10) or adapter sleeve (30) which cooperates with a recess (48) in said adapter sleeve (30) or printing cylinder (10).
3. The printing cylinder adapter sleeve assembly as set forth in claim 2, characterized in that said interlocking means (22, 48) is configured as a bayonet lock.
4. The printing cylinder adapter sleeve assembly as set forth in claim 2, characterized in that said protuberance (22) is configured as a radial pin.
5. The printing cylinder adapter sleeve assembly as set forth in claim 3, characterized in that in said shell surface of said printing cylinder (10) a radial pin (22) is provided and an L-shaped groove (48) accessible at one face is provided in the inner shell surface of said adapter sleeve (30).
6. The printing cylinder adapter sleeve assembly as set forth in claim 5, characterized in that formed at one axial end of said adapter sleeve (30) is an annular element (46) in the inner shell surface of which said L-shaped groove (48) is configured.
7. The printing cylinder adapter sleeve assembly as set forth in claim 6, characterized in that the inner diameter of said annular element (46) is slightly larger than the outer diameter of said printing cylinder (10).
8. The printing cylinder adapter sleeve assembly as set forth in claim 1, characterized in that provided in the inner shell surface in said adapter sleeve (30) communicating with said at least one air outlet (14) of said printing cylinder (10) is an annular groove (38) connected to said at least one radially oriented air passage (40) in said adapter sleeve (30).
9. The printing cylinder adapter sleeve assembly as set forth in claim 2, characterized in that at least one outer rim (54) of said adapter sleeve (30) is bevelled.
10. The printing cylinder adapter sleeve assembly as set forth in claim 5, characterized in that arranged in the outer shell surface (44) of said adapter sleeve (30) radially opposite said L-shaped groove (48) is a protuberance (52) for preregistering said mounting sleeve (60).
11. The printing cylinder adapter sleeve assembly as set forth in claim 1, characterized in that said adapter sleeve (30) is structured three-ply with an inner sleeve (32), a middle sleeve (34) and an outer sleeve (36), at least said middle sleeve (34) of which is compressible.
12. The printing cylinder adapter sleeve assembly as set forth in claim 11, characterized in that said middle sleeve (34) consists of an open-pore cellular structure.
13. The printing cylinder adapter sleeve assembly as set forth in claim 11, characterized in that said inner sleeve (32) and said middle sleeve (34) each comprise a thickness of approx 0.5 to 3 mm, preferably roughly 1 mm.
14. The printing cylinder adapter sleeve assembly as set forth in claim 1, characterized in that said adapter sleeve (30) is made of fiber-reinforced plastics at least in part.

Images