GB2211115A

GB2211115A - Lacquering mechanism for rotary label printing press

Info

Publication number: GB2211115A
Application number: GB8807920A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Anthony Clarke
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1987-10-19
Filing date: 1988-04-05
Publication date: 1989-06-28
Anticipated expiration: 2008-04-05
Also published as: GB8807920D0; GB2211115B; IE872811L; IE60046B1; ZA882349B

Abstract

A lacquering mechanism for use with a rotary label printing press comprises a reservoir 10 to accommodate a lacquer to be applied to the printed labels 17, a lacquer metering chamber 13 and a pump 11 for supplying lacquer to the chamber from the reservoir, and an anilox roller 14 onto which lacquer is supplied from an outlet of the metering chamber. A coating roller 15 is located between the roller 14 and a print roller 16 of the press and a blade 18 adjacent to the anilox roller deflects any excess lacquer applied thereto by the metering chamber. The excess lacquer is collected in a tray 19 and returned to the reservoir under gravity. The metering chamber 13 is mounted for reciprocation parallel to the axis of the anilox roller 14. The lacquer is supplied from the metering chamber through spaced-apart orifices of adjustable size. <IMAGE>

Description

LACQUERING MECHANISM FOR USE WITH A ROTARY PRINTING PRESS This invention relates to a lacquering mechanism for use with a rotary label printing press, for example, a self adhesive label rotary letter press. It is known in the art of printing self adhesive labels to apply a lacquer to the in use exposed face of the printed label in order to protect the label against damage and also to enhance the appearance of the label.

Known printing machines which employ a lacquering mechanism incorporate the mechanism as an integral part of the printing press. In the known art a flexographic unit may be used - however a problem with the use of such a unit is well known in that any excess lacquer/ varnish applied to the printed labels does tend to go onto the print roller of the printing press. It will be readily appreciated that having regard to the nature and composition of lacquer/varnish one experiences in such cases a build up of the lacquer/varnish on the print roller which leads to press stoppages to allow the press operative scrape down the print roller to remove the offending lacquer/varnish. Such press stoppages are of their nature uneconomic and coupled with the added maintenance greatly detract from the potential economic and profitable running of the printing press.

The present invention is directed towards overcoming the said problem associated with known constructions of lacquering mechanisms by providing a lacquering mechanism for use with a rotary label printing press, comprising a reservoir to accommodate a lacquer to be applied to the printed labels, a lacquer metering chamber and a pump means for supplying lacquer to the said chamber from the reservoir, an anilox roller onto which lacquer is supplied from an outlet of the metering chamber, a coating roller operatively associated with and located between the anilox roller and a print roller of the press to transfer lacquer from the former to the latter, a blade member adjacent to the anilox roller to deflect from the anilox roller any excess lacquer applied thereto by the metering chamber, and means for collecting and returning to the reservoir the excess lacquer thus deflected.

Preferably the metering chamber is mounted on a shaft parallel to the axis of the anilox roller and is adapted in use to reciprocate on the shaft relative to the anilox roller to ensure an even distribution and application of lacquer from the metering chamber to the surface of the anilox roller. Further it is preferable that the surface of the anilox roller has an open cell pattern surface which holds the lacquer for the application of the lacquer to the operatively associated coating roller. The coating roller preferably has a smooth surface to facilitate the application of the lacquer in an even and clear manner to a web of printed labels, which in the label producing process passes between the coating roller and the print roller of the printing press.

The invention will be understood from the following description of an embodiment thereof given by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic block drawing illustrating the relationship between the components of the lacquering mechanism of the present invention; and Fig. 2 is a second diagrammatic drawing illustrating specifically the roller relationship in the lacquering mechanism.

Referring to the accompanying drawings the lacquering mechanism for use with a label rotary letter press comprises a reservoir 10 which accommodates a supply of an ultra violet lacquer - namely a lacquer which dries rapidly when passed under ultra violet light. The reservoir 10 has associated therewith an electric pump 11 and a pipe 12 connected between the reservoir 10 and a metering chamber 13. The metering chamber 13 is mounted for reciprocation on a shaft transverse to the print press and the said shaft has mounted thereon a follower which engages a rotating cam such that in use, as the print press operates, the cam is rotated and under the influence of the cam/follower mechanism the metering chamber 13 reciprocates on the shaft.

Adjacent the metering chamber 13 is mounted in conventional manner on a transverse shaft a driven rotatable anilox roller 14 having a open cell surface.

Also mounted on a transverse shaft in conventional manner is a driven rotatable coating roller 15 in engagement with the anilox roller 14. The coating roller 15 also engages the print roller 16 of the print press, the print roller 16 also being mounted in conventional manner on a transverse shaft. The anilox roller 14 and the coating roller 15 are both driven by an electric motor (not shown) in conventional manner.

It is to be understood the figures are crosssectional views, and the transverse direction referred to herein is the direction normal to the plane of the figures. Thus the axes of the shaft carrying the metering chamber and the shafts of the rollers 14, 15 and 16 are all parallel. The metering chamber 13 is provided at its end adjacent the anilox roller 14 with a plurality of spaced-apart orifices of adjustable size arranged such that lacquer is supplied to the anilox roller 14 over its usual length. The size of the orifices is set as required by the press operator so as to supply a predetermined amount of lacquer from the metering chamber 13 to the anilox roller 14 - the rate of the continuous supply of lacquer being determined by the amount of lacquer to be imparted in turn to a printed web of self adhesive labels 17.In general one would aim at applying to the printed web of labels 17 a film of lacquer 0.005" thick.

The lacquer when supplied to the anilox roller 14 is held in the open-cell structure of the anilox roller surface. Any excess lacquer supplied is deflected from the anilox roller 14 by a blade 18 mounted transverse to the print press and adjacent and below the centre line of the anilox roller 14. The excess lacquer so deflected is collected in a tray 19 and returned under gravity feed via a pipe 20 to the reservoir 10.

The lacquer accommodated on the anilox roller 14 is transferred to the smooth surface of the coating roller 15 and then applied in conventional manner by the coating roller 15 to the printed web of labels 17, as the web 17 passes between the coating roller 15 and the print roller 16 of the print press. The web 17 with the lacquer applied thereto is passed in conventional manner under a conventional bank of ultra violet lights (not shown) to dry the lacquer on the web, to give the lacquer protected self adhesive labels.

It will be readily appreciated that in use the print press operator is required only to top-up the reservoir with lacquer from time to time. The proper metering of the lacquer supply to the anilox roller coupled with the collection and return to the reservoir of any excess lacquer supplied to the anilox roller makes the mechanism of the present invention both a technical advance on the known art and also a mechanism which permits optimum economic usage of the print press for a lacquer label job.

It will also be understood that the mechanism in its component parts is readily demountable.

Accordingly the mechanism can be removed from position on the print press when it is not required for use for some time and may be mounted on another print press for use or simply stored until required for use again.

The materials used for all components is standard and conventional and the manner of mounting of the roller shafts on the print press is conventional using standard mountings and bearings as necessary.

Claims

1. A lacquering mechanism for use with a rotary label printing press, comprising a reservoir to accommodate a lacquer to be applied to the printed labels, a lacquer metering chamber and a pump means for supplying lacquer to the said chamber from the reservoir, an anilox roller onto which lacquer is supplied from an outlet of the metering chamber, a coating roller operatively associated with and located between the anilox roller and a print roller of the press to transfer lacquer from the former to the latter, a blade member adjacent to the anilox roller to deflect from the anilox roller any excess lacquer applied thereto by the metering chamber, and means for collecting and returning to the reservoir the excess lacquer thus deflected.

2. A lacquering mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein the metering chamber is mounted for reciprocation parallel to the axis of the anilox roller.

3. A lacquering mechanism as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the lacquer is supplied from the metering chamber through a plurality of spaced-apart orifices of adjustable size.

4. A lacquering mechanism as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the surface of the anilox roller has an open call pattern.

5. A lacquering mechanism as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the excess lacquer is collected in a tray and returns to the pipe under gravity.

6. A lacquering mechanism substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings.