JP2009001028A - Stencil printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To minimize an economical loss and a time loss due to the generation of blurred image when printing is started after suspension thereof. <P>SOLUTION: An ink recovery means 8 which recovers an ink remaining on the inner peripheral face of a plate cylinder 2 right after printing and returns the recovered ink to an ink roller 22, is provided at a position slightly away from an inner printing nip part of the plate cylinder 2 toward the downstream side. The ink recovery means 8 has a scraping member 30 which comes into contact with the inner peripheral face of the plate cylinder 2 and scrapes the ink and a returning member 32 which causes the reflux of the ink scraped by the scraping member 30 to the ink roller 22. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a stencil printing apparatus that performs printing by pressing a printing paper on a plate cylinder having a master (heat-sensitive stencil sheet) wound on an outer peripheral surface.

In a stencil printing apparatus, a master made by plate making is wound around an outer peripheral surface of a plate cylinder provided with an ink supply means, and printing is performed by pressing the printing paper against the plate cylinder with a pressing member such as a press roller. It has been broken.
In general, an ink roller (ink supply member), which is one of the components of the ink supply means, is provided at a position facing the press roller inside the plate cylinder, and is supplied from the ink roller to the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder. The ink spreads from the perforated portion of the master through the opening of the plate cylinder by the pressing force (printing pressure) with the press roller, and the exuded ink is transferred to the printing paper to form an ink image. .

  The plate cylinder is generally composed of a cylindrical porous support plate as a plate cylinder main body and a mesh screen wound around the outer peripheral surface of the porous support plate, and plate making is performed on the outer peripheral surface of the mesh screen. A master is already wound. The mesh screen is for diffusing the ink coming out from the apertures of the porous support plate to make the ink supply uniform to the master, and is formed by weaving with polyester or stainless fine wire, etc. About 3 layers are wound.

In this type of stencil printing apparatus, in order to ensure a sufficient image density, ink is supplied quantitatively regardless of the size of the image ratio. As an extreme example, there is no difference in the ink supply amount between an image with many solid portions and an image with only one dot. For this reason, ink supply tends to be excessive, and printing quality such as so-called “setback” and “excessive weighting of dots” tends to be deteriorated.
Further, not all ink supplied to the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder by the ink roller is consumed for printing each time, and ink that has not been used for printing remains attached to the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder. . The amount is such that printing can be continued for a while if printing pressure can be applied without supplying new ink. The amount of residual ink naturally increases when the image ratio is small.

If the amount of ink adhering to the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder becomes too large, problems such as ink leaking to the outside of the plate cylinder and soiling the printing paper occur.
Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 disclose a technique for making the thickness of the ink layer on the inner surface of the plate cylinder constant with a regulating member in order to make the amount of ink on the inner surface of the plate cylinder appropriate. Yes. The restriction positions are all upstream of the printing nip portion in the plate cylinder rotation direction.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 18, the ink is supplied to the ink roller itself by forming a wedge-shaped ink reservoir portion 204 between the ink roller 200 and the doctor roller 202, and the ink accumulated in the ink reservoir portion 204 is removed. The doctor roller 202 is attached to the surface of the ink roller 200 while regulating the thickness. During printing, the outer peripheral surface of the ink roller 200 and the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder 206 come into contact with each other, and ink is supplied from the ink roller 200 to the plate cylinder 206.
In general, the doctor roller 202 is rotated in the opposite direction to the ink roller 200.

JP-A-8-142474 JP-A-9-52427

By the way, in this type of stencil printing apparatus, as described above, ink is supplied quantitatively regardless of the size of the image ratio, so that ink that has not been used for printing remains on the inner surface of the plate cylinder. In this state, when the apparatus is not used for a long time, for example, for a few days, there is a problem that the quality of the printed matter is deteriorated due to a change in the state of ink over time.
In particular, if the ink is an emulsion type, the water will evaporate and the viscosity will drop, so when you make a plate and make a new print after leaving it, the first dozens of sheets will be reduced to a hundred or more in the worst case. Further, a blurred image that cannot be used is generated. The print quality is not stable unless the changed ink is replaced.
Conventionally, measures such as first printing on a piece of paper until the effect of residual ink with reduced viscosity disappears, or soaking it in a new master and discarding it have been taken. It has become.

The change in the state of ink over time due to leaving alone proceeds not only on the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder but also on the outer peripheral surface of the ink roller and the ink reservoir, but in the case of the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder, Since the surface area is extremely large as compared with the case, the evaporation rate of the moisture of the ink is high, and it can be said that it accounts for most of the causes of the quality deterioration of the printed matter.
Therefore, if the problem due to the change in the state of the ink over time on the inner surface of the plate cylinder can be solved, the above-mentioned problem of economic loss and time waste can be solved.
The techniques disclosed in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 are merely extra ink that causes leakage to the outside of the plate cylinder on the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder, that is, “more than the amount necessary to obtain a sufficient image density. Ink "is removed, and it does not solve the problem caused by the change in the state of ink over time on the inner surface of the plate cylinder.

That is, even at an appropriate ink supply amount for obtaining a sufficient image density, ink that is not used for printing is generated and remains attached to the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder.
Rather, in the technologies disclosed in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, since there is a thick ink layer that is not regulated by the regulating member on the downstream side of the printing nip portion, the moisture evaporates if left untreated. As a result, a large amount of ink having a reduced viscosity is present on the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder, and the above problem becomes more serious.

On the other hand, in the configuration of supplying ink to the conventional ink roller 200 shown in FIG. 18, streaky unevenness due to fluctuations in the layer thickness or the like occurs in the ink layer, and the ink supply amount is set to eliminate the problem of excessive ink supply. In other words, if the gap between the ink roller 200 and the doctor roller 202 is reduced, streaky unevenness appears as density unevenness on the printing surface.
The restriction of the doctor roller 202 with respect to the ink is released at the separation point S, which becomes the ink layer thickness on the ink roller 200, but the doctor roller 202 is also in contact with the ink reservoir 204, and therefore the doctor roller 202. An ink layer is also formed on the top.
Therefore, the separation at the separation point S is not a separation between the ink adhering to the ink roller 200 and the surface of the doctor roller 202 itself, but the ink adhering to the ink roller 200 and the ink adhering to the doctor roller 202. It becomes separation between.
That is, separation between the ink layers is caused, and therefore, streaky unevenness is likely to occur due to a viscosity variation (separation force variation) or the like.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the main object of the present invention is to provide a stencil printing apparatus that can solve the problem caused by the change in the state of ink on the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder with time and can avoid economical and time waste.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a stencil printing apparatus capable of preventing the occurrence of streaky unevenness in the ink layer on the ink roller and improving the printing quality.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention collects ink that has not been used for printing immediately after the end of the printing process, in other words, collects ink as soon as possible before ink is re-supplied. Each time printing on the printing paper is completed, the ink adhesion state in the plate cylinder is returned to the initial state. Ultimately, the amount of ink on the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder is always kept at an appropriate amount necessary for one sheet of printing paper.
In the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, the surface of the ink layer on the ink roller is made into a mirror surface.

  Specifically, in the invention described in claim 1, a plate cylinder provided with a cylindrical porous support plate in which a large number of holes are formed, and an ink is provided on the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder provided inside the plate cylinder. A stencil printing apparatus having an ink supply member for supplying the ink supply member to the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder at a position slightly away from the printing nip portion to the downstream side in the plate cylinder and in the vicinity of the ink supply member. A configuration is adopted in which ink collecting means for collecting the remaining ink immediately after printing and returning it to the ink supply member is provided.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the configuration according to the first aspect, the ink collecting means is scraped off by the scraping member that contacts the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder and scrapes the ink. It has a configuration in which it has a return member for returning the ink to the ink supply member.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the configuration according to the second aspect, the scraping member has a base end supported by the support member of the ink supply member and a free end in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder. And at least the free end side is elastically deformable, and the return member is integrally provided in the vicinity of the free end of the scraping member.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the configuration of the third aspect, the return member is formed by bending the free end side of the scraping member.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the configuration according to the second aspect, the scraping member has a base end supported by the support member of the ink roller and a free end contacting the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder. It is provided in a state where at least the free end side is elastically deformable, and the return member is a rotating body provided in the vicinity of the free end of the scraping member.

  The invention described in claim 6 employs the structure according to claim 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5, wherein the thickness of the porous support plate is about 0.13 mm or less.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the configuration of the sixth aspect, the pitch of the aperture is associated with a spatial frequency of a visual spatial resolution and provides a maximum human visual sensitivity at a distance of 30 cm. Is set to a high frequency region in which the sensitivity is approximately ½, and the diameter of the aperture is set to 50% or less of the determined pitch of the aperture. Yes.

  In the invention described in claim 8, a wedge-shaped ink reservoir is formed between the plate cylinder, an ink roller provided inside the plate cylinder and supplying ink to the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder, and the ink roller. A stencil printing apparatus having a doctor roller for regulating a layer thickness of ink supplied to the ink roller, the doctor roller being rotated in the same direction as the ink roller, and the ink reservoir A scraper that scrapes off the ink on the outer peripheral surface of the doctor roller and returns it to the ink reservoir is provided above the portion.

  The invention described in claim 9 employs a configuration in which, in the configuration described in claim 8, the scraper has a flow restricting plate that prevents the scraped ink from advancing.

  In a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the configuration according to the eighth or ninth aspect, a cleaning means for cleaning a gap between the ink roller and the doctor roller is employed.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the ink remaining on the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder without being used for printing is collected before the ink is re-supplied. It is possible to improve the poor start-up after being left, etc., and to reduce economic and time waste.
In addition, since the ink is scraped off from the inner surface of the plate cylinder at a position where the printing paper is not yet completely separated from the plate cylinder, the adhesion force through the ink acting between the printing cylinder and the printing paper is separated. And the separation of the printing paper becomes easy. At the same time, the deformation of the plate cylinder in the separation of the printing paper can be reduced.

  According to the invention described in claims 2 to 5, since the ink collecting means functions to prevent deformation of the plate cylinder, the thickness of the plate cylinder can be reduced, and the amount of ink retained in the plate cylinder is reduced. Thus, improvement in poor standing after standing can be improved.

  According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, since the thickness of the plate cylinder is extremely thin, the amount of ink retained in the plate cylinder is reduced, so that it is possible to improve the poor start-up after standing.

  According to the seventh aspect of the invention, since the pitch of the holes and the diameter of the holes in the plate cylinder are determined from the viewpoint of the spatial resolution of human vision, the improvement in poor standing after being left is improved. In addition, the problem of uneven density corresponding to the aperture pattern can be solved at the same time.

  According to the invention described in claim 8, since the surface of the ink layer on the ink roller can be mirror-like, density unevenness can be solved and problems such as set-off and bleeding due to excessive ink supply can be solved. .

  According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the ink scraped off by the flow restricting plate from being raised and to maintain the function of the scraper well.

  According to the tenth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to prevent density unevenness due to streaky unevenness due to dust in the gap between the ink roller and the doctor roller, and to improve the quality of printed matter.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, a stencil printing apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a plate cylinder 2, a press roller 4 as a pressing member provided below the plate cylinder 2 so as to be able to contact with and separate from the plate cylinder 2, and a plate. Mainly from an ink supply means 6 provided inside the cylinder 2 and an ink collecting means 8 provided at a position slightly away from the printing nip N to the downstream side in the rotation direction of the plate cylinder 2 inside the plate cylinder 2. It is configured.
The plate cylinder 2 includes a pair of flanges 12 and 12 that are rotatably supported by a hollow support shaft 10 that is supported between apparatus main body side plates (not shown) at intervals in the axial direction, and both ends of the plate cylinder 2 are connected to the flange 12. , 12 and a thin porous support plate 14 having a cylindrical shape, and a mesh screen 16 provided on the outer peripheral surface of the porous support plate 14. The master 18 is wound. The porous support plate 14 is formed of a stainless steel thin plate.

  The ink supply means 6 includes a support shaft 10 as an ink supply pipe for introducing ink from the outside to the inside of the plate cylinder 2, an ink distribution member 20 connected to the support shaft 10, and an ink roller 22 as an ink supply member. And a doctor roller 24 and the like. The ink roller 22 and the doctor roller 24 are rotatably supported by brackets 26 and 26 as support members that are fixed to the support shaft 10 and extend downward, and are fixed in position with respect to the rotational movement of the plate cylinder 2. .

A wedge-shaped ink reservoir 28 is formed between the ink roller 22 and the doctor roller 24, and the ink dripped through the ink passage 20 a of the ink distribution member 20 is accumulated in the ink reservoir 28. Yes. The ink accumulated in the ink reservoir 28 is kneaded by rotation of an ink roller 22 and a doctor roller 24 during printing, which will be described later, and is supplied to the outer peripheral surface of the ink roller 22 while the layer thickness is regulated by the doctor roller 24. The ink roller 22 is disposed so that a slight gap exists between the outer peripheral surface thereof and the inner peripheral surface (plate cylinder inner peripheral surface) of the porous support plate 14, and as shown in FIG. At the time, that is, when the printing paper 25 is pressed against the plate cylinder 2 by the press roller 4, the plate cylinder 2 is deformed so that the outer peripheral surface of the ink roller 22 contacts the inner peripheral surface thereof.
Although not shown, the ink reservoir 28 is provided with ink detection means for detecting the presence or absence of ink supported by the bracket 26. Based on the detection signal from the ink detection means, the ink distribution member 20 supplies ink. Is appropriately supplied.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the ink collecting means 8 contacts the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder 2 and scrapes the ink, and the ink scraped by the scraping member 30 is used as an ink. A return member 32 for refluxing the roller 22 is provided. The scraping member 30 is formed in a rectangular plate shape with a phosphor bronze plate having a thickness of about 0.2 mm, and a fixed piece 30a having a screw insertion hole is integrally formed at the base end thereof. The scraping member 30 is fixed to the lower projecting edge 26a of the bracket 26 via a fixing piece 30a with a screw (not shown), and cantilevered so that the free end 30b is pressed against the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder 2 under elastic force. It is supported in a beam mode. The free end 30b is rounded at a level at which the scraping performance does not deteriorate in order to reduce the contact resistance with the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder 2. The return member 32 is a flexible mylar, is formed in a side face shape including a fixed piece 32 a and a movable piece 32 b, and is integrally fixed near the free end 30 b of the scraping member 30.
The scraping member 30 may be indirectly fixed to the bracket 26. That is, the bracket 26 in this embodiment is formed so as to have a lower protruding edge 26a for fixing the scraping member 30 as compared with the conventional one, but the arm member is fixed to the conventional bracket, and the arm member is fixed to the arm member. The scraping member 30 may be fixed.

As shown in FIG. 3, the movable piece 32b of the return member 32 is set so that the free end thereof is close to the outer peripheral surface of the ink roller 22, and the interval is about 0.1 mm.
The ink that is not used during printing and remains on the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder 2 is scraped off by the scraping member 30 immediately after the printing process. The ink scraped off is returned to the outer peripheral surface of the ink roller 22 by the action of the return member 32 while being temporarily stored in a narrow space defined by the free end 30 b side of the scraping member 30 and the return member 32. Since the movable piece 32b of the return member 32 has flexibility, it does not dam the ink on the ink roller 22, and is arbitrarily displaced in response to fluctuations in pressure and viscosity, and collected collected ink. Is returned to the ink roller 22. The displacement of the movable piece 32b is made possible by the presence of the space 34 behind the movable piece 32b.
Even if the return member 32 is not provided, the ink that has been scraped up competes with the scraping member 30 and accumulates, so that a return action to the ink roller 22 occurs. In this case, the volume of the ink reservoir increases, and thus the ink is recovered. Problems arise due to ink viscosity changes.
In contrast, in this embodiment, the return member 32 is provided in the vicinity of the free end 30b of the scraping member 30 so as to reduce the amount of collected ink, so that the influence of viscosity change can be minimized.

Since the scraping member 30 is supported in a cantilever manner, it can be elastically deformed as a whole, so that the free end 30b can follow the deformation of the plate cylinder 2 during printing or due to runout. A sudden change in contact resistance during deformation is prevented.
The dimensions of the scraping member 30 and the size of the contact angle θ with respect to the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder 2 are appropriate based on experimental results so that unevenness of ink collection does not occur due to vibration due to friction or printing pressure fluctuations. The value is to be determined.
As a material for the scraping member 30, a stainless thin plate (SUS420, SUS304, etc.) having a thickness of about 0.1 mm can be used. Moreover, you may form with elastic materials, such as a plastics, From this viewpoint, the urethane braid | blade etc. whose thickness is about 1 mm can also be employ | adopted.

Thus, the ink collecting means 8 collects the ink remaining on the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder 2 immediately after printing, so that the ink supply position and the recovery position are close to each other. Can be reduced as much as possible. For this reason, the amount of ink whose viscosity has decreased can be reduced, and the rising characteristics after being left, that is, the recovery period of bleeding seen in a new plate-making / printed product after being left can be shortened.
Further, in this embodiment, the thickness of the porous support plate 14 is set to 0.13 mm or less, and the standing characteristics after being left can be further improved as compared with the case where a conventional plate cylinder is used. The reason will be described below.

The ink recovered by the ink recovery means 8 is only the ink remaining on the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder 2, and the ink that has entered the aperture of the porous support plate 14 is not recovered. If left untreated, the ink that has entered the apertures will have a reduced viscosity as well as the ink remaining on the inner peripheral surface.
When the thickness of the plate cylinder 2 is large as in the prior art, the amount of ink present in the opening increases, so that the rise characteristic after being left alone can be sufficiently improved by simply collecting the ink on the inner peripheral surface. Can not.
Therefore, the amount of ink that cannot be collected and is retained on the plate cylinder 2 itself immediately after the printing process is reduced.

FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the thickness of the plate cylinder 2 (strictly, the thickness of the porous support plate 14) t (mm) and the bleeding (thin line width) in printing after being left for 72 hours, according to the experiments of the present inventors. It is a graph which shows.
A VT6000 sold by Ricoh was used as an experimental machine, and a Ricoh T6200 was used as the printing paper 25. The experimental environment is normal temperature and humidity. VT6000 in FIG. 4 means the thickness as a market machine, that is, the conventional plate cylinder thickness.
As a result of the experiment, it was found that even when the thickness of the conventional plate cylinder is used, the effect of improving the bleeding by the ink collecting means 8 appears.
This result is naturally affected by the type of ink used. As a test, an experiment was conducted in which the amount of carbon contained in the ink and the viscosity characteristics of the oil used in the ink were varied (ink viscosity 5 Pa · sec to 40 Pa · sec, carbon content to weight ratio 3% to 20%). Were the same, and the value of the plate cylinder thickness that allowed an acceptable state was only slightly changed. As a result of these experiments, it was confirmed that when the plate cylinder thickness was about 0.13 mm or less, the rising characteristics after standing were improved with respect to the ink characteristics over a wide range.

  The thickness of the plate cylinder 2 (thickness of the porous support plate 14) is set to 0.13 mm or less, and the ink attached to the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder 2 is collected by the ink collecting means 8 immediately after the printing process. It is possible to obtain a printed matter that hardly feels bleeding even at the subsequent rise, and to suppress image quality fluctuations at the rise of the print.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the pitch P of the apertures 14a of the porous support plate 14 is 0.3 mm, and the diameter d of the apertures 14a is 0.1 mm, which is 1/2 or less of that, and a turtle shell pattern is used. The thickness t of the porous support plate 14 was set to 0.1 mm (not shown in the actual dimensional ratio in FIG. 5). The reasons for determining these dimensions are described below.
In this type of stencil printing apparatus, there is a problem that density unevenness corresponding to the opening pattern at the time of standing after standing, that is, so-called holes are likely to appear, but conventionally, the pitch of the holes and the diameter of the holes are It was corrected by trial and error while observing the actual printing state, and finally reached a dimension where density unevenness was not noticeable. In this example, the aperture pitch is changed to a spatial frequency in the spatial resolution of human vision. It was decided to be theoretically determined in correspondence.

FIG. 6 is a characteristic graph of human visual spatial resolution when a printed matter such as a newspaper is normally viewed from a distance of 30 cm. The unit of the spatial frequency is (lp / mm), and represents how many pairs exist in a width of 1 mm with a pair of black and white lines having the same width as one pair. It is the so-called line number. Other units of spatial frequency may be displayed as lpm, l / mm, and Cy / mm.
In the present embodiment, the following VTF (Visual Transfer Function) that gives spatial resolution is used as the following formula that is often used in known documents.
Assuming that the linear density on the paper surface is L (lp / mm) and the distance to the paper surface is D (mm),
The spatial frequency U on the retina is U = (π / 180) × L × D
The spatial resolution S is
S = 5.05 x exp (-0.138 x U) x (1-exp ((-0.1 x U))

As shown in FIG. 6, when the aperture pitch (eg, 0.6 mm) found in the conventional plate cylinder is made to correspond to the spatial frequency, the sensitivity (relative sensitivity) given to human vision is 0.9 which is close to the maximum sensitivity 1. It becomes a neighborhood.
According to the experiments by the present inventors, the opening pitch is set on the higher frequency side indicated by the oblique lines than the frequency corresponding to the opening pitch that exceeds the frequency that gives the maximum sensitivity to human vision and the relative sensitivity is about 1/2. When set, it was found that the periodic density unevenness caused by the pores became inconspicuous.
Accordingly, in this embodiment, the opening pitch P is set to 0.3 mm or less, and the opening diameter d is set to 1/2 or less, preferably 1/3 or less of the opening pitch P.
The reason for setting the aperture diameter to ½ or less of the aperture pitch is that the ink expands beyond the aperture diameter, and the repetition of dot presence / absence (dot dot) is defined by the aperture pitch. If it is not less than half of the hole pitch, the low frequency side of each spatial aperture component (defined by the Fourier transform component of each aperture) becomes larger and unevenness becomes noticeable. is there. In other words, even if the dot arrangement is dense, each dot becomes noticeable if the dot diameter is large.

When the aperture pitch is set on the high frequency side indicated by hatching in FIG. 6, the density unevenness becomes inconspicuous, but the aperture diameter decreases as the aperture pitch decreases, and the thickness of the porous support plate 14 decreases accordingly. Therefore, the optimum hole pitch is selected within a range that does not impair the basic rigidity for the plate cylinder 2 to exist as a constituent member.
From this point of view, in this embodiment, the hole pitch P = 0.3 mm, the hole diameter d = 0.1 mm, the plate thickness t = 0.1 mm, and formed by etching.

  As a result of the experiment, the density unevenness corresponding to the opening pattern at the time of standing after standing was hardly felt. One is the frequency at which the ink with reduced viscosity is reduced, the other is that the pitch of the holes shifts to the higher frequency side and becomes inconspicuous due to the diffusion effect of the ink, and further the frequency at which the human visual resolution is reduced. The reason is that the uneven component is distributed in the region.

As described above, it is necessary to reduce the aperture diameter in order to eliminate the problem of pores, and the thickness of the porous support plate 14 must be approximately the same due to the etching process and the like. A shortage problem arises. For this reason, the recognition that such a thin plate cylinder cannot be used conventionally has been dominant.
The basic rigidity to be present as a constituent element even in a thin plate cylinder is ensured by supporting both ends by the flanges 12 and 12, and the only problem is deformation at the printing nip.
In this embodiment, the ink collecting means 8 backs up the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder under the elastic force in the vicinity of the printing nip portion, thereby enabling the use of the thin plate cylinder 2 having the above dimensional level. . That is, the ink collecting means 8 not only collects the ink remaining on the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder 2, but at the same time, reinforces the thinning of the plate cylinder 2 in order to sufficiently satisfy the improvement of the rising characteristics after being left. It also functions as a member.

FIG. 7 shows a modification of the ink collecting means 8. In the above embodiment, the scraping member 30 and the return member 32 are formed as separate members, but in this embodiment, they are integrally formed from one material. The scraping member 30 is formed of a polyester film having a thickness of about 0.3 mm, and the return member 32 is formed by bending the tip. The fixing mode of the scraping member 30 and the proximity mode of the return member 32 to the ink roller 22 are the same as in the above embodiment.
Also in the present embodiment, the displacement of the return member 32 is ensured by the space 34 located on the back surface of the return member 32, and the recovered ink can be returned to the ink roller 22 without blocking the ink on the ink roller 22. Since only one material is bent, manufacturing is easier than in the above embodiment.

The material is not limited to a polyester film, and can be formed by, for example, bending a metal spring material. Further, in a single material, the scraping member 30 side can be thickened to ensure rigidity, and the return member 32 side can be thinned to ensure flexibility. That is, the thickness may be changed for each function.
Such a fixed ink collecting means 8 having no movable structure is simple in structure and can be easily attached to the bracket 26 or the like, so that it can be implemented on an existing plate cylinder with almost no design change. That is, it is possible to improve the rising characteristics after leaving an existing stencil printing apparatus by adding a simple configuration at low cost.

  Alternatively, the ink collected using the return member 32 as a rotating body can be forcedly and quickly returned to the ink roller 22. FIG. 8 shows an example. The ink collecting means 8 in this embodiment includes the scraping member 30 shown in the first embodiment and a roller 36 (rotating body) as a return member. The roller 36 is rotatably supported by the bracket 26 directly or indirectly, and is driven to rotate in the arrow direction by a motor (not shown). The collected ink is immediately and forcibly returned to the ink roller 22 by the roller 36, so that the amount of collected ink can be reduced, and deterioration in print quality due to a change in the viscosity of the collected ink can be further suppressed. .

  FIG. 9 shows another example of the return member 32. The ink collecting means 8 in this embodiment includes the scraping member 30 shown in the first embodiment and a rotary blade 38 (rotary body) as a return member. The rotary blade 38 is made of a flexible material and is driven to rotate by a motor (not shown) as in the embodiment shown in FIG. Also in this embodiment, the collected ink is immediately and forcibly returned to the ink roller 22 by the rotary blade 38, so that the amount of collected ink can be reduced, and the print quality is deteriorated due to the viscosity change of the collected ink. It can be further suppressed.

Note that the porous support plate 14 in the plate cylinder 2 has a seam due to superposition, but the superposition is performed so that the free end 30b of the scraping member 30 does not hit the step of the seam when the plate cylinder 2 rotates during printing. Or the rotational direction of the plate cylinder 2 needs to be set.
Although not shown in the figure, the ink collecting means 8 may be fixed to the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder 2 without being fixed, and separated from the inner peripheral surface when the seam passes. In this way, vibration and impact when the seam passes the scraping member 30 can be avoided.

Next, another embodiment will be described based on FIGS. Note that the same parts as those in the above embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description of the structure and functions will be omitted as appropriate.
As described above, conventionally, when the thickness of the ink layer on the ink roller 22 is reduced in order to cope with problems of excessive ink supply such as set-off and excessive thickening of dots, streaky unevenness due to fluctuations in the layer thickness or the like. Occurs, and this tends to appear as density unevenness.
This embodiment is an example for simultaneously solving the problem of excessive ink supply and the problem of density unevenness.

  As shown in FIG. 10, a scraper 40 that scrapes the ink on the outer peripheral surface of the doctor roller 24 and returns it to the ink reservoir 28 is provided above the ink reservoir 28. Further, the doctor roller 24 in the present embodiment is rotated in the same rotational direction as the ink roller 22 by a driving means (not shown), whereby the rotational directions at the closest part of the ink roller 22 and the doctor roller 24 are opposite to each other. Yes. That is, the doctor roller 24 in the present embodiment is set as a reverse roller with respect to the ink roller 22, unlike the conventional one.

As shown in FIG. 11, the scraper 40 has a rectangular blade 42 and a flow control plate 44 that prevents the ink scraped by the blade 42 from advancing or scooping up. A fixed piece 42a having an insertion hole is integrally formed at both ends of the blade 42, and a leading edge 42b is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the doctor roller 24 between the brackets 26 by a set screw (not shown) through the fixed piece 42a. It is fixed in contact.
The baffle plate 44 includes a flat plate-like fixing portion 44a and a curved baffle baffle portion 44b, and is fixed to the upper surface of the tip end portion of the blade 42 via the fixing portion 44a.

By the scraping action by the edge 42b of the blade 42, the outer peripheral surface of the doctor roller 24 is kept flat and constant over the entire axial direction, and the thickness of the ink layer on the ink roller 22 is regulated by this flat surface. Unlike the unstable separation between the ink layers, the surface of the ink layer on the ink roller 22 is mirror-like.
FIG. 12 is an experimental graph showing the relationship between the ink layer thickness on the ink roller 22 and the doctor gap (gap between the ink roller 22 and the doctor roller 24) in the configuration having the scraper 40. As is apparent from this graph, in the case of the reverse roller type, the regulation of the thickness of the ink layer on the ink roller 22 changes almost linearly and stably, and thus the thickness of the ink layer on the ink roller 22 is changed. The doctor gap can be made smaller.

Since the surface of the ink layer on the ink roller 22 can be mirror-like, the occurrence of streaky unevenness can be suppressed with high accuracy, and the ink layer thickness can be made as thin as possible. As a result, the amount of ink supplied to the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder 2 by the ink roller 22 can be minimized, and the problem due to the excessive ink supply amount can be solved, and the problem of density unevenness can also be solved.
In this embodiment, since it is configured to be used in combination with the ink collecting means 8, it is possible to sufficiently improve the rising characteristics after being left, and to solve the problem caused by excessive ink supply.
Note that the scraper 40 may be simply provided, and even in this case, it can be said that the contribution to improving the quality of the printed matter is greater than the conventional one from the viewpoint of solving the problem of excessive ink supply.

Although the above functions can be sufficiently obtained even when the rotation speed of the doctor roller 24 is low, it is desirable that the rotation speed is high from the viewpoint of preventing dust from adhering to the regulation surface flattened by the scraper 40.
Although the scraper 40 has a combined configuration of the blade 42 and the flow restricting plate 44, the configuration of the mirror surface can be obtained even with the configuration of only the blade 42, and may be integrally formed with the same material.
From the viewpoint of simplifying the configuration, a doctor blade may be used instead of the doctor roller 24. However, it has been confirmed by experiments that the reliability against dust clogging is inferior to that of the doctor roller system.

As described above, the configuration using the scraper 40 and the reverse roller type doctor roller 24 can make the surface of the ink layer on the ink roller 22 into a mirror surface, thereby suppressing the occurrence of streaky unevenness. When the doctor gap portion is clogged with dust, streaky unevenness occurs in the ink layer on the ink roller 22.
FIG. 13 shows an example of the countermeasure.
In this embodiment, a cleaning means 46 for cleaning the doctor gap portion G is provided between the ink roller 22 and the doctor roller 24. The cleaning means 46 has a shaft 48 supported between the brackets 26 (not shown), a block-shaped moving member 50 slidably fitted to the shaft 48, and a base end fixed to the moving member 50. And a thread-like or belt-like cleaning member 52 provided so that the free end enters the doctor gap portion G.

  The moving member 50 is normally retracted to a non-image area, and is moved in the axial direction of the ink roller 22 by a command input by manual operation periodically or when streaky unevenness occurs by a driving means (not shown). . The dust present in the doctor gap portion G is scraped by the movement of the cleaning member 52 accompanying the movement of the moving member 50, and the scraped dust is brought out of the printing area. As a driving configuration of the moving member 50, a system using a pulley or a conveyor belt or a feed screw system can be adopted.

FIG. 14 shows a modification of the cleaning means.
The cleaning means 54 in this embodiment includes a shaft 56 supported between the brackets 26 (not shown), a block-shaped moving member 58 slidably fitted to the shaft 56, and fixed to the moving member 58. The brush-shaped cleaning member 60 and the like. The drive configuration, drive system, and cleaning timing are the same as those of the cleaning means 46.

FIG. 15 shows another modification of the cleaning means.
The cleaning means 62 in this embodiment has shafts 48 and 48 supported between the brackets 26 (not shown) at positions facing each other across the doctor gap portion G, and is slidably fitted to the shafts 48 and 48. Block-shaped moving members 50, 50, and a thread-like or belt-like cleaning member 64 fixed through the doctor gap portion G between the moving members 50. The drive configuration, drive system, and cleaning timing are the same as those of the cleaning means 46.

FIG. 16 shows still another modified example of the cleaning means, and is an example for cleaning the outer peripheral surface of the doctor roller 24 instead of cleaning the doctor gap portion G.
The cleaning means 66 in this embodiment includes a bifurcated arm member 68 rotatably supported by a bracket 67 (not shown) via a shaft 67, and a doctor roller fixed to one arm 68a of the arm member 68. 24 includes a dust collection member 70 extending in the axial direction, a collection hopper 72 fixed via a bracket 26 (not shown), and the like.

The scraper 40 is fixed to the other arm 68b of the arm member 68, and the arm member 68 is moved to a position where the edge 42b of the blade 42 is in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the doctor roller 24 by a driving means (not shown), and a dust collecting member. 70 is selectively controlled to a position in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the doctor roller 24.
When cleaning is performed, the arm member 68 is positioned at a position where the dust collection member 70 is in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the doctor roller 24, and the doctor roller 24 is rotated in the reverse direction. In this case, the scraper 40 is separated from the doctor roller 24. The dust collected together with the ink on the dust recovery member 70 is dropped in a fluid state and stored in the recovery hopper 72.

When cleaning is completed, the arm member 68 is positioned at a position where the edge 42b of the scraper 40 is in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the doctor roller 24 as indicated by a two-dot chain line, and the doctor roller 24 rotates in the same rotational direction as the ink roller 22. Is done. In this case, the dust collection member 70 is separated from the outer peripheral surface of the doctor roller 24.
As the dust collection member 70, sponge or urethane foam can be used.

Since dust causes streak unevenness, eliminating the dust is very important for improving the quality of the printed matter. However, the dust is not only from the outside entering the plate cylinder 2 but also due to wear of members. There are also things.
In particular, it is considered that dust is often generated due to wear at the contact portion between the ink roller 22 and the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder 2 and at the contact portion between the ink collecting means 8 and the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder 2.
An embodiment for efficiently capturing these abrasion debris while suppressing dispersion will be described with reference to FIG.
The ink collecting means 8 in this embodiment has a scraping member 74, a return member 76, etc., and the fixing method and material are the same as those shown in FIG. An insertion portion 78 having a rectangular cross section extending in the axial direction of the ink roller 22 is formed below the tip end side of the scraping member 74. The insertion portion 78 has a columnar shape or a slightly smaller size with the same cross sectional shape. A rod-shaped permanent magnet 80 is inserted. Even if metal debris is generated as a result of abrasion, the debris is attracted and collected on the magnet-corresponding surface of the scraping member 74 by the magnetic force of the permanent magnet 80.

Since the collected dust is held by the magnetic force, it is not carried to the surface of the ink roller 22 by the return action of the return member 76. In order to make the dust trapping action by the magnetic force sufficiently, all the wear members such as the ink roller 22 and the scraping member 74 may be intentionally formed of a ferromagnetic material. The dust collected by the magnetic force is removed after the permanent magnet 80 is pulled out from the insertion portion 78 at the time of inspection, for example.
In addition, there is a possibility that dust may enter from the outside through the ink supply path by exchanging an ink tank (not shown) located outside the plate cylinder 2. By installing a fine detachable strainer, intrusion of dust can be prevented in advance.

It is a principal part outline front view of the stencil printer concerning one example of the present invention. It is a perspective view of an ink collection | recovery means. It is a principal part general | schematic front view which shows the ink collection | recovery by the ink collection | recovery means, and a reflux operation. It is an experimental data graph which shows the relationship between the thickness of a plate cylinder, and bleeding. It is a figure which shows the opening pattern of a printing cylinder, (a) is a top view, (b) is a longitudinal cross-sectional view. It is a graph which shows the characteristic of the human visual spatial resolution. It is a principal part general | schematic front view which shows the modification of an ink collection | recovery means. It is a principal part general | schematic front view which shows the modification of an ink collection | recovery means. It is a principal part general | schematic front view which shows the modification of an ink collection | recovery means. It is a principal part general | schematic front view of the Example which has a scraper. It is a disassembled perspective view of a scraper. It is a graph which shows the relationship between the ink layer thickness on an ink roller in the example shown in FIG. 10, and a doctor gap. It is a principal part general | schematic front view of the example which has a cleaning means. It is a principal part general | schematic front view which shows the modification of a cleaning means. It is a principal part general | schematic front view which shows the modification of a cleaning means. It is a principal part general | schematic front view which shows the modification of a cleaning means. It is a principal part outline front view of the example which captures garbage by magnetic force. It is a principal part general | schematic front view which shows the ink supply state to the conventional ink roller.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 14 Porous support plate 2 Plate cylinder 22 Ink roller as an ink supply member 8 Ink collection means 30 Scraping member 32 Return member 30b Free end 26 Bracket as a support member 36 Roller as a rotating body 38 Rotor blade as a rotating body P Opening pitch d Opening diameter 24 Doctor roller 28 Ink reservoir 40 Scraper 44 Current control plate 46, 54, 62, 66 Cleaning means

Claims (3)

A plate cylinder, an ink roller that is provided inside the plate cylinder and supplies ink to the inner peripheral surface of the plate cylinder, and a slight gap is formed between the ink roller so as to form a wedge-shaped ink reservoir. In a stencil printing apparatus having a doctor roller for regulating the layer thickness of ink supplied to the ink roller,
The doctor roller is rotated in the same rotational direction as the ink roller, and a scraper is provided above the ink reservoir to scrape ink on the outer peripheral surface of the doctor roller and return it to the ink reservoir. A stencil printing device. In the stencil printing apparatus according to claim 1,
The stencil printing apparatus, wherein the scraper has a flow restricting plate that prevents the scraped ink from advancing. In the stencil printing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
A stencil printing apparatus comprising a cleaning means for cleaning a gap between the ink roller and the doctor roller.

Images