US1619968A - Static neutralizer for printing presses - Google Patents

Description

1 619,968 March 8 1927' w. M. CARMICHAEL STATIC NEUTRALIZER FOR PRINTING PRESSES Filed 001:. 20, 1923 Patented Mar. 8, 1927.

UNITED STATES WILLIAM H. GARHICHAEL, orh'rnmra, GEORQIA.

STATIC NEUTRALIZER FOR PRINTING PRESSES.

Application filed October 20, 1823. Serial No. 668,849.

The invention has reference to the art of printing and is particularly directed to the employment of a novel method of drying sheets and neutralizing the "static electrlcity incident to the delivery of the sheets from the press following the printin operation.

In present practice, the prevai ing method is to heat the printed sheet after it leaves the printing cylinder and while it is being delivered to the delivery table. It is common to employ for this purpose, a gas burner placed at some point in the path of the paper between the printing cyllnder and the delivery table so that the printed sheet is heated from the underside as it passes above the flames. The use of these burners is, however, attended with great difiiculties owing to the necessity of constant watchfulness due to the liability and danger of fire during the delivery of the sheets or as occasioned by frequent stoppage of the press. The former method is more or less limited in its application, being confined for the most art to press using the slower or printed-si e-up delivery, and pre-. sents certain other disadvantages which it is the object of this invention toovercome.

To that end, the invention consists essentially in the provision of aheater so disposed as to heat the sheet to be printed while it is positioned around the cylinder rather than while it is be ng delivered upon the delivery table; the heater being arran ed for this purpose at the front of the rinting cylinder and in such proximity thereto as to most efi'ectively heat both the cylinder and the sheet wrapped around the same, for the accompl shments of results conducive to more eflicient and better printing.

Among the important and principal objccts and advantages of the invention are: First, the heating of sheet and cylinder sufliciently to keep ink from picking and to remove static electricity from the aper; second, it decreases the danger of re and enables the use of a hotter flame; third, it provides for a quick partial drying of the ink and prevents ofisetfiourth, enables the flame to act upon the printed side of the sheet rather than the non-printed side; fifth, warms the cylinder for better printing, and sixth, enables the use of fly delivery instead of printed-side-up delivery, with a resultant increase in the output capacity of the press.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description read in comiection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a vertical transverse section of a cylinder printing press, as viewed from the rear of the printing cylinder, and showingzthe invention applied thereto.

igure 2 is a view of the press in side elevation, showing the burner valve and controlling levers, and

Figure 3 is a view in perspective of the invention showing the various parts detached from the press but assembled in operative relation.

In the drawings 10 designates a conventional cylinder press having a feed table 11, cylinder 12, and delivery table 13 to which the printed sheets from the cylinder are delivered by the delivery mechanism 14. The usual operators platform is shown at 15 together with the trip .16 and trip-rod 17 of the cylinder elevating mechanism common to presses of this type.

In applying the invention to the structure described, the burner tube 18 is disposed below the feed 11 in close proximity to the rear and under side of the cylinder 12, being thus arranged in close parallel relation to the cylinder instead of between the latter and the delivery table, as is the former practice. Any suitable means may be employed to hold the burner in position, and gas 1s supplied thereto from a convenient source by way of a supply pipe 19 connected to the mixing chamber 20 at the end of the burner on the far side of the press. The burner may be of any well known construction embodying a length of tubing having a series of openings or flame jets 21, and a pilot tube 22. The open ngs in the burner of the invention are threaded and screw fillers 23 are provided for closing certain of the jets and reducing the range of the burner when a form of less than the maximum width is being used.

By arranging the burner tube to the rear of the printing cylinder as illustrated, it will be seen that the paper during the period it is subjected to the action of the flames is wrapped around the cylinder and is, therefore, less susceptible to fire than when subjected to the flames during the process of delivery. Consequently, a hotter flame than usual can be used for the more effective observed, in this connection, that the printed side of the sheet is exposed to the flames rather than the non-printed side as is the case with burners of former construction. The burner thus heats both sheet and cylinder sufficiently to keep ink from picking and to neutralize the static electricity of the printed sheets, resulting in better printing and preventing offset or smutting of the printed sheets when delivered, one upon the other, onto the delivery table.

Moreover, the burners of former construction arelimited to use with the printedside-up delivery mechanism inwhich the delivery of the printed sheets is effected by a reciprocating delivery carriage. In such mechanism, the printed sheets are delivered horizontally, moving in a path above the burner as the carriage transports it from the cylinder to the delivery table. For use of the fly delivery mechanism, wherein the sheets are delivered by an oscillating fork, these burners have .not heretofore been adopted, due to the different mode of delivering the printed sheets. Of the two methods, the fiy dellvering is usually the preferred. presenting certain advantages of operation which renders its use most desirable and advantageous. The present invention permits either type of delivery to be used with the press, and hence enables the use of the fly instead of the printed-side-up delivery, with a consequent increase in the output of the press by reason of such use.

To provide for shutting off the gas to the burner when the press is idle or stoppage of the same is occasioned for any purpose, the trip-rod 17 has aflixed thereto a collar 24 to which is hingedly connected. as at 25, the inner end of a link rod 26 disposed parallel with the floor and having its outer end connected, as at 27, to the lower end of a vertically extending link rod 28. Pivoted to the side of the press frame is a bell crank lever 29, to one arm of which is connected the upper end of link rod 28. The other arm is connected to one end of the valve-operating rod 30, which rod is secured at its opposite end to the valve 31 of the burner. Thus, when the operator depresses the pedal or trip 16 for elevating the cylinder out. of printing position, which rocks the trip rod 17 in its bearings. the levers and rods operate to move the valve to a closed position. so that the gas is shut off from the burner. Hence, 'it will be seen that the burner is rendered inoperative automatically with the depression of the trip and the danger of fire eliminated.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the invention presents certain advantages over existing devices intended for a similar purpose and embodies a novel application of heat to the cylinder of the press in such manner as to be productive of the best results, not only with res ect to the rapid drying and deliverv of t e printed sheets but also with regard to the improved quality of the printing.

In practice, I have found that the form of m invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings and referred to in the above description, as the preferred embodiment, is the most efficient and practical; yet realizing the conditions concurrent with the adoption of my device will necessarily vary, I desire to emphasize that various minor changes in details of construction, proportlon and arrangement of parts, may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claims without departing from or sacrificing any of the principles of this invention.

Having thus described my invention, and

without enumerating variations and equivalents, what I desire protected by Letters Patent is as set forth in the following claims:

1. An ink drier and static neutralizer for cylinder presses comprising a gas heater including a burner tube disposed rearwardly of the printing cylinder in close proximity to the lower side thereof, said tube being co-extensive with the cylinder and present ing a series of openings or flame jets for heating both the cylinder and the sheet carried thereon, and tiller elements engageable in selected openings or jets of the said tube for limiting the range of the said heater.

2. An ink drier and static neutralizer for cylinder presses comprising a gas heater embodying a length of tubing disposed parallel withthe printing cylinder and in the rear thereof, adjacentthelower portion of the cylinder said tubing having aseries of threaded openings constituting flame jets,

means for supplying gas to the said tubing, including a gas-shut-otf, and a plurality of screw-fillers engageahle in selected openings of the said tubing for decreasing the range of the said heater.

3. In a printing press, a rotatable cylinder for revolving the sheet to be printed, a heater disposed in proximity to the cylinder for heating the cylinder and the. exposed printed side of the sheet wrapped around the cylinder, said heater v be'ng variable in extent to accommodate it to sheets of various widths, means for elevating the said cylinder, and means operable automatically from the said cylinder-elevating means for shutting ofi'the said heater contemporane ously with the elevation of the said cylinder.

WILLIAM M. CARMICHAEL.

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