US2178008A - Inking mechanism for printing presses - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 31, 1939. H. B.-W|LLETT. SR

INKING MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES Filed Sept. 13, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet l Oct. 31, 1939.- H. B WILLETT. SR

INKING MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES Filed Sept. 13, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 m wm m m ET *0 M w m w H K M M Patented Oct. 31 1939 UNITED STATES INKING MECHANISM FOR PRINTING DRESSES Harry B. Willett, Sr., Indianapolis, Ind.

Application September 13, 1937, Serial No. 163,534

2 Claims.

This invention relates to an inking mechanism for a printing press and is particularly adaptable to the type of printing press disclosed in my prior Patent No. 1,993,232, issued March 5, 1935, in which there is provided a stationary type bed and an oscillating platen together with means for feeding a web of paper or other material to be printed across the platen. The present invention, however, is equally applicable to certain other types of presses.

In my prior patent, there is shown a press in which the ink is supplied from a plurality of rotatable discs and is transferred from the discs to the type bed by means of rollers. When the pressis used for two color work, each of the discs may be supplied with ink of a different color and a separate type bed is provided beneath each disc in which the copy to be printed in the color carried by that disc is set. The web feed mechanism is set to move the web along the platen in successive steps to bring the printing of the several colors into exact register. In this type of inking construction, the transfer, rollers are apt to receive more ink in thatportion which engages the central part of the discs. For that reason, printing is not always uniform unless the type bed is much narrower than the width of the disc. This requirement necessitates the type beds being relatively far apart and limits the use of the press to work in whichthe printed matter occupies a relatively small portion of the sheet to be cut from the web. 7

One object of the present invention is to overcome this difliculty and to provide an inking mechanism which gives satisfactorily uniform multi-colored printing from type beds set as close together as may be desired. For this purpose, there is employed, instead of the distributing discs just mentioned, a plurality of distributing drums together with a. plurality of oscillating rollers cooperating with the drums to distribute the ink uniformly thereon. Transfer rollers take the ink from the drums to the typebeds and since both the drums and the rollers are cylindrical, each part of the transferroller uniformly engages the drum and receives a uniform supply of ink. The drums and oscillating rollers are preferably slightly spaced apart to prevent mixing of the ink of different colors and spacers are provided in the ink fountain trough to-prevent mixing of the ink therein. The distributing drums and oscillating rollers are made easily removable and replaceable so that rollers and drums of varying widths to correspond with the particular printing job to be done, may be quickly put in place.

For this purpose also, the partitions in the fountain trough are made adjustable.

Another object of the invention is to provide means for quickly correcting any poor distribution of the ink on the drums. This is accom- 5 plished by the provision of independent means for rotating the distributing drums and the oscillating rollers so that the operation of the press as a whole may be stopped and these drums and rollers may continue to operate until the poor distribution has been corrected.

Other objects and features of the invention will be understood from the accompanying drawings and the following description and claims:

Fig. l is a side view of a portion of a press to which the invention has been applied. Fig. 2 is a similar side view of the opposite side. Fig. 3 is a rear view thereof. Fig. 4 is a sectional view through the ink distributing drums illustrating the preferred manner of mounting the same for ready interchangeability. Fig. 5 is a sectional view of a detail of the operating mechanism of theoscillating rollers taken substantially on the line 5.-5 of Fig. 3.

Inthe form cf the invention illustrated in the drawings, .the stationary portions of the press include a pair of side plates I9 and H. The side plates are (suitably secured on a bed plate, not shown, and are securedtogether in a rigid structure by any suitablemeans, such as a cross bar !2. A platen I3 is pivotally mounted upon a shaft l4 journaled on the plates I0 and II and is provided with a rearward extension l5 between said plates to which there is connected a pitman IS in turn connected to a crank ll carried by the main crankshaft E8 of the machine. The crank shaft l8 may carry a flywheel, not shown, a's-is usual in presses of this type. A motor l9 mounted on a. suitable plate 29 may drive the shaft I8 through a sprocket 2|, chain 22 and sprocket 23. I

Adjacent the upper end of the plates l0 and I l, a fountain trough 24 extends between the same. A fountain roller 25 is carried by a shaft 26 journaled on the plates 16 and ll and rotates within the fountain trough 2 3. An adjustable spreader 2'! of resilient material engages the roller within the trough to distribute the ink thereon.v A ratchet wheel 28 is mounted on the shaft 26 and is engaged by a spring-pressed pawl 29 carried'by a lever arm .38 which is freely mountedupon the shaft2 and is pivotally connected at its opposite end to a collar 3|. The collar 31' is freelyslidable upon a vertical rod 32, the sliding vmovement thereof being limited by adjustable stop collars 33 and 34. The rod 32 is pivotally secured at its lower end to a crank 35 carried by a shaft 36 which is journaled in the plates I8 and II. The shaft 36 is rotated by rotation of the shaft I8 by means of a bevel gear 31 mounted on the shaft I8, a bevel pinion 38 meshing therewith, a shaft 38 to which said pinion is secured, a second bevel pinion 48 secured to said shaft, and a bevel gear 4I meshing with the latter pinion and secured to the shaft 36. The shaft 39 is suitably journaled on the side plate I8. By this means, the fountain roller 25 is rotated step by step in timed relation with the printing operation of the platen I3 and the ink which is deposited in the trough 24 above the spreader 21 is distributed thereon by said spreader. The rate of movement of the fountain roller may be adjusted by adjusting the position of the collars 33 and 34 upon the rod 32.

Above the fountain roller 25, a shaft 42 is pivotally mounted on brackets 43 carried by the plates I8 and II. Said shaft has secured thereto a pair of lever arms 44 which carry in slotted openings a shaft 45 on which there is mounted a roller 46 which is known as the duck roller. The shaft 42 also carries a lever 41 having an opening through which the Vertical rod 32 extends. A compression spring 48 surrounds the rod above the lever 41 and abuts against a collar 49 secured to said rod. The lower end of the spring 48 abuts against the lever 41. As the rod 32 is raised, the pressure of the spring 48 is released and the duck roller 46 drops by its own weight into contact with the fountain roller 25 to receive ink therefrom. As the rod 32 is drawn downwardly the spring 48 is pressed against the lever 41 to raise the duck roller 46 into engagement with a set of oscillating rollers 58 which are carried by a shaft 5| journaled in bearings 52 on the plates I8 and I I. The duck roller thus transfers ink from the fountain roller to the oscillating roller at periodical intervals in the operation of the press. In starting the machine or at other times when there is an insuflicient supply of ink on the oscillating rollers, the duck roller may be raised and lowered by the manual operation of the lever 41 to transfer a larger supply of ink. The oscillating rollers engage a plurality of drums 53 which are secured to a sleeve 54 by means of set screws 55, said sleeve being journaled on a stationary shaft 56 which is secured at its ends to the plates I8 and I I by means of set screws 51.

Power for rotating the drums 53 and for oscillating the rollers 58 is supplied from a motor 58 suitably mounted on a cross member 59 secured to the plates I8 and II. Said motor rotates a stub shaft 68 by means of gears contained in a housing 6I formed integrally with the motor frame, Said stub shaft is journaled on the plate I8 and carries a gear 62 meshing with a gear 63 carried by a shaft 64 which is journaled in the plates I8 and I I. The shaft 64 carries a sprocket 65 about which there is trained a chain 66 which also engages a sprocket 61 secured to the sleeve 54. The operation of the motor 58 thus rotates the drums 53.

The shaft 64 also carries a pinion 6B meshing with a pinion 69 carried by a stub shaft 18 mounted on the plate II. The pinion 68 drives a gear 1I mounted on a shaft 12 journaled in the plates I8 and II. The shaft 12 also carries an eccentric 13 on which there is freely mounted a circular collar 14 formed as best seen in Fig. 5 and secured in place by a plate 15. A yoke 16 embraces the collar 15 and is provided with set screws 11 having points engaging suitable pits placed diametrically opposite in the outer surface of the collar 14. The yoke 16 is pivoted at its upper end at 18 to a stem 18 which passes through a suitable opening in a lever 84. Said stem is loosely engaged with the lever 88 by means of nuts 8I threaded thereon. The lever 80 is pivotally mounted by means of set screws 82 on a collar 83 carried by a stub shaft 84 which is in turn carried by the plate II. Said collar is retained in position on the stub shaft by set collars 85. The upper end of the lever 88 is provided with an embossment 86 in which there is reciprocably mounted the lower end of a lever 81. The lever 81 is pivotally mounted by means of set screws 88 on a collar 88 freely mounted on the shaft 5I. Said collar is retained in position on the shaft by set collars 88.

By means of the linkage just described, the rotation of shaft 12 produces a vertical movement of the yoke 16 which is transmitted to the lever 88 through the stem 18 and causes said lever to oscillate about its pivot screws 82. The oscillation of the lever 88 is transmitted through lever 81 to the collar 88, the embossment 86 providing an extensible connection between said levers. The movement of lever 81 results in horizontal oscillation of the shaft 5I and the oscillating rollers 58 carried thereby.

Ink is transferred from the drums 53 to the bed 9| by means of transfer rollers 33. Said rollers are herein shown as four in number, the upper pair being journaled on yokes 83 and the lower pair on yokes 84, there being one of said yokes at each side of the machine. The yokes 83 and 84 are pivotally mounted on yokes 95, each of which is in turn pivotally mounted to a stem 96 extending within a tubular housing 91 and having a collar 88 secured on the end thereof. The housings 91 are pivotally mounted at 88 to the plates I8 and II and each of said housings is closed by a cap I88 through which the rods 86 extend. Compression springs I8I within said housings abut against the caps I88 and the collars 88. Each of the housings 81 is provided with a rearward extension I82 and said extensions are connected by a cross member I83 to which there is attached a pitman I84, the lower end of which is connected to a lever I05 secured to the shaft 36. By means of this construction, the transfer rollers 82 are raised and lowered to transfer ink from the drums 53 to the type bed 8| in timed relation with the printing operation of the platen I3, the spring I8I serving to maintain the proper pressure between the rollers and the type bed and between the rollers and the drums 53.

In multicolor printing with the press just described, each of the drums 53 and its associated oscillating roller 58 may be used for a different color of ink. In that case the trough 24 is divided by spacers I86 into compartments, each of which may receive the ink of the desired color without danger of mixing of colors. The spacers I86 are shaped as best seen in Fig. 2 and are merely hung over the edge of the fountain trough 24 at the point or points at which it is desired to divide said trough. The fountain roller 25 and duck roller 46 transfer the inks of different colors to the appropriate oscillating rollers 58, the width of the spacers I86 being sufficient to insure that ink of a given color will not be placed on the wrong oscillating roll. From Fig. 3 it will be apparent that there is considerable space between the oscillating rollers and this space is made sufficiently large to prevent one roller in 7 its horizontal movement from engaging the drum 53 associated with another roller. At the same time, the small space provided between the drums 53 permits a small amount of ,overtravel of the oscillating rollers and insures a uniform distribution of ink on the drums. Since the drums transfer ink uniformly to the transfer rollers 92 throughout the face of the drums, said transfer rollers may be used with type beds practically as wide as the face of the drums and said type beds may be placed substantially as close together as the drums themselves. This result cannot be obtained by the use of discs instead of drums as in the prior patent previously mentioned. Since the type beds may be close together, the movements of the web of paper necessary to bring the same successively into engagement with each type bed need be only slightly greater than the width of each type bed. Since this movement determines the length of the sheet to be cut from the web at each operation, it is apparent that the sheet need be only slightly longer than the individual width of the type bed. Thus printing of each of the colors may be placed on any part of the sheet.

When it is desired to change the size of type beds, the drums 53 and oscillating rollers may be removed and replaced by drums and rollers of appropriate size for the new printing job. At the same time, the spacers I06 may be moved to divide the fountain trough accordingly. The particular means shown for mounting the drums greatly facilitates their removal and cuts down the make-ready time. In changing drums, the set screws 5'! are loosened and the shaft 56 is withdrawn while the drums are suitably supported from above. The drums may then be lowered sufiiciently to permit the chain 66 to be disengaged and may then be lifted as a unit. The drums are then removed from the sleeve 54 and others placed thereon, whereupon the new suit may be placed in position. In changing the oscillating rollers 50 it is only necessary to remove hearing caps I01 which hold the shaft 5| inposition and then to remove said shaft and the rollers as a unit. The extensible connection between levers 88 and 8'! permits this to be done without disturbing the collar 89.

In starting the press, or whenever a proper distribution of ink has not been secured on the drums 53, the press motor l9 may be stopped while the motor 58 continues to operate until the proper distribution is obtained. At the same time. ink may be supplied by manual operation of the levers 4'! and 3D.

The foregoing specification describes a preferred form of the invention, the details of which may be varied by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope thereof as defined by the appended claims.

The invention claimed is:

1. In a printing press having an ink receptacle, a fountain roller, means for spreading ink from said receptacle on said fountain roller, a type bed, and a movable platen cooperating with said type bed in the printing operation, the combination of a rotating drum, an oscillator roller engaging said drum, power means for rotating said drum and oscillating said roller in the direction of its axis, means for transferring ink from said receptacle to said oscillator roller, means for transferring ink from said drum to said type bed, and a separate power means operating said platen, rotating said fountain roller and operating said ink transferring means.

2. In a printing press having an ink receptacle, a type bed, a movable platen and power means operating said platen in the printing operation, the combination of a rotating drum, an oscillator roller engaging said drum, means for transferring ink from said receptacle to said oscillator roller, means for transferring ink from said drum to said type bed, and means for rotating said drum and oscillating said roller in the direction of its axis, said last mentioned means being operable independently of the operation of said platen.

HARRY B. WILLETT, SR,

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