US2866410A

US2866410A - Inking mechanism

Info

Publication number: US2866410A
Application number: US273740A
Authority: US
Inventors: Charles A Harless
Original assignee: R Hoe and Co Inc
Current assignee: R Hoe and Co Inc
Priority date: 1952-02-27
Filing date: 1952-02-27
Publication date: 1958-12-30
Anticipated expiration: 1975-12-30

Description

Dec. 30, 1958 c. A. HARLESS 2,866,410

INKING MECHANISM Filed Feb. 27. 1952 IN VEN TOR.

(7 44 9455 fl. fiA/PZES United States Patent Office 2,866,410 Patented Dec. 30, 1958 INKING MECHANISM Charles A. Harless, Riverside, Conn., assignor to R. Hoe &

C0., Inc, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York This invention relates to improvements in inking mechanisms.

More particularly, the invention is concerned with inking mechanisms of the type in which ink is supplied to a plate or printing cylinder by form rollers which, in turn, are supplied with ink by trains of rollers or cylinders, which spread and work the ink progressively for supplying a uniform film.

In such mechanisms, there is a tendency when a gap or gutter between the plate passes a form roller, to cause vibration and jumping, this being obviously undesirable, and tending to produce uneveness and streaking in the printing. It is an object of the invention to provide an improved arrangement of rollers for minimizing the radial vibration and the speed variation of the form rollers.

There is also a tendency in inking mechanisms of the character indicated for solid areas on a printing plate to remove most of the ink from large areas on the form rollers, and produce sparse printing or ghosts in areas following. The invention contemplates also an improved arrangement of rollers for minimizing this effect.

An inking mechanism embodying the invention in a preferred form will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing, and the features forming the invention will then be pointed out in the appended claims.

The drawing is a schematic end elevation view of a printing mechanism embodying the invention in a preferred form.

There is indicated a relief plate or printing cylinder 1 cooperating with an impression cylinder 2 for printing on a web 3. The invention is not confined to a printing couple of this precise type but is applicable to sheet fed machines and also to offset machines in which a blanket cylinder is interposed between the plate cylinder and impression cylinder. The ink is supplied to the plate on the cylinder 1 by a pair of form rollers 4 and 4', which, in turn, are inked by a pair of trains from an ink drum 11. Inasmuch'as the two trains supplying the form cylinders are similar and the elements are indicated by similar reference numerals, only the train supplying the form roller 4 requires description.

Cooperating with the form roller 4 is a pair of rollers 5 and 6, the roller 5 being preferably carried in bearings which are pivotally adjustable about the axis of roller 6, l

for adjustment along the are indicated. Rollers 5 and 6 are, in turn, supplied with ink through transfer rollers 7 and 8 from the drum or roller 9, which, in its turn, is supplied with ink from ink drum 11 by the transfer roller 10. Rollers 4, 7, 8 and are surfaced with rubber or other soft material, as indicated, and will normally be driven only by their engagement with the cooperating elements and will be carried in adjustable bearings, as usual. The specific bearing adjustments for these rollers fornrs no part of the present invention, and any suitable adjustable bearings may be used. Bearings such as shown in prior Harless application Serial No. 189,699

filed October 12, 1950, now Patent No. 2,699,116 for Inking Roller Mounting will be found suitable.

The cylinders 1, 2, 5, 6, 9 and 11 will, of course, be driven, as usual, and the cylinders 5, 6 and 9 (vibrators) will have the usual axial reciprocation, provided by any desired means. Huck Patent No. 2,300,549 shows a suitable reciprocating arrangement for such elements, but any of the usual reciprocating arrangements may be employed.

The ink drum 11 is shown as supplied with ink by a ductor roller, swinging back and forth about a pivot point 13, between the drum 11 and a fountain roller 14 supplied with ink 15 from a fountain 16, the thickness of ink on the roller 14 being regulable by an adjustable blade 17, as shown. The rotation of roller 14 may be intermittent or continuous, depending upon the arrangement of parts and operation desired, and the drum 11 may be supplied with ink from an ink rail and ink pumps instead of by an arrangement such as shown, where preferred.

In adjusting the mechanism for operation, the form roller 4 will be positioned properly with reference to the cylinders 1 and 6, and the cylinder 5 may then be swung around the axis of cylinder 6 to bring it into proper rela tion to the form roller 4 and fixed in this position. Transfer rollers 7, 8 and 10 may now be adjusted in proper relation to their cooperating cylinders, completing the adjustments of the cylinders necessary for printing.

The ink, whether supplied to drum 11 by a ductor roller or ink pumps will, of course, require a working and distribution for producing the required uniformity of film. The transfer rollers 10 and 10', cooperate with the drum 11 for evening out the layer of ink thereon, and take ink therefrom and feed it to the trains feeding the two form rollers. axially in cooperation with transfer roller 10, and takes ink therefrom and supplies it to the transfer rollers 7 and 8, the ink also being worked at these points. The vibrators 5 and 6 work the ink axially and take it from the transfer rollers 7 and 8 for supplying the form roller 4. The action in the train supplying the form roller 4' is, of course, similar.

As will be apparent, the ink supplied to the form roller 4- is divided into two films on the transfer rollers 7 and 8, which films are brought back into a single film on the form roller 4. This process of sub-division and recombination of the ink film produces a much greater uniformity of ink film on the roller 4 than would be the case if the ink supplied thereto were merely worked without such division and recombination.

The vibrators 5, 6 and 9 may reciprocate at any desired frequency and in any desired phase relationship for the particular, application involved, and, in particular, it will be normal practice to have the vibrators 5 and 6 operating out of phase with each other. The vibrators in the other train supplying the form roller 4 may have similar phase relations among themselves and the phase relationship between the vibrators of the two trains may also be selected and adjusted for maximum uniformity of ink supplied to the plate cylinder 1.

While applicable generally, the arrangement of the invention has been developed primarily for use in hard packing letter press web printing, in which the usual practice has been to utilize two pairs of form rollers, each pair of which is supplied by a vibrator or other cylinder. In such arrangements, the form roller mounting with relation to the plate cylinder and cooperating vibrator or other supply cylinder is necessarily such that the cylinder and roller engagement is not capacitated to maintain the position of the form roller to avoid vibration and speed fluctuation thereof. While it has been usual in many applications to utilize only two form rollers The vibrator drum 9 works the ink' acne r L for inking the plate cylinder, similar conditions have obtained in that this pair of form rollers has been inked by a common drum and the relationship of the form rollers and cooperating elements has been such as not to furnish the. required support for the form rollers. cording to the. present invention, it is preferred to arrange the parts so that the. axes of the plate cylinder, form roller and a vibrator cooperating with the form roller are substantially coplanar, or so that a plane through the axes of the. plate cylinder and form roller passes slightly between the axes of the vibrators cooperating with the form roller. The form roller 4 and vibrator roller 5 are shown as having their axes substantially coplanar with the axis of the plate cylinder 1, while the form roller 4 is shown as having its axis slightly displaced from the plane containing the axes of the plate cylinder 1 and vibrator 5', the displacement being toward the vibrator 6 so that support for the form roller is obtained from this element also. As will be apparent, the cylinder arrangement shown permits considerable variation in the placement of parts with relation to each other, so that the lines of contact between the various elements may be arranged for obtaining the utmost smoothness in ink application while the cylinder supporting positions are still maintained as desired. It is preferred to support the form roller 4 or 4- primarily by the adjustably mounted vibrator 5 or 5' instead of the fixedly mounted vibrator 6 or 6, as this arrangement permits the finest adjustment between form roller and vibrator for obtaining the required support.

As will now be apparent, when a gap or gutter between the plates passes a form roller 4 or 4, the vibration of the latter is very much reduced due to its support in the radial direction by the vibrator 5 or 5'. Any tendency of the form roller to accelerate or decelerate at such time is likewise very much reduced by the engagement. of the form roller with the two. vibrators rather than with only a single vibrator as is usual and by the substantially coplanar arrangement of the, form roller axis with the printing cylinder axis and axis of one of the vibrators.

Tendency to print sparsely after heavy removal of ink by a solid area is also very much reduced by the inking of the form roller at spaced points around its periphery by the two vibrators. While it might seem, superficially, that the use of a larger number of form rollers would be more effective in preventing such sparse printing, this is not actually the case, as, with form rollers of equal diameters, the relationship of various areas of the printing plate with respect to the circumferential areas of the form rollers will be similar. In the present arrangement, however, the relationship of the vibrators 5 and 6 to the form roller will not be the same with respect to the different areas of the plate cylinder, as one area may primarily take ink supplied by one vibrator and another may take primarily ink supplied by the other.

The vibrators 5 and 6 may be of equal diameters, as shown, and their arrangement with respect to the form roller and their axial reciprocation may readily be determined so as to obtain the best working of the ink for producing uniform film on the form roller.

In the embodiment shown by way of example, the points of engagement of the vibrators with the form roller are spaced somewhat less than 90 apart, and uniformity of working of the ink on the. form roller may be obtained by the reciprocation of the vibrators 5 and 6 out of phase by about so that one vibrator is reciprocating at maximum speed while the other is reversing its direction of reciprocation. Under such conditions, it will be apparent that the ink on the form roller 4 is worked axially over its entire area by either or both of the vibrators.

Where particular operating conditions and space limitations make it desirable, the vibrators may be made of different diameters. In particular, the vibrator 5, furnishing the major support for the form roller, may be of larger diameter than the vibrator 6, permitting greater support for the same without altering pressure per unit area or ink film thickness.

What is claimed is:

1. A printing mechanism comprising, in combination, a printing cylinder, an ink drum, first and second form rollers for inking the printing cylinder, and for each of the said form rollers a train of rollers for supplying ink from the ink drum to the form roller by two different paths, and comprising a pair of hard surfaced rollers spaced apart from each other and in contact with the form roller, and a pair of soft surfaced rollers, also spaced apart and respectively in contact with the said hard surfaced rollers, the various rollers on the said train being arranged for applying all the ink supplied through the two different paths to the cylinder by means of the form roller.

2. A printing mechanism comprising, in combination, a printing cylinder, an ink drum, and first and second form rollers for inking the printing cylinder, and for each said form roller a transfer roller for taking ink from the ink drum, a train of rollers including rollers for conveying ink from the said transfer roller to the form roller by two different paths, the rollers in the two said different paths including a pair of spaced apart hard surfaced rollers in contact, with the form roller, and also spaced apart soft surfaced rollers in contact respectively with the hard surfaced rollers, whereby the ink taken from the ink drum and supplied to the form roller is divided into two films and recombined completely into a single. film on the form roller.

3. A printing mechanism comprising, in combination, a printing cylinder, a form roller for inking the same, a

' pair of vibrators in contact with the. form roller for sup- ReferencesCited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,327,580 Wood Jan. 6', 1920 1,996,607 Barber Apr. 2, 19.35

2,004,801 Sheppard June 11, 1935 FOREIGN PATENTS 305,216 Great. Britain Apr. 24, 1930 507,531 Germany Sept. 17, 1930