US2920557A - Pressure control mechanism for doctor blades - Google Patents

Pressure control mechanism for doctor blades Download PDF

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US2920557A
US2920557A US721246A US72124658A US2920557A US 2920557 A US2920557 A US 2920557A US 721246 A US721246 A US 721246A US 72124658 A US72124658 A US 72124658A US 2920557 A US2920557 A US 2920557A
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pressure
cylinder
doctor blade
blade
tube
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US721246A
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Fuchs Friedrich
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Westfalendruck & Co Ko GmbH
Westfalendruck & Co Kommandit-Gesellschaft GmbH
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Westfalendruck & Co Ko GmbH
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    • BPERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41FPRINTING MACHINES OR PRESSES
    • B41F9/00Rotary intaglio printing presses
    • B41F9/06Details
    • B41F9/08Wiping mechanisms
    • B41F9/10Doctors, scrapers, or like devices
    • B41F9/1036Clamping and adjusting devices

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  • the present invention relates to improvements in rotogravure and similar printing presses and more particularly to a new method and a new device for uniformly eliminating the ink from the unetched surface of a printing cylinder by means of a doctor blade.
  • doctor blade Apart from removing the surplus ink from the printing cylinder it is also the purpose of the doctor blade to control very accurately the amount of ink which should be allowed to pass between the edge of the doctor blade and the surface of the printing cylinder at the engraved or etched points of the latter so that the printing on the respective products will always be uniform.
  • doctor-blade designs differ from each other insofar as their particular construction is concerned, most of them areequal in principle and all have certain disadvantages which prevent them from accomplishing their purpose completely. Although many efiorts have been made for a long time to overcome these disadvantages, they were all inadequate because their proper function depended upon the sensitiveness of touch of the persons operating the same so that an improper operation or inaccurate adjustments could never be entirely avoided.
  • the uneven ink elimination or ink passage is to be rectified by increasing the blade pressure upon the surface of the printing cylinder at the time of a change in the direction of movement of the doctor blade, that is, when the blade is at a stop, and to such an extent that, when the blade is standing still, the amount of ink passing between the blade and the cylinder surface will be the same as at the time when the crank is turned at an angle of 90, that is, when the blade moves at its maximum speed.
  • the pressure of the blade is changed in proportion to the acceleration thereof so that the amount of ink passing between the blade and the cylinder surface will become more uniform.
  • this object will be attained by providing a resilient element which acts upon the doctor blade and automatically adjusts and compensates any changes in tension which might occur during the printing operation at any point between the doctor blade and the surface of the printing cylinder after the doctor blade has been adjusted in the conventional manner with respect to the printing cylinder.
  • the resilient element according to the invention is devised so as to adjust itself to permit any irregularities which might occur along the length of the printing cylinder or of the doctor blade to be compensated individually and separately from each other.
  • the resilient element according to the present invention may be of various designs.
  • it may consist of a plurality of separate pressure members which are mounted in a row adjacent to each other and each of which is devised so as to exert a resilient pressure upon the doctor blade entirely independently of the other members.
  • Such resiliency may be attained by subjecting each pressure member to the action of a separate spring or the like, or by subjecting all pressure members to the action of a common resilient cushion element.
  • Such cushion may, for example, consist of a resilient tube or the like which is filled with air or a fluid, the pressure of which may be adjusted by suitable control means.
  • Such device permits a uniform pressure to be exerted upon the doctor blade and will thus insure that uniform amount of ink remains on the etched or engraved surface of the printing cylinder as long as the basic adjustment of the doctor blade is not changed.
  • an adjustment is sometimes necessary with the result that, because of the change in position of the pressure members within their common housing, the pressure ratio and thus also the specific pressure of the individual pressure members upon the doctor blade will change. In such cases, it will therefore be necessary to carry out a new adjustment.
  • the individual pressure members are acted upon by springs, there is the further disadvantage that the adjustment depends upon the sensitiveness of touch of the operator and that it is thus not always possible to insure an absolutely uniform pressure of all of the pressure members upon the doctor blade. Consequently, it is then not always possible to control the passage of ink as accurately as may be required to attain uniform printing results.
  • These means according to the invention have the further advantage of increasing the reactivity of each individual pressure member to differences in the ink passage.
  • each individual pressure member may consist of a cylinder which extends at one end into a common pressure chamber and of a piston within each cylinder which is adapted to reciprocate therein. This piston is subjected at one end to the pressure within the pressure chamber and acts at the other end upon the doctor blade.
  • the piston which is made of a rod of a diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the cylinder is suspended within the cylinder by means of a thin rubber tube, one end of which may be closed and which is slipped with this end portion downwardly over the upper end portion of the piston rod so that this end portion of the tube will cling firmly to the end portion of the piston rod, whereupon the free end of the tube is inverted upon itself to extend upwardly along the inner wall of the cylinder and beyond its upper edge, where this extending end is again inverted and folded downwardly over this upper edge of the cylinder so that the open end portion of the tube surrounds and clings to the upper part of the cylinder.
  • the rubber tube Upon a reciprocating movement of the piston within the cylinder, the rubber tube will then roll along the inner wall of the cylinder and the outer wall of the piston rod by unrolling from one and rolling upon the other. In this manner, the upper end of the cylinder will be hermetically closed at all times relative to the common pressure chamber, and the piston surface which is acted upon by the pressure within the pressure chamber through the interposed rubber tube will always remain constant so that the specific pressure of the piston upon the doctor blade will also always remain constant.
  • the piston is made in the form of a rod of a certain length, it is preferably provided with collars or the like which are adapted to slide along the inner wall of the cylinder so as to guide the piston without, however, exerting any compression or suction during the reciproeating movement.
  • the lower end of the rodlike piston which projects from the cylinder preferably carries a small pressure plate which is adapted to press upon the doctor blade and is connected to the piston so as to be pivotable about an axis transverse to the longitudinal direction of the printing cylinder.
  • the individual pressure plates on the lower ends of the pistons are disposed in a row along the doctor blade and preferably extend substantially vertically thereto. They are spaced at a relatively small distance from each other which, however, is suflicient to allow each pressure plate to pivot to some extent relative to the adjacent plates.
  • Fig. 1 shows a cross section of the doctor blade arrangement and the new pressure control mechanism therefor, taken along line I--I in Fig. 2;
  • Fig. 2 shows a cross section taken along line II--II in Fig. 1;
  • Fig. 3 shows a modification of the pressure control mechanism according to the invention in cross section similar to Fig. 1 but on an enlarged scale;
  • Fig. 4 shows the pressure control mechanism according to Fig. 3 in a different position of its operation
  • Fig. 5 shows a side view of the lower part of Fig. 4,
  • Fig. 6 is an enlarged cross-section through the central part of the mechanism of Fig. 3.
  • a shaft 1 carries a clamp support 2 which is adjustably secured to shaft 1 by clamping bolts 3 and, in turn, firmly clamps the doctor blade 4.
  • arms 5 and 6 are secured to shaft 1 and support the pressure control mechanism according to the invention.
  • This mechanism consists primarily of a substantially cylindrical tube 7 with a projecting longitudinal flange 8 thereon which is provided with a slot extending from one end of the tube to the other.
  • a large number of pressure members 9 having enlarged heads or end flanges integral therewith are slipped from one end of tube 7 into this slot so as to be disposed therein in a row adjacent to each other.
  • the thin ends of pressure members 9 project from flange 8 of tube 7 and are spaced only a small distance from each other.
  • the lower beveled ends of pressure members 9 together form a perfectly straight serrated bladelike edge, with the exception of a small number of pressure members 9 at each end of tube 7 which are made of a shorter length for a reason stated below.
  • the length of the entire row of pressure members 9 and 9' is substantially equal to the length of the doctor blade 4 which is secured in clamp support 2.
  • end stops 10 are secured in both ends of the slot in flange 8.
  • Tube 7 is further provided at both ends with screw threads upon which end caps 11 and 12 are tightly screwed.
  • the closed chamber formed within tube 7 contains a flexible tube 13, for example, of rubber.
  • a check valve 14 is connected to rubber tube 13 and leads through a pipe or hose, not shown, toa pressure tank or the like for supplying a suitable pressure medium, for example, compressed air, to tube 7. Suitable control means for regulating such pressure may also be provided.
  • End caps 11 and 12 terminate in short shaft stubs 15 which are rotatably mounted in sockets 16 at the outer ends of arms 5 and 6.
  • the entire pressure control unit consisting of the outer tube 7, the inner tube 13 and end caps 11 and 12 In order to permit the entire pressure control unit consisting of the outer tube 7, the inner tube 13 and end caps 11 and 12 to be easily inserted into or removed from sockets 16, the latter are provided with slots 17 while the shaft stubs 15 are provided with flat parallel surfaces 18 which are spaced apart at a distance substantially equal to the width of slots 17 so as to permit shaft stubs 15 to slide into or out of sockets 16 through slots 17.
  • the entire unit 7, 11, 12, 13 is thus inserted into sockets 16, it may be turned by means of a handle 19 about an angle of about to the position as indicated in Fig. 1, whereby surfaces 18 will be likewise turned relative to slots 17 so that shaft stubs 15 will then be securely retained in sockets 16.
  • a stop member 21 is secured to end cap 11.
  • This stop member 21 is adapted to engage with one end of an adjusting screw 22 which is screwed into the head 23 of another screw which is screwed into arm 5.
  • a lock nut 24 may be used to lock the adjusting screw 22 in its adjusted position.
  • clamp support 2 is adjusted by means of setscrews 27 relative to the surface of printing cylinder 20 so as to extend parallel thereto, whereupon clamping bolts 3 are firmly tightened.
  • Rubber tube 13 is then filled with a gaseous or fluid elastic medium, for example, compressed air, so as to contain a certain pressure which should be slightly lower than the pressure which would be required to eliminate the ink entirely from the surface of printing cylinder 20.
  • This pressure may be very accurately adjusted by means of a precision pressure gauge, not shown, which is connected to the pressure line leading to tube 13. Rubber tube 13 will thus press the end flanges 26 of pressure members 9 upon their seats in tube 7 so that the thin lower ends of pressure members 9 will uniformly engage with and resiliently press upon doctor blade 4.
  • doctor blade 4 is then placed in the operative position and properly adjusted relative to printing cylinder 20 in the following manner:
  • the resilient pressure members 9 are moved to such an extent toward the edge of doctor blade 4 that the blade can no longer be bent so as to change its tangent angle relative to cylinder 20.
  • the rotation of printing cylinder 20, which passes in the usual manner through a pan of ink is started in the direction shown by the arrow in Fig. l, and the edge of blade 4 is pressed against the surface of cylinder 20 until the shorter pressure members 9' at both ends of tube 7 will engage with doctor blade 4 and pressure members 9 will be forced for a certain distance back into tube 7. It will then usually be found that the minimum pressure which is at first maintained in the resilient inner tube 13 will not be sufiicient to remove the ink entirely from the surface of cylinder 20. The pressure in tube 13 is then gradually increased until pressure members 9 press so strongly upon doctor blade 4 that the cylinder surface will be wiped entirely clean of ink so that the printing operation may then be started.
  • the proper pressure required for the respective printing form may then be determined on the mentioned precision gauge and its amount may serve as a basis for the adjustment for subsequent printing operations.
  • This pressure within tube 13 and thus also the pressure of members 9 and 9' upon the doctor blade may then be maintained at a constant value by a suitable automatic pressure regulator, not shown.
  • FIG. 3 to 5 The modification of the invention as illustrated in Figures 3 to 5 is in principle similar to the embodiment as shown and described above in Figs. 1 and 2.
  • a tubular member is mounted on the shaft of the doctor blade in a manner similar to that shown in Figs. 1 and 2.
  • Tube 30 is likewise slotted longitudinally, and a bearing member 31 corresponding to flange 8 in Fig. 1 and bridging the slot is tightly secured to the free end portions 32 of tube 30 so that the inside 'of tube 30 will form a hermetically closed pressure chamber.
  • Bearing member 31 extends substantially along the entire length of tube 30 and supports a plurality of cylinders 33 which are disposed in a row closely adjacent to each other and are tightly sealed within member 31.
  • bearing member 31 has a plurality of stepped bores, the narrower inner part 34 of which has a diameter corresponding to the outer diameter of each cylinder 33, while the wider outer part 35 is adapted to receive a flange 36 on the lower end of each cylinder 33 and is provided With inner screw threads 37 into which a screw plug 38 is screwed to press flange 36 firmly upon a gqasket 39 and thus seal the outer wall of the cylinder hermetically toward theoutside.
  • a rodshapedpiston 40 is slidably mounted within each cylinder 33 and guided therein for movement in a direction coaxial with the cylinder by means of a pair of collars 41 or the like which, however, do not produce any compression or suction of air within cylinder 33 and may for this purpose be provided, for example, with one or more axially extending grooves, not shown, in their outer surface.
  • the lower part 42 thereof may be of a rectangular cross section and be guided by the walls of a rectangular opening in the end flange 36 of cylinder 33.
  • the lower reduced end 43 of piston 40 is slotted and carries within such slot a thin pressure plate 44 which is secured to piston 40 by a screw 45' so as to be freely pivotable to a certain extent about the axis of this screw.
  • pressure plate 44 will be capable of adapting itself to any small unevenness on the surface of doctor blade 46.
  • each cylinder 33 is hermetically closed by means of a thin rubber tube 47, one end of which isdrawn tightly over the upper end 48 of piston 40 and may, if necessary, be secured thereto near the upper end to prevent piston 40 from pulling out of this tube during its downward movement.
  • Rubber tube 47 after being drawn downwardly over the upper end 48 of piston 40 is inverted upon itself so as then to extend upwardly along the inner wall of cylinder 33, and is then again inverted at the upper edge of cylinder 33 and drawn downwardly so that its other end portion clings tightly to the outer surface of cylinder 33.
  • rubber tube 47 serves as a means of suspending piston 40 on cylinder 33 and especially insures that upon an axial movement of piston 40 relative to chamber 36 or upon a new adjustment of chamber 30 in the longitudinal direction of cylinders 33, the active piston surface which is acted upon by the pressure within chamber 30 will always remain of equal size since tube 47 while unrolling either from the outer wall of piston 40 or from the inner wall of cylinder 33 automatically rolls itself upon the other wall.
  • doctor blade 4 or 46 Since the pressure of the pressure members 9 or 44 is exerted upon doctor blade 4 or 46 at points which are closely adjacent to the very edge of the blade, the latter maybe made of very thin strip steel which is capable of entering into the smallest depressions in the surface of the printing cylinder and eliminating the ink therefrom completely Without requiring any increase in the blade pressure over that required for an absolutely even surface of the cylinder as was previously necessary with other doctor blade arrangements.
  • the material of the doctor blade may now, in fact, be made so thin that its edge no longer needs to be beveled, trimmed, or trued. Even a slightly wavy shape of the blade will not have any disadvantageous efiect since the individual pressure members will engage in the waves without changing the pressure upon the blade or that exerted by the blade edge upon the surface of the printing cylinder.
  • doctor blades need also no longer be given any initial tension since the resilient pressure members which act directly upon the doctor blade closely adjacent to the blade edge will compensate any differences in tension and will insure that the pressure of the blade edge upon the cylinder surface will remain entirely uniform. For this reason, any deformation of the blade due to uneven wear has also no effect upon the elimination of ink from the cylinder surface or the passage of ink between the etched cylinder surface and the doctor blade.
  • the effect of the back pressure underneath the doctor blade may also be easily overcome by increasing the pressure within the pressure chamber 13 or accordingly. This may be done automatically by suitable pressureregulating means of a known design which are responsive to the operation of the driving mechanism of the machine.
  • the new control mechanism has the further advantage that the amount of pressure of the doctor blade upon the surface of the printing cylinder can be accurately measured and controlled, and can therefore be uniformly maintained at all times.
  • a doctor blade for a printing press having a printing cylinder, a plurality of adjacent pressure members disposed in a row and adapted to engage resiliently with said doctor blade along the length thereof for maintaining said blade in resilient engagement with the surface of said printing cylinder, means for mounting said pressure members so as to be movable independently of each other in a substantially vertical direction relative to said doctor blade, common resilient pressure means adapted to act simultaneously upon all of said pressure members, means for adjusting and controlling the resilient pressure exerted by said pressure means, said common pressure means including a tubular housing having closed ends containing a fluid pressure medium, and means engaging said pressure members for applying the pressure in the cylinder thereto, said doctor blade being mounted on a shaft, a pair of supporting arms secured to said shaft near both ends of said doctor blade, and means on the two closed ends of said housing for removably securing said housing to said supporting arms.
  • a doctor blade for a printing press having a printing cylinder, a rigid tubular housing, a plurality of pressure members disposed in a straight row closely adjacent to each other and adapted to engage resiliently with said doctor blade along the length thereof, each of said pressure members having an upper end disposed within said housing and a lower end projecting from said housing and adapted to engage with said doctor blade, and being slidably guided within an aperture in the wall of said housing for movement independently of the other pressure members in the longitudinal direction of said member and substantially vertically to said doctor blade, a closed elastic rubber tube within and enclosed by the wall of said housing and having a longitudinal periphery adjacent the row of pressure members adapted to exert a resilient pressure upon the upper ends of all of said pressure members, and means for filling said rubber tube with a pressure fluid and for adjusting and controlling the pressure of said fluid within said rubber tube.
  • said aperture is formed by a slot in the wall of said housing extending longitudinally in a straight direction from one end of said housing to the other, all of said pressure members being inserted into said slot from one end of said housing so as to form a straight row, and being guided by the walls of said slot.
  • a rigid tubular container forming a pressure chamber, said container having a plu rality of closely adjacent apertures in its wall disposed in a straight row extending longitudinally from a point near one end of said container to a point near the other end, a cylinder having open ends mounted in each of said apertures and extending into said container and parallel to the other cylinders, a piston slidable within each of said cylinders in the axial direction thereof, and substantially vertical to said doctor blade, the lower end of said piston projecting from said cylinder and adapted to engage resiliently with said doctor blade, at least the upper end portion of said piston having a diameter smaller than the inner diameter of said cylinder, a thin rubber tube connecting said upper end portion of said piston with the upper end portion of said cylinder within said container for suspending said piston within said cylinder and for hermetically sealing said pressure chamber relative to said piston and the inside of said cylinder, and means for supplying a pressure fluid to said pressure chamber and for
  • each of said pistons is slotted, and further comprising a small pressure plate pivotably mounted within said slot so that its lower edge when in engagement 2,920,557 9 10 with the surface of said printing cylinder can adapt itself References Cited in the file of this patent to any irregularity in the shape of said surface.

Description

Jan. 12, 1960 F. FUCHS PRESSURE CONTROL MECHANISM FOR DOCTOR BLADES Filed March 13, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR Jan. 12, 1960 F. FUCHS 2,920,557
PRESSURE CONTROL MECHANISM FOR DOCTOR BLADES Filed March 13, 1958 s Sheets-Sheet 2 Fundy-AL Fua. A 5
BY 7 MW 6/ A oRrvEYs 1N VENTOR Jan. 12, .1960 F. FUCHS 2,920,557
PRESSURE CONTROL MECHANISM FOR DOCTOR BLADES Filed March 13, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 1 N VENTOR United States Patent PRESSURE CONTROL MECHANISM FOR DOCTOR BLADES Friedrich Fuchs, Ende, uber Dortmund, Germany, assignor to Westfalendruck G.m.b.H. & Co. Kommandit- Gesellschaft, Dortmund, Germany, a firm of Germany Application March 13, 1958, Serial No. 721,246
Claims priority, application Germany March 21, 1957 7 Claims. (Cl. 101-157) The present invention relates to improvements in rotogravure and similar printing presses and more particularly to a new method and a new device for uniformly eliminating the ink from the unetched surface of a printing cylinder by means of a doctor blade.
in rotogravure and similar printing methods in which the image to be printed is engraved or etched into the printing cylinder, it is customary to dip the surface of the cylinder into a pool of ink or to apply the ink upon the surface of the printing cylinder by means of an inking roll, and then to remove the surplus ink from the printing cylinder by means of a doctor blade. During the printing process, the ink remaining within the engraving or etching in the cylinder surface will then be taken up by a web of paper, cloth, or the like which is pressed by an impression roll against the printing cylinder.
Apart from removing the surplus ink from the printing cylinder it is also the purpose of the doctor blade to control very accurately the amount of ink which should be allowed to pass between the edge of the doctor blade and the surface of the printing cylinder at the engraved or etched points of the latter so that the printing on the respective products will always be uniform.
Although the various known doctor-blade designs differ from each other insofar as their particular construction is concerned, most of them areequal in principle and all have certain disadvantages which prevent them from accomplishing their purpose completely. Although many efiorts have been made for a long time to overcome these disadvantages, they were all inadequate because their proper function depended upon the sensitiveness of touch of the persons operating the same so that an improper operation or inaccurate adjustments could never be entirely avoided.
Thus, for example, the following suggestions have been made as to how the amount of ink which should be permitted to pass between the doctor blade and the etched surface of the printing cylinder could be made more uniform so that the printed products of each series would all be of an equal quality or appearance.
in a doctor blade system which is operated by a crank, the uneven ink elimination or ink passage is to be rectified by increasing the blade pressure upon the surface of the printing cylinder at the time of a change in the direction of movement of the doctor blade, that is, when the blade is at a stop, and to such an extent that, when the blade is standing still, the amount of ink passing between the blade and the cylinder surface will be the same as at the time when the crank is turned at an angle of 90, that is, when the blade moves at its maximum speed. During the movement from the dead-center position to the 90 position, the pressure of the blade is changed in proportion to the acceleration thereof so that the amount of ink passing between the blade and the cylinder surface will become more uniform.
The principle of compensating the ink passage at the time of the standstill by increasing the blade pressure "ice 2 has also been applied to doctor blade systems in which the sliding reciprocatory movement of the blade is positively controlled by cams.
Another prior attempt to solve the difiiculty of regulating the ink supply on the printing cylinder consisted in the provision of a doctor blade construction in which a plurality of closely adjacent resilient elements, which to some extent are independent of each other, exert a pressure upon the blade so as to hold it in a resilient engagement with the cylinder surface. These resilient elements are formed by a steel blade in a shape similar to that of the doctor blade which is serrated along one edge so as to form a plurality of free spring fingers. The steel blade itself is clamped firmly along its entire length and it is disposed at an angle to the doctor blade so that the tips of the spring fingers rest upon the doctor blade and are given a spring tension by flexing under the pressure applied upon the steel blade in a direction toward the doctor blade. However, since the individual spring fingers of this construction are only resilient by flexing at an angle to their normal direction, and since they are combined with each other by a common rigid back portion, this prior device is not capable of solving the difficulties previously described.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a doctor blade and a control mechanism therefor which is designed to regulate the pressure of the doctor blade upon the surface of the printing cylinder so that this pressure will adapt itself automatically at any point along the length of the doctor blade to any irregularities either of the cylinder surface or of the doctor blade itself so that an exactly uniform amount of ink will be allowed to pass at all times between the cylinder surface and the doctor blade and the printing will always be uniform throughout each series of products to be printed.
According to the present invention this object will be attained by providing a resilient element which acts upon the doctor blade and automatically adjusts and compensates any changes in tension which might occur during the printing operation at any point between the doctor blade and the surface of the printing cylinder after the doctor blade has been adjusted in the conventional manner with respect to the printing cylinder. The resilient element according to the invention is devised so as to adjust itself to permit any irregularities which might occur along the length of the printing cylinder or of the doctor blade to be compensated individually and separately from each other.
The resilient element according to the present invention may be of various designs. Thus, for example, it may consist of a plurality of separate pressure members which are mounted in a row adjacent to each other and each of which is devised so as to exert a resilient pressure upon the doctor blade entirely independently of the other members. Such resiliency may be attained by subjecting each pressure member to the action of a separate spring or the like, or by subjecting all pressure members to the action of a common resilient cushion element. Such cushion may, for example, consist of a resilient tube or the like which is filled with air or a fluid, the pressure of which may be adjusted by suitable control means. Such device permits a uniform pressure to be exerted upon the doctor blade and will thus insure that uniform amount of ink remains on the etched or engraved surface of the printing cylinder as long as the basic adjustment of the doctor blade is not changed. However, such an adjustment is sometimes necessary with the result that, because of the change in position of the pressure members within their common housing, the pressure ratio and thus also the specific pressure of the individual pressure members upon the doctor blade will change. In such cases, it will therefore be necessary to carry out a new adjustment. If the individual pressure members are acted upon by springs, there is the further disadvantage that the adjustment depends upon the sensitiveness of touch of the operator and that it is thus not always possible to insure an absolutely uniform pressure of all of the pressure members upon the doctor blade. Consequently, it is then not always possible to control the passage of ink as accurately as may be required to attain uniform printing results.
It is another object of the invention to overcome these disadvantages by the provision of means whereby a change in position of the pressure members within their common housing will not affect the specific pressure of each member upon the doctor blade, and wherein the adjustment will not depend upon the sense of touch of the operator. These means according to the invention have the further advantage of increasing the reactivity of each individual pressure member to differences in the ink passage.
Thus, according to a further embodiment of the invention, each individual pressure member may consist of a cylinder which extends at one end into a common pressure chamber and of a piston within each cylinder which is adapted to reciprocate therein. This piston is subjected at one end to the pressure within the pressure chamber and acts at the other end upon the doctor blade. The piston which is made of a rod of a diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the cylinder is suspended within the cylinder by means of a thin rubber tube, one end of which may be closed and which is slipped with this end portion downwardly over the upper end portion of the piston rod so that this end portion of the tube will cling firmly to the end portion of the piston rod, whereupon the free end of the tube is inverted upon itself to extend upwardly along the inner wall of the cylinder and beyond its upper edge, where this extending end is again inverted and folded downwardly over this upper edge of the cylinder so that the open end portion of the tube surrounds and clings to the upper part of the cylinder. Upon a reciprocating movement of the piston within the cylinder, the rubber tube will then roll along the inner wall of the cylinder and the outer wall of the piston rod by unrolling from one and rolling upon the other. In this manner, the upper end of the cylinder will be hermetically closed at all times relative to the common pressure chamber, and the piston surface which is acted upon by the pressure within the pressure chamber through the interposed rubber tube will always remain constant so that the specific pressure of the piston upon the doctor blade will also always remain constant.
Since the piston is made in the form of a rod of a certain length, it is preferably provided with collars or the like which are adapted to slide along the inner wall of the cylinder so as to guide the piston without, however, exerting any compression or suction during the reciproeating movement. The lower end of the rodlike piston which projects from the cylinder preferably carries a small pressure plate which is adapted to press upon the doctor blade and is connected to the piston so as to be pivotable about an axis transverse to the longitudinal direction of the printing cylinder. The individual pressure plates on the lower ends of the pistons are disposed in a row along the doctor blade and preferably extend substantially vertically thereto. They are spaced at a relatively small distance from each other which, however, is suflicient to allow each pressure plate to pivot to some extent relative to the adjacent plates.
Further objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description thereof, particularly when read with reference to the accompanying drawings in which- Fig. 1 shows a cross section of the doctor blade arrangement and the new pressure control mechanism therefor, taken along line I--I in Fig. 2;
Fig. 2 shows a cross section taken along line II--II in Fig. 1;
Fig. 3 shows a modification of the pressure control mechanism according to the invention in cross section similar to Fig. 1 but on an enlarged scale;
Fig. 4 shows the pressure control mechanism according to Fig. 3 in a different position of its operation;
Fig. 5 shows a side view of the lower part of Fig. 4, and
Fig. 6 is an enlarged cross-section through the central part of the mechanism of Fig. 3.
Referring to the drawings, and first particularly to Figs. 1 and 2 thereof, a shaft 1 carries a clamp support 2 which is adjustably secured to shaft 1 by clamping bolts 3 and, in turn, firmly clamps the doctor blade 4. At both sides of clamping support 2, arms 5 and 6 are secured to shaft 1 and support the pressure control mechanism according to the invention. This mechanism consists primarily of a substantially cylindrical tube 7 with a projecting longitudinal flange 8 thereon which is provided with a slot extending from one end of the tube to the other. A large number of pressure members 9 having enlarged heads or end flanges integral therewith are slipped from one end of tube 7 into this slot so as to be disposed therein in a row adjacent to each other. The thin ends of pressure members 9 project from flange 8 of tube 7 and are spaced only a small distance from each other. The lower beveled ends of pressure members 9 together form a perfectly straight serrated bladelike edge, with the exception of a small number of pressure members 9 at each end of tube 7 which are made of a shorter length for a reason stated below. The length of the entire row of pressure members 9 and 9' is substantially equal to the length of the doctor blade 4 which is secured in clamp support 2. For maintaining the pressure members 9 and 9 in a fixed position in the longitudinal direction of tube 7, end stops 10 are secured in both ends of the slot in flange 8. Tube 7 is further provided at both ends with screw threads upon which end caps 11 and 12 are tightly screwed. The closed chamber formed within tube 7 contains a flexible tube 13, for example, of rubber. A check valve 14 is connected to rubber tube 13 and leads through a pipe or hose, not shown, toa pressure tank or the like for supplying a suitable pressure medium, for example, compressed air, to tube 7. Suitable control means for regulating such pressure may also be provided. End caps 11 and 12 terminate in short shaft stubs 15 which are rotatably mounted in sockets 16 at the outer ends of arms 5 and 6. In order to permit the entire pressure control unit consisting of the outer tube 7, the inner tube 13 and end caps 11 and 12 to be easily inserted into or removed from sockets 16, the latter are provided with slots 17 while the shaft stubs 15 are provided with flat parallel surfaces 18 which are spaced apart at a distance substantially equal to the width of slots 17 so as to permit shaft stubs 15 to slide into or out of sockets 16 through slots 17. After the entire unit 7, 11, 12, 13 is thus inserted into sockets 16, it may be turned by means of a handle 19 about an angle of about to the position as indicated in Fig. 1, whereby surfaces 18 will be likewise turned relative to slots 17 so that shaft stubs 15 will then be securely retained in sockets 16.
In accordance with the thickness and flexibility of the respective doctor blade 4 used, it is necessary to adjust the distance of the points of contact between the lower ends of pressure members 9 and doctor blade 4 from the edge of the blade which is adapted to engage with the surface of printing cylinder 20. For this purpose, a stop member 21 is secured to end cap 11. This stop member 21 is adapted to engage with one end of an adjusting screw 22 which is screwed into the head 23 of another screw which is screwed into arm 5. A lock nut 24 may be used to lock the adjusting screw 22 in its adjusted position. After the pressure control unit has been inserted through slots 17 and turned by handle 19 until stop member 21 engages with the properly set adjusting screw 22, a screw on socket 16 on arm 6 may be tightened to lock the entire unit in such a position.
The adjustment and operation of the new pressure control mechanism as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 is as follows:
After the clamp support 2 with the doctor blade 4 securely clamped therein has been lightly tightened on shaft 1 by means of clamping bolts 3, clamp support 2 is adjusted by means of setscrews 27 relative to the surface of printing cylinder 20 so as to extend parallel thereto, whereupon clamping bolts 3 are firmly tightened. Rubber tube 13 is then filled with a gaseous or fluid elastic medium, for example, compressed air, so as to contain a certain pressure which should be slightly lower than the pressure which would be required to eliminate the ink entirely from the surface of printing cylinder 20. This pressure may be very accurately adjusted by means of a precision pressure gauge, not shown, which is connected to the pressure line leading to tube 13. Rubber tube 13 will thus press the end flanges 26 of pressure members 9 upon their seats in tube 7 so that the thin lower ends of pressure members 9 will uniformly engage with and resiliently press upon doctor blade 4.
By means of a conventional tensioning lever, not shown, doctor blade 4 is then placed in the operative position and properly adjusted relative to printing cylinder 20 in the following manner:
By turning handle 19, the resilient pressure members 9 are moved to such an extent toward the edge of doctor blade 4 that the blade can no longer be bent so as to change its tangent angle relative to cylinder 20. Thereupon, the rotation of printing cylinder 20, which passes in the usual manner through a pan of ink, is started in the direction shown by the arrow in Fig. l, and the edge of blade 4 is pressed against the surface of cylinder 20 until the shorter pressure members 9' at both ends of tube 7 will engage with doctor blade 4 and pressure members 9 will be forced for a certain distance back into tube 7. It will then usually be found that the minimum pressure which is at first maintained in the resilient inner tube 13 will not be sufiicient to remove the ink entirely from the surface of cylinder 20. The pressure in tube 13 is then gradually increased until pressure members 9 press so strongly upon doctor blade 4 that the cylinder surface will be wiped entirely clean of ink so that the printing operation may then be started.
The proper pressure required for the respective printing form may then be determined on the mentioned precision gauge and its amount may serve as a basis for the adjustment for subsequent printing operations. This pressure within tube 13 and thus also the pressure of members 9 and 9' upon the doctor blade may then be maintained at a constant value by a suitable automatic pressure regulator, not shown.
The modification of the invention as illustrated in Figures 3 to 5 is in principle similar to the embodiment as shown and described above in Figs. 1 and 2. A tubular member is mounted on the shaft of the doctor blade in a manner similar to that shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Tube 30 is likewise slotted longitudinally, and a bearing member 31 corresponding to flange 8 in Fig. 1 and bridging the slot is tightly secured to the free end portions 32 of tube 30 so that the inside 'of tube 30 will form a hermetically closed pressure chamber. Bearing member 31 extends substantially along the entire length of tube 30 and supports a plurality of cylinders 33 which are disposed in a row closely adjacent to each other and are tightly sealed within member 31. For this purpose, bearing member 31 has a plurality of stepped bores, the narrower inner part 34 of which has a diameter corresponding to the outer diameter of each cylinder 33, while the wider outer part 35 is adapted to receive a flange 36 on the lower end of each cylinder 33 and is provided With inner screw threads 37 into which a screw plug 38 is screwed to press flange 36 firmly upon a gqasket 39 and thus seal the outer wall of the cylinder hermetically toward theoutside. A rodshapedpiston 40 is slidably mounted within each cylinder 33 and guided therein for movement in a direction coaxial with the cylinder by means of a pair of collars 41 or the like which, however, do not produce any compression or suction of air within cylinder 33 and may for this purpose be provided, for example, with one or more axially extending grooves, not shown, in their outer surface. In order to prevent piston 40 from turning about its longitudinal axis, the lower part 42 thereof may be of a rectangular cross section and be guided by the walls of a rectangular opening in the end flange 36 of cylinder 33. The lower reduced end 43 of piston 40 is slotted and carries within such slot a thin pressure plate 44 which is secured to piston 40 by a screw 45' so as to be freely pivotable to a certain extent about the axis of this screw. Thus, pressure plate 44 will be capable of adapting itself to any small unevenness on the surface of doctor blade 46.
The open upper end of each cylinder 33 is hermetically closed by means of a thin rubber tube 47, one end of which isdrawn tightly over the upper end 48 of piston 40 and may, if necessary, be secured thereto near the upper end to prevent piston 40 from pulling out of this tube during its downward movement. Rubber tube 47, after being drawn downwardly over the upper end 48 of piston 40 is inverted upon itself so as then to extend upwardly along the inner wall of cylinder 33, and is then again inverted at the upper edge of cylinder 33 and drawn downwardly so that its other end portion clings tightly to the outer surface of cylinder 33. Apart from hermetically closing the inside of the common pressure chamber 3% toward cylinder 33 and piston 40, rubber tube 47 serves as a means of suspending piston 40 on cylinder 33 and especially insures that upon an axial movement of piston 40 relative to chamber 36 or upon a new adjustment of chamber 30 in the longitudinal direction of cylinders 33, the active piston surface which is acted upon by the pressure within chamber 30 will always remain of equal size since tube 47 while unrolling either from the outer wall of piston 40 or from the inner wall of cylinder 33 automatically rolls itself upon the other wall.
This may be more clearly understood from a comparison of Figs. 3 and 4 which show that the active piston surface b always remains of the same size and equal to the'circular area formed by the inner diameter of the cylinder minus the thickness of the wall of rubber tube 47, even though the distance a between the lower end of the cylinder and the surface of the doctor blade 46 might change considerably. Consequently, the specific pressure of piston 40 or of pressure plate 44 will also always remain the same.
The results and advantages attained by the present invention may be summarized as follows:
Since the pressure of the pressure members 9 or 44 is exerted upon doctor blade 4 or 46 at points which are closely adjacent to the very edge of the blade, the latter maybe made of very thin strip steel which is capable of entering into the smallest depressions in the surface of the printing cylinder and eliminating the ink therefrom completely Without requiring any increase in the blade pressure over that required for an absolutely even surface of the cylinder as was previously necessary with other doctor blade arrangements. The material of the doctor blade may now, in fact, be made so thin that its edge no longer needs to be beveled, trimmed, or trued. Even a slightly wavy shape of the blade will not have any disadvantageous efiect since the individual pressure members will engage in the waves without changing the pressure upon the blade or that exerted by the blade edge upon the surface of the printing cylinder.
The doctor blades need also no longer be given any initial tension since the resilient pressure members which act directly upon the doctor blade closely adjacent to the blade edge will compensate any differences in tension and will insure that the pressure of the blade edge upon the cylinder surface will remain entirely uniform. For this reason, any deformation of the blade due to uneven wear has also no effect upon the elimination of ink from the cylinder surface or the passage of ink between the etched cylinder surface and the doctor blade.
The effect of the back pressure underneath the doctor blade may also be easily overcome by increasing the pressure within the pressure chamber 13 or accordingly. This may be done automatically by suitable pressureregulating means of a known design which are responsive to the operation of the driving mechanism of the machine.
Rhythmical vibrations within the doctor blade can no longer occur since the impacts upon the blade which are caused by the etched portions on the cylinder will be compensated by the new pressure control mechanism.
Changes in the position of the doctor.blade on the cylinder surface due to inaccurate grinding means will also not affect the ink passage or ink elimination since the resilient pressure members follow any movement of the doctor blade without changing the pressure thereon.
The pressure members and thus also the doctor blade will also follow the cylinder surface if the latter is running out of true and without any increase or decrease in pressure of the blade upon the cylinder surface. Consequently, the ink will be uniformly eliminated from the cylinder surface even at such times so that the printed products will be of equal appearance and quality.
The grooves which by previous doctor blade arrangements were often cut into the edge portions of the printing cylinder will also no longer occur since the doctor blade is no longer pressed against the cylinder surface by a tensioning lever or the like, but the pressure is now produced indirectly by the resilient pressure members acting upon the doctor blade. The ends of the doctor blade which in the reciprocatory movement thereof will alternately be free of the cylinder surface are, according to the invention, not under any tension and will be depressed by the shorter pressure members 9' out of the straight line of the blade edge only by a few tenths of a millimeter.
For increasing the blade pressure, it is also no longer necessary to change the tangent angle between the doctor blade and the cylinder surface since the pressure increase is attained by one within the pressure chamber of the new control mechanism.
In comparison to previous doctor blade arrangements, the new control mechanism has the further advantage that the amount of pressure of the doctor blade upon the surface of the printing cylinder can be accurately measured and controlled, and can therefore be uniformly maintained at all times.
Although my invention has been illustrated and described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, I wish to have it understood that it is in no way limited to-the details of such embodiment, but is capable of numerous modifications within the scope of the appended claims.
Having thus fully disclosed my invention, what I claim 1. In combination with a doctor blade for a printing press having a printing cylinder, a plurality of adjacent pressure members disposed in a row and adapted to engage resiliently with said doctor blade along the length thereof for maintaining said blade in resilient engagement with the surface of said printing cylinder, means for mounting said pressure members so as to be movable independently of each other in a substantially vertical direction relative to said doctor blade, common resilient pressure means adapted to act simultaneously upon all of said pressure members, means for adjusting and controlling the resilient pressure exerted by said pressure means, said common pressure means including a tubular housing having closed ends containing a fluid pressure medium, and means engaging said pressure members for applying the pressure in the cylinder thereto, said doctor blade being mounted on a shaft, a pair of supporting arms secured to said shaft near both ends of said doctor blade, and means on the two closed ends of said housing for removably securing said housing to said supporting arms.
2. In combination with a doctor blade for a printing press having a printing cylinder, a rigid tubular housing, a plurality of pressure members disposed in a straight row closely adjacent to each other and adapted to engage resiliently with said doctor blade along the length thereof, each of said pressure members having an upper end disposed within said housing and a lower end projecting from said housing and adapted to engage with said doctor blade, and being slidably guided within an aperture in the wall of said housing for movement independently of the other pressure members in the longitudinal direction of said member and substantially vertically to said doctor blade, a closed elastic rubber tube within and enclosed by the wall of said housing and having a longitudinal periphery adjacent the row of pressure members adapted to exert a resilient pressure upon the upper ends of all of said pressure members, and means for filling said rubber tube with a pressure fluid and for adjusting and controlling the pressure of said fluid within said rubber tube.
3. In a combination as defined in claim 2, wherein said aperture is formed by a slot in the wall of said housing extending longitudinally in a straight direction from one end of said housing to the other, all of said pressure members being inserted into said slot from one end of said housing so as to form a straight row, and being guided by the walls of said slot.
4. In combination with a doctor blade for a printing press having a printing cylinder, a rigid tubular container forming a pressure chamber, said container having a plu rality of closely adjacent apertures in its wall disposed in a straight row extending longitudinally from a point near one end of said container to a point near the other end, a cylinder having open ends mounted in each of said apertures and extending into said container and parallel to the other cylinders, a piston slidable within each of said cylinders in the axial direction thereof, and substantially vertical to said doctor blade, the lower end of said piston projecting from said cylinder and adapted to engage resiliently with said doctor blade, at least the upper end portion of said piston having a diameter smaller than the inner diameter of said cylinder, a thin rubber tube connecting said upper end portion of said piston with the upper end portion of said cylinder within said container for suspending said piston within said cylinder and for hermetically sealing said pressure chamber relative to said piston and the inside of said cylinder, and means for supplying a pressure fluid to said pressure chamber and for adjusting and controlling the pressure within said pressure chamber, said pressure within said chamber being adapted to act upon said rubber tubes on all of said cylinders and pistons to press said pistons resiliently upon said doctor blade.
5. A combination as defined in claim 4, wherein one end of each of said rubber tubes is drawn for a certain distance downwardly over the upper end of one of said pistons and said rubber tube is then inverted to extend upwardly along the inner wall of said cylinder and is then again inverted to extend downwardly over the upper edge of said cylinder so that the other end of said rubber tube tightly encloses the upper end portion of said cylinder.
6. A combination as defined in claim 4, wherein the lower end of each of said pistons is slotted, and further comprising a small pressure plate pivotably mounted Within said slot so that its lower edge when in engagement 2,920,557 9 10 with the surface of said printing cylinder can adapt itself References Cited in the file of this patent to any irregularity in the shape of said surface.
7. A combination as defined in claim 6, wherein said UNITED STATES PATENTS piston is guided within said cylinder so as to be non- Owen Nov. 24, 1925 rotatable about its longitudinal axis. 5 Leech July 7, 1931
US721246A 1957-03-21 1958-03-13 Pressure control mechanism for doctor blades Expired - Lifetime US2920557A (en)

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Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3116688A (en) * 1959-12-23 1964-01-07 Koppers Co Inc Ink fountain
US3131092A (en) * 1961-09-06 1964-04-28 Black Clawson Co Apparatus for coating a moving web
US3566784A (en) * 1967-05-26 1971-03-02 Zimmer Johannes Squeegee device
US4463675A (en) * 1980-12-01 1984-08-07 Windmoller & Holscher Doctor device
US4899687A (en) * 1987-09-04 1990-02-13 Jagenberg Aktiengesellschaft Device for coating a web of material traveling around a backing roller

Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US1562470A (en) * 1925-06-15 1925-11-24 Owen Malcolm Doctor-operating gear
US1812884A (en) * 1929-09-04 1931-07-07 Standard Process Corp Combined ink eliminator and doctor blade

Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US1562470A (en) * 1925-06-15 1925-11-24 Owen Malcolm Doctor-operating gear
US1812884A (en) * 1929-09-04 1931-07-07 Standard Process Corp Combined ink eliminator and doctor blade

Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3116688A (en) * 1959-12-23 1964-01-07 Koppers Co Inc Ink fountain
US3131092A (en) * 1961-09-06 1964-04-28 Black Clawson Co Apparatus for coating a moving web
US3566784A (en) * 1967-05-26 1971-03-02 Zimmer Johannes Squeegee device
US4463675A (en) * 1980-12-01 1984-08-07 Windmoller & Holscher Doctor device
US4899687A (en) * 1987-09-04 1990-02-13 Jagenberg Aktiengesellschaft Device for coating a web of material traveling around a backing roller

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