US2967480A

US2967480A - Ink applying system

Info

Publication number: US2967480A
Application number: US715593A
Authority: US
Inventors: George A Gerard
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1958-02-17
Filing date: 1958-02-17
Publication date: 1961-01-10
Anticipated expiration: 1978-01-10

Description

Jan. 10, 1961 G. A. GERARD INK APPLYING SYSTEM FiledjiabfllL ,illlliil FIG.2

650265 A. .Gaeneo INVENTOR.

United States Patent INK APPLYING SYSTEM George A. Gerard, 1698 East Drive, Point Pleasant, NJ.

Filed Feb. 17, 1958, Ser. No. 715,593

Claims. (Cl. 101364) The present invention relates to an ink applying system and it particularly relates to applying aniline or flexographic inks in printing procedures. With high speed presses involving high speed feed rollers for various types of inks there is a tendency for the ink to splash or spray out particularly where the ink is pressed between the various feed rolls.

Particularly where the various feed or supply rollers are rotating at very high speed with high viscosity inks a heating or boiling action results which causes great loss of the organic solvent thinner and furthermore the resulting pressure involved in squeezing out the ink between the rolls in many cases will cause breakage of the roller shafts in addition to resulting in. a very high driving load on the press.

It is among the objects of the present invention to pro vide an improved ink supply or feed system in connection with printing presses in which even though high speed is employed, there will be little or negligible splash and the load will be very light without any likelihood of breakage or undue pressure being applied to the roller shafts.

Another object is to provide a novel ink adjustment system in which the ink will be reliably fed to the print; ing procedures with a minimum pressure and a mini mum drag on the press even though relatively heavy viscosity inks and high speed rollers are employed.

A still further object of the present invention is a feed system which even though high speed is employed with high viscosity inks, there will be an absence of boiling action or foam and there will be elimination or negligible loss of solvent with a decrease in cost and maintenance of the system and constant quality of the printingink,

A further object of the present invention is to provide a novel printing supply system in which the pre'ssmay be operated in forward or reverse direction without difficult adjustments and change of the feed arrangements.

Still further objectsand advantages will appear in the more detailed description set forthbelow, it being understood, however, that this more detailed description is given by way of illustration and explanation only'and not by way of limitation, since various changes therein may be made by those skilled in the art without depart ingfrom the scope and spirit of the present invention.

In accomplishing the above objects it has been found most satisfactory according to one embodiment of the present invention to provide an ink feed system for roller printing operations in which the ink is fed from a pump to a screen or pad roller with suitablemeans being provided at each endof the roller to regulate the ink supply and with there being provided'an overflow and a return to the ink supply at a short distance from adjacent each end of the roller, In the preferred structure a doctor blade setup is employed whichdoctor blades are of sheet rubber and may be positionedat each end of the main ink feed roller, This rubber blade or doctor blade which is desirably rubber. but which may also be metal is desirably adjustable against the screen roller from below the screen roller with the actual pressure of the blade being very light and with the drag on the press being negligible since the ink itself is permitted to act as a lubricant. The doctor blades are so positioned at the bottom of the screen or ink carrier roller that the entire arrangement including the screen roller or pad roller may be readily reversed in direction. This arrangement essentially involves a combination of a doctor blade preferably of rubber but which may also be of metal, a holder therefor to permit adjustment of the doctor blade against the ends of the pad or screen roller, a pan below the screen or pad roller, an infeed pipe to supply ink to the pan, an overflow pipe to main tain the ink at the proper level in the pan and an extra drain for leakage. This simple construction contrasts with ink feed sys terns which must be operated at limited speeds not exceeding 150 feet per minute to avoid splashing and spatter.

' The present system may be conveniently operated up to 1000 feet per minute without the slightest splash or loss of ink. Furthermore with the present system it is not necessary to cover the rollers to prevent the ink from splashing out from the bite between the rubber and screen rolls. 4 Furthermore, it is not necessary to operatethe rollers only in one direction because of the angular tangential position of the doctor blade. With the foregoing and other objects in view, their;- vention consists of the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts as hereinafter'morespecifieally described, and illustrated in the accompanying; drawings, wherein is shown an embodiment of the inventionbut it is to be understood that changes, variations and modifications can be resorted to which fall within the scope of the claims hereunto appended;

In the drawings wherein like reference charactcrsdenote corresponding parts throughout; the several-views: Fig. 1 is a side diagrammaticview showing the; feed system of the present invention in relatively small; scale with the successive screen, rubber and impression rollers being indicated in sequence and with their axes'in the same horizontal plane. a

Fig. 2' is a side elevation view partially in; seetipn upon a greatly increased scaleas-compareddogliigijl; showing the ink feed arrangement and; the manner 'in which the screen or pad-roller picks up ink-fromtheiink supply.

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view talgen npomthe hne 3-3 of Fig. 2 illustrating the; positioning; ofthe be used as a drain and a holder member Fwi-th'end'holders G which hold the vertical lower rubber bl'ade Hf and the end rubber or metal blades I 'inposition against 7 the bottom and ends of-the screen or padroller Aj" The screen or pad roller A willink the plate carry ing roller K which, in turn, will apply the printingor other raised material L to. the sheet M whieh car-.

ried on the impression roller N.

Referring particularly to the panB it wilibe notedrthat it has a central semi-cylindrical recessed portionrlo exrubber vertical bottom blade 12 which lightly rests upon and rubs against the cylinder at 13.

At the ends of the elongated cylindrical element F are the end blocks 14 which are held in position by means of the bolts 15 threaded into the tapped recesses 16 in the elongated element F.

The upper inside portions of the end blocks 14 have slots 17 which receive the end rubber or metal blades 18 which fit against the ends of the rubber or screen pad roller A.

The ink level in the pan B is maintained by means of the overflow pipe D which has an upwardly projecting portion 19 at one side of the pan B.

The upper end of the overflow 19 has an oblique cutoff 20 which converges at 21 towards the face of the rubber or screen roller A. This overflow pipe D has a T connection at 22 to the drain C for the ink leakage. It will be noted that the cylindrical member F has

internal passageways

35 and 36 at an angle to each other which open at 37 on to the floor 38 of the pan B (see Fig. 2). The ink supply E may be connected to an ink pump and it is positioned at the opposite end of the pan from the connections C and D. It will be noted by the arrangement as shown that the blades H and I are not set so that the cylinder may only turn in one direction but by reversing the pan B so that the overflow pipe D will be on one side or the other of the pan, the roller system A, K, N, may be readily reversed.

It will also be noted that the extra drain C for leakage as well as the overflow D may be positioned at the opposite end of the pan from the infeed E. It is not necessary to cover the system of Figs. 1 to 3 since there will be no splashing nor will there be any substantial pressure built up where the ink enters the bite between the rubber and screen rolls.

In fact the rubber roll is altogether eliminated with the screen roll directly picking up ink from the pan B. The screen roll A is preferably a chrome steel screen roller rather than a porous rubber roll.

In the preferred embodiment as shown the roll may have varying lengths with a main rubber or metal doctor blade having the same length as the length of the roll with one and seven-sixteenths inches extra length.

The end rubber doctor blades J are positioned at the ends of the roller.

The best doctor blade has been found to be a piece of rubber one-eighth inch by three-quarters inch and about four feet in length and it is desirably held in slot 11 loosely without screws or binding means. This blade which is in vertical position contacting the roller at 13 has very light pressure and has a minimum wiping action. Only a very limited amount of ink is employed and as little as a quart of ink may be utilized in a fortyeight inch press.

The pan and blade may be operated at speeds up to 1000 feet per minute or more without the slightest spash, spattering or loss of ink with the blades J forming barriers at the end of the pan B while the blade H forms a barrier at the bottom of the pan B.

Any leakage of ink passed the blades H and I will be taken care of by the leakage drain C which communicates with the

passages

35 and 36 at the bottom of the pan as indicated at 37.

Due to the absence of any boiling action as would result where the ink is forced into a bite between a rubber rollers and a screen roller, there is no loss of solvent by evaporation and the ink will be of constant quality and the printing will be much more satisfactory.

The whole pan unit B and associated mechanism may be dropped from the roller A and readily cleaned. The feed E of the incoming ink will be directly to the bottom of the pan B. Since the doctor blades J and H do not depend upon the direction of the screen roller, the printing press and its feed system may be operated in either direction. It is thus apparent that the present in- 4 vention discloses a novel ink feed system which may b utilized in high speed printing presses with a minimum loss of ink and with the use of a very small amount of ink in the pan.

The ink normally will be supplied through the infeed pipe E to the bottom of the right side of the pan as shown in Fig. 2 with the ink being held by the doctor blades J and H to the right half of the pan as shown in Fig. 2. Any excess ink will overflow through the overflow pipe D and any excess ink that passes the blades H and I will flow into the left side of the pan and then drain downwardly through the drain C. The ink will be carried past the doctor blades H and J substantially 270 before it is applied to the plate L and this plate then will pass through about 180 before the impression is made upon the strip of material which is carried on the impression roller N.

A particular advantage of the above system results from the fact that the heavy solid gritty or hard particles settle to the bottom and away from the line or point of contact of the steel or rubber doctor blade and the roller, so that the roller lasts much longer and is much less likely to be scratched or scarred.

Furthermore where a doctor blade applied to the side of a roller with an upward inclination to form a V-shaped receptacle along the side or sides of the roller the solid particles are kept in swirling agitated suspension in the ink being trapped by the blade.

While there has been herein described a preferred form of the invention, it should be understood that the same may be altered in details and in relative arrangement of parts within the scope of the appended claims.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, what is claimed is:

1. A printing ink feed system for flexographic and aniline inks in which the ink is received from the ink pan by the screen roller and then transferred to the plate roller and impressed upon the moving sheet of material on an impression roller by said plate roller, said pan being separated into an ink supply section and an ink drain section by doctor blades contacting the bottom and sides of the screen roller and said pan being shallow and receiving only the bottom portion of the screen roller and said blades being positioned in a vertical plane extending through the axis of the roller and said blades extending vertically upwardly from the bottom and inwardly from the sides of said pan.

2. A printing ink feed system for flexographic and aniline inks in which the ink is received from the ink pan by the screen roller and then transferred to the plate roller and impressed upon the moving sheet of material on an impression roller by said plate roller, said pan being separated into an ink supply section and an ink drain section by doctor blades contacting the bottom and sides of the screen roller, said doctor blades being positioned so that they will extend vertically upwardly and inwardly from bottom and sides of the pan to hold the ink on one side of the pan with any excess ink passing said blades into the other side of the pan being drained away.

3. A printing ink system for flexographic and aniline inks in which the ink is received from the ink pan by the screen roller and then transferred to the plate roller and impressed upon the moving sheet of material on an impression roller by said plate roller, said pan being separated into an ink supply section and an ink drain section by doctor blades contacting the bottom and sides of the screen roller, said pan being longitudinally split by doctor blades contacting the bottom face and side edges of the screen roller so that all of the ink is held on one side of the pan to be picked up by the incoming descending lower section of the screen roller and said pan being shallow and receiving only the bottom portion of the screen roller and said blades being positioned in a vertical plane extending through the axis of the roller and said blades extending vertically upwardly from the bottom and inwardly from the sides of said pan.

4. A printing ink applying system having an elongated pan centrally and longitudinally divided into two longitudinally separate compartments, one serving as a drain compartment and the other one serving as an ink supply compartment, a pad roller having its lower side rotating in said pan through the upper part of said compartments, means contacting the bottom and side of said roller in said pan separating said compartments, conduits to supply ink to said supply compartment and to drain it from said drain compartment, said means consisting of vertical doctor blades extending upwardly from the bottom of and inwardly from the sides of the pan, said blades being positioned in a vertical plane extending through the axis of the roller.

5. An ink feed system for roller printing having a shallow elongated pan, into which the lower portion of the roller is received, a vertical upwardly extending doctor blade contacting the central lower portion of the roller the full length thereof and two sidewardly and inwardly extending doctor blades from the ends of the pan, said blades being all positioned in a vertical plane through the axis of the roller, conduits to supply ink on one side of the blades and to remove it on the other sides of the'blades, an overflow pipe on the supply side to maintain a proper level, the supply side being filled with ink and the other side being kept substantially empty; said roller being rotatable in either direction and all foreign material settling away from the roller and the blades to the bottom of the pan.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,573,336 Holmwood Oct. 30, 1951 2,631,532 Harless Mar. 17, 1953 2,777,388 Meyer Jan. 15, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,064,270 France May 12, 1954