US3191531A

US3191531A - Press drive means

Info

Publication number: US3191531A
Application number: US282909A
Authority: US
Inventors: Emory W Worthington; Britton Earl Edward
Original assignee: Wood Newspaper Machinery Corp
Current assignee: Wood Newspaper Machinery Corp
Priority date: 1963-05-24
Filing date: 1963-05-24
Publication date: 1965-06-29
Anticipated expiration: 1982-06-29

Description

June 29, 1955 E. w. woRTHlNGToN ETAL. 3,191,531

PRESS DRIVE MEANS Filed May 24, 1965 4 Sheecs-Shee'fl 1 ATTORNEYS June 29, 1965 E. w. woRTHlNGToN ETAL. 3,191,531

PRESS DRIVE MEANS Filed May 24, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS EMORY w. W0W'IINGTONI SeRL EDWARD BRITTON QM@ @M7/mm 7477:'2/41,

ATTORNEYS June 29, 1965 Eiw.woRTH1NGToN ETAL 3,191,531

PRESS DRIVE MEANS Filed May 24, 196s 4 sheets-sheet s 1 lis l l un 5 Il I Q \:'Q w g l I t s; s: 2 h 'JD u, a S a l l f Y IHIl w Q gg Tg1 m a 2 D J g |05 n |111", a n im l ,i`-+', 3 f@ 1 Q q (f5 l` l 5 f 0 I/"w Q s a 8 1 O I fa' p ".3 y @fr 7 :E *T- l l @E Il I i El?? i la- I. Q 1 I I 1 y l WM Ll.. I

ll INVENTOR EMoRY w. woRTHlNG oN EI(L EDWARD BRITTON M4 wfw @41,1 @M

ATTORNEYS June 29, 1965 E. w. woRTHlNGToN ETAL 3,191,531

PRESS DRIVE MEANS Filed May 24, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 'IIIWII hmm FIG. 5 W\ INVENTORS EMORY w. WORTHINGTON EAB. EDWARD BRITTON /n-qla lh/M TQM/00L ATTORNEYS Floor Level United States Patent O 3,191,531 PRESS DRIVE MEANS Emory W. Worthington, Ridgewood, and Earl Edward Britton, Piaintieid, NJ., assignors to Wood Newspaper Machinery Corporation, Plainfield, NJ., a corporation of Virginia Filed May 24, 1963, Ser. No. 232,909 Claims. (Cl. 101-219) This invention relates to rotary printing press drive apparatus and more particularly relates' to novel drive means for selectively driving and reversing the printing rolls of high speed rotary presses and for driving the press inking rolls independently of the printing rolls.

Printing presses used in rotary presses, such as those used for printing newspapers, have for many years had drive means for driving printing and inking rolls which included a number of vertical shafts and associated gearing arrangements mounted on and driven by horizontal main drive shafts. These types of drive means have proved to have many limitations when used on present high speed newspaper presses.

The drive means of our invention provides a unit which is compact, versatile and introduces a minimum `of gear backlash during the operation of the presses in printing color wherein the printing rolls may have to be reversed in direction of rotation.

Drive systems of prior art presses include vertical shafts for driving the inking rolls which are positioned at the sides of the presses thus requiring that the presses have a greater overall width to accommodate these additional shafts. The present invention eliminates the necessity for vertical shafts to drive the inking rolls thus reducing the width of the press. Presses including the drive system of our invention take up less space and permit more presses to be installed and operated in a given space.

The present invention overcomes the difficulties and limitations of prior drive systems in that it provides a compact drive unit for selectively driving and reversing the printing and inking rolls of the press which system has ease and flexibility of operation.

Broadly, the present invention comprises a horizontal main drive shaft, an inking roll drive shaft parallel tothe main shaft, direct drive means connecting the two horizontal shafts and at least two vertical shafts for engaging and driving the printing rolls. These vertical shafts are driven off the main drive shaft through reversible gear means which are capable of selective operation to rotate the vertical shafts in a desired direction.

In accordance with our invention the inking roll drive lustrate a preferred embodiment of our invention, in

which: i

FIG. l is a side elevation View of the press unit illustrating the general loc-ation of the press rolls and drive,l

means;

FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view illustrating the mainY drive shaft, the inking roll shaft positionedaboveand inward of the main drive shaft, a reversible gear and associated control me ans;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. l which illustrates in rice the axis of the main drive shaft illustrating the control means for reversing the gear means whereby the vertical shaft may be stopped or rotated in either direction.

Referring to the drawings in detail and in particular to FIGS. l, 2 and 3 it is seen that the single press unit 1 is driven by a main drive shaft 3 shown positioned in the gear housing 5 which in turn contains reversible. gear means 7' and 9. While only one press unit is illustrated, it is to be understood that the shaft 3 may also drive similar units positioned along either side of the unit shown. Reversible gear means 7 and 9 `drive respectively vertical printing roll drive shafts 11 and `11a which in turn

drive printing rolls

13 and 13a of the printing roll couples 15 and 15a. IPlate cylinders and impression cylinders are represented in the figures by A and B respectively. Since shafts 11 and 11a and the reversible gear means and printing rolls associated with them are identical in construction and operation, corresponding elements are not further described rand are hereinafter designated in the figures using the suffix LL Vertical shaft 11 is supported by thrust bearing units 17 and journal bearings 19and is driven in either direction through a bevel gear 21. Shaft 11 in turn drives printing roll 13 through means of a pinion bevel gear 23 and a printing roll gear 25. t

An inking roll drive shaft. 27 is driven by a direct drive means 29 which includes sprockets 31 and cha-in G3 which is guided by` tension sprocket 35. Inking roll drive shaft y27 is supported in journals 37 and has worm gears 39 at each of its ends which in turn engage fountain roll drive gears 41 to drive fountain roll `#t3 and the inking roll group 4S.

Reference is made to FIGS. 4 and 5 which illustrate in detail the gear housing 5 by which the vertical shaft 11 may be selectively reversed or disengaged. The drive shaft 3 is rotatably mounted in the housing by bearings 47 of conventional struct-ure and positioned at right angles to the shaft 3 is the vertical shaft 11. Shaft 11 extends through the opening 49 in the top wall of the housing and is rotatably mounted in such wall by means of bearings 51. In order to assure proper alignment of this vertical shaft with respect to the drive shaft, a raised collar 53 is secured to the top Wall of the housing and is provided with bearings 55 for engaging the shaft at a point spaced longitudinally from the first bearings 51.

A plate 57 is fixed to the lower end of the vertical shaft and has a fixed bevel gear 21 secured thereto by screws 59.

Meshing with this bevel gear at diametrically opposite sides `of the shaft 11 are two drive pinion gears `61 and 63 which are rotatably mounted within the housing by means of bearings and 67. The outer periphery of the

pinions

61 and 63 are provided with inner race members 69 and 71 While the housing is provided with outer race members 7 0 and 72 fixed concentrically with respect thereto so as to provide suitable spaces for the -antifriction elements 7 3 and 75. Although the

pinions

61 and 63 are concentrically mounted with respect to the drive shaft 3, they are spaced therefrom as shown at 77 and 79 respectively.

In order to rotate one or the other of the

drive pinions

61 and 63, the pinions are provided with internal gear surfaces 3 1 .and 83, respectively. These gear surfaces 81 i and 83, as shown in FIGURE 4, are adapted to cooperate greater detail the arrangement of the horizontal and vertical shafts and the associated bearings and gears;

lFIG. 4 is a sectional view illustrating in detail a reversible gear means .operatively connected between the main drive shaft and a vertical drive shaft; and

FIG. 5 is a side elevation view taken perpendicular to with spur gears and S7 mounted on the opposite ends of a sleeve 89. Sleeve 89, in turn, is positioned between the two

pinions

61 and 63 and is splined to drive shaft as at 89. Sleeve 89 is keyed to main drive shaft 3 so that it cannot rotate relative thereto, but it may be shifted along the longitudinal axis of the shaft by means of a spur gear clut-ch member 91.

Clutch member 91 comprises a retainer cage 93 provided with an outer race member 95 encompassing the sleeve intermediate its ends. A cooperating inner race member 97 is positioned concentric with respect to the outer race and, Ifix-ed to the outer periphery of the sleeve and disposed between these two races, are suitable antifriction elements 99. It will -be noted that the 4outer race 5 has an outside diameter slight-ly less than the inner 'diameter of the retainer cage so that it may move within the cage. Extending outwardly from opposite sides of the retainer cage are stub shafts 161. These stub shafts are journalled within opposite legs of a yoke yMP3 by means of ,suitableL bearings 105. VThe opposite end `of the yoke is Y keyed to a shaft 137 one end of which is journalled within a wall of the drive unit housing and the other end of which extends through an vaperture 1599 in the opposite wall thereof. This extending end of shaft 197 is, in turn, provided with a gear 111 in meshing engagement with a gear 113 fixed to one end of a control shaft 115. The other end of the control shaft is provided with a handle 117 or other suitable means for rotating it in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction.

The operation of the drive unit constructed as set forth above is as follows. Assuming that the drive shaft `Sis rotating in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 5 and the sleeve 39 has been positioned by means of the control shaft 115 in neutral position out of'engagement with both of the pinions as shown in FIGS. 4, then the drive shaft 11 will remain stationary. If it is desired to rotate shaft 11 in a clockwise direction as viewed from the top of FIG. 5, the control shaft will be rotated in a counterclockwise direction as viewed from the top of FIGS to rotate the yoke 103 about th'e axis of the shaft 107 and move the sleeve 89 to the left from the position `shown in FIG. 4.v Rotation of the yoke 103 will effect sliding straight line movement of the sleeve 89 on the d-rive shaft 3 due to the fact that the outer race 95 is spaced from the retainer cage as described above and such movement of the sleeve to the left will effect a meshing of the spur gear 87 with the internal gear surface 83 of the pinion 63. Pinion 63 which is in engagement with the bevel gear 21 will thereby effect rotation of the driven shaft in the desired clockwise direction. To rotate the shaft 11 in the opposite direction, control shaft 115 is rotated in a clockwise direction to shift the sleeve 89 to the right 4and thereby clutch spur gear 85 to the pinion d1. y

Reversible gear means 9 has the same construction and operates in the same manner as gear means 7 and therefore the foregoing description is not repeated with respect to means 9. While each gear means is operatively connected to the main shaft 3, each means is independently operated through control means including a control handle 117 positioned at press room floor level.

The particular constructions shown in the drawings allow the inking drive shaft 4to be positioned parallel to the main drive shaft and above the rnain drive `shaft su-ch that it need not extend beyond the side limit of the press as in conventional presses having vertical inking roll drive shafts. As a result the press takes up less overall space, which, in the event that a press must be designed for particular space limitations, -for example, a replacement for a press in an existing buil-ding, could be a critical factor.

Another feature of our invention is that the drive unit is designed in such a manner that the amount of accumulative backlash from the main drive shaft to each printing couple is equal. Thus, when color runs are made on our press unit the various superimposed colors are printing in more exact register than was possible on prior press-es. The control -of backlash is accomplished by using two drive shafts, one shaft for each couple of the press unit. Newspaper printing presses are designed for reversed operation during the printing of color. When Iour press is reversed the gear backlash to each printing couple is equal since the gear arrangements to each couple are identical in construction. Prior art presses using single vertical shafts and associated clutching arrangements to drive and reverse the printing couples have the inherent limitation snaai 4' that when one of the couples is reversed the backlash to the printing roll couples is not equal.

Another important aspect of the invention is the design of the reversing gear means. In particular it should be noted that the gear means include a sleeve which is slidably engaged to the main drive shaft so that it can be moved to selectively engage either of the spur-gears which drive the bevel gear mounted on the lower end of vertical shaft. The sleeve permits ease of operation in reversing the unit and provides multiple po-ints of engagement with the spur gears thus reducing high pressure gear contact areas and giving more symmetrical gear loading.

Another feature is that the reversing gear arrangement is designed so that the operation of the reversing gear means can be accomplished conveniently from the press room floor level.

We claim:

1. A rotary type printing press unit having selectively driven printing and inking rolls, comprising a horizontal main drive shaft extending outwardly along one side of said unit, an inking roll drive shaft parallel to said main drive shaft and positioned inwardly of said main drive shaft, unidirectional direct drive means connecting said main drive shaft and said inking roll drive shaft, a plurality of vertical drive shafts for driving said printing rolls, and reversiblegear means operatively connecting said main drive shaft and each said vertical drive shaft where- V by said vertical drive shafts may be selectively driven to rotate said printing rolls in a desired drection.

2. A rotary type printing press unit of claim 1 wherein the direct drive means connecting the main shaft and inking roll drive shaft is an endless chain.

3. A rotary type printing press unit of claim 1 wherein the reversible gear means includes in addition means to silence a selected vertical shaft whereby the printing rolls driven by said shaft are silenced.

d. A rotary type printing press unit having plate rolls, impression rolls, and inking rolls; compris-ing a horizontal main drive shaft extending outwardly of said press unit along one side thereof, an inking roll drive shaft parallel to said main drive shaft and positioned inwardly Vof said main drive shaft, unidirectional drive means connecting said main drive shaft with said inking roll drive shaft, a plurality of vertical drive shafts each engaging an impression roll for driving the impression and a plate roll, and reversible gear means connecting said main drive shaft with each said vertical drive shaft whereby said vertical drive shafts may be selectively driven to rotate said irnpressiony rolls in a desired direction and whereby said inking roll shaft rotates in a directionV independent of the direction of rotation of said vertical drive shafts.

5. Arotary type printing press color unit having a plurality of selectively driven impression and plate rolls, a vertical drive shaft connected to each impression roll for driving said impression roll, gear means connecting each impression roll to an associated plate roll whereby the plate roll will rotate upon rotation of its associated impression roll, a horizontally extending main drive shaft positioned outwardly of said unit, reversible gear means connecting each vertical drive shaft with said main drive shaft whereby the direction of rotation of said impression rolls and plate rolls may be selectively reversed, inking rolls and unidirectional drive means connecting said inking rolls directly with said main drive shaft whereby said inking rolls will rotate in one direction independent of direction of rotation of said impression rolls.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 8/33 Roesen a lOl-220 8/48 Riggs et al. Al01-2l6

Claims

1. A ROTARY TYPE PRINTING PRESS UNIT HAVING SELECTIVELY DRIVEN PRINTING AND INKING ROLLS, COMPRISING A HORIZONTAL MAIN DRIVE SHAFT EXTENDING OUTWARDLY ALONG ONE SIDE OF SAID UNIT, AN INKING ROLL DRIVE SHAFT PARALLEL TO SAID MAIN DRIVE SHAFT AND POSITIONED INWARDLY OF SAID MAIN DRIVE SHAFT, UNIDIRECTIONAL DIRECT DRIVE MEANS CONNECTING SAID MAIN DRIVE SHAFT AND SAID INKING ROLL DRIVE SHAFT, A PLURALITY OF VERTICAL SHAFTS FOR DRIVING SAID PRINTING ROLLS, AND REVERSIBLE GEAR MEANS OPERATIVELY CONNECTING SAID MAIN DRIVE SHAFT AND EACH SAID VERTICAL DRIVE SHAFT WHEREBY SAID VERTICAL DRIVE SHAFTS MAY BE SELECTIVELY DRIVEN TO ROTATE SAID PRINTING ROLLS IN A DESIRED DIRECTION.