US3694238A - Gravure printing process and apparatus using moisture-setting inks - Google Patents

Gravure printing process and apparatus using moisture-setting inks Download PDF

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Publication number
US3694238A
US3694238A US710272A US3694238DA US3694238A US 3694238 A US3694238 A US 3694238A US 710272 A US710272 A US 710272A US 3694238D A US3694238D A US 3694238DA US 3694238 A US3694238 A US 3694238A
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Prior art keywords
ink
moisture
water
glycol
gravure
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Expired - Lifetime
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US710272A
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English (en)
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Michael J Tinghitella
Kenneth E Roon
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International Business Machines Corp
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International Business Machines Corp
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    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C09—DYES; PAINTS; POLISHES; NATURAL RESINS; ADHESIVES; COMPOSITIONS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; APPLICATIONS OF MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • C09D—COATING COMPOSITIONS, e.g. PAINTS, VARNISHES OR LACQUERS; FILLING PASTES; CHEMICAL PAINT OR INK REMOVERS; INKS; CORRECTING FLUIDS; WOODSTAINS; PASTES OR SOLIDS FOR COLOURING OR PRINTING; USE OF MATERIALS THEREFOR
    • C09D11/00—Inks
    • C09D11/02—Printing inks
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41M—PRINTING, DUPLICATING, MARKING, OR COPYING PROCESSES; COLOUR PRINTING
    • B41M1/00—Inking and printing with a printer's forme
    • B41M1/10—Intaglio printing ; Gravure printing

Definitions

  • This invention relates to processes and apparatus for printing on paper or other fibrous web stock, and more particularly to a gravure printing process and apparatus employing an improved, highly fluid moisture-setting ink and a pressure drying unit.
  • a gravure plate cylinder In gravure printing, a gravure plate cylinder is used having image areas defined by patterns of closely spaced etched pin holes.
  • the cylinder is rotated partially immersed in a trough containing a fluid ink.
  • the ink As the cylinder is rotated past a doctor blade pressed against its periphery, the ink is scraped off the cylinder except in the image areas defined by the pin hole patterns. This scraping or wiping occurs just before the cylinder periphery contacts a rubber impression roll.
  • the ink is picked out of the etched image areas.
  • Gravure printing has many advantages. For example, no long and complicated ink trains are required. Very volatile and fluid inks are used that are capable of rapid drying by evaporation. Also, thicker ink films and higher resolution and print quality are obtainable than with other forms of printing, such as letterpress or lithography.
  • gravure printing presses heretofore proposed have one serious disadvantage; viz., they employ inks that are highly toxic and flammable, requiring expensive exhaust sy'stems'and safety precautions to reduce the threat to health and hazard of fire.
  • Moisture-setting inks have been used for years in letterpress printing when rapid setting is desired. Moisturesetting inks are 'safe but they are very thick, having a consistency like that of putty. Basically, moisture-setting inks are composed of high-acid-number resins, usually highly fumarated or maleized rosins, dissolved in a high boiling glycol, such as diethylene glycol. The pigments chosen must be either neutral or acidic in character to prevent reaction with the resin. Other additives such as waxes and stabilizing agents are generally included, but these are not pertinent to the present invention and hence need not be discussed. The resin is chosen so that it is soluble in glycols but insoluble in glycol-water mixtures.
  • Letterpress printing has a number of disadvantages, however. For example, it provides only thin ink films. Print quality and resolution are relatively poor; and long and complicated ink train roll systems are required.
  • the principal object of this invention is to achieve the above-enumerated advantages of gravure printing without requiring the toxic and highly flammable inks heretofore proposed and without any of the disadvantages of letterpress printing.
  • a gravure press employing a conventional gravure plate cylinder and doctor blade is modified by addition of a pressure drying unit of the type proposed in US. Pat. 3,302,296 to -R. H. Holmwod et al. for use in a letterpress or dry offset printing apparatus.
  • a moisturesetting ink is employed which is modified by the addition of glycol to so reduce its viscosity that it may be used with an etched gravure plate cylinder, and further modified by the addition of water in an amount necessary to bring it substantially to the threshold of precipitation.
  • a web 10 of paper stock is advanced upwardly by and between a pair of suitably driven guide rolls 11, 11' around a deflecting roll 12, and then between a gravure plate cylinder 13 and rubber impression roll 14 at a printing station, designated generally 15.
  • Plate cylinder 13 is of conventional form having image areas defined by patterns of closely spaced etched pin holes.
  • a suitably driven shaft 16 rotates cylinder 13 while the latter is partially immersed in a novel moisture-settink ink 17 (hereinafter to be described) contained in a trough 18.
  • a conventional stationary doctor blade 19 pressed against the periphery of cylinder 13 scrapes the ink off the cylinder except in the image areas defined by the ink cells provided by the etched pin hole patterns, to cause the ink to be picked out of these ink cells and transferred to web 10 as the latter passes through the nip between the gravure plate cylinder 13 and rubber impression roll 14.
  • web 10 is advanced upwardly by and between pressure rolls 20, 21 forming part of a pressure drying station 22.
  • upstream of rolls 20, 21, are a dampening roll 23, a metering roll 24, and a spray applicator 25.
  • Moisture under pressure is supplied from a suitable source (not shown) via a conduit 26 to applicator 25, which directs a stream onto the soft, moisture-retaining surface of a dampening roll 23.
  • Metering roll 24 has a hard hydrophilic surface and is mounted so as to be adjustable toward and away from roll 23 to regulate the amount of moisture retained by the dampening roll.
  • Dampening roll 23 rotates in contact with the hydrophilic surface of roll 20 to assure that the thin film of moisture transferred thereto from the dampening roll will be spread uniformly and evenly over the entire surface without forming droplets.
  • the web with ink in wet condition is advanced past spray applicator 25 which adds sufiicient moisture to expedite setting or drying of the ink.
  • the web then passes through the nip of rolls 20, 21 which exert a high nip pressure on the web. Since pressure roll 20 has a uniformly hydrophilic surface, this moistened surface constitutes a barrier assuring prompt release of the ink from said roll at the nip exit.
  • conventional moisture-setting inks are modified in a manner which enables them to be successfully used on gravure presses.
  • This modification involves the addition of glycols to the ink formulation to substantially reduce its viscosity.
  • glycol the sensitivity of the moisture-setting ink is undesirably reduced; and this will undesirably increase the amount of time necessary for the ink to set and thus impractically increase the web travel required for setting the ink and/or decrease the printing throughput of the press.
  • the ink formulation is further modified by the addition of sufiicient water to bring the ink formulation up substantially to the threshold of precipitation and restore the sensitivity of the ink to water.
  • the time required for setting or drying the moisture-setting ink is further reduced by the addition to the gravure press of the pressure drying station 22 which provides the moisture transfer, high nip pressure and requisite ink release that greatly speed up drying of the ink by supplying the water necessary to precipitate the resin in the ink and also force the water-glycol blend into the web.
  • the degree of reduction in viscosity depends upon the throughput speed of the gravure press. Thus, for a high-speed press, enough glycol should be added to reduce the viscosity to about .1 to .5 poise; whereas for a slow-speed press, the viscosity could be as much as 50 poise.
  • the threshold of precipitation preferably is determined by titrating the mixture in a laboratory environment until irreversible precipitation occurs. Then, knowing the amount of water that has been added, the formulation by weight is calculated; whereupon, for actual press operation, the amount of water would be reduced to between 80 and 95% of that which produced irreversible precipitation, dependingupou the type of press used. For example, for presses having large ink rolls, the amount of water added would be less than for those with small ink rolls.
  • substantially to the threshold of precipitation as herein used is intended to embrace ink formulations containing approximately 80% or more of the amount of water necessary to cause irreversible precipitation of the resin in that particular ink formulation.
  • Moisture-setting inks modified according to the invention comprise a transparent or colored pigment, which may be basic, but preferably is neutral or acidic. These inks also comprise high-acid-number resins, usually highly fumarated or maleized rosins, dissolved in a high-boiling-point glycol, such as diethylene glycol, but insoluble in glycol-water mixtures.
  • Example 1 Material: Percent Surfex M M (Ca CO 20 50% FCD-SO in triethylene glycol (partially esterified fumarated rosin of France, Campbell and Darling Company) 60 Triethylene glycol 15 Water 4 Tergitol NPX (ethoxylated nonyl phenol of Union Carbide Corp.) 1
  • Example 2 Material: Percent Surfex M M 50 50% FCD-SO in triethylene glycol (see above) 30 Ethylene glycol 15 Water 3 Tergitol NP-27 (see above) 2
  • Example 3 Material: Percent Surfex M M 30 50% FCD-SO in diethylene glycol 30 Diethylene glycol 30 Water 8 Atlas G-67Z (polyoxyethylene alcohol of Atlas Chemical Industries, Inc.) 2
  • the ink formulations specified in Examples 1, 2 and 3 were employed in a transparent functional coating applied to card stock to enhance its abrasiveness to a marksense pencil.
  • a conventional colored pigment or carbon black may be substituted for the calcium carbonate in each example to provide a conventional, non-abrasive colored ink coating.
  • the colored pigment may be basic, neutral or acidic, depending on the resin solution chosen.
  • moisture-setting ink formulations that could be applied by gravure techniques, for example as an aesthetic background tint coating for checks.
  • Example 4 Material Percent Cyanadur Violet 55-8500 1 50/50 FCD-16 in diethylene glycol (high-acidnumber fumarated rosin of France, Campbell and Darling Company) 60 Triethylene glycol 30 Water I 8 Sotex 3CW (monoester of a polyglycol of Synthetic Chemicals, Inc.) 1
  • Resins which predominantly contain abietic acid and/ or its esters are believed preferable.
  • other commercially available naturally occurring resin acids or synthetic polymeric materials may be used which possess the property of solvency in glycols but insolubility in glycol-aqueous blends.
  • many commercially available glycol solvents, wetting agents, and pigments may be substituted for those specified in the foregoing examples without departing from the spirit, scope and teachings of the present invention. Accordingly, the examples are to be considered merely as illustrative, and the scope of the invention is to be limited only as specified in the claim.
  • a moisturesetting ink comprising a pigment

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  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Materials Engineering (AREA)
  • Wood Science & Technology (AREA)
  • Organic Chemistry (AREA)
  • Printing Methods (AREA)
  • Inks, Pencil-Leads, Or Crayons (AREA)
US710272A 1968-03-04 1968-03-04 Gravure printing process and apparatus using moisture-setting inks Expired - Lifetime US3694238A (en)

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US71027268A 1968-03-04 1968-03-04

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US3694238A true US3694238A (en) 1972-09-26

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US (1) US3694238A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
DE (1) DE1908114A1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
FR (1) FR1600778A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
GB (1) GB1250569A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)

Cited By (9)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE3130525A1 (de) * 1981-08-01 1983-02-10 M.A.N.- Roland Druckmaschinen AG, 6050 Offenbach "rotationshochdruckmaschine"
DE3301699A1 (de) * 1983-01-20 1984-07-26 M.A.N.- Roland Druckmaschinen AG, 6050 Offenbach Rotationstiefdruckmaschine mit mindestens einem druckwerk
US4469516A (en) * 1979-04-09 1984-09-04 Hoechst Aktiengesellschaft Pigment preparations; process for their manufacture and their use
US5035176A (en) * 1989-10-20 1991-07-30 Rockwell International Corporation Fluid damper system for printing apparatus
US5097764A (en) * 1987-07-15 1992-03-24 Baldwin-Gegenheimer Gmbh Process and apparatus for cleaning the blanket cylinders of a rotary offset printing press
US5389130A (en) * 1993-06-25 1995-02-14 Milliken Research Corporation Printing ink emulsion having reduced VOC
US5429841A (en) * 1993-06-25 1995-07-04 Milliken Research Corporation Printing ink emulsion with poly(oxyalkylene) substituted colorant
US20070263289A1 (en) * 2005-01-31 2007-11-15 Kuraray Co. Ltd Optical device and coating applicator
US10829651B2 (en) 2015-09-18 2020-11-10 Think Laboratory Co., Ltd. Aqueous gravure ink

Families Citing this family (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DK1072407T3 (da) * 1999-07-27 2005-09-05 Japan Patent Man Co Ltd Dybtryksfremgangsmåde, hvor der anvendes vandbaseret trykfarve, og en trykkemaskine til udförelse af fremgangsmåden

Cited By (11)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4469516A (en) * 1979-04-09 1984-09-04 Hoechst Aktiengesellschaft Pigment preparations; process for their manufacture and their use
DE3130525A1 (de) * 1981-08-01 1983-02-10 M.A.N.- Roland Druckmaschinen AG, 6050 Offenbach "rotationshochdruckmaschine"
DE3301699A1 (de) * 1983-01-20 1984-07-26 M.A.N.- Roland Druckmaschinen AG, 6050 Offenbach Rotationstiefdruckmaschine mit mindestens einem druckwerk
US5097764A (en) * 1987-07-15 1992-03-24 Baldwin-Gegenheimer Gmbh Process and apparatus for cleaning the blanket cylinders of a rotary offset printing press
US5035176A (en) * 1989-10-20 1991-07-30 Rockwell International Corporation Fluid damper system for printing apparatus
US5389130A (en) * 1993-06-25 1995-02-14 Milliken Research Corporation Printing ink emulsion having reduced VOC
US5429841A (en) * 1993-06-25 1995-07-04 Milliken Research Corporation Printing ink emulsion with poly(oxyalkylene) substituted colorant
US20070263289A1 (en) * 2005-01-31 2007-11-15 Kuraray Co. Ltd Optical device and coating applicator
US20100227053A1 (en) * 2005-01-31 2010-09-09 Kuraray Co., Ltd. Optical device and coating applicator
CN101683638B (zh) * 2005-01-31 2014-07-16 可乐丽股份有限公司 透射型屏幕和涂布装置
US10829651B2 (en) 2015-09-18 2020-11-10 Think Laboratory Co., Ltd. Aqueous gravure ink

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE1908114A1 (de) 1969-10-02
FR1600778A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1970-07-27
GB1250569A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1971-10-20

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