US3898929A

US3898929A - Hickey picking device for letter press or offset printing presses

Info

Publication number: US3898929A
Application number: US481992A
Authority: US
Inventors: Tor Arild; Thomas Gehres
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1973-11-21
Filing date: 1974-06-24
Publication date: 1975-08-12
Anticipated expiration: 1992-08-12

Abstract

A hickey picking device that is removably attached to a conventional letter press or offset printing press, without modification of the press, in place of the wash-up tray to be used for removing foreign particles known as hickeys from the ink train while the press is running during a printing operation.

Description

United States Patent [19 Arild et al.

1 Aug. 12, 1975 HICKEY PICKING DEVICE FOR LETTER PRESS OR OFFSET PRINTING PRESSES Inventors: Tor Arild, PO. Box 4063,

Woodside, Calif. 94062; Thomas Gehres, 53 Mark Dr., San Rafael, Calif. 94903 Filed: June 24, 1974 Appl. No.: 481,992

Related U.S. Application Data Continuation of Ser. No. 418,097, Nov. 21, 1973, abandoned, which is a continuation of Ser. No. 262,647, June 14, 1972, abandoned.

U.S. Cl...t 101/147; 101/425 Int. Cl. B411 35/02; B41f41/02 Field of Search 101/423, 425, 147, 148

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,363,817 11/1944 Taylor 101/424 X 3,635,158 1/1972 Budinger 101/425 X Primary Examiner-Clyde l. Coughenour Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Gerald L. Moore 5 7] ABSTRACT A hickey picking device that is removably attached to a conventional letter press or offset printing press, without modification of the press, in place of the wash-up tray to be used for removing foreign particles known as hickeys from the ink train while the press is running during a printing operation.

2 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures HICKEY PICKING DEVICE FOR LETTER PRESS OR OFFSET PRINTING PRESSES This application is a continuation of our application Ser. No. 418,097 filed Nov. 21, 1973 now abandoned which application was a continuation of our application Ser. No. 262,647 filed June 14, 1972, now abandoned.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a hickey picking attachment for wet or dry offset letter or printing presses which is constructed to be used while the press is running.

An object of this invention is to provide a hickey picking roller for letter or offset printing presses, said roller being provided with supporting means slidable into the brackets that normally support the wash-up tray of the printing press which is removed during the running of the press.

Another object of this invention is to provide a hickey picking cylinder in the inking train of the letter or offset printing press, said cylinder functioning not only to pick up the foreign articles known as hickeys but to increase the ink carrying capacity of the inking train of the press thereby improving the ink distribution.

Another object of this invention is to provide a hickey printing cylinder to the wet or dry offset printing and letter presses, said cylinder being attached to the printing press in place of the wash-up tray so that said hickey picking cylinder may be used during the printing operation of the press and furthermore may be attached to the press without any modification thereof.

Another object of this invention is to provide a method of hickey picking for wet or dry offset printing presses or letter presses, wherein said hickey picking assembly may be removed for easy cleaning either during operation or shut down of the presses and may be substituted for a standard wash-up tray in the inking train.

Other and further objects of this invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which it relates from the following specification, claims and drawing.

Heretofore various efforts have been made to provide different types of cleaning rollers to printing presses as exemplified by US. Pat. Nos. 2,363,817 of Taylor, 3,467,008 of Domotor, 3,468,248 of Giori, 2,731,916 of Koch, 2,341,020 of Curtis, 3,309,993 of Grembecki et al. and 3,635,158 of Budinger.

However, none of these patents disclose a hickey picking roller that may be removed for cleaning while the printing press is in operation without stopping the press and interrupting the printing process. For example, in the Taylor patent inking rollers distribute a relatively thin film of ink on an ink drum and a relatively short cleaning roller which picks up cleansing agent, is mounted to transfer this cleansing agent to the ink roller to assist a scraper in scraping undesired ink off of the ink roller and prevent ink deposits from building up on marginal areas of the ink drum from which the ink is not transferred to the form cylinders. According to the Domotor patent the plate cylinder and an inking roller of a lithographic press are driven at different surface speeds so that they wipe each other and any particles of foreign matter such as lint, paper bits or dry ink carried by the plate cylinder are transferred from it to the inking roller. In this arrangement the roller picking up these foreign particles can not be cleaned without stopping the press and interrupting the printing process. The Giori patent relates to apparatus for removing thick, pasty ink from the plates and engraved cylinders used in direct or steel plate printing. This apparatus uses a wiping cylinder, the lower part of which plunges into a tank filled with aqueous solution. The upper part of the wiping cylinder contacts the cylinder carrying the printing plates and removes the thick, pasty ink therefrom. The ink adhering to the wiping cylinder is carried into the tank and in turn any aqueous solution adhering to the wiping cylinder is scraped therefrom. Another ink removing device is shown in the patent to Curtis and in this device a metal roll engages the form roll of the inking system to collect excess ink therefrom. The ink is scraped off of the metal roll and drops into a pan below. The Koch and Grembecki et al. patents show wash-up and cleaning devices used after a printing job is finished.

Foreign particles which cause hickeys sometimes get into the inking train of a printing press and interfere with the ink distribution to the form with the result that the printed copy may have various defects. Since the hickeys or foreign particles may appear on the different rollers in the inking train of the press it is essential that if a hickey picker is to be successful it must be used during the running of the press.

In the hickey picker, or foreign particle removing device of this invention we have provided a cylinder which may be attached to the wet or dry offset printing press or letter press without any press modification so that it may be readily attached to existing printing presses. The picking cylinder of this invention is provided with a rubbery surface which functions to suck foreign particles off of a hard surface inking rollerthat is in contact therewith during the printing operation. For our purpose a hickey picking roller of the type disclosed in Budinger US. Pat. No. 3,635,158 may be used. The picking cylinder is provided with suitable brackets which are adapted to be inserted intot he supports that are provided to the printing press for receiving the wash-up tray. Since the wash-up tray is used only after the printng job is finished it is removed during the running of the printing press, that is during the printing operation. Thus, these supports may be used for receiving the hickey picking cylinder of this invention so that this cylinder is in contact with one of the hard surface inking rollers of the train during the printing operation. The hickey picking cylinder located on the press according to this invention adds to the ink carrying capacity of the ink train of the press and thus allows larger solids or screens to be printed by the press with greater case. This cylinder also improves the ink distribution in the ink train resulting in better ink economy.

An important feature of this invention resides in the fact that the hickey picking cylinder as provided herein may be removed and cleaned while the press is running so that the foreign matter or hickeys that have been accumulated thereon may be quickly cleaned therefrom and the cylinder re-inserted to continue its hickey pick ing function. All of this is accomplished without stopping the printing process and at times when it is determined there is a buildup of foreign particles on the cylinder so as to impair the efiiciency of the cylinder in picking up such particles.

Further features and details of this invention will be set forth in the following specification, claims and drawing in which, briefly:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the hickey picking cylinder shown with the supporting brakcets thereof aligned with the wash-up tray supports of the printing press;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the ink train of a conventional offset printing press or letter press showing the location of the hickey picking cylinder of this in vention.

Referring to the drawing in detail reference numeral designates the hickey picking cylinder which is provided with a steel core 11 and a rubbery coating 12. The coating 12 is of a rubbery latex composition that may be type Duro New Clear 342 made by the Bingham Company of Oakland, Calif. This coating may be in the form of a sheet vulcanized to the core 11 or it may be in tubular form stretched over the core. The ends of the core 11 are provided with studs 13 which are journaled in the bracket members 14. The front memberylS is attached to the bracket members 14 by suitable machine screws so that these bracket members are held assembled with the ends of the roller or cylinder.

The bracket members 14 are provided with horizontal slides 16 which are adapted to be received in the slots provided in the members 17 which are provided to the printing press for supporting the wash-up tray during the washing and cleaning of the ink train of the printing press after a printing job is finished. The washup tray is removed from the members 17 by release of conventional locking means (not shown) which holds the tray. The hickey picking cylinder 10 is then attached to the press by inserting and locking the horizontal bracket members 16 into the slots of members 17 so that the rubbery surface of the picking cylinder is in contact with the hard surface roller 18 of the ink train of the press during the printing operation as shown in FIG. 3.

The conventional offset printing press is provided with a plate cylinder 19, a blanket cylinder 20 and an impression cylinder 21. Plate cylinder 19 receives ink from the ink train 22 which is-provided with a series of hard rollers and alternate resilient surface rollers. The inking system of this press is provided with four inking

rollers

23, 24, 25 and 26, and these are of different diameters. The inking system is also provided with a fountain roller 27 and ductor roller 28 which oscillates between the roller 27 and roller 29. The ductor roller 28 transfers ink from roller 27 to the coated roller 29 and roller 29 transfers it to the hard surfaced roller 18 which is in contact with the hickey picking roller 10 and also with the coated roller 30 of the ink train. The

coated roller 30 distributes ink to the hard surfaced

rollers

31 and 32 of the conventional ink distribution train. This press is also provided with a dampening system and the fountain solution is transferred from the tray 33 to the coated roller 34 by a roller 35 which is immersed in the solution. The ductor roller 36 oscillates between the two

coated rollers

34 and 37 and roller 37 supplies the dampening solution to the hard surfaced

rollers

38 and 39 which are in contact with the plate cylinder 19.

The same series of events take place in the train of a conventional letter press which deposits ink directly to the form or type.

While we have shown and described a preferred form of the invention it will be apparent that the invention is capable of variation and modification from the form shown so that the scope thereof should be limited only by the scope of the claims appended hereto.

What we claim is:

1. The method of removing foreign particles which cause hickeys from the ink train of a conventional offset printing press or letter press which is provided with bracket members for supporting a wash-up tray adjacent to a hard surface roller of the ink train, said bracket members being accessible while the press is running, comprising the steps of:

removing the wash-up tray from the bracket members;

providing a hickey picking cylinder having a resilient surface and being rotatably supported in bracket means adapted to interfit with the bracket members of the press in a manner to hold the cylinder surface tightly against a hard surface roller of the ink train of the press, said hickey picking roller also being of a length at least equal to that of said hard surface roller and being adapted to rotate with the hard surface roller thereby allowing the resilient surface cylinder to remove foreign particles from said hard surface during running of said press in a normal printing operation, inserting the hickery picking cylinder bracket means in the bracket members of the press.

2. The method of removing foreign particles which cause hickeys from the ink train of a-conventional offset printing press as defined in claim 1, including the steps of: removing the cylinder bracket means from the bracket members of the press;

cleaning the foreign particles from the cylinder; and

reinserting the cylinder bracket means into the bracket members for a continuance of the removal of foreign particles from the hard surface roller.

Claims

1. The method of removing foreign particles which cause hickeys from the ink train of a conventional offset printing press or letter press which is provided with bracket members for supporting a wash-up tray adjacent to a hard surface roller of the ink train, said bracket members being accessible while the press is running, comprising the steps of: removing the wash-up tray from the bracket members; providing a hickey picking cylinder having a resilient surface and being rotatably supported in bracket means adapted to interfit with the brackEt members of the press in a manner to hold the cylinder surface tightly against a hard surface roller of the ink train of the press, said hickey picking roller also being of a length at least equal to that of said hard surface roller and being adapted to rotate with the hard surface roller thereby allowing the resilient surface cylinder to remove foreign particles from said hard surface during running of said press in a normal printing operation, inserting the hickery picking cylinder bracket means in the bracket members of the press.

2. The method of removing foreign particles which cause hickeys from the ink train of a conventional offset printing press as defined in claim 1, including the steps of: removing the cylinder bracket means from the bracket members of the press; cleaning the foreign particles from the cylinder; and reinserting the cylinder bracket means into the bracket members for a continuance of the removal of foreign particles from the hard surface roller.