The present invention relates to printing presses and more particularly to folders in a printing press.
In broadsheet newspaper printing, half panorama sheets, also known as flysheets, are commonly used so the number of pages can be selected in multiples of two, e.g. 4, 6, 8, 10 . . . , instead of in multiples of four, e.g., 4, 8, 12 . . . provided by panorama sheets. Conventional flysheets are printed across half the width of the web and lay perpendicular to the direction of web travel.
Digital printing presses do not require the use of printing plates and thus have a quicker and less expensive turnaround time than traditional lithographic and flexographic printing presses. Digital printing presses can produce different images in successive revolutions if a digital print unit is being used including for example, direct imaging pages in an offset printing press. The use of digital printing presses also allows multiple pages to be produced sequentially on a single web by only one printing device.
When digital printing presses are printing images on web across the direction of web travel traditional methods of producing flysheets, that is, using sheets that are half of a web width, cannot be used. As a result, digital printing presses cannot easily incorporate the flexibility flysheets provide.
The present invention provides a digital printing press. The digital printing press includes at least one digital printing unit printing on a web, at least one cutting cylinder cutting the web into panorama sheets and flysheets and a folder for folding the panorama sheets cut from the web. The folder includes a flysheet cylinder for receiving flysheets printed and cut from the web, a collect cylinder for accumulating at least one panorama sheet and at least one flysheet at a collect location and a folding cylinder for folding panorama sheets received from the collect cylinder into a section.
The present invention advantageously provides a way in which flysheets can be used with digital printing presses. A web may be printed with columns or images across the direction of web travel that include a page and section makeup identical to conventional printed products, thereby incorporating flysheets.
The present invention advantageously provides a way to digitally produce a plurality of flysheets and store the plurality of flysheets on a cylinder in a folder of a printing press. When a flysheet is needed, the flysheet is forwarded to the next panorama page until each flysheet is used. A new set of flysheets may then be printed and stored for future use in another section of the newspaper.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention is described below by reference to the following drawings, in which:
A printing press according to the present invention is configured to produce printed products such as newspapers, for example, tabloid or broadsheet newspapers, from a web containing pages printed sequentially on one web. The pages are printed in a sequence needed to produce the desired final newspaper. The number of sections per newspaper and the number of pages in each section are fully variable in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
Broadsheet newspapers printed on a digital printing press are produced with the newspaper columns laid out across the length of a web, along the direction of web travel. The vertical spine of the broadsheet newspaper is produced by a folding cylinder, for example, a jaw folder, by a fold extending across the web. The horizontal fold across the middle of the height of the broadsheet newspaper is made parallel with the direction of web and product travel. The second fold may be produced by a further folding cylinder, for example, a quarter folder or chopper. Tabloid newspapers printed on a digital printing press are also produced with the newspaper pages laid out across the length of the web, along the direction of web travel. The vertical spine of the tabloid newspaper is produced by a folding cylinder, for example, in jaw folder, by a fold extending across the web. As known in the art, tabloid newspapers usually include only one fold, the vertical spine.
A printing press in accordance with the present invention includes a folder that cuts the web into sheets, receives, stores and inserts flysheets as desired, collects pages for each section and jaw folds each section. Each sections of a multi-section product is accumulated and stacked together then the stacks are cross folded and delivered as complete newspapers or other multi-section products. If a single section product or tabloid newspaper is desired the jaw folded section is the complete product. The jaw folded section may be passed to a fan wheel, slowdown device or other conveyor for further processing and downstream transport.
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Web 12 enters folder 120 and is cut into panorama sheets 90 by a cutting cylinder 30 having cutting or knife blades 321, 322. Blades 321, 322 cut against cutting rubbers 361, 362 on transfer cylinder 34. Blades 321, 322 may be retractable. A second cutting blade 322 may only cut flysheets from web 12, while a first blade 321 may cut panorama sheets 90N. Transfer cylinder 34 also includes two grippers which may be, for example, pins 351, 352, other mechanical grippers or vacuum grippers. Pins 351, 352 hold a lead edge of web 12 while knife blade 321 cuts web 12 at a trailing edge of a newly formed panorama sheet 90. Thus, cutting cylinder 30 cuts web 12 into panorama sheets 90 against transfer cylinder 34. The newly formed panorama sheets 90 remain gripped by transfer cylinder 34. When flysheets are desired, flysheets are printed on the web in groups of four, sequentially A, B, C, D. Panorama sheets 90 may be produced sequentially in any quantity, from one panorama sheet up to a maximum number of panorama sheets desired in a section.
In accordance with a feature of the present invention, flysheets A, B, C, D are printed on web 12, cut into flysheets A, B, C, D by blade 322 on cutting cylinder 30 and transferred via transfer cylinder 34 to flysheet cylinder 40. Flysheets are stored on flysheet cylinder 40 until flysheets A, B, C, D are needed during compilation of a newspaper section. Panorama sheets 90 are cut by cutting cylinder 30 against transfer cylinder 34 and transferred from transfer cylinder 34 to collect cylinder 42. Transfer cylinder 34 provides at least two advantages. First, transfer cylinder 34 selectively transfers flysheets A, B, C, D to flysheet cylinder 40 and panorama sheets 90 to collect cylinder 42. Second, transfer cylinder 34 provides a surface and cutting rubber 36 for sheets 90 to be cut against. This cutting surface eliminates cutting against previously collected sheets 90 on collect cylinder 34 and the additional, undesirable cuts associated therewith, also known in the art as macaroni.
At the beginning of printing a new group of sections, flysheets are produced. In this example, four sections being produced at a time. Four flysheets A, B, C, D are printed if flysheets are needed in any of these four sections. Cutting cylinder 30 may selectively cuts the four flysheets A, B, C, D apart. Flysheets A and C are held on the flysheet cylinder 40 by pins 391, 393, while flysheets B and D are held on the flysheet cylinder 40 by vacuum grippers 392, 394 (pins would impale later passing sheets). Alternatively, A through D could each be held on by vacuum grippers.
Flysheets A, C are transferred to the lead edge of a panorama sheet 901, 902, respectively, onto pins 351, 352 of transfer cylinder 34 (
Flysheets A, C, B, D are delivered to their corresponding panorama mate 90, 902, 903 904 . . . while the panorama sheets 90, 902, 903 904 are on transfer cylinder 34. Panorama sheets 90, 902, 903 904 . . . , together with any corresponding flysheet, are transferred to collect cylinder 42. Collect cylinder 42 includes pins 441, 442 or grippers (mechanical grippers, vacuum, etc.) for collecting sheets on cylinder 42. Additional panorama sheets 90N may be collected to form a newspaper section. When desired, the collected sheets at each pin 441, 442 are tucked into a jaw 521, 522 of jaw cylinder 50 by a tucking blade 461, 462 on collect cylinder 42 forming a cross fold. This cross fold is the first fold made in the newspaper section; the fold is made across the width of the web, and is the vertical fold of the final broadsheet newspaper.
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A section 58 including panorama sheet 901 and flysheet A is shown folded into a jaw 521 of jaw cylinder 50 for further downstream delivery. At a first pin location 441 on collect cylinder 42, panorama sheet 902 and flysheet C are about to be folded off and tucked into a jaw 522 to form a second section. At a second pin 442 on collect cylinder 40, panorama sheet 903 has just been collected. Panorama sheet 903 includes a flysheet B glued thereto. Panorama sheet 903 received flysheet B from a vacuum gripper 392 on flysheet cylinder 40 while panorama sheet 903 was still on transfer cylinder 34. A fourth panorama sheet 904 will be cut from web 12 and will receive a flysheet D from vacuum gripper 394 when panorama sheet 904 is around transfer cylinder 34. Since flysheets B, D are applied to the trailing half of panorama sheets 903, 904, and pins are not available on transfer cylinder 34 at this position, glue, or another adhesive, is used to adhere flysheets B, D to panorama sheets 903, 904. Glue applicator 41 will apply glue or multiple glue spots to a leading edge of flysheets B, D so flysheets B, D can adhere to corresponding panorama sheets 903, 904.
In this manner, two panorama sized flysheets AB, CD are pinned to flysheet cylinder 40, for example at grippers 391, 393. Thus, cutting cylinder 30 and transfer cylinder 34 are cutting panorama sized sheets from web 12 regardless of whether or not the web is printed with flysheet pages AB, CD or panorama sheet pages 90, 90N. When panorama sized flysheets AB, CD stored on flysheet cylinder 40 need to be cut into individual flysheets A, B, C, D, cutting blade 37 on flysheet cylinder 38 cuts panorama sized flysheet AB into two individual flysheets A and B and similarly cuts panorama sized flysheet CD into two individual flysheets C and D. Flysheets B, D may be held on flysheet cylinder 40 by, for example, vacuum grippers 392, 394. Flysheets A, B, C, D can then be combined with panorama sheets 90, 90N on transfer cylinder 34 in the manner discussed above.
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During the formation of the previous described sections, two identical copies of each section are produced. One identical section is formed at each pin location 441, 442 on collect cylinder 42. Each of these sections 58 may be combined with other non-identical sections to form a multi-section product or newspaper. Since digital printing allows for flexibility and variability in printing images on the web, it is also possible to use the flysheet cylinder to vary the number of pages in the sections. For example, flysheet cylinder 40 may transfer flysheets A, C to panoramas in a section while flysheets B, D are held on the flysheet cylinder to be combined later. Thus providing sequential sections with the following page counts, 6 pages (with flysheet A), 6 pages (with flysheet C), 4 pages (no flysheet), 4 pages (no flysheet).
If only one section is desired, for example, when forming a tabloid newspaper product, the folded newspaper section may be transferred, slowed and shingled via a fan wheel 54 (
Each accumulator 701, 702, must keep stacks 781, 782 in alignment. Once stacks 781, 782 are fully assembled in the accumulators 701, 702, each stack 781, 782 is transferred to a second conveyor 79 for forwarding to a chopper folder 80 if a further fold is desired. The second conveyor 79 must keep the accumulated stacks 781, 782 in proper alignment during delivery to chopper folder 80 and through the chopper folding process. Chopper folder 80 cross folds each stack 781, 782 into a final product or final newspaper 86 and deposits newspapers 86 on a conveyor 88. The chopper fold is, for example, the horizontal fold located across a middle of a broadsheet newspaper. The chopper folder 80 may be similar to those known in the art and include a chopper blade and two chopper cylinders 82. The second conveyor 79 may include transport tapes or belts as known in the art.
With respect to tabloid newspaper products, printing press 100 can produce true tabloid style products by providing a web having the appropriate width and desired cutoff. Single section tabloid newspapers or other single section products are be formed on collect cylinder 42 and folded on jaw cylinder 50. In this configuration, flysheet cylinder 40 may be included when page breaks in multiples of two are desired, however, flysheet cylinder 40 may be eliminated or bypassed when page breaks in multiples of four are acceptable. Tabloid products are formed by collecting the desired number of panorama sheets 90N and any desired flysheets A, B, C, D on each pin 441, 442 of collect cylinder 42. Thus, each pin 441, 442 includes a completely collected tabloid newspaper. The collection of sheets at each pin 441, 442 are then folded off into jaws 521, 522 forming sections 58 as described and shown in
In the preceding specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments and examples thereof. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of invention as set forth in the claims that follow. The specification and drawings are accordingly to be regarded in an illustrative manner rather than a restrictive sense.
Priority is hereby claimed to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/503,270 filed on Jun. 30, 2011, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61503270 | Jun 2011 | US |