BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING
FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic, perspective view of a machine support structure formed of support elements made of rock in accordance with a preferred embodiment of a printing machine according to the invention;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a drive side of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a front-elevational view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a side-elevational view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating a preferred embodiment of a printing machine according to the invention with a machine support structure as shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 6 is a front-elevational view of the label printing machine shown in FIG. 5; and
FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic, side-elevational view of an alternative embodiment of a printing machine according to the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Referring now to the figures of the drawings in detail and first, particularly, to FIG. 1 thereof, there is seen an operator-side view of a machine support structure 12 that is made of support elements formed of rock in accordance with a preferred embodiment of a printing machine 10 according to the invention. The printing machine 10 is shown in FIG. 5. This embodiment belongs to a first group of embodiments, which use natural stone. The machine support structure 12 includes a support element 14 made of rock and also referred to as a portal support. The support element 14 serves for receiving printing units (in the given example, there are four printing units for standard four-color printing) and other components, in particular web-guiding rollers. For this purpose, the support element 14 includes a number of shaft bores 16 disposed in groups for the individual printing units and roller bores 18. Printing units 30 shown in FIG. 5 are disposed in line in the horizontal direction. The support element 14 rests on a frame of the machine support structure 12. In this embodiment, a main component of this frame of the machine support structure 12 is likewise made of rock. The frame includes a left-hand side wall 20, a right-hand side wall 22 and two connecting profiles or profiled parts 24. In the preferred embodiment, the rock is impala granite. The machine support structure 12 rests on adjustable feet 26. In the view shown in FIG. 1, a cable duct 28 can be seen behind the support element 14. The cable duct 28 is a further connecting profile of the machine support structure 12.
FIG. 2 is a view of the drive side of the embodiment of the machine support structure 12 shown in FIG. 1. On this side, separate drive units for each of the printing units 30 (refer to FIG. 5) are attached to the support element 14. Drive shafts of the printing units 30 pass through the shaft bores 16 in which they are received, through the use of bearing elements (roller bearings in the present example) and are supported to be capable of rotating. Tools for the printing process according to which the printing unit operates, may be attached to each of the shaft journals. FIG. 2 also illustrates the left-hand side wall 20, the right-hand side wall 22, the connecting profiles 24, the adjustment feet 26 and the cable duct 28. The web-guiding rollers that are received in the roller bores 18 so as to be capable of rotating, are not driven.
FIG. 3 shows a front view of the embodiment of the support structure 12 of the printing machine 10 according to the invention as shown in FIG. 1. The support element 14 with the shaft bores 16 and roller bores 18 is connected to the left-hand and right-hand side walls 20, 22 through the use of elbows 32. A stable frame for the machine support structure 12 is formed together with the connecting profiles 24.
FIG. 4 shows a right-hand side view of the machine support structure 12 of the printing machine 10 according to the invention. The support element 14 and the right-hand side wall 22, which rests on adjustment feet 26 of the machine support structure 12, are visible. The connecting profiles 24 are received in recesses 34 of the right-hand side wall 22. The cable duct 28 has a U-shaped profile.
FIG. 5 shows a preferred embodiment of a printing machine 10 according to the invention, including a machine support structure 12 as shown in FIG. 1. In this embodiment, the printing machine is a web-processing printing machine, a label printing machine. The elements and components that are made of rock in a label printing machine are preferably made of natural rock, in particular granite. The machine support structure 12 with the component support element 14, left-hand side wall 20, right-hand side wall 22 and connecting profiles 24, which have already been described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4, form a support for a processing part or printing part of the printing machine 10, in which a non-illustrated web of printing material (a substrate) is processed as it passes through the machine on its web path, guided by web-guiding rollers 36. The processing part includes four printing units 30 that are received on the support element 14. The printing units 30 of the embodiment shown in the figure can process varying formats, in particular it is possible to generate variable printing lengths by using cylinders of varying circumferential lengths. In addition, the printing units are convertible to different printing processes. In particular, it is possible to convert the printing units from flexographic printing to gravure and vice versa by simple remodeling of components of the printing units. Even screen printing is possible by simple conversion. It is also possible to replace an entire printing unit 30 by a diecutting unit or a stamping unit, in particular a hotfoil stamping unit. In this case, the diecutting unit or stamping unit is operated by a separate drive of the printing unit 30 that has been replaced, as has been described with reference to FIG. 2.
Upstream of the processing part, there is a machine inlet part 38, which includes a first support wall 40 made of rock. Downstream of the processing part, there is a machine outlet part 42, which includes a second support wall 44 made of rock. A substantial function of the machine inlet part 38 is to unwind a web of printing material that is to be printed and is located on a reel. For this purpose, an unwinding device 46 is provided. In addition, the machine inlet part 38 includes a discharge device 48. The machine outlet part 42 includes a wind-up device 50 for winding up the processed (in particular printed) web of printing material onto a reel. In order to produce labels, it is not only necessary to print the substrate, but also to cut out the individual labels. For this purpose, the printing machine includes a cutting device 52 having a nip in which labels are cut from the carrier web of the substrate and are separated from a web of grid-shaped cutting waste. This web of cutting waste is then wound up onto a reel in a wind-up unit 54, which includes a support wall 56 made of rock and a winding shaft 58.
FIG. 6 is a front view of the preferred embodiment of the printing machine 10 shown in FIG. 5, i.e. of the label printing machine with support elements made of natural rock. The two previous paragraphs of the present description provide an explanation of the reference numerals shown in the figure.
FIG. 7 diagrammatically shows a view of an alternative embodiment of a printing machine 10 according to the invention. In this embodiment, the printing machine is a sheet-fed offset printing press of in-line construction for four-color printing. The printing press has a modular construction and includes a feeder 60, four printing units 30 and a delivery 62. Individual sheets are taken from a feeder pile 64 and are fed to the printing press 10 to be processed. Once they have been dried, the sheets are deposited on a delivery pile 66 in the delivery. According to the invention, side walls 68 of the printing units 30 and corresponding components of the support structure of the printing units 30 acting as the support elements 14, are made of rock. The use of artificial rock, in particular concrete, is preferred for embodiments of sheet-processing printing presses according to the invention, because artificial rock can be given a shape suitable for an application when it is produced in a technical process. Moreover, compared to embodiments of the printing machine according to the invention as a label printing machine, a sheet-fed printing press requires a large number of bores, recesses, protrusions and the like in the side walls 68, which are easier to produce in artificial rock, in particular in concrete, than in natural rock. The support structures of the feeder 60 and the delivery 62 may also be made of rock, in particular of artificial rock, preferably of concrete. Individual functional components of the printing press, in particular the components of the printing units, however, may be made of metallic materials. In order to counteract the different thermal expansion behaviors of the materials that have been used, the printing machine according to the invention, in this embodiment a sheet-processing offset printing press, includes devices for mechanical compensation adjustment of components of the printing units, so that the desired position of the components relative to each other as a function of temperature is attained automatically and with a high degree of precision.
Patent Application
20080063458
