This application claims the priority, under 35 U.S.C. §119, of German Patent Application DE 10 2008 049 473.9, filed Sep. 29, 2008; the prior application is herewith incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The invention relates to a sheet-fed offset printing press for printing on both sides of sheets, including a plurality of printing units disposed behind one another and each having at least one form cylinder, a transfer cylinder, a first impression cylinder and an inking unit with at least one ink applicator roll associated with the form cylinder.
It is known to place a plurality of homogeneous printing units behind one another in a sheet running direction in order to print sheets in multiple colors. The printing units have a high degree of repeated parts, so that manufacturing costs are low. A color separation is applied to one side of a sheet in each printing unit.
The sheets can be printed on the front side in a first pass and on the rear side in a second pass in order to print in multiple colors on both sides of the sheets. A machine of that type having satellite printing units is disclosed in German Published, Non-Prosecuted Patent Application DE 197 56 796 A1, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 6,293,193. Printing in two passes is time and cost-intensive.
In printing presses which print sheets in multiple colors on both sides in only one pass, a turning apparatus is provided between a final printing unit for printing on the front side and a first printing unit for printing on the rear side. The turning apparatus works and tumbles the sheets about a transverse axis or turns them over about a longitudinal axis. A turning apparatus increases the installation space of the printing press. Register errors are produced by multiple sheet transfers, as a result of which the prints on the front side and the rear side of the sheets have positional deviations with respect to one another.
A printing press according to German Patent DE 197 56 990 C2 includes an inline configuration of double printing units. Two blanket cylinders are operatively connected in each printing unit for simultaneous printing on both sides of the sheets. The axes of the sheet guiding cylinders are disposed in a horizontal plane. In each printing unit, printing form cylinders and inking units are disposed above and below that plane. The printing form cylinders and the inking units below the plane are accessible with difficulty for changeover and service purposes. The ink transport to the blanket cylinders is different above and below the plane due to gravity. When processing a print job, the inking units and the printing form cylinders below the plane are unused for printing only on the front side of the sheets. The double printing units have a high configuration.
German Patent DE 33 27 791 C1 describes a sheet-fed printing press having a plurality of printing units of inline construction, in which a plate cylinder, a blanket cylinder and an impression cylinder having identical diameters are provided in each printing unit. A sheet is fed in after every second revolution of a plate cylinder, in order to print on both sides of the sheets. The sheet is conveyed from the impression cylinder to the blanket cylinder in a printing unit and is given a verso print on the rear side in the nip between the plate cylinder and the blanket cylinder. Afterward, the sheet is again fed to the impression cylinder. During verso printing operation, the blanket cylinders and the plate cylinders can be raised up cyclically respectively from the impression cylinder and the blanket cylinder, with the result that a transfer of printing ink is interrupted when the relevant cylinder does not guide a sheet during every second revolution. The cyclical throwing on and off of cylinders impairs the print quality and leads to high wear of machine parts.
Printing units of inline construction according to German Patent DE 31 08 806 C2, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,409,894, each have a plate cylinder, a blanket cylinder and an impression cylinder for carrying out recto and verso printing. The impression cylinder carries a rubber blanket. The blanket cylinders are raised up from the respective impression cylinder during every second revolution. The disadvantages of throwing a cylinder on and off cyclically have already been mentioned above.
German Patent DE 437203 discloses a rotary printing press for printing both sides of a sheet in multiple colors. Printing is carried out on single size impression cylinders by way of double size plate and blanket cylinders. The blanket cylinders are integrated into the sheet guiding device. During verso printing operation, the impression cylinder is covered with a rubber blanket. During verso printing operation, the machine operates at half revolutions, with recto printing being carried out in the nip between two rubber blankets and verso printing being carried out conventionally in the nip between a blanket cylinder and an impression cylinder. The ink transfer in a rubber/rubber configuration is different from that in a rubber/impression cylinder configuration, which leads to varying color phenomena in the printed image that are not desired in any case.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a sheet-fed offset printing press for printing on both sides of sheets in one pass, which overcomes the hereinafore-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known devices of this general type, which has a compact construction and by way of which it is possible to print a number of color separations over one another in recto printing or recto and verso printing in a flexible manner and with high print quality.
With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with the invention, a sheet-fed offset printing press for printing on both sides of sheets. The printing press comprises a plurality of printing units disposed behind one another. Each of the printing units includes at least one form cylinder, a transfer cylinder, a first impression cylinder and an inking unit having at least one ink applicator roll associated with the form cylinder. At least one of the printing units has a second impression cylinder interacting with the transfer cylinder and the first impression cylinder.
According to the invention, in an offset printing press having a plurality of printing units which are disposed behind one another, an additional impression cylinder which interacts with a transfer cylinder and a first impression cylinder is disposed in at least one printing unit. The operating mode of a printing unit which is equipped in such a way can be switched over, with the result that recto printing operation or recto and verso printing operation is possible selectively. Depending on the switching position of the transfer cylinder and the additional impression cylinder, a sheet is turned during printing and is printed on its rear side, or not turned and printed only on the front side. In an inline configuration having a plurality of printing units which are equipped in this way, all of the printing units can be switched to recto printing operation and recto and verso printing operation. The number of prints can therefore be configured as desired on the front side and the rear side. For example, it would be possible, in a printing press having eight printing units, to process print jobs, in which eight colors are printed on one side or seven are printed over one, six over two, five over three or four colors over four are printed on the front side and the rear side of the sheet. During the pass, a sheet can be turned twice or multiple times. During pure recto printing operation, the sheets are fed at full revolutions. In verso printing operation, the sheets are fed at half revolutions, that is to say during every second revolution of a single size form cylinder.
The printing units of the sheet-fed printing press can be set up in line as desired in a modular construction. The vertical direction of the ink flow is identical in all of the printing units, with the result that it is possible to provide identical inking units for recto printing operation and recto and verso printing operation. The printing units are readily accessible from above for service purposes.
Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in a sheet-fed offset printing press for printing on both sides of sheets, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.
The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.
FIGS. 1.1-1.4 are sheet running diagrams in fragmentary, diagrammatic, longitudinal-sectional views of an offset printing press having double size transfer cylinders;
FIGS. 2.1-2.2 are enlarged, fragmentary, longitudinal-sectional views of one variant of an offset printing unit having a single size transfer cylinder in recto and verso printing operation; and
Referring now to the figures of the drawings in detail and first, particularly, to
The printing units 1 and 4 are configured for printing on the front side of the sheets 49. In the printing units 1, 4, the intermediate rolls 117 and 120 and the dampening units 102 and 108 are out of operation, with the dampening solution applicator rolls of the dampening units 102, 108 being thrown off or disengaged from the printing forms 9, 12. Furthermore, the transfer cylinders 13, 16 are thrown on or engaged with the impression cylinders 33, 36 and are thrown off or disengaged from the impression cylinders 37, 40 in the printing units 1, 4. The impression cylinders 37, 40 are out of operation. The impression cylinders 13, 16 rotate in the clockwise direction.
The printing units 2 and 3 are configured for printing on the rear side of the sheets 49. In the printing units 2, 3, the intermediate rolls 118, 119 for ink transfer are connected between the ductor rolls 110, 111 and the ink transfer rolls 114, 115. The dampening units 104, 106 are in operation. The dampening units 103, 105 are out of operation. The transfer cylinders 14, 15 are in rolling contact with the printing forms 10, 11 and the impression cylinders 38, 39 and are thrown off or disengaged from the impression cylinders 34, 35. The transfer cylinders 14, 15 are driven counter to the clockwise direction. FIGS. 1.1-1.4 show a sheet transport in four phases. A sheet 49 is fed to a printing unit 1-4 during every second revolution of a form cylinder 5-8.
According to
According to
The configuration of the printing units 1-4 as recto printing units and as verso printing units is embodied in this case only by way of example. In principle, each printing unit can be configured for printing on the front side or rear side. During printing on the rear side, a single size impression cylinder 37-40 is included into the sheet run in any case. The printing press can be configured as a pure recto printing press if in each case both sectors 17-24 of the transfer cylinders 13-16 are equipped with covers which transfer printing ink. In pure recto printing operation, one sheet 49 can be fed to a printing unit 1-4 with every revolution of a form cylinder 5-8.
In one variant according to
According to
During each revolution of the form cylinder 127, a printing form 134 is inked with an image by way of the dampening unit 131 and the inking unit 130. The printing ink of the color separation is transferred onto an elastic cover 135 of the transfer cylinder 126. The double size impression cylinder 128 has two sectors 136, 137. If a sheet 49 is held in a gripper system 138 and is conveyed on the circumferential face of the impression cylinder 128 in the sector 136, a color separation 139 is transferred to the front side of the sheet 49 in the nip between the cover 135 and the impression cylinder 128. No sheet 49 is guided in the sector 137. During passing of the sector 137 on the transfer cylinder 126, the transfer cylinder 126 is thrown off the impression cylinder 128. As an alternative, the circumferential face can stand back in the sector 137, with the result that no printing ink is transmitted on the circumferential face.
In one alternative embodiment, the circumferential face can be configured to carry printing ink in the sector 137 in pure recto printing operation. A sheet is then fed at single revolutions with each revolution of the form cylinder 127.
In verso printing operation according to
A first color separation is transferred on the front side of a sheet in recto printing in the nip between the transfer cylinder 148 and the impression cylinder 150. The sheet is transferred from the impression cylinder 150 to the impression cylinder 151. The sheet receives a print of a color separation on the rear side in the nip between the transfer cylinder 149 and the impression cylinder 151. Subsequently, the sheet is transferred to the impression cylinder 150 again. The sheet which is printed on both sides passes from the impression cylinder 150 to the transfer drum 153. The transfer drum 153 conveys the sheet to a following printing unit or to an apparatus for conveying it onto a stack.
The printing unit 141 can be configured in such a way that a sheet receives two prints on the front side. To this end, an elastic cover 154 is pulled onto the circumferential face of the impression cylinder 151. In this configuration, a sheet is not transferred from the impression cylinder 150 to the impression cylinder 151. The second print takes place in the nip between the impression cylinder 151 and the cover 154. Before this, the second color separation is transferred from the form cylinder 147 onto the transfer cylinder 149 and onto the cover 154.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10 2008 049 473.9 | Sep 2008 | DE | national |