Patent Application
20100269719
1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to a web-fed printing press having at least one printing unit for static printing of at least one printing substrate web, preferably of a plurality of printing substrate webs, with a printed image which is invariable for all printed copies, and comprising at least one processing device positioned upstream of a folding apparatus, preferably for dynamic processing of at least one printing substrate web in a variable manner for at least some printed copies.
2. Description of the Related Art
Web-fed printing presses have a plurality of printing units for printing on both sides of at least one printing substrate web, or of a plurality of printing substrate webs. In particular, the printing units are offset printing units. By using offset printing units, the printing substrate web, or each printing substrate web, can be printed in a conventional manner with a printed image which is static and, therefore, identical for all printed copies. In web-fed printing presses designed as newspaper presses, offset printing units of this kind are positioned vertically one above the other as printing towers. In commercial web presses, the offset printing units are positioned horizontally one beside the other.
In web-fed printing presses, there is an increasing demand for further processing of printing substrate webs beyond mere conventional offset printing. This involves, for example, the use of printing technology to individualize printed copies, preferably by use of an inkjet printing device. Other possible processing beyond offset printing of printing substrate webs includes, e.g., gluing, coating, drying, or even stamping. In conventional web-fed printing presses, processing devices, which are used for processing printing substrate webs and are printed by using offset printing units, are positioned downstream of a folding apparatus as viewed in the transport direction of the printing substrate webs, i.e., where the production speed is slow.
While this has the advantage, in principle, that processing or post-processing of printing substrate webs printed by offset printing is not linked with the production speed of the offset printing units, a substantial drawback exists because not all of the printed pages, or not all of the areas inside a printed copy, are accessible to processing downstream of a folding apparatus.
For this reason, it is known to position processing devices downstream of the offset printing units and upstream of the folding apparatus of the web-fed printing press. However, to date there is no solution that allows printing substrate webs to be subjected to further processing beyond offset printing in a flexible manner within a web-fed printing press.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a web-fed printing press having at least one printing unit for static printing of at least one printing substrate web, preferably of a plurality of printing substrate webs, with a printed image which is invariable for all printed copies, and comprising at least one processing device positioned upstream of a folding apparatus, preferably for dynamic processing of at least one printing substrate web in a variable manner for at least some printed copies.
This and other objects and advantages are achieved in accordance with the invention by a web-fed printing press in which at least one processing device is supported at a manipulation device such that the processing device is displaceable by the manipulation device in three spatial dimensions within the region of action of the manipulation device and such that the processing device is positionable at a freely definable position of a printing substrate web and with a freely definable orientation to the printing substrate web.
The present invention advantageously provides the possibility to subject printing substrate webs, which are conventionally printed by printing units, to further processing in a flexible manner by at least one processing device such that every printing substrate web can be processed by a processing device in the area of every page, i.e., also in the area of the top side and bottom side of the page.
To this end, the processing device, or every processing device, is supported at a manipulation device, where the processing device is displaceable in the three spatial dimensions within the region of action of the manipulation device by the manipulation device at which the processing device is supported, i.e., such that the processing device is positionable at a freely definable position of a printing substrate web and with a freely definable orientation to the printing substrate web.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the invention, for which reference should be made to the appended claims. It should be further understood that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale and that, unless otherwise indicated, they are merely intended to conceptually illustrate the structures and procedures described herein.
Exemplary embodiments of the invention are described more fully with reference to the drawings without limiting the invention, in which:
The printing units 13 are preferably constructed as offset printing units to print the printing substrate webs A, B and C in a conventional manner with a static printed image which is therefore identical for all printed copies. The printing substrate webs A, B and C to be printed in the printing towers 10, 11 and 12 are supplied in the area of reel changers 14 and are fed to a folding apparatus 16 downstream of the printing towers 10, 11 and 12 by a turning unit 15. The person skilled in the art will be familiar with details concerning reel changers 14, turning units 15 and folding apparatus 16 so that more detailed descriptions are unnecessary.
The printing press 10 comprises a web guiding device 18 at a defined position 17, i.e., as depicted in
The web guiding device 18 of the web-fed printing press in accordance with the contemplated embodiments of the invention comprises a plurality of web guide rollers, i.e., a first quantity of web guide rollers 19 on the input side and a second quantity of web guide rollers 20 on the output side. The web guide rollers 19, 20 are rotatably supported at stationary side walls 21 or stationary frame parts. The printing substrate webs A, B and C can be introduced into the web guiding device 18 by the web guide rollers 19 on the input side and, conversely, the printing substrate webs A, B and C can be guided out of the web guiding device 18 by the web guide rollers 20 on the output side.
In the present exemplary embodiment, a processing device 22 is associated with the web-fed printing press in the area of the web guiding device 18.
The processing device 22 is supported at a manipulation device 23, such that the processing device 22 is displaceable in three spatial dimensions within the region of action of the manipulation device 23 by the manipulation device 23, i.e., such that the processing device 22 is positionable at a freely definable position of a printing substrate web A, B and C and with a freely definable orientation to the printing substrate web A, B and C.
Accordingly, as immediately appreciable from
As further appreciable from
Although
The processing device 22, or each processing device 22, is preferably a printing device for dynamic printing of the printing substrate webs A, B and C with a printed image which is variable and therefore changeable for at least some printed copies. The processing devices 22 are preferably constructed as inkjet printing devices. However, the processing device 22 can also be a gluing device, a coating device, a drying device, a foil transfer device, a cutting device, a perforating device, a stamping device, or any other processing device.
When there are a plurality of processing devices 22, 22.1, 22.2, as shown in
In accordance with a further advantageous embodiment of the present invention, the freely definable position of the processing device 22 relative to a printing substrate web A, B and C is adjustable depending on the transport speed of the printing substrate web A, B, C to be processed and depending on the processing speed of the processing device 22.
As a result, down time can be compensated at different speeds. Further, register adjustments can be performed in, or transverse to, the transport direction of the printing substrate web A, B and C.
Moreover, it is possible in the web-fed printing press in accordance with the contemplated embodiments of the invention to change the position and orientation of the processing device 22 relative to one of the printing substrate webs A, B and C to be processed during static printing of the printing substrate web A, B and C in the printing units 13. Accordingly, the position of the processing device 22 is changeable during the static printing of the printing substrate webs A, B and C. Additionally, the angular position of the processing direction of the processing device 22 relative to the respective printing substrate web A, B, C is changeable during the static printing of the respective printing substrate web A, B, C.
The manipulation device 23, at which a processing device 22 is supported and with which the processing device 22 is displaceable three-dimensionally in space within a region of action of the manipulation device 23, is preferably constructed as a robot arm, such as, of an industrial robot.
The manipulation device 23, together with the processing device 22 supported thereon, is preferably positioned in the area of the web guiding device 18 because, in the present exemplary embodiment, all of the printed printing substrate webs A, B and C are accessible in the area of the web guiding device 18. However, in contrast to this, it is also possible to position the manipulation device 22 together with the processing device 22 supported thereon at a different position inside the web-fed printing press at which, e.g., only printing substrate webs A and B are accessible.
The quantity of web guide rollers shown in the drawings and the quantity of printing substrate webs shown in the drawings are indicated purely by way of example. Further, the web guides shown in the drawings are intended purely as examples. The invention is applicable in newspaper printing presses and in commercial web presses having at least one printing unit.
Thus, while there have been shown, described and pointed out fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the devices illustrated, and in their operation, may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, it is expressly intended that all combinations of those elements and/or method steps which perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve the same results are within the scope of the invention. Moreover, it should be recognized that structures and/or elements and/or method steps shown and/or described in connection with any disclosed form or embodiment of the invention may be incorporated in any other disclosed or described or suggested form or embodiment as a general matter of design choice. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the claims appended hereto.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2007 054 987.5 | Nov 2007 | DE | national |
This is a U.S. national stage of International Application No. PCT/EP2008/009680, filed on 15 Nov. 2008. Priority is claimed on German Application No. 10 2007 054 987.5, filed on 17 Nov. 2007.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2008/009680 | 11/15/2008 | WO | 00 | 6/25/2010 |
