Printing – Rolling contact machines – Rotary
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-21
2004-12-07
Colilla, Daniel J. (Department: 2854)
Printing
Rolling contact machines
Rotary
C101S227000, C101S228000, C101S232000, C101S480000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06827012
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a web printing process and more particularly to a method and device for printing a web and folding and assembling the printed web into printed products.
2. Background Information
Conventional web printing presses generally print a web of paper in a printing press, the web then being fed directly from the printing press through a drier to a folder. The web is then folded and cut in a folder connected to the printing press so as to form signatures, which may be stored and later collected in a bindery with other signatures to form a final printed product. Folders are complicated and often are the speed limiting component of the printing press.
One known printing process not requiring a folder is roll-to-roll printing. Roll-to-roll printing occurs when a web of material wound in a roll is unwound and printed in a printing process and then wound to a finishing roll. Roll-to-roll printing is known for example to prepare wallpaper, which does not require a folding or assembly process. The rolled and printed wallpaper may then be cut manually to size.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,410,122 purports to disclose an apparatus for manufacturing paper rolls using width-wise control of a web material. The apparatus has a bar structure having resiliently bendable beam means for effecting a primary bowed adjustment. A set of side-by-side independent but cooperative wrap area members are carried by the beam means and are adapted to be individually selectively adjustable relative to the beam means to effect secondary adjustments. A slitter divides a web passing through the device longitudinally into strips.
The '122 patent does not disclose any printing device for printing a web, and is not related to printing processes. Prior to the slitting, no printing is performed on the web.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,041,707 purports to disclose a web-fed rotary printing machine having a plurality of directly adjacent printing units arranged in-line. Below the printing units are winding devices for holding float-mounted winding rolls, which can be used either as a winding device or an unwinding device. The winding rolls accept a printed web of material. A first winding device
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is used as an unwinding device, so that a web to be printed is unwound from the winding roll and runs through the printing units. The printed web is then guided by a web edge control device to a last winding device
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, where the printed web is wound. Two other winding devices can serve as winding-up devices. The apparatus further provides a roll storage device and conveyance system that operatively connects the roll storage device with the winding device. A folder is arranged downstream of the printing units, in a web-feed direction. A dryer is included after the printing to dry the printed material.
The method and device of the '707 patent has the disadvantage that the wound-up rolls are full width. The device is thus limited in the combination of images and types of products which may be assembled. Assembly of different sections to form a final product is complicated and limited.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a method and device for permitting a more reliable and flexible overall printing process. An alternate or additional object of the present invention is to improve electro-mechanical reliability of an overall printing method. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an efficient and cost-effective method for assembling a final printed product.
The present invention provides a printing device including a roll-to roll printing press for forming a plurality of printed rolls, and a separate assembly device, the assembly device having roll unwinding devices separate from the printing press, a first folder accepting at least one first web from the roll unwinding devices and forming first signatures, and a second folder accepting at least one second web from the roll unwinding devices and forming second signatures.
By providing an assembly device for the printed rolls separate from the printing press, the problems associated with folders can be decoupled from the printing process. Moreover, a wide variety of formats for the final products may be accomplished in the assembly device according to the present invention.
Preferably, the printing press includes a slitter for slitting the web into a plurality of ribbons, the ribbons being wound to form the plurality of printed rolls.
Wide web widths thus can be printed, with the web being slit into narrower ribbons. The narrow resulting rolls can then be more easily assembled in the assembly device.
The present invention also provides a method for printing comprising the steps of printing a web of material in a printing press so as to define a printed web, winding the printed web onto at least one roll, cutting the printed web so as to define at least one printed roll, transporting the at least one printed roll to an assembly device located separately from the printing press, and folding and cutting the at least one printed roll in the assembly device.
Preferably, the transporting is performed via an automated buffer.
By providing that the printed rolls may be transported, a folder located in the assembly device need not be directly at the printing press. Although preferably the assembly device is located next to the automated buffer, customers or print shops also could have their own separate assembly devices, with a press operator supplying the rolls of printed material. The press advantageously provides a standardized product, namely rolls.
Preferably, the assembly device includes a plurality of folders, each folder preferably having at least one former. Preferably, a plurality of formers for each folder are provided, so that W-shaped or Z-shaped folds can be achieved. Alternately, the folders may be plow folders.
The assembly device permits collection of signatures to form a complex printed product without human intervention.
The present method for roll-to-roll printing can eliminate any static required for efficient operation. Additionally, because the folder causes most of the faults when a printing method operates at high speeds, the separation of the folder from the roll-to-roll printing results in more efficient printing. The present invention also allows for more efficient on-the-fly changes because there are fewer mechanisms through which the printed material passes. Moreover, since the printed product winds up on a roll, storage of the material is facilitated.
The present invention also provides a method for printing comprising the steps of passing a web of material through a printing unit of a printing press so as to form a printed roll, slitting the printed web by a slitter so as to form a plurality of ribbons, winding the ribbons into at least one roll, and assembling printed products from the ribbons by folding and cutting the ribbons in a folder.
The slitting of the printed web provides the advantage of allowing more flexibility in combining images to form a document.
Preferably, the method may include organizing the rolls of printed materials using identifications on the printed material, for example a specific text section which can be read through an optical character recognition (OCR) device or any other vision system. The identifications provide the advantage of efficient assembly of the rolls of printed material and of allowing ribbons from differing rolls of printed material to be assembled efficiently at a later date. Moreover, rolls may be created for specific printing purposes, for example, customized inserts based on geography or professions. The rolls can then be provided to the assembly devices to create customized printed products.
Preferably, the method includes printing a multi-color image to the printable material by four printing units. The printing units may be lithographic offset printing units for printing black, magenta, cyan, and yellow, each unit including a plate cylinder and a blanket cylinder.
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Colilla Daniel J.
Crenshaw Marvin
Davidson Davidson & Kappel LLC
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
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