Printing – Print plate feeding or delivering
Reexamination Certificate
2001-09-13
2003-06-24
Evanisko, Leslie J. (Department: 2854)
Printing
Print plate feeding or delivering
C101S415100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06581518
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a device for holding and feeding a printing plate to a plate cylinder of a printing machine.
In printing machines, it has become known heretofore to provide a magazine for holding ready and changing a printing plate of a plate cylinder. The published European Patent Document EP 0 654 349 A1 discloses a device of the foregoing general type for holding and feeding a printing plate to a printing cylinder of a printing machine. The device described in this European patent document is provided with a holding device having a holding element and having a supporting surface, it being possible for a printing plate to be placed with one edge on the supporting surface and held by the holding element in a predefinable alignment on a side surface of the printing plate. In this way, a printing plate can be kept ready for a quick change in a printing machine.
The holding device is arranged parallel to the plate cylinder and constructed so that it is movable in vertical direction. The holding device can be moved from a lower rest position into an upper feeding position. Also provided is a guide element, which has at least one guide surface, the guide element being movably mounted and having the ability to be moved from a rest position into a feeding position. In the feeding position, the guide surface defines a feeding direction for feeding the printing plate to the plate cylinder. The guide element is mounted so as to be rotatable about an axis of rotation and is connected to a pneumatic cylinder via a mounting. If the holding device is moved upwardly into the feeding position, the pneumatic cylinder then pivots the guide surface in the predefined feeding direction, so that a printing plate placed on the supporting surface can be pushed along the guide surface into a holding device belonging to the plate cylinder.
The heretoforeknown device is relatively complicated, as the result of the use of a pneumatic cylinder, and is expensive to produce.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a simplified and cost-effective device for holding and feeding a printing plate to a plate cylinder of a printing machine.
With the foregoing and other objects of the invention, there is provided, in accordance with the invention, a device for holding and feeding a printing plate to a plate cylinder of a printing machine, comprising a holding device and a member having a supporting surface, the printing plate being placeable or disposable by one edge thereof on the supporting surface and being holdable in a predefinable alignment by the holding device, a mounting for movably supporting the holding device on the printing machine so that the holding device is movable from a rest position into a feeding position, a guide element having at least one guide surface, the guide element being movably mounted on the holding device and being movable from a rest position into a feeding position, the guide surface, in the feeding position, defining a feeding direction for feeding a printing plate to the plate cylinder, and a lever device via which the guide element is operatively connected to the printing machine, the guide element being movable automatically from the rest position into the feeding position by movement of the holding device.
In accordance with another feature of the invention, the guide element has two guide surfaces defining a holding space for a printing plate therebetween, the guide element having an axis of rotation disposed at least approximately parallel to an axis of rotation of the plate cylinder, the guide element being rotatable so that an end region of a respective printing plate disposed in the holding space is bent in the feeding direction.
In accordance with a further feature of the invention, the lever device is a roller with a lever arm, the roller being operatively connected to the guide element via the lever arm, the roller being rollable on a rolling surface from the rest position into an operating position during the movement of the holding device, the rolling surface being formed so that the guide element is movable by the roller into the feeding position, via the lever arm, as the roller rolls from the rest position into the operating position.
In accordance with an added feature of the invention, the rolling surface is an inclined plane with a defined angle of inclination.
In accordance with an alternative feature of the invention, the lever device is constructed as a driver arm and a triggering pin, the driver arm being mounted so as to rotate about an axis of rotation on the holding device, and the triggering pin being formed on the printing machine, the driver arm being operatively connected to the guide element, and the driver arm and the triggering pin being arranged so that, during the movement of the holding device from the rest position into the feeding position, the driver arm is rotated by the triggering pin into the feeding position, the guide element being also rotated into the feeding position, and the driver arm being rotated into the rest position by the triggering pin during the movement of the holding device from the feeding position into the rest position, the guide element also being rotated into the rest position.
In accordance with an additional feature of the invention, the supporting surface is formed in a rotatably mounted holding bracket, and there is included a stop element formed on the guide element, the holding bracket being biased against the stop element, the stop element, in the rest position of the guide element, holding the holding bracket in an operating position wherein the supporting surface blocks the feeding direction, and in the feeding position of the guide element, the stop element releasing the holding bracket, and the holding bracket being moved into an operating position, wherein the supporting surface clears the feeding direction.
In accordance with yet another feature of the invention, the supporting surface has an edge elevatable in the direction of the holding space, the edge, during a transition of the holding bracket from the rest position into the operating position, being bringable into contact with a printing plate disposed on the supporting surface, so that the printing plate remains standing on the supporting surface and is not released.
In accordance with yet a further feature of the invention, the guide surface is an inner guide surface having an upper region inclined in a direction of a second guide surface up to a bending edge.
In accordance with yet an added feature of the invention, the bending edge is formed as a rotatably mounted roller.
In accordance with a concomitant feature of the invention, the guide surface is an outer guide surface formed by rotatably mounted rollers arranged in one plane.
An advantage of the invention is that the guide element is operatively connected to the printing machine via a lever device, so that the guide element is automatically rotated from the rest position into the feeding position by the movement of the holding device. In this way, the use of a pneumatic cylinder is avoided, so that the holding and feeding device according to the invention is less expensive to produce, and no additional control for a pneumatic cylinder is needed.
The guide element preferably has two guide surfaces, a holding space for a printing plate being defined between the guide surfaces. In addition, the guide element is mounted so that it can be rotated about an axis of rotation, the axis of rotation being arranged at least approximately parallel to the alignment of the guide surfaces. The mounting for the guide element is preferably constructed so that an end region of a printing plate, which is arranged in the holding space, is bent over the first and the second guide surface in the predefined feeding direction.
A result thereof is that only the end region of the printing plate is bent in the predefined feeding direction, so that the remaining part of the printing plate is held in the predefined
Deshefi Oskar
Richter Ivo
Zarges Joachim
Evanisko Leslie J.
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
Stemer Werner H
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