Ink supply device

Details Ink supply device Ink supply device

2001-10-23

2003-04-22

Eickholt, Eugene H. (Department: 2854)

Printing

Inkers

Fountains

C101S169000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06550386

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink supply device for a rotary printer or a sheet-feed printer and an ink key thereof, and in particular, to an ink supply device provided with an ink tray removably mounted in an ink box and an ink tray thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
A printer such as a sheet-feed printer or a rotary printer, as shown in FIG.
25
and
FIG. 26
, is provided with an ink supply device
60
with an ink box (ink fountain)
62
before a primary ink roller (ink fountain roller)
61
. The ink box
62
is constituted by the peripheral surface of the primary ink roller
61
, a plurality of ink keys (blades)
63
forming the bottom portion of the ink box
62
, and two side plates
64
(only the deep side plate is shown in
FIG. 25
) which are mounted on both outer sides of the outermost ink keys of the plurality of ink keys
63
and whose front ends are in sliding contact with the peripheral surface of the primary ink roller
61
. Ink in the ink box
62
is supplied to the primary ink roller
61
from a gap between the primary ink roller
61
and the tip ends of the ink keys
63
and is transferred to a group of ink rollers arranged downstream via a drawing roller not shown.
As shown in
FIG. 26
, the plurality of ink keys
63
are arranged in parallel in the direction of width of the device and the neighboring ink keys
63
,
63
are in sliding contact with each other, and the side end ink keys
63
at both side ends and the side plates
64
are also in sliding contact with each other. Further, each ink key
63
can be oscillated individually around a fulcrum shaft
65
and an ink quantity controller
66
is mounted below each ink key
63
.
The ink quantity controller
66
is provided with a push-up member
66
b
engaging with the bottom surface of the tip end of each ink key
63
and a pusher
66
a
contacting the push-up member
66
b
and extending or contracting to oscillate the push-up member
66
b.
The push-up member
66
b
is oscillated by extending or contracting the pusher
66
a
to move up and down a portion engaging with the ink key
63
, whereby the tip end of the ink key
63
is oscillated. The gap between the ink key
63
and the primary ink roller
61
is controlled by the oscillation to control the thickness of an ink film supplied to the primary ink roller
61
.
FIG. 27
to
FIG. 30
schematically show the structure of a conventional ink storage device of a printer mounted in a sheet-feed printer.
FIG. 27
shows a state of operation and
FIG. 27
shows a state of cleaning and
FIG. 29
is a partial perspective view and
FIG. 30
is a side view of the ink keys when they are cleaned.
In each drawing described above, reference numeral
101
designates an ink key controlling the amount of ink supplied and a plurality of ink keys are arranged in the direction of axis of the primary ink roller
102
, the number of the ink keys being determined by the necessity of controlling the amount of ink in the direction of width of a printed matter. Reference numeral
109
designates a turning fulcrum shaft of the ink key
101
when the ink key
101
is controlled. Reference numeral
102
designates the primary ink roller for receiving the controlled amount of ink and transferring the ink to the next roller. Reference numeral
124
designates a gap formed between the ink key
101
and the primary ink roller
102
for controlling the amount of ink to be supplied. Reference numeral
111
designates ink box side plates arranged on opposite ends of the primary ink roller
102
. Each ink box side plate
111
contacts the surface of each end of the primary ink roller
102
at the tip end thereof and the side surface of the ink key
101
arranged at right and left side ends at the side surface thereof to prevent the leakage of ink from these contact portions. This way, the ink key
101
, the primary ink roller
102
and the ink box side plate
111
constitute an ink box
100
storing the ink.
An ink key receiving base
108
supports the ink key
101
and the ink box side plate
111
and is supported by a turning center shaft
110
mounted on a mechanical frame and described below. Reference numeral
107
designates a mounting bolt arranged in a groove
108
a
made in the ink key receiving base
108
and screwed into the bottom surface of the ink key
101
. Reference numeral
106
designates a compression spring arranged in the groove
108
a
made in the ink key receiving base
108
and between the ink key receiving base
108
and the mounting bolt
107
. The compression spring
106
applies with the mounting bolt
107
a pressing force pressing the ink key
101
toward the ink key receiving base
108
. Reference numeral
103
designates an ink quantity controller mounted on each ink key
101
. When the amount of ink supplied to the primary ink roller
102
is reduced (a gap
124
is reduced), a push-up portion
104
is moved up to push up the ink key
101
against the force of the compression spring
106
. When the amount of ink supplied to the primary ink roller
102
is increased (i.e., a gap
124
is increased), a push-up portion
104
moves downward to push down the ink key
101
by the force of the compression spring
106
.
The turning center shaft
110
supports the right and left ends of the ink key receiving base
108
and acts as a turning center for separating the ink key
101
and the ink box side plate
111
backward from the primary ink roller
102
, as shown in
FIG. 28
, when the ink in the ink box
100
is removed and the ink keys
101
and the like are cleaned. A plurality of ink keys
101
are arranged in the direction of axis of the primary ink roller
102
, as shown in
FIG. 29
, and there is provided between the ink keys
101
a small gap allowing the individual ink keys
101
to slide.
The conventional ink supply device
60
shown in FIG.
25
and
FIG. 26
has a small gap between the neighboring ink keys
63
,
63
and a small gap between the side end ink key
63
and the side plate
64
, whereby the ink keys
63
can slide. Therefore, the ink may possibly get into the small gap between the ink keys
63
,
63
because of capillary phenomenon or the like. The conventional ink supply device
60
has a problem that if the ink which has entered into the gap between the ink keys
63
,
63
solidifies, the ink makes the action of the ink keys
63
unstable or fixes the ink keys
63
in the worst case to make it impossible to control the thickness of an ink film with high accuracy.
Further, it is necessary to wipe the ink remaining in the ink box
62
with textile waste or to wash it with cleaning liquid, but it is difficult to remove the ink because the ink has high viscosity. In particular, it is difficult to remove the ink from the gap between the ink keys
63
,
63
, and lead to increased workload on workers cleaning the ink keys
63
. Further, in order to improve productivity, it is required that a preparation time for order changes be shortened to increase the availability of the device, but a cleaning time is increased because the load of cleaning is increased when the ink is changed. Therefore, it has been required that workload be reduced in cleaning operations and that a cleaning time be shortened to increase the availability and productivity of the device.
Further, the ink key
101
is erected approximately 90 degrees with respect to its original position as shown in FIG.
30
and the sides thereof are cleaned. A press-down unit
105
for pressing down the ink key
101
(which is constituted by a compression spring
106
, a mounting bolt
107
and the like) is required to be disassembled. However, since the printer has a great number of the press-down units
105
, disassembling of the press-down units
105
becomes heavily burdensome.
Further, after a daily printing work finishes, the sides of the ink key
101
are cleaned by picking up the tip end of each ink key
101
with fingers without disassembling the press-down units
105
. However, since the ink key
101
is not completely p

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