Intaglio printing press

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9315011-B2
Application number	US-201314396172-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 24, 2013
Priority date	Apr 24, 2012
Publication date	Apr 19, 2016
Grant date	Apr 19, 2016

Abstract

There is described an intaglio printing press ( 1; 1 *) comprising a plate cylinder ( 8 ) carrying one or more intaglio printing plates, the plate cylinder ( 8 ) receiving ink from an inking system ( 9, 20, 23; 20*, 23 *) having a plurality of chablon cylinders ( 23; 23 *) transferring ink directly or indirectly onto the plate cylinder ( 8 ), the intaglio printing press ( 1; 1 *) comprising an adjustment system acting on the chablon cylinders ( 23; 23 *) in order to compensate elongation of the one or more intaglio printing plates. The adjustment system comprises, for each chablon cylinder ( 23; 23 *), an adjustable drive unit, which adjustable drive unit ( 25 ) is interposed between the chablon cylinder ( 23; 23 *) acting as a rotating output body of the adjustable drive unit ( 25 ) and a driving gear ( 100 ) acting as a rotating input body of the adjustable drive unit ( 25 ). The adjustable drive unit ( 25 ) is designed to allow selected adjustment of a rotational speed of the chablon cylinder ( 23; 23 *) with respect to a rotational speed of the driving gear ( 100 ). In an adjusting state of the adjustable drive unit ( 25 ), driving into rotation of the chablon cylinder ( 23; 23 *) is adjusted over each revolution of the chablon cylinder ( 23; 23 *) by means of an adjustment motor ( 300 ) of the adjustable drive unit ( 25 ). In a non-adjusting state of the adjustable drive unit ( 25 ), the adjustment motor ( 300 ) is inoperative and driving into rotation of the chablon cylinder ( 23; 23 *) is performed exclusively mechanically via the adjustable drive unit ( 25 ), the chablon cylinder ( 23; 23 *) rotating at a same rotational speed as the driving gear ( 100 ).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An intaglio printing press comprising a plate cylinder carrying one or more intaglio printing plates, the plate cylinder receiving ink from an inking system having a plurality of chablon cylinders transferring ink directly or indirectly onto the plate cylinder, the intaglio printing press comprising an adjustment system acting on the chablon cylinders in order to compensate for elongation of the one or more intaglio printing plates,
wherein the adjustment system comprises, for each chablon cylinder, an adjustable drive unit, which adjustable drive unit is interposed between the chablon cylinder acting as a rotating output body of the adjustable drive unit and a driving gear acting as a rotating input body of the adjustable drive unit,
wherein the adjustable drive unit is designed to allow selected adjustment of a rotational speed of the chablon cylinder with respect to a rotational speed of the driving gear,
wherein, in an adjusting state of the adjustable drive unit, driving into rotation of the chablon cylinder is adjusted over each revolution of the chablon cylinder by means of an adjustment motor of the adjustable drive unit to change an inking length of the chablon cylinder as transferred onto the plate cylinder,
wherein, in a non-adjusting state of the adjustable drive unit, the adjustment motor is inoperative and driving into rotation of the chablon cylinder is performed exclusively mechanically via the adjustable drive unit, the chablon cylinder rotating at a same rotational speed as the driving gear,
wherein the adjustable drive unit comprises an adjustable mechanical transmission unit having a drive input coupled to and rotating together with the driving gear, a drive output coupled to and rotating together with the chablon cylinder, and a control input coupled to and driven into rotation by the adjustment motor,
and wherein the adjustable mechanical transmission unit is designed as a harmonic drive unit comprising first and second harmonic drives coupled to one another in a mirrored configuration.

2. The intaglio printing press as defined in claim 1 , wherein the first harmonic drive acts as a reducer stage with a defined reduction factor,
wherein the second harmonic drive acts, in the non-adjusting state of the adjustable drive unit, as an overdrive stage with a defined overdrive factor that is the inverse of the defined reduction factor of the reducer stage,
and wherein the second harmonic drive acts, in the adjusting state of the adjustable drive unit, as a differential stage having a differential output whose rotational speed is a differential function of a rotational speed at a differential input of the differential stage and a rotational speed at a differential control input of the differential stage.

3. The intaglio printing press as defined in claim 2 , wherein each one of the first and second harmonic drives comprises a wave generator, a flexspline, a circular spline, and a dynamic spline,
wherein the dynamic spline of the first harmonic drive is coupled to the driving gear to act as the drive input of the harmonic drive unit,
wherein the wave generator of the first harmonic drive is fixed in rotation,
wherein the circular spline of the first harmonic drive is coupled to and rotates together with the circular spline of the second harmonic drive,
wherein the wave generator of the second harmonic drive is coupled to and driven into rotation by the adjustment motor to act as the control input of the harmonic drive unit,
and wherein the dynamic spline of the second harmonic drive is coupled to and rotates together with the chablon cylinder to act as the drive output of the harmonic drive unit.

4. The intaglio printing press as defined in claim 1 , wherein the first and second harmonic drives are located within a housing of the adjustable mechanical transmission unit.

5. The intaglio printing press as defined in claim 4 , wherein the housing comprises an outer casing and a lateral member which are secured to one another and to the driving gear.

6. The intaglio printing press as defined in claim 1 , wherein each adjustable mechanical transmission unit is coaxial with the associated chablon cylinder.

7. The intaglio printing press as defined in claim 6 , wherein the adjustment motor is mounted directly onto the axis of the associated chablon cylinder.

8. The intaglio printing press as defined in claim 1 , wherein the adjustment motor is coupled to the control input of the adjustable mechanical transmission unit by way of a toothed belt arrangement.

9. The intaglio printing press as defined in claim 1 , wherein the adjustment motor is supported on a same machine frame as the chablon cylinders.

10. An adjustment system designed to compensate for elongation of one or more intaglio printing plates of an intaglio printing press comprising a plate cylinder carrying the one or more intaglio printing plates, the plate cylinder receiving ink from an inking system having a plurality of chablon cylinders transferring ink directly or indirectly onto the plate cylinder, which adjustment system comprises, for each chablon cylinder of the intaglio printing press, an adjustable drive unit, which adjustable drive unit is interposed between the chablon cylinder acting as a rotating output body of the adjustable drive unit and a driving gear acting as a rotating input body of the adjustable drive unit,
wherein the adjustable drive unit is designed to allow selected adjustment of a rotational speed of the chablon cylinder with respect to a rotational speed of the driving gear,
wherein, in an adjusting state of the adjustable drive unit, driving into rotation of the chablon cylinder is adjusted over each revolution of the chablon cylinder by means of an adjustment motor of the adjustable drive unit to change an inking length of the chablon cylinder as transferred onto the plate cylinder of the intaglio printing press,
wherein, in a non-adjusting state of the adjustable drive unit, the adjustment motor is inoperative and driving into rotation of the chablon cylinder is performed exclusively mechanically via the adjustable drive unit, the chablon cylinder rotating at a same rotational speed as the driving gear,
wherein the adjustable drive unit comprises an adjustable mechanical transmission unit having a drive input coupled to and rotating together with the driving gear, a drive output coupled to and rotating together with the chablon cylinder, and a control input coupled to and driven into rotation by the adjustment motor,
and wherein the adjustable mechanical transmission unit is designed as a harmonic drive unit comprising first and second harmonic drives coupled to one another in a mirrored configuration.

11. The adjustment system as defined in claim 10 , wherein the first harmonic drive acts as a reducer stage with a defined reduction factor,
wherein the second harmonic drive acts, in the non-adjusting state of the adjustable drive unit, as an overdrive stage with a defined overdrive factor that is the inverse of the defined reduction factor of the reducer stage,
and wherein the second harmonic drive acts, in the adjusting state of the adjustable drive unit, as a differential stage having a differential output whose rotational speed is a differential function of a rotational speed at a differential input of the differential stage and a rotational speed at a differential control input of the differential stage.

12. The adjustment system as defined in claim 11 , wherein each one of the first and second harmonic drives comprises a wave generator, a flexspline, a circular spline, and a dynamic spline,
wherein the dynamic spline of the first ha

Assignees

• Kba Notasys Sa

Inventors

• Kersten Thomas
• Schaede Johannes Georg
• Würsch Alain
• Schwitzky Volkmar Rolf
• Scharkus Volker

Classifications

• B41F9/08

  Wiping mechanisms · CPC title

• B41F9/061 Primary

  Inking devices · CPC title

• B41P2213/208

  Harmonic drive · CPC title

• B41F9/00

  Rotary intaglio printing presses · CPC title

• B41F9/10

  Doctors, scrapers, or like devices · CPC title