US2340319A - Method of and means for increasing the efficiency of lithographic and analogous printing presses - Google Patents

Description

J. G. GOEDIKE 2, NS FOR INCREASING THE EFFICIENCY 0 AND ANALOGOUS PRINTING PRESSES Feb, 1, 1944.

METHOD OF AND MEA LITHOGRAPHIC Filed Nov.

I ammonia n 110m 6. Goedi/r -:Patented Feb. 1, 1944 METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR INCREASING THE EFFICIENCY OF LITHOGRAPHIC AND ANALO GOUS PRINTING PRESSES John G. Goedikc, Fort Sam Houston, Tex. Application November 19, 1941, Serial No. 419,742

(Granted under the act of March 3,1883, as

12 Claims.

amended April 30, 192

The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates generally to the lithographic art, more particularly it is directed to an ink distributing system of lithographic and analogous printing presses.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a method of and means for increasing the efficiency of the ink distributing system of lithographic and analogous printing presses.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method and means for producing warm air adapted to contact with a roller section of an ink distributing system of an offset lithographic press. to increase the temperature of the roller section, thereby preventing ink from building or piling up on the rollers thereof.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method of and means for heating the fluid used for dampening the printing plate surface of lithographic and analogous printing presses, which heated fluid is transmitted with a film of ink by the ink distributing system of the press to the printing plate surface, thereby warming the ink and permitting it to travel freely in a continuous fiow through the ink distributing system to the printing plate surface.

The ink distributing roller system of offset lithographic and analogous printing presses should smooth the ink out to a coating, that becomes more even as it passes progressively from roller to roller in the system, whereby an even coating of ink is deposited on the ink sensitive areas of a printing plate surface of the press, also all of the ingredients in the ink should pass in a continuous flow from roller to roller of the ink distributing system and arrive at the printing plate surface. There-is a tendency on the part of certain of the rollers of the ink distributing system to become coated with ink, which ink coating increases in thickness as the operation of the press continues, until the coating becomes objectionable and destroys the even character'of the ink film flowing to the printing plate surface.

It has been found that this condition in the ink distributing roller system of oflset lithographic and analogous printing presses is caused by certain-0f the rollers of the system beingv installed in such a position on the press that it is Possible some of the rollers are a few degrees cooler than the other rollers of the system,

whereby'ink is caused to build or pile up on the cooler rollers. This condition is caused by the .eii:

' building or piling nature of lithographic ink, which is generally composed of pigment for color, linseed varnish as a vehicle, stearic acid, gum mastic, lanolin and other wax substances which are oils above their critical temperatures, but are solid below these temperatures. ground together in a reduce or thin this ink with solvents before being ,7

used.

The ink may be warmed until it is thin as oil, and if a rod which has been cooled is plunged into the ink and immediately withdrawn the rod will become coated with the wax substances in the ink, thereby illustrating the action of the ink on a roller or rollers which are cooler than the other rollers in the ink distributing system of an ofl'set lithographic or analogous printing press. Theink for the ink distributing system of the press comes in a soft condition due to the solvents which have been added thereto from a fountain to high speed distributing rollers of the system. Some of the solvents are volatile and dissipate from the toprollers of the ink distributing system and as the ink is distributed downwardly through the ink distributing system it thickens and the wax substances in the ink have a tendency to cling to and build up on any roller of the system.

It is therefore the aim and purpose of this invention to provide a method of and means for increasing the temperature of certain of the ink distributing rollers of offset lithographic and analogous printing presses, which rollers are in such a position that they are cooler than the other rollers in the system, or in other words, to render the temperature higher in these cooler rollers than in the other rollers of the system thereby eliminating the tendency of the mi: from up on the cooler rollers and destroying the even character of the ink film transmitted through the ink distributing system to the printing plate surface, also to warm the ink ,on the ink distributing roller system by means of a heated dampening fluid so that the ink will travel freely in a continuous flow through the system to the printing plate surface.

With the above and other objects and advantages in view the invention consists of certain features of construction and operation of parts which will hereinafter appear.

In order that the invention may be readily understood reference is had to the accompanying drawing, which is a diagrammatic view of a rotary offset lithographic press having the inven tion applied thereto.

Rotary ofiset lithographic presses vary in detail on different presses and in the present instance the oifset lithographic press indicated generally by A comprises a paper delivery cylinder or wheel i, an impression cylinder 2, a blanket cylinder 3, a plate cylinder 3 having a lithographic plate surface 5 mounted thereon containing a design to be printed, and an ink distributing system indicated generally by 1B.

The ink distributing system B comprises a ductor roller 6, which carries ink from an ink fountain roller 1 of the ink fountain 8, to a drum 9 having distributing rollers l and a connecting roller H in contact therewith. Riders l2 and I2 contact with the distributing rollers l0 and the connecting roller ll contacts with a connecting roller l3, which in turn contacts with a drum l4, whereby ink is deposited on the drum M. The

ink on the drum I4 is conveyed to the plate 5,

on the plate cylinder 4 by means of duplicate sets of connecting distributing rollers I5 and I5, storage rollers l6 and I6 and form rollers 11 and I1. A rider l8 contacts with the connecting rollers l3 and [5.

A fluid or liquid such as water I!) which may be used in dampening the plate 5 on the plate cylinder 4 is contained within a trough or open container having a heating element 2|, preferably of the electrical type as illustrated, mounted thereon, which heating element 2| is connected by conductors 22 to a suitable source of electrical supply (not shown) and is adapted to heat the water I9 in the trough 20. A water contact roller 23 revolves in the water trough 20 and is adapted to feed the heated water through connecting dampening rollers 24 and 24' to the storage roller l6 from where it travels with a film of ink through the ink distributing system to the form rollers l1 and H which deposit the ink and water on the plate 5. The heated water as it travels with the film of ink through the ink distributing system B to the plate 5, will warm the ink for melting or softening the wax substances, so that it will freely travel in a continuous flow to the plate.

In the present offset press design certain rollers of a portion of the ink distributing system are placed in such a position on the press that a condition exists where the rollers normally run at a temperature lower than the balance of the ink distributing system. The roller portion of the distributing system normally running at a lower temperature is indicated generally by C and comprises the connecting dampening rollers 24 and 24, storage roller l6, connecting rollers ll, l3.and [5, metal rider l8, drums 9 and Hi, distributing rollers l0 and riders l2 and i2.

Upon heating the water IS, the rollers of the distributing portion C are caused to be affected by warm air ascending upwardly as indicated by the arrows, from the water trough 20, whereby the temperature of the rollers of the distributing portion C is increased, thus eliminating the possibility of the wax substances in the ink from building up thereon.

A portion indicated generally by D of the ink distributing system is placed in a position away from the portion C of the ink distributing sysassume tem and therefore is not affected by the warm air arising from the heated water it in the trough 2d. The portion D comprises connecting roller i5, storage roller is and the form rollers it and H, which form rollers El and H are positioned too low to be affected by the warm air from the heated water it and therefore remain cool. 1

As the entire ink distributing system B revolves in the direction as indicated by the arrows, the film of heated water covers the entire surface of the ink distributing system, which is completely charged with ink including the form rollers ll and ii, that apply ink to the design represented by the ink sensitive areas on the plate and dampen the plate with the heated water.

It will thus be seen that there is herein provided a novel and efficient method of and means for preventing ink from building up on certain rollers of the ink distributing system of lithographic and analogous printing presses, also which simultaneously distributes the mutually repellant substances, ink of a greasy nature and heated water to a lithographic or photolitho offset plate surface by an arrangement of rollers in actual Contact, with the rollers in the system being subject to various arrangements. Even though there has herein' been described and shown certain features of construction and operation of parts, it is nevertheless to be understood that various'changes may be made therein if the changes do not depart from the spirit or scope of the claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and wish to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The method of causing ink to flow freely through an ink distributing portion operating at a certain temperature to another ink distributing portion operating at a higher temperature or lithographic and analogous printing presses which consists of heating water and causing warm moist air from said heated water to ascend upwardly into contact with the first-mentioned ink distributing portion for increasing the temperature thereof above the temperature of the second-mentioned ink distributing portion, whereby the ink is heated and softened to cause it to flow freely without piling upon the first-mentioned ink distributing portion.

2. The method of causing ink to flow freely from an ink distributing portion operating at a certain temperature to another ink distributing portion operating at a higher temperature of lithographic and analogous printing presses,

I which consists of heating water, transmitting the heated Water into contact with the first-mentioned ink distributing portion and causing warm moist air from said heated water to ascend upwardly into contact with said first mentioned ink distributing portion for increasing the temperature thereof above the second mentioned ink distributing portion whereby the ink is heated and softened to cause it to flow freely without piling up thereon.

3. The method of simultaneously inking and dampening the printing surfaces of lithographic and analogous printing members which consists of heating a dampening fluid. transmitting said heated dampening fluid with a film of ink through an ink distributing system to a printing surface,- thus warming said film of ink and causing it to pass freely in a continuous flow together with a film of dampening fluid to said printing surface, whereby an ink repellant coating of dampening fluid will be applied to the nondesign portions of a printing surface and ink will be applied to the design portions of said surface.

- 4. The method of preventing ink from piling up on an ink distributing system of lithographic and analogous printing presses, which consists of heating water and directly contacting the heated water with the ink on the ink distributing system thereby heating the ink and causing it to flow freely without piling.

5. The method of preventing ink from piling up on an ink distributing system of lithographic and analogous printing presses, which consists of heating water, directly contacting the heated water with the ink on the ink distributing system, and causing warm air from'the heated water to directly contact with the ink distributing system thereby heating and softening the ink and causing it to flow freely without piling.

6. The method of simultaneously inking and dampening the printing surfaces of lithographic and analogous printing presses, which consists of heating a dampening fluid, directly contacting the heated dampening fluid with a film of ink on the ink distributing system, and transmitting the heated dampening fluid with the film of ink through the ink distributing system to a printing surface thus warming the film of ink and causing it to pass freely in a continuous flow, together with the film of dampening fluid, to the printing surface whereby an ink-repella'nt coating of dampening fluid will be applied to the non-design portions of the printing surface and ink will be applied to the design portions of said surface.

7. The method of simultaneously inking and dampening the printing surfaces of lithographic and analogous printing presses, which consists of heating a dampening fluid, directly contacting the heated dampening fluid with a film of ink on the ink distributing system, causing warm air from the heated dampening fluid to directly contact the ink distributing system, and transmitting the heated dampening fluid with a film of ink through the ink distributing system, thus warming the film of ink and causing it to pass freely in a continuous flow together with a film of dampening fluid to the printing surface whereby an ink-repellant coating of dampening fluid will be applied to the non-design portions of the printing surface and ink will be applied to the design portions of said surface.

8. In a printing press, the combination of a printing member, an ink distributing system adapted to transmit a film of ink to said printing member, a container-adapted to hold a liquid, means adapted to transmit the liquid from said container to the film of ink, on said ink distributing system and means associated with the container for heating the liquid whereby the film of'ink is heated and softened by the heated liquid and caused to flow freely without building up on the ink distributing system.

9. In a printing press, the combination of a printing member, an ink distributing system adaptedto transmit a film of ink to said printing member, an open container adapted to hold a liquid, means adapted to transmit the liquid in said container to said ink distributing system, electrical means associated with the container and adapted to heat the liquid therein to cause warm air from the heated liquid to contact with the ink distributing system for increasing the temperature thereof, whereby the film of ink is heated and softened by the heated liquid and warm air therefrom thus causing the film of ink to flow freely without piling up on the ink distributing system.

10. In a printing press, the combination of a printing member, an ink distributing system including ink distributing portions adapted to transmit a film of ink to said printing member, one of said ink distributing portions normally operating at a temperature lower than the ternperature of another of said ink distributing portions, a container adapted to hold a fluid, means adapted to transmit the fluid from said container into contacting engagement with the film of ink on said first mentioned ink distributing portion, means associated with the container and adapted to heat the fluid therein for increasing the temperature of the first mentioned ink distributing portion above the temperature of the second mentioned ink distributing portion whereby the film of ink will be heated and softened to flow freely through the ink distributing system without piling up thereon. I

11. In a printing press, the combination of a printing member, an ink distributing system including ink distributing portions adapted to transmit a film of ink to said printing member, one of said ink distributing portions normally operating at a temperature lower than the temperature of another of said ink distributing portions, an open container adapted to hold a fluid, means adapted to transmit the fluid from said container to the film of ink on said ink distributing system, means associated with the container and adapted to heat the fluid therein, said open container positioned to cause the first mentioned ink distributing portion to be contacted by the warmair from the heated fluid for increasing the temperature of the first mentioned ink distributing portion above the temperature of the second mentioned ink distributing portion whereby the film of ink will be heated and softened to flow freely throuhg the ink distributing system without piling up thereon 12. In a printing press, the combination of a printing member, an ink distributing system including ink distributing portions and adapted to transmit a film of ink to said printing member, one of said ink distributing portions normally operating at a temperature lower than the temperature of another of said ink distributing portions, an open container adapted to hold a fluid,

means adapted to transmit the fluid from said container into contacting engagement with the film of ink on the first mentioned ink distributing portion, electrical means associated with the container and adapted to heat the fluid therein, said container positioned to cause warm air from the heated fluid to contact with the first mentioned ink distributing portion to increase the temperature thereof above the second mentioned ink distributing portion whereby the film of ink on the first mentioned portion is heated and softened to flow freely from the first mentioned ink distribut ing portion to the second mentioned ink distributing portion without piling up thereon.

JOHN G. GOEDIKE.

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