Belted inker for a printing press
A printing unit is provided. The printing unit includes an ink feed system, a plate cylinder and an inker having multiple rollers and a belt wrapped around the rollers. The belt accepts ink from the ink feed system and transfers the ink to the plate cylinder. A method of printing and an inker are also provided.
1 . A printing unit comprising:
an ink feed system;
a plate cylinder; and
an inker having multiple rollers and a belt wrapped around the rollers, the belt accepting ink from the ink feed system and transferring the ink to the plate cylinder.
2 . The printing unit as recited in claim 1 further comprising a tensioning roller contacting the belt and maintaining a tension in the belt.
3 . The printing unit as recited in claim 2 wherein the tensioning roller is displaced when the plate cylinder is thrown off.
4 . The printing unit as recited in claim 2 wherein the tensioning roller is driven to translate the belt.
5 . The printing unit as recited in claim 1 further comprising a vibrator roller contacting the belt, the vibrator roller oscillating back and forth across a width of the belt.
6 . The printing unit as recited in claim 1 wherein at least one of the rollers is an idler roller.
7 . The printing unit as recited in claim 1 wherein at least one of the rollers is a rider roller guiding the belt, the rider roller facilitating uniform distribution of the ink on the belt.
8 . The printing unit as recited in claim 1 further comprising a water feed system delivering aqueous solution to the plate cylinder.
9 . The printing unit as recited in claim 1 further comprising a blanket cylinder receiving inked images from the plate cylinder and printing the images on a substrate.
10 . The printing unit as recited in claim 9 further comprising a backup cylinder contacting the substrate as the blanket cylinder prints images on the substrate.
11 . A four color printing press comprising:
four printing units printing images on a web, each printing unit being a printing unit as recited in claim 1 , the ink in each printing unit being a different color.
12 . A method of printing comprising the steps of:
applying ink from an ink feed system to a belt;
moving the belt along a path of the belt; and
transferring the ink from the belt to a plate cylinder.
13 . The method as recited in claim 12 further comprising transferring the ink from the plate cylinder to a substrate.
14 . The method as recited in claim 12 further comprising transferring the ink from the plate cylinder to a blanket cylinder and transferring the ink from the blanket cylinder to a substrate.
15 . The method as recited in claim 14 further comprising throwing the blanket cylinder off of the substrate.
16 . The method as recited in claim 15 further comprising performing auto-transfer by printing images on the substrate with a second blanket cylinder while the blanket cylinder is thrown off of the substrate.
17 . The method as recited in claim 15 further comprising throwing the plate cylinder off of the blanket cylinder and changing a plate on the plate cylinder via autoplating.
18 . The method as recited in claim 17 further comprising changing a blanket on the blanket cylinder using an automated mechanism.
19 . An inker comprising:
multiple rollers; and
an ink transfer belt wrapped around the rollers.
20 . The inker as recited in claim 19 further comprising a tensioning roller contacting the belt and maintaining a tension in the belt.