US2538353A - Multicolor printing press - Google Patents

Description

Jan 16, 1951 Filed Aug. 18, 1947 L. W. CLAYBOURN ET AL MULTICOLOR PRINTING PRESS 4 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORS Owe, .c&. 4 m. BY PMQ R- M 1 QMMQM IWMJJ ATTORNEYS Jan, 16, 1951 L. w. CLAYBOURN ET AL 2,538,353

. MULTICOLOR PRINTING PRESS Filed Aug. 18, 1947 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 l H qllh. H M j; 5

ATTORNEYS Jan. 16, 1951 L. w. CLAYBOURN ET AL 2,5 8,3 3

MULTICOLOR PRINTING PRESS Filed Aug. 18, 1947 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 A TTORNEVS Jan. 16, 1951 L. w. CLAYBOURN ET AL 2,538,353

MULTICOL'OR PRINTING PRESS 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Aug. 18, 1947 VENTORS fffgh ATTORNEYS Patented Jan. 16, 1951 and Paul R. Franzen, Chicago, 111., assignors to L. W. Claybourn, Inc., Chicago, Ill-.,. a corporation of Illinois Application August is, 1947-, Serial No. 769,174

4 Claims.

The invention relates to multi-color printing presses and more particularly to the impression cylinder and the meansfor supplying a signature or sheet thereto and removing it therefrom after a plurality of revolutions of said cylinder.

The object of the invention is to provide a sheet feed cylinder and a delivery cylinder arranged in juxtaposition relative to the impression cylinder all of said cylinders being rotated at the same speed and each equipped with sheet gripping mechanism, said gripping mechanism being so controlled that" the impression cylinder makes a plurality of revolutions before a new sheet is delivered to it by the feeding in cylinder and the printed sheet is delivered to the delivery .1

cylinder whereby a plurality of color printings from a plurality of plates movable beneath. the impression cylinder and in printing registry therewith are imparted to the sheet. More particularly, according to the invention, the impression cylinder makes five revolutions between the time it receives the sheet to be printed from the feeding in cylinder and its delivery to the delivery cylinder, so thatnve different colors may be printed onsaid-t sheet.

features hereinafter set forth and more particularly defined by claims at the conclusion hereof. In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation view of a multi-co'lor printing press embodying the invention;

. Fig. 2 is a detailed vertical sectional view taken the line 'z r of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a detailed horizontal sectional View taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1';

Fig. 4. is a detailed vertical sectional view taken on the ine 4-4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5'- is a detailed vertical sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a detailed vertical sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 2; r

'7 is a detailed vertical sectional view taken on the line f -1 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 3 is a detaile vertical sectional view taken on the line 8"-8 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 9 is a vertical sectional view showing the gripper control mechanism for the delivery cylinder inone position;

Fig. 10 is a view similar to Fig. 9 showing the gripper control mechanism for the delivery cyl inder in another position;

Fig. 11 is a series of diagrammatic views to illustrate the action of the gripper mechanisms durmga complete cycle of the machine.

Referring to the drawings, Fig. 1- shows a general layout of the multi-color printing press embodying the invention, said press including a sheet feeding in cylinder l2, an impression cylinder I3, and a delivery cylinder M, the feed of the sheet to the cylinder l2 not being shown. The plate feed mechanism designated generally by the numeral :5 and more particularly shown and described in a copending application Serial No. 762,960, filed July 23, 1947 (now abandoned), moves the printing plates l6 successively under a series of inkers i1 whose operations are so timed that each plate receives its desired color of ink and is thereafter "carried under the im pression cylinder 13 to deposit its inked portion on the sheet mounted on said cylinder, the press shown being a five color press and having a sheet receiving compartment 18.

The cylinders l2, l3, and I4 are all driven at the same speed through gearing connections with a motor driven drive shaft l9. As shown in Fig, 4, the shaft l9 carries a gear 2|] meshing with an idler gear 2| which is connected through an idler gear 22 with a gear 23 on a shaft 24 carrying the impression cylinder l3, the idler gear 22 being The invention further consists in the several connected by an idler gear 25 to a gear 26 on the shaft 2'! carrying the feeding in cylinder l2 whereby the cylinders i2 and [3 are driven at a a one to one ratio with the drive shaft IS. The

de ivery cylinder l4 carries gears 28 meshing with gears 29 on the impression cylinder, so that the cylinder :4 is driven at a one to one ratio with the drive shaft IS. The gear 20 is connected by intermeshing idler gears an to a gear 3| on a shaft 32 for driving the plate feed mechanism.

The cylinder l2 carries a sh et grip er mecha-- nism compris ng a, series of gri ers 33 arran ed in spaced relation unon an oscillatory s aft 34 -(see Fi s. 2, 3. and 7) which extends out beyond the cylinder l2 through a plate secured to said cylinder. said rip ers being normallv urged to a gripping position bv a spring 35 acting on a crank arm 36 secured to said shaft. The shaft 34 carries a, segmental gear 31 mes ing with a segmental gear 3B free to turn on the shaft 2'! which gear 38 meshes with one of a pair of idler' gears 39 on a shaft 353' journalled in the late 40, the other gear 39 meshing with a se mental gear 4| rotatably mounted on a shaft 42 carried by said plate, the hub of said gear 4| being connected to a crank arm 43 which carries a roller 44 that works in camtracks 45 and 46 in a stationary cam 41 mounted on a bracket 41' (see M Figs. 2 and 6). The roller is shifted from onecam track to the other by a finger 48 secured to a shaft 49 pivotally mounted in the cam 41 and carrying a crank arm 58 which is operated by a lengthwise adjustable link 5| operatively connected to an arm 52 of a bell crank lever pivotally mounted on a shaft 53 carried by a fixed bracket 54 and having an arm 55 carrying a roller 55 Working in a camgroove 51. The lengthwise adjustment of the link 5| is provided by a yoked end pivot member 58 adapted to be adiustably clamped to one end of said link by nuts 59 engaging the threaded end of said link.

Referring to Figs. 6 and 8, the cam groove 51 is formed in one side of a plate 68 journalled on the shaft 6| carrying the delivery cylinder and cam groove 92 on its opposite side of the same form as the groove 51 but displaced one hundred and eighty degrees relative thereto in which a roller 63 on one arm of a bell crank lever 64 works. The lever 84 is pivotally mounted on a shaft 85 carried by a fixed bracket 66, the other arm of said lever being connected by a pin 61 to a yoke member 68 lengthwise adjustably clamped by nuts 69 to a link rod 18 whose other end is operatively connected by a pin H to one arm of a bell crank lever 12 secured to a shaft 13 rotatably mounted in the frame part 14 of the machine and whose other arm is operatively connected by a link 15 with a crank 18 secured to a shaft 11 also rotatably mounted in the frame 14. The shafts 13 and 11 have eccentrically disposed crank pins 18 journalled in the ends of a cam member 19 upon which a roller 88 on an arm 8| secured to an oscillatory gripper shaft 82, mounted on the impression carrying cylinder and spaced grippers 83, rides during a portion of the revolution of the impression cylinder. The roller 88 is yieldingly urged into engagement with the cam 19 by a spring-84 acting on a crank arm 35 secured to shaft 82. The spring 84 acts to hold the grippers 83 engaged with the sheet on the impression cylinder until released by the cam 19 at-the end of the fifth revolution of the cylinder I3 and just before the sheet is taken off by the spaced grippers 86 carried by an oscillatory shaft 81 mounted on the delivery cylinder.

Referring to Figs. 6, 9, and 10, the shaft 81 carries a crank arm 88 provided with a roller 89 working on a cam 98 fixed to the machine frame, said roller 89 being yieldingly urged against said cam by a spring 9| acting on a crank 92 secured to the shaft 81. The cam 98 has a portion 93 which holds the grippers 86 in open position and a portion 94 which permits the spring 8! to move the shaft 81 to close the grippers. Also associat d with the cam 98 is a lever or shiftable cam extension for said cam 95 whose side 96 forms a cam surface which at certain times acts as a continuation of the portion 93, said lever being mounted on a shaft 91 journalled in the cam 98 and carrying a crank arm 98 which is operatively connected to the link rod 18 by an adjustable link rod 99.

In. each. instance the gripper closing springs above referred to surround a pair of telescoping rods I88 and I8I, mostclearly shown in Figs. 8 to inclusive.

The cam member 68 isrotated at a ratio of one to five relative to the cylinders I2, I3 and I4, said cam having a large gear. I92 secured thereto which meshes with a small gear I83 on a stud shaft I84 secured to the frame of the machine, said gear I83 being integral with a gear I85 which is driven through gearing connections with the shaft SI of the delivery cylinder, as shown. 1

4 Fig. 3, comprising a transmission shaft I88 carrying at one end a gear I81 meshing with the gear I85 and at the other end a gear I88 meshing with a gear I89 on the shaft 6|. Parts of the one to five ratio gearing above described are also shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

From the above description it will be noted that each of the cylinders I2, I3 and I4-is provided with gripper mechanism respectively operated by relatively fixed cams for the cylinders I2 and I4 and a laterally movable cam for the cylinder I3 and that the shifting of the lever 58 controlling cam track shifter finger 48 for the feeding in cylinder I2, the shifting of the cam 19 for the impression cylinder i3, and the shifting of the cam member 95 are controlled by the cam member 58 which makes one revolution to five revolutions of the cylinders I2, I3, and I4 and carries the cams 51 and 62, the cam 51 controlling the finger 48 and the cam 82 controlling the cam 19 and the cam extension 86.

Referring now to Figs. 6 to 10 and 11, the cylinder I2 makes four and one-half revolutions while the roller 44 is moving in the cam track 46 and the finger 48 is in the dotted line position shown in Fig. 6, then the cam 51 acts through the lever 52, link 4| and arm 58 to swing the finger 48 to its full line position, so'that the roller 44 is shifted to the outer cam track 45, and while said cylinder is making about a onehalf revolution, the grippers 33 are engaging the sheet S and carrying it from the position shown at A to the position B where said grippers 33 are released. The cam 19 is in the outer position for about one revolution to engage the roller 88 and. move it with the lever BI and shaft 82 against the pressure of the spring 84 to swing the grippers 83 to an open position to receive the sheet S when released by the grippers 33 on the feeding in cylinder. As the roller. 88 drops off the cam 19, said cam is retracted by motion imparted from the cam groove 92, lever 64, links 88 and 18, levers 12 and 19, and'parallel link 15 to'turn the pins or crank members 18, thus permitting the grippers '83 to close on the-sheet to carryit around on the impression cylinder as shown in. views C and D. The movement of the cam 19 outwardly to a gripper release position takes place on the fourth revolution of the impression cylinder just after the gripper roller has passed the trailing edge of the cam 19 which then remains in its outward position until on the fifth revolution said roller 88 has passed over it after which it is retracted. During the fifth revolution with the grippers 83 released the grippers 88 of the delivery cylinder on the retraction of the cam surface 96 are permitted to engage the forward end of the sheet as shown'in view E and carry it onto the delivery cylinder as shown in view F from which it is removed by the delivery mechanism, not shown. The cam 19 must be in the outer position before the roller 88 engages it to release the sheet S, so that it may be transferred to the delivery cylinder I4 by the grippers 89. During the fifth revolution of the impression cylinder while the transfer of the printed sheet is taking place, a new sheet S is picked up by the feed in cylinder as shown in view E, and as the cam 19 is again moved inwardly, the grippers 83 close on this sheet, as shown in view F, to transfer it from said feed in cylinder I2 to the impression cylinder 13.

I Thus while all the cylinders I2, I3, and I4 rotate at the same speed, the impression cylinder makes five revolutions to permit the printing abs-date 5, of five colors on the same sheet by the printing plates 16 before this sheet is removed by-the gripper mechanism of the delivery cylinder and a new sheet is received from the feeding in cylinder.-

It will be noted that the gripper mechanism for the impression cylinder I3 is closed at all times except when the cam 19 is moved radially outwardly to contact the roller 80 so as to open the grippers 83 to receive the sheet, as shown in views B, C, and F, and release it as shown in View E, and that grippers 86 of the delivery cylinder close every time this cylinder revolves but close past the point of take off for four revolutions relative to the cam 90 but that on the fifth revolution the lever cam 95 is swung inwardly as shown in Fig. 9, so that the grippers will close on the sheet as shown in view E to take it off of the impression cylinder.

It is to be noted that the cam 19 when moved radially outwardly opens the gripper mechanism of the impression cylinder to permit transfer of the printed sheet to the delivery cylinder as shown in view E and keeps the grippers open until said impression cylinder moves to a position to receive a new sheet from the feeding in cylinder as shown in view F.

We desire it to be understood that this invention is not to be limited to any particular form or arrangement of parts except in so far as such limitations are included in the claims.

What we claim as our invention is:

1. In a multi-color printing press, the combination of an impression cylinder, a feeding in cylinder and a delivery cylinder arranged in juxtaposition, means for rotating all of said cylinders at the same speed, releaseable sheet gripping mechanism for each of said cylinders, fixed cams for controlling the opening and closing of said gripper mechanisms for said feeding in cylinder and said delivery cylinder, a movable cam for controlling the opening and closing of the gripper mechanism of the impressio cylinder, a rotatable cam member, means for rotating said cam member at a slower speed than said cylinders so that said cylinders make a plurality of revolutions to one revolution of said cam member, a shiftable member associated with the fixed cam for the feeding in cylinder, a shiftable cam mem ber associated. with the fixed cam for said delivery cylinder, and means operatively connecting said cam member with said shiftable member, said shiftable cam member, and said movable cam whereby the sheet to be printed is received by the impression cylinder from the feeding in cylinder and carried upon said impression cylinder for a plurality of revolutions to permit printing of a plurality of colors thereon before being removed by the gripper mechanism of the delivery cylinder.

2. In a multi-color printing press, the combination of an impression cylinder, a feeding in cylinder and a delivery cylinder arranged in juxtaposition, means for rotating all of said cylinders at the same speed, releaseable sheet gripping mechanism for each of said cylinders, a fixed double track cam for controlling the opening and closing of the gripper mechanism for the feeding in cylinder, a shiftable member for determining which cam track is effective to control said gripper mechanism, a rotatable cam member, means for rotating said cam member at a slower speed than said cylinders so that said cylinders make aplurality of revolutions to one revolution of said cam member, means operatively connecting said cam member with said shiftable cam member to time its operation, and means for controlling the gripper mechanisms of said impression and delivery cylinders in cyclic s'ynclironi'sm with that of said feeding cylinder whereby the sheet to be printed is received by the impression cylinder from the feeding in cylinder and carried upon said cylinder for a plurality of revolutions to permit printing of a plurality of colors thereon before being removed by the gripper mechanism of the delivery cylinder.

3. In a multi-color printing press, the combination of an impression cylinder, a feeding in cylinder and a delivery cylinder arranged in juxtaposition, means for rotating all of said cylinders at the same speed, releaseable sheet gripping mechanism for each of said cylinders, a fixed double track cam for controlling the opening and closing of the gripper mechanism for the feeding in cylinder, a shiftable finger for determining which cam track is effective to control said gripper mechanism, a rotatable cam member, means for rotating said cam member at a slower speed than said cylinders so that said cylinders make a plurality of revolutions to one of said cam members, a movable cam for controlling the gripper mechanism, for the impression cylinder, a fixed cam for controlling the opening and closing of the gripper mechanism of the delivery cylinder, a shiftable cam member associated with said last named fixed cam to open the gripper mechanism of said delivery cylinder for effecting the transfer of the printed sheet from the impression cylinder to the delivery cylinder, and means operatively connecting said rotatable cam member with said finger, said movable cam, and said shiftable cam member whereby the sheet to be printed is received by the impression cylinder from the feeding in cylinder and carried upon said impression cylinder for a plurality of revolutions to permit printing of a plurality of colors thereon before being removed by the gripper mechanism of the delivery cylinder.

4. In a multi-color printing press, the combination of an impression cylinder, a feeding in cylinder, and a delivery cylinder arranged in juxtaposition, means for rotating all of said cylinders at the same speed, releaseable sheet gripping mechanism for each of said cylinders, a fixed double track cam for controlling the opening and closing of the gripper mechanism for the feeding in cylinder, a shiftable finger for determining which cam track is efiective to control said gripper mechanism, a movable cam member for controlling the gripper mechanism for the impression cylinder, a fixed cam for controlling the opening and closing of the vgripper mechanism of the delivery cylinder, a shiftable cam member associated with said last named fixed cam to open the gripper mechanism of said delivery cylinder for eifecting the transfer of the printed sheet from the impression cylinder to the delivery cylinder, a pair of oppositely disposed cams, means for rotating said cams at a slower speed than said cylinders so that said cylinders make a plu rality of revolutions to one revolution of said cams, means operatively connecting one of said pair of cams to said finger to operate the same, and means for operativelyconnecting the other of said pair of cams to said movable cam member for the impression cylinder and said shiftable cam member for the delivery cylinder to operate the same whereby the sheet to be printed is received by the impression cylinder from the feeding i cylinder and carried upon said impression cylinder for a plurality of revolutions to permit printing of a, plurality of colors thereon before being removed by the gripper mechanism of the delivery cylinder.

LESLIE W. CLAYBOURN.

CARLTON CLAYTON CLAYBOURN.

PAUL R. FRANZEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the 10 file of this patent:

Number

Images