Patent ID: 11858253
Assignee: KOENIG & BAUER AG
Field: Textile and paper machines (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 0:
1. A machine (01) for generating optically variable image elements (03) on a substrate (02) having a web-format or sheet-format, the machine (01) comprising:
a printing substrate infeed (13),
at least one printing unit (04) comprising at least one printing mechanism (11; 12), by which the substrate (02) guided on a transport path of the substrate (02) through the machine (01) is printed and/or can be printed at least on a first side with a coating agent (06) containing particles (P) that are magnetic or magnetizable,
a product receiving system (27) used to receive the substrate (02) treated in the machine (01), and
a device (07) for aligning the particles (P) contained in the coating agent (06) which is printed at least on the first side of the substrate (02), wherein the device (07) is provided in the transport path of the substrate (02) between the at least one printing unit (04) and the product receiving system (27);
the at least one printing mechanism (11; 12) comprising, as an image-producing cylinder, a forme cylinder (14; 16) including a plurality of image-producing print motifs or groups of image-producing print motifs around a circumference of the forme cylinder (14; 16), which on a circumferential length corresponding to a print image length are arranged in multiple columns, which are equidistantly spaced apart from one another transversely to a transport direction (T), and on a cylinder width corresponding to a print image width are arranged in multiple rows, which are equidistantly spaced apart from one another in the transport direction (T);
the device (07) for aligning the particles (P) comprising a first alignment device (33; 33′), which is arranged in the transport path of the substrate (02) and, in a region of a side of the first alignment device (33; 33′) facing the transport path, comprises a first plurality of magnets (44) to align, in a surface area comprising the coating agent (06), at least some of the particles (P) contained in the coating agent (06) in order to generate image information; wherein:
the first plurality of magnets (44) of the first alignment device (33; 33′) serving alignment purposes and the substrate (02) to which the coating agent (06) containing the particles (P) is applied are movable synchronously with respect to one another, at least on a section of the transport path of the substrate (02),
the device (07) for aligning the particles (P) comprises at least one first further alignment device (42), which is arranged upstream from the first alignment device (33; 33′) in the transport path of the substrate (02) and which, during operation, is fixed to a frame at the transport path of the substrate (02) and, transversely to the transport direction (T), the at least one first further alignment device (42) comprises a second plurality of magnets (46) that are spaced apart from one another transversely to the transport direction (T) and, during operation, remain stationary in the at least one first further alignment device (42),
a number of the second plurality of magnets (46) corresponds to a number of the columns of the image-producing print motifs or groups of image-producing print motifs disposed around the circumference of the forme cylinder (14; 16), and
the second plurality of magnets (46) included in the at least one first further alignment device (42) are arranged in the transport path of the substrate (02) so that the image-producing print motifs or groups of image-producing print motifs are each at least partially aligned with a lateral position of at least one of the magnets (46) of the second plurality of magnets (46) of the first further alignment device (42) along the transport path of the substrate (02),
wherein the second plurality of magnets (46) are positioned to perform a pre-orientation of a plurality of the particles (P) included in the coating agent (06) as the substrate (02) printed with the coating agent (06) traverses the at least one first further alignment device (42), and
wherein the first plurality of magnets (44) of the first alignment device (33; 33′) are positioned to perform additional orientation of the particles (P) in the coating agent (06) printed on the substrate (02) following the pre-orientation of the plurality of particles (P) at the at least one first further alignment device (42).