Prepress graphic registration system

The invention sets forth an exceedingly accurate, however simple system or process for preparation of an Offset Printing-plate for consistant aligned matrices, while eliminating costly time consuming procedures and expensive apparatus of alignment; whereby: (a) the 2-dimensional graphic-art article is affixed to a standard Photo-table adjacent to a simple reference-line, as a preliminary registration-reference means; (b) the resulting repro-film is then provided with a special `anti-stretch`/backing-strip at one end (if it is of the inexpensive paper type place), and then placed upon a special zero-registration platen equipped with a special `floating Sight-wire` is to be visually aligned in superimposition over the said Ref.-line which was photographed with the said graphic-artwork, and a plurality of standard press/indexer-holes are simultaneously punched into the said backing-striped end area, thereby at once establishing the critical prepress-registration; (c) which is then transferred directly to the standard plurality of Offset-press Indexer-pins, for subsequent printing procedures. Hence, a cost-effective system, enabling paper-resin type plates to substantially equal the more costly metal-plates in reproductive quality for at least 10,000-runs, plus the virtural eliminaton of `plate-skew & creep` enables printers to attain exceptionally tight-registration demands of 2 & 3-color runs without inordinate attention to alignment, since hairline accuracy is locked-in by this process; plus, handy expedient format layout/work-sheet are provided, which further enhance the ability of a relative novice-printer operator to achieve reproduction results appearing entirely professional.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The subject invention primarily relates to a special system or method for 
prepress-preparation of photographic Offset/printing-plates, the essential 
requirement being to facilitate quick & easy precision artwork 
image-registration, for critical printing of general Offset-printing but 
particularly for the more demanding tight adherence to an initial 
alignment installation upon the press; plus accurate alignment and 
maintance of a given alignment for multi-color applications within 
single-run setups for example, as well as for maintance of exact alignment 
one-plate to another-plate. Examples of this area of invention endeavor in 
the past is represented by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,771,440, 3,605,622, 3,288,063, 
3,160,096, 2,680,405, 2,613,744, and 1,151,461 (year 1915), none of which 
distinguish themselves in anticipating the relatively direct and low-cost 
methodology by which my invention hereof demarcates itself, as is to be 
explained. 
CONCEPTION OF THIS INVENTION 
Heretofore, when a flexible Offset/Printing-plate was prepared for 
Press-duplications, especially in the smaller quick-turnaround budget-job 
shops, the various novel attempts to secure vital press alignment 
(particularly employing the paper-resin type plates) over a run from 100 
through 1,000, and 10,000-impressions or more was considered impossible. 
However, necessity being the fostering of invention, in order to make my 
highly competative hi-volume/small-job Printing-business a success, I 
discovered some proprietary steps leading to the development of the 
`PENTARCH (five-step) Registration-system` as is to be defined. 
Accordingly, this invention is a system of procedure employing a minimum of 
special apparatus, characterized by the following objectives: 
to provide inexpensive paper-resin Printing-plates with a minor 
modification enabling them to virtually compete in quality results with 
costly metal-plates; 
to virtually eliminate the need for expensive photo-negatives; 
to permanently `lock-in` a given registration, without any modification of 
existing Printing-press equipment; 
to eliminate printing waste caused by imperfect reproductions; 
to substantially shorten press-time by eliminating defects; 
to substantially reduce pre-press/setup attention to precision, actually 
enabling the novice apprentice-printer to achieve professional 
reproductions, even in multi-colors. 
Thus, while various past patent endeavors have achieved some degree of 
improvement sought by their inventor, none of these had perfected a system 
entirely useful by the small modern printshop in particular, since they 
cannot usually afford the financial outlay for elaborate sophisticated 
equipment much beyond the standard outfittings of the trade. In contrast, 
my system only entails a few simple provisions that most any modest 
printshop can afford. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Therefore, in compliance with the afore said and further objects of 
invention, it is intended to provide some specialized pre-printed `artwork 
paste-up sheets` which are individually copyrighted in format for use with 
this invention, so are replete with a special indicia-matrix of grid like 
background, particularly adaptable to specific jobs, such as imprinting of 
business-stationery, business-cards, small brochures & flyers, etc. 
A further object of this invention is to provide a procedural sequence of 
five simple steps to attain prepress-setup, tantamount to a `system` 
per'se, which is exceptionally quick & easy to expedite, as will be 
elaborated upon in detail within the subsequent specification section of 
this document. 
Another object of this invention is to setforth a special means of 
Plate/Mounting-reinforcement, whereby a thin-guage of aluminum-tape or 
Mylar-tape is simply applied to the upper-back of any conventional paper 
or plastic sheet type of cheaper Offset/Printing-plate prior to punching 
of the plurality of Press Mounting-holes, so as to thereby substantially 
extend the usable life of the relatively inexpensive Plates to that about 
comparable with that of the much more costly aluminum-sheet type of Plate 
requiring careful preparation of a separate photo-negative film. Without 
the provision of my special `Plate-mounting Reinforcement-strip`, the 
paper-resin/plastic Plates would always be plagued with `plate-skew` & 
`creep` attributable to elongation of the approximately two-dozen 
Plate/Index Mounting-holes of about 3/16ths-inch diameter which engage 
over a like number of Press-drum/Mounting-pins of about 1/8th diameter; 
the said hole-elongation being brought about by the effect of the 
drag-friction necessarily imposed by the pressure of the 
rotational-loading introduced by the normal offset printing process, 
whereby the elongation-creep thus results and the differential of 
roller-tension being applied by the operators adjustments will induce the 
likewise dreaded elongation-skew to one side or the other; but my special 
`anti-elongation` Reinforced-backing provision eliminates this pesky 
problem. 
Another object of this invention is to setforth a special method of 
attaching the essential `floating reference-line` device provided for in 
conjunction with the special Plate Mounting-hole Simultaneous-punching 
Platen apparatus which so contributes to the efficiency of this system. 
The said FRL/Floating Ref.-line is a preferably dayglo-orange (for high 
visual-aquity) mono-filiment/plastic-line maintained in a taught degree of 
precise alignment condition via a small tension-spring at the base-end of 
the said hole-punching Platen, while at the header-end having the 
plurality of two-dozen or so punch-pins operated simultaneously via a 
cam-action co-axial transverse-shaft to which a manual hand-lever is 
connected at the right-side. The Header-bar containing the punch-pins 
includes a special `drop-center flange` having a tiny hole therein so as 
to place the said Ref.-line just slightly above the deck of the platen in 
a manner aligning the Ref.-line exactly on longitudinal-center with the 
center header/punch-pin, and absolutely resistant to any possible 
displacement from this exactitude even if the flexible Ref.-line were 
accidently knocked to one-side temporarily. The said tiny-hole provided 
for the Ref.-line is of sufficient aperature as to prevent the knoted end 
of the line to be concealed beneath the said header-bar assembly, and so 
no complex attachment device is present to obscure the vision of the 
Punch-operator who must visually look down upon the upper region of the 
yet un-punched Plate as he (she) acts to align the top & bottom 
`tic-narks` used for alignment orientation. Since the said Ref.-line 
extends down the longitudinal center of the Platen-deck, and is preferably 
located into a slightly raised vee-notch at the lower extrimity of the 
Platen, the visual-paralax effect of aligning the Ref.-line exactly above 
the Ref.-tic's indica previously photographed upon the yet unpunched Plate 
is essentially obviated. 
Accordingly, while this invention will be further described in conjunction 
with certain preferred embodiments, it is intended that the invention not 
be limited to such specific configurations; on the contrary, it is 
intended to cover all alternatives, modifications, and equivalents which 
may be found within the spirit & scope of this invention, as is still 
further defined in the specifications.

SPECIFICATIONS OF THE PREFERRED INVENTION EMBODIMENT 
Study of drawing FIGS. 1 through 5 reveals the five basic sequential stages 
of the Pentarch/Registration-system as follows: reference to FIG. 1/A 
demonstrates how the conventional camera photo-table 10 is prepared with 
an ordinary drafting tool such as a T-square 11 so that the secondary 
reference(ref.)-lines 12 & 13 are substantially square with the table 
while exactly bisecting each other at 90-degrees. The operator then 
selects one of the several different Pentarch paste-up guide-sheets 
appropropriate to the job at hand, such as for a standard sized 
business-letterhead imprinting for example, whereby FIG. 1/B shows how the 
said guide-sheet 14 is simply placed over the said prescribed table 
ref.-lines 12/13 so as to align the ref./cutting-line 15 on the 
guide-sheet so that the lateral ends 15'/15" exactly overlap the said 
ref.-line 12, while the center ref.-line indica 16 of the guide-sheet is 
approximately overlaping the said ref.-line 13, thereby conveniently 
centering the guide-sheet layout to be so taped-down in place via art tape 
17; whereupon sequence of FIG. 1/C shows how the actual artwork 18 (herein 
adorned with a simple X for clear understanding) is similarly positioned 
over the said guide-sheet 14 so as to be likewise centered relative to the 
ref. gridwork-indica thereon (not detailed for reason of seperate 
copyright coverage of different styles), and the artwork is thus 
pasted-down in place. Next, FIG. 2 demonstrates the 2nd-stage of the 
system operation whereby the photo-table 10 is shown tilted-up for 
exposure of the aggregate artwork matrix 14 & 18 through the symbolic 
camera-lens 19 to the standard photosensitive Printing-plate 20. Next, 
FIG. 3 demonstrates how the special backing-strip 21 is preferably applied 
to the backside of the said plate 20 in the region overlaping the earlier 
said ref./cutting-line 15 slightly at the top of the line (which is 
normally only imaged on the front-side of the plate 20, and is seen 
upturned so as to reveal the photo-imaged tick-mark 16"), while also shown 
is an exemplified roll 22 of backing-strip material which is preferably 
thin-guage aluminum-tape or a dimensionally stable plastic-tape such as 
the product known as Mylar--but regardless, the self-adhesive surface 23 
is suitably protected via a customary tearaway cladstrip 24 until actual 
application. Since the more expensive metal printing-plates exhibit 
sufficient elongation-resistance, the special backing-strip 21 need only 
be applied to the inexpensive if popular, however relatively fragile 
paper-resin (or plastic) type printing-plates at any convenient stage 
prior to the critical trimming-stage of FIG. 4 which partly establishes 
the vital alignment edge 15 which has been carefully oriented with the 
artwork as earlier explained; and thus precision trimmed, the plate 20 is 
now transfered to the special Punch-platen apparatus 25 of FIG. 5, which 
is slightly modified from an otherwise conventional punch-platen, and 
includes a substantially standard headerbar portion 26 having a plurality 
of punch-pins 27 that exactly correspond to the exact center-to-center 
dimensions of the standardized mounting-pin plurality of a conventional 
printing-press, and are simultaneously cam-actuated via the manual 
handlever 28 whereby ref.-arrowing 28' demonstrates the action thereof. 
Also seen in FIG. 5 is a portion of the headerbar alignment-rail 29 to 
which the operator merely pushes the trimmed but as yet unperforated plate 
20 against for critical initial alignment, whereupon the plate 20 is also 
positioned laterally so that the photo-imaged tick-marks 16'/16" are 
likewise checked for precise alignment beneath the special floating 
Sight-wire 30, at which point the operator executes the critical punching 
operation of the aggregate mounting-holes 27' into plate 20, thereby 
virtually locking-in the registration of the said tick-marks 16'/16" with 
the transverse mounting-holes 27', at which stage the perforated plate 20' 
is released for ready transfer directly to the printing-press as is 
suggested via the lateral-movement of arrow 31 of FIG. 5. 
Note also in FIG. 5 that the Sight-wire 30 is positioned very close and 
parallel to the platen-deck 32, and is attached at the headerbar 
drop-center tab menber 33 having a tiny longitudinal mounting-hole 34 
therein as may also be seen clearly in FIG. 6, including the preferred 
expedient of a simple tie-knot 35 employed to retain the preferably 
mono-filament wire 30 within the close fitting hole 34, although various 
other methods of retension would sulfice as well (such as a crimp-on 
sleeve entity for example). Still other features of the special platen 
apparatus shown include the platen-table portion 36 which is made flush 
with the extended platen-deck 37, the resting-legs 38 and resting surface 
39. FIG. 6 also shows via phantom-outline sequence how the punch-pins 27 
penetrate through both the plate 20 and its adhering backing-strip 21, 
causing the punch-scrap(s) 40 to fall away by gravity. Also indicated in 
the cross-section of FIG. 6 is an exemplified cam member 41 (attached to 
said handlever 28 or a motorized drive) which rotably engages via 
cam-follower entity 42 to depress the aggregate punch-pins 27. 
Reference to FIG. 7 shows a detail cross-section view revealing how the 
wire 30 is routed at the foot of the platen-deck over stanchion member 43 
so that the wire can be conveniently brought down and then beneath the 
deck into a specially formed recess-slot 44 wherein the wire 30 is coupled 
to a tension-spring 45 which is suitably anchored to a mooring-pin 46 
fixed into the deck material; thereby achieving an attractively concealed 
and damage-protected head & foot mounting of the vital sight-wire 30. 
Study of FIG. 8 shows another view of the wire-stanchion 43, whereby the 
features of FIG. 5 can be much more clearly understood, including a V-slot 
47 for self-centering of the wire, and a preferred vertical recess-slot 48 
which protects the wire as it passes down to the preferably inverted-Vee 
formation made into the stanchion plate so as to direct the wire toward 
the said spring arrangement and recess-slot 44 thereto; while dual screws 
49/49' serve to fix the stanchion-plate in place. Thus comprising the 
preferred form of my invention. 
Lastly, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art herein treated, 
that still further variations, alterations, and modifications may be 
resorted to according to the format setforth in this preferred embodiment, 
without substantially departing from the intended spirit & scope of the 
invention; which is still further recited in the appended claims and their 
legal or technical equivalents.