Sheet-fed rotary offset printing press with a removable imprinting or finishing unit

Sheet-fed rotary offset printing press having a printing unit including a plate cylinder, a rubber-blanket cylinder and an impression cylinder double the size of the plate and the rubber-blanket cylinders, respectively, at least one auxiliary unit selected from an imprinting unit and a finishing unit removably disposed on a tool-carrier shaft extending transversely to a sheet-transport direction and being mounted in a frame of the printing press, and drive elements for connecting the auxiliary unit to a drive for the printing press and for bringing the auxiliary unit into engagement with the sheet as it is being guided on the impression cylinder, comprising another tool-carrier shaft extending transversely to the sheet-transport direction and being mounted in a frame of the printing press, both of the tool-carrier shafts being disposed parallel to one another in the printing unit and offset from one another by a phase angle having a vertex on a central axis of the impression cylinder, and driving elements for the respective auxiliary unit disposed on each of the two tool-carrier shafts.

SPECIFICATION 
The invention relates to a sheet-fed rotary offset printing press having a 
printing unit including a plate cylinder, a rubber-blanket cylinder and an 
impression cylinder, at least one auxiliary unit selected from an 
imprinting unit and a finishing unit removably disposed on a tool-carrier 
shaft extending transversely to a sheet-transport direction and being 
mounted in a frame of the printing press, and drive elements for 
connecting the auxiliary unit to a drive for the printing press and for 
bringing the auxiliary unit into engagement with the sheet as it is being 
guided on the impression cylinder. 
Printing presses of such a construction with an impression cylinder for 
accommodating thereon a single-size or single-format sheet, and a 
removable inking unit for a numbering mechanism disposed on the 
tool-carrier shaft conform to the practical state of the art and are 
diagrammatically represented, for example, in the publication VS 3.20/087, 
HEIDELBERGER DRUCKMASCHINEN AG. A permanently installed numbering unit 
with a removable inking unit for ink numbering has become known heretofore 
from German Published Non-Prosecuted Patent Application (DE-OS) 22 21 343. 
By means of an exchangeably arranged imprinting or finishing unit, it is 
possible, without any additional working operation, for the sheets which 
have been printed in the printing unit of the printing press to be either 
numbered, perforated, varnished or otherwise processed. Such a removable 
numbering mechanism for ink numbering has become known heretofore also 
from the published European Patent Document 0 040 183 B1. Considerable 
problems are posed in housing the imprinting or finishing units in the 
tight space near the impression cylinder and between the rubber-blanket 
cylinder, on the one hand, and the delivery chain, on the other hand. 
Heretofore known from published German Patent Documents 29 45 192 A1 and 30 
06 100 A1 is a removable numbering unit for ink numbering printed sheets, 
the removable numbering unit having its own impression cylinder for a 
numbering box disposed in a further cylinder, so that when the numbering 
unit is used, it is necessary for the sheet delivery to be displaced. 
According to the publication RYOBI 520/522/522PF of RYOBI Ltd., Fuchu, 
Hiroshima, Japan, such a numbering unit or the like is disposed in its own 
frame and, when required, is connected to the printing press. Such an 
arrangement calls for a separate sheet delivery and, therefore, has a very 
elaborate construction. 
None of the aforedescribed hitherto known arrangements permits the 
performance simultaneously of a plurality of follow-up processing 
operations on the printed sheets directly in an offset printing press 
without additional operating steps being necessary. 
From the published German Patent Document 37 17 093 A1 and other 
publications, rotary offset printing presses for printing on cardboard 
have also become known heretofore, the rotary offset printing presses 
having a so-called double-size or double-format impression cylinder in 
order, thereby, to avoid stresses resulting from pronounced curvature of 
the stock to be printed on, particularly when printing on very thick 
and/or very stiff stock. 
Conversely, it is an object of the invention to provide a sheet-fed rotary 
printing press with a removable imprinting or finishing unit which, with 
low-cost construction and without entailing any additional operating 
steps, permits the performance of a plurality of selectively variable 
follow-up processing operations directly on the sheets as the sheets are 
printed in the rotary offset printing press. 
It is, accordingly, an object of the invention to provide a sheet-fed 
rotary offset printing press having a printing unit including a plate 
cylinder, a rubber-blanket cylinder and an impression cylinder double the 
size of the plate and the rubber-blanket cylinders, respectively, at least 
one auxiliary unit selected from an imprinting unit and a finishing unit 
removably disposed on a tool-carrier shaft extending transversely to a 
sheet-transport direction and being mounted in a frame of the printing 
press, and drive elements for connecting the auxiliary unit to a drive for 
the printing press and for bringing the auxiliary unit into engagement 
with the sheet as it is being guided on the impression cylinder, 
comprising another tool-carrier shaft extending transversely to the 
sheet-transport direction and being mounted in a frame of the printing 
press, both of the tool-carrier shafts being disposed parallel to one 
another in the printing unit and offset from one another by a phase angle 
having a vertex on a central axis of the impression cylinder, and driving 
elements for the respective auxiliary unit disposed on each of the two 
tool-carrier shafts. 
What is achieved thereby is that, due to the double-size or double-format 
impression cylinder of the main printing unit of the printing press, it is 
possible to accommodate two tool-carrier shafts with separate driving 
elements for driving different imprinting or finishing tools which may be 
exchangeably disposed on the tool-carrier shafts. This permits the 
arrangement of block holders, numbering units, perforating tools or the 
like on the tool-carrier shafts and the separate drive thereof in 
accordance with the working cycle of the printing press. A considerable 
advantage of the construction according to the invention is that these 
processing operations may occur simultaneously on the press-side 
impression cylinder as the sheets are being printed. The tools can be 
readily mounted or assembled at an accessible location. The modifications 
of the printing press required for this purpose can be provided in a 
structurally simple and sturdy manner. 
Each tool-carrier shaft is advantageously associated with its own switching 
shaft so as to permit switching operations, for example, for digit 
selection in numbering units, in a tool on each of the two tool-carrier 
shafts. Preferably, they are actuated in a conventional manner by 
controllable pneumatic cylinders. 
In accordance with another feature of the invention, the sheet-fed rotary 
offset printing press includes a cross-member disposed parallel to the two 
tool-carrier shafts, and longitudinal perforating knives adjustably and 
detachably mounted on the cross-member. This provides a further 
improvement in flexibility with regard to equipping the two tool-carrier 
shafts so as to optimize the printing process, because longitudinal 
perforations can be effected by perforating knives which are detachably 
and adjustably mounted on the cross-member. 
In accordance with a further feature of the invention, the cross-member is 
swivelably disposed in the printing-press frame. Thus, the cross-member is 
advantageously able to swivel about its longitudinal axis, so that the 
tools, such as perforating knives or the like, disposed on the 
cross-member can be brought into engagement with the impression cylinder, 
by a swiveling motion of the cross-member in a given direction, and can be 
brought out of engagement, by a swiveling motion of the cross-member in 
the opposite direction. 
In accordance with an added feature of the invention, the cross-member is 
rotatably mounted and is drivable in time with a working cycle of the 
printing press for lifting the longitudinal perforating knives cyclically 
from the circumference of the double-size impression cylinder. 
In accordance with a concomitant feature of the invention, the sheet-fed 
rotary offset printing press includes a respective switching shaft with a 
stepping drive operatively associated with and disposed adjacent to each 
of the tool-carrier shafts. 
In printing presses with a plurality of in-line printing units and 
double-size impression cylinders, it is further possible to provide one or 
more additional printing units with a tool-carrier shaft for an imprinting 
or finishing unit, so that the sought-after high degree of flexibility in 
the equipping of the tool-carrier shafts with auxiliary tools, such as 
imprinting or finishing units, is even further increased. 
Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are 
set forth in the appended claims. 
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in a 
sheet-fed rotary offset printing press having a removable imprinting or 
finishing unit, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the 
details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be 
made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within 
the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.

Referring now to the drawings and, first, particularly to FIG. 1 thereof, 
there is shown therein a plate cylinder 2, which has been inked by a 
non-illustrated inking unit, a rubber-blanket cylinder 3 and, cooperating 
with the latter, an impression cylinder 4 rotatably journalled in side 
walls of a frame 1 and driven in common by a lateral gear train, which is 
likewise not shown in the drawings. Compared with the plate cylinder 2 and 
the rubber-blanket cylinder 3, the impression cylinder 4 has a double the 
diameter and consequently can accommodate double the sheet size or format 
on the surface thereof. A sheet guided from the impressions cylinder 4 
into a printing nip 5 is transferred to gripper systems of a delivery 
chain 6 and is transported over a delivery pile 7. Disposed in a 
sheet-guiding region of the double-size impression cylinder 4 are two 
tool-carrier shafts 8 and 9 disposed parallel to one another and offset 
from one another by a phase angle .alpha. with reference to a center line 
or axis 10 of the impression cylinder 4. Both tool-carrier shafts 8 and 9 
are rotatably supported at the ends thereof in the side walls of the frame 
1 and are each in engagement with separate driving elements which are 
connectible, in turn, with driving elements of the printing-press drive. 
Each of the two tool-carrier shafts 8 and 9 is associated with a 
respective switching shaft 11 and 12, which have a drive by which, it is 
possible in a conventional manner to effect a selection of appropriate 
digits in numbering units or the like. Furthermore, disposed below the 
double-size impression cylinder and the lower tool-carrier shaft 9 is a 
cross-member 13 on which, for example, longitudinally perforating knives 
14 are mounted in a laterally adjustable and detachable manner. The 
cross-member 13 may, if necessary, be swivelled in order to bring tools on 
the cross-member 13 into and out of engagement. 
It is also possible, however, for the cross-member 13 to be rotatably 
mounted and to be driven in time with the working cycle of the printing 
press in order to perform periodically recurring processing operations. It 
is likewise possible to combine a rotary drive with the swiveling 
arrangement for bringing the tools into and out of engagement. 
The sectional view in FIG. 3 shows a construction for the mounting of the 
tool-carrier shaft 8 and 9, respectively, in the side walls of the frame 
1. According to this representation, the tool-carrier shaft is insertable, 
by quick-action coupling elements provided at its ends, into complementary 
coupling elements 15 on the inner ends of bearing journals 16 which are 
mounted in the side walls of the frame 1. In the interest of improved 
clarity, the tool-carrier shaft itself is not shown in FIG. 3. A driving 
gearwheel 17 on one of the bearing journals 16 permits a connection to a 
gearwheel 18 of the gear train for driving the printing press. 
By equipping the tool-carrier shafts 8 and 9 in the manner shown in FIG. 1, 
a longitudinal perforation, for example, may be effected by longitudinal 
perforating knives 14 on the cross-member 13, and also a numbering, as 
well as a transverse perforation of the printed sheets may also be 
performed directly on the impression cylinder of the offset printing unit 
in one single operation. The transverse perforating knives 19 are disposed 
on the tool-carrier shaft 8. The switching shaft 11 is thus out of 
operation. An imprint inking unit 20 supplies ink to the numbering unit 
21, which is disposed on the tool-carrier shaft 9. The switching shaft 12 
selects the digits of the numbering unit. 
In the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 2, instead of the 
transverse perforating knives 19, the tool-carrier shaft 8 is equipped 
with block holders 22 which are supplied with ink from a block-inking unit 
23. It is thereby possible to imprint a decorative ink or to apply 
varnish. The manner in which the tool-carrier shaft 9 is equipped is 
identical to that described hereinbefore with reference to FIG. 1. 
Longitudinal perforating knives 14 are adjustably and detachably mounted 
on the cross-member 13. The cross-member 13 is rotatably mounted and is 
connectible to the printing-press drive, so that the perforating knives 
are lifted off the impression cylinder in a cyclical manner, so that they 
do not damage the grippers on the impression cylinder. Independent 
perforating across the entire width of the paper size or format is thereby 
permitted. 
In the embodiments of the invention shown in FIGS. I and 2, the two 
tool-carrier shafts, in conjunction with a double-size impression 
cylinder, offer a multiplicity of possible combinations for the follow-up 
processing of a sheet which has been printed in a rotary offset printing 
unit, such follow-up processing occurring directly on the impression 
cylinder of the same printing unit or of one or more other printing units 
during the printing process. 
The foregoing is a description corresponding in substance to German 
Application P 42 18 422.3, dated Jun. 4, 1992, the International priority 
of which is being claimed for the instant application, and which is hereby 
made part of this application. Any material discrepancies between the 
foregoing specification and the aforementioned corresponding German 
application are to be resolved in favor of the latter.