Method of loading metal printing plates on a vacuum drum

Metal printing plates can be loaded onto a drum and held in place by vacuum alone if flat plates are given a permanent curl by a set of four rollers. Same rollers cancel out the curl when plate is unloaded from drum. The invention is useful for Computer-to-Plate and Computer-to-Press systems.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
The invention relates to printing, and in particular, to the loading of 
metal lithographic printing plates onto a drum, or cylinder, where they 
are held in place by the force of vacuum. The invention can be used on 
Computer-to-Plate or Computer-to-Press systems, also known as On-Press 
Imaging. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Traditional imagesetters used in the pre-press area of a printing operation 
use vacuum to hold films to a rotating drum while exposing them using a 
laser. In order to image directly on lithographic printing plates, both in 
Computer-to-Plate and Computer-to-Press systems, a method of holding metal 
plates to the outside surface of a rotating drum, or cylinder, is desired. 
Due to the higher stiffness and thickness of metal printing plate the 
force of the vacuum, limited to atmospheric pressure, is insufficient to 
hold a metal plate onto a drum, in particular a rotating drum. Prior art 
solutions involve clamps (both mechanical and magnetic) as well as using 
steel plates on magnetic drums. Since most lithographic printing plates 
are made of aluminum and are non-magnetic it is desired to have a system 
holding the plate without clamps and without relying on magnetic 
properties. The plate can be imaged on the drum (as done in 
Computer-to-Plate and Computer-to-Press), or pre-imaged and mounted later 
on the plate cylinder of a printing press. In the latter application, 
using vacuum instead of clamps allows nearly gapless plate mounting and 
simplified automatic loading of plates. The invention can also be used to 
load onto a press thin metal backed flexographic plates and other metal 
backed plates. 
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
The invention relies on the fact that the thin sheets of metal used as a 
substrate for printing plates can be given a permanent curl to fit the 
form of the drum. If the plates were to be pre-curled it would cause 
handling problems, particularly during plate development, as well as the 
curl will have to be opened up to wrap the plate around the plate cylinder 
or imaging drum. For soft aluminum plates they will not spring back to fit 
on the cylinder. On the other hand, if the plate is fed to the drum as a 
flat sheet and the curl is imparted to the plate as it is wrapping itself 
on the drum, the plate can be made to fit the drum and stay in place even 
without vacuum. This curl can be generated by three rollers located next 
to the plate cylinder. The addition of a fourth roller allows the 
straightening out of the plate when it is being unloaded. This is 
important in a Computer-to-Plate system, where the plate has to come out 
as a flat sheet for handling reasons. The rollers operate in an 
arrangement similar to sheet metal rolling devices. The radius of the curl 
imparted to the plate can be smaller than the radius of the cylinder, thus 
the plate will stay securely on the drum even in the event of failure of 
the vacuum system. For on-press imaging applications, it is advantageous 
to increase the friction of the cylinder surface by embedding diamond grit 
into it. The diamond grit forms micro-indentations preventing any plate 
slippage during printing. The invention can be used for any plate based on 
a metal substrate, even if the active layer in nonmetallic.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Metal printing plate 1 is loaded on cylinder 2 and held in place by the 
action of vacuum. The inside of cylinder 2 is evacuated by vacuum pump 3, 
connected to the cylinder via a rotary vacuum fitting 4. The vacuum 
reaches the cylinder surface via small holes 5. This arrangement is common 
in film imagesetting devices and need not be detailed here. Cylinder 2 
can, by way of example, be the imaging drum or cylinder of a 
Computer-to-Plate system. Once plate 1 is loaded on cylinder 2, cylinder 2 
rotates and a laser (not shown) imagewise exposes the plate. Such 
Computer-to-Plate devices are commercially available and need no further 
details. Cylinder 2 can also be the plate cylinder of an offset 
lithographic sheet fed or web press. When cylinder 2 is part of a printing 
press it is desired to increase the friction between the plate cylinder 
and the plate, to avoid plate creep during the printing process. Such 
creep is detrimental in multi-color printing. In the preferred embodiment 
for on-press use, the friction between the surface of the plate cylinder 
and the plate is increased by embedding fine diamond powder (particle size 
from 50 to 100 microns) in the surface of the plate cylinder. The diamond 
powder (or any other hard and sharp particles) can be attached to the 
plate cylinder surface by rolling over them with a hard roller or by 
electroplating. For Computer-to-Plate applications no means to increase 
friction are required. Besides holes 5 other means can be used to bring 
and distribute the vacuum across the cylinder surface. Such means are well 
known in imagesetter design and need not be detailed here. For example, 
vacuum distribution means can be grooves, surface texture, porous cylinder 
wall and others. 
A cluster of four rollers 4, 5, 6 and 7 is located in proximity to cylinder 
2. It is sufficient to motorize one of the rollers 6 using motor 8. Motor 
8 can be directly or indirectly coupled to roller 6. Since the outside 
surface of some printing plates can be sensitive to scratches, rollers 6 
and 7 are coated with an elastomeric coating such as rubber or 
polyurethane. Rollers 5 and 6 form a pair of pinch rollers, with a gap 
comparable to the thickness of the plate. The exact gap is not critical 
and can exceed the plate thickness. All four rollers extend to the full 
length of cylinder 2. Roller 7 is located in the way of the plate emerging 
from rollers 5 and 6 and causes it to bend and curl towards cylinder 2. 
The position of roller 7 can be selected so that the residual curl 
imparted to plate 1 is about equal to the curvature of the cylinder 2 or 
the radius of the residual curl is smaller than the radius of cylinder 2. 
The advantage of the latter setting is that the plate "grips" the cylinder 
and will stay attached even if the vacuum is released while cylinder 2 is 
rotating. 
To load a plate, plate 1 is inserted between rollers 5 and 6. Motorized 
roller 6 pulls the plate in, and it wraps itself around cylinder 2 which 
is rotated slowly to assist the loading. After loading vacuum pump 3 is 
activated to secure the plate. To unload the plate, drum 2 and roller 6 
are rotated in the opposite direction. When plate edge is located ahead of 
diverter 9, diverter 9 is moved to touch drum 2, causing the plate to 
climb on diverter 9 and feed into pinch rollers 5 and 6. the vacuum is 
maintained on drum 2 during unloading to provide sufficient friction 
between drum 2 and plate 1 in order to push it over diverter 9 and into 
pinch rollers 5 and 6. Diverter 9 can be a solid sheet, extending the full 
length of drum 2, or a few "fingers" along drum 2. The details of the drum 
and diverter are similar to prior art used in drum imagesetters such as 
those made by Barco (Belgium) and Dainippon Screen (Japan) and are well 
known in the art. When plate 1 reaches roller 4 it will be bent in a 
direction opposite to the curl it acquired from roller 7. By placing 
roller 4 at the correct position the curl is cancelled out and the plate 
emerges flat, with the exception of a minor bend near the edge. By the way 
of example, if cylinder 2 is of a diameter of 250 mm the recommended 
diameters of rollers 4, 5, 6 and 7 is about 50 mm each. The arrangement 
shown will load aluminum printing plates from 0.1 mm to 0.3 mm in 
thickness onto the drum. The required vacuum can be as low as 150 mm Hg, 
however a higher vacuum of about 500 mm Hg is desired. While the preferred 
embodiment uses the curl of the plate to fit on the outside of a cylinder 
it is obvious that the same method can be used to fit the plate inside a 
partial cylindrical shape as illustrated in FIG. 2. This feature is useful 
in Computer-to-Plate systems of the internal drum type.