High pressure intaglio cantilever press

An intaglio printing press is disclosed employing cantilevered press rollers which can be easily removed and replaced, and which are supported to apply high uniform printing pressure to a substrate web. The rollers are each mounted on a spherical bearing permitting them to cant such that their axes remain parallel. One roller shaft is fixed to a frame and the other is carried by deflectable slides carried by the frame. The high printing pressure is achieved by shifting one shaft by driving the slides with hydraulic rams against adjustable stops formed by movable wedges.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to the art of printing and more particularly 
to the support of interchangeable printing cylinders on intaglio printing 
presses used in high pressure printing processes. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Intaglio printing is a process by which a printed image is formed upon 
paper or other printing substrate material by passing the material, 
frequently in web form, between a pair of press rolls. In the process, the 
rolls are thrust together under high pressure to compress the substrate 
therebetween to transfer ink from an inked image on an engraved or etched 
plate cylinder or sleeve carried by one of the rolls to the substrate 
surface. High pressure processes of this type include rotogravure printing 
processes in which a high resolution plate is made to carry an inked image 
in recesses engraved into the plate surface from which the ink to be 
pressed from the grooves when the plate is brought into high pressure 
contact with the paper. The use of the extreme pressure facilitates the 
transfer of ultra high resolution line images to the paper. Such processes 
are useful in printing money and other certificates where the printing 
must be of extremely high quality. 
Intaglio presses employ a pair of rollers or printing cylinders, including 
a plate cylinder which carries the image to be transformed to a paper 
substrate, and an impression cylinder which underlies substrate and forms 
a supporting surface against which the plate cylinder presses the paper 
during printing. In the printing process, high pressure is exerted upon 
the paper by the pair of cylinders compressing it from opposite sides. 
In fine quality, high resolution intaglio printing processes such as those 
employed for the printing of currency, bank notes and the like, these 
pressures may be exceptionally high, even up to 10,000 pounds per linear 
inch across the width of the print rolls. The maintenance of a uniform 
high pressure across the width of the rolls is important to the production 
of high resolution, high quality printed images. This requires that the 
roller supporting structure be such that the contact between the 
impression and plate cylinders be maintained uniformly across the width of 
the rollers as they contact the substrate. 
The response of the prior art to the need to provide high uniform pressure 
across the width of print rolls has been to apply, and control the 
application of, force at least at both ends of the printing cylinders or 
press rolls, and often to exert force on the rollers at multiple points 
across the width of the printing surface. The direction of the prior art 
has been to subject the rollers to a distributed or multipoint force, 
acting upon the rollers, which produces a certain amount of undesirable 
roll deformation, and to further distribute or modify the force to correct 
for the deformation of the rolls. Such deformation, if produced and 
uncorrected, results in the unwanted non-uniformity of printing pressure 
across the width of the rolls. The structures employed to correct the 
deformation have been complex and less then totally effective. 
Another problem with prior art intaglio presses has been the time required 
to service the printing rolls. These rolls must be removed for periodic 
maintenance and to permit replacement of the impression sleeve carried by 
the impression cylinder. The sleeves are subject to heavy wear and in some 
installations must be replaced as often as every two days. Prior art roll 
constructions have required an excessive amount of time to change rolls. 
For example, in a typical press, a half a day is required. 
For small article low pressure printing and embossing processes, printing 
presses have been provided with a printing roller rotatably mounted to a 
shaft which are supported to a frame at one end. Such presses for example 
are shown in Hale U.S. Pat. No. 573,407, Sherwood U.S. Pat. No. 720,629, 
Barton et al U.S. Pat. No. 1,599,868, Price, Jr. et al U.S. Pat. No. 
3,405,633, Heuss U.S. Pat. No. 4,188,874, and German U.S. Pat. No. 
687,191. Such methods of supporting rollers in a printing press upon a 
cantilevered shaft provides for easier means interchanging of the plate 
cylinders than where rollers are mounted to shafts supported at both ends. 
However, the mounting of cylinders in cantilevered fashion has never been 
successful to support rolls for high pressure engagement as is required 
for intaglio printing. 
One proposed intaglio press construction using cantilevered rolls is 
disclosed in Heuss U.S. Pat. No. 4,188,874. In the press disclosed in that 
patent, one or both of the press rolls are cantilevered. However, no means 
is provided for applying forces to the roller shafts to shift the shafts 
relative to one another to create a high printing pressure. Rather, a 
special roll referred to as a pressure equalization roll is employed as 
one of the rollers. The pressure equalization roller uses internal 
hydraulically actuated supporting elements in order to distribute the 
pressure across the width of the roller to compensate for roller 
distortion. This construction is not a practical approach to providing a 
high pressure intaglio press with a uniform pressure across the rollers. 
Prior art press construction has also employed a variety of roll mounting 
devices used in such a way as to affect the roll positions. Several 
printing presses, for example, have employed pressure roller sleeves 
supported by a multiplicity of bearings disposed adjacent to the 
longitudinal axis of the roller to support the cylinders on the shafts. 
Such presses are shown in Hornbostel U.S. Pat. No. 3,161,125, McDermott 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,561,658, Pflaum U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,205, Maier U.S. Pat. 
No. 4,438,695, George et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,487,122, and German 
Offenlegungsschrift No. 2,849,202. In the presses described in such 
patents, however, any uniformity of pressure between the mating rollers is 
achieved by using roller supporting shafts mounted at both ends to a 
frame. 
Notwithstanding the state of the printing art, the high pressure presses 
which have been developed to date have failed to provide for rapid and 
easy interchange of printing rolls and plates. The problems of providing 
uniform high pressure contact between the plate and the paper have 
resulted in conditions which have aggravated the problem of roll 
interchangeability. Accordingly, there exists a need for providing a 
cylinder support for intaglio presses which will provide a uniform high 
pressure across the rolls and which will provide rapid removal and 
replacement of the rolls. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is a primary objective of the present invention to provide an intaglio 
printing press which is capable of performing high pressure printing 
processes where the high pressure is applied to the print substrate 
between a pair of printing rolls with a uniform distribution across the 
width of the roll surface. It is a further objective of the present 
invention to provide such an intaglio press in which the rolls are easily 
accessible and can be removed and replaced with ease in a relatively short 
time. It is an additional objective of the present invention to provide an 
intaglio printing press which will economically and efficiently produce 
high quality high resolution printed documents such as currency, bank 
notes, and the like. 
According to principles of the present invention, there is provided an 
intaglio printing press having a pair of cylinders or rollers rotatably 
mounted to a pair of approximately parallel shafts which are supported to 
a rigid frame at only one side of the rollers. The rollers are mounted to 
the free ends of the shafts in cantilevered fashion for easy 
exchangeability. The high pressure contact between the rollers is achieved 
by forces exerted on one shaft at the frame entirely to one side of the 
rollers. These forces displace the shaft angularly with respect to the 
stationary shaft. The rollers are supported to the shafts in such a way as 
to allow them to tilt to accommodate any change in the relative angulation 
of the shafts and thereby maintain a uniform contact pressure between the 
rollers across their widths. 
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the forces between the 
opposed rollers are exerted in part by providing hydraulic rams or 
cylinders which displace two movable slides. These slides carry the 
journals in which the shaft of one of the rollers of the pair is mounted. 
The hydraulic cylinders displace the movable shaft with respect to the 
fixed shaft on which the other roller is mounted and which is rigidly 
mounted to the press frame. 
More particularly, in the preferred embodiment of the invention, the shaft 
carrying the upper roller, is supported between front and back slides 
which are carried by a fixed frame. The frame also supports the lower 
shaft upon which the lower roller is mounted. The slides are 
interconnected to the hydraulic cylinders which operate to shift the upper 
shaft with respect to the lower shaft to apply squeezing pressure between 
the rollers. 
Also in the preferred embodiment, the rollers are supported on their 
respective shafts so that they can undergo limited pivotal movement 
relative to their mounting shaft. More particularly, the rollers are 
mounted on spherical bearings interposed between the shafts and the 
rollers to permit the rollers to not only rotate on the shafts but to 
pivot to accommodate for any non-parallel orientation of the shafts. The 
spherical bearings are preferably disposed on the shaft adjacent to the 
axial center of the assembled rollers. 
Further according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, 
wedges are provided between the slide and the frame in the front and rear 
yokes to control the tilting of at least one of the shafts so as to adjust 
the pressure distribution between the mating rolls. 
In addition, in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the 
printing rollers are sufficiently narrow with respect to their diameters, 
and sufficiently rigid, to resist local deformation of portions of the 
rollers, and are mounted so as to move with respect to each other to self 
align under the influence of the forces provided by their supports. The 
two rollers are forced together under relatively high pressures of, for 
example, up to 10,000 pounds per linear inch. This pressure is uniform 
across the entire width of the rolls. 
The principal advantage of the present invention is that the rolls so 
supported are more accessible and can be replaced in as little as fifteen 
minutes. This is a small fraction of the time in which the rollers of high 
pressure intaglio presses could be replaced in the prior art. Further 
advantages of the present invention are that high pressure printing is 
achieved with pressures distributed uniformly across the rollers so that 
high quality high resolution printing is accomplished. Furthermore, the 
printing process can be carried out at high speed on a narrow continuous 
web requiring only limited cutting to separate the finished product. The 
invention is particularly advantageous for production of bank notes, 
currency, and such high resolution items in multiple denominations and 
large quantities. 
The advantages of the present invention are in part achieved by providing a 
mounting structure on one side of the rollers, including front and back 
yokes, both of which are massive. The lower drive shaft which extends 
horizontally outwardly from bearings carried by the pair of yokes. The 
upper drive shaft extends outwardly from bearings carried by slides which 
are slidably mounted to the yokes. These rollers bearings are subjected to 
pressures exerted by hydraulic cylinders which shift the free end of the 
upper shaft to press the upper roller against the lower roller. Spherical 
bearings on which the rollers are mounted to the shafts allow the rollers 
to shift to accommodate for any non-parallelism of the shafts. This 
freedom of the roller axes to cant a limited degree ensures uniform 
contact between the sleeves of the rollers across their width irrespective 
of nonparallelism of the shafts. In addition, the cylinders are 
proportioned so as to accommodate relatively large diameter shafts in 
relation to the extended width of the printing cylinders. This, coupled 
with the rigid construction of the cylinders on which the printing sleeves 
are mounted prevents distortion of the printing surfaces and allows the 
shaft canting ability to more fully adjust the pressure uniformly across 
the printing width of the rollers. In addition, the relative inclination 
of the shafts with respect to each other may be controlled by wedges which 
can be shifted in and out under manual control to limit the printing 
squeeze between the cylinders of the pair. This positioning of the wedges 
limits the deflection of the shafts by the hydraulic cylinders and 
provides ultimate limiting control of the printing pressure and relative 
shaft orientation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
An intaglio printing press 10 constructed in accordance with the present 
invention is illustrated in FIG. 1. The press 10 is particularly suited to 
the performance of a high pressure intaglio printing process for the 
printing of fine, high quality, high resolution images for currency and 
the like. The press 10 includes a printing section 12 having a rigid 
stationary frame 13, only the front portion 13a of which is visible in 
FIG. 1, and a spool support section 14 having a rigid stationary frame 15 
rigidly connected to the frame portion 13. Both of the frame sections 13 
and 15 are supported on a plurality of adjustable feet 16. A vacuum 
operated drying loop 17 is mounted to the end of the frame 15 of the spool 
support section 14 to receive the printed web for drying. From the dryer 
17, the web proceeds downstream to a wind up reel section (not shown). 
The printing section 12 of the press 10 includes the print station 20 which 
includes a plate cylinder roller assembly 21 and an impression cylinder 
roller assembly 22 between which passes, at the juncture or printing nip 
23 of the rollers 21 and 22, a continuous web 24 of print substrate or 
printing paper. The web 24, during the printing process, continuously 
moves downstream in the direction of the arrow 25 around a series of idler 
rollers 26 each rotatably mounted on one of a plurality of cantilevered 
shafts 27 each extending from the front side of the front portion 13a of 
the frame 13 of the print section 12. The continuous web of printing paper 
24 is supplied from a supply spool 28 rotatably mounted on a cantilevered 
shaft 29 extending from the front side of the front portion of frame 15 of 
the spool section 14 of the press 10. The spool section 14 also carries a 
supply spool 30a and a take-up spool 30b for supplying and taking up a 
continuous web 30c of wiping paper similarly supported on transverse 
shafts on the frame 15. The spool section 14 also includes a plurality of 
guide rollers 31 rotatably mounted on cantilevered shafts 32 projecting 
also from the front of the frame section 15 of the roller section 14 for 
guiding the print paper web 24 and the wipe paper 30c. The shafts 27, 29 
and 32 are all generally horizontal and oriented transverse the machine 10 
and generally parallel to each other. Web tension is maintained by a 
dancer roller 33 and the rollers 34 of a web guide and tensioning device 
35. The rollers 33, 34 are supported on horizontal transverse shafts which 
are movable transverse to the path of the web 24 for controlling the 
tension of the moving web. 
The print station 12 is provided with an ink mill assembly 37 having an 
inking roller 38 positioned to make rolling contact with the plate roller 
21 to transfer ink thereto. A wiper roller 39 applies the wiping paper web 
30a against the plate cylinder roller 21, moving it in the opposite 
direction as that of the surface of the plate roller 21, making wiping 
contact therewith. 
Referring to FIG. 2, a cross section through the print station 20 
illustrates the front portion or front housing 13a of the frame 13 and the 
back portion or back housing 13b of the frame 13. The housings 13a, 13b 
are part of the rigid fixed frame 13 of the printer section 12. 
The frame 13 has formed therein front and rear recesses or shaft support 
yokes 40a formed in the front housing 13a and 40b formed in the rear 
housing 13b (see FIGS. 3, 4 and 5). Extending horizontally transversely of 
the front and rear frame housings 13a, 13b of the press 10 is a lower 
rigid hollow cylindrical plate support shaft 41 and an upper rigid hollow 
cylindrical impression support shaft 42. The shaft 41 is rigidly secured 
at its back end 43 to the back housing 13b in a rear yoke 40b of the rear 
housing 13b by rear clamp 44 and a cover plate or retainer ring 45 bolted 
to the back housing 13b at the lower end of the rear recess or yoke 40b. 
The lower shaft 41 has a front section 46 rigidly secured through the 
lower end of the front yoke 40a in the front housing 13a. An insert 
housing or collar 48 is rigidly secured by bolts 49 to the front housing 
13a. A front clamp 50 is bolted to the collar 48 to firmly clamp the 
forward section 46 of the shaft 41 in the front yoke 40a of the front 
housing 13a. A forward keeper ring 51 is secured to the forward portion 46 
of the shaft 41 to retain the shaft against transverse movement on the 
machine by clamping the collar 48 and clamp 50 between the ring 51 and a 
shoulder 52 formed at the forward portion 46 of the shaft 41. So 
supported, the lower shaft 41 has its extreme forward end 47 supported in 
cantilevered fashion extending forward of the front frame member 13a. This 
forward end portion 47 carries roller 21 as is explained in detail below. 
The upper shaft 42 is adjustably mounted in the frame 13 and extends 
horizontally above and approximately parallel to the lower shaft 41. The 
upper shaft 42 is supported on the frame 13 at the back housing 13b and at 
the front housing 13a so as to be verticallY movable therein with respect 
to the frame 13. By "vertically movable" it is meant that the mounting 
points of the upper shaft 42 in the yokes 40a and 40b of the housings 13a 
and 13b, respectively, are capable of sufficient movement to influence the 
pressure between the plate and impression press rolls 21 and 22 as 
explained elsewhere herein. This movement may be only a small deflection 
of the position of the shaft 42. 
The adjustable mounting of the upper shaft 42 is provided by a pair of 
front and rear shaft guides or slides 53a and 53b, each slidably mounted 
with respect to the front and back housings 13a, 13b, respectively. The 
upper shaft 42 is rigidly attached to the back housing slide 53b at its 
rear end 54 (FIG. 2) by a cover plate or retainer ring 55 which secures 
the back end 54 of the shaft 42 at a hole 56 in the rear slide 53b. The 
forward portion 57 of the shaft 42 is rigidly secured to the front slide 
53a by a keeper ring 58 attached to the shaft 42 to clamp the slide 53a 
between the ring 58 and a shoulder 59 formed in the shaft 42. A stop block 
or spacer 60 is bolted to the lower side of the rear slide or guide 53b to 
limit the lower position of the rear slide 53b in the rear yoke 40b by 
resting against the rear clamp 44. 
Extending through the hollow cylindrical shafts 41 and 42 are a pair of 
rotary drive shafts 61 and 62, respectively. These drive shafts rotate 
within and with respect to the hollow shafts. To this end, the lower drive 
shaft 61 is rotatably supported at the back end 43 of the shaft 41 by a 
bearing assembly 63 mounted between the shaft 41 and the shaft 61. Shaft 
61 extends beyond the shaft 41 and through the lower portion of recess or 
yoke 40b where it has mounted to its rear end behind the back housing 13b 
a drive gear 64. The drive gear 64 is drivably connected to an identical 
driven gear 65 similarly rigidly mounted to the back end of the upper 
drive shaft 62 at its extent through the hollow shaft 42 and the rear 
housing 13b. This shaft 62 is likewise supported by bearing assembly 67 to 
rotate within shaft 42. 
As with the lower shaft 41, the upper shaft 42 has its extreme forward end 
68 cantilevered forward of the front frame 13a extending approximately 
parallel to the extreme forward end 47 of the lower shaft 41. The forward 
end 68 carries upper cylinder 22. The lower shaft 41 is provided with 
cooling or heating means 69 communicating with fluid input and return 
ducts 70a, 70b in the shaft 41 for communicating fluid to maintain the 
temperature of the plate cylinder and the ink thereon. Additional 
passageways (not shown) are provided in the plate roller assembly 21 to 
maintain the desired temperature. 
The front ends 47 and 68 of the respective lower and upper shafts 41 and 42 
extend through the insert housing or collar 48 and upper guide or slide 
53a respectively to provide cantilevered support to the respective 
printing roller assemblies 21 and 22. Extending through these forward ends 
47 and 68 of the shafts 41 and 42 are the respective forward ends of the 
drive shafts 61 and 62. The lower roller assembly 21 is rigidly connected 
to the forward end of the shaft 61 by a cap or hub assembly 71 while the 
upper impression roller assembly 22 is rigidly connected to the forward 
end of the upper shaft 62 by a cap or hub assembly 72. Between the 
projecting front ends 47 and 68 of the respective shafts 41 and 42, and 
the respective printing roller assemblies 21 and 22, are spherical 
bearings 73 and 74, which mount the respective plate and impression 
sleeves 75 and 76 to the free ends 47 and 68 of the shafts 41 and 42. The 
bearings 73 and 74 are respectively mounted on the shafts 41 and 42 at the 
axial midpoints of the roller assemblies 21 and 22 respectively. 
The lower print roller or roller assembly 21 includes a plate sleeve 75 
which surrounds the projecting front end 47 of the shaft 41. Sleeve 75 is 
mounted on the outer race of the bearing 73 so as to rotate about the 
fixed shaft 41. The sleeve 75 is secured at its front end to the lower cap 
or hub assembly 71 so as to rotate with the hub 71 as it is driven by the 
rotation of the drive shaft 61, which flexes slightly so as to permit 
slight tilting movement of the axis of sleeve 75 with respect to shaft 41. 
Similarly, an upper impression sleeve 76 surrounds the front end 68 of the 
shaft 42 and is rigidly secured at its inner surface to the outer race of 
the upper bearing 74. The front end of the sleeve 76 is similarly secured 
to the upper cap or hub assembly 72 so as to rotate on the bearing 74 with 
the hub 72 as it is driven by the shaft 62 and so as to permit slight 
tilting movement of the axis of the sleeve 76 thereon. 
Surrounding the outer surface of the plate sleeve 75 of the lower print 
roller assembly 21 is the plate cylinder 77, the outer surface of which 
carries the image which is transferred to the paper web 24 as it is 
compressed between the plate cylinder 77 and an impression cylinder 78 
which is similarly mounted around the impression sleeve 76 of the upper 
print roller assembly 22. These cylinders 77, 78 are positioned on the 
axial centers of the bearings 73 and 74 so that, when the pressure is 
uniformly distributed across their widths against the web 24, the roller 
assemblies 21 and 22 are balanced and will not change tilt on the shaft 
ends 47 and 68. 
The pressure for compressing the web 24 between the plate cylinder 77 and 
the impression cylinder 78 of the roller assemblies 21 and 22 respectively 
are exerted by a pair of hydraulic ram assemblies 81 and 82. The front ram 
assembly 81 includes a cylinder housing 83 rigidly supported upon a 
cylinder support 84 which bridges the mouth of yoke recess 40aof the front 
housing 13a of the frame 13. A movable piston rod 85 of the ram assembly 
81 has its lower end rigidly secured to the forward shaft guide or slide 
53a. Similarly, the back ram assembly 82 includes a cylinder 86 secured to 
a cylinder support 87 which bridges the yoke or recess 40b of the back 
housing 13b. A movable piston rod 88 is secured to the back shaft guide or 
slide 53b. 
The ram assemblies 81 and 82 operate to exert downward pressure upon the 
front and back guides or slides 53a and 53b, respectively, to thrust the 
impression cylinder 78 of the upper impression roller assembly 22 against 
the printing plate cylinder 77 of the lower plate roller assembly 21 so as 
to squeeze the web 24 between the cylinders 77 and 78 to exert high 
printing pressure thereupon. 
The width of the web 24 and the cylinders 77 and 78 are generally less than 
the diameter of the roller assemblies 21 and 22 and, accordingly, retain 
rigidity across their widths as they are driven together at high pressure 
under the influence of the hydraulic cylinders 81 and 82. Preferably, the 
web 24 is as wide as a single document so as to minimize cutting and 
require only transverse cutting to separate printed documents from the web 
24, and to minimize distortion of the print sleeves 77 and 78. In the 
printing of currency, for example, the width of the web 24 is preferably 
the long dimension of the individual bills. 
The control of the pressure is facilitated by the mounting of the shaft 42 
which supports the upper roller 22 in the guides or slides 53a and 53b 
upon the housing 13. As this pressure is being exerted, any 
non-parallelism between the shafts 41 and 42 is automatically compensated 
for by the spherical bearings 73 and 74 centrally positioned on the axes 
of the assemblies 21 and 22, respectively so as to allow the roller 
assemblies 21 and 22 to tilt and level with respect to each other so as to 
maintain a relatively parallel orientation. 
The leveling of the shafts 41 and 42 is in part maintained by front and 
back stop assemblies 91 and 92 as shown in FIG. 4, with the front stop 
assembly 91 being also illustrated in FIG. 3 and the back stop assembly 92 
being also illustrated in FIG. 5. Referring to these figures, the 
assemblies 91 and 92 include front and back pairs 93 and 94 which are 
mounted so as to move axially transverse the machine 10 along respective 
front and rear pairs of drive screws 95 and 96 to move the upper inclined 
surfaces 97 and 98, respectively, of the wedge pairs 93 and 94 to raise 
and lower respective camming block pairs 99 and 100, each respectively 
rigidly secured to the bases of the vertically movable guides or slides 
53a and 53b. 
The front and rear wedge drive screws 95 and 96 are rotatably mounted in 
front and rear brackets 103, 104 respectively secured to the front and 
rear housings 13a and 13b. The screws of each of the screw pairs 95 and 96 
are linked so as to move together in synchronism by front and rear belts 
105 and 106 respectively. The front and rear screw pairs 95 and 96 are 
manually operable by front and rear pressure control knobs 107 and 108 
rotatably supported on the front housing 13a on transverse shafts 109 and 
110 each respectively linked through a pulley and belt assembly 111 and 
112, respectively, to the screw pairs 95 and 96, respectively. The rear 
shaft 110 is also supported by the rear frame 13b. The movement of the 
wedge pairs 93 and 94 raises and lowers the block pairs 99 and 100 to 
limit the respective lower position of the shaft guides or slides 53a and 
53b with respect to the lower shaft 41. As such, the extreme position of 
the slides is controlled so as to regulate the relative tilt of the shafts 
41 and 42 with respect to each other and thus to limit the adjustability 
of the parallel relationship between the upper and lower shafts 42 and 41, 
respectively. Hydraulic rams 81 and 82 drive the slides 53a, 53b against 
the lower limit set by the wedge pairs 93 and 94 to cause a deflection of 
the shafts 41 and 42 at the planes of the recesses or yokes 40a and 40b. 
As a result of this deflection, the contacting cylinders 77 and 78 are 
driven together at precise controlled pressure by bending moments along 
the cantilevered ends 47 and 68 of the shafts 41 and 42 to the spherical 
bearings 73 and 74. 
FIGS. 3, 5 and 6 show in greater detail the slidable mounting between the 
guides or slides 53a and 53b and the housings 13a and 13b. More 
particularly, with respect to the front slide 53a as shown in FIGS. 3 and 
6, the slide 53a is provided with a pair of rollers 121 rotatably mounted 
to the insert housing or collar 48 so as to rollably contact a pair of 
plates 123 mounted to the side of the slide 53a. The length of the plates 
123 need only be short in that the motion of the slide 53 is very small 
and need only be sufficient to move the upper shaft 42 enough to provide 
clearance for the paper web 24 while it was being inserted between the 
roller assemblies 21 and 22. Similarly, a roller 125 is rotatably attached 
on a bracket 126 to the collar 48 and disposed perpendicular to the shaft 
42 so as to ride on a plate 127 secured to the back of the front slide 53a 
as shown in FIG. 6. Similarly, rollers 128 and 129 and 130 are provided at 
the rear housing 13b to guide and slidably support the rear slide 53b in 
the housing 13b. 
In operation, once the web 24 is inserted between the cylinders 77 and 78, 
the tilt of the shafts 41 and 42 is adjusted, and the operating printing 
pressure is set by setting the knobs 107 and 108 to position the wedge 
pairs 93 and 94. Then, the hydraulic rams 81, 82 when activated drive the 
guides or slides 53a, 53b against the stop positions between the cam 
blocks 99 and 100 and the wedges 93 and 94, respectively. This presses the 
cylinder assemblies 21 and 22 together, causing them to self adjust about 
the bearings 73 and 74 to balance the printing pressure across the width 
of the web 24.