Patent ID: 7373878

Claim:
A digital printing apparatus for printing on objects, said apparatus comprising: a moveable blanket carrier having an exterior on which a printing blanket is disposed, the printing blanket having a plurality of blanket sections along the exterior of the carrier, with each blanket section being so placed along the carrier and being of such length as to transfer ink on the blanket section to a respective object to be printed which moves in contact with the respective blanket section; digitally controlled print heads arranged in a spaced apart relation along at least a portion of a path of the printing blanket and operative to print at least a single color in patterns and the print heads are directed so as to provide non-contact digitally controlled printing of a blanket section moved past the print heads by the blanket carrier; wherein several repeats of said at least one color are printed by said spaced apart digital print heads; an object transport device for transporting objects to be printed by contact with respective blanket sections of the blanket carrier after the print heads have printed the blanket section, the transport device including a plurality of supports for the objects to be printed, the supports being spaced apart on the transport device, the transport device being so shaped and being so positioned with respect to the blanket carrier as to move each object supported thereon in turn past a respective blanket section and in contact with the blanket sections sufficiently for enabling transfer of an ink image on the respective blanket section to the respective object then in contact with the blanket section, the transport device then transporting each object printed by a respective blanket section away from the blanket carrier for further processing.