Patent ID: 7392741

Claim:
A supporting and releasably holding device for a hub of a printing machine cylinder, which comprises a first pair of slidable supports parallelly displaceable along a first path independently from one another, a second pair of slidable supports parallelly displaceable along a second path parallel to said first path independently from one another, a main or cliché-carrying cylinder, and a screened or interlocking cylinder, each cylinder being supported for rotation at its hubs by respective supports of said first and second pair of supports, and drive means for each slidable support, wherein at least one slidable support of said first and said second pairs of supports for at least said main cylinder comprises a receiving seat with side inlet-outlet mouth designed to support for rotation a coupling member formed with a longitudinal slit for inserting/removing a respective hub of said main cylinder, and drive means for said coupling member to angularly displace it around its longitudinal axis in said receiving seat between a lateral open position, in which said longitudinal slit is positioned facing said inlet-outlet mouth for its respective hub of said main cylinder, and a closed position, in which said longitudinal slit is angularly displaced with respect to said inlet-outlet mouth.