Patent ID: 6901858

Claim:
A plate cylinder for carrying a printing plate in a printing press, said printing plate having a leading plate end and a trailing plate end, said cylinder comprising: a cylinder body having an axis; a tensioning channel extending in an axial direction in said cylinder body, said channel having a contact surface which said leading plate end can bear against; a tensioning rail in said channel, said tensioning rail carrying a holding element and being movable transversely to said axial direction between an extended position, where said trailing plate end can be hooked on said rail after said leading plate end has been placed in said channel and said cylinder has been rotated, and a drawn-in position, where said holding element fixes said leading plate end against said contact surface and trailing plate end is tensioned; at least one spring element which loads said tensioning rail toward said drawn-in position; and a push rod which is displaceable in said axial direction and has cam surfaces which are effective to move said tensioning rail between said positions as said push rod is moved axially.