Patent ID: 8739702

Claim:
A printing plate loading apparatus configured to load plates from either a plate stack or cassette onto a printing plate imaging device comprising: a plate pallet wherein said plate pallet comprises a stack of printing plates positioned on said plate pallet wherein said stack of printing plates are positioned on said plate pallet as originally packed at a plate manufacturing site and wherein said stack of printing plates are not from a cassette; an automatic plate loader ( 100 ); a plate cassette unit ( 110 , 310 ) wherein said automatic plate loader is configured to receive a cassette ( 112 ) from said plate cassette unit via a cassette bi-directional path ( 114 ) into a selected cassette position in said automatic plate loader; and a plate loading system ( 102 ) in said automatic plate loader wherein said plate loading system is configured to load said printing plates directly from said stack of printing plates positioned on said plate pallet into said imaging device or alternatively to load said printing plates from a cassette which is in said selected cassette position into said imaging device.