Patent ID: 8181572

Claim:
A method of indicating a unique match of sleeve and printing cylinder, comprising the steps of: marking a selected cylinder with a first prescribed convention of the symbolic form of X1X2, wherein the sub-symbol X1 represents any multiplicity of letters or numbers, or combinations thereof, to indicate the outside diameter of said cylinder and the sub-symbol X2 represents any multiplicity of letters or numbers, or combinations thereof, to uniquely indicate the selected one of several cylinders having a common outside diameter; mounting a selected sleeve onto the cylinder having an inside diameter to fit said cylinder and an outside diameter appropriate to a repeat length of a selected printing plate; determining information regarding the variability of the total indicated run-out and taper of the sleeved cylinder; dressing the sleeve to achieve cylindricity based on the variability information; marking the sleeve with a second prescribed convention of the symbolic form X1X2Y1Y2, wherein X1X2 represents the cylinder marking and the sub-symbol Y1 represents any multiplicity of letters or numbers, or combinations thereof, to indicate the outside diameter of the sleeve and the sub-symbol Y2 represents any multiplicity of letters or numbers, or combinations thereof, to uniquely indicate the selected one of several sleeves having the same general outside diameter and which have also been dressed in accordance with variability information determined while mounted to the same cylinder; and repeating the above steps for each cylinder and sleeve combination in a plurality of cylinder and sleeve combinations.