Patent ID: 8377630

Claim:
A method of on-press development of a lithographic printing plate that includes a water-insoluble, oleophilic, radiation-imaged photosensitive (PS) coating defining image areas and nonimage areas adhered to a hydrophilic substrate, wherein the method comprises the sequential steps of: (a) applying a press ink emulsion containing fountain water in droplets distributed in an ink continuum as a film onto the entire PS coating to produce an inked PS coating on the plate; (b) transferring all nonimage areas of the inked PS coating and all of the ink film on the nonimage areas of the PS coating from the plate to a blanket roll while the image areas of the PS coating remain on the substrate, wherein the nonimage areas of the PS coating are transferred to the blanket roll in particulate form without dissolution in any fountain water such that no dissolved PS coating is present in the transferred fountain water; and (c) contacting the blanket roll with a paper leader to further transfer all the ink, fountain water, and particles of nonimage PS coating that were transferred to the blanket roll, from the blanket roll to the paper leader.