Patent ID: 6981447

Claim:
An apparatus to aid loading and unloading of flexographic plates to and from an imager, comprising: a magazine containing a plurality of compartments each for holding a single flexographic plate, the compartments arranged vertically, and movable in a vertical direction, each respective compartment having a respective rest vertical position at a rest horizontal position, each respective compartment further having a loading vertical position at which the respective compartment is at a height for loading onto the imager; a lifting mechanism to lift and lower the compartments; and a control system to control the lifting and lowering by the lifting mechanism, such that a particular compartment is moved from its rest vertical position at the rest horizontal position to the loading vertical position at which the particular compartment is at the height for loading onto the imager or unloading from the imager, wherein each compartment, when at its loading vertical position, is movable horizontally from and to the rest horizontal position to and from a loading horizontal position configured for loading and unloading the plate on the compartment onto and from the imager, respectively, wherein the lifting mechanism is operative to lift and lower the compartments of the magazine one compartment at a time, and wherein the respective rest vertical positions of each of the compartments are lower than the loading vertical position such that a particular compartment pre-loaded with a plate is lifted from its rest vertical position to the loading vertical position, then moved while at the loading vertical position to the loading horizontal position for loading onto the imager.