Patent ID: 7823506

Claim:
A printing unit for printing a web of paper comprising: a frame; at least an upper printing group and a lower printing group, the upper printing group including an upper blanket cylinder and an upper plate cylinder, the lower printing group including a lower blanket cylinder and a lower plate cylinder; a cylinder support and movement mechanism moving the printing unit into at least one throw-on configuration and at least one throw-off configuration; and a controller for controlling the cylinder support and movement mechanism to move the upper blanket cylinder and lower blanket cylinder into the at least one throw-on configuration wherein the upper blanket cylinder is pressed against the lower blanket cylinder and the upper and lower blanket cylinders are pressed against the upper and lower plate cylinders, respectively, and the at least one throw-off configuration wherein the upper blanket cylinder is spaced apart from the lower blanket cylinder, such that the upper blanket cylinder is raised by a first height in the at least one throw-off configuration with respect to a position the upper blanket cylinder occupies in the at least one throw-on configuration, and the lower blanket cylinder is lowered by a second height in the at least one throw-off configuration with respect to another position the lower blanket cylinder occupies in a throw-on configuration, wherein the second height is different from the first height.