Patent ID: 7707936

Claim:
A printing unit of a printing press comprising: a first frame element and a second frame element; means for supporting at least one of said first frame element and said second frame element for movement in a horizontal movement direction, between a closed position and an open position, to vary a horizontal spacing distance between said first and second frame elements; first and second laterally spaced frame plates forming said first frame element; third and fourth laterally spaced frame plates forming said second frame element; at least a first cylinder extending between, and being supported by said first and second laterally spaced frame plates, said first and second frame plates being spaced laterally apart from each other in a direction of an axis of rotation of said first cylinder; at least a second cylinder extending between, and being supported by said third and fourth laterally spaced frame plates, said third and fourth frame plates being spaced laterally apart from each other in a direction of an axis of rotation of said second cylinder; at least first, second and third cooperating locking devices on each of said first and second frame elements, each of said at least first, second and third locking devices on each of said first frame elements being adapted to cooperate with an associated one of said at least first, second and third locking devices on each of said second frame elements and to fix said frame plates of said first and second frame elements in place when said first and second frame elements are abutting each other in response to said movement of at least one of said first and second frame elements into said closed position in said horizontal movement direction; and a first transverse centering element on one of said first and second laterally spaced frame plates of said first frame element and a second transverse centering element on a cooperating one of said third and fourth laterally spaced frame plates of said second frame element, said first transverse centering element including a tapered protrusion and being adapted to cooperate with a cooperatively shaped tapered cutout of said second transverse centering element to form a single transverse centering device which is usable to transversely align said adjacent ones of said first and second frame elements in a direction transverse to said horizontal movement direction when said tapered protrusion is moved into engagement with, and is received in said cooperatively shaped tapered cutout during said movement of at least one of said first frame element and said second frame element in said horizontal direction into said closed position, said first and second transverse centering elements being adapted to allow relative vertical movement between said first frame element and said second frame element.