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Description  |
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to web printing apparatus, for example, the type
used in the manufacture of business forms. Such forms are, for the most
part, printed from paper or light card stock web material, and may be left
as a continuous web, sheeted, or folded, collected either single or
collated in multiples, with lines of perforation between the successive
forms to assist in separating them at the time of their use.
Equipment for manufacturing such forms is similar in some ways to other web
printing presses, however, it includes additional devices for such
operations as perforating, imprinting, numbering, partial or complete
perforation either transversely or longitudinally of the web, slitting and
either rewinding or zig-zag folding of the finished material. There may be
more than one printing couple or tower, usually for offset printing. The
printing may be on one or both sides of the web in one or more colors, and
the various numbering, perforating and punching operations must be
registered with the printed image or images on the web. Depending upon the
size or complexity of the forms, they may be printed in any number of
different layouts, from a single image to many multiples of an image for
each printing impression.
The press operator, in setting up the press for a particular job, is
confronted with a large number of setups and adjustments, which as is well
known in the art, take substantial time in order to achieve proper
registration of all the various operations required to complete the
printing of a form. For example, the proper stock must be selected, and a
roll of it mounted in the unwind apparatus of the press. This roll must be
positioned to locate the web to follow a predetermined path best for
alignment with the following operations in the press. The plate and
blanket cylinders of the press must be aligned in order to locate the
printed image(s) on the web, both laterally and longitudinally.
Longitudinal adjustment of course involves rotational adjustment of the
plate and/or blanket cylinders. Then, depending on the needs of the job
and the complexity of the form, the operator must set up further apparatus
such as an imprinter, where a rubber or plastic type plate is mounted on a
cylinder to add an imprint in a specified area of each form image;
numbering units which must be set up and adjusted to print successively
different numbers on one or more areas of the forms; and the various
devices used for punching and perforating the web. In general, a line hole
perforator is provided for at least one, and usually both, edges of each
form. They must be mounted to produce the line holes in proper
registration with the top and bottom of the printed image. Ordinarily a
vertical perforator is provided to form perforations inboard of the line
holes from the edge of the form, file hole punches may be added and
registered to the image where needed, and cross perforators, or partial
perforators may be set up and used, depending upon the job.
For instance, if the particular job on the press is to become part of a
multi-sheet form, the cross perforations may not be added at this time,
the web may be rewound, and one or more webs may be run with the same or
similar printing in following runs, then the two or more rolls resulting
from these runs may be moved to a collator and combined, probably along
with interleaved carbon paper. The cross perforating operation is
performed on the collator along with gluing or other operations to attach
the several webs. In such case, zig-zag folding may also be accomplished
at the end of the collator, or the combined webs can even be severed into
individual forms and stacked for loading into boxes, etc.
While some efforts have been made in the printing portion of business forms
presses to adopt image registration systems known in the printing press
art, no effort has been made to provide a total registration system for
the many different and optionally used mechanisms of a business forms
press. Typical setup or makeready operations may require substantial time,
in some cases time will be in excess of the time required to complete a
run. For example, these machines can operate in excess of 1,000 feet per
minute. Assuming a form of twelve inches in length, that speed equals
1,000 forms per minute, and thus a run of 20,000 forms requires only about
twenty minutes. On the other hand, the makeready operation for such a job
can require at least thirty to forty-five minutes, in many cases
substantially more.
In addition, there is a trend toward combination of traditionally
commercial printing work with business forms printing. Printing houses are
seeking equipment which can do high quality multi-color work along with
the flexibility to manufacture a wide variety of forms, inserts or
attachments to forms, etc. Increasing business use of computerized forms
for billing (including a return envelope in the form), advertising, and
related functions, has also added to the complexity of the forms, and
demand for greater quantities of forms.
In view of the foregoing, there is need to simplify the makeready
operations for business forms presses, and without sacrificing in any way
the necessary accuracy required to register the various operations of the
press. Such simplification can result not only in a saving of makeready
time, but also can result in substantial savings of material, since
quicker, more accurate makeready minimizes the amount of waste required to
run the web through the press and achieve final registration adjustments.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention, therefore, provides a novel comprehensive system for
machines to operate on web stock such as paper and like materials,
especially for the purpose of producing business forms and similar
products, in which makeready time actually required to set up the machine
is reduced to a minimum. In actuality, most of the makeready adjustments
can be set into the machine with this system even before it is necessary
to thread the web through all the stations of the machine. In addition to
a substantial saving in makeready time for the initial set up of the
machine, it is also possible to realize a substantial saving in the web
stock which otherwise might be wasted during a state of the art makeready
process. With the system of this invention, only a relatively small amount
of web stock need be run through the machine before it has been finally
adjusted and ready to go into actual production of the particular product
being made at that time.
In accordance with the invention, a business forms press, or like machine,
is provided with various dials, scales, and indicating/adjusting
mechanisms which are all related to common dimensional locations, both
lateral (across the web) with respect to the various stations of the
machine, and circumferentially (along the web) with respect to the rotary
drive of the machine such as the main line shaft and the various gear
boxes from which line shaft power is taken for transfer to the various
machine operating stations.
The unwind station (rear) of the machine, at which the roll of web stock is
supported, in other words the supply station of the machine, is provided
with markings and mechanism which enable the web edge to be located with
respect to a lateral zero reference position. In the case of the specific
embodiment shown, this position is defined as four inches inward toward
the center line of the machine from the inside of the gear side or driving
side of a business forms press. Likewise, each of the various stations
involving printing on the web, both conventional printing operations and
numbering, etc., together with mechanisms for perforating, punching, and
slitting, are all provided with adjustable mechanisms and precise
indicators which relate the setting of such mechanisms to zero positions.
These are the aforementioned lateral zero position, and a circumferential
zero position which may be determined, for example, as the spacing between
successive operations on a web by the main cross-perforation blade. The
mechanisms and indicators are all related such that a composition
operation may be performed at a composing table, and a record made to be
used as a makeready instruction sheet to the press operator, whereby each
adjusting mechanism, at each station, can be preset with precision. The
various dials and scales are related to the actual location of the various
operations on the web. This enables the operator to set up the machine
quickly and accurately, after which it is necessary only to run a few
lengths of stock through the machine to achieve the final adjustment.
Accordingly, the primary object of this invention is to provide a system of
makeready devices on a business forms press such that the press can be
accurately preset to enable a machine operator to minimize the amount of
trial and effort required during the makeready process for each job
performed on the press; to provide such a system wherein each station of
the press is provided with adjusting mechanisms, which enable the operator
to establish quickly, relationships of the particular job of such
mechanism with reference to common circumferential and lateral references;
and to provide a novel system in which makeready instructions can readily
be prepared in a composing room, and utilized by the machine operator to
set up his press accurately from such instructions, with a minimum trial
and error adjustment.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from
the following description, the accompanying drawings and the appended
claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a general side view of a machine for printing and manufacturing
business forms and similar items, showing the general arrangement of the
various stations of the machine;
FIG. 2 is a plan view, with parts broken away to show other underlying
parts, of a typical multipart business form the sheets of which are
products of the machine;
FIGS. 3 and 4 show details of tools for preparing a typical instruction
sheet used in alignment of the various adjustable mechanisms in the
different stations of the machine, according to the needs of a particular
job;
FIG. 5 is a view of another mechanism which can be used to prepare the
instruction sheet;
FIG. 6 is a view showing the unwind station of the machine, including the
support provided for a supply roll of paper stock or the like, and the
adjustment mechanism for setting the position of an edge of the web
unwound from the roll in order to define the start of the path the web
follows through the machine;
FIG. 7 is a view illustrating the register adjustment mechanisms
incorporated in the printing stations of the machine;
FIG. 8 illustrates the mechanism for lateral and circumferential register
adjustment in the printing stations;
FIG. 9 shows web compensators and other adjusting devices in the imprinting
and numbering stations;
FIG. 10 shows details of registering adjustment for the imprinting station;
FIG. 11 illustrates the mechanism for locating the area of attachment of an
imprint plate or device on the appropriate cylinder of the imprint
station;
FIG. 12 shows the mechanism for determining and adjusting the location of
the numbering machines at the numbering station;
FIG. 13 shows the mechanism for registering the one or more punches and
dies used at the file punch station;
FIG. 14 shows the registering mechanism for the marginal or line hole punch
and die mechanisms;
FIG. 15 shows further details of the line hole punch and die mounting;
FIG. 16 shows the mechanism for aligning and registering the blades of the
cross perforation device; and
FIG. 17 shows the mechanism for mounting and registering one or more
slitting wheels of a vertical perforator or slitter.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Machine Organization
The machine shown in FIG. 1 comprises a base 10 supporting, in longitudinal
alignment a number of stations at which various operations are formed on a
web of paper or like material in order to print, mark, and perforate the
web repeatedly. Such machines are per se well known, and details of them
are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,249,316; 3,250,528; 3,369,436;
3,398,618; 3,592,133; 3,883,131; and 3,938,437. The drive system,
including the line shaft, gears, etc., is shown schematically for purposes
of clarity, it being understood that such drive is conventional and is
arranged in order to operate the rotating and other moving parts at the
various stations of the machine in exact synchronism, such that operations
formed at any station are in register with operations performed at other
stations.
The unwind station 12 includes a support for the roll 14 from which the web
is pulled, and also includes mechanism for assuring that the web is
unrolled at synchronous speed and as nearly as possible under constant
tension. Suitable devices for this purpose are explained in detail in U.S.
Pat. No. 3,249,316. Details of the mounting and adjustment of the shaft 15
supporting the roll 14 are shown in FIG. 6, and described later in detail.
After the unwind station 12, understanding that the web 20 is unwound and
progresses from left to right as viewed in FIG. 1, there are first and
second print stations 22 and 23 which include conventional printing
cylinders, etc., for printing repetitively on the web by means of offset,
letterpress, flexographic, or gravure printing, as may be desired. It is
understood that in some instances there may be only one print station. In
the embodiment shown, offset printing equipment is generally illustrated,
and two print stations are shown with turning bars 25 therebetween. The
web can optionally be threaded around the turn bars in order to reverse
the surface of the web presented to the second print station 23, such an
arrangement sometimes being referred to as backprinting. The print
stations can, if desired, print in different colors, and obviously
additional print stations can be provided if desired.
Following the second print station, there is a station for performing an
operation known in the business forms printing art as "imprinting". This
station is shown generally at 30, and further details are shown in FIGS.
9-11, as explained hereafter. In general, a repetitive printing operation
is performed on the web at station 30 by one or more flexible letterpress
type plates, sometimes referred to as "patches", which are secured to the
surface of a supporting cylinder in predetermined registered locations.
The printing operation is generally similar to letterpress printing, with
ink appropriately being applied to the raised image areas of the imprint
patches.
Following the imprint station, the web passes to a numbering station 35;
see FIGS. 9 and 12. Here, one or more numbering machines are mounted to
print different number combinations on the web. The numbering machines are
per se known, and function generally to change the number printed on
successive portions of the web, either in straight numerical progression,
reverse progression, or in some progression where certain numbers are
skipped, depending upon the size and complexity of the particular job, and
the number of these machines being used.
After numbering, the web passes to the so-called file punch station 40,
where one or more rotary punch and die mechanisms may operate on the web,
as shown in FIG. 13, to form so-called "file holes" in areas of the web.
These holes are sometimes provided in business forms as a convenience to
the user, being intended to receive posts, brads, or other retainers to
hold the separated sheet or form in a file. The holes may be located at
any convenient point within the area of the form, depending upon the needs
of the customer and his filing equipment.
After the file punch station, the web is threaded through a line hole punch
station 42 (see also FIG. 14), wherein appropriate rotary punches and dies
can form so called "line holes", usually in marginal regions of the forms.
These holes are needed particularly in forms intended for use in
autographic registers, and in multipart forms made up of several webs,
wherein the web prepared in this machine may subsequently be combined with
similar webs in a collating machine.
Following the line hole station 42, there is a perforating station 45,
which may incorporate several different types of perforators and/or
slitter devices for forming partition lines of severance both crosswise
and lengthwise of the web. Some of these lines are indicated in the
typical form shown in FIG. 2, and described hereafter. The first part of
the perforating station may incorporate a cylinder containing cross
perforator blades, such as shown in FIG. 16, followed by small slitter
wheels arranged to contact the web intermittently, these usually being
known as skip perforators, then followed possibly by a second cross
perforator cylinder, and subsequently followed by one or more vertical
perforators which perform lengthwise discontinuous slits or cuts in the
webs, and then followed by slitter wheels which make continuous lengthwise
slits in the web.
At this station operations on the web are essentially complete except for
determining the form in which the web is taken from the machine. If the
finished web is part of a multilayered form, then it will be rewound onto
a take up roll 48, and can be carried away on any convenient device to a
collating machine or other mechanism for further operations in which the
finished web is unrolled from the roll 48. On the other hand, if the
particular job is concerned with a single layer form, or with some other
printed product such as consecutively numbered tickets, cards, or the
like, the web may optionally be supplied to a zig-zag folder which
comprises the folding cylinders 50 and delivery table 52. Details of a
typical folder are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,250,528. It is also
possible to sever the web into individual sheets at this station, as is
well known in the art.
The various stations are driven at the same speed from a motor 55 via line
shaft 56 and gear boxes 58. Clutches (not shown) are conventionally
connected between the gear boxes and the various stations to allow for
selective connection of power to each of them.
From the foregoing it will be appreciated that a number of the operations
at the different stations broadly described are optional, depending on the
particular need of the job, thus the machine may be used in many different
combinations, with some stations operative, and others not functioning,
depending upon the types of printing required (if any) and the types and
locations of punched holes and various perforations and slits in the
particular job requirement. A typical machine, such as that shown, is
capable of multicolor printing, and/or printing on both sides of the web
together with printing of numbers in desired progression on each image
area of the web, along with the necessary punched holes and/or
perforations, all in a continuous stream with the web operating at speeds
up to the order of 1200 feet per minute. It is thus necessary to provide
for quick and accurate adjustment of the various mechanisms at the
different stations, when these mechanisms are required to operate
according to a particular job specficiation.
Typical Form Product
FIG. 2 shows a typical multipart business form, the individual parts of
which can be printed on the machine shown in FIG. 1. The material used may
be different colors of paper stock, and may be either of the "no carbon"
type, or the form parts may have sheets of disposable carbon paper (not
shown) interleaved between them. The assembly of the separate parts of the
form and the carbon paper (if used) can be accomplished on a typical
collating machine such as shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,303,083.
The form shown in FIG. 2 comprises three parts, the top or original F1,
which may be printed for example on white paper; the first copy F2, which
might be printed on a web of colored paper, and typically might be an
instruction copy for a shipping department; and F3, the third part, which
may be printed on yet a different color of paper, and may typically be a
packing slip. In the form shown, the identification of the addressee on
form F3 may be a removable ticket F3a which can be used for a shipping
label, being separated from the packing slip F3 when the package to which
the form pertains is shipped to a customer.
The continuous forms are separated from each other by cross perforation
lines CP, the forms are provided with file holes FH for convenience in
filing some or all of the parts of the form according to the preference of
the user, and the marginal portions have line holes LH, which may be used
to feed the separate parts of the form through the collating apparatus
which assembles them, and also may be used to feed the assembled multipart
form through various devices such as computer printers, autographic
registers, etc.
The marginal parts of the forms are separated from the body of the form by
vertical perforations VP, such that these marginal parts may be removed
from the form in its final use. The shipping ticket F3a is outlined on
form F3 by partial perforation lines SP and PP, which intersect the cross
perforation line CP, and the vertical separation line VP, to define the
ticket which may be removed from the form F3. Each form is provided with a
unique order number, corresponding on all three parts of the form, and one
copy of the form, for example part F3, may be imprinted or overprinted to
obliterate information which appears on the other parts, but is
unimportant or undesired on one of the form copies. Such imprinting is
indicated on form F3 by the darkened mottled area. On any of the parts of
the form, areas such as particular columns, particular lettering or
designs, etc., may be printed in different colors, either for the purpose
of design/appearance, or in order to set out some particular column of
information by reason of its importance on the final form.
Job Preparation - General
To reduce time and effort needed in performing the job preparations prior
to printing, and to permit an effective reduction in the total job
makeready time, the system of the invention provides for accurately
reading and recording the composition to be printed. A typical record is
shown in Appendix A. From it the pressman, using specially designed
hardware and coordinated register scales and dials at the various press
stations, can efficiently prepare his press in a minimum amount of time.
In the preferred embodiment all readings and press settings are made from a
manufactured established "0" position, both circumferentially and
laterally across the web. For example, circumferential registration is
related to the main blade of the cross perforating cylinder (station 45)
as the "0" position. This is indicated through a dial attached to the
cylinder and a pointer mounted on the frame. Those presses not having a
folding cross perforator can use the line hole reel position as a "0"
reference.
Lateral registration "0" position is established by locating a roll 14 on
the unwind shaft 15, positioned such that the edge of the maximum printed
image for the press capacity is located four inches from the inside of the
frame on the gear side of the press, i.e., the side opposite that shown in
FIG. 1. Lateral dimensions are measured from the gear side of the press.
Circumferential dimensions may be read with reference to the main blade of
the cross perforating cylinder.
Dials and scales are calibrated to obtain an accuracy of .+-.0.015 inches.
Circumferential and lateral position at the various stations can be
adjusted within 0.001 inches. Press functions included in the system are
lateral register of the offset plate cylinder, numbering machines, imprint
cylinder, file and marginal punch reels, slitters and vertical perforating
wheels. Turn recording dial knobs are used on all units for this function.
Circumferential register is accomplished by the use of position dials on
the blanket cylinder, numbering shaft, imprint cylinder, file punch shafts
and innercross perforating cylinders. Turn recording dial knobs are also
used on all running compensators. Details of these adjustments and their
indicators are later described in detail.
Layout Table
The system includes a special composing or layout table from which entries
are determined as to coordinate measurements which relate to the lateral
(across) and circumferential (around) positioning in the various sections
of the apparatus. The table includes a smooth flat surface 60 having
mounted or formed thereon a lower grid template 62, over which various
types of copy can be located in accordance with the desired location of
text or other markings or holes on that copy relative to the entire job. A
flexible transparent overlay sheet 64 is provided, having the same grid
work pattern as is formed on the grid template 62, and the overlay sheet
is hinged or otherwise attached to the table, such that the grid patterns
precisely correspond when overlay sheet is properly positioned, as shown
in FIG. 3. If desired, the table surface 60 may also incorporate sockets
65 to receive pins (not shown) for a pin register system which may be used
in registration of the plates of the printing unit or units.
The entire area of the grid template 62 and of the overlay 64 represents
the maximum available area for processing the web at any one station, as
determined by the press size. Certain conventions have been adopted for
convenience in use, and these are also of assistance in explaining the
system. Thus, as noted as FIG. 3, the top of the supporting grid template
62, and the top of the overlay 64, correspond to the tail of a printing
plate. The bottom of FIG. 3 represents the head of the printing plate, the
part that passes first through the nip with the blanket cylinder. The
righthand edge corresponds to the gear side of the press. The left side of
FIG. 3 represents the operator side of t | | |
