Sony Corporation

Sohichi Kuwahara

Tatsumi Ito

Shigeyoshi Hirashima

Kazuo Kobayashi

Osamu Majima

An apparatus for making a printing plate in which a printing plate made of a thermoplastic resin sheet is wrapped around a plate cylinder and a laser beam from a laser source is irradiated on the printing plate to form holes in accordance with image information is comprised of an angle adjusting means for adjusting an irradiation angle of the laser beam from the laser source and control device for controlling the irradiation start position of the laser beam such that holes on the printing plate are made continuous at a predetermined angle. Thus, a printing plate having various dot patterns can be obtained only by adjusting the optical system of this apparatus and a printed product in which the occurrence of moire can be avoided can be obtained.

Apparatus for making a printing plate and a printing plate thereof

A printing plate formed of a thermoplastic resin sheet for gravure printing has the holes corresponding to pixels of image information arranged in rows and columns, with the rows being at an angle to the bottom edge of the sheet. The holes in the rows are aligned in columns and adjacent columns are offset by one half of one pixel. Slots are provided next to each hole to prevent ink from smearing between adjacent holes in the columns.

Gravure printing plate with angled and offset hole pattern and smear

Apparatus for making a plate cylinder of an intaglio plate that can be used in gravure printing. The apparatus includes a printing plate sheet made of a thermoplastic resin and wrapped around a metal cylinder. A semiconductor laser source irradiates the circumferential surface of the printing plate sheet with a laser beam to form concave portions or cells on the circumferential surface of the printing plate sheet in response to the tones of a picture. The sheet with the holes formed therein is used as a printing plate. A plate cylinder for intaglio printing is thus formed directly by using an electrical signal.

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa, Japan

Sohichi Kuwahara