Agfa Corporation

Miles Inc.

Agfa Division, Bayer Corporation

Thomas K Hebert

John W Edwards, Jr

Richard James Lynch

John L Colfer

Philip A Rombult

Libor N Krupica

David B Larsen

Mark E Tellam

Lawrence S Blake

Arthur J Bellemore

Peter Austin

Edward L Kelley

James D Waterman

James M Argiros

Gregg R King

Terrence Michael Sangwine

John A Morrell

A method for aligning a printing plate, prior to imaging, on a platesetter includes the steps of: determining a leading edge of the printing plate; feeding the printing plate by the leading edge onto punch equipment resident on the platesetter; centering the printing plate on the platesetter along the leading edge; punching one or more notches along the leading edge of the printing plate according to a predetermined punch configuration; securing the leading edge and a trailing edge to a support surface of the platesetter with respect to registration pins located on platesetter; determining a location of a vertical edge of one of the notches, the vertical edge defined as being perpendicular to the leading edge; and determining a location with respect to the vertical edge of the one notch for transferring an image onto the printing plate.

Method for determining an image area to be exposed on a printing plate

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for cleaning a coating material from a surface of a print substrate mounted on the plate cylinder of a printing press using an ultrasonic acoustic cleaning apparatus. The method comprises: applying a cleaning solution onto a surface of the print substrate, rotating the plate cylinder to displace the print substrate under an ultrasonic acoustic cleaning apparatus to dislodge a coating material from the surface of the print substrate, and removing the dislodged coating material and the cleaning solution from the print substrate using a vacuum system.

Method and apparatus for cleaning coating materials from a substrate

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for applying a coating material onto a print substrate mounted on a plate cylinder of a printing press. The method comprising: delivering a supply of the coating material to a distributive surface of an ultrasonic horn, the distributive surface controlling a flow of the coating material to an active edge of the ultrasonic horn, and atomizing the coating material at the active edge of the ultrasonic horn and directing the atomized coating material onto a surface of the print substrate. The present invention also provides a multi-purpose ultrasonic acoustic coating/cleaning system for applying a coating material onto, and cleaning the coating material from, a print substrate.

Ultrasonic method for applying a coating material onto a substrate and for cleaning the coating material from the substrate

A method, which is implemented via software on a computer, configures punches to be used on a web or sheet handling machine. The method includes: determining a queue of jobs to be processed on the machine; gathering setup information for each job; defining a punch configuration for each job; establishing punch sharing between jobs; and generating one or more punch configuration files for each job. The method can be transferred to a computerized controller via a computer-readable medium containing punch configuration code.

Punch configuration system and method

A media receiving cassette is disclosed for use in a system in which a web of media is transferred from a supply cassette to the receiving cassette. The media receiving cassette includes a housing, a rotatable core, and a spring biased grasping mechanism. The housing includes first and second opposing ends, and at least one of the ends includes a generally circular track therein that includes an extended portion which extends radially outwardly. The rotatable core is coupled to the first and second opposing ends of the housing such that an axis of rotation of the core extends through each of the first and second ends. The spring biased grasping mechanism is attached to the rotatable core via at least one spring. The grasping mechanism includes a tracking member that engages the generally circular track such that the grasping mechanism is permitted to move radially outwardly away from the core when the tracking member is positioned in the extended portion of the generally circular track to thereby permit the media to be received in the core. The grasping mechanism is permitted to move radially inwardly toward the core when the tracking member is positioned in a location other than in the extended portion of the generally circular track.

Media cassette for imaging system

A method and apparatus for mounting a supply roll to a rotatable support shaft in an imaging system. The apparatus includes a first collet/collar assembly for accurately positioning the supply roll at a desired location on the support shaft, and a second collet/collar assembly for frictionally coupling the support shaft to an interior surface of a supply core of the supply roll using a deformable gland.

Method and apparatus for mounting a supply roll or recording media to a support shaft in an imaging system

A guide method and apparatus is provided for use in an imaging system in which media is moved through the system in a first direction. The guide apparatus includes a roller unit for contacting a surface of the media and maintains contact with the surface of the media as the media moves in the first direction, and a retraction unit for separating the roller unit from the media. In an embodiment, the guide apparatus includes a carriage that moves radially toward and away from an internal drum so that the leading portion of media may be held against the internal drum. In other embodiments the guide apparatus includes a carriage that moves along the inner surface of an internal drum together with the leading portion of media. The method guides media in an imaging system in which media having a curled leading edge is moved through the system in a first direction along an inner surface of a cylindrical drum. The method includes the steps of: radially outwardly moving a roller toward the inner surface of the cylindrical drum; contacting a surface of the media that is proximate to the curled leading edge, and maintaining contact with the surface of the media as the media moves in the first direction along the inner surface of the cylindrical drum while inhibiting movement of the media in a direction transverse to the first direction; and radially inwardly moving the roller away from the inner surface of the cylindrical drum.

Guide method and apparatus for use in an internal drum imaging system

A cylindrical component is secured in a slot of a mechanical assembly. The slot is defined by two registration surfaces which meet at a vertex and a third surface which meets one of the registration surfaces. The securing method includes: placing the cylindrical component into contact with the two registration surfaces; applying a force F,against the cylindrical component causing compression of the cylindrical component into the two registration surfaces; and applying an anti-rotational force against the third surface to prevent redirection of the force F,. One fastener which uses the above method includes: a surface which contacts the cylindrical component; a threaded engagement mechanism which secures the fastener to the mechanical assembly through a clearance hole in the fastener; and a protruded section which prevents rotation of the fastener by engagement with the third surface.

Method and device for securing a cylindrical component to a mechanical assembly

A media transport bridge is an integral media transport device within an internal drum laser imagesetter that transports media from an imaging area in the drum to an external processor or intermediate buffer. Five pairs of rollers transport the film over the drum. A first stage of the bridge includes a first pair of rollers driven independently so that the first stage is removable and replaceable with a take-up cassette if desired. A friction drive within the imagesetter is adaptable to drive either the first stage or the take-up cassette when installed. Upon removal of the first stage, an automatic adjustment of the bridge is performed to balance the pivotally mounted bridge. The media is moved into the bridge by a pair of drum rollers while the first stage is synchronized with the other four pairs of rollers in the bridge and monitored to keep a slack loop of media at the first stage rollers to eliminate perturbations in the media. A mechanical flag sensor changes state to slow and speed up the bridge rollers to maintain the slack loop.

Method and apparatus for pivotally mounted media transport bridge with

A non-rotating optical shield is generally cylindrical in shape and surrounds a rotating optical deflector to reduce airflow and optical distortion, as well as acoustic noise. A beam entrance aperture is provided in an end of the shield allowing an input beam to project onto the rotating deflector along the deflector's spin axis. The entrance aperture is sealed by a window to prevent air from being drawn into the shield by the action of the rotating optical deflector. The deflected beam exits the shield through a beam exit aperture in the side of the shield which is enclosed by an optical element. Clearances between the shield and the rotating deflector are minimal. The shield reduces temperature gradients in the surrounding air thus reducing optical distortions caused by changes in refractive indices of the deflector and surrounding air. An additional feature of the shield is a fan-like portion which extends radially outward from the cylindrical body portion of the shield at the beam exit aperture, to enclose the exit beam as it scans through as range of angles. The fan-like portion extends as far along the exit beam path as desired and advantageously reduces acoustical noise generated by the rotating optical deflector.

Optical enclosure for high speed rotating beam deflector

An integrated rotary drive apparatus for driving an element to be rotated in a controlled manner, comprises; a coupling shaft coupled to the element to be rotated, a drive shaft having a hollow portion within which the coupling shaft engages, a shaftless DC motor armature coupled to the coupling shaft for directly driving the coupling shaft, and a flywheel and rotary encoder disk coupled to the drive shaft to rotate therewith. The integrated rotary drive further includes a first enclosure section, for mounting to a non-rotating frame member for supporting the integrated rotary drive, and a second enclosure section mounted to the first enclosure section, for supporting a non-rotating optical encoder reader in proximity to the rotary encoder disk for providing a feedback signal, and for supporting a non-rotating DC motor stator in proximity to the DC motor armature for driving the DC motor armature when a DC current is applied to the stator.

Integrated rotary drive apparatus

A media guide for assisting in threading the head end of a rolled, radiation sensitive media through an imaging station in an imaging device. The media guide has a longitudinally extending arcuate input media guide and a parallel longitudinally extending arcuate output media guide with the open arcuate surfaces thereof facing in the same direction. A longitudinally extending imaging aperture slot is positioned between and parallel to the arcuate input and output media guides. The input side of the imaging aperture slot is located above the output side of the aperture to prevent the media from catching in the aperture slot.

Growing community of inventors

Groveland, MA, United States of America

Thomas K Hebert