Cylinder impurity remover apparatus

Abstract

A removable, compact and easily accessible cylinder impurity remover apparatus has a wiping position for removing impurities from a rotatable printing plate cylinder on a printing press and a non-wiping position. The impurity remover removeably slides or swings into position for wiping a plate on the plate cylinder. Most preferably, a pressure source acts on two pistons to move two parallel reciprocably mounted shafts and a wiper blade mounted thereon to the wiping position. Both the pistons and shafts are preferably contained inside an actuator bar, which is mounted parallel to a printing plate cylinder. As the wiper blade moves forward to the wiping position, a bias member is compressed and remains compressed until the pressure source stops, allowing the bias member to automatically retract the reciprocably mounted shafts and wiper blade to a non-wiping position. According to one embodiment of the invention, the actuator bar is mounted on the top side of a primary support bar having a shaped track to permit a sliding movement into and out of the printing press. According to a second embodiment of the invention, the actuator bar is pivotally connected to a first main side support and the opposing end of the actuator bar is receivable in a docking portion of a second main side support for pivoting movement relative to the printing press. Both embodiments are compact and allow for the operator to easily access the wiper blade for maintenance and cleaning.