Abstract: A multi-color printing machine comprises a print carrier supplying system including a print carrier supply unit, a print carrier transporting unit and a print carrier discharge unit, and a printing image supplying including at least two printing mechanisms each having a plate cylinder and an offset cyinder, the offset cylinders being arranged in contact with one another and of the offset cylinder being arranged in contact with the print carrier transporting unit, the print carrier transporting unit being formed as a central printing cylinder which cooperates with the print carrier withdrawal unit and with the print carrier supply unit and is provided with at least one gripper element, the printing image supplying system also including an endless band-shaped printing image collecting element associated with at least first and last of the offset cylinders of first and last of the printing mechanisms through at least one connecting cylinder.

Abstract: A control system for controlling a plurality of subprocess means, for example adjustment drives for ink zone adjusting screws in a plurality of modes of operation. The control system includes an input device, a start device and a number of control subsystems arranged in groups and connected to respective selection systems. The latter are in turn connected to a main control selection circuit which is in connection with the start device. Each group of the control subsystems and each group of the control selection circuits are connected via a first control code bus and a second control code bus, respectively, to the main control selection circuit.

Abstract: A hydraulic drive for a multi-color, sheet-fed rotary printing machine assembled of a plurality of consecutively arranged press units each having a set of sheet-processing cylinders and gear trains interconnecting the cylinders, is constituted by the following combination:a plurality of constant-flow, radial piston type hydraulic motors directly connected for driving a cylinder in each press unit;a first hydraulic control means including a main directional control valve and an auxiliary or switching directional control valve connected between the source of pressure fluid and the hydraulic motors; anda second hydraulic control means including a control cylinder-and-piston unit assigned to each operational radial piston of the motors and controlled by the latter so as to overlap in the cross-over position of the motors both the intake port and the discharge port for working fluid.

Abstract: A printing press includes an impression cylinder formed with axially directed channels for sheet-clamping means, a radiant dryer arranged above the impression cylinder to radiate heat on the printed sheet, a screening hood mechanism tiltably mounted for movement between an inactive position in which the sheet is exposed to heat rays from the dryer and a screening position; the driving motor is connected to the power source by two parallel power supply circuits each including a separate switch, one of the switches being actuated by a relay which in turn is actuated by series-connected contacts closed respectively when the dryer is in operation, when the driving motor is disconnected, when the printing machine stops, and when the channel for the clamping means on the impression cylinder is not facing the dryer.

Abstract: A sheet printing station is arranged between a sheet pick-up station and a sheet discharge station. A plurality of linear motors is provided, including electrically conductive rails which constitute the stators of the motors and are mounted at opposite lateral sides of the stations. Each of the rails form an endless loop which connects all of the stations. One or more carriages are mounted on the rails for travel along the same and constitute the armature of the respective motors. Sheet grippers are arranged on the carriage or carriages, and a control arrangement controls the travel of the carriage or carriages along the rails.

Abstract: A sheet-representing signal is registered by successive shift-register stages in simulation of the travel of a sheet through a printing machine. Signal detectors connected to different register stages actuate moving units which in turn change the state of activation of the functional units of the printing machine. Upon a changeover from one-side to two-side printing, there arises a sheet travel path length change composed of a fixed component determined by machine geometry and a variable component determined by sheet length. Each moving unit moves cyclically and can move the associated functional unit only during a certain portion of the cycle. Upon a printing mode changeover, moving units undergo a phase shift of their cycles of motion and signal detectors are disconnected from certain register stages and reconnected to others, thereby compensating for the variable and fixed components of the sheet travel path length change.

Abstract: In first and second modes, the arrangement prints on only one side or on both sides of a sheet, respectively. A sheet is transported along a predetermined path through the arrangement and passes printing devices cooperating to effect printing of the sheet. Changeovers from one to the other mode alter a portion of the sheet transport path, changing its length. A control system for the arrangement includes a shift register. When a sheet arrives at a predetermined location along the path, a sheet-representing signal is applied to the shift register. Shifting pulses applied to the shift register in synchronism with sheet travel cause the sheet-representing signal to travel through the shift register in simulation of sheet travel. As the sheet-representing signal reaches preselected shift-register stages, it causes an actuator associated with such stage to actuate a respective printing device.