Abstract: An apparatus for and a method of loading and unloading of plates to and from an imager. The apparatus includes a loading area holding one single or a plurality of plates and an unloading area holding a single plate, the areas arranged vertically. The plate includes ultraviolet curable material. The apparatus includes a control system configured when in operation to control the automated loading and unloading and the apparatus elements therefor. One fully automatic version includes automatic loading from a stack or set of plate magazines and in the case that the plate includes a protective sheet thereon, includes removing the protective sheet from the plate. Some versions also include one or more ultraviolet sources to irradiate the flexographic plates with ultraviolet radiation during the automated loading and/or unloading. The ultraviolet sources are controlled by the same control system.

Abstract: An apparatus, a method, and a plate made by the method, e.g., using the apparatus. The apparatus includes a light tunnel of light reflective walls with polygonal cross-section like a kaleidoscope, and a light source, located at one end to produce light radiation to the inside of the light tunnel towards the other end. Light entering the light tunnel towards an inner reflective surface of a wall is reflected off the inner reflective surface so that it can emerge from the other end to cure a plate having photo-curable material thereon.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for positioning and aligning one or more pre-punched printing plates on a cylinder for imaging a plate in a computer-to-plate drum imaging device. The apparatus includes an imaging cylinder and a registration device connectable to the cylinder. The apparatus includes at least one groove and one pair of register pins, with a first register pin in a fixed position, and a second register pin movable in the groove to a second position, and collinear with the first register pin in the axial direction of the cylinder, arranged such that when connected to the cylinder, the registration device allows a plurality of pre-punched printing plates with variable widths to be positioned and aligned on the cylinder with simplicity.

Abstract: An apparatus for and a method of loading and unloading of plates to and from an imager. The apparatus includes a loading area holding one single or a plurality of plates and an unloading area holding a single plate, the areas arranged vertically. The plate includes ultraviolet curable material. The apparatus includes a control system configured when in operation to control the automated loading and unloading and the apparatus elements therefor. One fully automatic version includes automatic loading from a stack or set of plate magazines and in the case that the plate includes a protective sheet thereon, includes removing the protective sheet from the plate. Some versions also include one or more ultraviolet sources to irradiate the flexographic plates with ultraviolet radiation during the automated loading and/or unloading. The ultraviolet sources are controlled by the same control system.

Abstract: Particular embodiments include method embodiments and apparatus embodiments. One method embodiment comprises: placing a printing plate on an imaging device; imaging the plate according to imaging data; and applying UV radiation using a plurality of UV emitting LEDs during the process of imaging of the printing plate. In one embodiment, the plate initially has ablatable material, and wherein the imaging includes ablating ablatable material on the plate according to the imaging data to form an ablated plate, and wherein the applying the UV radiation includes exposing the ablated plate to UV radiation to cure the plate. In one embodiment, the imaging device is an external drum imager that includes a drum that rotates during imaging.

Abstract: An apparatus for curing a printing plate made of or having photo-curable material, a method of curing such a printing plate, and a printing plate cured by the method. One embodiment of the method includes curing a printing plate made of or having photo-curable material thereon. The method includes producing light energy on part of the printing plate using a light exposure unit capable of generating at least a first illumination intensity and a second illumination intensity, such that curing can produce printing features on the plate that can be switched to have either flat tops or round tops according to the illumination intensity output by the light exposure unit.

Abstract: An imaging cylinder includes a clamping device embodiment with a pair of independent adjacent clamping elements, and a method embodiment includes placing end edges of a flexible plate between each of the clamping elements of the clamping device and a surface approximately flush with the outer surface of the cylinder. One or more biasing devices, e.g., springs are used to impart a force onto the placed plate towards the surface approximately flush with outer surface of the cylinder. For each independent clamping element, a crank and lever mechanism or other means to translate rotative motion to approximately rectilinear motion is used to open a space between the clamping element and the outer surface when a rotative force is manually applied to provide for mounting and unmounting an end of a plate.

Abstract: Images are transferred to printing plates by illuminating light-responsive materials with patterns corresponding to the images to be printed. The present invention provides for the transferring of an image by the combined flux from two or more beams of light. Particular embodiments ablate the mask printing plates for CTP systems by the combined illumination from a first, broad beam and a plurality of controllable, pulsed beams that co-illuminate the plate with the first beam. The resulting system and method is less expensive than the prior art and produces a printing plate more efficiently and with improved productivity than the prior art.

Abstract: A cylindrically-shaped tube fitting over a cylindrically-shaped base body rotatable around an axis of rotation. The tube has a cylindrically-shaped inner surface defining a hollow region, a cylindrically-shaped outer surface, a first end, and a second end. The base body is arranged to fit either a sleeve or the tube. The outer surface includes vacuum grooves or a plate clamping system or both, and arranged to secure a flexible sheet of material around the outer surface of the tube.

Abstract: A method includes exposing a plate on a support surface of an imager using one or more laser beams, the exposing while there is a metallic screen structure located on the support surface between the plate and the support surface such that the amount of back-reflected radiation is reduced compared to the plate being placed directly on the support structure with no screen between the plate and support surface. An apparatus includes the combination of a base material having the support surface and the metallic screen structure thereon.

Abstract: A method of modifying screened image data so that there is no visible seam when the image is printed repeatedly in a circumferential direction, for example using a drum output device. One version applicable to images screened using a supercell includes cutting the image so that the image size in the circumferential direction is an integral number of screen supercells. Another version includes displacing halftone dots in a neighborhood of the seam such that the seam is not visible in a repeated print.