Abstract: A printing press has an apparatus for preventing contact of wet ink sheets with the chain delivery mechanism and for drying the wet ink carried on the sheets prior to the stacking of the sheets. The printing press has an impression cylinder and a blanket cylinder through which sheets are drawn by the chain delivery mechanism. The chain delivery mechanism has two sprockets mounted to a shaft, each of which rotates runs of chain to pull the sheets from the cylinders. A nozzle is mounted adjacent the shaft for discharging jets of air against the sheets to push them away from the shaft. An air compressor supplies air to the nozzle. A heating element is disposed between the air compressor and the openings of the nozzle to heat the pressurized air stream to a selected temperature sufficient to dry the wet ink carried by the sheets.

Abstract: A printing press has an apparatus for preventing contact of wet ink sheets with the chain delivery mechanism. The printing press has an impression cylinder and a blanket cylinder through which sheets are drawn by the chain delivery mechanism. The chain delivery mechanism has two sprockets mounted to a shaft, each of which rotates runs of chain to pull the sheets from the cylinders. A nozzle is mounted adjacent the shaft for discharging jets of air against the sheets to push them away from the shaft. An air compressor supplies air to the nozzle. A regulator valve allows the pressure at the nozzle to be varied depending upon the type of sheets.