Abstract: A printing system has a print cylinder on which a raised printing surface is formed in situ preferably by a "rapid prototyping" or "fused deposition modelling" machine operating with electronic images from a computer image processing system. After a printing operation has been completed, and it is necessary to print another image for the next printing operation, the former printing surface is removed in situ from the print cylinder by abrading, scraping, cutting, etc. and the next printing surface with the new image is formed in situ on the same printing cylinder in the same manner described above.

Abstract: A quality monitoring system employing vision processing equipment to photograph at least one of the edges of every folded-over box blank as it is conveyed through a box forming machine is used to determine in-line whether the blanks, when unfolded, will produce square boxes having essentially all 90.degree. angles between adjacent sides. The folded-over blanks have a manufacturer's gap between adjacent box side panels. The electronic images are electronically digitized and the resulting data processed by computer to calculate critical parameters of the folded-over blank, including gap width, longitudinal taper of the gap width, and alignment of the lateral edges of the panels surrounding the gap in relation to the lateral edge of the gap. Comparison of these measured critical parameters with corresponding parameters for an idealized box stored in the computer indicates the quality of the formed box and whether the quality falls within acceptable parameters.

Abstract: A machine for handling corrugated paper blanks and the like is shown having an adjustable back stop means to cooperate with infeed means to regulate the flow of blanks going into the machine to be processed to ensure proper feeding of the blanks serially to the gate to be passed onwardly. The adjustable infeed device is positioned before the infeed gate to control the dropping of the blanks onto the feed table, in a manner to continuously maintain a desired limited number of blanks on the table of the machine in position between the back stop and a front wall means in front of the gate as the blanks are fed one by one from the bottom of the pile through the gate.