Abstract: Doctor blade apparatus having a mounting plate rigidly holding the blade. The doctor blade mounting plate is independently slidably and pivotably mounted by a ball-bearing on each of a plurality of spaced support ports and resiliently supported thereon by compression springs. The apparatus allows movement of the mounting plate and the blade carried thereby in several degrees of freedom with adjustment means providing independent adjustment at each of the supporting posts.

Abstract: A positioning mechanism for locating the edge of an ink metering means with respect to the ink fountain roller of a printing press. The positioning mechanism includes a metering means support block which is pivotally mounted to the press frame and on which the metering means is mounted. There is a torsion bar to which are keyed a first lever means. The first lever means is pivotally connected to a second lever means. The second lever means is also pivotally connected to the press frame. The torsion bar has mounted thereon a worm gear which is in mesh with a worm operated by a handle to cause pivotal movement of the metering means support block. The ink metering means support block has stop means thereon in the form of curved surfaces or cheeks. The curved surfaces or cheeks directly engage the ink fountain roller to precisely position the metering means with respect to the ink fountain roller.

Abstract: Wiper blades are mounted on the end bearing blocks and are located at each end of a rotatable cylindrical glue applicator roll and are arranged to wipe the glue from the flat ends of the applicator roll and from the end portions of the annular surface of the applicator roll. The wiper blades include a horizontal leg having a concave roll contact surface normally in engagement with the end curved portion of the cylindrical roll and a flat surface in contact with the flat end of the roll. A portion of the wiper blade adjacent the flat end of the roll is angled between a tangent and a radius from the axis of rotation of the roll on the downward moving side of the roll and includes a groove for deflecting and guiding the glue in a downward direction off the flat end of the roll.

Abstract: A self driven mobile assembly including an ink agitator is supported on the ink fountain of a printing machine by a beam which is adapted to be mounted parallel to the longitudinal axis of the ink fountain so as to provide a guide track for supporting the mobile assembly for linear displacement along the ink fountain with the ink agitator projecting into the ink. The beam has a rack extending parallel to said ink fountain axis, and the mobile assembly includes a reversible motor and drive means connecting the motor both to rotate the agitator and to linearly displace the assembly along the beam by driving a pinion meshing with the rack. The beam also has an exposed bus electrically insulated from the beam and lying parallel to the rack, and the mobile assembly has a pair of members, one mounted for sliding electrical contact along the bus and the other mounted for sliding electrical contact along a portion of the beam separate from the bus for supplying electrical power to the assembly.

Abstract: An ink package comprising a disposable container is provided for supplying ink to an ink fountain of a lithographic duplicating machine and includes a self-contained, sealed package provided with specially configured nozzle means for dispensing ink from the container directly into an ink fountain. The ink used in the container is designed to be within the higher ranges of flowability for lithographic ink, and hence, due to special design of the nozzle aperture or apertures, is able to flow sluggishly from the container by gravity, whenever the nozzle means is exposed to the atmosphere, to spread longitudinally of the fountain roller, and to form an elongate bead of ink which increases in size until it blocks exposure of the nozzle means to the atmosphere and thereby shuts off flow from the nozzle means. Thus, a substantially constant volume of ink is maintained in the ink fountain as long as any ink remains in the container.

Abstract: A pivotally mounted starwheel is selectively positioned to sequentially engage a series of containers such as beer cans freely mounted on a moving conveyor bed. The starwheel rotates in response to a predetermined number of containers operatively applying pressure thereto and rotates an inter-connected supporting wheel providing a series of radially and circumferentially spaced printing units which sequentially engage an inking wheel and the containers for applying a mark thereto. The inking wheel is coupled through a transmission and drive wheel to the supporting wheel and rotates in synchronism with the starwheel. The ink source includes plural ink retainers inter-connected by a gravity feed and cooperates with a pair of ink transfer wheels. Each of the printing units is cam operated and includes a pair of oppositely biased pistons which compensate for variances in container height.

Abstract: A flexographic printer is provided with apparatus for sensing the level of ink in a trough between a transfer roll and a metering roll and for triggering an alarm when such ink level is below a predetermined amount.

Abstract: An auxiliary drive system for attachment to the ink fountain roller of an offset lithographic machine for permitting continuous rotation of the ink roller within the fountain when the machine is stopped or inactive. The auxiliary drive system includes an auxiliary motor mounted on the machine and preferably activated only when the machine is stopped. The auxiliary drive motor is drivingly connected to the ink fountain roller by a one-way clutch and clutch roller adapter which permits a slow but continuous rotational drive of the ink fountain roller when the machine is stopped, and which freely overruns to permit rotation of the ink fountain roller when the machine is activated.

Abstract: The circumferential speed of driven ink application rollers is controlled to be less than the circumferential speed of the plate cylinders to which the ink application rollers supply ink and with which it is in friction-transmission connection. Preferably, the speed difference is adjustable, and so arranged that the circumferential speed of the driven ink application roller is less than the plate cylinder, any other driven rollers in the ink train being intermediate between the slowest ink application roller and the plate cylinder and, further, that, in case of sequentially arranged plate cylinders, the relative speeds of the ink application rollers associated with sequential plate cylinders become less, in the direction of web transport, to place frictional loading on the plate cylinders and thus provide for positive engagement of all drive gearing to overcome play therein and improve registration of sequentially printed data.

Abstract: An ink fountain having a metering assembly in the form of a series of rectangularly shaped slides fitted into a horizontal slot in a frame with only the presented front ends of the slides being exposed and abutting the fountain roller. The slides are arranged side by side in coplanar relation with their lateral edges lying closely adjacent one another. Notches are formed in the lateral edges of the slides adjacent the front ends thereof, with the notches being occupied by slightly oversized buttons of resilient sealing material. The metering assembly is held captive at its ends between two vertical end plates which apply inward squeezing pressure to the metering assembly so as to compress the resilient buttons uniformly to bring the lateral edges of the slides into snug sliding relation to prevent leakage of ink between them and for the purpose of distributing any cumulative tolerance error equally between all of the slides in the series.