Warning system for printing presses

• US 4,224,613 A
• Filed: 12/01/1978
• Issued: 09/23/1980
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/1977
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Man Roland Druckmaschinen AG (Allianz Se)
• Original Assignee: Man Roland Druckmaschinen AG (Allianz Se)
• Inventors: Greiner, Harry, Kaiser, Werner
• Primary Examiner(s): Caldwell, Sr., John W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nowicki, Joseph E.
• Application Number:
  US05/965,599
• Time in Patent Office: 662 Days
• Field of Search: 340/328, 340/329, 340/384 E, 340/519, 340/520, 340/521, 340/524, 340/673, 340/674, 340/679
• US Class Current: 340/679
• CPC Class Codes: B41F 33/00 Indicating, counting, warning, control or safety devices arrangements of counting devices in platen presses B41F1/00 , B41F1/58; arrangements of counting devices in cylinder presses B41F3/84; ink supply or metering devices B41F31/02

Abstract

A warning system for a printing press to warn the operator upon the exceeding, or departure from, a desired set of running conditions which includes a plurality of remote condition transducers which, in the simplest form of the invention, are in the form of switches. Coupled to the transducers are respective signal generators each of which generates an acoustic signal which has a distinctive quality as compared to all of the other acoustic signals. A loudspeaker common to all of the signal generators is audible at the control station. The distinctiveness of the signal serves to promptly inform the operator which of the running conditions has been exceeded so that corrective action may be taken. In a second embodiment of the invention the transducers produce output control signals which vary in magnitude with the condition, and the corresponding acoustic signal generator produces a signal having a distinctive first quality when the control signal exceeds a threshold level. In addition, each signal generator is made responsive to the magnitude of the control signal for imparting to the acoustic signal a distinctive second quality to a degree which depends upon the departure of the control signal from the threshold level and which is thereby indicative of the degree of urgency.

Claims

1. A warning system for a printing press having a control station and designed for operation under a given set of simultaneously desired running conditions comprising, in combination, a plurality of remote condition transducers responsive to a respective condition and each having means for producing an output control signal when its condition is departed from, a plurality of acoustic signal generators coupled to the respective transducers for energization by a control signal therefrom, each of the signal generators including means for generating an acoustic signal which has distinctive quality as compared to all of the other acoustic signals, and common loudspeaker means coupled to all of the signal generators and located in the neighborhood of the control station for sounding an acoustic signal from an energized one of the signal generators, the distinctive quality of the signal serving to promptly inform the operator of the press which of the running conditions has been departed from so that corrective action may be taken.

2. The combination as claimed in claim 1 in which each transducer has means responsive to the output control signal produced thereby for temporarily disabling other ones of the transducers and their corresponding signal generators.

4. The combination as claimed in claim 1 or claim 3 in which each of the signal generators produces an acoustic signal of different frequency.

5. The combination as claimed in claim 1 or claim 3 in which each of the signal generators produces an acoustic signal having a distinctively different modulation envelope.

3. A warning system for a printing press having a control station and designed for operation under a given set of simultaneously desired running conditions having a series of priority comprising, in combination, a plurality of remote condition transducers responsive to respective conditions and each having means for producing an output control signal when its condition is departed from, a plurality of acoustic signal generators coupled to the respective transducers for energization by a control signal therefrom, each of the signal generators including means for generating an acoustic signal which is distinctive as compared to all of the other acoustic signals, common loudspeaker means coupled to all of the signal generators and located in the neighborhood of the control station for sounding the acoustic signal from an energized one of the signal generators, the distinctive quality of the signal serving to promptly inform the operator of the press which of the running conditions has been departed from, means responsive to the existence of a control signal from one of the transducers for temporarily disabling the signal generators corresponding to the conditions of lesser priority so that when two control signals are produced at the same time, only the acoustic signal corresponding to the condition of higher priority is sounded.

6. A warning system for a printing press having a control station and designed for operation under a given set of simultaneously desired running conditions comprising, in combination, a plurality of remote condition transducers responsive to a respective condition and each having means for producing an output control signal which varies with the condition, a plurality of acoustic signal generators coupled to the respective transducers, threshold means for energizing an acoustic signal generator when the associated transducer produces a control signal above a threshold level indicative that a desired running condition has been departed from, each of the signal generators including means for generating an acoustic signal which has a distinctive first quality as compared to all of the other acoustic signals, common loudspeaker means coupled to all of the signal generators and located in the neighborhood of the control station for sounding an acoustic signal from an energized one of the signal generators, the distinctive first quality of the signal serving to promptly inform the operator of the press which of the running conditions has been departed from, and means associated with each signal generator and responsive to the magnitude of the associated control signal for imparting to the corresponding acoustic signal a distinctive second quality to a degree which depends upon the amount that the control signal departs from the threshold level and which is thereby indicative of the degree of urgency of corrective action.

7. The combination as claimed in claim 6 in which the distinctive first quality is the modulation envelope of the signal and the distinctive second quality is a variation in the carrier frequency of the signal.