Control mechanism to disable driven ink metering elements in rotary printing machines

• US 4,508,034 A
• Filed: 02/02/1984
• Issued: 04/02/1985
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/1980
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Koenig & Bauer AG
• Original Assignee: Koenig & Bauer AG
• Inventors: Bolza-Schunemann, Claus A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sewell, Paul T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Weresh, John A.
• Application Number:
  US06/575,726
• Time in Patent Office: 425 Days
• Field of Search: 101/365, 101/DIG. 26, 340/147 R
• US Class Current: 101/365
• CPC Class Codes: B41F 31/045 Remote control of the duct keys
• CPC Class Codes: B41F 33/16 Programming systems for automatic control of sequence of operations
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 101/47 Automatic or remote control of metering blade position

Abstract

A control mechanism for disabling selected driven ink metering elements in rotary printing machines from a central remote control station is disclosed. The control includes plural command switches which are operated to provide control signal inputs to a programmable microprocessor. The microprocessor is connected to the drive circuits for the individual ink metering elements to position them in response to the selected control signals to increase or decrease the amount of ink supplied by each element individually or jointly, and to disable selected ink metering elements by moving them to a zero position so as to select the width of the printing area.

Claims

1. In a control mechanism for disabling selected driven ink metering elements in rotary printing machines from a remote control station, which metering elements cooperate with an ink fountain roller, comprising:

at least one ink fountain roller having an ink fountain;

a plurality of ink metering elements for said ink fountain, said ink metering elements being individually adjustable to control the flow of ink from said fountain to said roller;

a plurality of drive motors, each drive motor being connected to drive an individual corresponding ink metering element in response to a motor control command signal;

a program-controllable micro computer having control inputs and output means providing command output signals;

a remote control panel having selectable command control means including a "Reduce Ink" command push button and an "Increase Ink" command push button for each ink metering element, an "Inking Unit" command push button for each ink fountain roller in the rotary printing machine for selecting an inking unit to be controlled, a "Select Size" command push button, a "Jointly-Reduce Ink" command push button, and a "Jointly-Increase Ink" command push button;

means connecting said push buttons to corresponding control inputs to said micro computer;

means connecting said output means of said micro computer to corresponding drive motors, to provide selectable motor control command signals to said drive motors, said micro computer being operable selectively to position individual metering elements in response to operation of corresponding push buttons, whereby after operating said "Select Size" push button and a selected "Inking Unit" push button and subsequently operating a "Reduce Ink" push button for at least one selected adjustable metering element, all selected metering elements are adjusted to a zero gap position with respect to their corresponding ink fountain roller, wherein ink metering elements adjusted into a zero position are placed in an inactive status with respect to any subsequent operation of said "Increase Ink", "Reduce Ink", "Jointly-Increase Ink", and "Jointly-Reduce Ink" push buttons, unless said inactive status is released by subsequent operation of said "Select Size" push button.

7. The control mechanism of claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of drive motors is a stepping motor connected to drive its corresponding ink metering element in incremental steps to adjust the flow of ink therefrom.

2. A method for controlling individual ink metering elements of an ink fountain for a rotary printing press unit, comprising:

driving each individual ink metering element by means of a corresponding individual drive motor connected to the metering element;

selectively controlling each individual drive motor to move its corresponding element individually or controlling all of said drive motors jointly to move all corresponding elements jointly to selectively increase or reduce the ink metered by said elements;

selectively sizing said rotary printing press unit, the step of sizing including

(a) engaging a sizing control, and selectively operating the drive motor of at least one ink metering element to cause any said selected element to move to its zero position to prevent the flow of ink to the area of said rotary printing press unit corresponding to the said selected element when it is desired to reduce the size of said printing press unit, and

(b) engaging said sizing control, and selectively operating the drive motor of at least one ink metering element to cause any said selected element to move to a predetermined open position to permit a flow of ink to the area of said rotary printing press corresponding to the said selected element when it is desired to increase the size of said printing press unit;

disengaging said sizing control to disable the drive motor of any ink metering element at the zero position to thereby prevent further operation thereof until a further sizing step is effected; and

thereafter controlling only non-disabled drive motors either individually or jointly to selectively increase or reduce the flow of ink metered by elements driven by nondisabled drive motors.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of driving each ink metering element comprises driving each element incrementally by means of corresponding stepping motor.

3. A control mechanism for controlling from a central remote control station selected motor-driven ink metering elements which cooperate with, and control, the flow of ink to ink fountain rollers in a rotary printing machine, comprising:

at least one ink fountain roller having an ink fountain;

a plurality of ink metering elements for said ink fountain, said ink metering elements being adjustable between a zero gap and a full flow position to control the flow of ink from said fountain to said roller;

a plurality of drive motors, each drive motor being connected to drive a corresponding one of said ink metering elements selectively to increase or reduce the flow of ink in response to motor control command signals;

a micro computer having control inputs and command outputs, said command outputs being connected to provide said motor control command signals to said drive motor means;

a control panel having a plurality of control switches connected to said micro computer control inputs for selectively actuating said drive motors by way of said micro computer, said control panel including;

reduce ink control switch means and increase ink control switch means for each of said ink metering elements for causing individually selected drive motors to adjust their corresponding ink metering elements toward their zero gap positions and toward their full flow positions, respectively;

inking unit control switch means corresponding to each ink fountain roller in the rotary printing machine for selecting an inking unit to be controlled by said reduce ink and increase ink control switch means;

jointly-reduce ink and jointly-increase ink control switch means adapted normally to activate all said drive motors simultaneously to adjust their corresponding ink metering elements toward their zero gap positions and toward their full flow positions, respectively;

select size control switch means cooperable with said reduce ink control means and said increase ink control means to disable selected drive motors, the operation of said select size control switch means and subsequent operation of one or more selected reduce ink control means causing each selected drive motor to drive its corresponding ink metering element to its zero position to disable it, whereby all disabled zero-position ink metering elements remain disabled until re-enablement by a subsequent operation of said select size control switch followed by operation of the increase ink control means corresponding to the ink metering elements to be re-enabled, all disabled ink metering elements being removed from the control of said jointly-reduce and jointly-increase ink control switch means.

4. The control mechanism of claim 3, wherein each of said drive motors is a stepping motor responsive to the command outputs of said microcomputer.

5. The control mechanism of claim 4, further including respective gear means interconnecting each said drive motor to its corresponding ink metering elements.