Rotary screen printer with programmable screen interrupt

Claim 1

A rotary screen printing machine comprising: a frame means for supporting material to be printed; at least two printing devices supported on said frame means for printing said material, each of said printing devices including a rotary cylinder screen; means for moving said material over said frame means to be sequentially contacted and printed by the rotary screens of each of said printing devices; driving means driven by said means for moving for rotating the rotary screens of each of said printing devices at the same speed; lifting device means connected to each of said printing devices for lifting said rotary screens thereof out of contact with said material; a single drive shaft mounted on said frame means and extending therealong in the direction of movement of said material; transmission means interconnected between said driving means and said drive shaft to impart rotation to said drive shaft; a separate selectively operable coupling device means positioned between each of said lifting device means and said drive shaft for transducing rotary movement of said drive shaft into lifting movement of said lifting device means, each of said coupling device means having an operative position connecting the respective lifting device means with said drive shaft and an inoperative position interrupting such connection; and means operable by the rotary movement of said drive shaft and connected to each of said coupling device means for selectively moving each of said coupling device means into and out of said operative positions thereof at predetermined times.