Blanket cylinder construction for printing press

Claim 1

In a printing press a blanket cylinder having a longitudinal groove of rectangular section and of constant width and depth formed in the surface thereof, an insert of rectangular "U"-shaped cross section dimensioned to seat in the groove flatly with respect to the bottom and side walls of the groove, a blanket having reinforcing bars secured to its ends, the reinforcing bars being received in the insert and extending longitudinally along the inner walls thereof so that the reinforcing bars present, along their inwardly facing sides, upwardly facing ledge surfaces spaced parallel to one another, a longitudinal clamping bar dimensioned to bridge and clampingly seat upon the ledge surfaces and a series of radially oriented cap screws spaced along the length of the groove, the cap screws penetrating the clamping bar and insert and threaded into holes at the bottom of the groove so that upon uniform tightening of the cap screws the reinforcing bars are drawn downwardly toward the bottom of the groove thereby uniformly tensioning the blanket, the clamping bar having, extending radially from its underside, a plurality of wedge elements spaced between adjacent ones of the clamping screws for the purpose of wedging apart the ends of the blanket and the attached reinforcing bars to prepare for entry therebetween of the clamping bar into seated position on the reinforcing bars, the insert having integral flanges along its outer edges over which the ends of the blanket are bent at right angles tending to hold the insert captive along its length against centrifugal dislodgement, the flanges extending mutually inwardly so that the gap defined by the flanges is less than the internal width dimension of the insert and just large enough to comfortably accommodate the heads of the cap screws between the bent-over ends of the blanket thereby to enable use of the blanket cylinder with a plate cylinder having a narrow gap and a maximum of printing area.