Clamping device for printing plates and printing cloths on printing machines

Claim 1

A clamping device for holding and tensioning one end of a flexible printing plate wrapped around the outer surface of a rotatable printing cylinder, said one end of the plate defining a reverse bent, acutely angled, stiffened edge, said device comprising: (a) an elongate, axially bored shaft (10) rotatably disposed in a longitudinal recess (20) extending inwardly from the outer surface of the cylinder and axially parallel thereto, (b) a pair of elongate chordal slots (11, 12) extending inwardly from opposite sides of the shaft and towards each other at an obtuse angle having an apex oriented towards an outer surface of the shaft and away from the axial bore thereof, said slots: (1) terminating short of an intersection therebetween, (2) having parallel opposite sidewalls to define constant slot widths, and (3) said slot widths being sufficient to closely accommodate a reverse bent stiffened edge of a printing plate, and (c) a torque bar (13) disposed in the shaft bore and operatively coupled to the shaft for biasing said shaft towards a neutral position whereat the slots are symmetrically disposed on opposite sides of a radius of the cylinder passing through the shaft axis such that a printing plate stiffened edge may be inserted into a slot from either side of the shaft upon the rotation thereof against the biasing force of the torque bar and the plate thereafter tensioned against the cylinder surface to thus accommodate the rotation of the cylinder in either direction during a printing operation.