US4968993A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Printing press
Assignee: Xeikon NV
•
Filing: 1989-03-14
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Granted: 1990-11-06
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Expires: 2009-03-14
Abstract
Abstract A method and apparatus for the automatic production of business forms, wallpaper, newspapers or the like from a web of continuous printing material comprises a printing station including an endless movable printing device such as a rotating cylinder. An image is projected to a surface of the device. The image is transferred to the web of continuous material at the printing station. Immediately after the printing station, the image is erased from the device so that a remaining portion of the image may be projected onto its surface. In this manner the device appears to provide a printing surface of indeterminate length and so is designed without relation to the image to be projected. A plurality of such printing stations may be arranged in series for color printing. Furthermore, the operation of the printing station and associated activities may be controlled by a pre-selected computer program.
Inventors
- 👤 Larry Wolfberg
- 👤 John Harper
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-28 23:36
CPC Classifications
G; G03; G03G; G03G15/00; G03G15/65; G03G15/6517; G03G15/652; G03G15/01; G03G15/0142; G03G15/0178; G03G15/0194; G03G15/04; G03G15/04036; G03G15/04045; G03G15/04072; G03G15/22; G03G15/32; G03G15/326; G03G2215/00; G03G2215/00362; G03G2215/00367; G03G2215/00371; G03G2215/00405; G03G2215/00443; G03G2215/00451; G03G2215/00455; G03G2215/00535; G03G2215/00603; G03G2215/00611; G03G2215/00789; G03G2215/00814; G03G2215/00818; G03G2215/01; G03G2215/0103; G03G2215/0119
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 34
Claim 1
Independent Claim
150 words
A method of printing a web of continuous printing material on a printing press comprising the steps of: (a) feeding the web of continuous printing material from a supply roll to a printing station; (b) projection at least a portion of an image to be printed on an endless moving printing device; (c) transferring the image on said endless moving printing device to the web of continuous printing material at said printing station as the web and the image on said endless moving printing device move past each other; (d) erasing the image from said endless moving printing device immediately after said printing station; (e) projection the remaining portion of the image to be printed on said endless moving printing device as it continues to move; and (f) repeating steps (c), (d) and (e) to continuously print on the web of continuous printing material until a complete image is printed.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
150 words
A method of printing a web of continuous printing material on a printing press comprising the steps of: (a) feeding the web of continuous printing material from a supply roll to a printing station; (b) projection at least a portion of an image to be printed on an endless moving printing device; (c) transferring the image on said endless moving printing device to the web of continuous printing material at said printing station as the web and the image on said endless moving printing device move past each other; (d) erasing the image from said endless moving printing device immediately after said printing station; (e) projection the remaining portion of the image to be printed on said endless moving printing device as it continues to move; and (f) repeating steps (c), (d) and (e) to continuously print on the web of continuous printing material until a complete image is printed.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
31 words
A method as defined in claim 1 further comprising the steps of scanning the image transferred to the web for variations from a predetermined image design and compensating for such variations.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
30 words
A method as defined in claim 1 wherein steps (a) through (f) are carried out at a plurality of printing stations, each printing station for printing in a different color.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
18 words
A method as defined in claim 1 wherein step (b) is carried out utilizing a plurality of lasers.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
21 words
A method as defined in claim 1 wherein said endless moving printing device is a rotary cylinder having a photoconductive surface.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
65 words
A method as defined in claim 5 wherein said projection step projects a charged image on the photoconductive surface of said rotary cylinder, and wherein the method further comprises the step of applying toner to the charge image on the photoconductive surface of said rotary cylinder, and said transferring step transfers toner to the web of continuous printing material in accordance with the charged image.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
23 words
A method as defined in claim 6 further comprising the step of fixing the toner image on the web of continuous printing material.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
16 words
A method as defined in claim 1 wherein said projection step projects a constantly changing image.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
17 words
A method as defined in claim 1 wherein said projecting step projects a succession of different images.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
52 words
A method as defined in claim 9 wherein said transferring step successively transfers the succession of different images on said endless moving printing device to the web of continuous printing material and said erasing step erases the succession of different images from said endless moving printing device immediately after said printing station.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
22 words
A method as defined in claim 1 further comprising the step of monitoring the thickness of the web prior to step (b).
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
24 words
A method as defined in claim 1 further comprising the steps of slitting or perforating the web in predetermined location, and rewinding the web.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
19 words
A method as defined in claim 1 wherein steps (a) through (f) are controlled by a pre-selected computer program.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
25 words
A method as defined in claim 1 further comprising the step of repeating steps (a) through (f) to continuously print a series of complete images.
Claim 16
Independent Claim
107 words
A method of printing a web of continuous printing material on a printing press comprising the steps of: (a) moving a web of continuous printing material from a supply roll to a printing station; (b) projecting constantly changing images onto the peripheral surface of a printing cylinder having a predetermined diameter; (c) transferring the constantly changing images onto the moving web of continuous printing material as it engages the peripheral surface of said printing cylinder, wherein the length of the image applied to the web is independent of the diameter of said printing cylinder; and (d) erasing the images from said printing cylinder immediately after step (c).
Claim 17
Independent Claim
107 words
A method of printing a web of continuous printing material on a printing press comprising the steps of: (a) moving a web of continuous printing material from a supply roll to a printing station; (b) projecting constantly changing images onto the peripheral surface of a printing cylinder having a predetermined diameter; (c) transferring the constantly changing images onto the moving web of continuous printing material as it engages the peripheral surface of said printing cylinder, wherein the length of the image applied to the web is independent of the diameter of said printing cylinder; and (d) erasing the images from said printing cylinder immediately after step (c).
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
33 words
A method as defined in claim 15 further comprising the step of repeating steps (a) through (d) until a complete image to be printed is transferred to the web of continuous printing material.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
57 words
A method as defined in claim 16 wherein the image to be printed is a business form and the constantly changing image is formed by at least alpha and numeric character data, the amount of alpha and numeric character data transferred to the web by said transferring step being independent of the diameter of said printing cylinder.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
22 words
A method as defined in claim 15 wherein steps (a) through (d) are carried out in accordance with a pre-selected computer program.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
29 words
A method as defined in claim 15 wherein steps (a) through (d) are carried out at a plurality of printing stations, each station for printing in a different color.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
186 words
A printing press for continuously printing a web of continuous printing material comprising: (a) feeder means for feeding the web of continuous printing material from a supply roll to a printing station; (b) an endless movable printing device; (c) drive means for driving said endless movable printing device past the printing station; (d) projection means for projecting at least a portion of an image to be printed on said endless movable printing device; (e) transfer means for transferring the image on said endless movable printing device to the web of continuous printing material at said printing station as the web and the image on said endless movable printing device move past each other; (f) erase means for erasing the image from said endless movable printing device immediately after said printing station, said projection means, transfer means and erase means thereafter projecting, transferring and erasing the remaining portion of the image to be printed as said endless movable printing device and the web of continuous printing material continue to move past said printing station to thereby print a complete image on the web of continuous printing material.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
186 words
A printing press for continuously printing a web of continuous printing material comprising: (a) feeder means for feeding the web of continuous printing material from a supply roll to a printing station; (b) an endless movable printing device; (c) drive means for driving said endless movable printing device past the printing station; (d) projection means for projecting at least a portion of an image to be printed on said endless movable printing device; (e) transfer means for transferring the image on said endless movable printing device to the web of continuous printing material at said printing station as the web and the image on said endless movable printing device move past each other; (f) erase means for erasing the image from said endless movable printing device immediately after said printing station, said projection means, transfer means and erase means thereafter projecting, transferring and erasing the remaining portion of the image to be printed as said endless movable printing device and the web of continuous printing material continue to move past said printing station to thereby print a complete image on the web of continuous printing material.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
29 words
A printing press as defined in claim 20 wherein said projection means, transfer means and erase means respectively project, transfer and erase a succession of images to be printed.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
59 words
A printing press as defined in claim 21 wherein the succession of images to be printed are business forms formed by at least alpha and numeric character data, the amount of alpha and numeric character data in each image being transferred to the web by said transfer means being independent of the length of said endless movable printing device.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
16 words
A printing device according to claim 20 wherein said projection means projects a constantly changing image.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
24 words
A printing device according to claim 20 wherein said projection means, transfer means and erase means operate in response to a pre-selected computer program.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
117 words
A printing device according to claim 20 wherein said endless movable printing device is a rotary cylinder having a photoconductive surface, said projection means charges the photoconductive surface with a charged image corresponding to the image to be printed, and said transfer means includes toner means for applying toner to the charged image on the photoconductive surface and transferring the toner to the web of continuous printing material to print the image as said rotary cylinder and the web move past each other, said printing device further comprising fixing means for fixing the toner on the web of continuous printing material and said erase means comprising discharge means for discharging the photoconductive surface of said rotary cylinder.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
25 words
A printing press as defined in claim 20 wherein said projection means includes a plurality of lasers at each of a plurality of printing stations.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
22 words
A printing press as defined in claim 20 further comprising forming means for slitting or perforating the web of continuous printing material.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
40 words
A printing press as defined in claim 20 further comprising scanning means for scanning the image transferred to the web for variations from a predetermined image design and compensating means coupled to said scanning means for compensating for the variations.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
24 words
A printing press as defined in claim 20 further comprising a plurality of printing stations, each printing station for printing in a different color.
Claim 33
Independent Claim
155 words
A method of printing a web of continuous printing material on a printing press comprising the steps of: (a) feeding the web of continuous printing material from a supply roll to a printing device; (b) projecting at least a portion of an image to be printed on an endless moving printing device; (c) transferring the image portion on said endless moving printing device to the web of continuous printing material at said printing station as the web and the image portion on said endless moving printing device move past one another; (d) erasing the image portion from said endless moving printing device immediately after said printing station; (e) projecting a remaining portion of the image to be printed on said endless moving printing device as ti continues to move; and (f) repeating steps (c), (d) and (e) as necessary to continuously print on the web of continuous printing material until a complete image is printed.
Claim 34
Independent Claim
155 words
A method of printing a web of continuous printing material on a printing press comprising the steps of: (a) feeding the web of continuous printing material from a supply roll to a printing device; (b) projecting at least a portion of an image to be printed on an endless moving printing device; (c) transferring the image portion on said endless moving printing device to the web of continuous printing material at said printing station as the web and the image portion on said endless moving printing device move past one another; (d) erasing the image portion from said endless moving printing device immediately after said printing station; (e) projecting a remaining portion of the image to be printed on said endless moving printing device as ti continues to move; and (f) repeating steps (c), (d) and (e) as necessary to continuously print on the web of continuous printing material until a complete image is printed.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1993-11-05 | 1994-05-07 | 1994-11-06 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1997-11-05 | 1998-05-07 | 1998-11-06 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2001-11-05 | 2002-05-07 | 2002-11-06 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |