Day International Inc. showed a no-pack blanket and its NewsPrinter 8894 double-width blanket. The latter has a ground and buffed surface that provides uniform gauge control and consistently carries inks.
DYC Supply highlighted its new NP-21, a no-pack blanket with a water-solvent backing. The blanket, designed with a compressible layer, resists solvents and water and provides good ink coverage with sharp dot reproduction.
Reeves International has a new no-pack blanket designed for "premium color reproduction" that has a closed-cell matrix in its compressible layer made of a new, treated rubber.
Allen-Bradley Co. introduced a fully digital AC drive for press control. The company also demonstrated DriveTools, a PC-based program that monitors and diagnoses press-control units from remote locations.
Grafikontrol America has a new closed-loop automatic register-control system that operates on presses at speeds up to 3,000 feet per minute. The "intelligent" system searches for register marks, measures the marks on the page and, if incorrect, makes the necessary corrections.
WPC Machinery Corp. demonstrated its system of press-steering pipe rollers. Designed to prevent the need to move plates, the roller system laterally positions the newsprint web between printing couple positions.
Graphics Microsystems Inc. featured a new digital presetting system that produces fully paginated pages from PostScript files. Raster-image processors can be linked to the presetting device. The RIP produces low-resolution bit maps of the page for the digital inking system, which in turn uses the maps to set the ink on the press.
A closed-loop video-imaging system was one highlight of the Web Printing Controls Inc. booth. Using the MicroTrak CCR, operators view registration dots on a video screen, seeing all of the dots at once. This allows the operator to make all corrections simultaneously. The CCR's computers measure and analyze distances. Misregisters are readily apparent and corrected.
Vegra/Litho Research exhibited the Hands-Off Safety Scrubber, developed jointly with the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation. HOSS is a polypropylene tool that allows workers to clean the press while keeping their fingers clear of cylinders and rollers.
TechNews Volume 1, Number 4: July/August 1995
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