Printing apparatus (20) includes a continuous blanket (24) and a set of motorized rollers (31), which advance the blanket at constant speed through an image area. Print bars (38) eject droplets of ink at respective locations onto the blanket in the image area. Monitoring rollers (42), in proximity to the locations of the print bars, contact the blanket to be rotated by blanket advancement. Each monitoring roller includes an encoder (44), which outputs a signal indicative of a rotation angle of the monitoring roller. A control unit (40) collects, during a calibration phase, the signal from the encoders over multiple rotations of the monitoring rollers, detects a deviation of the signal from the encoder relative to a clock signal having a predefined frequency, and computes runout correction factors. During an operational phase, the control unit applies the runout correction factors to synchronize the droplets ejection from the print bars.

A device includes a first portion and a first charge source. The first portion is located along a travel path of a substrate and is to receive ink particles within a carrier fluid in a pattern onto the substrate to at least partially form an image. The first charge source is downstream along the travel path from the first portion and is to emit first polarity charges to charge the at least first color ink particles to move, via electrostatic attraction through the first carrier fluid, to become electrostatically fixed in the pattern relative to the substrate. Via the first charge source or a subsequent charge source, further emission of opposite second polarity charges are to maintain electrostatic fixation of the ink particles in the pattern relative to the substrate.

A printing system for printing on a substrate, comprises a movable intermediate transfer member in the form of a flexible, substantially inextensible, belt guided to follow a closed path, an image forming station for depositing droplets of a liquid ink onto an outer surface of the belt to form an ink image, a drying station for drying the ink image on the belt to leave an ink residue film on the outer surface of the belt, first and second impression stations spaced from one another in the direction of movement of the belt, each impression station comprising an impression cylinder for supporting and transporting the substrate and a pressure cylinder carrying a compressible blanket for urging the belt against the substrate supported on the impression cylinder, and a transport system for transporting the substrate from the first impression station to the second impression station. The pressure cylinder of at least the first impression station is movable between a first position in which the belt is urged towards the impression cylinder to cause the residue film on the outer surface of the belt to be transferred onto the front side of the substrate supported on the impression cylinder, and a second position in which the belt is spaced from the impression cylinder to allow the ink image on the belt to pass through the first impression station and arrive intact at the second impression station for transfer onto the reverse side of the substrate supported on the second impression cylinder.

The disclosure concerns a test apparatus comprising a drum (100) configured such that ink drops (200) deposited on the surface of the drum form a printed marking (210) on the surface of the drum. The test apparatus further comprises an ink removal unit (300) configured to remove ink from the surface of the drum. The drum is at least partially transmissive of light and a light source (800) is disposed inside the drum to controllably illuminate the drum.

An image forming system includes an image forming unit, a varnish applying unit, a control unit that executes an operation in an image forming mode in which a toner image is formed on a recording material and a varnish image is formed on the recording material on which the toner image is formed, and an input unit that permits input of a line width adjusting value of either one of a line width of a portion of the varnish image overlapping with an image portion and a line width of a portion of the varnish image overlapping with a non-image portion, wherein the varnish image is formed so as to extend over an image portion where the toner image is formed on the recording material and a non-image portion where the toner image is not formed on the recording material.

A printer is configured for printing with conductive ink for applying a conductive pattern to a surface including a wheeling structure for moving the printer over the surface and a transfer unit for applying a layer of electrically conductive ink to the surface. To provide accurate printing with the ability to obtain fine tolerances, the transfer unit has a printing drum rotatable about a printing drum axis and defining a printing drum periphery moving between a first zone and a second zone by rotation of the printing drum. The printing drum periphery, in the first zone, receives the conductive ink and in the second zone transfers the ink to the surface.

A printing system comprises an intermediate transfer member (ITM), an image forming station, a conveyer for driving rotation of the ITM, and a treatment station disposed downstream of the impression station and upstream of the image forming station configured for coating the ITM surface with a layer of a liquid treatment formulation, the treatment station comprising an applicator for applying the liquid treatment formulation to the ITM, a coating thickness-regulation assembly comprising a plurality of blades, a blade-replacement mechanism, and a blade-replacement controller for controlling the blade-replacement mechanism.

A transport device includes: a rotating member that rotates; a circulating member that is loop-shaped and wrapped around the rotating member, the circulating member being circulated by rotation of the rotating member; and a pair of pinching members attached to an attachment portion of the circulating member and circulated together with the circulating member, the pair of pinching members changing from a separated state, in which the pair of pinching members are separated from each other, to a closely positioned state to pinch a transport object that has entered a space between the pair of pinching members in the separated state. The attachment portion of the circulating member is in contact with the rotating member when the transport object starts to enter the space between the pair of pinching members in the separated state.

A second roller set is disposed separately from a first roller set in one direction of the conveyance direction, and includes an intermittent roller that generates, during one rotation, a conveyance enabled time of contacting the card and conveying the card and a conveyance disabled time of not contacting the card and not conveying the card. A third roller set is disposed separately from the second roller set. A reference guide wall receives abutments of a first end portion of the card and arranges a position of the card in the width direction at a reference position. An urging guide wall urges a second end portion of the card toward the reference guide wall by a first urging force. A support wall regulates a movement of the reference guide wall toward the urging guide wall at a position serving as the reference position.

An intermediate transfer member (ITM) (210, 310, 320, 330, 400, 410, 420, 430, 500, 520, 540, 600, 700, 802) configured for receiving ink droplets to form an ink image thereon and for transferring the ink image to a target substrate (226), the TTM (210, 310, 320, 330, 400, 410, 420, 430, 500, 520, 540, 600, 700, 802) includes one or more layers (273, 277, 373, 379, 602, 604, 606, 608, 610, 704, 706, 708, 712) and one or more markers (33, 333, 335, 392, 408, 418, 428, 448, 458, 612, 710, 804, 806) integrated with at least one of the one or more layers (273, 277, 373, 379, 602, 604, 606, 608, 610, 704, 706, 708, 712) at one or more respective marking locations along the ITM (210, 310, 320, 330, 400, 410, 420, 430, 500, 520, 540, 600, 700).