A finished flexo plate with printing dots and non-printing indicia. The printing dots have an elevation above the plate floor sufficient to transfer ink to a substrate in a printing step, whereas the non-printing indicia are configured for persistent readability relative to the plate floor but have a height relative to the plate floor insufficient to transfer ink to the substrate in the printing step. The non-printing indicia define a pattern of alphanumeric characters, non-text graphics, or a combination thereof, and are disposed on the plate floor in the form of areas of presence and absence of polymer defined by structures formed of microdots, each microdot having an elevation relative to the plate floor lower than a printing height.

A plate sleeve-holder cylinder provided with a carbon-fibre central tube (T) comprising compressed air channels (6, 7, 8) arranged between one of the end flanges (Fb, Fm) of said plate sleeve-holder cylinder and a plurality of holes (H) formed in the outer surface of said central tube (T) made of carbon-fibre composite material. Said air channels (6, 7, 8) are partly embedded within said end flanges (Fb, Fm), partly within a thickness of a side wall (P) of said central tube (T) made of carbon-fibre composite material. Additionally, a process of manufacturing said central tube (t) is disclosed by inserting air pipes (6) into grooves (1) which are formed by mechanical milling of a surface of the supporting structure (P) of said central tube (T) obtained through a first lamination and polymerization, said grooves being coated with a surface finishing structure (S) obtained through a second lamination and polymerization.

The present disclosure relates generally to signal encoding for flexographic printing plates. One aspect is a flexographic, photopolymer printing plate having transparent layers to allow encoded signal printed or laser ablated thereon to be detectable from both sides of the printing plate. Another aspect is a flexographic, photopolymer printing plate having an encoded signal formed in a photocured layer. Still another aspect is a system for tracking such printing plates, including managing location, print impression count, location tracking, etc. Other aspects are described as well.

Disclosed is a corrugated paperboard printer comprising a chamber which reserves ink, wherein the chamber comprises a chamber frame comprising an ink reservoir which reserves the ink. A steel member and a recovery pipe are arranged on the opposite side of an anilox roll across the chamber frame. The steel member comprises a web extending in an up-down direction, and a first flange and a second flange connected, respectively, to up-down directional opposite ends of the web. The web is penetratingly formed with a maintenance opening in accordance with the position of a coupling port valve or the like. The second flange is formed with an insertion part for allowing the recovery pipe or the like to be inserted therein

Systems and methods for making a flexo plate, and plates, machines, readers, and computer readable media for use therewith. In the system, a plurality of processing machines, each configured to perform one or more process steps in a workflow, includes a controller, a variable operating parameter controlled by the controller, and a reader configured to read machine-readable indicia on the flexo plate. The machine-readable indicia (e.g. bar code, RFID tag, text) is configured for persistent readability downstream of washing (and cutting) steps, without printing in the printing step. The indicia may embody information including at least a plate identifier and instructions corresponding to the at least one variable operating parameter for each of the processing machines or information corresponding to an address in computer storage where the information resides.

A viscosity measurement device includes a measurement tool having a pump for feeding a printing liquid by pressure. The viscosity measurement device includes a passage part having a first passage part in which a flow path cross-sectional area for the printing liquid is set at a first area, and a second passage part in which a flow path cross-sectional area for the printing liquid is set at a second area smaller than the first area and which is arranged on an upstream side in a supply direction of the printing liquid with respect to the first passage part, the passage part being interposed in the supply path and arranged upward toward a downstream side in the supply direction of the printing liquid; and a sensor attached to the second passage part and measuring the fall time of the measurement tool in a prescribed vertical region in the second passage part.

A printing machine (10) comprises a doctor blade (14), a drive system (20) for urging the doctor blade (14) against a printing cylinder (16) of the printing machine (10), a sensor (32) adapted for sensing a force with which the doctor blade (14) is urged against the printing cylinder (16), and a mechanical locking element (34) adapted for locking the drive system (20) in its operating position.

Further, a method of operating a printing machine (10) is presented.

The present invention is to provide a flexographic printing plate having excellent ink uniformity in an image area, particularly, in a solid portion regardless of a printing speed, a method for manufacturing the flexographic printing plate, and a flexographic printing plate precursor used in the manufacturing of the flexographic printing plate. The flexographic printing plate of the present invention is a flexographic printing plate having a relief layer provided with a non-image area, and an image area having an uneven structure formed on the surface, in which a concave portion constituting the uneven structure is formed of at least one of a plurality of grooves having a fixed width extending in one direction or a plurality of hole groups constituted of a plurality of bottomed holes having the same diameter scattered in the one direction, a depth of the concave portion is 2 to 20 μm, each of the plurality of grooves and the plurality of hole groups is arranged in an orthogonal direction orthogonal to the one direction, and the grooves and the bottomed holes respectively have two or more kinds of widths and diameters.

This application relates to coating and inks compositions comprising starch derivatives, their uses and substrates comprising such compositions.

A method of adjusting the print repeat length of a print image in a multicolor rotary printing machine, particularly a flexographic printing press, having a central impression cylinder, a first plate cylinder, and a second plate cylinder, including modifying the peripheral velocity of the first plate cylinder and the peripheral velocity of the second plate cylinder during printing operation, relative to the peripheral velocity of the central impression cylinder, and adjusting the longitudinal register of the first plate cylinder having the modified peripheral velocity and the longitudinal register of the second plate cylinder having the modified peripheral velocity.