Appeal No. 1999-0231
Application No. 08/472,354
We REVERSE.
The subject matter on appeal is directed to an apparatus
for reducing procession of a gapless tubular printing blanket
in an offset printing press. With reference to the1
appellants’ Figure 3, the invention includes a groove 50
extending straight across the circumferential surface of the
blanket cylinder 40 and connecting the interface of the
blanket cylinder 40 and a printing blanket (not shown) to an
air canal 60. During operation of the printing press, air
canal 60 is vented to atmosphere so that the fluid wave can
escape to a region of low pressure via the groove 50. See
specification, pp. 7, 8. Claim 1 is illustrative of the
subject matter on appeal and is reproduced in an appendix
attached to the main brief (Paper No. 24).
The prior art references of record relied upon by the
1We are inform by the appellants’ specification (p. 2) that printing
blanket procession is a phenomena caused by air trapped in the interface
between a printing blanket, e.g., printing blanket 16 (Fig. 1), and the outer
surface of its corresponding blanket cylinder, e.g., blanket cylinder 14 (Fig.
1). The trapped air creates a continually advancing wave (see bulge 26 in
Fig. 1) in front of a nip between the blanket cylinder and an adjacent
cylinder against which it is pressed causing the printing blanket to bulge.
2
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