Heidelberg Announces New Triple-Width Newspaper Press
10/10/2000
Gapless Tristream will print in straight or collect mode
Heidelberg's second gapless newspaper press uses technical innovation to open the door to triple-width production advantages. The new Tristream features a two-pages-around by six-pages-across plate cylinder configuration. It relies on gapless blankets to achieve high print quality at up to 80,000 copies per hour when printing straight or 40,000 copies per hour in collect production.
A design innovation minimizes the effects of water absorption on the triple-width paper web. "The newspaper industry has long envisioned the potential benefits of triple-width production," according to Heidelberg Web Systems president Bob Brown. "Our technology unlocks that potential and makes 2x6 printing a practical option." The Tristream prints at conventional double-width speeds, but its 2x6 plate cylinder delivers 50 percent more pages per revolution than a conventional 2x4 double-width press. As a result, newspapers can match double-width productivity with one-third fewer towers and pasters. That can cut the overall cost and length of a press line. The triple-width configuration also provides shorter web leads, one-third fewer edges to contribute to web breaks, and 50 percent more paper strength to carry a web defect through the press without breaking.
The Tristream follows Heidelberg's successful drupa 2000 introduction of the world's first gapless newspaper press, the 1x4 Mainstream. "Gapless blankets eliminate mechanical disturbances and vibration that occur when blanket gaps meet," Newspaper Development Manager " John Richards explains. "The resulting dynamic stability allows us to operate 1x4 and 2x6 plate cylinders at very high speeds and in the 2:2 plate-to-blanket cylinder ratio for the highest print quality." Gapless blankets in Heidelberg Sunday Presses never require run in or packing and can routinely be changed in less than one minute without removing the web. Heidelberg has developed an innovative closed-loop system for the Tristream to automatically compensate for fan-out, a potential problem caused by excessive water absorption when printing newsprint on such wide webs. As a result, fan-out in a four-high Tristream tower is reduced to the negligible level normally found in a four-high single-width tower and is 50 percent less than the fan-out in a conventional four-high double-width tower.
The Tristream features independent a.c. drives which make it easy to engage and disengage individual printing couples for flying edition changes. The synchronized drives also provide better speed regulation, controlled deceleration, expanded voltage tolerances and a reduction in calibration and maintenance requirements when compared with d.c. drives. Heidelberg's Contiweb FT flying paster complements the Tristream and features motorized split arms, integrated infeed and web-up, and the capacity to splice rolls up to 2,430 millimeters wide. The Tristream can be configured with up to three formers across each level and up to three former levels. The triple-width format provides straight web leads for up to three sections per former level, or a total of nine sections, in straight production.
In collect mode, up to six sections per former level can be produced without angle bars. A JFC-255 jaw folder has a 5:5 cylinder ratio and an 80,000 copies per hour capacity, while an RB-32 rotary blade model has a 3:2 ratio and a 75,000 copies per hour capacity. A unique Heidelberg design allows the lower folders to be moved on tracks for optimum positioning under the formers according to the pagination and section configuration of each press run.
Heidelberg's Omnicon control system manages automated component control, preset storage and retrieval and job planning functions for the Tristream. Omnicon can integrate press and postpress operations to maximize productivity and efficiency. It also features Omnipage, an advanced makeready feature that utilizes cameras to automatically identify newspaper pages on the console and instantly direct the control system to the corresponding web, tower, printing couple and page.
"The acknowledged advantages of triple-width production, the successful demonstration of a gapless newspaper press at drupa and the endorsement of that technology by the Telegraph Group's seven-press Mainstream order have created a lot of interest in the Tristream," Sales and Service Manager for Europe Jacques Navarre says. "This press further confirms our intention to use technology and systems integration to deliver new production capabilities that can make newspapers more competitive."
For further information:
Heidelberg Web Systems
Joëlle Curet
Tel.: +33 (0)344 29 40 52
E-mail: joelle.curet@heidelberg.com
Heidelberg's second gapless newspaper press uses technical innovation to open the door to triple-width production advantages. The new Tristream features a two-pages-around by six-pages-across plate cylinder configuration. It relies on gapless blankets to achieve high print quality at up to 80,000 copies per hour when printing straight or 40,000 copies per hour in collect production.
A design innovation minimizes the effects of water absorption on the triple-width paper web. "The newspaper industry has long envisioned the potential benefits of triple-width production," according to Heidelberg Web Systems president Bob Brown. "Our technology unlocks that potential and makes 2x6 printing a practical option." The Tristream prints at conventional double-width speeds, but its 2x6 plate cylinder delivers 50 percent more pages per revolution than a conventional 2x4 double-width press. As a result, newspapers can match double-width productivity with one-third fewer towers and pasters. That can cut the overall cost and length of a press line. The triple-width configuration also provides shorter web leads, one-third fewer edges to contribute to web breaks, and 50 percent more paper strength to carry a web defect through the press without breaking.
The Tristream follows Heidelberg's successful drupa 2000 introduction of the world's first gapless newspaper press, the 1x4 Mainstream. "Gapless blankets eliminate mechanical disturbances and vibration that occur when blanket gaps meet," Newspaper Development Manager " John Richards explains. "The resulting dynamic stability allows us to operate 1x4 and 2x6 plate cylinders at very high speeds and in the 2:2 plate-to-blanket cylinder ratio for the highest print quality." Gapless blankets in Heidelberg Sunday Presses never require run in or packing and can routinely be changed in less than one minute without removing the web. Heidelberg has developed an innovative closed-loop system for the Tristream to automatically compensate for fan-out, a potential problem caused by excessive water absorption when printing newsprint on such wide webs. As a result, fan-out in a four-high Tristream tower is reduced to the negligible level normally found in a four-high single-width tower and is 50 percent less than the fan-out in a conventional four-high double-width tower.
The Tristream features independent a.c. drives which make it easy to engage and disengage individual printing couples for flying edition changes. The synchronized drives also provide better speed regulation, controlled deceleration, expanded voltage tolerances and a reduction in calibration and maintenance requirements when compared with d.c. drives. Heidelberg's Contiweb FT flying paster complements the Tristream and features motorized split arms, integrated infeed and web-up, and the capacity to splice rolls up to 2,430 millimeters wide. The Tristream can be configured with up to three formers across each level and up to three former levels. The triple-width format provides straight web leads for up to three sections per former level, or a total of nine sections, in straight production.
In collect mode, up to six sections per former level can be produced without angle bars. A JFC-255 jaw folder has a 5:5 cylinder ratio and an 80,000 copies per hour capacity, while an RB-32 rotary blade model has a 3:2 ratio and a 75,000 copies per hour capacity. A unique Heidelberg design allows the lower folders to be moved on tracks for optimum positioning under the formers according to the pagination and section configuration of each press run.
Heidelberg's Omnicon control system manages automated component control, preset storage and retrieval and job planning functions for the Tristream. Omnicon can integrate press and postpress operations to maximize productivity and efficiency. It also features Omnipage, an advanced makeready feature that utilizes cameras to automatically identify newspaper pages on the console and instantly direct the control system to the corresponding web, tower, printing couple and page.
"The acknowledged advantages of triple-width production, the successful demonstration of a gapless newspaper press at drupa and the endorsement of that technology by the Telegraph Group's seven-press Mainstream order have created a lot of interest in the Tristream," Sales and Service Manager for Europe Jacques Navarre says. "This press further confirms our intention to use technology and systems integration to deliver new production capabilities that can make newspapers more competitive."
For further information:
Heidelberg Web Systems
Joëlle Curet
Tel.: +33 (0)344 29 40 52
E-mail: joelle.curet@heidelberg.com
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
Corporate Communications
Hans-Dieter Siegfried
Tel.: +49 (0)6221 92 50 63
E-mail: hans-dieter.siegfried@heidelberg.com
Corporate Communications
Hans-Dieter Siegfried
Tel.: +49 (0)6221 92 50 63
E-mail: hans-dieter.siegfried@heidelberg.com
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