Reverse angle mounted ink-splitting doctor blade

Claim 1

In the method of inking the surface of a cylinder to the desired ink thickness the improvement which comprises: a. applying a flexible doctor blade, said blade having a cylindrical edge capable of splitting the ink thereby causing a portion of the ink to flow above the blade and a portion of the ink to flow beneath the blade and said cylindrical blade edge having a radius of curvative one-half of the blade thickness, to the surface of the cylinder and parallel with the axis of rotation of the cylinder to form a nip roughly the thickness of the ink film to be formed, said doctor blade being supported solely by a support member and pressed against the ink film by said support member so that the angle between the cylinder and the blade at their point of nearest approach is greater than 90° and less than 180°; b. applying ink having a room temperature viscosity no greater than about 180,000 centipoise and a tack value no greater than about 196 as measured on a Thwing Albert 101 Inkometer to the doctor blade and causing a portion of it to flow over the edge of the blade and onto the surface of the cylinder to form an ink film on said surface which is thicker than the desired ink film thickness; and c. providing relative motion between the surface of the cylinder and the doctor blade at a velocity adjusted to interact with the ink viscosity, blade geometry and downward force on the blade to cause the ink to be carried into the nip by such relative motion, whereby its viscous resistance to shear forces creates an upward pressure causing the doctor blade to float over the ink film it produces when a portion of the ink flows above the blade and a portion flows beneath the blade to thereby cause the ink to be applied to the surface in the desired thickness.