Inkers on Top

The installation has progressed to the placement of the inking units on top of the base cylinders. Here we are positioning the 6th inker unit over the press. Once again, we are dealing with precise alignment of big heavy objects.



Special care is taken as the inker is lowered into place to make sure the gears are correctly aligned with the gear of the impression cylinder.


The top gear in the next photo is the inker gear, and the bottom gear is the impression cylinder gear. If you look closely, you will see a red mark at the teeth of each gear (about "6 o'clock" on the top gear). This is the alignment point. Matching these points is critical to having correct gear timing throughout the press.


Note also the blue overalls worn by the KBA technician in the photo above. On my recent visits to Germany, I noticed that these are the fashionable workclothes for many of the tradesmen in Germany. I do not have a good explanation for why the blue color is universal, so if you know the story, let me hear it!