Newspaper Cuts Press Downtime With Spray Damping

The cut in downtime achieved by French daily regional newspaper L'Est Republicain since it fitted 17 Baldwin Constant C systems has led to additional Constant C technology.

The cut in downtime achieved by French daily regional newspaper L'Est Republicain since it fitted 17 Baldwin Constant C systems to the Lithospray spray dampening systems on its two Goss Newsliner presses, has led to the company to invest in additional Constant C technology.

Developed to further enhance the capabilities of Lithospray dampening systems, the Constant C technology creates a consistent air curtain across the opening of the nozzles, keeping them free from blockage by ink, dirt or dust and maintaining uniform dampening spray of the plate, said Baldwin.

The blocking of nozzles can arise with any make of spray dampening system but Baldwin clainmed that it is the only manufacturer able to eliminate this problem.

Baldwin's Constant C is fitted to all new Lithospray Maxima dampening systems and can be retrofitted to existing Baldwin Optima and World spray bars.

Eliminating nozzle clogging and ensuring even fountain solution distribution of the plate helps to achieve consistently high print quality and significantly reduces maintenance of the spray dampening system, added the company.

Production manager at L'Est Republicain, Philippe Vermande, explained: "The nature of printing at high speeds on a newspaper press, with significant levels of ink, dust and dirt in the atmosphere, means that blockage of the spray dampening nozzles is not uncommon.

Constant C prevents dust or other foreign bodies entering in to contact with the nozzles and this has resulted in less time required on maintenance or cleaning.

Furthermore, if blocked nozzles aren't attended to quickly then an inadequate and uneven level of fount solution is applied to the plate, resulting in dry areas that can affect the print quality." According to Baldwin, so impressed has L'Est Republicain been with the Constant C System, that further investment is now planned to equip the newspaper's older Swedish Nohab presses with the same technology.

Vermande added: "This is a terrific system that has made an immense difference to productivity by cutting blockages to a fraction of what they were.

Baldwin's Constant C technology gives us peace of mind and allows us to feel confident of an continuing high-performance from the Lithospray system.

As a result of its success, we now intend to also install Constant C technology on Lithospray systems fitted to our Nohab towers." Founded in 1889, L'Est Republicain is based in Nancy and serves the Lorraine and France Comte departments in north east France.

Produced 359 days-a-year and with a daily print run of over 200,000 copies, the newspaper is one of France's oldest dailies and belongs to the group France Est Medias.

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