An apparatus for producing a sleeve-shaped printing form from a plate-shaped
blank
includes a circular shaping device for the blank, a welding system, by means of
which the plate edges forming the start and end of the printing form can be cut
to size, maintaining their dimensions, and welded, and a displaceable device for
picking up and for transporting the blank to the circular shaping device. The displaceable
device has a fixing frame which has two lifting elements which can be adjusted
in accordance with the distance between the plate edges to be joined and can be
set along the respective plate edge. The leading plate edge is equipped with a
register hole system, a lifting element comprising a pin register interacting with
the register hole system while suction elements fix the leading edge, the other
lifting element is configured with at least one suction element, the feed table
being arranged so as to rise in the direction of the welding system, so that the
blank, fixed by means of the pin register, aligns itself in an in-register and
level manner, in the direction of its trailing edge, along the obliquely extending
feed table on account of its inherent weight.
