This printing machine can undoubtedly be called one of the most modern developments of the 1980s. The design solutions remain relevant even now, at the beginning of the 21st century.
Among its options were state-of-the-art solutions, which even today are not found in all printing machine manufacturers.
It is said that after the company’s merger with MAN Roland in 1990, the group became one of the world’s largest patent holders in the field of printing machinery on a par with Heidelberg. And all thanks to the state-of-the-art developments of Miller Johannisberg Druckmaschinen GmbH.
History of the Miller TP74
The Miller TP74 sheetfed offset printing machine is a significant model in the world of printing, especially during its active use in the 1980s and 1990s. This machine was developed by Miller, which was based in Germany and was considered one of the leading manufacturers of printing equipment for many years.
Origins and development
Johannisberg was founded in the mid-19th century in Germany. For a number of economic reasons in post-war Germany, a partial merger with the American printing machine manufacturer Miller Printing Machinery CO, Pittsburgh, took place in 1954. At the famous DRUPA exhibition in 1962 a new high-performance letterpress machine Johannisberg 104 format 72×104 was presented, which proved to be just as popular as the letterpress machines of the companyHeidelberg, which remained in series production for 19 years until 1981.
In April 1968, Fritz Werner Industrie-Ausrüstung, which was by then owned by the federal company Deutsche Industrieanlagen GmbH (DIAG), acquired shares in Maschinenfabrik Johannisberg. The defence supplier wanted to expand its own production, and had little interest in making printing machines itself. This would have disastrous consequences for Miller Pittsburgh.
Miller Pittsburgh wanted to retain its expertise in Geisenheim and decided to get out of the situation by founding a subsidiary, Miller Johannisberg Druckmaschinen GmbH (MJD), a purely design and sales company without its own production. Virtually all patents remained in the possession of the new company. Immediately afterwards, a co-operation agreement was signed with Fritz Werner for the production of printing machines.
Since then, machines have been produced in Geisenheim under the name Maschinenfabrik Johannisberg as well as Miller Johannisberg, but development, research, design and sales have only been carried out under the Miller Johannisbergname. In 1972, Miller Johannisberg moved its headquarters to Wiesbaden-Biebrich.
Against the backdrop of a rapidly developing printing market, the company began to develop new models of offset printing machines to meet modern requirements. In 1972, the TP 104 was introduced, which was destined to become one of the company’s longest-lived machines, followed in 1977 by the Miller TP74 half-format model.
Features and advantages of the TP74
As of the late 70s, the sectional construction of the printing machine was gaining popularity. Miller developers actually created the offset printing machine as we know it well today.
Feeder
Miller TP-74 machines were equipped with Spiess feeders. The feeding table was equipped with a roller sheet transport mechanism and brushes. It is reliable and easy to set up and ensures accurate sheet transport to the front stops.
The overlay table had two pulling side stops with a roller. The feeder was equipped with electronic sensors for double sheet control.
A pile preloading device was implemented. The trolley of the feeder is prepared during work in front of the machine, and when charging on the rails it drives onto the pallet and is fixed on it. But particularly noteworthy was the function of mechanically sliding the stack sideways to compensate for an unevenly stacked stack of paper. The table together with the stack can be positioned left to right by means of a handle.
Print unit
It was more difficult and expensive to build a sectional printing machine than a planetary machine. But due to the increased distance between the ink application points in the units (the sheet path became about 7 times longer!) it was possible to increase the speed of the machine almost to infinity. In addition, the problem of partial transfer of ink from the first unit to the next through the offset blanket has been solved.
The design of the Miller TP-74 print unit includes plate, offset and impression cylinders, as well as two single diameter transfer cylinders. The storage cylinder has a double diameter. This design ensures quality transfer of sheets up to 0.5 mm thick without bending.
The transfer cylinders were fitted with anti-smudge material. The printers preferred to use Superblue gauze.
As standard, the machine was supplied without an offset cylinder wash-up device. This option, with brush cleaning modules, was available as an optional extra.
The plate mounting locking bar is divided into two parts, which allows the plate to be installed in a skewed position. It is opened with a special tool. The plate is clamped with two bolts on each side.
The pressure of the metal clamps could be set individually as they wear. No polyurethane pads requiring replacement were used in the machine.
Perfecting device
In 80s Miller Johannisberg Druckmaschinen GmbH was the recognised world leader in the design of sheet perfecting devices, and held many patents in this field. The grippers of the sheet turning cylinder are in the form of pincers that grab the sheet by the trailing edge. The degree of movement of the perfecting mechanism is installed on a scale.
The storage cylinder has air nozzles that press the sheet against the cylinder during the operation of the flip unit. They are only switched on when the perfecting device is engaged.
Delivery
The delivery is constructed using conventional steel brake drums. Above the pile there are three rows of fans, which ensure quality stacking of the sheets. This is also where the strips for spraying anti-breaking powder are located.
Optionally on Miller TP-74 machines, the receiving output cylinder (single diameter) can be coated with SuperBlue to prevent ink smearing.
On multi-colour machines, infrared drying was also available as an option for faster ink drying. This could be in the form of lamps or tubular electric heating elements. The latter was quite dangerous due to the fact that the metal elements could not cool down quickly. It also made the machine quite voracious in terms of electricity.
Dryers between units
Dryers in Miller machines were installed not only in the delivery, but also… between print units. Either lamps or tubular heating elements with fans were used to direct the airflow onto the printed sheet. When a sheet accidentally got stuck in a unit, it could cause the printing machine to catch fire. Printers knew this, and after a while stopped using them. The only reminder of the hot heating elements today is the orange knobs for switching them off, located between the print units.
Ink unit
In those years, it was one of the most sophisticated high-capacity ink devices. It could roll out a good quality elements with 100% fill rate, was stable on long runs, and reacted quite quickly to changes in ink quantity. The ink unit of the Miller TP-74 consisted of 19 rollers, including 4 rollers. Each colour box had 20 zones of adjustment.
An optional ink temperature control was available.
The machine easily disconnected the axial rollout. This made it possible to install dividers in the colour box. And the machine perfectly coped with the works with rainbow printing – where the transition from ink to ink was necessary. For example, when producing certificates or security printing.
Dampening unit
Three dampening systems could be installed on different configurations:
The standard dampening system (Molleton) with an oscillating transfer roller and sheathed rollers was common at the time.
The Alcotron alcohol-infused film dampening system, but without chillers, was for those users who wanted to achieve a sharper raster dot. Only one plush lined roller was used in this system – the metering roller. The rest of the dampening rollers were rubber.
The most perfect was the real alcohol system of film dampening named Millermeter. The peculiarity of the Millermeter system is its equipment with separate refrigerators for recirculation and cooling (each refrigerator served two units) of the dampening solution, made in the form of machine’s footsteps.
Unimatic C3/C4 remote consoles
The freestanding Unimatic C console allows remote control of the ink supply to the colour zones and the horizontal and vertical register by means of push buttons. The buttons for controlling the rotational speed of the ductor and the moisturiser supply are also located here. Order information can be printed on the integrated thermal tape printer or stored on a microcassette.
UNIMATIC C3: This console was an earlier version of the control system that provided basic control of the printing process. Automation was limited to basic operations such as adjusting ink and moisturiser supply, controlling print speed and monitoring some parameters.
The C3 console interface was simpler and more analogue, with fewer digital elements and displays. Operators mostly relied on manual settings and visual indicators.
UNIMATIC C4: In the later version, the level of automation was significantly increased. The console allowed for finer adjustments and process control, including automatic calibration, presetting of parameters for different jobs, and more precise control of the ink supply and humidification process. The C4 also offered improved diagnostic and real-time machine status monitoring features. This version also included more advanced graphics and the ability to preview settings.
The decline and merger of the company
As mentioned above, the arms company remained the major shareholder in the production, and all patents and developments remained in the hands of Miller Hohannisberg Druckmaschinen GmbH. After Fritz Werner became increasingly in the public eye because of its weapons business, attempts were made to switch production to civilian products. On 1 January 1981, Fritz Werner Industrie-Ausrüstungen also acquired Miller Johannisberg Druckmaschinen GmbH.
In 1986, Miller Johannisberg had a turnover of approximately half that of Fritz Werner GmbH. Due to the great success of Miller Johannisberg, from 1987 onwards, the company decided to concentrate more on the production of printing machines and it became necessary to move back to Geisenheim. In 1989, after the demolition of the old production hall, the company moved into a new building to house offices and a modern wide format printing centre.
MAN Miller
On 20 December 1989, DIAG was taken over by MAN AG, which had just 10 years earlier taken over another printing machine manufacturer, Roland Offsetmaschinenfabrik Faber & Schleicher.
Miller Johannisberg was transferred to MAN Roland Druckmaschinen AG under the new name MAN Miller Druckmaschinen GmbH. This was to show that Miller’s printing machines were intended to complement, not compete with, Roland’s printing technology.
MAN Roland gained access to Miller’s patents and developments. New production facilities in Geisenheim were taken over and used to create new sectional printing machines. The previous part of the company name, Johannisberg, was cancelled.
At that time, the purchase of Miller was only to MAN Roland’s advantage, as the company had already relied on planetary machines since 1928. And the market’s demand for higher print speeds left them old-fashioned and without a future. This is why we can say that the blood of the Miller TP74 machine runs through the Roland 300 machine from 1995 and the more advanced Roland 500 from 2002.
In 2006, MAN Roland finally moved its production facilities to Offenbach am Main, thus putting an end to a long machine-building tradition in Geisenheim.
The legacy of the TP74
Although production ceased, Miller TP74 machines remain in use in some print shops to this day. They are still valued for their quality and reliability, and many specialists nostalgically remember this model as one of the symbols of the golden era of offset printing.
Thus, the Miller TP74 has left a significant mark on the history of offset printing as an example of the successful combination of German quality and engineering.
Miller TP74 machine characteristics
Maximum sheet size, mm: 520 x 740
Minimum sheet size, mm: 210 x 280
Maximum print format, mm
printing without perfecting: 510 x 730
Perfecting printing: 500 x 730
Thickness of printed material, mm: 0,06…0,5
Sheet edge for valve gripping, mm: 55
Plate cylinder
Plate size, mm: 610 х 740
Plate thickness, mm: 0,5
Length of back edge bend, mm 55
Offset cylinder
Offset cylinder bore, mm: 2,1
Size of reinforced offset blanket, mm: 775 х 750
Offset blanket thickness, mm: 2,0
Offset cylinder thickness with liner sheet, mm: 2,1
Ink unit
Total number of rollers in unit, pcs. 19
Form rollers, pcs: 4
Number of colour zones of ink supply adjustment: 20
Number of dampening rollers, pcs.
Standard dampening system with oscillating transfer roller: 5 (2 plate rollers)
Millermeter film moistening system with alcohol addition: 4 (1 plate rollers)
Alcotron alcohol-infused film dampening system: 4 (1 plate roller)
Pile height, mm
Feeder: 1180
Delivery: 1100
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Information used in preparation:
Wikipedia,
Print-machines
From open sources
