Get your head around this … because it’s not an April 1 announcement or the result of too many beer-soaked pre-Christmas parties.
Goss has worked out how to convert standard two-around presses to enable them to print three shorter broadsheet sections per cylinder revolution.
Conversion delivers a Berliner-style page size and can be combined with page-width conversion on double-width presses … but there’s a catch: You have to accept an unusual asymetrical fold into the bargain.
The three-pages-around Triliner option for newspaper presses which had been touted in the USA earlier this year, is now being launched worldwide. Goss International says it overcomes barriers deterring many newspapers from converting to more attractive and cost-effective compact formats, while still accepting standard-sized inserts.
Plate cylinders are modified to accommodate a single plate containing three shorter newspaper pages imaged around the circumference, and a SuperBerliner folder delivers the off-centre folds. Adjustments can also be made to postpress inserting systems to accept the smaller, asymmetrically folded papers.
What publishers get is a compact broadsheet with a cutoff two-thirds of that of their existing double-circumference presses. The Triliner technology can be supplied on new presses and Goss says presses can be equipped with both types of folder.
conventional and Triliner folders will provide the versatility to produce both two-around and three-around products by simply varying the number of pages imaged onto the single-around plate.
“Triliner technology offers the convenient, compact size previously reserved for tabloids, while retaining key advantages of the broadsheet format, including multiple sections and premium advertising positions,” director of newspaper product management John Richards says.
The unique off-centre folder is a key element, giving the folded product a familiar size and shape while allowing the larger flap to cover standard-size inserts produced on 534 mm presses. “With web widths shrinking, Triliner technology also brings cutoffs into a more familiar and pleasing proportion to page widths,” he adds.
With the cutoff reduced by a third, the new format can reap paper and productivity savings. Straight production means 50 per cent more newspapers would be produced in the same time. “That added productivity can shorten the production window, allowing later press starts or earlier finishes, and it could open up time for commercial or contract printing opportunities,” Richards says.
For collect operations, sections come in breaks of three, rather than two. The Triliner jaw folder collects the three images around the plate cylinder to produce three sections per former. As a result there are also more section fronts, section backs and panorama centre positions.
A second advantage, according to Richards, is a 50 per cent increase in the number of colour pages without additional towers, due to the fact that all the new sections have colour in the same positions as the original sections.
In the conversion, plate cylinders are converted to accept one plate around instead of two, with the three-page images burned onto one plate. This would mean new CTP equipment for most users, but Goss says register should be improved and there will be fewer plates to change.
The folder is based on the Goss FPS folder and incorporates features from earlier Goss folders that performed the triple-collect operation. “The newspaper industry, like many industries today, faces strong competitive pressures,” says Richards. “With Triliner, we demonstrate a commitment to providing new opportunities, both through new press investments and through cost-effective upgrades that extend the competitive lifespan of existing equipment.”
