Abstract:
There is described an impression cylinder (01) for intaglio printing of security documents, especially banknotes, comprising a cylinder body (10) carrying at least one blanket (20) on its circumference, and a packing (30) disposed between the cylinder body (10) and the blanket (20). The packing (30) exhibits at least one depression (40) whose location is selected to correspond to the location of at least a selected portion of a corresponding security element (50) having optical and/or structural properties to be preserved, which security element (50) is provided or exposed on a backside (60b) of a substrate (60) to be supported against the blanket (20) during intaglio printing, the said at least one depression (40) being designed to lead to a local reduction of the printing pressure at the location of the said at least selected portion of the corresponding security element (50).