deactivation of positioning units for printing cylinders and other functional units for the printing machine is performed in synchronization with the rotation of the rotary reference component the positioning units exhibit dead times in their response to applied activating or deactivating signals the duration of each such dead time expressed in terms of the extent of angular movement of the rotary reference component varies in dependence upon printing machine operating speed tending to produce improper synchronization between activation and deactivation of positioning units on the one hand and machine operation on the other hand the speed of operation of the printing machine is monitored and employed to automatically introduce a compensatory time delay into the application of activating or deactivating signals to the positioning units to compensate for the dead times and maintain proper synchronization application_number US 78254477 A description the control signal for a positioning unit which exhibits a dead time upon receipt of its activation signal must be delayed in dependence upon the angular velocity of a rotating component of the printing machine e g a printing roller of the machine to compensate for the dead time the angle by which the actuating signal for the positioning unit is to be delayed is referred to herein as the delay angle the.