Color printing apparatus for producing duplex copies

A color printing apparatus and method for printing separate color images onto the two sides of a substrate, which includes a number of image bearing cylinders, not necessarily of the same size, each of which is related to a single color and an imaging mechanism for imaging each of the cylinders with two separate images. The apparatus includes a number of transfer mechanisms for simultaneously transferring each of the images of each of the cylinders onto the substrate, with at least one of the images being transferred to each side of the substrate, and each of the images being transferred to the substrate from a different location along each of the cylinders. Finally, the apparatus includes a turnover mechanism for turning the substrate over between the transferring of the first of the images of all of the cylinders and the transferring of the second of the two images. A similar apparatus can also be used in monochrome printing using a single imaging cylinder. Both continuous-web and sheet-fed systems may be used.