a water and ink dispenser for a rotary printing press includes a metering roll that is driven by a gear train directly from the printing cylinder , the gears of the gear train each being rotatable on an axis fixed relatively to the axis of rotation of each other gear , in order to avoid chatter and noise in the gear train , a form roll of the device being adjustable relative to the printing cylinder and metering roll entirely independently of said gear train , whereby scuffing and gear marking in the finished print is eliminated .