Term for one of two types of rollers found in the inking system of a printing press used in offset lithography. Intermediates are resilient-surface rollers found adjacent to gear-and-chain-driven, hard-surface rollers (such as oscillators) and are turned by the force generated on their surfaces by contact with the adjacent rollers. Intermediates (known as distributors when falling between two other rollers or as riders when they contact only one other roller) serve the function of working the ink into the necessary viscosity needed for proper printing, and of mixing the ink with amounts of water to form a proper emulsion. (See Inking System: Offset Lithography and Offset Lithography.)
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