Credit card embossing system
First Claim
1. A topper for applying a topping to embossed cards comprising:
- (a) a card transporting means for moving cards from a wait station to a topping station where topping is applied to characters on embossed cards;
(b) a support surface having a first end and a second end, the support surface being rigid with respect to force applied between the first and second ends in a direction which is orthogonal to a surface of the card having the embossed characters;
(c) a flat surface for rigidly supporting a back surface of an embossed card located at the topping station and connected to the first end of the support surface, the back surface being the surface of the embossed card to which topping is not applied;
(d) a heated platen which is movable from a first position remote from the surface of the card which has the embossed characters to be topped to a second position at which a surface of the platen forces a topping bearing foil into contact with the embossed characters to heat fuse the topping to the embossed characters, the platen having a face which contacts the topping bearing foil in the second position and which is substantially parallel to the flat surface in moving from the first position to the second position;
(e) a suspension for supporting the platen including a base having first and second ends, first and second parallel flexible members which have a cross section with an elongated dimension being orthogonal to the direction of motion between the first and second positions and which have first and second ends, the first ends of the first and second flexible members being connected respectively to the first and second ends of the base;
(f) an attachment plate carried by the platen having first and second parallel ends, the first and second ends of the attachment plate being respectively connected to the second ends of the first and second flexible members;
(g) means for moving the platen from the first position to the second position which causes the flexible members to bend while maintaining a substantially parallel relationship with each other and the surface of the platen substantially parallel to the support surface during movement from the first position to the second position, the means for moving the platen having a movable member which is connected to the platen and being connected to the second end of the support surface; and
(h) a source for providing the topping bearing foil between the surface of the platen and the support surface.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An embossing system is disclosed for embossing cards with characters of at least two pitches. A number of embossers equal to the number of lines of characters to be embossed on the card are positioned in line. Each embosser is dedicated to the embossing of a particular line of characters with a particular pitch. A common transport belt conveys the cards from an input hopper past the embossing stations of each of the in line embossers to a wait station. During embossing, the transport belt is moved from the current longitudinal position to the longitudinal position where the closest next character(s) are to be embossed by any one of the embossers. The embossed cards are conveyed from the wait station to a topper which applies topping to the embossed characters.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A topper for applying a topping to embossed cards comprising:
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(a) a card transporting means for moving cards from a wait station to a topping station where topping is applied to characters on embossed cards; (b) a support surface having a first end and a second end, the support surface being rigid with respect to force applied between the first and second ends in a direction which is orthogonal to a surface of the card having the embossed characters; (c) a flat surface for rigidly supporting a back surface of an embossed card located at the topping station and connected to the first end of the support surface, the back surface being the surface of the embossed card to which topping is not applied; (d) a heated platen which is movable from a first position remote from the surface of the card which has the embossed characters to be topped to a second position at which a surface of the platen forces a topping bearing foil into contact with the embossed characters to heat fuse the topping to the embossed characters, the platen having a face which contacts the topping bearing foil in the second position and which is substantially parallel to the flat surface in moving from the first position to the second position; (e) a suspension for supporting the platen including a base having first and second ends, first and second parallel flexible members which have a cross section with an elongated dimension being orthogonal to the direction of motion between the first and second positions and which have first and second ends, the first ends of the first and second flexible members being connected respectively to the first and second ends of the base; (f) an attachment plate carried by the platen having first and second parallel ends, the first and second ends of the attachment plate being respectively connected to the second ends of the first and second flexible members; (g) means for moving the platen from the first position to the second position which causes the flexible members to bend while maintaining a substantially parallel relationship with each other and the surface of the platen substantially parallel to the support surface during movement from the first position to the second position, the means for moving the platen having a movable member which is connected to the platen and being connected to the second end of the support surface; and (h) a source for providing the topping bearing foil between the surface of the platen and the support surface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A topper for applying a topping to embossed characters of embossed cards each having a number of embossed characters comprising:
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(a) a topping station to which cards are moved and at which a topping material is applied to embossed characters; (b) means for supplying the topping to the topping station; (c) a heated platen which is moved by a driving means from a first position, at which topping is not applied to the embossed characters of a card at the topping station, to a second position at which the characters are topped by the heated platen by forcing the topping against the characters to cause fusing of the topping to embossed characters; and (d) control means for causing a force to be applied by the driving means to the heated platen during topping which is proportional to the number of characters embossed on the card. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A topper for applying topping to embossed characters of embossed cards comprising:
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(a) a topping station to which cards are moved and at which a topping material is applied to embossed characters, the topping station having a surface against which a card rests when topping is applied to the embossed characters; (b) means for supplying the topping to the topping station; (c) a heated platen which is movable by a driving means from a first position, at which topping is not applied to the embossed characters of a card at the topping station, to a second position at which the characters are topped by the heated platen forcing the topping against the characterss to cause fusing of the topping to the embossed characters; and (d) means for suspending the heated platen, for movement between the first position and the second position and back to the first position, from a base located remote from the driving means while maintaining a face of the platen substantially parallel to the surface against which the card rests during topping at the second position and including first and second flexible members coupled to the heated platen and to the base with the members bending during movement of the heated platen. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification