Self-inking stamping device

• US 4,852,489 A
• Filed: 11/18/1987
• Issued: 08/01/1989
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/1987
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Trodat GmbH (Trodat Trotec Holding GmbH)
• Original Assignee: M&R Marking Systems Incorporated (Trodat Trotec Holding GmbH)
• Inventors: Wall, Alexander C., Sculler, Leonard H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Crowder, Clifford D.
• Application Number:
  US07/122,127
• Time in Patent Office: 622 Days
• Field of Search: 101/334, 101/333, 101/104, 101/105
• US Class Current: 101/334
• CPC Class Codes: B41K 1/40 Inking devices operated by stamping movement
• CPC Class Codes: B41K 1/54 Inking pads

Abstract

A self-inking stamping device easily grasped and operated in a person'"'"'s hand is provided by an improved arrangement of an encasing operating member relative to a frame member that supports an ink pad holder and contains an invertable type-carrying platen, with coacting means on the platen, the frame member and the operating member for disposing type of an elastic strip on the platen in inking position at an ink pad in the holder when the operating member is being held in a normal upward position by spring action and causing the type to impress evenly on a surface at the lower end of the frame member when the operating member is pressed downward to stamping position. Bridge members extending inward from an upper portion of an encasement wall of the operating member form a seat for a coiled spring compressed between them and an upper surface of the ink pad holder, and provide a space in-between them to receive and give access to an inking cup formation on the holder when the encasement wall is depressed. Cam slots formed in an end skirt of the platen at opposite sides of its axis of turnover movement cooperate with pins protruding inward from the frame member so as to position the platen accurately throughout its turnover movements and to keep its face perpendicular to the direction of platen displacement in the respective final portions of the upward and downward displacements.

Claims

1. In a stamping device comprising an upright hollow frame member having an open lower end to bear against a supporting surface, an operating member comprising a hollow encasement interfitting with and displaceable vertically relative to said frame member and a top closure fitting removably onto the upper end of said encasement, spring means normally holding said encasement in an upward position from which by one'"'"'s hand it can be pressed downward relative to said frame member to a stamping position, an ink pad holder supported by said frame member at a distance above said lower end, ink receiving means on the upper side of said holder for receiving and delivering ink for inking a pad in said holder, a displaceable type-carrying platen inside said frame member, and coacting means connected respectively with said platen, said frame member and said encasement for disposing said platen in an inking position at said holder when said encasement is in said upwrd position and disposing said platen in position to impress a surface at said lower end when said encasement is depressed to stamping position, said encasement comprising an upright wall outside and extending above said frame member and having spring seating means fixed to opposite upper end portions of opposite panels of said wall, said spring means being compressed between said ink pad holder and said seating means,

the improvement wherein said spring seating means comprises separate ridge members protruding inward each toward another from said opposite upper end portions and each terminating at a free inner end spaced away from the inner end of the other, said opposite panels being divergent in downward direction from said bridge members to the lower end of said wall, said ink receiving means being accessible in the space between said bridge members upon removal of said top closure and depression of said encasement to stamping position, and said spring means comprises a coiled spring having an upper coil thereof being against the undersides of and spanning the space between said bridge members.

2. A stamping device according to claim 1, said bridge members being molded integrally with said opposite upper end portions, said bridge members each having on its inward end a downturned lip to engage inside said upper coil.

3. A stamping device according to claim 1 or 2, and wherein said ink receiving means comprises an upwardly open cup formation protruding upward from said holder and opening downward therethrough for receiving drops of ink and passing the ink toward an ink absorbent pad in said holder.

4. In a stamping device comprising an upright hollow frame member having an open lower end to bear against a supporting surface, an operating member interfitting with and displaceable vertically relative to said frame member, spring means normally holding said operating member in an upward position from which by one'"'"'s hand it can be pressed downward relative to said frame member to a stamping position, an ink pad holder supported by said frame member at a distance above said lower end, a displaceable type-carrying platen inside said frame member, and coacting means connected respectively with said platen, said frame member and said operating member for disposing said platen in an inking position at said holder when said operating member is in said upward position and disposing said platen in position to impress a surface at said lower end when said operating member is depressed to stamping position;

the improvement wherein said coacting means comprise platen support means carried by opposite lower wall portions of said operating member and extending coaxially therefrom through vertically elongate openings in said frame member and into skirt means integral with said platen, said platen being carried by and rotatable about the axis of said support means;

upper and lower platen positioning pins in a pair thereof spaced apart vertically on and protruding inward from at least one side of said frame member, each pair of said pins lying in a plane spaced to one side of the path of movement of said support means with said operating member;

and in a said skirt means at least at one end of said platen a pair of angled cam slots disposed at opposite sides of said axis and respectively opertive to receive and engage successively with said pins of sa said pair so as to definitely position said platen about said axis throughout each downward and each upward displacement of said platen with said operating member, said cam slots each comprising a pin entry slot portion extending substantially perpendicular to the face of said platen and a slot foot portion extending toward said axis from an at an obtuse angle to said entry position;

one of said entry slot portions cooperating with the lower pin of a said pair to hold said platen face perpendicular to the direction of displacement of said platen during a final stage of each movement of said platen to said stamping position.

5. A stamping device according to claim 4, the other of said entry slot portions cooperating with the upper pin of a said pair to hold said platen face perpendicular to said direction of displacement during a final stge of each movement of said platen to said linking position.

6. A stamping device according to claim 4 or 5, each said pair of cam slots being formed in a portion of the said platen skirt means outside an uninterrupted portion thereof supported on said platen support means.

7. A stamping device according to claim 4 or 5, said platen support means comprising an axle rod extending through said platen skirt means and said frame member openings and having its ends seated in sockets formed in said opposite lower wall portions of said operating member, each said pair of cam slots being formed in a portion of sid platen skirt means outside an uninterrupted inner portion thereof supported on said axle rod, said slot foot portions terminating at locations close to said rod.