Patent Application
20160067992
This invention relates to hand stamps and particularly to hand stamps that use a plurality of pegs or rectangular solids with various indicia contained on and end to create a hand stamp. In particular this invention relates to the method of manufacturing the hand stamp.
Various types of hand stamps have been used in the past. Most of them have used a frame that holds various types of printing plates that have the printing indicia thereon. The printing plate may be permanently mounted in the stamp or can be changed. An example of one that allows the printing plate to be changed is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 2,899,895 issued to Tannery. However, a shortcoming of this device is that it uses a frame to hold the individual printing plates.
Other types of hand stamps that have printing plates or individual characters changes are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 6,098,535 that allows the entire printing plate or surface to be changes, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,631,799 that allows individual stems to be replaced.
Another type of hand stamp uses the individual pegs, each peg having a printing surface at one end, with a character or printing indicia at the printing end. By joining together a plurality of these pegs, a hand stamp is formed. No frame is required to hold the pegs with the printing indicia thereon as the pegs form the stamp that is held by the user to create the stamping impressions.
Applicant's invention provides a method of manufacturing the hand stamp that uses the individual pegs to create the final hand stamp. Applicant provides a plurality of pegs joined together to form a stack or grouping of pegs. A sheet of rubber material having the printing indicia thereon is placed over the stack of pegs and glued to the top of the pegs as an entire sheet. The individual characters that are on the sheet are connected together by a thin bridge of material that is intended to be torn apart or ruptured when the individual pegs are disassembled from the stack for creating the individual pegs that are connected to create the final stamp.
Turning first to
The individual pegs 10 are joined together but can be easily separated as seen in
On the top 14 of each peg 10 is an individual piece 19 of rubberlike material 18 that has a number, letter or other indicia thereon. In the prior art, these individual pieces of rubberlike material 19 were individually glued on to the top 14 of each peg 10. Obviously this is extremely labor intensive and not subject to exact precision as the laborer may place a piece of rubberlike material 19 at an angle with respect to the sides of the peg. In the previous manner of assembling the pegs, the pegs 10 had their individual piece 19 of rubber like material glued onto the top 14 of a peg 10 and the plurality of pegs 10 were then joined into stacks 12. Alternatively a stack 12 of pegs 10 was assembled and the individual pieces of rubberlike material with indicia thereon were glued onto the tops 14.
Applicant's invention comprises a new method of attaching the rubberlike material 18 to the top 14 of the pegs 10. First, a sheet of the rubberlike material is selected. The size is preferably selected so that it can be cut into individual groups of letters or numbers that will be the same dimension as a stack of pegs. Generally a convenient size is that of A4 paper, namely 29.7 cm×21 cm. The sheet of rubberlike material is then laser cut on its top surface so that a plurality of numbers, letters, symbols, and other printing indicia 40 are formed in the top surface. The indicia 40 is raised on the surface of the rubberlike material so that when ink is applied, the ink can be transferred from the raised portion to a receiving medium when the raised portion is pressed into contact with the receiving medium.
As clearly seen in
An alternate method to make the indicia on the sheet of rubberlike material is known in the art. This process involves making a photo engraving of the desired indicia. The photo engraving is a metal plate consisting of a “relief” or raised reproduction of the indicia. This is used to create a mold. The sheet of rubberlike material is placed on top of the mold, and both the sheet and mold are placed in a heated press. The rubber melts into the recessed areas of the mold, and allowed to cool. The rubber hardens and the sheet is then stripped off of the mold. The sheet of rubberlike material can then be mounted on a thin layer of sponge cushion. The laser cutting operation as described above separates the individual pieces 19 from each other while leaving the bridges 42 between adjacent pieces 19.
Once the grouping of individual pieces is created, it is laser cut from the larger sheet of rubberlike material. A layer of adhesive is then applied to the back surface of the grouping of individual pieces. This layer of adhesive may be covered by a protective layer of paper or similar material. When the sheet of rubberlike material is to be attached to the top 14 of the pegs 10, the protective layer of paper is removed and the adhesive surface is exposed. The back surface is pressed against the tops 14 of the stack which causes the sheet of rubberlike material to adhere to the tops 14. The stack 12 is completed with the individual pieces 19 placed on the tops 14 of the pegs 10.
To use the individual pegs 10 to create a hand stamp, the user first decides with of the individual pegs he needs. Then the pegs with the proper printing indicia are selected and the pegs 10 are pulled apart from each other. The bridges 42 connecting adjacent pieces 19 rupture as they are thin and easily ruptured. This releases a peg 10, with its printing indicia thereon, from adjacent pegs 10. The user re-assembles the selected pegs 10 using the tabs 36, 38 being re-inserted into the respective slots 28, 30 to form the hand stamp with the desired indicia on the tops 14. The individual pieces 19 forming the stack 12 are placed against an ink pad where they are inked and ready to be applied against the receiving media. The rectangular solid pegs 10 that form the stack 12 are easily held by the user to create the stamping impressions.
Thus there has been provided a method of manufacturing a hand stamp that uses individual pegs with printing indicia thereon. While the invention has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the foregoing description. Accordingly, it is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications and variations as fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
