The present invention relates generally to punch devices. More particularly, the present invention is related to portable punch devices for creating patterns in materials such as paper and cardstock.
A wide variety of mechanisms are conventionally known for cutting various shapes into materials such as paper, cardstock and vellum. For example, there are several hand held devices comprising a pair of handles and die members that permit a user to “punch” a design into a piece of material simply by squeezing the handles.
Although such devices are widely used, they suffer from a number of a significant drawbacks. For example, these devices often rely upon a proper alignment between mating die members to effectuate the punch. As a result, a relatively high level of tolerance is required during the manufacturing and assembly process, adding to the assembly costs. Additionally, such hand-held devices can require a high amount of force to punch a design in the materials to be manipulated. This can create difficulties for people such as the elderly and young children, who may have difficulty “squeezing” the handles together.
Furthermore, it is often desirable to punch different designs into a single sheet of material. Many conventional punches only include a single, permanent die set, which therefore would require a separate device for each design to be punched. Other devices, while permitting the user to remove and replace dies on the same device, possess a number of drawbacks of their own. In particular, replacement dies must be carefully inserted into the device while also maintaining the high degree of tolerance as described above. Therefore it often requires a significant amount of force both to remove a die already in the device and to insert a new die. The amount of force required can cause significant problems for many people such as children and the elderly.
Additionally, the above-described handheld punch devices also require the user to lift the material and place it between the mating die members in order to effectuate a punch. This can create difficulties in accurately locating the punch device on the material for the punch.
It would therefore be desirable to develop a portable punch device that overcomes the above difficulties while remaining easy to manipulate by virtually any users.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an improved portable punch device that can be operated by a wide variety of users.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved portable punch device that permits a user to quickly and easily change the designs that are to be punched using the device.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an improved portable punch device that enables a user to exert a higher level of force for the punching action than occurs using conventional punch devices.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an improved portable punch device that can be assembled with a lower degree of tolerance than conventional punch devices.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an improved portable punch device that is relatively simple to manufacture.
It is finally another object of the present invention to provide an improved portable punch device that can be used on a wide variety of surfaces.
In accordance with the above objects, the present invention is directed to a punch assembly comprising a lower body and an upper body. An impactor is positioned within the lower body and is biased towards the material to be manipulated by at least one biasing member. A lever arm is rotatably coupled to the lower housing and is positioned to be in selective engagement with the impactor. A separate biasing member is used to bias the lever arm away from engagement with the impactor. When a user presses against the upper housing, the lever arm is rotated into engagement with the impactor, lifting the impactor away from a punch die and a die retainer, both of which are positioned below the impactor. At a predetermined distance, the lever arm disengages from the impactor. The impactor then impacts the punch die at a high force, causing the die to punch the die's design into the sheet of material.
These and other objects, advantages and features of the invention, together with the organization and manner of operation thereof, will become apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like elements have like numerals throughout the several drawings described below.
A punch assembly constructed according to the principles of the present invention is shown generally at 10 in
The punch assembly 10 includes a lever arm 22 that is rotatably coupled to the front pivot member 18 by a front pivot pen 24. The lever arm 22 is also operatively connected to a lever arm biasing member 26 which is positioned about the front pivot member 18. In the embodiment shown in
The lower housing 14 also includes an impactor 30 positioned within a slot 32. In the embodiment shown in
As is shown in
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention and as shown in
In one preferred embodiment of the invention, a cutting mat or similar material (not shown) is placed directly below the material to be punched by the punch assembly 10. The purpose of the cutting mat is to absorb the force imparted by the punch assembly 10 during the cutting process in order to prevent the underlying work surface, such as a table, from being damaged during the punching process.
After the cutting process has been completed, the user stops exerting pressure on the upper housing 12. The lever arm biasing member 26 then acts to place the lever arm 22 into its original position. As shown in
The system and method of the present invention allows a user to quickly and efficiently impart a large amount of force on a die for the purpose of cutting a design into a sheet of material. The system can be used by users of varying ages, and also results in a very simple mechanism for replacing and/or exchanging the die from the punch assembly.
It should be understood that the above description of the invention and specific examples and embodiments, while indicating the preferred embodiments of the present invention, are given by demonstration and not limitation. For example, a variety of different types of biasing members could be used to bias the impactor and/or the lever arm of the punch assembly. Furthermore, it is also possible that the impactor would not come into actual contact with the die, but instead have forced transferred to the die through one or more intermediate components. Many changes and modifications within the scope of the present invention may therefore be made without departing from the spirit thereof and the present invention includes all such changes and modifications.