Patent Application
20080152415
The present invention relates to a typing device, and a printer which are suitable for printing date on a business card in a business card case, and the business card case with a printing function using said typing device and said printer.
A business card is often used in business, social intercourse, or the like while also serving as a simple self-introduction. However, it is sometimes hard to remember a time of meeting with the person of exchanged business cards, since exchanged business cards do not have written date thereon.
Therefore, there are some people who write date, place, and the like on a business card after receipt of said business card. However, if it is possible to hand over a business card with the date printed thereon, there is no need for a receiver to write the date. This seems to be convenient for receivers and senders.
However, conventional business card cases can only contain business cards, and there is not available a business card case with a printing function.
On the other hand, as for the printers, there are available many printers for performing printing business cards. As the printer for printing a given date on printed business cards, there is known a printer in which a business card is sandwiched between a thermal head-a platen section and a drive roller—a pressing roller section, and then pulling out the business card in that state, thereby generating a control signal to print a current date or a specific date (see Patent Document 1).
The conventional printer is designed to print a given date on a business card, which is received on that day or in the past, and is used at home, office, or the like, so the conventional printer is not designed so as to carry on a daily basis.
Moreover, The conventional printer device performs the printing by driving a thermal head by electric power under electronic control, so there are required the thermal head, a battery, a CPU, a memory, a display, various switches, and the like, resulting in large in size and weight. Thus, it is impossible to accommodate and carry the device in the business card case.
A problem to be solved is to provide a typing device and a printer which can be applied to a business card case with a printing function, to thereby realize the business card case with a printing function, and to enable printing a given date on the business card in the business card case.
According to the present invention, there is used a typing device including: a plurality of type units for printing date, in which a plurality of type blocks having types on upper surfaces thereof are coupled to each other so that the type blocks can move up and down; a type case having a plurality of grooves, into which the plurality of type units are inserted, formed concentrically; and a type base fixed to a predetermined position of the type case, for positioning the type blocks for setting a given date, thereby realizing a thin business card case with a printing function, and enabling printing a given date on a business card in the business card case.
According to the present invention, a printer is used which includes: a typing device having: a plurality of type units for printing a given date, in which a plurality of type blocks having types on upper surfaces thereof are coupled to each other so that said type blocks can move up and down; a type case having a plurality of grooves, into which said plurality of type units are inserted, formed concentrically; and a type base fixed to a predetermined position of said type case, for positioning said type blocks for setting a given date; a printing ribbon arranged on the typing device; and a ribbon protector provided with a window which is arranged on said printing ribbon, and through which a type set in a printing position protrudes, thereby realizing the thin business card case with a printing function, and enabling printing a given date on the business card in the business card case.
According to the present invention, there is realized a business card case with a printing function, characterized by including: an upper case provided with printing hammer means; a lower case connected to said upper case so that said upper case is controllably opened and closed; a card containing section formed in an inside of said business card case; a printer, including: a typing device having: a plurality of type units for printing date, in which a plurality of type blocks having types on upper surfaces thereof are coupled to each other so that said type blocks can move up and down; a type case having a plurality of grooves, into which the plurality of type units are inserted, formed concentrically; and a type base fixed to a predetermined position of the type case, for positioning the type blocks for setting the date; a printing ribbon arranged on the typing device; and a ribbon protector provided with a window which is arranged on the printing ribbon, and through which a type set in a printing position protrudes, the printer being provided for printing date on a business card contained in the card containing section, in which the print hammer means is pressed to impress the business card to the type through an intermediation of the printing ribbon to thereby print a given date, thereby enabling printing a given date on the business card in the business card case.
According to the present invention, a business card case includes a printing hammer means, a printer having a typing device, and a card containing section, so it is possible to print date on a business card in the business card case by pressing the printing hammer means.
Thus, by setting types to a current date in advance, when exchanging a business card, it is possible to print a given date and hand the business card with the date to a person with whom the business cards are exchanged.
Further, according to the present invention, there is no need for electric power and electronic control, so it is possible to realize the light and inexpensive business card case with a printing function.
Further, the types are arranged concentrically to constitute the thin typing device, so the thin business card case with a printing function can be realized.
According to the present invention, there is realized a business card case with a printing function, characterized by including: (A) an upper case provided with printing hammer means; (B) a lower case connected to said upper case so that said upper case is controllably opened and closed; (C) a card containing section formed in an inside of said business card case; (D) a printer, including: (1) a typing device having: (a) a plurality of type units for printing date, in which a plurality of type blocks having types on upper surfaces thereof are coupled to each other so that said type blocks can move up and down; (b) a type case having a plurality of grooves, into which the plurality of type units are inserted, formed concentrically; and (c) a type base fixed to a predetermined position of the type case, for positioning the type blocks for setting the date; (2) a printing ribbon arranged on the typing device; and (3) a ribbon protector provided with a window which is arranged on the printing ribbon, and through which a type set in a printing position protrudes, the printer being provided for printing date on a business card contained in the card containing section, in which the print hammer means is pressed to impress the business card to the type through an intermediation of the printing ribbon to thereby print a given date, thereby enabling printing a given date on the business card in the business card case.
The business card case is composed of an upper case 1 and a lower case 2 constituting a box shape, and a card containing section 3 formed inside the cases. The upper case 1 is connected to the lower case 21 by a hinge or the like so as to be rotatably opened and closed.
The upper case 1 is provided with a hole 11 and has, correspondingly to the hole 11, a pressing rubber 12 working as printing hammer means, and a pressing block 13 fixed to the pressing rubber 12 by an adhesive or the like, and said pressing block 13 has a width smaller than that of the pressing rubber 12. The pressing rubber 12 is formed of rubber or an elastic synthetic resin material, and the pressing block 13 is formed of a synthetic resin plate or the like.
Further, to the upper case 1, a card block 31 of an angular U-shaped configuration and a card plate 32 are fixed by screws 33 or the like, thereby forming the card containing section 3. The card block 31 is formed of a synthetic resin or the like and has a thickness of about ten sheets of the business cards 34. The width of said angular U-shaped configuration corresponds to a length of a shorter side of the business card 34.
The card plate 32 is formed of the synthetic resin plate or the like and has a slight gap in an inside thereof for facilitating loading and unloading of the business card 34.
The type case 4 to which the type unit described later is mounted is fixed to the lower case 2 by a screw or the like, and there is arranged a printing ribbon 5 on which a ribbon protector 6 capable of opening and closing is arranged on the type case 4.
The ribbon protector 6 is formed of a metal plate and is fixed to a protector frame 7 by an adhesive or the like. The ribbon protector 6 is also provided with a window 61 through which types set in a printing position protrude together with the printing ribbon 5. Said window 61 is opened corresponding to the pressing block 13 of the printing hammer means.
The window 61 and the pressing block 13 are inclined in order to avoid overlapping with a name printing portion of a business card 34, when a date printing is performed on a right surface of said business card 34. However, when a date printing is performed on a back surface having no printing thereon, such a consideration is not necessary, so the window 61 and the pressing block 13 may be in parallel with a longer side or the shorter side of the business card 34.
When printing a date, the upper case 1 containing about ten sheets of the business cards 34 is closed, and the printing rubber 12 is pressed by a finger, thereby the pressing block 13 moves in a printing direction, which is downward direction in fact, to press an entirety of the business cards 34 contained in the card containing section 3. Thus, the business cards 34 is impressed to the types for date protruding from the window 61 of the ribbon protector 6 through the intermediation of the printing ribbon 5 to print a given date.
When the finger is taken off after completion of the printing, the block 13 moves to an opposite direction of the printing direction, which is upward direction, to return to original position, due to a restoring force of the pressing rubber 12.
Said upper case 1 and said lower case 2 may be formed by machining a metal plate, for example, an aluminum plate or may be formed of a synthetic resin.
Also, those may be formed of a soft synthetic resin, cloth, or the like. In addition, those shapes are not restricted to have a box shape. Said cases may be formed by any shape or material as long as they can accommodate the business cards and the printer.
The ribbon protector frame 7 to which the ribbon protector 6 is fixed is supported by a shaft 71, so that the ribbon protector frame can be rotated on said shaft 71. If users set a given date or change a position of the printing ribbon 5, the ribbon protector 7 is rotated on shaft 71, and users can treat the ribbon protector frame 7 opened there with a opened state of the upper case 1. Further, in a position opposite to the protector frame 7, there is provided a spring 72 which is an elastic body, wherein said spring 72 urges the protector frame 7, which is the ribbon protector 6, to the upper side.
The pressing block 13 forming the printing hammer means is fixed to lower side of the pressing rubber 12 to be accommodated in the hole 11, but said pressing block may be fixed to upper side of the pressing rubber 12. In this case, there is an advantage in that a position to be pressed by a finger is obvious, but a thickness of the business card case increases on the thickness of the pressing block 13.
When the pressing rubber 12 is pressed, the pressing block 13 presses the business card 34 to impress the business card 34 to the types in the type case 4 through the intermediation of the printing ribbon 5, thereby performing a printing operation.
The type case 4 is mounted with the type units, and is formed of metal or a synthetic resin, and a plurality of grooves 41 are formed concentrically. Said grooves 41 is structured by forming circular arc walls 42 which are concentrically formed. In
Further, the type case 4 may be formed of independent rings by grooves 41, wherein said rings may comprised concentrically.
Note that, a hole 44 for screwing the type case 4 is provided in center of said concentrically formed grooves, but said hole is not required if said type case is adhered to the lower case.
The type unit 8 is composed of a plurality of type blocks 82 each having formed on an upper surface thereof a type 81, a plurality of spacers 83 constituting coupling portions between the type blocks 82, and a string 84 for coupling those.
The type block 82 is formed of a synthetic resin, rubber, or the like, and the upper surface of said type block 82 has the type 81 for printing date. The type block 82 is provided with a through hole 85 into which the string 84 is inserted, in central/middle portion of the main body of said type block.
The type 81 may be formed of a synthetic resin, rubber, or the like to be adhered to the main body, or the type 81 and the main body are integrally formed to form the type block 82.
The spacer 83 has a through hole in a center thereof, and is formed of a synthetic resin or the like. There are provided the spacers of various lengths.
The string 84 may be formed of any string-like member. Any rigid string-like member can be used there such as a kite string, a fishing line, and the like.
The type unit 8 is obtained by alternately providing the plurality of type blocks 82 and spacers 83, and coupling those by a string 84. In order to allow the slight up and down movement of the type blocks 82, the plurality of type blocks 82 are loosely coupled to each other by said string 84.
In
A type unit 800 are integrally formed of a plurality of type blocks 802 each having formed on upper surface thereof a type 801 and coupling portions 803 for coupling the type blocks 802 to each other. Said type unit 800 are formed of a member of a soft material, for example, a synthetic resin or rubber. The type unit 800 is formed in a circular arc shape corresponding to the groove 41 of the type case 4 shown in
The type unit 800 may have both ends as terminal ends or may be formed in an annular shape like the type unit 800 for printing a given month shown rightmost in the part (a) of
In the type unit 800, the coupling portion 803 is formed to be thinner than the type block 802 so that the type block 802 can slightly move up and down, thereby providing the same function as that of the type unit 8 having the type blocks loosely coupled to each other shown in
Note that, the type unit 800 may be obtained by integrally structuring the type blocks 802 formed of a hard synthetic resin or metal, and the coupling portions 803 formed of synthetic resin plates or metal plates thinner than the type blocks 802.
Type bases 9 are allowed to fit into predetermined positions of the type case 4 shown in
The type base 9 is formed, for example, of a synthetic resin, and is formed, in a central portion thereof, with a depressed portion 92, which has slopes 91 on both sides and into which the type block is allowed to fit.
A length in a longitudinal direction of the depressed portion 92 allows fitting of the type block in a longitudinal direction thereof in close contact, and a width of the depressed portion allows the fitting of the type block in a direction of the shorter side thereof.
Further, as a matter of course, the type bases 9 arranged in a line and the type case 3 may be integrated to each other.
When setting the date, each of the type units 8 is picked and pulled with fingers or a tool such as tweezers, thereby sliding the type blocks 82 having the types 81 indicating a year, a month, and a day in the grooves 41 of
As a result, the types 81 of the type blocks 82 set in the type bases 9 are positioned at a higher level than the other types 81, thereby being ready for the printing operation.
Setting of the date is performed in the same manner as in
By setting the type blocks 82 of the type units 8 into the type bases 9 fixed in a line in the printing position, a given date, for example, “05.11.21” is set. With regard to the indication of the date, it is possible to support indication in different languages by changing the type units 8.
The type unit 8 which is formed in the annular shape is required for reasonable dimensional accuracy. However, the type case 4 is provided with the non-groove area 43, so increased redundancy make it possible to have the relaxed dimensional accuracy.
In addition, when the both ends of the type unit 8 are formed to be the terminal ends like a day indication of
Note that, also in the case of using the type units of
A ribbon frame 51 is a frame to which the printing ribbon 5 is mounted, and is formed of a synthetic resin or the like into a ring shape.
The printing ribbon 5 is formed of carbon paper, ink ribbon, or the like into a circular shape, and a peripheral portion on the back surface thereof, which is not a printing surface, selectively serves as a adhesion portion 52 to be adhered to the ribbon frame 51. Further, both sides of the adhesion portion 52 are formed with cuts 53.
The cuts 53 serves to ease tension caused by expansion of the printing ribbon 5 when the printing ribbon 5 is allowed to expand in the case, when the types protrude to push up the printing ribbon 5 during printing. However, the cuts 53 are not necessarily provided, if said printing ribbon 5 has stretching flexibility.
Since the printing ribbon 5 is formed in the circular shape, a new printing surface of the printing ribbon 5 can be used every time by rotating the printing ribbon by an amount used for printing the given date.
Note that, a shape of the printing ribbon 5 is not restricted to the precise circular shape. It may also be of a polygonal shape close to the circular shape or the like.
In this manner, it is possible to realize the smaller and thinner printer by adopting the planer printing ribbon 5 of the circular shape.
The protector frame 7 is formed by machining a metal plate, for example, an aluminum plate, is provided with a large hole 73 bored in a center thereof, and is provided with the ribbon protector 6 fixed to a frame portion on a periphery thereof by an adhesive or the like.
The ribbon protector 6 serves for protecting the printing ribbon 5 shown in
The protector frame 7 to which the ribbon protector 6 is fixed is provided with rotation holes 75 on left ends of both side plates 74 shown in the part (c) of
The shaft 71 shown in
Accordingly, the ribbon protector 6 fixed to the protector frame 7 can be opened and closed by rotating about the shaft 71.
Next, the printing operation will be described.
First, as shown in
Next, the ribbon protector 6 fixed to the protector frame 7 is rotated to the left about the shaft 71 of
Next, the printing ribbon 5 is removed to expose the type case 4 to outside, and as shown in
In this state, the printing ribbon 5 and the ribbon protector 6 are returned to original positions, thereby completing preparation for the date printing.
In this state, the type blocks 82 are allowed to fit into the type bases 9. Therefore, the types 81 are positioned at a level higher (e.g. by 1 mm), push up the printing ribbon 5, and protrude from the window of the ribbon protector 6 by about 1 mm.
Here, when the pressing rubber 12 is pressed by a finger in a direction of an arrow C of
The lowermost card 34 which is moved comes into contact with the printing ribbon 5, and is impressed to the types 81 through the intermediation of the printing ribbon 5, so the given date as shown in
When the finger is released to stop pressing, the pressing block 13 is urged to the direction opposite to the printing direction by the restoring force of the pressing rubber 12 to be returned to the original position.
The business card 34 on which the date is printed is supported by the ribbon protector 6 urged upwardly by the spring 72 provided between the rower case 2 and the protector frame 7 as shown in
Next, by opening the upper case 1 as shown in
When printing two or more cards, it suffices that the above-mentioned printing operation is repeated.
Further, when changing the date, it suffices that the ribbon protector 6 is opened, the printing ribbon 5 is removed, and the date is set in the same manner as described above.
As described above, according to Embodiment 1, the business card case includes the printing hammer means, the printer having the typing device, and the card containing section, thereby making it possible to print the date on the business cards in the business card case by pressing the printing hammer means.
Thus, by setting the types to the current date in advance, when exchanging the business cards, it is possible to print the date and hand the business card with the date to a person with whom the business cards are exchanged.
Further, there is no need for electric power and electronic control, so it is possible to realize the light and inexpensive business card case with a printing function.
Further, the types are aligned concentrically to constitute the thin typing device, so the thin business card case with a printing function can be realized.
In Embodiment 2, in order to prevent the business card from being unwittingly soiled by coming into contact with the printing ribbon when the printing operation is not performed, a lower case 200 and a protector frame 700 are mainly devised. Other details are the same as those of Embodiment 1, so a description will be made only of modified portions.
The lower case 200 is provided with square holes 201 in mounting positions of a shaft 701 of the protector frame 700, and is provided with two claws 202 on a front side thereof, that is, on an upper end of right side in the parts (a) and (c) of
On a bottom surface of the lower case 200, a lever 203 constituting a mechanism for locking the protector frame 700 is rotatably attached. A stopper 204 used in locking the protector frame 700 is integrally formed on the lever 203. In a bottom plate of the lower case 202, there is formed a hole 205 for allowing movement of the stopper 204.
Further, the lower case 200 is provided with a spring 206 for urging the protector frame in the front direction, that is, right direction of the parts (a) and (c) of
A description will be made to the protector frame 700 with reference to
Unlike in Embodiment 1, the rotation hole 705 is formed in an oval shape and the protector frame 700 can move in frontward and rearward direction with respect to the shaft 701 fixed to the lower case 202, that is, to right and left direction in the parts (a) and (c) of
Further, in the parts (a) and (c) of each of
The lever 203 is, as shown in
When the printing is not performed, as shown in
In this manner, the business card 34 is supported by the ribbon protector 6 fixed to the protector frame 700, and does not move down further in the printing direction from this position. That is, the protector frame 700 and the ribbon protector 6 are locked in a state where they are lifted up to a higher position than the position shown in
Accordingly, even when the hammer means is accidentally pressed when the printing is not performed, the business card 34 cannot move in the printing direction, and therefore there is no case of the business card 34 coming into contact with the printing ribbon 5 to be soiled.
When the ribbon protector 6 is opened to change the date, the upper case 1 is opened as shown in
As described above, according to Embodiment 2, in addition to the effect of Embodiment 1, there is provided a mechanism of locking the ribbon protector wherein the ribbon protector is lifted up in the direction opposite to the printing direction, and unlocking operation is needed to print a date. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the business card from coming into contact with the printing ribbon to be soiled when the printing is not performed.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005-019045 | Jan 2005 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP06/01217 | 1/26/2006 | WO | 00 | 7/11/2007 |
