Printing – Selective or progressive – Printing members
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-03
2001-04-17
Eickholt, Eugene (Department: 2854)
Printing
Selective or progressive
Printing members
C101S105000, C101S401100, C400S146000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06216588
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a character wheel used for a numbering machine, a data printing stamp, or other type of printing device and a method of manufacturing the same and also relates to a character wheel band or a character wheel ring usable for the character wheel and a method of manufacturing the same.
Numbering machines have extensively used as the printing devices for numbering business documents or other documents to be printed. A conventional numbering machine includes a character wheel unit in a frame-shaped numbering main body such that it may move up and down. Desired printing element (portion) surfaces are selected from the character wheels of individual digits constituting the character wheel unit, and the surfaces of the selected printing portions are pressed against a document to number the same.
The character wheels of the respective digits constituting the character wheel unit are each formed by integrally molding the entire character wheels including the printing portions through a die casting process as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-open Publication No. SHO 62-15961, or by winding a flexible character wheel band around the outer periphery of a character wheel disc and fixing it by locking both ends of the flexible character wheel band in a locking groove provided in the space of a printing portion (element) mounting surface for one character formed on the outer peripheral surface of the character wheel disc as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-open Publication No. SHO 57-167869 or Japanese Utility Model Laid-open Publication No. SHO 58-69446.
In the former case where the character wheels of the respective digits constituting the character wheel unit are formed into one piece by the die casting, the one-piece molding formed through the die casting employs a metallic material such as aluminum, zinc, or iron, or a plastic material. The character wheels made of a metallic material or the like are plated with nickel, chromium, or the like which exhibits poor affinity for ink and high water repellency. This has been posing a problem in that ink is repelled or splashed, making it impossible to apply ink uniformly on a printing surface with a resultant blurred printed characters. Thus, uniformly printed sharp, clear characters have not been accomplished.
In the latter case where the flexible character wheel band is wound around the outer periphery of the character wheel disc and both ends thereof are fixed using the securing member, the locking groove is provided by utilizing the space for one character on the printing portion mounting surface of the outer peripheral surface of the character wheel disc, and the independent retaining member is used with the locking groove in order to fix both ends of the flexible character band. The locking groove, which occupies the space for one character, has been making it inappropriate for the numbering device adapted to print characters by successively rotating the character wheel band in turn.
Further, as the number of parts increases, it becomes difficult to maintain the accuracy of mounting the flexible character wheel band on the character wheel disc, so that it takes more time and effort to assemble the character wheel. In addition, since the flexible character wheel band is secured using the retaining member, the pitch of the printing blocks formed on the flexible character wheel band fails to be regular at the portion where the retaining member is attached, thus causing inconvenient variations in pitch. The flexible character wheel bands are formed by cutting the character wheel plate, which has been formed by vulcanizing, into narrow strips. It is difficult to insert a cutter between the flexible character wheel bands of the character wheel plate to accurately cut the flexible print bands with a precise width. Therefore, great care and effort have been required in cutting the character wheel plate, the cut flexible character wheel bands vary in width, and the variations are great, leading to such shortcomings as a low yield.
Moreover, the ends of the flexible character wheel bands are fixed by using the retaining members, making them impossible to be used as the character wheels for a numbering machine.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A primary object of the present invention is to substantially eliminate defects and drawbacks encountered in the prior art described above and to provide a character wheel and a method of manufacturing the same and to provide a character wheel band or ring usable for the character wheel and method of manufacturing the same having structures and characters capable of manufacturing a flexible character wheel unit easily and inexpensively with high accuracy and providing good affinity for ink so as to allow sharp and clear printing and of manufacturing a character wheel unit capable of forming a printing portion with uniform pitch interval along an entire peripheral surface thereof, easily and inexpensively with high accuracy.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a character wheel and its manufacturing method, and a character wheel band usable for the character wheel and its manufacturing method which makes it possible to easily provide rubber character wheel bands in which the pitches among the printing portions can be uniformly and accurately formed over the full peripheries thereof and which have uniform width, i.e. which are free of variations in width.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a character wheel for a numbering machine or the like, which character wheel permits numerals, etc. to be printed in sequence by winding a flexible character wheel band around a character wheel disc, and retaining the engaging projections of the flexible character wheel band, without using an independent retaining member, in an engaging groove provided in at least one space between adjoining printing portion (character) mounting surfaces on the outer peripheral surface of the character wheel disc and also to provide a manufacturing method for the flexible character wheel band.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a character wheel band and its manufacturing method which allow flexible character wheel bands with uniform widths to be formed easily from a character wheel plate without using a mechanical cutting means such as a cutter.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a character wheel and a method of manufacturing the same capable of continuously printing numerals, symbols, marks, etc. by connecting both the end connecting portions of a flexible rubber wheel band so as to provide an endless band-shape character wheel ring to the connection portion between adjacent processing surfaces of a polygonal character wheel disc.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a character wheel ring and a method of manufacturing the same capable of manufacturing a flexible character wheel ring with a uniform width from a character wheel sleeve without using a mechanical cutting means such as a cutter.
These and other objects of the present invention can be achieved by providing, in one aspect, a character wheel comprising:
a character wheel disc having a plurality of printing portion mounting surfaces formed at an interval from each other in a circumferential direction on an outer peripheral surface of the character wheel disc and an engaging groove formed to at least one of portions between the respective printing portion mounting surfaces; and
a flexible character wheel band mounted to the outer peripheral surface of the character wheel disc,
the character wheel band having engaging projections formed at both longitudinal ends thereof, the engaging projections being engaged with the engaging groove formed to the character wheel disc so that the flexible character wheel band is mounted to the character wheel disc therearound.
In preferred embodiments, the character wheel disc further has guide grooves formed to the printing portion mounting surfaces, respectively, f
Eickholt Eugene
Oblon & Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt P.C.
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