Printing – Embossing or penetrating – Selective machines
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-17
2001-06-19
Colilla, Daniel J. (Department: 2854)
Printing
Embossing or penetrating
Selective machines
C400S109000, C400S109100, C400S127000, C400S129000, C400S134000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06247400
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an apparatus for producing elevations which can be detected in a tactile manner on a flat recording medium. Apparatuses of this kind are used for example to provide blind or visually impaired persons with the possibility to produce written recordings.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
So-called braille printers are known in which elevations corresponding to braille characters can be embossed on a recording medium which can be paper or a foil provided for this purpose. In these known apparatuses tappets are used which are provided with several extensible pins whose arrangement corresponds to one or several braille characters. Such apparatuses are known from DE 34 28 065 A, EP 0 524 641 A, EP 0 028 838 A or AT 388 331 B.
Relatively large forces are required to emboss the recording medium. That is why it is necessary in the known apparatuses to equip the pins with respective arresting apparatuses since the force of an electromagnet will generally not suffice to absorb the embossing forces. Such apparatuses are therefore complex, costly and susceptible to malfunctions.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is the object of the present invention to provide an apparatus in which the aforementioned disadvantages can be avoided and which in particular allows producing a braille print in a very simple manner. In particular, the apparatus is to be of compact size, inexpensive to produce and versatile in its use.
These objects are achieved in accordance with the invention by an apparatus with the following components:
at least one stamp with several printing areas which are provided with one or several elevations;
at least one printing plate with several recesses;
a drive device to move the stamp in a recording direction along the recording medium;
an adjusting device to adjust the stamp so as to bring a printing area to a printing position in which the elevations of the respective printing area are opposite of the recesses of the printing plate and
a printing device to press the stamp against the printing plate in order to form one or several recesses on the interposed recording medium which correspond to elevations on the opposite side.
The relevant aspect of the invention is that a stamp is used which is movably arranged as an entirety and is not provided with any movable parts in all other respects.
The stamp can be arranged as a cylindrical roller on the circumference of which printing areas are arranged which are provided with different combinations of elevations. The axis of the roller can be arranged parallel or even rectangularly to the recording medium. An embodiment of the present invention is particularly favorable in which the stamp is arranged as a disc which is rotatable about an axis which is arranged substantially normal to the plane of the recording medium. Such a disc is easy to produce by pressure diecasting and only requires little overall height. A further advantage of this solution is that by the movement of the stamp in the recording direction or by the movement of the paper in the feed direction no moments will generally be exerted on the disc when there is a slight contact with the paper. The precision of the positioning is thus further improved. Moreover, the pivot bearings of the disc are not stressed by the printing process, since the respective pressing forces are absorbed by a thrust bearing.
Within the terms of the invention it is both possible to move the stamp towards the printing plate in order to perform a printing process as well to move the printing plate towards the stamp.
It is principally possible to provide a printing plate which extends over the entire width of the recording medium. It is particularly favorable, however, when a further adjusting device is arranged so as to move the printing plate in the recording direction synchronously to the movement of the stamp. In this way it is possible that a deleting function can be simply integrated in the apparatus in accordance with the invention.
In a particularly favorable embodiment of the invention it is provided that the stamp and the drive device are arranged on a rocker and that the printing device is provided with an eccentric in order to move the same towards the recording medium so as to perform a printing process. In this manner the printing process is not performed by an impact as in a large number of other conventional apparatuses, but instead by a substantially sinusoid movement. This allows for a particularly quiet printing process.
By providing elevations with different dimensions it is possible to vary the size of the printed dots. In addition to printing different font sizes or the adaptation to the different qualities of the recording medium, this also ensures an improved representation of images or graphics. Similarly, a different embossing depth can be used advantageously.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4079825 (1978-03-01), Fewell
patent: 4501507 (1985-02-01), Peddinghaus
patent: 5015106 (1991-05-01), Robertson et al.
patent: 5451112 (1995-09-01), Ito
patent: 388331 (1989-06-01), None
patent: 3428065 (1985-02-01), None
patent: 028838 (1981-05-01), None
patent: 524641 (1993-01-01), None
patent: 59-162068 (1984-09-01), None
Herza Claus
Litschel Dietmar
Caretec GmbH
Colilla Daniel J.
Dykema Gossett PLLC
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