Printing – Printing members – Blanks and processes
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-28
2004-05-11
Funk, Stephen R. (Department: 2854)
Printing
Printing members
Blanks and processes
C101S333000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06732649
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an improved retail process and apparatuses for putting customized marking devices, commonly called rubber stamps, in the hands of a customer.
2. Background of the Invention
In the mid 19th century, a method of making a rubber printing die was developed. When mounted on a wooden block with a handle, together termed a mount, and pressed against a pad containing ink, it became practical to mark or write a message many times without a printing press. Identical wooden mounts were made automatically in large quantities. However, except for standard legends, e.g., PAID, the die on each stamp must be individually tailored for each customer. This is a unique requirement in a simple mass production product. Over 100 years ago, it was found to be more economical to make batches of 20 to 100 individual dies on a single sheet rather than make one die at a time. The sheet is cut with scissors and the dies are glued to mounts by hand. To complete the stamp, an index card that duplicates the text on the die is affixed to the mount and usually covered with a transparent plastic sheet or lens. This process has remained to the present day.
There are three main methods for producing rubber stamp dies. Today, these are carried out by about 4,000 small finishing shops with two to ten employees scattered around the country. In the original process, cold printing type is set in a bed of paper-mache that is then heated to form an accurate negative. This negative is filled with uncured rubber. Heat and pressure are applied to vulcanize the rubber to a strong elastomeric sheet of dies. Although the dies produce an excellent print, only a few shops continue to use this system as it is very labor intensive.
Currently, the most popular is the photopolymer method. Typically, an 8½×11 inch photonegative is filled with text (or graphics) from as many dies that will fit. This is used with UV light to illuminate the front of a planar cavity filled with a liquid photopolymer while the entire back is illuminated. Where exposed, the liquid turns into a strong elastomeric rubber leaving a solid back and a front with solid text. The liquid between the rubber text is washed away.
About eight to ten years ago, a method that uses a medium power carbon-dioxide laser engraver was introduced. Under computer control, a relatively large sheet of rubber (approximately 97 square inches) is engraved with the die information for as many dies as will fit. Adoption of this method has been retarded by the high price of the engraving apparatus, $20,000 to $50,000, but the cost is offset by the ability to engrave metal plaques and have less chemical wastes and be less labor intensive than the photopolymer method. The disadvantage of this method is that it takes 30 minutes to 2 hours, depending on the text, to engrave one sheet.
FIG. 1
illustrates a prior art process by which an end customer can obtain an individualized stamp using a laser engraver. (The photopolymer method is substantially the same save for the details of producing the type die.) First, a mount manufacturer, of which there are about a dozen large highly automated ones in the country, makes mounts
101
without dies attached and ships them
102
to a finisher. The finisher keeps a separate inventory of unfinished mounts and rubber sheets
103
. A customer
100
orders a stamp and the finisher records the data
104
. In some cases, the customer will order directly from the finisher, while in others, an order may be placed through an intermediary such as an office supply store. The finisher collects orders until enough are on hand to make an economical batch
105
. When these are obtained, data is entered into a computer
106
that controls the laser engraver to imprint the data in the rubber sheets
107
. After engraving, the sheets are cut
108
and affixed to the mounts
109
. An index card is made and mounted
110
and covered with a lens
111
. The last step is to match the completed stamp to the order and ship it or set it aside for pick-up
112
.
As illustrated in
FIG. 1
, there is a time delay, t
1
, between ordering a stamp and receiving it that depends on where the customer places their order and what method is used to make the dies. If ordered through an office supply store, t
1
=several days. Some finishers, using the photopolymer method, promise an in by 10:00 am, out by 3:00 pm service, so that t
1
=5 hours. A customer is, most likely, entirely unaware of the process by which a stamp is produced. However, the time delay is hard to miss. For business customers, stamp requirements are important enough so that the time delay is tolerated. For consumers for whom purchase of a stamp is more discretionary, the time delay probably causes the stamp making industry to lose considerable sales. Very few consumers purchase individualized rubber stamps.
The other aspect of the process that a customer notices is errors in the finished stamp die. Errors usually occur at the data entry step
106
and occur often enough to be a nuisance.
From the finisher's standpoint, the process requires a number of manual steps including: the recording of data from the customer, the inputting of that data into a computer, the cutting of individual type dies from a sheet after each batch is formed, selecting the appropriate stamp from inventory, mounting individual type dies on stamp bodies, printing and mounting index cards on the stamp bodies, identifying the finished stamp with the order, and delivery to the appropriate customers. Each of these steps introduces the possibility of errors creeping in. For instance, if a data entry is incorrect, the type die is incorrectly cut from the sheet, or is misaligned when mounted on the stamp body, the stamp is generally not salvageable and the finishing shop must start from scratch, waiting for a sufficient number of stamp orders to fill another sheet before making a replacement.
Several studies of end user preferences made by the Marking Device Industry Association have overwhelmingly shown that print quality, appearance, durability and convenience of purchase are always more important that price. It would seem that more progress would have been made with respect to convenience of purchase, even if the price were slightly higher.
Given that the process illustrated in
FIG. 1
is a century old, one might assume that the stamp industry lacks innovative talent. However, in that time, marking stamps have been the subject of a large number of improvement patents on stamp articles and methods of making them. Many of these have been implemented so that the stamp of 1999 bears little resemblance to its 1899 predecessor. However, in order to reduce the time delay, errors, and labor costs, improvements to the process illustrated in
FIG. 1
are required.
One of the improvements in stamps themselves is the development of the self-inking stamp. Since this invention is directed primarily to solving problems related to old fashioned rubber stamps and self-inkers, details of self-inker construction are pertinent. An exemplary self-inking marking device may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,432,281, issued Feb. 21, 1984, to Wall et al., incorporated herein by reference. In summary, these employ a simple ingenious mechanism comprising a top outer casing, a bottom casing inside, springs tending to separate the casings, and a platen on which is affixed a rubber stamp known as a “type die.” An axle runs down the center of the platen on the side opposite the marking surface and engages a slot in the bottom casing. Springs normally keep the bottom and top casings separated with the marking surface contacting an ink pad inside the top casing. When the top casing is pushed down on the bottom casing, the axle is forced down the slot, but an indent in the bottom casing engages the platen and rotates it by 180 degrees so that the marking surface faces whatever is below the bottom end of the bottom casing. For storage convenience, tabs in the bottom casing can be used to “lock do
Wall Alexander C.
Wall Llewellyn E.
Douma Mark
Funk Stephen R.
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