Printing – Embossing or penetrating – Seal presses
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-30
2001-05-08
Hilten, John S. (Department: 2854)
Printing
Embossing or penetrating
Seal presses
C101S003100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06227106
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to embossing seals for permanently impressing designs, symbols, or words used to certify signature or authenticate a paper document permanently with a blind embossing.
2. Background of the Invention
Seals for impressing a design, symbol or words into a piece of paper are a proven effective way to authenticate an original document and distinguish it from a forgery. Such seals can be manufactured to be one of a kind so as to apply an impression which is as nearly impossible to duplicate as currency.
Applying an impression with a seal has been known for centuries and continues to be an important part of modem business activity. In fact, application of seal technology to paper has grown to become an expected, essential part of routine business practice.
Seals to be used on paper are constructed with a seal clip including die and counter portions positioned to match when pressure is applied. When pressure is released, a clip spring connecting the die and counter acts to bias the two from each other. A document is placed between the die and counter combination such that when activated with enough force, the paper will be embossed or impressed permanently with the predetermined impression.
Many states and other jurisdictions and institutions require use of a seal to authenticate important transactional documents. The most common users are corporations, notary publics, government offices, libraries, courts, universities, and so forth. In each instance, the user has a seal manufactured for embossing paper with a combination of words, symbols and/or emblems that identify the institution or certifier with their unique permanent impression. This impression serves to forever verify authenticity of the document.
Most known seals are squeezed or lever activated. Such manual devices are directly dependent upon the individual person's strength. A concern has arisen that frequent use of these hand-operated devices may contribute over time to medical conditions such as Repetitive Stress Syndrome. Therefore, a need exists for a power driven seal device which is not dependent upon the strength or dexterity of the user. A need also exists for such a power driven seal device to be of a simple and reliable design.
Manual seals most commonly employed for notary or corporate seal service include a clamp frame into which the above-described seal clip is inserted. The clamp frame is designed to be gripped by the user's hand such that pressure applied by the hand presses the seal die into matching engagement with the counter. Devices such as these are commonly obtained as the notary license or certificate of incorporation are obtained. Due to the fact that most notaries and corporations already possess the above-described seal devices, it is desirable for a power driven seal device to employ the clip assembly of the hand-operated device. In this way the user is not required to have a new seal specially made to be included in the power driven device.
Power driven seal devices are known in the art, such as my U.S. Pat. No. 5,461,976. However, it has been found that devices such as this are unsuitable for use with the existing seal clip assemblies of the hand-operated seal. It is believed that this is because the clip spring seal assembly is not designed to withstand the long term repetitive impact shock of an impulse power device such as one including a solenoid.
Accordingly, a need exists for a power driven seal device which employs the seal clip of a hand-operated seal.
A need further exists for a power driven seal device which operates to apply a constant, steady force upon the seal clip which approximates or surpasses the force applied by the user's hand.
Additionally, since a motor driven seal device is an alternative to the inexpensive hand-operated seal, a need exists for a motor driven seal device which is simple and reliable in design.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention is a motor driven seal device for embossing paper with a permanent impression using a seal clip from an existing or new manual seal. The invention includes, generally, a base, a frame extending from a base, a motor with housed gearing mounted to said frame, a platen, a drive rod drivingly engaged to the motor extending from the motor toward the platen, a compression sleeve mounted to the drive rod capable of moving along the length of the drive rod in response to rotation of the drive rod and the seal clip inserted between the compression sleeve and the platen. The platen may be supported from the frame or base, or may be the base. A housing may be applied over the seal device in order to protect the mechanism or for purely aesthetic purposes.
A compression sleeve retainer is supported from the frame to retain the compression sleeve so that rotation of the drive rod causes the compression sleeve to move along the length of the drive rod depending upon its direction of rotation. The motor includes an output shaft drivingly engaged to the drive rod such that rotation of the shaft in turn rotates the drive rod in the desired direction. The direction of rotation of the shaft is dependent upon the direction of the electrical current applied to the motor.
The seal clip assembly includes a die and diametrically opposed matching counter combination with a clip spring connecting and biasing the die from the counter. The die includes any desired design such as a symbol, word, logo, or any combination thereof. Compression of the die into matching engagement with the counter thereby impresses the design in a piece of paper inserted between the die and counter.
The seal clip is inserted in the motor driven seal device of the present invention between the compression sleeve and the base/platen such that when the drive rod is rotated by the shaft of the motor in one direction, the compression sleeve is lowered toward the platen thereby compressing the seal clip therebetween. This places the die in matching engagement with the counter. The clip spring of the seal clip provides the spring tension to bias the die from the counter. Conversely, rotation of the drive rod through applying current in the opposite direction to the motor drivingly rotates the drive rod in the opposite direction. The compression sleeve secured by the compression sleeve retainer thereby moves in the opposite direction along the length of the drive rod away from the platen. The die is biased away from the counter (and the platen) by the clip spring of the seal clip assembly. The clip spring of the seal clip assembly thereby follows the compression sleeve in a direction alternating from an open position where the die is biased from the counter to a closed position where the die is in matching engagement with the counter.
An impression of the seal is applied to a document by positioning the paper in the seal clip assembly between the die and counter and activating the motor. The shaft of the motor rotates the drive rod causing the compression sleeve to apply force on the seal clip driving the die and counter portions together with great force. A permanent embossed impression of the seal on the document is created. The seal impression left by the motor driven seal device thereafter providing means of which authenticity of the document may occur.
As can be seen by the common seal impressions of
FIG. 4
, the use of seals is a common and essential part of business and governmental life. Due to the sheer number of such seal assemblies presently in use, it is a benefit for a device to replace the hand-operated seal device with a motorized device, such as the present invention, which employs the seal assembly removed from the hand-operated seal. In this way, the user can employ the motorized seal device of the present invention immediately, without the requirement of creating expensive customized die and counter pairs. Further, a single motorized seal device can be used interchangeably for many seal applications simply by exchanging the seal assembly between the compression sleeve and the
Fellers Snider Blankenship Bailey & Tippens, P.C.
Hilten John S.
Nguyen Anthony H.
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