Printing – Embossing or penetrating – Hot die machines
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-13
2001-10-09
Yan, Ren (Department: 2854)
Printing
Embossing or penetrating
Hot die machines
C101S009000, C101S041000, C101S109000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06298777
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to a portable hand-held manually operated apparatus for performing dry printing on miscellaneous surfaces and objects, for example to dry print identification indicia for trade branding or to discourage theft.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art:
No practical solutions to this kind of problem have been proposed in the prior art. Although hot embossing is a well known process, most traditional hot printing machines have been relying on C-shaped frames provided with a lower platen on which the workpiece must be positioned to carry out the printing operation. Such a hot printing machine is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,628,810 (Chan) issued on Dec. 16, 1986, showing a C-shaped press bringing a heated die in indirect contact with the workpiece through an embossing film. The combination of heat and pressure applied to the film causes the transfer to the surface of the workpiece of a part of a transfer material coating the film. Some embossing of the workpiece surface may also be performed as a function of the process parameters, such as temperature, pressure and application time, to create a more durable marking.
Although the prior art apparatus as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,628,810 enables application of a high force to produce the pressure required for proper printing and embossing on the workpiece surface, it presents the following drawbacks:
it produces a limited stroke and restricts the size of the workpiece since that workpiece has to be inserted between the die and the platen;
it is always required to bring the workpiece to the workstation; and
its rigid assembly does not provide for self-adjustment to sloped or non planar surface, thus yielding an uneven pressure to the surface and poor printing quality.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,181,560 granted to Maitland on January 1
st
, 1980 shows a marking device featuring an open-ended housing and accepting a hot die foil stamping head. Still, this marking device is intended for mechanical operation and lacks appropriate film reel management, temperature control, and any other feature that would enable manual operation thereof, so that it could be brought to a site to mark objects in variable locations and positions without having to move these objects.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,904,334 (Honma et al.) granted on Feb. 27, 1990 discloses a hand-held manually operated apparatus for applying a transfer material on an image portion of a photocopy. A ribbon made of a film including transfer material is first brought into contact with the surface of the photocopy by a downward vertical displacement of a heated flat plate, which heated flat plate is subsequently sled over the film to apply the transfer material onto the desired area of the photocopy. Obviously, this apparatus has not been designed for printing and embossing operations due mainly to the absence of a replaceable embossing die and temperature control to provide adequate printing temperature for different films and workpiece materials or desired embossing depth. Also, such an apparatus does not provide the operator with a visual feedback to properly position an eventual printing die so as to print an indicia at a precise location on a workpiece. Moreover, the free end of the ribbon is not properly held to permit lifting and repositioning of the apparatus after each printing operation. Still, cutting of the ribbon is only possible after final use of the apparatus, by using a serrated portion of the closure cap.
The above discussed prior art demonstrates that no reasonably practical solution to the problem of hot embossing on miscellaneous objects in the field of identification or for any other purpose has been provided yet.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is therefore to overcome the limitations and drawbacks of the above discussed prior art.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a portable hand-held manually operated dry printing apparatus that is light, compact and portable to allow a user to easily perform a professional quality dry printing at the client's site, by moving the apparatus to and at any position around the objects rather than moving the objects.
A third object of the present invention is to provide a portable hand-held manually operated dry printing apparatus comprising an open-ended structure permitting dry printing on objects of any size.
A fourth object of the present invention is to provide a portable hand-held manually operated dry printing apparatus in which the heat generated by the heating element is dissipated so that the temperature of the handle(s) will remain sufficiently low to enable, at all time, comfortable manipulation.
A further object of the invention is to provide a portable hand-held manually operated dry printing apparatus featuring an ergonomic design to provide comfortable operation using one or both hands and visual feedback for accurate positioning, application of the proper pressure intensity and adaptability to inclinations and a certain degree of irregularity of the workpiece surface.
A sixth object of the present invention is to provide a portable hand-held manually operated dry printing apparatus capable of controlling the temperature of the die over a wide range of temperatures to perform different types of dry printing and/or embossing on various surfaces made of various materials, and having a relatively low thermal inertia for rapid warm-up and temperature changes.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a portable hand-held manually operated dry printing apparatus providing permanent guidance of an embossing ribbon to maintain the proper operational relationship with respect to the die and the workpiece surface, and comprising a continuously available ribbon cutting device.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
More specifically, in accordance with the present invention, there is provided a portable hand-held manually operated dry printing apparatus comprising a frame structure, a handle portion, a dry printing unit, and an air convection passage. The frame structure has a lower portion, and the handle portion is connected to the frame structure for manually operating the dry printing apparatus. The dry printing unit is mounted to the lower portion of the frame structure and comprises a dry printing die member and a heat source for heating the die member, these die member and heat source forming a die member/heat source assembly. The air convection passage extends between the handle portion and the die member/heat source assembly. Convection air flows through this passage to prevent the handle portion from being heated by the die member/heat source assembly.
Flow of convection air through the air convection passage dissipates heat generated by the die member/heat source assembly so that the temperature of the handle portion remains sufficiently low to enable, at all time, comfortable manipulation.
In accordance with preferred embodiments:
the air convection passage is a vertically extending air convection passage in which convection air flows from bottom to top;
the frame structure has two opposite sides, and the handle portion comprises two handles mounted on the two opposite sides of the frame structure, respectively, each handle being spaced apart from the die member/heat source assembly to define the air convection passage;
the frame structure is hollow, and the two opposite sides of the frame structure are open to create an empty space between the two handles;
the portable hand-held manually operated dry printing apparatus further comprises a ribbon holder mounted on a top portion of the frame structure for supplying a dry printing ribbon, and a ribbon guiding system (a) for guiding the ribbon from the ribbon holder along a path extending between the die member and a surface on which dry printing is to be performed to transfer, by heating, material from the ribbon to that surface, and (b) for returning the ribbon back to the ribbon holder;
the ribbon holder comprises a ribbon cutter, and the ribbon
Bussiere Eric
Dubois Constant
Lafleur Andre
Patenaude Pierre
Dubois Constant
Goudreau Gage Dubuc
Yan Ren
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