Abstract:
An imprinter includes a printing base for mounting a card and a print paper to be imprinted on a predetermined area thereof, a carriage that is movable above the printing base, a roller shaft arranged at a position of a predetermined height from the card mounting surface of the printing base, a roller including an outer periphery of hard material a center boss that is in rotational engagement with the roller shaft and elastic members provided between the outer periphery and the center boss of the roller. The elastic members are radially deformed during imprinting operation to cause the outer periphery of the roller to radially move relative to the center axis of the roller shaft into a state of eccentric circle in vertical section, so that the embossed information of the card may be transcribed onto the print paper.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to an imprinter for imprinting or transcribing onto a print paper including the books and debit slips the information represented as convexly embossed on a card. The imprinter is generally provided with a roller of hard material which is moved as is rolled on the card when the transcription is carried out while the roller is kept in point contact with the information represented as embossed on the card which is placed as fixed, so that a clear and high quality transcription of information may be obtained without necessity of any specific adjusting operation on the side of the user. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     The literature that is Japanese Patent Application laid open 2006-150828 and/or another literature that is Japanese Patent Application laid open 2002-370438 disclose the imprinters respectively, the imprinters being substantially composed of a base for supporting a card having embossed parts formed thereon, a carriage that is substantially U-shaped straddling the base and is movable on the base, the carriage rotatably supporting an ink roller above the base and rotatably supporting a backup roller extended in parallel with the ink roller below the base and further composed of a mechanism provided on the carriage for adjusting the distance between the ink roller and the backup roller. The adjusting mechanism is operated to adjust the distance between the ink roller and the backup roller before the imprinter is shipped so that the ink roller may be positioned at the height substantially corresponding to the height of the embossed parts of the card to give an optimum printing pressure. The adjusting mechanism is further operated to make a final fine adjustment as to the position of the ink roller at the stage of actual use of the user in reference to card that is practically used by the user so as to obtain an optimum quality of transcription. 
     Further an ink roller of elastic material such as a hard gum is used in the conventional imprinter. The literature that is Japanese utility Model Application laid open Sho 56-104963 discloses a printing roller 22 which may be adjustable as to the height so as to obtain an optimum transcription. Further the literature that is Japanese Patent Application laid open Sho 57-138975 discloses printing roller 30 that is ink impregnated or no ink impregnated and is adjustable as to the vertical position by way of elastic members 37. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According to the conventional adjusting mechanisms as mentioned above, the adjusting operation is rather troublesome and almost impossible to obtain a high quality of transcription in response to the embossed information of the card which includes a predetermined height and height errors. In order to overcome such problem, the ink roller may be made of a hard gum. However it is unavoidable that the embossed parts will sink into the roller during imprinting operation resulting in blotted and dirty transcription of information. It is, therefore, a principal object of the invention to provide an imprinter having a roller having a rigid body which may be rotatingly moved on the card in point contact with the convexly embossed portions of the card during imprinting operation, so that a clear and high quality transcription of information may be obtained from the card to the print paper without necessity of adjusting operation on the side of the user as to the vertical position of the roller against the embossed card. 
     The problems have been solved by the invention as defined in claim  1 , wherein the imprinter comprises a printing base for mounting a card and a print paper to be imprinted on a predetermined area thereof, a carriage that is movable above the printing base, a roller shaft provided as is housed within the carriage and fixedly arranged at a position of a predetermined height from the card mounting surface of the printing base, a roller composed of an outer periphery of a rigid body a center boss that is in rotational engagement with the roller shaft and elastic means provided between the outer periphery and the center boss of the roller, the elastic means being radially deformed during imprinting operation to cause the outer periphery of the roller to radially move relative to the center axis of the roller shaft into a state of eccentric circle in vertical section, so that the embossed information of the card may be transcribed onto the print paper. 
     Further the problems have been solved by the invention as defined in claim  2 , wherein the elastic means may include a plurality of spring ribs radially extended between the outer periphery and the center boss of the roller. Further the problems have been solved by the invention as defined in claim  3 , wherein the elastic means may include a gum and the like filled between the outer periphery and the center boss of the roller. Further the problems have been solved by the invention as defined in claim  4 , wherein the spring ribs may be formed in one body with the outer periphery and the center boss of the roller by use of a single material including synthetic resin or metal. 
     Further the problems have been solved by the invention as defined in claim  5 , wherein the imprinter comprises a printing base for mounting a card and a print paper to be imprinted on a predetermined area thereof, a carriage that is movable above the printing base, a roller that having a rigid body and is provided as is housed within the carriage for transcribing the information represented as embossed on the card, a roller shaft for fixedly supporting the roller, bearings for rotatably supporting the roller shaft at a position of a predetermined height from the card mounting surface of the printing base, elastic means provided between the bearings and the roller shaft, the elastic means being radially deformed during imprinting operation to cause the roller to radially move relative to the bearings so that the embossed information of the card may be transcribed onto the print paper. 
     Further the problems have been solved by the invention as defined in claim  6 , wherein the elastic means may include a plurality of coil springs. Further the problems have been solved by the invention as defined in claim  7 , wherein the elastic means may include a soft synthetic gum. 
     Further the problems have been solved by the invention as defined in claim  8 , further comprising adjusting means manually operated to adjust the height of said roller from said printing base, thereby to adjust the density of transcription. 
     According to the invention, the roller having a rigid body is rotatingly moved on the embossed card absolving a predetermined height and height errors of the embossed portions of the card so as to obtain a high quality of transcription. As the roller is so formed as to absolve the height and height errors of the embossed portions of the card during imprinting operation, the user is not required to adjust the position relative to the upper surface of the card. On the other hand, as the adjusting range is increased in comparison with the conventional imprinter, the adjusting operation is considerably easy. Particularly according to the inventions as defined in claims  1  to  3 , the roller is so formed as to be radially deformed through spring action with the position of center axis being unchanged, and thus the adjusting range is increased to contribute to realization of a high quality transcription of information. Similarly the inventions as defined in claims  4  to  6  are designed to obtain the same effects as the inventions as defined in claims  1  to  3 . 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the invention showing an imprinter having a carriage partly removed. 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the imprinter of the invention showing the outer appearance thereof. 
         FIG. 3A  is a side elevational view of the imprinter shown in vertical section wherein the imprinter is not operated.  FIG. 3B  is the side elevational view of the imprinter shown in vertical section wherein the imprinter is operated. 
         FIG. 4A  is a side elevational view of an essential part of the imprinter shown in vertical section.  FIG. 4B  is a side elevational view of  FIG. 4A  shown in vertical section. 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view of a roller of the imprinter shown as partly removed. 
         FIG. 6A  is a front elevational view of the roller wherein the roller is shown as radially deformed into a state of eccentricity in vertical section with absorption of a predetermined height and height errors respectively of embossed parts of a card during imprinting operation.  FIG. 6B  is a front elevational view of the roller diagrammatically showing the conditions of  FIG. 6A . 
         FIG. 7A  is a side elevational view of a second embodiment of the imprinter shown in vertical section wherein the imprinter is not operated.  FIG. 7B  is the side elevational view of the imprinter shown in vertical section wherein the imprinter is operated. 
         FIG. 8A  is a side elevational view of an essential part of the second embodiment of the imprinter shown in vertical section wherein the roller shaft is under the action of springs arranged on the upper side of the roller shaft.  FIG. 8B  is a side elevational view of the roller shaft shown in vertical section wherein one end of the roller is supported by a bearing.  FIG. 8C  is a front elevational view of the roller wherein the roller is shown as radially displaced due to a height and a height error respectively of embossed parts of a card during imprinting operation. 
         FIG. 9A  is a front elevational view of the essential part of the second embodiment which is modified to have the roller shaft placed under the action of springs arranged on the upper and lower sides of the roller shaft.  FIG. 9B  is further a modification of  FIG. 9A  wherein the springs are replaced by a soft gum fitted between the roller and the roller shaft. 
         FIG. 10A  is a side elevational view of the essential part the embodiment wherein the roller and the related parts are shown in vertical section while the roller is moved for imprinting operation.  FIG. 10B  is an enlarged view of the part (α) of  FIG. 9A . 
         FIG. 11A  is a side elevational view of the essential part the conventional imprinter wherein the roller and the related parts are shown in vertical section while the roller is moved for imprinting operation.  FIG. 11B  is an enlarged view of the part (β) of  FIG. 11A . 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The invention will be described in detail in reference to the attached drawings.  FIGS. 1 and 2  show a first embodiment of the imprinter according to the invention. The imprinter of the invention is essentially composed of a printing base A which is provided with a predetermined area for mounting a card thereon for transcription, a carriage B that is substantially U-shaped in vertical section and is movable above the printing base A and a roller C that is rotatably housed within the carriage B. The carriage may be manually moved on the printing base A so that the roller C may be rotatingly moved on and across a print paper S (books or debit slip) positioned on the card having information represented as convexly embossed on the upper side thereof and positioned on the printing base A. Thus the embossed information of the card P may be transcribed onto the print paper S. Incidentally in  FIG. 2 , the reference numeral  21  are holders respectively for holding the print paper to be imprinted. The reference numeral  22  denotes screws respectively for holding a shop name plate on the printing base A. The reference numeral  23  denotes a stopper for stopping the movement of the carriage. 
     The printing base A is provided with a flat area  2  for receiving the card P and is provided with another flat area  3  for receiving the shop name plate. Further the printing base A has guide rails  4  provided on both sides thereof respectively for guiding the carriage B. The carriage B holds the roller C so that the roller C may be rotated. Namely the carriage B has guide plates,  5 ,  5  provided as are opposite to each other with a predetermined space provided therebetween for rotatably supporting a roller shaft  6  with a predetermined distance provided between the rotation axis of the roller C and the upper surface of the card P. Further the carriage B is provided with adjusting portions  7 ,  7  for adjusting the distance between the roller C and the upper surface of the card. The carriage B is further provided with an upper cover  8  and side covers  9  on both sides of the upper cover  8  for covering the guide plates,  5 ,  5 , the roller shaft  6 , and the roller C. 
     The side covers  9 ,  9  have grooves  9   a ,  9   b  formed at the lower side thereof respectively and are kept in engagement with the guide rails  4 ,  4  of the printing base A so that the carriage may be slidingly moved on the printing base A along the guide rails  4 ,  4 . Further the adjusting portions  7 ,  7  include adjusting screws  7   a ,  7   a  respectively which are in threaded engagement with the upper cover  8  and have lower portions positioned in engagement with connecting portions  5   a ,  5   a  of the guide plates  5 ,  5  respectively. The adjusting screws  7   a ,  7   a  are accessible at the top of the upper cover  8  and may be manually rotated by use of a driver and the like to adjust the vertical position of the guide plates  5 ,  5 , so that the roller C may be pressed against the embossed surface of the card P with an optional pressure and therefore against the print paper S placed on the card. Thus different tones of print density may be obtained. 
     The roller C is formed with an outer periphery  15  of a rigid body, a center boss  16  and a plurality of arms  17  which are radially extended between the outer periphery  15  and the center boss  16 . The radially extended arms  17  are laterally bent in U-shape at the intermediate thereof to provide spring ribs  17   a  for giving a spring effect against radial pressure given toward the center boss  16 . At least three spring ribs  17   a  are required as are arranged with an equal angular space provided therebetween. The roller C may be formed in one body with synthetic resin as composed of the outer periphery  15 , the center boss  16  and the spring ribs  17   a .  FIG. 5  shows the roller C that is provided with four spring ribs  17   a  in one (first) set with an equal angular space provided therebetween at one end side thereof and is further pro vided with four spring ribs  17   a  in another (second) set with an equal angular space provided therebetween at the opposite end side thereof. Incidentally, the spring ribs  17   a  in the second set are angularly displaced by 90° from the spring ribs  17   a  in the first set first set. The elasticity constant of the spring ribs  17   a  will be variable in dependence on the material of synthetic resin. The elasticity coefficient may be optionally decided in consideration of the thickness of the spring ribs  17   a . As the spring ribs  17   a  are radially deformed due to the pressure given to the outer periphery  15  by the embossed information of the card P, the information is transcribed onto the print paper. 
     According to the first embodiment of the invention, the height of center axis of the roller shaft  6  is fixed with respect to the carriage B. The guide plates  5 ,  5  have oblong holes  5   b ,  5   b  provided therewith respectively, the oblong holes  5   b ,  5   b  being formed as symmetrical with horizontally extended portions and upwardly extended portions. With this structure, the transcription of the shop name plate placed on the shop plate receiving area  3  may be obtained while the roller C is moved in one direction from left to right in  FIG. 1  and the transcription of the card P placed on the card receiving area  2  may be obtained while the roller C is moved back from right to left. 
     Subsequently the operation will be described. With the carriage B being moved across the printing base A having the printing paper placed on the card P which is received in the predetermined area, the roller C is moved with the carriage B as is rolled with the outer periphery  15  being in contact with the upper surface of the card P. As the roller C is made of a rigid body, the outer periphery  15  itself of the roller C is not radially deformed while it is rolled across the card P and thus the transcription of information is made from the card P to the printing paper due to a predetermined pressure given to the printing paper by the roller C. 
     In the meantime, the outer periphery  15  of the roller C is moved up by an amount as defined by the height H of the embossed portions of the card P with the vertical position (height) of the roller shaft  6  being unchanged. Precisely the outer periphery  15  of the roller C is moved up due to the action of the spring ribs  17   a ,  17   a  which are radially deformed between the center boss  16  and the outer periphery  15  of the roller C by the pressure given to the outer periphery  15  when the roller C is moved on the embossed portions of the card P. Thus the spring ribs  17   a ,  17   a  absolve the height H and height error ΔT of the embossed portions, and thus a high quality transcription of the information may be obtained namely, according to the embodiment, a high quality transcription of information may be obtained simply by making contact between the outer periphery  15  of the roller C and the embossed surface of the card P with a predetermined optional pressure applied. Thus the dirty and ambiguous transcription of information may be avoided without fail. In this connection, the roller C may be modified to have an elastic member such as gum and the like filled between the outer periphery  15  and the center boss  16  thereof instead of the radially extended arms  17  which are bent in substantially U-shape in vertical section at the intermediate thereof. 
     Further a second embodiment of the invention will be described. According to the second embodiment, the roller shaft  6  is arranged as is vertically displaceable with respect to the carriage B. Namely the roller shaft  6  is supported by a pair of bearings  10  by way of example which are held under the action of elastic members  11  and may be vertically movable against and under the action of elastic members  11  respectively. In this case, the roller C is wholly made of a rigid body and the height H and height error ΔT of the embossed portions of the card P may be absolved by the elastic members  11 . Thus a high quality transcription of the information may be obtained while the roller C is moved on the card P. 
     The elastic members  11  may include coil springs  11   a  as shown in  FIGS. 7 ,  8  and  9 A. In  FIGS. 7 and 8 , the roller shaft  6  is shown as being vertically movable against and under the action of the coil springs  11   a  which are provided on the upper side of the roller shaft  6  because the roller shaft  6  has both ends supported by vertically elongated bearings  20  of the carriage B. In  FIG. 9   a , the roller shaft  6  is shown as being vertically movable against and under the action of the coil springs  11   a  which are provided on the upper and lower sides of the roller shaft  6 . 
     Further as shown in  FIG. 9B , a soft synthetic gum member  11   b  may be filled between the roller shaft  6  and the bearings  20  of the carriage B instead of the coil springs  11   a . The soft synthetic gum member  11   b  may absolve the vertical displacement amount ΔT of the roller shaft  6 . More precisely the soft synthetic gum member  11   b  may be radially deformed to radially move up the roller shaft  6 . Thus the second embodiment of the invention may have a same effect as the first embodiment. 
     Thus according to the invention, as the roller C is placed under spring action, transcription of a fixed standard may be obtained if the thickness of the card happens to be different. Particularly in case the outer periphery  15  of the roller C is made of a rigid body and is under spring action, an appropriate pressure may be given to the print paper as shown in  FIG. 10B  wherein the outer periphery  15  of the roller C comes into point contact with the embossed part of the card without deformation of the periphery surface. As the result, a high quality of transcription (imprint) may be obtained. 
     It is a specific feature of the invention to arrange the roller C or the outer periphery  15  of the roller under spring action. Generally in case the printing pressure is adjusted in the vertical distance, the printing pressure depends upon the elastic deformation of the shaft and the printing base, though it is admitted that the transcription quality is good in a certain range. Therefore it is required that the printing pressure is adjusted in a condition that the spring constant is high. According to the invention, as the roller C or the outer periphery  15  of the roller is arranged under spring action, it has become technically possible to decrease the spring constant. As the result, the range for adjusting the printing pressure is increased. Thus it has become very easy to adjust the printing pressure. 
     As to the transcription, the transcription is made with a pressure being applied to the print paper S to which the card information is transcribed. According to the invention, as the roller C or the outer periphery  15  of the roller is arranged under spring action, it is unnecessary to adjust the printing pressure on the side of user once the printing pressure is adjusted at the factory before the imprinter is shipped. Further the print pressure adjusting work, that is, the manipulation of adjusting screws  7   a ,  7   a  at the factory is very easy in comparison with the conventional imprinter of the roller that is wholly made of a rigid body. This is because the roller C or the outer periphery  15  of the roller is arranged under the action of elastic members  11  which have the spring constant decreased and the elastic amount increased, that is, the adjusting range is increased. 
     According to the invention, the print paper S (books or debit slip) is a pressure responsible paper and the roller C is made of a rigid body such as synthetic resin or metal.  FIGS. 10 and 11  show the print paper S of two layers that is responsible to pressure. In  FIGS. 10 and 11 , the print paper S has a color former coated on the lower side of the upper layer and has a developer coated on the upper side of the lower layer. The color former and the developer are responsible to the pressure of roller C to transcribe the embossed information of the card onto the surface of the lower layer in a predetermined color. 
     The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.