Stamp device including a stamp unit having a print face portion formed of a heat sensitive stencil paper and a perforation process therefor

A stamp device includes a stamp unit that can be designed in a compact size, of a light weight and having a low manufacturing cost while preventing ink leakage, and a thermal perforating device that perforates the print face of the stamp unit. The stamp unit includes a grip portion, a stamp unit that is fixedly linked to the grip portion, a skirt member covering the outer peripheral side of the stamp unit, and a protection cap that is freely detachably mounted on the stamp unit. The thermal perforating device for perforating the print face portion of the stamp unit includes a body frame, a keyboard that is provided at the front portion of the body frame and serves to input a perforation character array, a liquid crystal display for displaying the input character array, a thermal perforating unit provided at the rear portion of the body frame and into which the stamp unit is inserted, and a control unit provided inside of the body frame.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to a stamp device, and particularly to a stamp 
device including a stamp member having a print face portion that is formed 
of a heat sensitive stencil paper. 
2. Description of the Related Art 
There has been conventionally utilized various kinds of stamps each of 
which serves to print a company name, an address or other character arrays 
on the surface of a sheet and has a print face portion formed of rubber. 
Usually, this type of stamp is individually made to order. Hence, they are 
expensive and a user must wait for a long time to receive them from an 
order. 
On the other hand, a heat sensitive stencil paper has been conventionally 
used for printing in which a desired pattern can be perforated by 
irradiation of infrared rays or a thermal head, and ink is transmitted 
through a perforation array to print various kinds of patterns of 
character arrays, figures, marks or the like. 
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,285,725, the applicant of the present application 
proposed a stencil plate that mainly contains a heat sensitive stencil 
paper as described above and an impregnation member impregnated with ink. 
The stencil plate is suitable to prepare a stamp in place of the 
conventional stamp having the print face portion formed of rubber as 
described above. 
The stencil plate is formed as follows. An impregnation member impregnated 
with ink and a frame member surrounding the impregnation member are 
adhesively attached to a synthetic resin film, and a heat sensitive 
stencil paper is adhesively attached onto the surfaces of the impregnation 
member and the frame member. 
When the stencil plate as described above is applied to a stamp, the 
stencil plate is adhesively attached to the lower surface of the base 
portion of a stamp member having a grip portion through a cushion member, 
and a desired pattern of a character array or the like is perforated on a 
heat sensitive paper by irradiation of infrared rays or a thermal head. 
With this construction, a stamp that comprises a stamp member and a 
stencil plate and can print the desired character-array pattern or the 
like on sheets over many times can be obtained. 
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,253,581, the applicant of the present application 
proposed a stamp device comprising a stamp member and a thermal 
perforating device for perforating the print face portion of the stamp 
member. 
The stamp member comprises a grip portion, a body case, a supply reel and a 
take-up reel that are accommodated in the body case and serve to supply 
and wind a tape-shaped heat sensitive stencil paper, and an ink pad for 
supplying ink to perforated portions of the heat sensitive stencil paper. 
The thermal perforating device includes a perforation mount portion on 
which the stamp member is freely detachably mounted, a feed mechanism for 
feeding the heat sensitive stencil paper of the stamp member, a thermal 
head for perforating the heat sensitive stencil paper of the stamp member, 
a key board for inputting characters or symbols, and a controller for 
controlling the feed mechanism and the thermal head so that the heat 
sensitive stencil paper is perforated to form a character array that is 
input on the basis of input data. 
According to the stamp device, the heat sensitive stencil paper is provided 
in a tape shape to the stamp member, and the print face portion of the 
stamp member is perforated by the thermal perforating device to form a 
desired character-array pattern so that different patterns can be 
perforatively formed on the print face portion as desired. Further, since 
ink is automatically supplied to the print face portion from the ink pad 
in the stamp member during a print operation, the print operation can be 
performed without coating external ink to the print face portion. 
The stamp member as disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,253,581 is provided 
with the tape-shaped long heat sensitive stencil paper. However, in usual 
cases, only a part of the heat sensitive stencil paper is used, and thus, 
it is vainly wasted. Further, since the tape-shaped long heat sensitive 
stencil paper, the supply reel, the take-up reel, etc. are accommodated in 
the stamp member, the stamp member becomes large in size, and it is 
difficult to use. In addition, a manufacturing cost thereof is high. Still 
further, since the tape-shaped heat sensitive stencil paper is kept in 
contact with the ink pad, a sealing to prevent leakage of the ink from the 
ink pad is difficult, and the leakage of the ink is liable to occur. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
An object of this invention is to provide a stamp device including a stamp 
unit that can be compact in size, light weight and manufacturable at a low 
cost while preventing leakage of ink and to provide a thermal perforating 
device for perforating the print face portion of the stamp unit. 
This and other objects are achieved by providing a stamp device including a 
stamp unit and a thermal perforating device for thermally perforating a 
print face portion of the stamp unit to form a dot pattern. The stamp unit 
includes a grip portion and a stencil plate that is fixed to the grip 
portion and that contains an ink member and a heat sensitive stencil paper 
fixedly covering the surface of the ink member to form the print face 
portion. The thermal perforating device includes a perforation mount 
portion on which the stamp unit is freely detachably mounted, an input 
mechanism for inputting characters or symbols, a data storing device for 
storing input data input from the input mechanism, a perforating device 
containing a thermal head for forming a dot pattern by perforating the 
print face portion of the stamp unit mounted on the perforation mount 
portion, and a controller for receiving the input data from the data 
storing device to control the driving of the perforating device. The ink 
member may be an impregnation member impregnated with ink. 
In the stamp device as explained above, when characters or symbols are 
input from the input mechanism in a state where the stamp unit is mounted 
on the perforation mount portion of the thermal perforating device, the 
input data are stored in the data storing device, and the controller 
receives the input data from the data storing device to control driving of 
the perforating device containing the thermal head, whereby the print face 
portion of the stamp unit is perforated in a dot form. 
Next, the stamp unit is taken out from the perforation mount portion of the 
thermal perforating device, and the grip portion of the stamp unit is 
grasped by hand to press the stencil plate against the surface of a sheet 
so that the ink in the ink member of the stencil plate oozes out through 
pores on the heat sensitive stencil paper constituting the print face 
portion, thereby printing a pattern of the input characters or the like on 
the sheet. 
As described above, according to the stamp unit of this invention, the 
print face portion of the stamp unit is perforated in a dot shape to form 
a desired dot pattern by the thermal perforating device, whereby a stamp 
unit that is similar to a rubber stamp and can print without coating ink 
can be obtained. 
The stencil plate of the stamp unit is fixed to the grip portion, and the 
stencil plate includes the impregnation member impregnated with ink and 
the heat sensitive stencil paper that fixedly covers the surface of the 
impregnation member and constitutes the print face portion so that the 
stencil plate can be designed in a simple, compact and light construction, 
and the manufacturing cost of the stamp unit can be reduced. 
Further, the heat sensitive stencil paper is designed to fixedly cover the 
surface of the impregnation member impregnated with ink so that the ink is 
prevented from leaking to the outside of the print face portion. 
When the ink member is formed of the impregnation member impregnated with 
ink the ink can be supplied, neither excessively nor insufficiently, 
during the printing operation for a long time.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
An embodiment according to this invention will be described with reference 
to the accompanying drawings. 
The stamp device of this embodiment comprises a stamp unit 1 shown in FIGS. 
1 to 10 and a thermal perforating device 50 shown in FIG. 11 and figures 
subsequent thereto. 
First, the stamp unit 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 10. 
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the stamp unit 1 includes a grip portion 2 that 
is grasped by a hand, a stamp member 3 that is fixedly linked to the grip 
portion 2, a skirt member 6 covering the outer peripheral side of the 
stamp member 3, and a protection cap 7 that is freely detachably mounted 
on the stamp member 3. 
The grip portion 2 comprises a hollow member having a rectangular 
parallelopiped shape, which is formed of metal or synthetic resin material 
and whose lower end is opened. A recess portion 11 onto which a label 10 
is attached is formed at the top portion of the grip portion 2, and a pair 
of engaging pawls 14 that project downwardly is provided at each of the 
lower end portions of the front wall 12 and the rear wall 13 of the grip 
portion 2. A guide groove 15 is formed at each of the lower portions of 
the front wall 12, and the rear wall of the grip portion 2. An engaging 
recess 16 is formed on the front wall 12, and an engaging hole 18 is 
formed on the left side wall 17. A spring support portion 20 is formed at 
the central portion of the lower surface of the upper wall 19 inside of 
the grip portion 2. 
The stamp member 3 comprises a stamp member body 4 and an outer-periphery 
holding member 5 into which the stamp body 4 is fixedly inserted from the 
lower side, and which covers about 2/3 of the upper portion at the outer 
peripheral side of the stamp member body 4 and is engaged with the four 
engaging pawls 14 of the grip portion 2 so that it is fixed to the grip 
portion 2. 
The stamp member body 4 comprises a base member 26 of synthetic resin, 
which is designed in a rectangular parallelopiped shape having a hollow 
body and provided with a shallow recess portion 25 at the lower surface 
side thereof, an impregnation member 27 (corresponding to an ink member) 
mounted on the recess portion 25 and impregnated with oil ink, and a heat 
sensitive stencil paper 28 that covers the lower surface of the 
impregnation member 27 and the outer peripheral side of the base member 26 
and is adhesively attached to the outer peripheral surface of the base 
member 26 with adhesive agent 29. The impregnation member 27 may be 
adhesively attached to the recess portion 25 of the base member 26 with 
adhesive agent or the like. 
The base member 26 is formed of a synthetic resin material having an 
excellent oil-proof property (for example, vinyl chloride, polypropylene, 
polyethylene, polyacetal, polyethylene terephthalate or the like) or metal 
material as it is contacted with the oil ink. The impregnation member 27 
is mounted on the recess portion 25 of the base member 26, thereby 
preventing positional deviation of the impregnation member 27 and also 
preventing flow-out of ink from the impregnation member 27. 
The impregnation member 27 comprises an elastic foaming member that is 
formed of synthetic material (for example, polyethylene, polypropylene, 
polyethylene terephthalate, polyurethane, acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber), 
or non-woven fabric. The impregnation member 27 is impregnated with ink in 
a saturated state, and by pressing the impregnation member 27, the ink 
oozes out from the impregnation member. 
As shown in FIG. 6, the heat sensitive stencil paper 28 comprises a 
thermoplastic film 30, a porous carrier 31 and an adhesive layer 32 
through which the thermoplastic film 30 and the porous carrier 31 are 
adhesively attached to each other. The thermoplastic film 30 is formed of 
a thermoplastic synthetic resin film (for example, polyethylene 
terephthalate, polypropylene, vinylidene chloride-vinyl chloride copolymer 
or the like) having a thickness of about 1 to 4 .mu.m, preferably about 2 
.mu.m. 
If the thickness is less than 1 .mu.m, the manufacturing cost is increased, 
and its strength is reduced, resulting in poor practical use. On the other 
hand, if the thickness is above 4 .mu.m, it is too thick to perforate the 
film with a general thermal head having a rated power of about 
50mJ/mm.sup.2. 
The porous carrier 31 is formed of a porous thin sheet of paper made 
primarily of a natural fiber such as (Manila hemp, kozo or mitsumata), a 
synthetic fiber (such as polyethylene terephthalate, polyvinyl alcohol or 
polyacrylonitrile), or a semi-synthetic fiber (such as rayon). 
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 7, in a state where the base member 26 is inverted, 
the impregnation member 27 is mounted on the recess portion 25 and then 
impregnated with ink. Thereafter, the impregnation member 27 is covered 
with the heat sensitive stencil paper 28 from its upper side so that the 
porous carrier 31 faces the impregnation member 27, and the heat sensitive 
stencil paper 28 is closely contacted with the surface of the impregnation 
member 27. The outer-peripheral side portion of the heat sensitive Stencil 
paper 28 is folded to come into close contact with the outer peripheral 
surface of the base member 26 and then adhesively attached thereto with an 
adhesive layer 29, thereby forming the stamp member body 4 shown in FIG. 
7. 
A portion of the heat sensitive stencil paper 28 that is closely contacted 
with the surface (lower surface in FIG. 5) of the impregnation member 27 
serves as the print face portion 33. The outer peripheral side of the heat 
sensitive stencil paper 28 is contacted with the outer peripheral surface 
of the base member 26, and the print face portion 33 can be formed over 
substantially the whole area on the lower surface of the stamp member 3 so 
that positioning thereof can be simplified. 
In order to adhesively attach the outer peripheral side portion of the heat 
sensitive stencil paper 28 to the outer peripheral surface of the base 
member 26, the adhesive layer 29 may be beforehand formed at the outer 
peripheral side portion of the heat sensitive stencil paper 28, the 
adhesive layer 29 may be beforehand formed on the outer peripheral surface 
of the base member 26, or both. 
As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the outer-periphery holding member 5 comprises a 
peripheral wall portion 34 having a rectangular section that is adhesively 
attached to the stamp member body 4 while the stamp member body 4 is 
inserted inside of the peripheral wall portion 34, an upper wall portion 
35, and a pair of right and left engaging wall portions 36, which project 
from the upper wall portion 35 by a predetermined height. Engaging holes 
37, which Correspond to the four engaging pawls 14 of the grip portion 2, 
are formed in the pair of right and left engaging wall portions 36. The 
pair of right and left engaging wall portions 36 are freely slidably 
inserted into a pair of right and left rectangular holes on the upper wall 
41 of the skirt member 6. The four engaging pawls 14 are engaged with the 
four engaging holes 37 of the engaging wall portions 36, and the upper 
ends of the engaging wall portions 36 are contacted with the lower end of 
the grip portion 2, whereby the outer-periphery holding member 5 is fixed 
to the grip portion 2. 
As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the skirt member 6 comprises an outer-peripheral 
wall portion 40 having a rectangular section into which the 
outer-peripheral wall portion 34 of the outer-periphery holding member 5 
is freely slidably inserted, an upper wall portion 41, which is at the 
upper end of the outer peripheral wall portion 40 and located at the upper 
side of the upper wall portion 35 of the outer-periphery holding member 5, 
a portal portion 43, which projects from the central portion of the upper 
wall portion 41 upwardly by a predetermined height and is insertable into 
the grip portion 2, and a spring support portion 45 which is projectingly 
provided at the central portion of the upper end of the portal portion 43. 
At the lower portion of the right and left wall portions of the portal 
portion 43, guide holes 44 are formed at front and rear side positions 
corresponding to the guide holes 18. Hence, a continuous hole extends 
through both of the wall portions. 
A spring 21 urging the skirt member 6 downwardly with respect to the grip 
portion 2 is mounted on the spring support portion 20 of the grip portion 
2 and the spring support portion 45 of the skirt member 6. The skirt 
member 6 is designed to be freely moved upwardly and downwardly over a 
first position shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a second position shown in FIG. 9 
and a third position shown in FIG. 8, and the skirt member 6 is urged 
toward the first position by the spring 21. The lower end portions on the 
four surfaces of the outer peripheral wall 40 of the skirt member 6 are 
partially cut out to enable the protection cap 7 to be detached and to 
enable positioning of the print face portion 33. 
At the first position, the upper wall portion 41 of the skirt member 6 
abuts against the upper wall portion 35 of the outer-periphery holding 
member 5, and the lower end of the skirt member 6 projects to a position 
lower than the print face portion 33. At the second position, the upper 
wall portion 41 of the skirt member 6 is located at a position between the 
upper wall portion 35 of the outer-periphery holding member 5 and the 
lower end of the grip portion 2, and the lower end of the skirt member 6 
is located at substantially the same level as the print face portion 33. 
At the third position, the upper wall portion 41 of the skirt member 6 
abuts against the lower end of the grip portion 2, and the lower end of 
the skirt member 6 is located at a position higher than the print face 
portion 33. A stroke of the skirt member 6 from the first position to the 
second position is preferably set to about 5 mm. 
The protection cap 7 is freely detachably disposed so as to cover the lower 
end side of the stamp member body 4, thereby protecting the stamp unit 
body, and the outer wall portion 48 thereof is designed in the same 
sectional shape as the outer peripheral wall 34 of the outer-periphery 
holding member 5. The protection cap 7 is engagedly inserted into the 
inner portion of the outer peripheral wall portion 40 of the skirt member 
6 and supported thereby. 
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, when the protection cap is mounted, the upper 
end thereof abuts against the lower end of the outer peripheral wall 34, a 
small gap occurs between the protection cap 7 and the print face portion 
33, and the protection cap 7 is supported by a frictional force between 
the outer peripheral surface of the outer peripheral wall portion 48 and 
the inner peripheral surface of the outer peripheral wall portion 40 of 
the skirt member 6. Therefore, even when the grip portion 2 is downwardly 
pressed in the state where the protection cap 7 is mounted, the gap is 
maintained due to the abutment between the upper end of the protection cap 
7 and the lower end of the outer peripheral wall 34, and thus, no ink is 
transferred to the protection cap 7. 
For example, as shown in FIG. 10, dot-pattern pores of a pattern, which is 
formed of a character array of a mirror image of "ABC" and rectangular 
frame surrounding the outer side of the character array, are formed by a 
thermal head 90 as described later on the print face portion, thereby 
designing a stamp member capable of printing a character array of a mirror 
image of the pattern of FIG. 10, "ABC" and the rectangular frame. 
Accordingly, like an ordinary stamp having a print face portion formed of 
rubber, the pattern as described above can be printed over about 1000 
times, for example. As is well known, the perforation may be performed by 
irradiation of infrared rays in place of the thermal head. 
When the heat sensitive stencil paper 28 serving as the print face portion 
33 is perforated, the stamp unit 1 is mounted on the perforation mount 
portion 71 of the thermal perforating device 50 as described later, and a 
guide bar 83 thereof is inserted through guide holes 18, 44, 44 to keep 
the skirt member 6 at the third position so that perforation can be 
performed. Further, when the device is unused, the protection cap 7 is 
mounted, and as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the skirt member 6 is maintained 
at the first position. When a print is performed, the protection cap 7 is 
detached, and the skirt member 6 is maintained at the first position to 
position the skirt member 6 to a printing position on the surface of a 
sheet, thereby positioning the print face portion 33 of the stamp member 
3. Thereafter, the grip portion 2 is downwardly pressed to perform the 
print as shown in FIG. 9. 
Next, the thermal perforating device 50 will be described. 
As shown in FIGS. 11 to 15, the thermal perforating device 50 includes a 
body frame 51, a keyboard 52 and a liquid crystal display 53, which are 
provided at the front portion of the body frame 51, a thermal perforating 
unit 54 provided at the rear portion of the main frame 51, and a control 
unit 55 provided inside of the body frame 51. 
On the keyboard 52 are provided character and symbol keys 56 for a 
plurality of characters and symbols, which are used as both of a Japanese 
Kana Keys and an alphabet keys, various function keys, such as cursor 
moving keys 57, an execution key 58, a line feed key 59, a determine/end 
key 60, a cancel key 61, a delete key 62, a shift key 63, a small-letter 
key 64, a letter kind setting key 65, and a perforation switch 66,) and a 
main switch 67. 
The liquid crystal display device 53 is designed to display character 
arrays of plural lines corresponding to a pattern that is a print target 
to be printed by the stamp unit 1. 
Next, the thermal perforating unit 54 will be described. 
As shown in FIGS. 13 to 22, the thermal perforating unit 54 includes a 
perforation mount portion 71 on which the stamp unit 1 is detachably 
mounted, a thermal perforating mechanism 72 for perforating the print face 
portion 33 of the stamp unit 1 mounted on the perforation mount portion 71 
in a dot form, etc. 
The perforation mount portion 71 will be described. As shown in FIGS. 14 to 
17, a right side wall 73 of a subframe 70 is formed with an opening 74 
that has substantially the same shape as the side surface shape of the 
lower half portion of the stamp unit 1, having the longest width in a 
front-and-rear direction of the stamp member 3, and a sector gear 76 is 
fixedly provided to an opening and closing door 75 for opening and closing 
the opening 74. The opening and closing door and the sector gear 76 are 
freely rotatably pivoted on the right side wall 73 by a pivot shaft 77 in 
the right-and-left direction. The upper portion of the subframe 70 is 
provided with a pair of parallel guide members 78 and 79 at the front and 
rear sides thereof, and the lower ends of the guide members 78 and 79 are 
provided with guide portions 80 that extend horizontally in parallel to 
each other in the right-and-left direction so as to face each other. 
A pair of right and left rollers 81 are disposed in communication with the 
guide member 78 through an elongated hole so as to be movable in the 
front-and-rear direction of FIG. 16 by a short distance. Rollers 81 are 
urged rearwardly by the spring 82. 
The guide bar 83 fixed to the guide member 78 at the front side is disposed 
at a middle position between the guide members 78 and 79. A tapered face 
84, which inclines in a lower right direction, is formed on the upper 
surface of the right end portion of the guide bar 83 as shown in FIGS. 16 
and 20, and an engaging portion 85 for defining the left limit position of 
the stamp unit 1 is formed at the left end portion of the guide bar 83. 
The stamp unit 1 is inserted through the opening 74, and the pair of front 
and rear guide members 80 are engaged with the pair of front and rear 
guide grooves 15 of the grip portion 2 of the stamp unit 1, whereby the 
stamp unit 1 is supported by the pair of guide members 80, and the stamp 
unit 1 is urged rearwardly through the pair of rollers 81 by the spring 82 
to be accurately positioned in the front and rear direction. Further, in a 
state where the stamp unit 1 abuts against the engaging portion 85, and 
the roller 81 at the right side is engaged with the engaging recess 
portion 16 of the grip portion 2, the position of the stamp unit 1 in the 
right and left direction can be accurately set. 
When the stamp unit 1 is mounted on the perforation mount portion 71, the 
guide bar 83 is inserted through the guide holes 18, 44, 44 of the stamp 
unit 1, whereby the skirt member 6 is upwardly moved and maintained in the 
third position shown in FIG. 8. 
The thermal perforating mechanism 72 will be described. As shown in FIGS. 
13 to 22, at the lower side of the perforation mount portion 71, a guide 
rod 88 that extends in the right-and-left direction and guides a carriage 
87 and a head switching rod 89 that extends in the right-and-left 
direction and operates a cam member 91 for switching the position of the 
thermal head 90 mounted on the carriage 87 are suspended over the right 
end wall 73 and the left end wall 86 of the subframe 70, and the cam 
member 91 is mounted on the head switching rod 89 so as not to be 
rotatable and so as to be freely slidable in the axial direction. 
The carriage 87 is supported on the guide rod 88 and the head switching rod 
89 so as to be freely movable in the right-and-left direction, and a rack 
92 whose length is over the whole length of the carriage 87 is formed at 
the front end portion of the carriage 87. 
A cam contact plate 93 and a head heat-radiating plate 94 are mounted on 
the carriage 87 by a shaft 95 extending in the front-and-rear direction so 
as to be freely slidable in the up-and-down direction. The thermal head 90 
is fixed to the head heat-radiating plate 94, and the head heat-radiating 
plate 94 is elastically urged upwardly relative to the cam contact plate 
93 by a spring 97 that is wound around a pin 96 fixed to the head 
heat-radiating plate 94. The cam member 91 is designed in an elliptic 
shape in contact with the lower surface of the cam contact plate 93. When 
the cam member 91 is oriented to a lateral attitude by rotating the head 
switching rod 89, the thermal head 90 is released downwardly together with 
the head heat-radiating plate 94. When the cam member 91 is oriented to an 
erect attitude, the thermal head 90 is upwardly shifted through the cam 
contact plate 93 and the spring 97 and switched to a perforation position. 
At the left end portion of the head switching rod 89 is provided a gear 98 
that is engaged with the sector gear 76 at the outside of the right end 
wall 73 of the subframe 70. When the opening and closing door 75 is 
opened, the cam member 91 is oriented in a lateral attitude. On the other 
hand, when the opening and closing door 75 is closed, the cam member 91 is 
switched to an erect attitude. 
On the front wall 99 of the subframe 70 are provided a stepping motor 100 
for driving the carriage 87, a driving gear 101 engaged with the rack 92, 
and a decelerating mechanism 107 for transferring the rotation of an 
output gear 102 of an output shaft of the stepping motor 100 to the 
driving gear 101. Therefore,the rotational driving force of the stepping 
motor 100 is transferred to the driving gear 101 while being decelerated, 
and thus, the carriage 87 can be driven by the stepping motor 100 to be 
moved in the right-and-left direction. 
The thermal head 90 is the same type as a thermal printer thermal head, and 
the thermal head 90 is provided with heating elements 103 that are 
arranged on a row in the front-and-rear direction. 
Next, a control system containing a control unit 110 for controlling the 
thermal perforating mechanism 72 and the liquid crystal display 53 will be 
described. 
As Shown in FIG. 22, the control unit 110 is connected to the keyboard 52, 
the thermal head 90, a carriage feeding motor 100, the liquid crystal 
display 53, and two contactless switches for detecting presence of the 
stamp unit 1 and its width in the front-and-rear direction. 
In this embodiment, as two types of the stamp unit 1 are usable, a 
narrow-width type is indicated by a solid line of FIGS. 15 and 19, and a 
wide-width type is indicated by a chain line. The two contactless switches 
104 and 105 are fixed to a plate piece 106 on the lower surface of the 
guide member 79 at the rear side as shown in FIGS. 13, 15 and 19. A stamp 
unit 1 of the wide-width type is detected by the contactless switches 104 
and 105, and a stamp unit I of the narrow-width type is detected by the 
contactless switch 104. 
As shown in FIG. 22, the control unit 110 is provided with a CPU 111, a ROM 
112, a RAM 113, a perforation CG-ROM 114, a display CG-ROM 115 for display 
on the display 53, an input interface 116 connected to the keyboard 52 and 
the contactless switches 104 and 105, and an output interface 117. These 
elements are connected to one another through a bus 118. The control unit 
110 is further provided with a head driving circuit 119, a motor driving 
circuit 120 and a display driving circuit 121, which are connected to the 
output interface 117. 
The ROM 112 is provided with a program memory 122 storing a control program 
for controlling the operation of the thermal perforating device 50 and a 
dictionary memory 123 for Kana/Kanji conversion, etc. 
The RAM 113 is provided with an input buffer 124 for storing input data, a 
perforation buffer 125 for storing perforation data, a shift register 126, 
and other various counters and registers. The perforation CG-ROM 114 is 
stored with dot pattern data of many character dots serving as a 
perforation target in correspondence with code data, and the display 
CG-ROM 115 is stored with display dot pattern data of many characters 
serving as a perforation target. 
Next, the head driving circuit 119 will be described. 
As Shown in FIG. 23, one electrode of each heating element 103 is connected 
to a power source terminal 127 of +12 V, and the other electrode is 
connected to each driver 128. 
The input terminal of each driver 128 is connected to the output terminal 
of an inverter 129 whose input side is connected to a perforation stove 
input terminal 130, and the output terminal of each data latch circuit 132 
whose input side is connected to a latch signal input terminal 131. 
Further, the input terminal of each data latch circuit 132 is connected to 
the output terminal of each shift register 135 whose input terminal is 
connected to a clock input terminal 133 and a data input terminal 134. 
In, the head driving circuit 119, perforation data are stored into the 
shift register 135 in synchronism with a clock signal. Thereafter, when a 
latch signal is supplied to the latch circuit 132, the data stored in the 
shift register 135 is output to the corresponding data latch circuit 132 
and stored therein. 
At the same time, the data is applied to each driver 128. When in this 
state a perforation pulse signal of logic "0" is applied from the 
perforation stove input terminal 130 to the input terminal of the inverter 
128, a signal of logic "1" is output from the output terminal of the 
inverter 128 and applied to the input terminal of each driver 128. 
Accordingly, when the data of the data latch circuit 132 is in logic "1", 
the output side of the driver 128 is set to logic "0", and a driving 
current is supplied from the power source terminal 127 to the 
corresponding heating element 103. At this time, the pulse width of the 
pulse signal input to the perforation stove input terminal 130 is set so 
that the surface temperature of the heating element 103 is suitable for 
heat perforation (e.g., 200.degree.-300.degree. C.). 
A perforation process for perforating the print face portion 33 of the 
stamp unit 1 to form a pattern of a character array using the thermal 
perforating device 50 will be described with reference to a flowchart in 
FIGS. 24(A), 24(B), 25(A) and 25(B). Perforation processing contains a 
processing that is executed by the control unit 110 and an operation that 
is executed by an operator, and reference character Si (I=1, 2, 3, . . . ) 
represents each step. 
The power-on of the main switch 67 starts processing. First, a detection 
signal from the contactless switches 104 and 105 is read in (S1), and it 
is judged Whether a stamp unit 1 exists, that is, whether the stamp unit 1 
is mounted on the perforation mount portion 71 (S2). If the judgment is 
Yes, that is, if the power source is switched on while the stamp unit 1 is 
mounted on the perforation mount portion 71, a message "Please detach 
stamp unit" is displayed on the liquid crystal display (hereinafter 
referred to as LCD) 53 (S3), and the program returns to S1. Steps S1 to S3 
are repetitively executed until the stamp unit 1 is detached by the 
operator. When the opening and closing door 75 is opened and the stamp 
unit 1 is detached, the judgment becomes "NO" at S2. 
Subsequently, when no stamp unit 1 is mounted on the perforation mount 
portion 71 at the switch-on time of the power source, or when the stamp 
unit 1 is mounted on the perforation mount portion 71 at the switch-on 
time of the power source, but thereafter the stamp unit 1 is detached by 
the operator so that the judgment at the S2 becomes "NO", initialization 
is executed to clear data in the RAM 112 of the thermal perforating device 
50, drive the carriage feeding motor 100 to move the carriage 87 to an 
initial position at the right end of the guide rod 88, etc. and "In 
preparation" is displayed on the LCD 53 (S4). 
Subsequently, by operating the keyboard 52 at S5, the input setting of a 
print content is executed. In this input setting, a print-face size 
indication, a format input containing a character-size and a character 
arrangement setting, and an input of the perforation character array data 
into the input buffer 124 are executed. 
Subsequently, a message "Please mount stamp unit" is displayed on the LCD 
53 (S6), and the program waits until the perforation switch 66 is switched 
on (S7:No). During this period, the operator opens the opening and closing 
door 75 to mount the stamp unit 1 and closes the opening and closing door 
75, that is, mounts the stamp unit 1 on the perforation mount portion 71. 
Through the opening operation of the opening and closing door 75, the 
sector gear 76 is rotated in a clockwise direction (FIG. 19). The rotation 
of the sector gear 76 follows a counterclockwise rotation of the head 
switching rod 89 through the gear 98 engaged with the sector gear 76 (FIG. 
19). Through this rotation, the cam member 91 mounted on the head 
switching rod 89 is oriented to a lateral attitude, and the thermal head 
90 is released downwardly together with the head heat-radiating plate 94. 
The operator inserts the stamp unit 1 from the opening 74 while engagedly 
inserting the guide portion 80 into the guide groove 15 of the grip 
portion 2 of the stamp unit 1. In this insertion operation, the thermal 
head 90 does not interfere with the mounting of the stamp unit 1. Further, 
through the insertion, the guide bar 83 is inserted through the guide 
holes 18, 44, 44 of the stamp unit 1. Through this operation, the portal 
portion 43 is upwardly moved along the taper surface 84 of the guide bar 
83, following the upward movement of the skirt member 6 so that the lower 
end thereof is elevated to a position higher than the print face portion 
33 as shown in FIG. 20, and this state is maintained as shown in FIG. 21. 
The operator inserts the stamp unit 1 until the stamp unit 1 abuts against 
the engaging portion 85 of the guide bar 83, and the right-side roller 81 
fixed to the guide member 78 is engaged with the engaging recess portion 
16 of the grip portion 2 of the stamp unit 1. When the insertion is made 
until the abutment and the engagement are completed, the stamp unit 1 is 
disposed at a predetermined position in the perforation mount portion 71 
shown in FIG. 21. 
Subsequently, the operator carries out the closing operation of 
counterclockwisely rotating the opening and closing door 75 (FIG. 19). 
Through this closing operation, the sector gear 76 rotates 
counterclockwisely (FIG. 19), and the rotation of the sector gear 76 
follows the clockwise rotation of the head switching rod 89. Through this 
operation, the cam unit 91 mounted on the head switching rod 89 is 
oriented to an erect attitude, and the thermal head 90 is upwardly shifted 
through the cam contact plate 93 and the spring 97 and disposed at the 
perforation position at which the right end of the print face portion 33 
of the stamp unit 1 as indicated by a solid line Of FIG. 21 is pressed. 
The operator switches on the perforation switch 66 after mounting the stamp 
unit 1 as described above. 
Next, upon switch-on of the perforation switch 66 (S7: Yes), the detection 
signals of the contactless switches 104 and 105 are read in S8, and it is 
judged whether the stamp unit 1 exists, that is, whether the stamp unit 1 
is mounted on the perforation mount portion 71 (S9). If the judgment is 
Yes, that is, if the operator operates the perforation switch 66 without 
mounting the stamp unit 1, "Please mount stamp unit" is displayed on the 
LCD 53 at S10, and the program returns to S7. On the other hand, if the 
judgment at S9 is Yes and the stamp unit 1 is mounted, at S11 it is judged 
whether the print-face size set at S5 is conformable to the size of the 
stamp unit 1. The size of the stamp unit 1 is the width size of the stamp 
unit 1 that is identified on the basis of the detection signals from the 
contactless switches 104 and 105. 
Next, if the judgment at S11 is No, that is, if the size of the stamp unit 
1 is not conformable to the set print-face size, "Please substitute stamp 
unit" is displayed on the LCD 53 (S12), and the program returns to S7. The 
steps S7 to S12 are repetitively executed until the presently mounted 
stamp unit 1 is detached and then another stamp unit 1 whose size is 
conformable to the set print-face Size is mounted. On the other hand, if 
the judgment at S11 is Yes, that is, if the size of the mounted stamp unit 
1 is conformable to the set print-face size, the perforation process is 
conducted on the print face portion 33 of the stamp unit 1. 
During the perforation process, "Under Perforation" is displayed on the LCD 
53 (S13). In the perforation process, the perforation dot pattern data are 
first prepared on the basis of the format input in the input buffer 124 
and the perforation character-array data and stored in the perforation 
buffer 125. On the basis of the dot pattern data stored in the perforation 
buffer 125, the carriage feeding motor 100 is driven, and the carriage 87 
is moved from the position as indicated by a solid line of FIG. 21 to the 
position as indicated by a two-dotted chain line. In addition, the thermal 
head 90 is driven, and pores are formed on the print face portion 33 on 
the basis of the perforation dot pattern data. 
When the perforation process is finished, the carriage 87 is moved to a 
position such that the thermal head 90 is moved to the left side out of 
the print face portion 33, and the thermal head 90 is prevented from being 
continuously pressed against the print face portion 33 to induce leakage 
of the ink. Subsequently, it is judged at S14 whether the perforation 
process is finished. If the perforation is completed, at S15, "perforation 
process finished" and "Please detach stamp unit" are displayed on the LCD 
53, and the program returns to S1. Seeing the display "Please detach stamp 
unit", the operator opens the opening and closing door 75 to remove the 
stamp unit 1. At this time, the carriage 87 is moved to the position as 
indicated by the two-dotted chain line of FIG. 21 So that the carriage 87 
and the thermal head 90 are prevented from disturbing the detachment of 
the stamp unit 1. 
Next, the operation of the stamp device comprising the stamp Unit 1 and the 
thermal perforating device thus constructed will be described. 
With respect to the stamp unit 1, dot-pattern pores of a desired pattern 
are formed on the heat sensitive stencil paper 28 serving as the print 
face portion 33, the protection cap 7 is detached, and the print face 
portion 33 is positioned to a desired position on the surface of a sheet 
through the skirt member 6. Thereafter, when the operator grasps the grip 
portion 2 to press the grip portion 2 downwardly and press the print face 
portion 33 on the surface of the sheet, the ink in the impregnation member 
27 oozes out through the dot pattern pores, and thus, the perforation 
pattern can be printed on the surface of the sheet. 
The skirt member 6, which is disposed to surround the outer peripheral side 
of the stamp member 3, is designed to be freely upwardly and downwardly 
moved over the first, second and third positions. The skirt member 6 thus 
constructed is elastically urged toward the first position so that the 
print face portion 33 can be perforated to form a desired pattern in a 
desired dot pattern when the skirt member 6 is maintained at the third 
position. 
In the printing operation, when the skirt member 6 is maintained at the 
first position and set to a print position on the surface of a sheet, the 
print face portion 33 is positioned, and the grip portion 2 is pressed, 
the spring contracts and the skirt member 6 is elevated to the second 
position. Therefore, the print can be accurately performed at a desired 
position. When the press force applied to the grip portion 2 is moderated 
after the print, exfoiation of the sheet from the print face portion 33 is 
promoted due to a returning action of the skirt member 6 to the first 
position so that the print can be beautifully performed on even a thin 
sheet. In a case where the print is performed within a narrow frame on the 
surface of a sheet, the print can be performed while the skirt member 6 is 
held by hand at the second or third position. 
When the device is unused, the skirt member 6 is held at the first position 
by the urging force of the spring 21, the whole stamp unit 1 is supported 
by the skirt member 6, and the print face portion 33 can be protected. 
Further, the stamp member 3 is provided with the heat sensitive stencil 
paper, which fixedly covers the surface portion of the impregnation member 
27, and with the outer-periphery holding member 5, which surrounds the 
outer peripheral portion of the heat sensitive stencil paper 28 extending 
to the outer peripheral side of the base member 26 inside of the skirt 
member 6. Therefore, the outer peripheral portion of the heat sensitive 
stencil paper 28 extending to the outer peripheral side of the base member 
26 can be prevented from being damaged by the skirt member 6, and the ink 
can be prevented from flowing out to the outside from the impregnation 
member 27. 
The protection cap 7 prevents damage of the print face portion 33 and 
attachment of dust to the print face portion 33 when the device is unused. 
In addition, the protection cap 7 prevents printing at a position where 
print is not desired due to an erroneous operation. 
With respect to the thermal perforating device 50, when the stamp unit 1 is 
mounted on the perforation mount portion 71, the stamp unit 1 is supported 
by the pair of front and rear guide portions, which are engaged with the 
pair of front and rear guide grooves 15 thereof, and pressed backwardly by 
the pair of rollers 81, whereby the position in the front and rear 
direction of the stamp unit 1 is accurately set. 
The stamp unit 1 is secured by the engaging portion 85 and secured at the 
ends of the pair of front and rear guide grooves 15, whereby the position 
in the left-and-right direction can be accurately set. In addition, the 
engaging recess portion 16 of the stamp unit 1 is engaged with one roller 
81, and the stamp unit 1 can be prevented from being positionally deviated 
during the perforating operation. 
The opening and closing door 75 and the cam member 91 are interlocked with 
each other through the sector gear 76, the gear 98 and the head switching 
rod 89, and the thermal head 90 is downwardly released until the stamp 
unit 1 is mounted on the perforation mount portion 71 and the opening and 
closing door 75 is closed. Therefore, the print face 33 can be prevented 
from being damaged by the thermal head 90 when the stamp unit 1 is 
mounted. Further, when the perforation is completed, the carriage 87 is 
moved until the thermal head 90 is moved away from the print face portion 
33 to the left side. Therefore, the thermal head 90 is prevented from 
continuously pressing the print face portion 33, and thus, ink leakage 
from the print face portion 33 can be prevented. Still further, when the 
stamp unit 1 is detached after perforation is completed, the thermal head 
90 is downwardly released by opening the opening and closing door 75, and 
the print face portion 33 suffers no damage when the stamp unit 1 is taken 
out. 
Since the skirt member 6 is switched to the most elevated third position by 
the guide bar 83 when the stamp unit 1 is mounted on the perforation mount 
portion 71, the skirt member 6 does not obstruct the perforation when the 
print surface portion 33 is perforated. 
The width size of the stamp unit 1 is detected by the contactless switches 
104 and 105, and pores of a character array that is not conformable to the 
size of the print face portion 33 are prevented from being formed due to 
an erroneous setting of the size of the stamp unit 1. Further, the stamp 
unit 1 is supported on the perforation mount portion 71 through the 
engagement between the guide member 78 and the grip portion 2 so that both 
of the narrow-width type of stamp unit 1 and the wide-width type of stamp 
unit 1 can be mounted on the perforation mount portion 71 if the grip 
portion is designed in the same construction. Accordingly, this device can 
be widely used. 
In the embodiment as described above, the impregnation member 27 and the 
heat sensitive stencil paper 28 correspond to the stencil plate, the 
keyboard 52 corresponds to the input means, the thermal perforating 
mechanism 72 corresponds to the perforating means, the control unit 110 
corresponds to the control means and the RAM 113 corresponds to the data 
storing means. 
A part of the above embodiment may be modified as would be contemplated by 
those of ordinary skill in the art. For example, the perforation mount 
portion 71 is designed so that the stamp unit 1 is freely detachably 
mounted on the perforation mount portion 71 from the right side, however, 
it may be designed so that the stamp unit 1 is freely detachably mounted 
from the upper side. 
The thermal perforating mechanism 72 is designed to perform the perforation 
while moving the thermal head 90 through the carriage 87 when the stamp 
unit 1 is held at a predetermined position; however, it may be designed so 
that the thermal head 90 is fixedly provided, and perforation is performed 
while moving the stamp unit 1. 
In place of the cam member 91, a solenoid actuator may be provided to 
switch the position of the thermal head 90 using the actuator. 
In place of the rack 92, the driving gear 101 and the decelerating gear 
mechanism 107, the carriage 87 may be moved in the right-and-left 
direction through a wire and a pulley. 
In place of the impregnation member 27, an ink member comprising a high 
viscosity lump of ink may be used. The ink member may be mounted on a 
recess portion 25 and collected in the same shape as the impregnation 
member 27.