BRAILLE PRINTING PLATE

Abstract: A braille printing plate comprising a male part (1, 100) having braille characters formed by balls (13) and a female part (2, 200) to be used in combination with the male part and having dot receptacle holes (22, 207) formed by copying the braille characters of the male part, between the male and female parts braille being printed, wherein said male part comprises a board (10, 101, 106) and a plastic film (11) pasted thereon, said balls (13) being loaded in dot holes formed toward the said film surface, and said female part comprises a board (20, 21, 201, 206) having the dot hole receptacles (22, 207) by copying the braille characters of the male part.

Description: Detailed Description of the Invention The present invention relates to a braille printing plate. Although it is known that a braille writing instrument or braillewriter is used for braille printing, the present inventor developed a braille printing plate which can print braille without using the braillewriter, etc. and can be stored for a long time as a master plate, as disclosed in European Patent Publication No. 169959. In the above invention, braille is printed with use of a punched plate made of hard plastic, etc. having all rows punched with dot holes, six of which correspond to one braille letter. (See the numeral 10 shown in Fig. 1 of the European Patent Publication No. 169959.) On one surface of the punched plate is pasted a ball retaining sheet such as vinyl chloride sheet and on the other surface is pasted a dot hole sheet. The braille-forming dot holes are punched in the dot hole sheet with a stylus or braillewriter so as to project the ball retaining sheet outwardly, and then balls are loaded in recessions formed in the ball retaining sheet, and thereafter a sheet is pasted on the dot hole sheet to provide a stable support for the balls. Thus, braille letters are formed and master printing plate is obtained. The above prior art using balls to form letters on the master printing plate is advantageous in that the braille letters will not be defaced even if printing is repeated, the printed braille letters are easy to read, two to three sheets can be clearly printed at one time, the balls can be taken out after printing and economically, the balls and punched plate are available for repeated use. Compared to the prior art, the braillewriters are a little different in the braille size or the line spacing according to manufacturers. If the master plate is to be made using the braillewriter, the punched plate requires to register with the braillewriter in the braille spacing. The prior art proposed by the inventor was suitable for producing the master plate with a stylus, but it faced with the aforementioned problems, though not defective, when using the braillewriter. Recently, there has been developed a computer-aided braille writing machine, in which ordinary letters are input and computerized so as to print braille letters. Advantageously, a person without knowledge of braille can operate on this machine. Further, data can be recorded in floppy disk and duplicated easily. The convenience of this machine is incomparable with the conventional braillewriter, but this braille writing machine and associated braille printer are so expensive that it actually makes difficult for even a braille library to purchase them. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the prior art problems and to provide a printing master plate which can print braille letters and eliminate the necessity of using the punched plate with all rows punched with dot holes. The master plate of the present invention is provided by forming braille letters directly on a board such as cardboard with a braillewriter and loading balls in braille-forming recessions appearing on the rear side of the board. Alternatively, the master plate is provided by loading balls in recessions formed on the rear side of a braille-printed sheet and then pasting it on a master board. The ball-loaded board is a male counterpart of the master plate, which is used in combination with a female counterpart having recessions that are formed in a board by copying the raised portions of the male counterpart. The male and female parts of the master plate are openably binded at the lateral edges thereof. With a paper between the male and female parts, they will be pressed between rollers of a braille print machine so as to print braille on the paper by means of the ball-containing projections formed on the male part. Further, if a rotary press type print machine is used to print braille, the male part is attached on one roller while the female part is attached on the other roller at the position registering with the male part. In this case, papers can be supplied continuously and therefore printing efficiency will be improved. Further, it is possible to print both surfaces of the paper by arranging projections and recessions with an appropriate spacing on the printing plate so that they appear every other line. Although the present invention uses the braillewriter to strike braille letters or uses the braille-printed sheet printed by the braille printer, it is also possible to use the coventional braille writing instrument to make the male plate. Brief Description of the Drawings Figs. 1 to 3 illustrate a master plate for one-surface printing: Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of male and female parts; Fig. 2A shows a sectional view of the male part; Fig. 2B shows a sectional view of the female part to be used in combination with the male part of Fig. 2A; and Fig. 3 shows a perspective view of the male and female parts connected together. Fig. 4A shows a sectional view of a part of a master plate for both-surface printing. Fig. 4B shows a sectional view of a counterpart to be used in combination with the part shown in Fig. 4A. Fig. 5 shows a sectional view of components for making a male part according to another embodiment. Fig. 6A shows a sectional view of the male part formed as shown Fig. 5 and Fig. 6B shows a sectional view of a female part to be used in combination with the male part of Fig. 6A. The present invention provides one-surface printing and both-surface printing. First, the one-surface printing will be described. The master plate for one-surface printing comprises a pair of male and female parts, 1 and 2, which are openably connected by a binding cloth 3 as shown in Fig. 3. As shown in Fig. 2, the male part 1 includes a board 10 such as cardboard, on one surface of which is pasted a soft plastic film 11 such as a polyethylene film. With this film 11 below, dot holes 12 are punched in the board 10 with use of a braille writing instrument or braillewriter, not shown. Balls 13 made of steel or the like are loaded in the dot holes 12 and then a plastic film 15 is pasted on the surface from which the balls 13 are inserted, so as to form braille characters 14 on the board 10. Thus, the male part 1 is formed with the ball-containing braille characters 14, which can be read from the back. Further, the female part 2 uses a board thicker than that of the male part. The male and female parts, 1 and 2, are superposed with the braille characters 14 inside, and are connected by a binding cloth 3 attached at the lateral edges thereof. The male and female parts, 1 and 2, are pressed against each other so that the female part is formed with braille receptacle holes 22 copied from the braille characters 14 of the male part 1. Although the female part 2 of the embodiment comprises two boards, 20 and 21, it is unnecessary to use the pasted one if the board is of a thickness capable of forming the braille receptacle hole 22. Printing is made by pressing the male and female parts, 1 and 2, by pressure rollers of a print machine, with a paper held between the male and female parts. Hemispherical projections formed as braille characters 14 on the male part 1 are copied on the paper between the male and female parts 1 and 2, and braille is printed on the paper. The braille printed on the paper is easy to read if printed one by one, but it is also possible to print two to three papers at one time. After printing is completed, it is possible to store the master plate to be used at any desired time. If there is no need for the master plate, the boards cannot be recycled but the balls are available for repeated use. Next, the both-surface printing will be described. The master plate for the both-surface printing is provided with the braille receptacle holes between rows of the braille characters. In this case, the master plate has the structure that the male and female parts are the same in structure. Referring to Fig. 4, a first part 100 of the master plate includes a board 101 and a plastic film 102 pasted thereon. Dot holes 103 are formed toward the film surface, and balls 104 are inserted in the dot holes 103 to form braille characters 105. Further, a second part 200 of the master plate which is a counterpart of the first part similarly includes a board 201 and a film 202 pasted thereon. In the similar manner with the first part, dot holes 203 are formed between the rows of the braille characters 105 and balls 204 are inserted in the dot holes 203 to form braille characters 205. After boards, 106 and 206, are superposed on the outer surfaces of the boards, 101 and 201, respectively, both parts 100 and 200 are joined and pressed against each other, so as to copy the projections of the braille characters 105 and 205 onto the opposite boards and form braille receptacle holes 107 and 207, respectively. The above parts 100 and 200 are attached by a binding cloth in an openable manner, and to print braille, they are pressed with a paper between the surfaces formed with the braille characters 105 and 205 In the experiment made by the inventor, he used a 0.4mm-thick board 10, 20 constituting the master plate, a 0.07mm-thick soft plastic film 11 for covering the surface of balls 13, each ball being made of steel and 1.2mm in diameter, and other materials of appropriate thickness in order to make the braille master plate. The braille character 14 had a height of 0.6mm, and with use of this master plate, the braille printed on a paper could be more than 0.5mm high which makes the braille easy to read. In case of the master plate for both-surface printing, the board used for holding the balls 104 and 204 was of 0.3mm thickness, and the board superposed on the outside thereof was of 0.4mm thickness. The embodiment as shown in Figs.5 and 6 uses a braille-printed sheet printed by a braille printer. A male part 30 of the master plate includes such braille-printed sheet 31, which has dot holes 32 to be loaded with balls 13 and is pasted with the board 10. Further, the printing surface, namely the surface where the balls 13 project from the board 10, is pasted with the soft plastic film 11 so as to form the braille characters 14. The female part 33 of the master plate is made of a board in the similar manner with the male part 30 and has a thickness capable of forming dot receptacle holes 34 corresponding to the raised portions of the braille characters 14. The braille-printed sheet 31 may be a relatively thin paper for ordinary use in a printer for computer. As the purpose of the braille-printed sheet 31 is not to be read as itself but to be loaded with balls in the dot holes 32 thereof and thenpasted with a board, the easily available paper for computer will be sufficient and economical. In the similar method with the structure shown in Fig. 3, the braille characters on the male part 30 are copied onto the female part 33 and these male and female parts are connected by a binding cloth to make them suitable for printing. Although the master plate as shown in Fig. 6 is for one-surface printing, it is also possible to make a both-surface printing master plate according to the embodiment shown in Figs. 5 and 6.

Claims: A braille printing plate comprising a male part (1, 100) having braille characters formed by balls (13) and a female part (2, 200) to be used in combination with the male part and having dot receptacle holes (22, 207) formed by copying the braille characters of the male part, between the male and female parts braille being printed, wherein said male part comprises a board (10, 101, 106) and a plastic film (11) pasted thereon, said balls (13) being loaded into dot holes (12, 103, 203) formed in said board (10, 101, 106) toward the said film surface, and said female part comprises a board (20, 21, 201, 206) having the dot hole receptacles (22, 207) by copying the braille characters of the male part. A braille printing plate as claimed in claim 1 wherein said male and female parts are openably connected by a binding cloth (3). A braille printing plate comprising a male part (30) having braille characters formed by balls (13) and a female part (33) to be used in combination with the male part and having dot receptacle holes (34) formed by copying the braille characters of the male part, between said male and female parts braille being printed, wherein said male part comprises a braille-printed sheet (31) having dot holes (32) loaded with the balls (13) and thereafter to be pasted with a board, and said female part (33) is formed with the dot receptacle holes (34) by copying the braille characters of the male part.

Inventors: CHOZO OKADA
Applicants: CHIEKO OKADA
Application year: 1987
Main classification: G09B21
IPC codes: G09B21