Abstract:
A hand-held ink stamper has a base, an actuator slidably disposed on the base, and a die mount movably mounted within the base. The die mount is connected to the actuator and movable to at least a printing position upon movement of the actuator. A die is mounted on the die mount. A first, removable ink supply is mounted within the base at a first position and provides ink to the die. At least one second, spare, removable ink supply is stored within the base at a second position. The second ink supply is removable for replacing the first ink supply by moving the second ink supply to the first position.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The invention relates generally to hand-held ink stampers, and more particularly to ink stampers that hold an extra ink pad on the stamper.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     Conventional hand-held, self-inking ink stampers, like that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,649,485 issued to Door et al., have a rotating pintel that holds a die plate with a word or design to be printed. By actuating the stamper, the pintel can be swiveled between an inking position, where the pintel faces the interior of the stamper, and a printing position, where the pintel faces the exterior of the stamper. In the inking position, the die plate faces an ink pad positioned in an everted, removable tray that slides in and out of the side of the stamper for replacement.  
         [0003]     Since a replacement ink pad is stored separately from the stamper, the ink pads can be lost, may require interruption of work to obtain or may use storage space that could be used for other things.  
         [0004]     Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a hand-held ink stamper that holds at least one spare ink supply, such as an ink pad as one example.  
         [0005]     It is another object of the present invention to provide a spare ink supply on a hand-held ink stamper where the ink supply does not interfere with the operation of the stamper.  
         [0006]     These and other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following specification.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0007]     The problems mentioned above are solved by the present invention in which a spare ink supply, such as an ink pad, is conveniently located on the stamper itself for easy replacement of a used ink pad. More specifically, a hand-held ink stamper has a base, an actuator slidably disposed on the base, and a die mount movably mounted within the base. The die mount is connected to the actuator and movable to at least a printing position upon movement of the actuator. A die is mounted on the die mount. A first, removable ink supply is mounted within the base at a first position and provides ink to the die. At least one second, spare, removable ink supply is stored within the base at a second position. The second ink supply is removable for replacing the first ink supply by moving the second ink supply to the first position.  
         [0008]     In one aspect of the invention, the die mount is a pintel rotatably mounted on the base between an inking position and the printing position. The first and second ink supplies are first and second ink pads respectively, and the pintel rotates the die to contact the first ink pad for the inking position.  
         [0009]     In another aspect of the invention, the base has a frame defining spaces that receive upside-down trays that hold the ink pads for both use and storage of the ink pads.  
         [0010]     In yet another aspect of the invention, the ink pads form a vertical array on the stamper.  
         [0011]     The following detailed description of embodiments of the invention, taken in conjunction with the appended claims and accompanying drawings, provide a more complete understanding of the nature and scope of the invention.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]      FIG. 1  is a front and right side perspective view of an ink stamper in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0013]      FIG. 2  is a bottom, left side perspective view of the ink stamper in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0014]      FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view of the ink stamper in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0015]      FIG. 4  is a front perspective view of a base of the ink stamper in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0016]      FIG. 5  is a front and bottom perspective view of the base of the ink stamper in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0017]      FIG. 5A  is a close-up, bottom perspective view of a portion of the base of the ink stamper in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0018]      FIG. 6  is a partially cut-away, front and top perspective view of the ink stamper in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0019]      FIG. 7  is a bottom and front perspective view of an ink pad and tray used with the ink stamper in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0020]      FIG. 8  is a top perspective view of the base and tray of the ink stamper in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0021]      FIG. 9  is a top view of the base of the ink stamper in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0022]      FIG. 10  is a close-up, top view of the ink stamper in accordance with the present invention; and  
         [0023]      FIG. 11  is a front elevational view of an alternative ink stamper in accordance with the present invention.  
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0024]     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a hand-held, self-inking stamper  10  has a base  12  and an actuator  14  mounted on the base  12 . The actuator  14  acts as a handle and slides up and down over the base  12  in order to operate the stamper. The base  12  has at least two removable drawers or trays  16  and  18  for respectively holding an ink supply such as ink containers or ink pads  20   a ,  20   b  as described in more detail below. The actuator  14  is shaped to slide over the trays  16  and  18  when operating the stamper.  
         [0025]     As shown in  FIG. 2 , the base  12  has a front wall  22  opposing a symmetrical, back wall  24 , and a left sidewall  26  opposing a symmetrical, right sidewall  28 . Since ink stamper  10  is a self-inking stamper, it has a die mount  29  such as a rotating pintel  30  that is rotatably mounted to the base  12  through slots  32   a  and  32   b  respectively formed on sidewalls  26 ,  28 . The pintel  30  has posts  34   a  and  34   b  extending through the slots and connecting to the actuator  14  on the exterior side of the sidewalls  26 ,  28 .  
         [0026]     As shown in  FIG. 3 , a helical spring  36  is attached to the top of the base  12  at spring end  36   a  and an interior side of the top  38  of the actuator  14  at another spring end  36   b  in order to bias the actuator upward. The actuator  14  has fins  37  extending downward from actuator top  38  to hold the spring end  36   b  between the fins  37 . The spring  36  biases the actuator  14  upward, and in turn, the pintel  30  into an “inking position” (generally indicated as  40  on  FIG. 3 ) where the pintel faces upward toward the ink pad  20   b  held in the bottom-most tray  18 . The pintel  30  has a die  42  mounted on, or integrally formed with, the pintel such that in the inking position, the die  42  is in contact with ink pad  20   b  so that the ink pad can supply ink to the die  42 .  
         [0027]     Since the pintel  30  is connected to the actuator  14 , the pintel  30  slides downward along slots  32   a ,  32   b  as the actuator  14  is pushed downward in order to operate the stamper. As shown in  FIG. 2 , each sidewall  26  or  28  respectively has a rim  44   a  or  44   b  with protrusions  46   a ,  46   b  that abut the pintel  30  as it slides downward, forcing the pintel to rotate to a downward facing, “printing position” (not shown) where the die  42  faces downward and out the bottom  48  of the base  12 .  
         [0028]     Referring to  FIGS. 4-6 , the upper portion of the base  12  has a frame  50  defining spaces  52 ,  54  used to respectively hold trays  16 ,  18 . The frame  50  includes a portion of the front wall  22  that defines slots  56 ,  58  which respectively provide the openings to spaces  52 ,  54 . The back wall  24  is similar to the front wall  22 .  
         [0029]     The frame  50  also includes a lower rim  60  that supports the bottom-most tray  18 , a central or dividing beam structure  62  that divides adjacent spaces  52 ,  54  while supporting the tray  16  above it, and an upper beam structure  64  above the top-most space  52 . The beam structures  62  and  64  each respectively include two main beams  66 ,  68 , and  70 ,  72  extending horizontally from one sidewall  26  to the other sidewall  28  of the base  12 . A centrally located plate  74  or  76  respectively extends from a front wall beam  66  or  70  to the corresponding back wall beam  68  or  72 , for each beam structure  62  or  64 .  
         [0030]     The plates  74  and  76  each have oppositely extending resilient tongues  78   a - d  as shown in  FIG. 5A . Each tongue  78   a - d  has a free distal end  80   a - d  with a downwardly extending pin  82   a - d  for engaging a tray  16  or  18 . As shown in  FIG. 7 , the top surface  84  of each tray  16  has an elongated, centering groove  86  running toward the front and back walls  22 ,  24  of the base for receiving the pins  78   a - d  (only one tray is shown but both trays  16  and  18  have the same structure). Alignment pins  88   a - d  also extend upward from the top surface  84  of the trays  16 ,  18  to align the trays  16  and  18  within slots  56 ,  58  and with beam structures  62  or  64  as shown in  FIG. 9 .  
         [0031]     Also shown in  FIG. 7 , the plate  76  on the upper beam structure  64  has an X-shaped spring mount  85  extending upward to hold spring end  36   a.    
         [0032]     As shown on  FIGS. 7-8 , the tray  16 , and similarly tray  18 , has a pair of far, opposing sidewalls  90 ,  92  with a convex protrusion  94  or  96  that defines a vertically extending locking groove  98  or  100 . As shown on  FIGS. 9-10 , vertically extending ribs  102 ,  104  respectively protrude from an interior surface  106 ,  108  on sidewalls  26 ,  28  of the base  12 . The ribs  102 ,  104  correspond and engage the locking grooves  98 ,  100  when the trays are placed in the spaces  52 ,  54 . The ribs  102 ,  104  and the pins  78   a - d  both prevent the trays from easily sliding out of the base  12  without a user applying an external force to the trays.  
         [0033]     In operation, once a first ink pad  20   b , positioned at the “inking space”  54 , runs out of ink, the user removes tray  18  and ink pad  20   b  from inking space  54 . The user then removes the second, spare tray  16  and ink pad  20   a  from the storage space  52  and places the spare tray  16  and ink pad  20   a  into the inking space  54 . The user may then place a new, spare tray and ink pad in the empty storage space  52 .  
         [0034]     The second, spare tray  16  is held upside-down as shown in  FIG. 8  when placed on the base  12 , just like the operating tray  18 . Both ink pads  20   a ,  20   b  do not fall out of the trays  16  or  18  because they are dimensioned to have a tight fit within the tray. Alternatively, the ink pads  20   a ,  20   b  are simply attached by an adherent or fastener.  
         [0035]     While the bottom  111  of the trays  16 ,  18  are not covered to entirely enclose the ink pads  20   a ,  20   b  within the trays, such a removable cover  112  (indicated in dash line on  FIG. 8 ) could easily be provided with the trays. A cover  112  could be made of a thin paper or similar material that adheres to the trays  16 ,  18 . The cover  112  could also be removed before the tray is placed on the base  12 , or the frame  50  could be dimensioned to receive the trays with the cover  112 . Cover  112  could also be removable from tray  16  or  18  by pulling on an exposed edge of the cover while the tray  16  is in the stamper.  
         [0036]     It will also be appreciated that while the tray  16  or  18  is shown to completely separate from the stamper  10 , trays  16 ,  18  may actually be only partially removable, like a drawer, with any form of stopper (not shown) used to prevent separation of the trays from the base  12 . In this design, a user simply places a removable ink pad or other form of contained ink supply, in each of the trays  16 ,  18  rather than completely replacing the entire tray and ink pad.  
         [0037]     Referring to  FIG. 11 , an ink stamper  114  has more than one spare ink pad and in fact has multiple trays  16   a - c  each holding an ink pad  20   a  (not shown). The stamper  114  has a base  116  and frame  118  similar to that of base  12  and frame  50 . Thus, it will be understood that the present stamper  10  or  114  is not limited to any certain number of storage spaces and/or spare ink pads  20   a . A vertical array  120 . of  storage ink pads  20   a / 20   b  and/or trays  16   a - d  can extend as high as desired.  
         [0038]     It will also be appreciated that the present invention applies to pre-inking stampers as well as self-inking stampers or any other hand-held stamper as long as a removable, spare ink supply in any form including a cartridge, bag, drawer or tray is placed on a hand-held ink stamper.  
         [0039]     While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined by the appended claims.