Patent Publication Number: US-10773538-B2

Title: Positioning device for an ink pad container

Description:
This application claims the benefit of Taiwan patent application No. 107202798, filed on Mar. 2, 2018, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a positioning device for an ink pad container, and more particularly to a positioning device that may improve the positioning stability of the ink pad container. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     With reference to  FIGS. 11 and 12 , a conventional positioning device for an ink pad container has a body  90 . The body  90  has a front surface, a rear surface, two side surfaces, a receiving space  91 , a front opening  92 , a rear opening  93 , and two positioning protrusions  94 . The receiving space  91  is formed in the body  90 . The front opening  92  is formed on the front surface of the body  90  and communicates with the receiving space  91 . The rear opening  93  is formed on the rear surface of the body  90  and communicates with the receiving space  91 . The two positioning protrusions  94  are respectively formed on the two side surfaces of the body  90  and are inserted into the receiving space  91 . 
     In use, the conventional positioning device can be disposed on a housing of a stamp for an ink pad container  80  to be inserted therein. The ink pad container  80  has two side surfaces. In each one of the two side surfaces of the ink pad container  80 , two longitudinal ribs  81  are formed on and extend out of the side surface of the ink pad container  80  at a spaced interval. A positioning groove  82  is formed on the side surface of the ink pad container  80  and is located between the two longitudinal ribs  81 . The ink pad container  80  can be inserted into the receiving space  91  of the body  90  via the front opening  92  or the rear opening  93 . The positioning protrusions  94  are respectively inserted into the positioning grooves  82  of the ink pad container  80  to position the ink pad container  80  in the body  90 . 
     Sizes and locations of the positioning protrusions  94  of the body  90  are fixed. Before each one of the two positioning protrusions  94  is inserted into a corresponding one of the positioning grooves  82 , the positioning protrusion  94  has to pass through one of the two longitudinal ribs  81 . After the positioning protrusion  94  is inserted into the corresponding positioning groove  82 , a gap  70  is formed between the positioning protrusion  94  and the adjacent longitudinal ribs  81 . The positioning protrusion  94  cannot abut against the adjacent longitudinal ribs  81 . Therefore, the ink pad container  80  has a moveable allowance and cannot be steadily positioned in the body  90 . The ink pad container  80  may be swayed to deviation. A printing surface of the stamp cannot be completely pressed on an ink pad  83  of the ink pad container  80 . Ink stained on the printing surface is not distributed evenly, which also makes a stamped pattern unclear. 
     For increasing the positioning stability of the ink pad container  80 , a protruding height of each one of the positioning protrusion  94  may be increased for firm abutment. Then, the ink pad container  80  is hard to be inserted into or pressed out of the body  90 . Size settings of the ink pad container  80  and the body  90  can hardly simultaneously satisfy the requirements for ease in assembly and for the positioning stability. 
     To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a positioning device for an ink pad container to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The objective of the invention is to provide a positioning device for an ink pad container that can solve the shortcoming that the conventional positioning device cannot fix the ink pad container well, and cannot simultaneously satisfy the requirements for ease in assembly and for the positioning stability. 
     The positioning device for an ink pad container has a body and two elastic sheets. The body has a receiving space, a front side surface, a rear side surface, two lateral side surfaces, a front opening, a rear opening, and two through grooves. The receiving space is formed in the body. The lateral side surfaces are opposite to each other. The front opening is formed through the front side surface of the body and communicates with the receiving space. The rear opening is formed through the rear side surface of the body and communicates with the receiving space. The two through grooves are respectively formed through the two lateral side surfaces of the body and both communicate with the receiving space. The two elastic sheets are respectively formed on the two lateral side surfaces of the body. Each one of the two elastic sheets has an arm and a positioning protrusion. The arm is formed on a corresponding one of the two lateral side surfaces of the body, is inserted into a corresponding one of the two through grooves, and has an inner side surface. The positioning protrusion is formed on the inner side surface of the arm and is inserted into the receiving space of the body. 
     An ink pad container may be inserted into the receiving space of the positioning device via the front opening or the rear opening. The ink pad container has two outer surfaces and two positioning members. The outer surfaces are opposite to each other. The two positioning members are respectively disposed on the two outer surfaces of the ink pad container. Each one of the two positioning members has two longitudinal ribs and a positioning groove. The longitudinal ribs are formed on and protrude out of the outer surface of the ink pad container. The positioning groove is formed on the outer surface of the ink pad container and is located between the two longitudinal ribs. 
     When the ink pad container passes between the two elastic sheets, one of the two longitudinal ribs passes through the positioning protrusion of a corresponding one of the two elastic sheets and pushes the corresponding arm outwardly, and then the positioning protrusion is inserted into the positioning groove. The positioning protrusion is pressed by a resilience of the corresponding one of the two elastic sheets to abut the two longitudinal ribs. The positioning protrusion is in contact with the two longitudinal ribs for maintaining a positioning situation. After the ink pad container is inserted into the body for positioning, the ink pad container does not have a moveable allowance to move. Therefore, the ink pad container can be firmly positioned in the body, and the positioning stability of the ink pad container is increased. A printing surface of a stamp can be pressed on an ink pad in the ink pad container completely. Ink stained on the printing surface is distributed evenly, which also makes a stamped pattern clear. In addition, the tolerance allowances of the positioning device and the ink pad container are increased by the resiliences of the two elastic sheets. The ink pad container is firmly disposed in the positioning device. Therefore, the positioning device can simultaneously satisfy the requirements for ease in assembly and for the positioning stability. 
     Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a positioning device for an ink pad container in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a front side view of the positioning device in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a cross sectional side view of the positioning device along line  3 - 3  in  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 4  is an operational perspective view of the positioning device in  FIG. 1 , showing the positioning device is disposed in a housing; 
         FIG. 5  is an exploded perspective view of the positioning device in  FIG. 4 , showing an ink pad container is not disposed into the positioning device yet; 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the positioning device in  FIG. 4 , showing the ink pad container is disposed into the positioning device; 
         FIG. 7  is a front side view of the positioning device in  FIG. 6 ; 
         FIG. 8  is a cross sectional side view of the positioning device along line  8 - 8  in  FIG. 7 ; 
         FIG. 9  is an enlarged cross sectional side view of the positioning device in  FIG. 8 ; 
         FIG. 10  is a cross sectional side view of the positioning device along line  10 - 10  in  FIG. 7 ; 
         FIG. 11  is a cross sectional side view of a conventional positioning device in accordance with the prior art combined with an ink pad container; and 
         FIG. 12  is an enlarged cross sectional side view of the conventional positioning device in  FIG. 11 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     With reference to  FIGS. 1 to 3 , a positioning device for an ink pad container in accordance with the present invention has a body  10  and two elastic sheets  20 . 
     The body  10  has a receiving space  11 , a front side surface, a rear side surface, two lateral side surfaces, a front opening  12 , a rear opening  13 , and two through grooves  14 . The receiving space  11  is formed in the body  10 . The lateral side surfaces are opposite to each other. The front opening  12  is formed through the front side surface of the body  10  and communicates with the receiving space  11 . The rear opening  13  is formed through the rear side surface of the body  10  and communicates with the receiving space  11 . The two through grooves  14  are respectively formed through the two lateral side surfaces of the body  10  and both communicate with the receiving space  11 . 
     The elastic sheets  20  are respectively formed on the two lateral side surfaces of the body  10 . Each one of the two elastic sheets  20  has an arm  21  and a positioning protrusion  22 . The arm  21  is formed on a corresponding one of the two lateral side surfaces of the body  10 , is inserted into a corresponding one of the two through grooves  14 , and has an inner side surface. The positioning protrusion  22  is formed on the inner side surface of the arm  21  and is inserted into the receiving space  11  of the body  10 . 
     With reference to  FIG. 3 , the body  10  has an inner top surface and a guiding groove  15 . The guiding groove  15  is formed on the inner top surface of the body  10  and has a front end and a rear end. The front end of the guiding groove  15  faces the front opening  12  of the body  10 . The rear end of the guiding groove  15  faces the rear opening  13  of the body  10 . With reference to  FIG. 1 , the body  10  has two longitudinal grooves  16 . The two longitudinal grooves  16  are respectively formed through the two lateral side surfaces of the body  10  and are located below the two through grooves  14  respectively. 
     With reference to  FIGS. 4 to 7 , the positioning device is disposed in a housing  31  of a stamp  30  for an ink pad container  40  to be inserted therein. The ink pad container  40  has two outer surfaces and two positioning members. The outer surfaces of the ink pad container  40  are opposite to each other. The two positioning members of the ink pad container  40  are respectively disposed on the two outer surfaces of the ink pad container  40 . Each one of the two positioning members of the ink pad container  40  has two longitudinal ribs  41  and a positioning groove  42 . The longitudinal ribs  41  are formed on and protrude out of the outer surface of the ink pad container  40 . The positioning groove  42  is formed on the outer surface of the ink pad container  40  and is located between the two longitudinal ribs  41 . 
     With reference to  FIG. 8 , the ink pad container  40  can be inserted into the receiving space  11  of the body  10  via the front opening  12  or the rear opening  13  of the body  10 . The ink pad container  40  is inserted between the two elastic sheets  20 . The arms  21  of the two elastic sheets  20  are pushed by the passing longitudinal ribs  41  for moving outwardly. The positioning protrusions  22  can be respectively inserted into the positioning grooves  42  by the rebounds of the elastic sheets  20 . Each one of the positioning protrusions  22  abuts against the two adjacent longitudinal ribs  41 . Therefore, the two elastic sheets  20  abut against the ink pad container  40  for clipping the ink pad container  40  to position the ink pad container  40 . 
     When the two longitudinal ribs  41  of each one of the positioning members are close to a corresponding one of the two elastic sheets  20 , one of the two longitudinal ribs  41  passes through the positioning protrusion  22  of the corresponding elastic sheet  20  and pushes the positioning protrusion  22  and the arm  21  of the corresponding elastic sheet  20  outwardly. Then, the positioning protrusion  22  is inserted into the corresponding positioning groove  42  and abuts against the two adjacent longitudinal ribs  41 . 
     For pressing the ink pad container  40  to move out of the body  10 , the longitudinal ribs  41  of the ink pad container  40  are passed through the positioning protrusions  22  of the two elastic sheets  20 . The positioning protrusions  22  are outwardly pushed by the longitudinal ribs  41  due to the arms  21 . The longitudinal ribs  41  can pass through the positioning protrusions  22  smoothly. The ink pad container  40  is easy to be pressed out of the body  10 . 
     With reference to  FIG. 9 , the ink pad container  40  has a top surface and multiple guiding elements  43 . The guiding elements  43  are disposed on the top surface of the ink pad container  40 . When the ink pad container  40  is inserted into the body  10 , the guiding elements  43  can be guided by the guiding groove  15 , and the ink pad container  40  can be easily inserted into the body  10 . 
     Accordingly, each one of the positioning protrusions  22  abuts against the two adjacent longitudinal ribs  41  of the ink pad container  40  by a resilience provided by the arm  21  of the corresponding one of the two elastic sheets  20 . Even though the ink pad containers  40  inserted into the body  10  have slight differences in size, the positions of the two positioning protrusions  20  can be suitably adjusted by the arms  21  for abutting against the longitudinal ribs  41  of the ink pad container  40 . The ink pad container  40  can be positioned in the body  10  securely. After the ink pad container  40  is positioned in the body  10 , the ink pad container  40  does not have a moveable allowance to move. Therefore, the ink pad container  40  can be firmly positioned in the body  10 . A printing surface of the stamp  30  can be pressed on an ink pad  44  in the ink pad container  40  for completely staining ink in the ink pad  44  to make a clear stamped pattern. 
     The ink pad container  40  is positioned in the body  10  by the two elastic sheets  20 . The two elastic sheets  20  have the resiliences. Requirement for the size accuracy of the positioning device and the size accuracy of the ink pad container  40  can be less strict. The tolerance allowances of the positioning device and the ink pad container  40  are increased, and the positioning stability of the ink pad container  40  is increased simultaneously. The ink pad container  40  is easy to be disposed into and pushed out of the positioning device. Therefore, the positioning device can simultaneously satisfy the requirements for ease in assembly and for the positioning stability.