AU2004100396A4 - Portable stamp - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR AN INNOVATION

PATENT

ORIGINAL

Name of Applicant: Actual Inventor: Agent and Address Shiny Shih Shiny Shih for Service: MADDERNS, 1st Floor, 64 Hindmarsh Square, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia Invention Title: Portable Stamp The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me.

PORTABLE

STAMP

1. Field of the Utility Model The present utility model relates to a portable stamp, and more particularly to a stamp which is easy to be operated and will not dirty a user's hands.

2. Description of Related Art With reference to Figs. 12-13, a conventional portable stamp, as described in U.S. Patent Number 6,708,613, has a handle (70) with an open end.

A linkage (71) is mounted in the handle (70) and extends outwards from the open end of the handle A character unit (73) is pivotally mounted on a distal end of the linkage (71) by a first pivot member (72) and a character plate (74) is formed at an outer surface opposite to the hinge (72).

An ink pad (77) is pivotally mounted beside the linkage (71) by a second pivot member (75) with a torsion spring An ink sponge (78) is provided on the ink pad A cover (79) is mounted at the open end of the handle (70) to receive the character unit (73) and the ink pad (77).

In a received status where the cover (79) is mounted at the open end of the handle as shown in Fig. 12, the character unit (73) is pivoted to abut the linkage and the character plate (74) abuts the ink sponge (78) to receive ink.

When a user removes the cover under the force of the torsion spring the ink pad (77) is pushed to turn downward. Meanwhile, the character unit (73) can automatically pivot downwards to a position perpendicular to the linkage so the user can stamp a document with the character plate If the user holds the stamp in the situation of the character unit (73) above the linkage the character unit (73) will not pivot downwards by itself. Thus, the user must manually turn the character unit (73) for stamping, which makes use of the stamp very inconvenient.

After stamping, the user must respectively turn the character unit (73) towards the linkage (71) and the ink pad (77) inwards, and then attach the cover (79) to the handle Thus, the user's hands are often dirtied with ink.

Moreover, after continuously stamping documents for sometime, the character plate (74) will not have enough ink to print a clear mark and needs to be re-coated with ink. The user must return the character unit (73) and ink pad (77) into the cover (79) to re-coat the character plate (74) with ink for further stamping. It is also very inconvenient for the user to repeat this process, and it is easy for the user's hands to become dirtied.

Furthermore, the character unit (73) is pivotally mounted on the linkage and so it is difficult to stamp the character plate (74) with an even pressure to print the mark clearly.

Therefore, the utility model provides a portable stamp to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.

The main objective of the present utility model is to provide a portable stamp which is easy to be operated and will not dirty a user's hands.

Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the utility model will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a portable stamp in accordance with the present utility model; Fig. 2 is a front sectional view of the portable stamp in a received status; Fig. 3 is a schematic view showing that a cover of the portable stamp is detached; Fig. 4 is a partially enlarged sectional view of a housing, a handle, and a control unit of the portable stamp; Fig. 5 is a partially enlarged sectional view of the control unit being pressed downwards; Figs. 6-7 are schematic views showing that a character unit and an ink pad are pushed out from the housing of the portable stamp; Figs. 8-9 are schematic views showing that the character unit and ink pad are retracted in the housing; Fig. 10 is an exploded perspective view of another embodiment of the portable stamp; Figs. 11 A-C are schematic views of detaching the ink pad in the embodiment in Fig. Fig. 12 is a front sectional view of a conventional portable stamp; and Fig. 13 is a schematic view of the conventional portable stamp in a used status.

With reference to Figs. 1-2, a portable stamp in accordance with the present utility model is composed of a housing a handle a character unit an ink pad a control unit and a cover The housing (10) has a hollow body (not numbered) with a U-like tongue (11) formed at an open end of the housing An elongated slot (12) is defined through an upper side of the housing A first hole (13) and a second hole both of which have a diameter that is larger than a width of the elongated slot are respectively defined at two ends of the elongated slot A notch (15) is defined between two opposite sides of the tongue (11).

The handle (20) has a sliding block (21) movably mounted in the housing A bar (22) extends from the sliding block (21) and is adjacent to the upper side of the housing A seat (23) is formed beneath the bar (22) and is shorter than the bar A space (24) is defined between the bar (22) and seat (23) for receiving the character unit (30) and ink pad Apositioning opening is defined at a top side of the sliding block and a lateral opening (26) is defined at a side perpendicular to the top side and in communication with the positioning opening The character unit (30) is pivotally mounted at a distal end of the bar (22) by a first pivot pin A first torsion spring (33) is provided outside the first pivot pin A character plate (31) is formed at a front surface opposite to the first pivot pin The torsion spring (33) has a first end abutting the bar (22) and a second end abutting the character unit Under the force of the first torsion spring the character unit (30) is pivoted outwards about the first pivot pin (32) to a position perpendicular to the bar When the character unit is pivoted inwards for being received, the inner half of the character unit will be located in the space (24).

The ink pad (40) is pivotally mounted at the seat (23) by a second pivot pin A second torsion spring (43) is provided outside the second pivot pin An ink sponge (41) is received in the ink pad (40) and faces the character unit The second torsion spring (43) has a first end abutting the seat (23) and a second end abutting the ink pad Under the force of the second torsion spring the ink pad (40) is pivoted downwards to a position perpendicular to the seat When the ink pad (40) is pivoted upwards for being received, the ink sponge (41) is close to the bar (22) and abuts the character plate (31).

The control unit (50) has a button (51) inserted in the positioning opening (25) and extending out from the first hole (13) when the handle the character unit (30) and the ink pad (40) are received in the housing A resilient member (52) is received in the lateral opening (26) and pressed under the button The button (51) has a clip (512) formed at a top end thereof. A lug (511) is formed at a top surface of the clip (512). A neck (513) with a diameter substantially equal to the width of the elongated slot (12) is formed beneath the clip (512) and movable along the elongated slot A stem (514), with a diameter substantially equal to the diameter of the first and second holes (13, 14), is formed beneath the neck (513). Two legs (515) are formed beneath the stem (514), and a gap (516) is defined between the two legs (515). Thus, the legs (515) can be deformed to be received in the positioning opening Two stops (517) are respectively formed at outer sides of the legs (414). With reference to Fig. 2, the stops (517) are attached to a bottom edge of the positioning opening (25) to fasten the button (51) in the positioning opening The resilient member (52) is pressed beneath the legs (515).

The cover (60) is mounted at the tongue (11) of the housing (10) to receive the character unit and the ink pad The housing (10) further has a dovetail slot (16) defined at an upper wall thereof, and the bar (22) is formed with a dovetail cross section corresponding to the dovetail slot Thus, the bar (22) is limited to move along the dovetail slot (16) in the housing With reference to Fig. 2, when the button (51) is positioned in the first hole the handle (20) is received in the housing Under the force of the resilient member the button (51) is pushed upwards to position the stem (514) in the first hole The character unit (30) is pivoted to abut the bar (22), and the ink pad (40) is pivoted to abut the character plate (31) with the ink sponge The cover (60) is attached to the tongue (11) of the housing. Thus, a user can put the portable stamp in a pocket, or clip it on clothing by the clip (512).

With reference to Figs 3-7, in use, the cover (60) is first detached from the housing Afterwards, the button (51) is pressed downwards to compress the resilient member and the stem (514) is removed from the first hole (13), and the neck (513) is located in the first hole Then, the button (51) can be pushed towards the tongue (11) along the elongated slot When the button (51) arrives at the second hole under the force of the second torsion spring the ink pad (40) is pivoted downwards through the notch (15) to the position perpendicular to the handle At the same time, the character unit is pivoted outwards under the force of the first torsion spring (33) to the position perpendicular to the handle (20) and abutting the tongue (11).

Afterwards, the user releases the button and the button (51) is pushed upwards by the force of the resilient member and the stem (514) is blocked by the elongated slot Thus, the character unit (30) can be used for stamping and will not be retracted. Furthermore, the character unit (30) will not be freely pivoted during the stamping procedure because the character unit is blocked by the tongue (11).

When the stamping procedure is finished, with reference to Figs. 8 and 9, the user can press down the button (51) and push it towards the first hole (13).

The character unit (30) is pushed by the tongue (11) to pivot inwards to abut the bar and the ink pad (40) is pushed by a bottom edge of the housing beside the notch (15) to pivot upwards to abut the character plate (31) again.

Thus, the handle the character unit and the ink pad (40) are received in the housing Thereafter, the cover (60) is attached to the housing In a situation that the character plate (31) will not have enough ink to print a clear mark, the user can recombine the character unit (30) and the ink pad by means of the processing mentioned above to recoat the character plate (31) with ink. Thereafter, the character unit (30) is pushed outwards from the housing (10) again for further stamping.

With reference to Figs. 10 and 11 A, in another embodiment of the present utility model, the ink pad is detachably mounted on the seat (23).

The ink pad has a box (44) for receiving the ink sponge and a finger (441) is formed at a top side of the box A connector (45) is mounted on the second pivot pin (42) and has a passage (451) defined in the connector (45) for receiving the finger (441). A lid (46) is attached to the box (44) for covering the ink sponge (41).

With reference to Figs. 11 A-C, when ink in the ink sponge (41) is exhausted, the lid (46) can be attached to the box (44) to cover the ink sponge Then, the user can directly detach the box (44) from the connector (45) by hand and replace it with a new box (44) with full ink. Because the ink sponge (41) is covered by the lid the hand(s) of the user will not be dirtied.

Therefore, the portable stamp can be easily used by the user operating the control unit (50) and will not dirty the user's hands because the ink sponge (41) will not touch the user's hands. Furthermore, the character unit (30) in the stamping status is stably positioned by the first torsion spring (33) and the tongue so it is easy to stamp the character plate (31) with an even pressure for printing a clear mark.

It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present utility model have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the utility model to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.

Claims (4)

1. A portable stamp comprising: a housing having a hollow body with a U-like tongue formed at an open end of the housing, an elongated slot defined through an upper side of the housing, a first hole and a second hole, both of which have a diameter that is larger than a width of the elongated slot, the first hole and second respectively defined at two ends of the elongated slot, and a notch defined between two opposite sides of the tongue; a handle having a sliding block movably mounted in the housing, a bar extending from the sliding block and adjacent to the upper side of the housing, a seat formed beneath the bar and shorter than the bar, a space defined between the bar and seat, a positioning opening defined at a top side of the sliding block, and a lateral opening defined at a side perpendicular to the top side and in communication with the positioning opening; a character unit pivotally mounted at a distal end of the bar by a first pivot pin, the character unit having a first torsion spring provided outside the first pivot pin, and a character plate formed at a front surface of the character unit opposite to the first pivot pin; an ink pad pivotally mounted at the seat by a second pivot pin, the ink pad having a second torsion spring provided outside the second pivot pin, an ink sponge received in the ink pad and facing the character unit and abutting the character plate; and a control unit having a button inserted in the positioning opening and extending out from the elongated slot, and a resilient member received in the lateral opening and pressed against the button, wherein the button has a lug formed at a top of the button, a neck, with a diameter substantially equal to the width of the elongated slot, formed beneath the lug and movable along the elongated slot, and a stem, with a diameter substanftially equal to the diameter of either the first or second hole, the stem formed beneath the neck.

2. The portable stamp as claimed in claim 1, wherein the button further has two legs formed beneath the stem, a gap defined between the two legs, and two stops respectively formed at outer sides of the legs and attached to a bottom edge of the positioning opening for fastening the button in the positioning opening, and the resilient member is pressed beneath the legs.

3. The portable stamp as claimed in claim 2, wherein the control unit further has a clip formed between the lug and the neck.

4. The portable stamp as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a cover detachably mounted on the tongue of the housing to receive the character unit, and the ink pad. The portable stamp as claimed in claim 1, wherein the housing further has a dovetail slot defined at an upper wall of the housing, and the bar is formed with a dovetail cross section corresponding to the dovetail slot; wherein the ink pad has a box detachably mounted on the seat by a connector, the ink sponge is received in the box, and a lid detachably mounted on the box for covering the ink sponge; and wherein the connector is mounted on the second pivot pin and has a passage defined in the connector, and the box has a finger formed at a top side of the box and inserted in the passage. DATED THIS 26TH DAY OF MAY, 2004 SHINY SHIH BY HIS PATENT ATTORNEYS MADDERNS