WO2000064349A1

WO2000064349A1 - Fingerprinting of people

Info

Publication number: WO2000064349A1
Application number: PCT/IB2000/000467
Authority: WO
Inventors: Willem Albertus Bester; Leon Fourie
Original assignee: Willem Albertus Bester; Leon Fourie
Priority date: 1999-04-23
Filing date: 2000-04-17
Publication date: 2000-11-02
Also published as: AU4135700A

Abstract

A fingerprinting accessory (10) includes a body (12) defining a generally concave seat (14) to accommodate a finger of a person being fingerprinted.

Description

FINGERPRINTING OF PEOPLE

THIS INVENTION relates to fingerprinting of people. In particular, the invention relates to a fingerprinting accessory, to a fingerprinting unit and to a method of taking fingerprints.

In order to get clear fingerprints it is customary to roll the fingers when taking fingerprints or when inking a finger. The inventors have invented a fingerprinting accessory which takes quality fingerprints without the need to roll an inked finger to make a fingerprint, or which allows a finger to be inked without the need to roll the finger over an inked surface.

According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a fingerprinting accessory which includes a body defining a generally concave seat to accommodate a finger of a person being fingerprinted.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a fingerprinting accessory which includes support means for supporting a fingerprinting form, the support means being configured to allow the fingerprinting form to be generally concavely curved at least in an area of the form where a print of a finger is to be taken.

The support means may include a body defining a generally concave seat for accommodating a finger of a person being fingerprinted . The body may have an upper surface. Typically, the seat extends from an edge of the upper surface .and is below said upper surface.

The seat may be in the form of a generally concave channel extending across the upper surface of the body. The upper surface may be planar.

The body may include guide means for guiding a fingerprinting form over the seat. The guide means may comprise at least one guide bar across the upper surface alongside an edge of the generally concave seat, defining a guide passage with the upper surface, to permit a fingerprinting form to pass with clearance through the guide passage to span the seat.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the guide means includes a pair of guide bars, one along each edge of the seat and extending across the upper surface, the guide bars defining a guide passage with the upper surface, to permit a fingerprinting form to pass with clearance through the guide passage to span the seat.

In another embodiment of the invention, the guide means comprises a pair of elongate slots provided in opposed side walls of the seat, the side walls projecting above and extending across the upper surface and the slots being level with the upper surface.

The body may include mounting means for mounting the body such that the body can rotate about an'axis normal to the upper surface. The body may be parallelepipedal and may define a storage cavity in which fingerprinting forms are receivable.

The seat may have a width at least twice its depth to accommodate the finger of a person being fingerprinted. Preferably, the seat has a width at least 2.5 times its depth to accommodate the finger of a person being fingerprinted . More preferably, the seat has a width of about 30mm and a depth of about 1 1 mm.

According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided a fingerprinting unit, which includes a fingerprinting accessory as hereinbefore described and a base configured to rotatably support the fingerprinting accessory about the axis normal to the upper surface of the accessory.

The base may have clamp means for removably clamping it to a support structure.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of taking a. fingerprint of a person, which includes placing a fingerprinting form over a generally concave seat shaped and dimensioned to accommodate a finger of a person being fingerprinted; and pressing an inked finger of a person being fingerprinted downwardly onto the fingerprinting form into the seat.

According to a fifth aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of inking a finger of a person to be fingerprinted, the method including coating a generally concave seat shaped and dimensioned to accommodate a finger of a person being fingerprinted, with ink; and pressing a finger of a person being fingerprinted downwardly into the seat thereby to coat the person's finger with ink.

Further features of the invention will now become apparent by way of example from the following description, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings.

In the drawings, Figure 1 shows a three-dimensional view of one embodiment of a fingerprinting accessory in accordance with the invention;

Figure 2 shows a three-dimensional view of another embodiment of a fingerprinting accessory in accordance with the invention;

Figure 3 shows a base configured to support the fingerprinting accessory illustrated in Figure 1 or Figure 2; and Figure 4 shows a side view of the fingerprinting accessory of

Figure 1 accommodating a finger of a person being fingerprinted.

Referring to the drawings, reference numeral 1 0 refers generally to a fingerprinting accessory, in accordance with the invention. The fingerprinting accessory 10 includes a body generally indicated by reference numeral 1 2, defining a generally concave seat 1 4.

In the embodiment shown in Figure 1 of the drawings, the body 1 2 has an upper surface 1 6 into which the seat 14 is recessed.

The upper surface 1 6 is a planar surface supporting a fingerprinting form

1 7. The seat 1 4 extends from an edge 1 8 on the upper surface 1 6 towards an area below the upper surface 1 6, to define the concavity of the seat, which in use, accommodates a finger of a person to be fingerprinted . The seat 14, further extends across the upper surface 1 6 from the edge 1 8 towards an opposing edge 1 8 on the upper surface 1 6 to provide a generally concave channel 20 which extends across but below the upper surface 1 6. The channel 20 is 220mm in length and has a width of 30mm and a depth of 1 1 mm.

Guide means in the form of guide bars 22 are positioned along either side of the channel 20. As illustrated in Figure 1 , ends of the guide bars 22 are fixed at ends of the edges 1 8 of the seat 1 4 such that the guide bars 22 are slightly spaced from the upper surface 1 6 to provide guide passages 24 with the upper surface 1 6 and to permit the fingerprinting form 1 7 to pass with clearance through the guide passages

24 while spanning the seat 14.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention, as shown in Figure 2, the guide bars 22 are spaced from the seat 14 and slightly from the upper surface 1 6 and fixed to a side wall 23 of the body 1 2 to provide the guide passages 24. The guide bars 22 are detachably attached or fixed to one or either side wall 23 of the body 1 2, so that they can be lifted away as shown in broken lines in Figure 2 of the drawings.

The body 1 2 is parallelepipedal shaped with a storage cavity

25 in which blank or used fingerprinting forms 1 7 can be stored . In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the body 1 2 has a length of 300mm, a width of 220mm and a depth of 3Qmm. Mounting means (not shown) is located on an undersurface of the body 1 2. In one embodiment of the invention, the body 1 2 is supported by a base 26 as shown in Figure 3. In use, the mounting means is fitted to a rotatable member 28 which protrudes from the base 26, thereby permitting rotation of the body 1 2 about an axis normal to the upper surface 1 6. A pair of spaced clamping means 30 is provided for the base 26. In use, the base 26 is clamped to a support structure by the clamping means 30. The clamping means 30 are removable from the support structure.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the base 26 has a body which is parallelepipedal shaped and has a length of 300mm, a width of 220mm and a depth of between 5 and 1 5mm.

In use, as shown in Figure 4, an inked finger 32 of a person is placed on the fingerprinting form 1 7 above the seat 14 and pressed downwardly in the direction indicated by an arrow 34 into the seat 14 resulting in a fingerprint. To take a print of another finger, the fingerprinting form 1 7 is simply fed sideways through the guide passages 24 to ensure that a clean portion of the form 1 7 spans the seat 14.

In an alternative use of the fingerprinting accessory of the invention, the seat 1 4 is in use coated with ink and the finger 32 of a person is pressed downwardly into the inked seat 14, thereby coating the persons finger with ink, whereafter a fingerprint can be taken in conventional manner or with another fingerprinting accessory in accordance with the invention. The body 1 2 can be manufactured in metal or plastic and is typically of integral construction.

The inventors believe that the fingerprinting accessory provides a good quality fingerprint for the scanning of a fingerprint for use in fingerprinting identification systems, such as the Automatic

Fingerprint Identification Computer System used in South Africa.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1 . A fingerprinting accessory which includes a body defining a generally concave seat to accommodate a finger of a person being fingerprinted .

2. A fingerprinting accessory as claimed in Claim 1 , in which the body has an upper surface, and in which the seat extends from an edge of the upper surface and is below said upper surface.

3. A fingerprinting accessory as claimed in Claim 2, in which the seat is in the form of a generally concave channel extending across the upper surface of the body, the upper surface being planar.

4. A fingerprinting accessory as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, which includes guide means for guiding a fingerprinting form over the generally concave seat.

5. A fingerprinting accessory as claimed in Claim 2 or Claim 3, which includes guide means for guiding a fingerprinting form over the seat, the guide means comprising at least one guide bar across the upper surface alongside an edge of the seat and defining a guide passage with the upper surface, to permit a fingerprinting form to pass with clearance through the guide passage to span the seat.

6. A fingerprinting accessory as claimed in Claim 5, in which the guide means includes a pair of guide bars, one along each edge of the seat and extending across the upper surface, the guide bars defining a guide passage with the upper surface, to permit a fingerprinting form to pass with clearance through the guide passage to span the seat.

7. A fingerprinting accessory as claimed in any one of Claims 2 to 6 inclusive, which includes mounting means for mounting the body such that the body can rotate about an axis normal to the upper surface.

8. A fingerprinting accessory as claimed in any of the preceding claims, in which the body is parallelepipedal and defines a storage cavity in which fingerprinting forms are receivable.

9. A fingerprinting accessory as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which the seat has a width at least twice its depth to accommodate the finger of a person being fingerprinted .

10. A fingerprinting accessory as claimed in Claim 9, in which the seat has a width at least 2.5 times its depth to accommodate the finger of a person being fingerprinted.

1 1 . A fingerprinting accessory as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which the seat has a width of about 30mm and a depth of about 1 1 mm.

1 2. A fingerprinting unit, which includes a fingerprinting accessory as claimed in Claim 8 and a base configured to rotatably support the fingerprinting accessory about the axis normal to the upper surface of the accessory.

1 3. A fingerprinting unit as claimed in Claim 1 2, in which the base has clamp means for removably clamping it to a support structure.

1 4. A fingerprinting accessory which includes support means for supporting a fingerprinting form, the support means being configured to allow the fingerprinting form to be generally concavely curved at least in an area of the form where a print of a finger is to be taken.

1 5. A fingerprinting accessory as claimed in Claim 14, in which the support means includes a body defining a generally concave seat for accommodating a finger of a person being fingerprinted .

1 6. A method of taking a fingerprint of a person, which includes placing a fingerprinting form over a generally concave seat shaped and dimensioned to accommodate a finger of a person being> fingerprinted; and pressing an inked finger of a person being fingerprinted downwardly onto the fingerprinting form into the seat.

1 7. A method of inking a finger of a person to be fingerprinted, the method including coating a generally concave seat shaped and dimensioned to accommodate a finger of a person being fingerprinted, with ink; and pressing a finger of a person being fingerprinted downwardly into the seat thereby to coat the person's finger with ink.

1 8. A fingerprinting accessory as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 1 4, substantially as herein described and illustrated.

1 9. A fingerprinting unit as claimed in Claim 1 2, substantially as herein described and illustrated .

20. A method as claimed in Claim 1 6 or Claim 1 7, substantially as herein described and illustrated.

21 . A new fingerprinting accessory, a new fingerprinting unit, a new method of taking a fingerprint, or a new method of inking a finger of a person, substantially as herein described.