Hand Stamp

The present invention relates to an improved hand stamp for stamping many kinds of legends such as numerals for date, time, price, etc.

Conventionally, in a known hand stamp, a plurality of ring-like belts are provided side by side, on each of which are disposed printing legends or indicia (for example, numerals 0 to 9) at the predetermined intervals on the outer surface of the ring-like belts. The belts are tightly held by rotary discs or rings, and the desired numerals or printing legends are arranged by rotating the rotary discs together with the ring-like belts.

However, according to the conventional stamp, when the discs as well as the ring-like belts are rotated to obtain the predetermined printing legends in position, it has been troublesome and awkward to arrange the predetermined printing legends in alignment side by side by rotating the rotary discs while watching the bottom surface of the stamp. Further once a predetermined legend of the printing belt is arranged by a finger-tip operation, the arranged legend is apt to be disarranged or disordered when the predetermined other legends in the adjacent printing belts are being arranged because the fingers are likely to touch with the arranged printing belt. Accordingly the arranged ring-like belt is disarranged and therefore should be arranged again. Furthermore, the ring-like printing belts, which are arranged, are slightly disordered or disarranged while stamping operation is successively conducted. Therefore, the legends which are arranged in position get out of position.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an improved hand stamp which allows an easy positioning operation.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved hand stamp which allows a stable stamping operation without a danger of disarrangement of the legends in use.

Further object of the present invention is to provide an improved hand stamp which can be manufactured at lower cost and assembled with ease.

Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description of the preferred embodiment thereof, which will be read with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a fragmentarily sectioned view of parts of the hand stamp embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the stamp assembled with the parts shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of other type of hand stamp.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, a frame body 1 has two handle portions 1a and 1b which have extensions 1a' and 1b', and walls 2a and 2b at the outer extremity of the extensions 1a' and 1b'. The walls 2a and 2b are connected with the outer end of the extensions, as shown in FIG. 1. A cylindrical member 3 is fixed at its one end 3' to one of the walls, the wall 2a in FIG. 1. Below the cylindrical member 3 is disposed a bar member 4, one end of which is fixed to the lower portion of the wall 2a. The bar member 4 has, at its bottom, a flat surface 4a along the entire length of the bar member so that a plurality of ring-like belts, which will be described below, may be firmly contacted with and secured by the bar member 4. Preferably, the aforementioned handle portions 1a, extension 1a', wall 2a, cylindrical member 3 and bar member 4 are integrally made of a suitable plastic material. The bar member 4 has a spiral groove 4b at the other end thereof.

The handle portion 1a has, at its flat portion, a protrusion 5 which has a spiral groove 5a therein. The protrusion 5 is preferably made integral with the handle portion 1a. The other handle portion 1b has a recess (not shown) at its flat surface and has a hole 20 through which a screw 6 is inserted and then engaged with the spiral groove 5a of the opposite sided handle portion 1a. Thus, the two handle portions 1a and 1b are removably fixed to each other such that the protrusion 5 of the handle portion 1a is positioned within the aforementioned recess (not shown) of the handle portion 1b. The recess is large enough to allow an insertion of the protrusion, and is aligned with the center of the hole 20. The wall 2b has a cylindrical protrusion 7, which is illustrated by phantom lines in FIG. 1, at the substantially center portion. The cylindrical protrusion 7 has an outer diameter which is substantially the same as the inner diameter of the aforementioned cylindrical member 3 such that the protrusion 7 is snugly fixed with the other end of the cylindrical member 3. The cylindrical protrusion is preferably made integral with the wall 2b. Below the portion where the cylindrical protrusion is fixed, a hole 21 is formed in such a manner that the wall 2b is removably fixed to the bar member 4 by means of a screw 8 which will be engaged with the spiral groove 4b of the bar member 4. Thus, the handle portion 1a and wall 2a are removably fixed to the other handle portion 1b and wall 2b.

The cylindrical member 3 has a longitudinal protrusion 3a at the uppermost outer surface along the entire length of the cylindrical member as well illustrated in FIG. 1. The protrusion 3a is formed in parallel with an axis of the cylindrical member 3 and with the longitudinal direction of the bar member 4. The protrusion 3a is formed integral with the cylindrical member 3 and has a triangle shape in cross section.

Regular polygonal members, which are of regular pentagonal shape in this embodiment, are rotatably disposed about the fixed cylindrical member 3. Each of the regular pentagonal members 9, 10, 11 and 12 has, at its center portion, a round shaped hole (9a, 10a, 11a) which has a diameter substantially the same as the maximum outer diameter, namely the outer diameter including the protrusion 3a, of the cylindrical member 3. Ten grooves 13 are radially formed, with the predetermined interval, on the round surface of each hole of the regular pentagonal members 9, 10, 11 and 12. The groove 13 has a triangular shape in cross section such that the protrusion 3a of the cylindrical member 3 is snugly secured within the groove 13. Each of the pentagonal members 9, 10, 11 and 12 has five sides each of which is long and wide enough to fully position and receive the two numerals ("1" and "2", for example) thereon. The number of the grooves 13 is twice as many as the number of sides of the members 9, 10, 11 and 12. Namely in this embodiment, ten grooves are formed since the members 9, 10, 11 and 12 are pentagonal. The pentagonal members 9, 10, 11 and 12 have annular members 9b, 10b, 11b and 12b such that each of the annular members is fixed to one of the pentagonal members. The annular members 9b, 10b, 11b and 12b have minor grooves or convex and concaves of the outer circumferential area thereof so that finger-tips will not slide out in operation. A ring 18 is provided between the pentagonal member 12 and the pentagonal member 11 to achieve an operational separation of a printing belt 17 and an adjacent printing belt 16. This is due to the fact that pentagonal members 9, 10 and 11 face one side whereas the pentagonal member 12, which is positioned adjacent to the wall 2a, faces the other side. Thus, a separate movement or operation of the printing belts 14, 15, 16 and 17 will be carried out without disturbing or influencing the adjacent printing belts. The printing belts which are made of rubber have legends, i.e., numerals on the outer surface thereof at the predetermined interval. The printing belts are well known in the art, and detailed description will not be made.

the printing belts 14, 15, 16 and 17 are tightly suspended by the pentagonal members 9, 10, 11 and 12 on one side and the bar member 4 on the other.

In operation, the annular members are rotated by a finger-tip operation until the predetermined legends are positioned on the flat surface 4a of the bar member 4 against the resilient force of the printing belts. When the predetermined legends are positioned accurately on the flat surface of the bar member 4, the protrusion 3a of the cylindrical member 3 will be immediately and snugly engaged with one of the grooves 13 of the pentagonal members 9, 10, 11 and 12. Thus, the engagement between the protrusion 3a and the groove 13 is enforced by the resilient force of the printing belts.

The structure of the stamp of present invention will be applied for another type of a stamp which is shown in FIG. 3. The stamp 1 of FIG. 3 is similar with that of FIGS. 1 and 2, but has a rotary table 22 at the bottom thereof. On the bottom surface of the rotary table 22, numerals 23 which represent 24 hours of a day and a member 24 are formed so that the predetermined time is stamped as well as the other printing legends. This type of the stamp is well known in the art, and any further detailed description will not be made.

Though the present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiment thereof many modifications and alternatives may be made within the spirit of the invention.