GB2093773A - A seal press - Google Patents

Abstract

A seal press comprises a main body 10 including two spaced limbs 13, 14 defining between them a gap 15 to receive a sheet of material to which the seal is to be applied, supports for a seal die 17 and counterpart 16 respectively disposed in spaced relation within the said gap, the support for the counterpart 16 being fixed in relation to one limb 13 and the support for the die being mounted on a press pin 19 for reciprocal movement towards and away from the support for the counterpart under the action of a lever arm 11 pivotally mounted on the other limb, said lever arm 11 being channel- shaped, at least in part, and partly embracing said main body 10. The engagement between the lever arm 11 and the press pin 19 is such as to prevent rotation of the pin. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A seal press The invention relates to a seal press, that is to say a hand operated press of the kind in which an embossed seal or other motif may be applied to a sheet of paper or similar material by passing the sheet between a die and counterpart and operating the press, usually by means of a lever arm, to compress the sheet between the die and counterpart and thus form the seal impression on the sheet.

There are many organisations which require frequent use of a number of different seals and it is therefore necessary for them to maintain a number of seal presses. It is an object of the invention to provide a seal press which, in a preferred embodiment thereof, may be conveniently stored with a plurality of similar presses and which may, for example, be stacked with the other presses.

Although the invention is particularly applicable to a seal press for the application to documents of the circular embossed seal of a limited company or similar organisation, it will be appreciated that the invention is equally applicable to a press for embossing any other motif, such as a design, device, message or other information, and the term "seal", where used in this specification, is intended to include such motifs and is not limited to company seals.

According to the invention there is provided a seal press comprising a main body including two spaced limbs defining between them a gap to receive a sheet of material to which the seal is to be applied, supports for a seal die and counterpart respectively disposed in spaced relation within the said gap, the support for the counterpart being fixed in relation to one limb and the support for the die being mounted for reciprocal movement towards and away from the support for the counterpart under the action of a lever arm pivotally mounted on the other limb, said lever arm being channel-shaped, at least in part, and partly embracing said main body.

The support for the counterpart may simply comprise a part of the surface of said one limb.

In known forms of seal press the lever arm has normally been pivotally mounted between two spaced portions of the main body of the press so that the lever arm lies partly within the main body and partly projects from the main body at an angle. This renders stacking of a number of such seal presses difficult or impossible. With the arrangement according to the invention, however, since the lever arm is channel-shaped and partly embraces the main body, the outer surface of the lever arm may be so shaped as to facilitate stacking of a number of similar presses one on top of another.

The lever arm may be generally rectangular in contour.

The lever arm may have four peripheral walls arranged to overlie all four sides of the main body of the press which may also be of generally rectangular configuration.

The main body of the press, and the lever arm, may taper outwardly from the outer surface of the lever arm to the surface of the main body opposite said lever arm so that the latter surface is greater in area than the outer surface of the lever arm.

The support for the die may be mounted on one end of a press pin slideable within a bore in the main body of the press, the end of the press pin remote from the support being operatively engaged by the lever arm so that swinging movement of the lever arm about its pivot axis effects sliding movement of the press pin within the bore. For example, the lever arm may be formed with a cam portion which bears on an end portion of the press pin.

Preferably the cam portion engages within a recess in said end portion of the press pin, the cam portion and recess being so shaped as to prevent rotation of the press pin about its longitudinal axis within its bore. For example, the end portion of the press pin may be formed with a channel-shaped groove which extends at right angles to the pivot axis of the lever arm, the cam portion of the lever arm engaging within the groove.

Preferably a spring is provided to oppose sliding movement of the press pin towards the support for the counterpart. Preferably the spring is a helical compression spring encircling the press pin between an abutment thereon and a fixed part of the main body.

The following is a detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention reference being made to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a side elevation of a seal press according to the invention, Figure 2 is a vertical section through the seal press of Figure 1, showing the press in its operating condition, and Figure 3 is a section along the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Referring to the drawings, the seal press comprises a main body 10 and a lever arm 11 pivotally mounted on the main body by means of a horizontal pivot pin 12. The main body 10 may be formed from heavy and tough plastics material, or from metal. For example, it may be case from aluminium or an aluminium or zinc alloy. The lever arm 11 may similarly be cast from metal or plastics, or may be pressed from sheet metal.

The main body 10 is shaped to provide a base limb 13 and an upper limb 14 defining between them a gap 1 5 to receive a sheet of paper or similar material to which the seal is to be applied.

Mounted on the upper surface of the base limb 13, for example by an adhesive, is a die counterpart 16 which normally will carry the male impression of the seal to be embossed. The upper surface of the limb 13 thus constitutes a support for the counterpart 1 6.

The die 17, which normally comprises the female impression of the seal, is mounted, again for example by means of an adhesive, oh a circular support disc 1 8 which is carried on the lower end of a press pin 19 which is vertically slidable within a circular bore in a downwardly projecting boss 20 formed on the upper limb 14 of the main body.

The press pin 19 is formed at its upper end with an enlarged circular head 21 which is formed in its upper surface with a channel-sectioned groove 23. A helical compression spring 24 encircles the press pin 19 between the underside of the head 21 and the bottom of a cap-shaped portion 22 formed within the limb 14.

The lever arm 11, as best seen in Figure 3, is generally channel-shaped in cross-section comprising a flat upper surface 25 and side walls 26. As best seen in Figure 2, the lever arm also comprises a front wall 27 and a rear wall 28, the walls 26, 27 and 28 partly embracing the upper portion of the main body 10.

The lever arm 11 is also formed within the front portion thereof with a pair of parallel webs 29 projecting downwardly from the underside of the upper surface 25 of the lever arm. Adjacent the pivot pin 12, which passes through the webs 29, the side walls 26, and upstanding flanges 36 on the main body 10, the webs are formed with cam portions 30 the lower edges of which are received within the groove 23 in the head portion 21, as shown in Figure 3.

The compression spring 24 normally urges the press pin 1 9 upwardly, separating the die 1 7 from the counterpart 1 6 and inclining the rear end of the lever arm 11 upwardly. A sheet of paper to which the seal is to be applied is inserted between the die 1 7 and counterpart 1 6 and the lever arm 11 is then pressed downwardly. The cam portions 30 push the press pin 19 downwardly compressing the sheet of paper between the die and counterpart so as to emboss the seal on the paper. Engagement of the cam portions 30 within the slot 23 prevents rotation of the press pin 1 9 about its vertical axis and thus ensures that the die and counterpart remain in the correct registration.

The arrangement of the spring 24 encircling the press pin 1 9 ensures that the ioads applied to the press pin 19 are applied axially, thus preventing uneven wear of the bore in the boss 20 which might otherwise affect the accuracy of registration between the die and counterpart.

The upper surface 25 of the lever arm is generally rectangular in contour and the four walls of the lever arm taper outwardly as they extend downwardly as also do the walls of the main body 10. The base of the main body 10 is also rectangular in configuration but is of larger dimensions than the surface 25 of the lever arm. A central longitudinal reinforcing flange 37 is formed within the base. A plastics or rubber liner 38 is provided within the open bottom of the base so as to protect any surface on which the press is placed and also to facilitate stacking of a number of presses. The liner is recessed, as indicated at 39, so as to receive the upper surface 25 of the lever arm of a similar press so that a number of similar presses may be more conveniently stacked one on top of the other.

The flanges 36 of the main body 10 and the lever arm 11 are formed with holes 34 and 35 respectively which combe into register when the lever arm is moved to the operating or storage position shown in Figures 1 and 2. A detent pin (not shown) may then be inserted through the registering holes to retain the lever arm in that position and a locking device may be associated with the detent pin if required to prevent unauthorised use of the press.

Although the described seal press is particularly applicable for use with conventional forms of circular seal, such as company seals, it will be appreciated that the press may be used with any required fsrm of die and counterpart. For example, the die and counterpart may be rectangular in shape so as to carry a number of parallel lines of wording, such as an address to be embossed on writing paper.

Claims (12)

1. A seal press comprising a main body including two spaced limbs defining between them a gap to receive a sheet of material to which the seal is to be applied,-supports for a seal die and counterpart respectively disposed in spaced relation within the said gap, the support for the counterpart being fixed in relation to one limb and the support for the die being mounted for reciprocal movement towards and away from the support for the counterpart under the action of a lever arm pivotally mounted on the other limb, said lever arm being channel-shaped, at least in part, and partly embracing said main body.

2. A seal press according to claim 1, wherein the support for the counterpart comprises a part of the surface of said one limb.

3. A seal press according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the lever arm is generally rectangular in contour.

4. A seal press according to claim 3, wherein the lever arm has four peripheral walls arranged to overlie all four sides of the main body of the press.

5. A seal press according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the main body of the press, and the lever arm, taper outwardly from the outer surface of the lever arm to the surface of the main body opposite said lever arm so that the latter surface is greater in area than the outer surface of the lever arm.

6. A seal press according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the support for the die is mounted on one end of a press pin slidable within a bore in the main body of the press, the end of the press pin remote from the support being operativeiy engaged by the lever arm so that swinging movement of the lever arm about its pivot axis effects sliding movement of the press pin within the bore.

7. A seal press according to claim 6, wherein the lever arm is formed with a cam portion which bears on an end portion of the press pin.

8. A seal press according to claim 7, wherein the cam portion engages within a recess in said end portion of the press pin, the cam portion and recess being so shaped as to prevent rotation of the press pin about its longitudinal axis within its bore.

9. A seal press according to claim 7, wherein the end portion of the press pin is formed with a channel-shaped groove which extends at right angles to the pivot axis of the lever arm, the cam portion of the lever arm engaging within the groove.

10. A seal press according to any of claims 6 to 9, wherein a spring is provided to oppose sliding movement of the press pin towards the support for the counterpart.

1 A seal press according to claim 10, wherein the spring is a helical compression spring encircling the press pin between an abutment thereon and a fixed part of the main body.

12. A seal press substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.