Multicolor stamp
United States Patent 191 Klapholz 51 Apr. 29, 1975 1 MULTICOLOR STAMP [76] Inventor: Joseph Klapholz. 3950 Blackstone Ave. New York. NY. 10471 {22] Filed: May 7. I974 [21] Appl. No.: 467.673  
 Related U.S. Application Data [63] Continuation-impart of Ser. No. 397.894. Sept. 17.  
 1973. P211. NO. 3.839.955.  
  676.083 6/1901 Bates. .4 101/202 X 1.042.766 10/1912 Carleton 101/334 1.085.489 1/1914 Rushworth 101/334 3.306.192 2/1967 McFarland et a1. 101/202 3.839.955 10/1974 Klapholz 101/334 Primary Examiner-Edgar S. Burr Assistant E.t&#39;aminerEdward M. Coven Allorney, Agent, or FirmKarl F. Ross; Herbert Dubno I [57] ABSTRACT A stamp for making multicolor prints comprises a downwardly open housing in which two superposed square blocks are vertically reciprocable. each block being independently rotatable about a horizontal axis. The upper block. held in a yoke at the lower end of a manually depressible plunger. carries differently colored ink pads on its four faces; the sides of the lower block are typefaces representing differently colored components of a composite design to be printed on a substrate. Depression of the plunger brings the top typeface of the lower block into contact with the ink pad on the bottom face of the upper block whereupon both blocks can be jointly moved down against a spring force to thrust the previously inked bottom typeface against the substrate. Upon the subsequent ascending stroke, the two blocks are separated and rotated codirectionally by one-way rack-and-pinion drives to confront the next typeface with the next ink pad. A pawl-and-ratchet coupling between the plunger and the housing prevents premature separation of the blocks upon release of the plunger in an intermediate position of descent.  
 10 Claims, 11 Drawing Figures PATENTEUAFRZSISTS SHEET 10F 3 FIG. 2  
 FiJEiiTEU APR 2 9 i975 SHEET P 0? 3 mm GE GM wt mm GE Sm GI MULTICOLOR STAMP CROSS&#39;REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application Ser. No. 397,894 filed Sept. I7. 1973 now US. Pat. No. 3.839.955.  
 FIELD OF THE INVENTION My present invention relates to a stamp for printing multicolor designs on a sheet of paper or any other substrate.  
 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION To print a multicolor design. its differently colored components must be separately stamped from complementarily shaped cuts or typefaces which are inked with their respective colors just before the stamping and which must be precisely aligned with the sheet so that the marks made by them should have the desired relative orientation.  
 OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION The general object of my invention is to provide a device of simple construction which satisfies the requirement for accurate alignment of successive stampings while being capable of handling three, four or even more color components of a design.  
  A more particular object is to provide means in such a device for automatically inking each of several typefaces with its assigned color between successive strokes of a plunger or other actuator successively bringing htese typefaces into contact with the substrate.  
 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION I realize these objects, in accordance with the present invention, by the provision ofa downwardly open housing in which an upper block and a lower block are vertically slidable and mounted for independent rotation about respective horizontal axes, the two blocks being of prismatic shape and preferably of square crosssection. The sides of the upper block carry differently colored ink pads whereas the sides of the lower block form typefaces which constitute mutually complementary components of a design to be printed on an underlying substrate; each typeface, or cut, may comprise one or more characters (or portions thereof) or other parts of a composite logo or design. The blocks are spring-urged into an elevated position in which they are spaced apart, with the topmost typeface on the lower block confronting the bottommost ink pad on the upper block. Upon the depression of an actuator coupled with the upper block, this ink pad contacts the confronting typeface whereupon the two blocks descend kointly until the previously inked bottommost typeface contacts the substrate. Upon the subsequent ascent, the blocks are rotated by one-way drive means (such as a rack-and-pinion drive in combination with a pawl-and-ratchet coupling) to confront another typeface with another ink pad in preparation for the next printing stroke.  
  If the actuator is released prematurely, i.e., in an intermediate position of descent, it may happen that the subsequent elevation of the upper block by its restoring spring separates the two blocks sufficiently to let the upper block carry out a fractional rotation independently of the lower block so that the mechanism may jam or the normally coacting block faces may fall out of step with each other. In order to avoid such a malfunction, I provide the housing with unidirectionally effective retaining means coupled to the actuator for preventing its elevation by the spring force upon a partial descent thereof from its normal position. For this purpose, in an advantageous embodiment. the actuator is a plunger with a stem connected with the upper block through a yoke, the stem and the yoke being relatively rotatable to allow a pawl on the housing to engage a closed track on the stern divided into an ascending and a descending branch; the pawl coacts with the sawteeth on the descending branch to inhibit any ascent of the plunger while engaging that branch.  
 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The above and other features of my invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:  
  FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a stamp embodying my invention;  
 FIG. 2 is an elevational detail view;  
  FIGS. 3A 3E are somewhat diagrammatic elevational views of the stamp in five consecutive operating positions;  
  FIG. 4 is a sectional elevational view of the upper part of the stamp, showing a unidirectionally effective detent mechanism;  
  FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4, illustrating a different position of the mechanism;  
  FIG. 6 is a fragmentary axial section taken on the line VI VI of FIG. 4; and  
  FIG. 7 is a partial cross-sectional view taken on the line VII VII of FIG. 4.  
 SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION The stamp shown in the drawing, generally designated 10, comprises a downwardly open housing I] of transparent plastic material within which are mounted two square blocks 12 and 13. Each block has a pair of gudgeons l4 and I4. centered on its horizontal axis, which protrude to permit vertical sliding movement of each block within lateral guide grooves 15 and 15&#39; located on opposite sides of housing II.  
  The upper block I2 is retained in housing 11 by a yoke 16 to which is attached a plunger with a knob l7 and a stem [7&#39; centrally fastened to the bight of the yoke by a shoulder 17&#34; (FIG. 4) so as to be rotatable relatively thereto. Stem 17&#39; projects upwardly beyond housing 11 through a collar 26 rigid with the top thereof. Two pairs of curved leaf springs 18 are anchored to respective shanks of yoke 16 and to bosses 270 (only one shown) on the inner lateral housing walls. Spring 18, when extended, retain upper block l2, yoke 16 and plunger 17, I7 in their elevated or normal position.  
  The lower block 13 is retained in its elevated or normal position by similar pairs of curved leaf springs 21 located on each side of and within housing II. The leaf springs of each pair 2! are fastened at their lower ends to a boss 27b on the housing bottom and at their tops to opposite sides of a disk 28 mounted freely on the respective gudgeon l4.  
  Block 12 carries a differently colored ink pad on each of its four faces 19a, 19b, 19c and 19d. A door 20, hinged at the top to housing ll, gives access to these pads for the purpose of reinking.  
  The four sides of block 13 carry different and mutually complementary typefaces 30a, 30b, 30c and 30d. Each typeface corresponds to a separate color imprinting to be made upon an underlying sheet of paper 29.  
  The two blocks 12 and 13 are unidirectionally rotat able about their horizontal axes by means of identical stepping mechanisms comprising respective racks 22, 22&#39; on the inner housing wall and pinions 23, 23&#39; idling on gudgeons I4, 14&#39;. As particularly illustrated in FIG. 2 for the stepping mechanism associated with the upper block 12, a ratchet 25 rigidly secured to gudgeon I4 adjoins the pinion 23 and coacts with two spring-loaded pawls 24 pivoted to this pinion at diametrically opposite locations. During a descent of block 12, when pinion 23 rotates clockwise. the pawls are ineffectual so that the ratchet and the block are decoupled from the pinion. During the subsequent upstroke, with pinion 23 rotating counterclockwise, pawls 24a and 24b engage in the notches of ratchet 25 and entrain it in the same direction through 90. A similar action occurs with the stepping mechanism of block 13 which descends along with block 12 after a certain delay due to the initial separation of the blocks as determined by the upper limits of the lower guide slots IS. The aforedescribed stepping mechanisms may be duplicated on the opposite housing side.  
  I shall now describe the operation of stamp with reference to FIGS. 3A 14 3E. In the manually depressed or lowered position of plunger l7, 17 as shown in FIG. 3A, the bottom ink pad 190 of block 12 is in contact with the top typeface 30a of block 13 to ink the latter while the bottom typeface 30a makes contact with the underlying paper 29. When pressure on plunger head 17 is released, as shown in FIG. 3B, springs 18 and 21 elevate the blocks 12 and 13 until their pinions 23 and 23&#39; reengage the respective racks 22, 22&#39;. With springs 18 stronger than springs 21, the upper block 12 rises more quickly and separates from the lower block 13 whereby both blocks can execute their codirectional (i.e., counterclockwise) rotation through 90&#34;, as shown in FIG. 3C,preparatorily to the next downstroke in which typeface 30b contacts the pad 1% (FIG. 3D) while typeface 30d is bottommost to print on the sheet 29 (FIG. 3E). Thus, all four sides of each block come into play upon as many consecutive reciprocations of plunger 17, 17&#39; and its associated stepping mechanism.  
  Reference will now be made to FIGS. 4 7 showing a unidirectionally effective detent mechanism which serves to retain the upper block 12 in an intermediate position (e.g. the position of FIG. 3D) if the plunger 17, 17&#39; is released prematurely during a downstroke, thus preventing any untimely rise of this block which could cause this block to rotate independently of the lower block 13 with possible jamming of the device or disalignment of the coacting block faces.  
  For this purpose, collar 26 is integrally formed at diametrically opposite locations with a pair of pawlshaped tongues 26&#39;, 26&#34; which are resiliently biased inwardly toward the plunger stem 17&#39;. The peripheral surface of this stern carries two diametrically opposite tracks of generally parallelogrammatic configuration, each track consisting of two parallel longitudinal grooves 31, 32 and two shorter, sloping grooves 33, 34. Grooves 31 and 33, which form the descending branch of the track, are provided with sawteeth which, in their position of angular alignment with pawls 26&#39;, 26&#34;, are  
 engaged by these pawls to prevent any rise of stem 17&#39; relative to collar 26. Grooves 32 and 34, constituting the ascending track branch, are smooth-surfaced. Two leaf springs 35 and 36 obstruct the exits of the shorter upper and lower grooves 33 and 34 to bar any entry of the tips of the pawls into these branch extensions from the opposite branches, i.e., from grooves 32 and 31, respectively. Thus, the pawl tips can traverse the associated tracks only in one direction, namely in the sequence 31, 33, 32, 34.  
  In the uppermost plunger position (FIG. 3C), the pawls 26, 26&#34; have cleared the lower springs 36 and lie at the bottom ends of the vertical grooves 31 just below their sawtooth profiles. This has been illustrated in FIG. 4. As the plunger is depressed, the sawteeth are engaged by the pawls (FIG. 6) which remain confined to the grooves of the descending branches and enter the spurs 33 thereof in the final phase of the downstroke with a resulting rotation of the plunger stem 17&#39; (counterclockwise in FIG. 7) through an angle of, say, 30. At this point the pawl tips deflect the upper springs 35 to lodge at the top ends of the unserrated grooves 32 (see FIG. 5); during the subsequent ascent of the plunger, the pawls are guided in the ascending branches and enter the spurs 34 thereof in the final phase of the upstroke, deflecting the springs 36 to reenter the grooves 31. During this final phase of the upstroke, the plunger stem 17&#39; turns in the opposite sense (clockwise in FIG. 7) which restores the starting position of FIG. 4.  
  If the user releases the plunger in a position of partial descent such as that illustrated in FIG. 6, the blocks 12, 13 will not move until further pressure is exerted upon the plunger to complete the downstroke (FIGS. 3E and 5 This ensures maintenance of the correct relative positions of blocks 12 and 13 under all circumstances.  
 I claim: 1. A stamp for printing multicolor designs, comprisa downwardly open housing; an upper block and a lower block vertically slidable in said housing and mounted for independent rotation about respective horizontal axes, said upper block being a prism whose sides are provided with differently colored ink pads, said lower block being a prism whose sides form typefaces constituting mutually complementary components of a design to be printed on an underlying substrate; spring means on said housing normally maintaining said blocks in an elevated spaced-apart position;  
 actuating means on said housing coupled with said upper block for depressing same into contact with said lower block and thereupon jointly depressing both blocks against the force of said spring means whereby an upper typeface on said lower block contacts an ink pad on a lower typeface on said upper block while a lower typeface on said lower block contacts the underlying substrate;  
 one-way drive means on said housing effective upon release of said actuating means and upward movement of said blocks by said spring means to rotate each block about its axis for confronting another typeface with another ink pad; and unidirectionally effective retaining means on said housing coupled with said actuating means for preventing said spring means from elevating said upper block upon a partial descent thereof from a normal position.  
  2. A stamp as defined in claim I wherein said blocks are of square cross-section.  
  3. A stamp as defined in claim 1 wherein said housing is provided with a door giving access to said ink pads in the elevated position of said upper block.  
  4. A stamp as defined in claim 1 wherein said housing is provided with lateral guide grooves, said blocks having gudgeons engaging in said grooves.  
  5. A stamp as defined in claim 1 wherein said drive means includes a pinion on a gudgeon of each block. a ratchet coupling between each pinion and the respective block, and a rack on said housing engageable with said pinion during part of its vertical stroke.  
  6. A stamp as defined in claim 4 wherein said actuating means comprises a yoke engaging the gudgeons of the upper block and a plunger on said yoke projecting upwardly from said housing.  
  7. A stamp as defined in claim 6 wherein said spring means comprises separate springs bearing upon said upper and lower blocks.  
  8. A stamp as defined in claim 6 wherein said plunger has a stem connected to said yoke with freedom of limited rotation relative to said housing. said stem being formed with a closed track divided into an ascending branch and a descending branch, said retaining means comprising a pawl on said housing engaging said track and a set of sawteeth on said descending branch coacting with said pawl.  
  9. A stamp as defined in claim 8 wherein said track is of generally parallelogrammatic configuration with sloping spurs of said descending and ascending branches defining upper and lower minor sides of the parallelogram, further comprising resilient tongues giving one-way access to said projection from the spur of said ascending branch to said descending branch and from the spur of said descending branch to said ascending branch.  
  10. A stamp as defined in claim 8 wherein said track and said pawl are duplicated on diametrically opposite sides of said stem.