U.S. patent number 3,859,726 [Application Number 05/465,831] was granted by the patent office on 1975-01-14 for letter punch.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Toppan Moore Business Forms Co. Ltd.. Invention is credited to Tetsuya Mitsunari.
United States Patent |
3,859,726 |
Mitsunari |
January 14, 1975 |
LETTER PUNCH
Abstract
A small-sized, light-weight and handy letter punch which
comprises a base and an upper plate which are disposed in parallel
to each other leaving a horizontal gap to receive documents to be
punched therein and are connected at the side edges and end edges
thereof forming a side wall and an end wall, respectively, and said
upper plate being provided with a spring-actuated punch rod and
said base being provided with a base plate having a punch hole to
cooperate with said punch rod. The positioning of documents in
punching is facilitated by fitting said documents to the insides of
said side wall and end wall.
Inventors: |
Mitsunari; Tetsuya (Niiza,
JA) |
Assignee: |
Toppan Moore Business Forms Co.
Ltd. (Tokyo, JA)
|
Family
ID: |
26337962 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/465,831 |
Filed: |
May 1, 1974 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
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May 7, 1973 [JA] |
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48-53421 |
Dec 28, 1973 [JA] |
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49-4228 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
30/358;
D19/72 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B26F
1/36 (20130101); B26F 1/32 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
B26F
1/36 (20060101); B26F 1/32 (20060101); B26f
001/32 () |
Field of
Search: |
;30/358,368,363
;83/467 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
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671,592 |
|
May 1952 |
|
GB |
|
944,210 |
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Dec 1963 |
|
GB |
|
Primary Examiner: Smith; Al Lawrence
Assistant Examiner: Peters; J. C.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Lerner, David, Littenerg &
Samuel
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A letter punch which comprises a base and an upper plate which
are disposed in parallel to each other leaving a horizontal gap to
receive documents to be punched therein and are connected at the
side edges and end edges thereof forming a side wall and an end
wall, respectively, and said upper plate being provided with a
spring-actuated punch rod and said base being provided with a base
plate having a punch hole to cooperate with said punch rod.
2. A letter punch as claimed in claim 1, in which the distance
between the center of said punch hole of said base plate and the
inside of said end wall is equal to one half of the distance
between the holes to be punched, and the distance between the
center of said punch hole of said base plate and the inside of said
side wall is equal to the distance between the edge of binding side
of document to be punched and the holes to be formed.
3. A letter punch as claimed in claim 1, in which a waste box is
formed under said base plate to receive the waste paper of
punching.
4. A letter punch as claimed in claim 1, in which said upper plate
is integrally provided with a vertical cylinder which being
concentric with said punch hole of said base plate, and said punch
rod is installed within said cylinder and forced by a coil spring
by way of a knob attached at the upper end of said punch rod.
5. A letter punch as claimed in claim 1, in which said upper plate
is provided with positioning points, each of which indicating the
center of punch rod and the end portion of said side wall.
6. A letter punch as claimed in claim 1, in which said base and
upper plate are connected by bonding the joint lips provided along
the edges of said members, and thereby forming rectangular side
wall and end wall to faciliate the positioning of documents to be
punched.
7. A letter punch as claimed in claim 1, in which the size of said
punch is such that the punch can be held within a palm.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved letter punch. More
particularly, the invention relates to an improved letter punch or
letter perforator to make holes in sheets of paper, documents,
slips or the like so as to file them. Still more, the present
invention relates to a small-sized, light-weight and handy letter
punch which is able to make a hole or holes in each sheet material
as desired.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are heretofore several letter punches which having one punch
rod for making one hole or two punch rods for making two holes in
each punching operation. In general, the two-hole punch is able to
make separate two holes at a certain distance by a single
operation, however, the size of the two-hole punch is somewhat
larte and inconvenient to carry. While, the one-hole letter punch
is a simplified type of said two-hole punch, so that when two holes
are to be made by the one-hole punch which having only a depth
guide, the distance between the punched holes is liable to vary
which causes inconvenience in filing.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the above facts, the principal object of the present
invention is to propose a novel and improved letter punch which
having no defects as pointed out in the above.
Another object of the present invention is to propose said letter
punch which having only one punch rod but being able to make two
holes at a predetermined distance as well as one hole in like
manner as the conventional one-hole punch.
A further object of the present invention is to propose the letter
punch which is simple in structure, light in weight, easy to handle
and reliable in perforation.
Still further, the object of the present invention is to propose
the letter punch which can be easily produced at very low cost and
in large quantities.
In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention, the
letter punch of the present invention comprises a base and an upper
plate which are disposed in parallel to each other leaving a
horizontal gap to receive documents to be punched therein and are
connected at the side edges and end edges thereof forming a side
wall and an end wall, respectively. Further, said upper plate being
provided with a spring-actuated punch rod and said base being
provided with a base plate having a punch hole to cooperate with
said punch rod. In the punching of the documents, the positioning
can be carried out by fitting the edges of the documents to the
insides of said side wall and end wall, because the distance
between the center of said punch hole of said base plate and the
inside of said end wall is equal to one half of the distance
between the holes to be punched, and the distance between the
center of said punch hole and the inside of said side wall is equal
to the distance between the edge of binding side of documents to be
punched and the hole to be formed.
Further, according to the present invention, the letter punch is
provided with a waste box under the punch hole of said base plate
to receive the waste paper of punching. Said punch rod to form the
punched holes on the document is attached to said upper plate by
forming a vertical cylinder on the upper surface of said upper
plate and slidably inserting said punch rod into said cylinder. The
upper end of said punch rod is provided with a punching knob and a
coil spring is attached between this knob and said cylinder to
impart the punch rod upward force. In punching, the punch rod is
pushed down against the force of this coil spring.
Still further, the punching position can be correctly adjusted by
providing positioning points to the upper surface of said upper
plate of the letter punch.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
These and other features of the present invention will be more
fully understood by referring to the following detailed description
presented solely for purpose of illustration and to the
accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present
invention;
FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the letter punch as shown in FIG.
1;
FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view of said letter punch;
FIG. 4 is a horizontal cross-sectional view taken along the line
IV--IV in FIG. 3;
FIGS. 5 and 6 are plan views in partially cross-sections showing
the positioning in punching; and
FIG. 7, (I) and (II) are plan views of sheets of paper which are
perforated by the letter punch of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Referring now to the accompanying drawings, especially to FIGS. 1
to 4, there is shown an embodiment of a letter punch of the present
invention. This letter punch is rectangular in plan view, and
comprises a base 1 and an upper plate 2 which are integrally
connected on two sides to form a horizontal gap 3 for receiving
documents to be punched. These base 1 and upper plate 2 may be
formed by injection molding, compression molding or any other
methods with using synthetic plastics. As shown in FIG. 4, said
base 1 and upper plate 2 are connected by a side wall 4 and an end
wall 5, which facilitate the positioning of documents in punching
operation as explained in the following.
Further, said base 1 has a base plate 7 which is provided with a
punch hole 6 in the middle portion thereof, and the lower side of
said base plate 7 is provided with a waste box 9 having a lid 8.
This lid 8 has a lip portion 10 which is inserted into a slot
formed between an inside wall 9a and a bottom plate 12, thus the
lid 8 can be swing-opened on said lip portion 10 as the fulcrum.
Further, said lid 8 is provided with side lips 11 on the side edges
and these lips 11 frictionally engage with both side walls of said
waste box 9, thus the lid 8 can be supported on the bottom side of
the waste box 9 when the lid 8 is closed. The remaining portion of
the base 1 comprises a curved bottom portion 12 so that the
thickness of the letter punch is reduced in this portion so as to
facilitate the handling.
The above-mentioned upper plate 2 is provided with a vertical
cylinder 13 which is concentric with the aforementioned punch hole
6 of said base plate 7, and a punch rod 14 is slidably inserted
into this cylinder 13 directing its punch blade downward. On the
upper end of said punch rod 14, a knob 15 is attached, and a coil
spring 16 is provided between said knob 15 and inside stage of said
cylinder 13. Thus the punch rod 14 can be kept at the withdrawn
position away from the gap 3 by the spring action of said coil
spring 16.
AS shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 in cross-sections, the base 1 and/or the
upper plate 2 are provided with joint lips on the end edges and
limited portions of side edges, and the base 1 and the upper plate
2 can be integrally assembled by inserting and bonding said joint
lips with each other. By this connection of the joint lips, the
aforementioned side wall 4 and end wall 5 for positioning the
documents can be formed.
As these side wall 4 and end wall 5 determine the positions and
distance of the holes to be made, the arrangement between these
walls 4, 5, punch holes 6 and punch rod 14 must be made exactly.
That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the distance A between the center of
punch hole 6 and the inner surface of said end wall 5 is equal to
one half of the distance between the two holes to be made, and the
distance B between the center of the punch hole 6 and the inner
surface of said side wall 4 is equal to the distnace between the
center of punched hole and the edge of document. Further, the
distance between the free end of the side wall 4 and the center of
the punch hole 6 is also made B as shown in FIG. 4.
When punching a document, for example a letter, by using the letter
punch as disclosed in the above, the letter may be inserted into
said horizontal gap 3 and then the knob 15 on the upper plate is
only pushed down.
The example as shown in FIG. 5 is a case in which two holes are to
be made on a letter in order to bind the letter to a fastener of a
file. The letter 17 is firstly folded in two at the center or a
desired position, the folded letter 17 is then inserted into the
gap 3 of the letter punch so as to fit the folded side 18 to the
end wall 5 and the binding side 19 to the side wall 4. Then, the
knob 15 may be pushed down by a finger tip against the force of the
coil spring 16, thereby the punch rod 14 is depressed to punch
through the letter 17 and the cut paper is dropped into the waste
box 9. When the force of finger tip to the knob 15 is removed, the
punch rod 14 returns to the origianl position by the force of the
coil spring 16 and the letter having punched holes is released. The
letter 17 after the punching is shown in FIG. 7 (I), in which the
punched holes 20 are made at the distance of 2A and a distance of B
from the binding side 19.
The example as shown in FIG. 6 is a case in which one hole is to be
made on a letter. In this case, the binding side 19a of the letter
17a is inserted to the horizontal gap 3 as far as the side 19a
reaches the end portion of said side wall, and the knob 15 is then
pushed down to make a hole by the punch rod 14. When punched in
this manner, the hole 20a at any position in a distance B apart
from the edge of binding side 19a of the letter 17a as shown in
FIG. 7 (II) can be made because the both sides of the punch rod 14
are free and the letter 17a can be moved up and down in FIG. 6. The
positioning of the document in punching may be made correctly by a
positioning point 21 indicating the position of punch rod 14 and a
positioning point 22 indicating the edge of the binding side 19a,
both points 21 and 22 being formed on the surface of upper plate 2.
Further, according to the above method, any number of holes with
any intervals may be formed in the letter.
As disclosed in the above, any necessary punch holes 20, 20a may be
formed in the documents 17, 17a by using the punch of the present
invention, in addition, though the punch rod 14 is only one, any
number of holes can be made. For example, when three holes are to
be made along the binding side, two holes are firstly made
according to the method as shown in FIG. 5 and the other one hole
may be made by the method as shown in FIG. 6 on the fold line 18 by
opening the punched letter.
In the modifications of the present invention, the upper palte 2
can be connected to the base 1 only by the end wall 5, and the
configuration in plan view of the upper plate 2 is not always the
same as that of base 1. Further, the punch rod 14 may be moved
integrally with the upper plate 2 by using elastic material. Still
further, the end wall 5 and the side wall 4 can be formed by
latticework or bar construction and the end portion of the side
wall 4 may be provided with a separate guide wall.
It will be understood that the letter punch of the present
invention can be made as small as being held in a palm of a lady,
and that the letter punch of the invention is light-weight, small
sized and simple in structure, and convenient and handy in use. It
should be emphasized, however, that the specific embodiments
described and shown herein are intended as merely illustrative and
in no way restrictive of the invention.
* * * * *