Dating system for molds

Abstract

The dating system for molds comprises a marking element (1) that engraves a determined date; wherein said marking element (1) comprises interchangeable inserts (2) indicating said determined date, said determined date being defined by letters and/or numbers, forming a line. It permits to obtain the advantages of: the reading of the information is much clearer than the traditional date stamps; it requires a minimum space, which allows to adapt it to practically any mold; and it is much more dynamic than traditional daters, as it can provide date information in multiple formats, such as day and month, or week and year number, or combinations thereof.

Claims

1. A dating system for molds, comprising: a marking element that engraves a determined date, said marking element comprising interchangeable inserts that indicate said determined date, said determined date being defined by letters and/or numbers, forming a line; and a handling tool to place said interchangeable inserts into a support of said marking element by separating said interchangeable inserts from the handling tool and to remove said interchangeable inserts from the support of said marking element, the handling tool being formed separately from a mold, said handling tool comprising a recess for placing one or more interchangeable inserts and a stop for retaining said interchangeable inserts in said recess.

2. The system for molds according to claim 1, wherein said letters and/or numbers indicate a day, a month, a week and/or a year number.

3. The system for molds according to claim 1, wherein said interchangeable inserts are removably mounted on said support.

4. The system for molds according to claim 3, wherein said support comprises a housing provided with a locking element, to lock said inserts in position.

5. The system for molds according to claim 4, wherein said housing extends to the end of the support farthest from a shaft.

6. The system for molds according to claim 5, wherein said locking element is placed centered in said housing.

7. The system for molds according to claim 5, wherein said inserts comprise a cavity complementary to said locking element.

8. The system for molds according to claim 1, wherein the marking element comprises two or more interchangeable inserts.

9. The system for molds according to claim 1, comprising a storage element for the interchangeable inserts.

10. The system for molds according to claim 9, wherein said storage element comprises a storage area with a profile complementary to a cavity of each of the interchangeable inserts.

11. The system for molds according to claim 4, wherein one or more of the locking element, the handling tool and the storage element comprise one or more magnets.

12. The system according to claim 1, wherein said marking element is movable between a use position and a position for removal and placement of the interchangeable inserts.

13. The system according to claim 1, wherein the handling tool includes a first portion extending in a longitudinal direction of the handling tool and a second portion extending in the longitudinal direction, the stop of the handling tool being inseparably connected to the second portion and having a length in the longitudinal direction sufficiently short to expose a cavity of each of the interchangeable inserts that are retained in the recess.

14. The system according to claim 1, wherein the handling tool includes a first portion having a first length in a longitudinal direction of the handling tool and a second portion having a second length in the longitudinal direction, the stop of the handling tool having a third length in the longitudinal direction, and the first length is greater than a sum of the second length and the third length.

15. The system according to claim 13, wherein a horizontal surface of the first portion is adjacent to a side surface of the second portion, and the stop protrudes from the side surface of the second portion in the longitudinal direction so as to define the recess for placing said interchangeable inserts.

16. The system according to claim 1, wherein the handling tool removes said interchangeable inserts from a storage element before placing said interchangeable inserts into the support of the marking element.

17. The system according to claim 1, wherein the marking element is configured to be in a first position to come out of a housing in the mold when said interchangeable inserts are placed into or removed from the support of said marking element, or in a second position of use after said interchangeable inserts have been changed.

18. The system according to claim 15, wherein the stop overlaps the first portion when seen in a top view of the handling tool.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) For better understanding of what has been disclosed, some drawings in which, schematically and only by way of a non-limiting example, a practical case of embodiment is shown.

(2) FIG. 1 is a comparison of a date indicated with a conventional dater and a date indicated with the dating system according to the present invention, where the differences in reading can be appreciated;

(3) FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the handling tool and the storage element of the dating system according to the present invention;

(4) FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the storage element of the dating system according to the present invention;

(5) FIGS. 4 and 5 show the process of placing two interchangeable inserts with the aid of the manipulation tool of the dating system according to the present invention; and

(6) FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the marking element of the dating system according to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

(7) As indicated above and as shown in FIG. 1, the dating system of the present invention completely changes the geometry of the mold dating systems, and instead of being circular with an arrow pointing only to one of the information of the circle (on the right in FIG. 1), the dating system of the present invention only includes the information of the date, for example, the month and year (on the left in FIG. 1), preferably in a linear arrangement, that is, indicating the date with letters and/or numbers forming a line.

(8) For this, the dating system for molds according to the present invention comprises a marking element 1 that engraves a date on a part that is molded in the mold.

(9) Said date indicates the date of manufacture of the part that is molded made up of letters and/or numbers, which can include the month and the year, or the day, the month and the year, or the number of the week and the year, or any combination of such information to provide the date.

(10) Preferably, said letters and/or numbers are arranged in a line, and only includes information on a certain date, unlike conventional date stamps that include all the days of a month or all the months of a year and an arrow indicates the date that you want to indicate.

(11) It should be noted that for the sake of simplicity an embodiment of the marker according to the present invention comprising a single marking element is shown, but the number of marking elements will be adequate to provide the desired information. The marking element 1 comprises two or more interchangeable inserts 2 provided with the desired information, for example, the month and the year. Said information is preferably engraved at both ends.

(12) The marking element 1, at its front end, defines a substantially rectangular profile radiated at its ends to facilitate the machining of the mold, with a certain height, as can be seen in FIG. 5.

(13) Said interchangeable inserts 2 are removably mounted on a support 3, which is mounted at the end of a shaft 4.

(14) For the assembly of the interchangeable inserts 2, said support 3 comprises an inverted U-shaped housing 5 that defines a locking element 6. According to the embodiment shown, said housing 5 extends from one end of the support 3 and the locking element 6 is positioned in a middle position of the housing 5, so that two through holes are defined on each side of the locking element 6.

(15) So that the inserts 2 are retained in said housing 5, each insert 2 comprises a cavity 7 with a shape complementary to the shape of the locking element 6. For example, according to the embodiment shown, the cavity 7 has a trapezium-shaped profile.

(16) Furthermore, said locking element 6 advantageously comprises one or more magnets, which retain the interchangeable inserts 2 in position.

(17) For removal and placement, the dating system according to the present invention comprises a handling tool 8, which includes a recess 9 for the placement of two or more inserts 2 and a stop 10 to retain the insert(s) 2 in position in said recess 9.

(18) This handling tool 8 also comprises one or more magnets to retain the interchangeable inserts 2 in position and prevent accidental loss of the inserts 2.

(19) The dating system according to the present invention also comprises a storage element 11 for storing in an organized manner a series of inserts 2 that are not used at that time.

(20) This storage element 11 comprises a storage zone 12 where a plurality of inserts 2 placed side by side are placed, and said storage element 11 also comprises one or more magnets to retain the interchangeable inserts 2 in position and prevent an accidental loss of the inserts 2.

(21) The process of placing two inserts 2 in their position of use in the support 3 is shown in the figures.

(22) In FIG. 1, the handling tool 8 and the storage element 11 are connected to each other. Once separated, the inserts 2 can be removed from the storage element 11 using the handling tool 8.

(23) For their placement in the support 3, the inserts 2 can be placed in position in the recess 9 of the handling tool 8, as shown in FIG. 3.

(24) Once placed in their position, the inserts 2 are deposited in said housing 5, as shown in FIG. 4, with the help of the handling tool 8.

(25) When the inserts 2 have been placed in the support 3, the handling tool 8 is removed and the inserts 2 are left in their position of use, as shown in FIG. 5.

(26) To remove the inserts 2, a reverse process is carried out to the placement process described above.

(27) For the dating of a part, the marking element 1 is moved to the appropriate position in the mold (not shown in the figures), specifically in a position that protrudes slightly from the punch of the mold. To do this, the inserts 2 of the marking element 1 comprise chamfers 13, corresponding to the protruding position of the marking element 1. One of the chamfers is indicated in FIG. 3, which acts as a ramp to avoid possible misalignment during assembly.

(28) The shaft 4 makes it possible to place the marking element 1 in a position of use or in a position for inserting and removing the inserts. This movement through the shaft 4 can be driven in any suitable way, for example by means of a pneumatic piston.

(29) In the position of inserting and removing the inserts, the marking element 1 comes out of its housing in the mold, for example, half its height, and once the inserts have been changed, the marking element 1 returns to its position of use.

(30) Although reference has been made to specific embodiments of the invention, it is apparent to a person skilled in the art that the described dating system for molds is susceptible of numerous variations and modifications, and that all the details mentioned can be replaced by other technically equivalents, without departing from the scope of protection defined by the appended claims.