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US 11,580,880 B2Granted
Braille writing device
OwnerHilary Anna Johnson, Vadim Kuklov +1inventors
InventorsHilary Anna Johnson, Vadim Kuklov, Alexander H Slocum
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Abstract
Braille writing devices and systems, and corresponding methods of writing braille characters on a tape medium are described herein. The devices and systems emboss tactile dots on different types of tape medium to enable braille character writing and advance the tape medium to create accurate and repeatable spacing of the braille characters. The devices and systems may be comprised of simply molded plastic parts that snap together using elastically averaging precision alignment features.
Claims13
A braille writing device, comprising:
- a housing, the housing further comprising;
- a top cap comprising a plurality of flexural button arms oriented such that each of the flexural button arms projects radially toward other of the flexural button arms and the center of the top cap;
- and
- a tape exit port;
- an embossing arm structure within the housing, comprising embossing arms projecting radially inwards, and wherein each embossing arm tapers to an embossing arm tip, and wherein the embossing arm tips of the embossing arms form a grid of at least three rows of two tips;
- an embossing anvil, within the housing, wherein the embossing arm tips align with concave features arranged in the grid on the embossing anvil;
- and
- a tape handling structure within the housing, wherein the tape handling structure is capable of accepting a tape medium, wherein the tape handling structure is arranged to guide the tape medium between the embossing anvil and the embossing arm tips to the tape exit port, and wherein the flexural button arms, embossing arms, and embossing anvil are arranged such that depressing the flexural button arms causes displacement of the embossing arms and coupling of the embossing arm tips and the concave features of the embossing anvil.
5 more elements
A braille writing device, comprising:
- a housing comprising a tape exit port;
- an embossing arm structure within the housing, comprising embossing arms projecting radially inwards, and wherein each embossing arm tapers to an embossing arm tip, and wherein the embossing arm tips of the embossing arms form a grid of at least three rows of two tips;
- an embossing anvil, within the housing, wherein the embossing arm tips align with concave features arranged in a grid on the embossing anvil;
- a tape handling structure, wherein the tape handling structure is configured to hold a tape medium and guide the tape medium between the embossing anvil and the embossing arm tips;
- and
- a tape advancing structure, the tape advancing structure comprising a ratchet drum with notches that are operable to engage a pawl to advance the tape medium by a width of a single braille letter.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.