Alignment of dies
AssigneeWatermarx Technology Pty Limited
InventorsAlan John Fawcett, Angela Mary O'Dea
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Abstract
A set of dies for embossing or debossing is disclosed. The set has a female die (4, 80) and a male die (7, 67) each which has a steel backing plate (5, 47, 75). One of the dies is strongly magnetically attracted to a base plate (1, 68) which results in a weak magnetic attraction between the two dies (4, 7 or 67, 80). The weak magnetic attraction enables the set of dies to be substantially automatically self-aligning. Furthermore, such a set of dies can be used with a cutting and creasing die (50) to permit embossing or debossing simultaneously with cutting and/or folding during the same run.
Claims19
A set of dies for use in embossing or debossing and comprising a male die and a mating female die, wherein each of said dies has a magnetic or magnetically permeable backing.
A method of mutually aligning a male and a female die which are complementary, said method comprising the steps of:
- (i) fabricating each die with at least a magnetic or magnetically permeable backing, and
- (ii) in either order or substantially simultaneously, approximately aligning said dies and applying an attractive magnetic force between said dies;
- whereby said magnetic force mates the male and female portions of said approximately aligned dies to accurately align same.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.