Method and apparatus for placing identifying indicia on the surface of precious stones including diamonds
AssigneeLazare Kaplan & Sons, Inc.
InventorsHerbert D. Gresser, George Kaplan, Joseph Nussenbaum
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A practice for applying indicia to the surface of a precious stone wherein a source of laser energy is directed at the stone surface and controlled to inscribe the surface with the desired indicia.
Claims52
A method for providing an identifying indicium to a diamond comprising:
- applying a laser beam to a surface of said diamond;
- and controlling said laser beam to enable said laser beam to inscribe into said diamond surface an indicium including:
- intermittently moving said laser beam to successive positions on said diamond surface along a path corresponding to said indicium, said beam at each position covering a diamond surface area overlapping the diamond surface area covered by the beam at the immediately preceding position on said indicium;
- and adjusting the laser beam power to graphitize and inscribe said diamond surface at each of said positions.
Apparatus for providing an identifying indicium to a diamond comprising:
- means for controllably applying a laser beam to a surface of said diamond to inscribe into said diamond surface an indicium including:
- means for intermittently moving said laser beam to successive positions on said diamond surface along a path corresponding to said indicium, said beam at each position covering a diamond surface area overlapping the diamond surface area covered by the beam at the immediately preceding position on said indicium;
- and means for adjusting the laser beam power to graphitize and inscribe said diamond surface at each of said positions.
Apparatus in accordance with claim 38 wherein:
- said control means includes a lens means for focusing said beam onto said surface.
Apparatus in accordance with claim 47 wherein:
- said deflecting means each include a digital deflector.
A method for providing an identifying indicium to a diamond, a surface of said diamond having an energy absorbing material thereon, comprising:
- applying a laser beam to said surface of said diamond;
- and controlling said laser beam to enable said laser beam to inscribe into said diamond surface an indicium including:
- intermittently moving said laser beam to successive positions on said diamond surface along a path corresponding to said indicium, said beam at each position covering a diamond surface area overlapping the diamond surface area covered by the beam at the immediately preceding position on said indicium;
- and adjusting the laser beam power to inscribe said diamond surface at each of said positions including causing a pulse of said laser beam applied to a first position on the path of said indicium to be of higher energy than that of the pulses applied to succeeding positions on said path.
Apparatus for providing an identifying indicium to a diamond, a surface of said diamond having an energy absorbing material thereon, comprising:
- means for controllably applying a laser beam to said surface of said diamond to inscribe into said diamond surface an indicium including:
- means for intermittently moving said laser beam to successive positions on said diamond surface along a path corresponding to said indicium, said beam at each position covering a diamond surface area overlapping the diamond surface area covered by the beam at the immediately preceding position on said indicium;
- and means for adjusting the laser beam power to inscribe said diamond surface at each of said positions including causing a pulse on said laser beam applied to a first position on the path of said indicium to be of higher energy than that of the pulses applied to succeeding positions on said path.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.