Laser marking apparatus

Claim 2

A beam apparatus for marking a substrate, comprising: (a) a plurality of lasers each generating a beam having an energy intensity sufficient to mark the substrate; (b) beam projecting means for directing each of said laser beams individually to impinge the substrate and form a discrete dot on the substrate; and (c) means for modulating the energy intensity of each of said laser beams to apply energy intensity sufficient to mark the substrate only to selected ones of said discrete spots thereby to form a predetermined dot pattern on the substrate.

Claim 3

The apparatus of Claim 1 wherein each of said plurality of laser beams has an individual initial direction and said beam projecting means is disposed to intercept said beams as initially directed and divert its direction at least once before projecting said laser beam toward said discrete spot on the substrate.

Claim 4

A laser apparatus for marking indicia onto a substrate comprising: (a) a plurality of lasers, each generating a beam of coherent energy, the lasers being arranged in at least two groups, the beams from each group defining a plane, the planes being generally parallel to each other; (b) an exit lens deployed in the path of the laser beam and onto which the energy beams are directed for focusing onto said substrate positioned at the focal plane of the lens; whereby the exit lens merges the parallel groups of beams into a single column of beams at its focal plane.

Claim 5

A laser apparatus for marking indicia onto a substrate comprising: (a) a plurality of lasers, each generating a beam of coherent energy, the lasers being arranged in at least two groups, the beams from each group defining a plane, the planes being generally parallel to each other; (b) an exit lens deployed in the path of the laser beam and onto which the energy beams are directed for focusing onto said substrate positioned at the focal plane of the lens; whereby the exit lens merges the parallel groups of beams into a single column of beams at its focal plane.

Claim 6

The apparatus of Claim 3 further including means for modulating the energy from each of said lasers whereby beams in said single column can be selectively marked onto said substrate to form desired indicia.

Claim 7

A laser apparatus for marking indicia onto a substrate comprising: (a) a plurality of lasers, each generating a beam of coherent energy, the lasers being arranged in at least two groups, the beams from each group defining a plane; (b) an exit lens deployed in the path of the beams onto which the energy beams are directed to impinge the center of the lens for focusing onto said substrate positioned at its focal plane; whereby the exit lens focuses each group of beams into a column of spots at its focal plane.

Claim 8

A laser apparatus for marking indicia onto a substrate comprising: (a) a plurality of lasers, each generating a beam of coherent energy, the lasers being arranged in at least two groups, the beams from each group defining a plane; (b) an exit lens deployed in the path of the beams onto which the energy beams are directed to impinge the center of the lens for focusing onto said substrate positioned at its focal plane; whereby the exit lens focuses each group of beams into a column of spots at its focal plane.

Claim 9

The apparatus of Claim 5 further including means for modulating the energy from each of said lasers whereby beams can be selectively marked onto said substrate to form desired indicia.

Claim 10

A laser apparatus for marking indicia onto a substrate comprising: (a) a plurality of lasers, each generating a beam of coherent energy; (b) a delivery tube into which the energy beams pass and through which the energy beams travel; (c) an exit lens deployed at the end of the delivery tube remote from the lasers and onto which the energy beams are directed for focusing onto said substrate; (d) reflecting means for directing the energy beams from the lasers to the exit lens and including means for reducing the spacing between energy beams to minimize the length of the beam path and the corresponding length of the delivery tube.

Claim 11

A laser apparatus for marking indicia onto a substrate comprising: (a) a plurality of lasers, each generating a beam of coherent energy; (b) a delivery tube into which the energy beams pass and through which the energy beams travel; (c) an exit lens deployed at the end of the delivery tube remote from the lasers and onto which the energy beams are directed for focusing onto said substrate; (d) reflecting means for directing the energy beams from the lasers to the exit lens and including means for reducing the spacing between energy beams to minimize the length of the beam path and the corresponding length of the delivery tube.

Claim 12

A laser apparatus for marking indicia onto a substrate comprising: (a) a plurality of lasers, each generating a beam of coherent energy, the lasers being arranged in at least two groups, the beams from each group defining a plane, the planes being generally parallel to each other; (b) a delivery tube into which the energy beams pass and through which the energy beams travel; (c) an exit lens deployed at the end of the delivery tube remote from the lasers and onto which the energy beams are directed for focusing onto said substrate positioned at its focal plane; (d) reflecting means for maintaining the groups of beams generally parallel as they pass through the delivery tube and for directing the groups of energy beams onto the exit lens, whereby the exit lens merges the parallel groups of beams into a single column of beams at its focal plane.

Claim 13

A laser apparatus for marking indicia onto a substrate comprising: (a) a plurality of lasers, each generating a beam of coherent energy, the lasers being arranged in at least two groups, the beams from each group defining a plane, the planes being generally parallel to each other; (b) a delivery tube into which the energy beams pass and through which the energy beams travel; (c) an exit lens deployed at the end of the delivery tube remote from the lasers and onto which the energy beams are directed for focusing onto said substrate positioned at its focal plane; (d) reflecting means for maintaining the groups of beams generally parallel as they pass through the delivery tube and for directing the groups of energy beams onto the exit lens, whereby the exit lens merges the parallel groups of beams into a single column of beams at its focal plane.

Claim 14

The apparatus of Claim 8 further including means for modulating the energy from each of said lasers whereby beams in said single column can be selectively marked onto said substrate to form desired indicia.

Claim 15

Laser apparatus for marking or inscribing symbols onto articles or substrates supported for relative movement, comprising: a plurality of lasers adapted to generate energy beams; means for modulating the energy intensities of the lasers; means for projecting the laser energy onto the articles, the projection of energy from each laser onto an article defining a discrete spot on the surface of the article at a given time instant, the projecting means including means for aligning the apparatus whereby the plurality of spots projected by the several lasers are spaced collinearly at any instant of time so that the time projection of the lasers onto the article define parallel lines or rows on the surface thereof whereby symbols may be inscribed on the article by individually and selectively modulating the energy intensities of the lasers.

Claim 16

Laser apparatus for marking or inscribing symbols onto articles or substrates supported for relative movement, comprising: a plurality of lasers adapted to generate energy beams; means for modulating the energy intensities of the lasers; means for projecting the laser energy onto the articles, the projection of energy from each laser onto an article defining a discrete spot on the surface of the article at a given time instant, the projecting means including means for aligning the apparatus whereby the plurality of spots projected by the several lasers are spaced collinearly at any instant of time so that the time projection of the lasers onto the article define parallel lines or rows on the surface thereof whereby symbols may be inscribed on the article by individually and selectively modulating the energy intensities of the lasers.

Claim 17

The laser marking apparatus of Claim 10 wherein each of said modulating means is adapted to selectively enable a laser to produce a plurality of spaced dots defining the row on the surface of the moving article, the modulating means being synchronized whereby the dots produced by the selectively enabled lasers define character columns.

Claim 18

Laser apparatus for marking or inscribing characters and other symbols onto moving articles or substrates comprising: an exit lens having a focal length, the surface of the articles to be marked being positioned generally at the focal plane of the exit lens; a housing; a plurality of lasers arranged in the housing such that the energy outputs from the lasers are oriented in generally parallel relationship; means for directing the energy beams from the lasers onto the exit lens at predetermined angles between said beams whereby the predetermined spacing of the rows is fixed by said angles and by the focal length of the exit lens.

Claim 19

Laser apparatus for marking or inscribing characters and other symbols onto moving articles or substrates comprising: an exit lens having a focal length, the surface of the articles to be marked being positioned generally at the focal plane of the exit lens; a housing; a plurality of lasers arranged in the housing such that the energy outputs from the lasers are oriented in generally parallel relationship; means for directing the energy beams from the lasers onto the exit lens at predetermined angles between said beams whereby the predetermined spacing of the rows is fixed by said angles and by the focal length of the exit lens.

Claim 20

The laser marking apparatus of Claim 12 in which the means for directing the energy beams at predetermined angles includes a mirror positioned along the energy path of each laser, the mirrors oriented to reflect the laser beams at said predetermined angles.

Claim 21

Laser apparatus for marking or inscribing characters and other symbols onto moving articles or substrates, the surface of the articles to be marked being linearly moved generally within a focal plane comprising: a housing; a plurality of lasers arranged substantially in side-by-side relationship generally along a lateral axis in the housing such that the outputs from the lasers form energy beams generally perpendicular to the lateral axis, an exit lens-having a focal length; means for directing the energy beams from the lasers onto the exit lens at predetermined angles between said beams as measured within a plane defined by the energy beams, said directing means includes mirrors positioned to reflect the energy beam of each laser, the mirrors being arranged such that the apparent lateral spacing between mirrors as viewed along a reflective energy beam axis is less than the spacing between laser output beams thereby facilitating an apparatus of shorter overall laser beam path length.

Claim 22

Laser apparatus for marking or inscribing characters and other symbols onto moving articles or substrates, the surface of the articles to be marked being linearly moved generally within a focal plane comprising: a housing; a plurality of lasers arranged substantially in side-by-side relationship generally along a lateral axis in the housing such that the outputs from the lasers form energy beams generally perpendicular to the lateral axis, an exit lens-having a focal length; means for directing the energy beams from the lasers onto the exit lens at predetermined angles between said beams as measured within a plane defined by the energy beams, said directing means includes mirrors positioned to reflect the energy beam of each laser, the mirrors being arranged such that the apparent lateral spacing between mirrors as viewed along a reflective energy beam axis is less than the spacing between laser output beams thereby facilitating an apparatus of shorter overall laser beam path length.

Claim 23

Laser apparatus for marking or inscribing characters and other symbols onto moving articles or substrates comprising: a housing; a plurality of lasers disposed in the housing in substantially side-by-side relationship, a minimum spacing between adjacent lasers being defined by the diameter of the lasers about their respective energy output axes, the lasers arranged into at least two groups in which the energy axes of the lasers comprising each group define a separate plane, an exit lens having a focal length, the surface of the articles to be marked being moved in linear fashion generally within said focal plane; a mirror positioned along the beam path of each laser, each mirror adapted to direct the laser beams onto the exit lens at predetermined angles therebetween as measured with respect to said planes; a predetermined character row spacing being determined by the exit lens focal length and by said predetermined laser beam angles; the mirrors being spaced within their respective laser beam planes such that the incident and reflected energy beams are not blocked by the mirrors and such that the quotient of the spacing between adjacent mirrors, divided by the energy beam path length from the mirrors to the exit lens provides the predetermined angular relationship between the energy beams and the row spacing.

Claim 24

Laser apparatus for marking or inscribing characters and other symbols onto moving articles or substrates comprising: a housing; a plurality of lasers disposed in the housing in substantially side-by-side relationship, a minimum spacing between adjacent lasers being defined by the diameter of the lasers about their respective energy output axes, the lasers arranged into at least two groups in which the energy axes of the lasers comprising each group define a separate plane, an exit lens having a focal length, the surface of the articles to be marked being moved in linear fashion generally within said focal plane; a mirror positioned along the beam path of each laser, each mirror adapted to direct the laser beams onto the exit lens at predetermined angles therebetween as measured with respect to said planes; a predetermined character row spacing being determined by the exit lens focal length and by said predetermined laser beam angles; the mirrors being spaced within their respective laser beam planes such that the incident and reflected energy beams are not blocked by the mirrors and such that the quotient of the spacing between adjacent mirrors, divided by the energy beam path length from the mirrors to the exit lens provides the predetermined angular relationship between the energy beams and the row spacing.

Claim 25

The laser marking apparatus of Claim 15 in which the apparent spacing between mirrors is less than the minimum spacing between lasers facilitating impingement of the incident energy beams onto the exit lens at said predetermined angles thereby resulting in an apparatus of shorter overall beam path length.

Claim 26

The laser marking apparatus of Claim 15 including means for initially adjusting each of the mirrors such that the energy beams from each of said laser groups define separate planes impinging the exit lens in parallel relationship whereby said lens focuses the planar, parallel beams to a line defined in the focal plane of the lens.

Claim 27

Laser apparatus for marking or inscribing characters and other symbols onto moving articles or substrates comprising: a housing; a plurality of lasers within the housing; a mirror associated with each laser mounted within the housing; adjustment means for aligning the mirrors; an exit lens onto which the output energy from each laser is directed by its associated mirror, whereby the laser energy from each of said lasers is focused onto a surface of an article to be marked as a spot thereon.

Claim 28

Laser apparatus for marking or inscribing characters and other symbols onto moving articles or substrates comprising: a housing; a plurality of lasers within the housing; a mirror associated with each laser mounted within the housing; adjustment means for aligning the mirrors; an exit lens onto which the output energy from each laser is directed by its associated mirror, whereby the laser energy from each of said lasers is focused onto a surface of an article to be marked as a spot thereon.

Claim 29

The laser marking apparatus of Claim 18 wherein the lasers define substantially parallel energy output axes having alspacing therebetween determined by the lateral dimension of the lasers; the laser energy reflected from the mirrors defines parallel reflection energy axes, the distances between the reflection axes being less than the distances between the output axes whereby the length of the beam paths to the exit lens may be correspondingly foreshortened.

Claim 30

The laser marking apparatus of Claim 18 wherein the lasers define substantially parallel energy output axes having a minimum spacing therebetween determined by the lateral dimension of the lasers, said output axes further defining at least two generally parallel planes whereby the effective spacing between adjacent energy output axes, as measured along a line parallel to the planes and perpendicular to the energy output axes, may be less than the minimum energy axes spacing.

Claim 31

The laser marking apparatus of Claim 20 wherein laser energy output defining each of the planes is reflected such that said reflected laser energy defines separate parallel planes corresponding to the laser output planes whereby the laser energy from each of the lasers may be focused by the exit lens onto a surface of an article to be marked as dots along a line.

Claim 32

The laser marking apparatus of Claim 20 wherein laser energy output defining each of the planes is reflected such that said reflected laser energy is incident on the exit lens along a line whereby the laser energy from the lasers defining each of said planes may be focused by the exit lens onto a surface of an article to be marked as dots along at least two discrete lines.