Hand Stamps to Lasers

Date Stamper" is a loosely used term for the air impact marker. As the term "date stamper" implies the air impact marker may be used to mark a date code. Of course the air impact marker can de used to mark many others types of marks as well including: part numbers, QC marks, and other product identification.

When used as a "date stamper" the air impact marker may mark the date in a variety of formats.

MMDDYYYY

Where MM is the month, DD is the day, and YYYY is the year is a very common "date stamper" format. This format may be modified to include dashes or slashes between the elements. In addition, the YYYY for digit year code may be shorted, and an element for the shift code be be added to either end of the date code.

JJJY

The Julian Date Code is a very popular format for the "date stamper" to use. The JJJ is the Julian day of the year. Where 001 is January 1st and 365 is December 31st. The year code is usually one simple digit and it could be an alpha equivalent. For instance 2008 may be A and 2009 may be B and 2010 may be C ect. This is very popular because the date code is very short and will require both the minimal force to mark into the part, and there fore require the smallest (most economical) air impact marker. This format may be changed to include more characters for the year code, or an element may be added for the shift to this code as well.

The single largest reason to mark parts is to determine the date/time of manufacture. This is done for warranty and for QC reasons. The use of the air impact marks as "date stampers" is so widely used even when air impact markers are used for other types of marks the term "date stamper" is still use.