U.S. patent number 3,592,552 [Application Number 04/825,190] was granted by the patent office on 1971-07-13 for writing instrument.
This patent grant is currently assigned to The Gillette Company. Invention is credited to Curtis L. Malm.
United States Patent |
3,592,552 |
Malm |
July 13, 1971 |
WRITING INSTRUMENT
Abstract
A writing instrument having a forward writing point portion and
a removable cap therefor, the cap and writing portions each
including internal thin-walled collarlike cylindrical portions
whose free ends cooperate with sections of the opposite removable
port to provide a tight seal.
Inventors: |
Malm; Curtis L. (Norwalk,
CA) |
Assignee: |
The Gillette Company (Santa
Monica, CA)
|
Family
ID: |
25243326 |
Appl.
No.: |
04/825,190 |
Filed: |
May 16, 1969 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
401/202;
401/199 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B43K
23/126 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
B43K
23/12 (20060101); B43K 23/00 (20060101); B43k
008/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;401/98,124,202,213,243--247,262,269 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Charles; Lawrence
Claims
I claim:
1. In a writing instrument including a hollow barrel provided with
a forwardly facing stop shoulder and a forwardly extending
generally conical writing portion on said barrel and a removable
cap, the provision of:
a forwardly extending latch collar provided with a forwardly and
inwardly tapered forward edge carried by the writing point portion
with said forward edge spaced rearwardly from the front of the
writing point portion and radially outwardly from said writing
point portion, said collar having a concaved outer surface
rearwardly of its forward edge; and a removable cap for said
writing point portion, said cap having a cylindrical wall portion
with an open end, the end of said wall at such open end being
adapted to seat on a forwardly facing stop shoulder on the
barrel;
the internal surface of said cylindrical wall portion of the cap
including a plurality of inwardly extending angularly related
dimples adapted to contact the concave surface of the collar when
the end of the cap wall is seated on the stop shoulder.
2. A writing instrument as stated in claim 1 wherein the cap is
provided with an integral clip bar extending beyond said open end
of the cap into proximity with the barrel.
3. A writing instrument as stated in claim 1 wherein the cap has a
closed end opposite said open end and a point-receiving bore
extending into said closed end, said bore being of smaller diameter
than said open end, and a thin-walled cylindrical sealing collar
positioned within and unitary with the cap between said bore and
open end, said sealing collar having a free end facing the open end
and being free to adjustably position itself in sealing relation to
the writing point portion of a writing instrument inserted into
said cap.
4. A writing instrument as stated in claim 1, said cap being
provided with a closed end opposite said open end and a
point-receiving bore extending into said closed end, said bore
being of smaller diameter than said open end.
5. In a writing instrument including a removable unitary cap and
clip and a barrel, the provision of:
said cap having a closed end and an open end, a bore extending into
the closed end, said bore being of smaller diameter than the inner
diameter of the open end;
a thin-walled cylindrical sealing collar extension of said bore
positioned within and unitary with the cap between said bore and
open end, said sealing collar having a free end facing the open end
and being free to accept and sealingly contact the outer surface of
a writing point portion of a writing instrument inserted into said
cap;
a clip bar integral with said cap, said bar having a surface
parallel to the bore axis of the cap but spaced therefrom and
extending beyond said open end, said cap and clip bar being
composed of an organic plastic whose resiliency is reflected and
utilized in the clip bar; and
said barrel having a forwardly facing stop shoulder and a forwardly
extending generally conical writing portion, said writing portion
integrally carrying a forwardly extending inwardly tapered latch
collar having a forward edge spaced rearwardly from the front of
the writing portion and radially outwardly from said writing
portion, said cap including inwardly extending means adapted to
contact said latch collar outer surface so as to retain said cap on
said barrel when the end of the cap abuts said barrel stop
shoulder.
Description
The present invention relates to an improved construction of a
writing instrument which permits the manufacture of inexpensive,
but very efficient, writing instruments. More specifically, the
invention is directed to a writing instrument which includes a
hollow barrel provided with a forwardly facing stop shoulder just
to the rear of a forwardly extending, generally conical, writing
point portion; although certain aspects of the construction are new
per se, the invention also contemplates a novel and efficient
removable cap for use with this writing instrument, portions of the
barrel cooperating with certain portions of the cap so as to insure
efficient and long utilization of the writing point and the ink
employed in the writing instrument.
The term "writing point" as used herein may include the well known
ballpoint tip and the so-called porous writing tip as well as other
types of points, nibs or styli. However, particular attention will
be directed to the utilization of the invention with a so-called
porous point, the term "porous point" including any type of writing
point in which ink is fed from a reservoir carried by the barrel to
the actual writing end by channels exerting some capillary effect
upon the ink so as to feed the ink from the reservoir to the
writing point. Such points can be made from various fibrous
materials, including both natural and artificial fibers (such as
filaments, thread, tow or the like) composed of polyethylene,
polyamides, polyesters, and other plastic materials either in
extruded or drawn and hardened form. These various fibrous
materials are formed into writing tips of desired rigidity and
porosity by bonding the preferably generally aligned fibers or
filaments with a suitable curable resinous adhesive. Other "porous
points" may be made of sintered plastics, metals or ceramic
materials in finely granular or powdered form.
An object of the present invention therefore is to disclose and
provide an improved construction of writing instruments as herein
broadly defined.
Another object is to disclose and provide an inexpensive writing
instrument whose body or barrel is adapted to cooperate with a cap
member, and proper centralization of the point within the cap and
sealing of the writing point within the cap is attained.
Other objects and advantages will become apparent to those skilled
in the art from the following description. For purposes of
illustration, reference will be had to the appended drawings in
which:
FIG. 1 generally indicates one form of writing instrument which may
be made in accordance with this invention;
FIG. 2 is an enlarged view, partly in section, of a writing barrel
made in accordance with the invention;
FIGS. 3 and 4 are transverse sections taken along planes III-III
and IV-IV in FIG. 2;
FIG. 5 is an enlarged longitudinal section, partly in elevation, of
a cap constructed in accordance with this invention in cooperating
relation to an ink-filled pen barrel.
As generally indicated in FIG. 1, the writing instrument of the
present invention includes a barrel 1 having a body of sufficiently
large internal diameter to accommodate a suitable quantity of ink
or a sufficiently large capillary type of absorbent cylinder
adapted to hold and supply to the writing point an adequate amount
of ink. The barrel 1 is preferably provided with an open rear end
for the insertion of ink, reservoir filler, etc., such end being
normally closed by a plug 2. The forwardly extending writing point
portion 3 holds a suitable writing point 4 in position, and the
entire writing point portion may be distinguished from the barrel
per se as being that portion which is forward of shoulder 5. Such a
writing instrument may be provided with a removable cap 6 of
suitable artistic configuration, adapted to fit over the writing
point portion of the instrument so as to protect the point from
accidental breakage, the cap being provided with clip 7 whereby the
capped instrument may be readily carried on the edge of a
pocket.
The writing instrument barrel illustrated in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 is
particularly adapted for use with a rigid, porous point made of
polyamide filamentary material, preferably aligned in general and
bonded at discontinuously associated points while such fibers are
under tension in the manner disclosed in copending U.S. Pat.
application Ser. No. 560,405 (Goodenow, et al.). In the form
illustrated in these FIGS. the barrel 1 is provided with a main
chamber 11 which receives a preformed mass of porous absorbent
material, saturated with ink, such material cooperating with the
body of the barrel to provide a reservoir for ink.
The internal configuration of the chamber 11 may vary. In some
instances, it may be desirable to have the walls of the chamber 11
include flattened areas such as 12, each provided with a groove 16
which extends longitudinally of the barrel for an appreciable
portion of its length and is used as a means of supplying air from
a vent opening located at one end of the barrel to the opposite end
of the barrel. Venting or means of supplying air to the reservoir
are highly desirable, and may comprise a small port 17. The forward
end of the reservoir chamber 11 of the barrel is associated with
and preferably integral with the writing point portion 3 located
forwardly of the forwardly facing shoulder 5 formed in the outer
surface of the writing instrument. The external configuration of
the writing point portion 3 is preferably generally frustoconical
and in the drawings is shown provided with an axially extending
bore 13 adapted to snugly receive a writing point. This axial bore
is rearwardly enlarged in order to place the area around the point
in communication with the reservoir chamber 11. An enlarged
somewhat conical internal chamber within the writing point is
indicated at 14. As indicated by sections illustrated in FIGS. 3
and and 4, the transition from the chamber 14 to the main reservoir
chamber 11 is not smooth; the walls of chamber 14 may include three
angularly related surfaces at 60.degree. to each other, these
surfaces in turn terminating in a transverse plane wherein each of
the inclined longitudinally directed surfaces terminates in a
rearwardly facing abutment surface area such as the abutment
surface areas 15, 15' and 15". This arrangement automatically
provides three spaced transverse abutments against which the porous
or absorbent ink-containing cartridge or reservoir filler 34 may
abut and against which it can be stopped when it is introduced into
the barrel 1 through the rear open end of such barrel.
As best indicated in FIG. 4, the three abutment surfaces 15, 15'
and 15", are equiangularly related and one or more of the
longitudinally extending grooves 16 may be used for conducting air
from around the writing point to the rear portion of the ink
carrying filler in chamber 11. The grooves need not extend
completely to the rear end of the chamber since in the form
illustrated, the cross-sectional area of the chamber is gradually
increased from front to rear so as to facilitate core withdrawal
during injection molding of the entire barrel and writing point
assembly. The rear portion of the barrel may not be completely
filled with filler and will be receptive to air therearound.
Forwardly of the stop shoulder 5, the writing point is provided
with a forwardly extending latch collar 20. The forward end portion
of this cylindrical thin-walled collar is provided with an
outwardly directed bead or bulge and tapered forwardly and inwardly
as indicated at 21; the rear end of the collar is integral with the
body of the writing point portion. It is to be noted that this
latch collar has a concaved outer surface rearwardly of an
outwardly extending bead or ridge formed by its forward edge 21:
such concavity reduces the median thickness of the collar wall and
insures flexibility thereof; in actual practice, the thickness of
latch collar 20 at its zone of minimum thickness may be on the
order of 0.016 inch to 0.02 inch. Moreover, the forward edge 21 of
the latch collar is to the rear of the terminal forward portion of
the writing point portion 3. The form of cap shown in the drawings
is particularly adapted for use with pens employing so-called
porous tips. It is very important to make certain that this type of
pen does not expose its writing tip to the dehydrating action of
ambient air unnecessarily when it is not in actual use. The
construction herein disclosed makes certain that the writing point
is properly centered within its cap and that such point is sealed
from atmosphere.
As shown in the drawings, the cap 6 is provided with a closed end
30 (into which point receiving bore 22 extends) and an open end 31
of larger internal diameter than the bore 22. The end portion 31 is
a cylindrical wall portion which may be thin except for that part
of the wall which is formed into the rib and clip 7. The end
portion 31 is normally adapted to seat upon the forwardly facing
stop shoulder 5 of the barrel.
The internal surface of the bore 22 is preferably provided with
three equally angularly spaced inwardly extending ribs adapted to
guide the writing point 4 and the forward terminal end portion of
the conical writing point portion 3 of the barrel into the cap. One
of such ribs is indicated at 23. Between the bore 22 and the larger
end portion 31, the cap is provided with a thin-walled cylindrical
sealing collar 24, such sealing collar having a free end 25
(directed toward the open end of the cap) while the rest of the
collar is an integral part of the cap. The internal surface of the
open end portion 31 of the cap is also provided with a plurality of
angularly spaced dimples, such as 26. These dimples 26 are spaced
from the end of the cap a shorter distance than the distance
between the largest end portion of the latching collar 20, thereby
insuring the location of the dimples 26 in position to contact the
concave outer surface of the latching collar when the cap is in
place with its end 21 seated on the stop shoulder 5.
When the cap is seated on shoulder 5 of the barrel, it is held
there by the snap action of dimples 26 with respect to the
outwardly directed bead of latch collar 20. Simultaneously, the
free end 25 of sealing collar 24 contacts the gently tapering outer
surface of point portion 3 and forms a seal which completely
isolates the porous point 4 from the action of atmosphere.
FIG. 5 also illustrates one method of holding a porous point in
position in bore 13 of the writing point portion of barrel 1,
namely by means of a wire retainer 27 driven through the wall and
point therein. The end plug 2 may be press fitted into the rear end
of barrel 1, or may be similarly staked by means of a wire or may
be adhesively secured to the barrel. In many instances, it is
desirable to make the end 2 of the plug of a reduced diameter
(adapted to fit into open end 21 of the cap) so as to permit the
cap to be carried by the rear end of the barrel when the writing
instrument is being used.
It will be evident from the above description and drawings that
applicant has disclosed a simple and inexpensive construction,
employing a minimum number of parts, which are preferably made of
polypropylene or other plastic. The resilience of the plastic is
utilized in the construction to provide the snap-on latch, shirt
edge grasping, resilience to the clip bar 7 and a perfect air seal
between point 3 and the thin sealing collar 24 which is
protectively located within the open-ended portion 31. Assembly is
rapid and foolproof. Various types of writing points can be
employed. All changes coming within the scope of the claims are
embraced thereby.
* * * * *