CA1152960A

CA1152960A - Instrument marker pen with improved vent means

Info

Publication number: CA1152960A
Application number: CA000328210A
Authority: CA
Inventors: James R. Hubbard
Original assignee: Graphic Controls Corp
Current assignee: Graphic Controls Corp
Priority date: 1978-07-21
Filing date: 1979-05-23
Publication date: 1983-08-30
Also published as: GB2025858A; FR2431684A1; BR7903780A; AU4802379A; DE2928292A1; GB2025858B; ES244672U; ES244672Y; JPS5515893A; BE877059A

Abstract

INSTRUMENT MARKER PEN WITH IMPROVED VENT MEANS

Abstract of the Disclosure An instrument marker pen and holder therefor with improved vent means consisting of a molded vent closure in the pen, which may be pierceable or frangible or displaceable but which is adapted to be engaged by an element of the pen holder, which upon mounting of the pen in the holder engages the vent closure and provides an effective vent.

Description

)31-78 ~152960 SPECIFICATION

This invention pertains to an instrument marker pen with improved venting means and particularly to such pen with a vent closure feature which is sealed prior to use but which is automatically opened upon use by virtue of an engaging element in the pen holder.
Instrument marker pens have become progressively smaller and more readily replaceable and disposable as recording instru-ments have also gotten smaller. Typically such pens for most modern instruments are very small, and usually are formed of a molded plastic body and some nib or writing means projecting therefrom. Often, the body houses a fibrous reservoir material in communication wlth a capillary nib.
Displacement of ink from the reservoir through the capillary nib to the writing surface requires that ink in the pen be dis-placed by ambient air and thus some vent means must be provided in the pen.
Commonly this is done by a space along the length of the writing nib such as by housing a round nib in a square cross-section extending from the pen body.
Other venting means used in the past have included pierce-~ .
able diaphragm but these have required that the instrument operatorremember to manually pierce the vent and to do so in a manner ~which effectively leaves an opening in the pierceable vent so ~ that the vent effectively provides an air passageway into the interior of the pen body throughout the use of the pen. Various modes of failure of such venting means can be readily foreseen.
Pierceable diaphragms for instrumentpens have also been used in other contexts, such as that seen in U.S. Patent 3,046,556 in which the diaphra~n is pierced by a double tube element attached to a pump for priming the pen to deliver ink. ;
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~52960 In a preliminary patentability search on the invention hereof, the following patents were located:
3,229,669 KUYT
3,399,020 MARGOLIS et al 3,416,155 JONES
3,482,258 STEEN
3,611,430 WATCHORN et al 3,778,840 DAHL
3,804,540 MUTSCHLER
Of these patents, none are believed relevant to an integrally vented instrument marker pen as in the present invention.
U.S. Patent 3,399,020 - Margolis et al discloses that a sealed cosmetic-containing cartridge may be penetrated to provide a vent by a prong 16b in Figure 2, associated with the cartridge holding cap 16. Two deficiencies are seen in this disclosure, however. In the first place, the pierceable plastic cartridge is typically resilient and is even indicated to be so by the deformation shown in Figure

2 of the patent. Thus, it would be expected to form a seal around the periphery of penetrating spike 16b and not to provide an effective vent. Further, one designing an instrument marker pen and looking for a more effective venting means would not be expected to look for assistance in or find applicable design features in such an unrelated art as is represented by a cosmetic applicator.
This is further illustrated by the venting means shown in all of the other above-referenced patents. In each case it will be noted that the vent is integrally formed in the pen body or provided as one of the pen components but also in each case the vent effectively leaves the interior of the pen open through the vent means from the

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~LSZ960 manufacture of the pen. Thus, none provldes an integrally formed vent means which is actually sealed or closed until use and then automatically opened.
Still further, no prior art is known which discloses an instrument marker pen, the interior of which is sealed upon manufacture but which is adapted to be effectively vented upon installation with no separate manipulative step required on the part of the installer.
It is, therefore, the general objective of the present invention to provide such a sealed but readily vented instrument marker pen and particularly to provide a pen and pen holder which accomplishes this purpose.
To this end the invention consists of an instrument marker pen comprising a body adapted to slide in a given direction into a holder, a fibrous ink reservoir within said body, a capillary nib projecting from said body in ink delivery communicaton with the reservoir and, remote `
from the nib, a vent in the wall of the body and a yieldable vent closure carried by the body and adapted to yield under pressure from the holder in said given direction in order to provide an air passageway into said body.
Preferably, this vent closure may consist of a pierce-able or frangible or displaceable element or diaphragm and the holder may consist of a piercing tube or a member adapted to displace or engage a frangible or displaceable element in the wall or on the exterior surface of the pen body.
For a better understanding of the present invention, reference is m~de to the following detailed description of embodiments thereof taken in conjunction with the appended claims and the drawings, in which:

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1~52960 Figure 1 is a sectional view of the instrument marker pen and holder, prior to assembly, in one form of the present invention;
Figure 2 is a part.ial sectional view of the pen and holder of Figure 1 after assembly;
Figure 3 is a partial sectional view of an assembled instrument pen holder and pen utilizing a different embodiment of the present invention than that shown in Figures 1 and 2;

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~lSZ960 Figures 4 and 5 show still another embodiment of the present invention in sectional view, Figure 4 before assembly and Fi~,ure 5, a partial view, after assembly; and Figure 6 is a partial sectional view of still another embodiment of the present invention.
Referring more specifically to Figure l and 2, there is shown an instrument marker pen consisting of an essentially flat plastic marker body lO housing a fibrous reservoir material 12. At the front of body lO, stainless steel nib tube 14 pene-trates body lO and provides ink delivery communication to a porous writing nib 16 at the forward end thereof from fibrous reservoir 12 by an ink wicking intermediate material 18.
At the rear of body lO, body closure 20 is seen to include a vent closure means consisting of a frangible or pierce-able diaphragm 22 adapted to be engaged upon installation of the pen in a holder 24 by hollow tubular vent member 26. As shown, vent member 26 is pointed at its front edge to pierce vent closure diaphragm 22. In alternative embodiments, a flat forward edge may be used with a frangible or displaceable closure in place of ~20 :the pierceable diaphragm 22. :
A modified closure engaging means is seen in Figure 3 : in which diaphragm 22 is adapted to be displaced or pierced by , . .
a vent engaging element of holder 24, the vent engaging element comprising a lar~er diameter forward end 28 and a reduced diameter ~25 segment 30 adjacent thereto, the larger diameter segment adapted ,. , to produce a relatively large vent opening in the closure 20 and reduced diameter segment 30 providing a vent passageway there-through in the sp~ce between its outer diameter and the opening formed by large diameter segment 28.

o -78 ~152960 ~ St:ill another embodiment of the present invention is seen in Figures 4 and 5 in which closure 21 with a vent opening 30 also includes an integrally formed displaceable vent cover 32 frangible on one side thereof for separation from cover 21 upon engagement by a surface of holder 34 adapted to engage and dis-place cover 32.
Still another displaceable vent closure marker is seen in Figure 6 In this embodiment, a metal ball 36 is friction fit in vent opening 38 and adapted to be pushed inwardly to open vent opening 38 by a projection (not shown) of smaller diameter than opening 38, associated with a marker holder otherwise simi-lar to those shown in Figures 1 and 4, While this invention has been described with respect to a specific embodiment thereof, it is not limited thereto Rather, i the appended claims are intended to be construed to encompass not only those embodiments of the invention described and suggested but such other embodiments of the invention ~hich may be developed by those skilled in the art without departing from the true spirit and scope thereof .. ..~ , . . . .

Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows.

1. An instrument marker pen comprising a body adapted to slide in a given direction into a holder, a fibrous ink reservoir within said body, a capillary nib projecting from said body in ink delivery communicaton with the reservoir and, remote from the nib, a vent in the wall of the body and a yieldable vent closure carried by the body and adapted to yield under pressure from the holder in said given direction in order to provide an air passageway into said body.

2. A pen as claimed in claim 1 wherein the vent closure is integrally moulded with the body.

3. A pen as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the vent closure is a pierceable diaphragm.

4. A pen as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the vent closure is a frangible diaphragm.

5. A pen as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the vent closure is a displaceable diaphragm.

6. A pen as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the vent closure consists of an outwardly projecting, integrally formed, displaceable, vent cover.

7. A pen as claimed in claim 1 wherein the vent closure comprises a ball displaceably mounted in the vent.

8. A pen as claimed in claim 1, in combination with the holder therefor, said holder having a venting means thereon operable, in use, to engage the vent closure and to provide the air passageway therethrough when the pen is slid into the holder in said given direction.

9. A pen and holder as claimed in claim 8 wherein the venting means on the holder comprises a larger diameter segment adapted to penetrate the vent closure and a smaller diameter segment adapted to follow the larger diameter segment in penetration of said vent closure and to provide an air passageway space between its outer surface and a larger opening formed upon penetration by said larger diameter segment.

10. A pen and holder as claimed in claim 8 wherein the vent closure consists of an outwardly projecting, integrally formed, displaceable, vent cover, and wherein the venting means on the holder comprises a member which engages and displaces the cover of the vent closure of the pen body.

11. A pen and holder as claimed in claim 8 wherein the venting means of the pen holder comprises a hollow tube, open to the ambient atmosphere and having a portion shaped, in use, to penetrate the vent closure on insertion of the pen body in the holder.

12. A pen and holder as claimed in claim 8, 9 or 10, wherein said vent closure is so formed that engagement by the venting means produces a permanent air passageway.

13. A pen and holder as claimed in claim 8, 9 or 10, wherein said vent closure is adapted to be displaced relative to said body and to be so displaced by the venting means when the pen is slid into the holder, thereby to form said air passageway without causing distortion of said body.

14. An instrument marker pen and holder therefor, as recited in claim 1 or 7, wherein said holder further includes means separate from said vent closure engaging means for holding and positioning said marker pen.