CH707017A2 - Writing instrument, has body extending longitudinally according to central axis, and elastic element such as fastener, fixed in part of body, where elastic element and part of body are made of metal alloy that is partially amorphous - Google Patents

Abstract

The instrument (1) has a body (2) extending longitudinally according to a central axis (C). An elastic element (10) such as fastener (8) or spring, is fixed in a part of the body. The elastic element and the part of the body are made of metal alloy that is partially amorphous. A part of the body is made of completely amorphous material. The elastic element extends appreciably parallel to the central axis from one end that is fixed at a part of the body until a loose end of the body. Independent claims are also included for the following: (1) a method for manufacturing a writing instrument (2) a writing tip protection element.

Description

Description

The present invention relates to a writing instrument comprising a body extending longitudinally along a central axis and a clip extending substantially parallel to the central axis attached to at least a portion of the body to a free end .

BACKGROUND

It is known in the prior art writing instruments constituted a writing instrument comprising a body which extends longitudinally along a central axis C between a front end and a rear end. The front end has an opening through which a writing tip, not visible since retracted, can come out. At the rear end, the writing instrument has a push button that actuate a mechanism, not shown, output / retraction of the tip. The body can be made by two pieces, a conical nose and a barrel to which the conical nose is fixed.

This writing instrument is also provided with a staple used so that the user can hang the writing instrument to a shirt pocket for example. This clip consists of an arm provided at one end with a free protuberance to be in contact with the body of the writing instrument and, at a second end, attachment means for attaching said clip to the body of the clip. writing instrument. These attachment means may be a clip system that is to say that the clip system is inserted into a hole of the body to fix said clip. The attachment means may also be in the form of an unclosed ring which surrounds the body of the writing instrument.

A first disadvantage is that this type of writing instrument is unattractive and fragile. Indeed, the fact that the staple is an insert causes risks of tearing said staple during handling.

In addition, a disadvantage of this configuration is that it requires a manufacturing method in which the body and the staple are each made on their side. An additional assembly step is then provided to equip each writing instrument with a staple.

Moreover, the material in which the staple is made is any metal. Each material is characterized by its Young's modulus E also called modulus of elasticity (generally expressed in GPa), characterizing its resistance to deformation. In addition, each material is also characterized by its elastic limit oe (generally expressed in GPa) which represents the stress beyond which the material deforms plastically. Thus, it is possible, for a given thickness, to compare the materials by establishing for each the ratio of their elastic limit on their Young's modulus Oe / E, said ratio being representative of the elastic deformation of each material. Thus, the higher the ratio, the higher the elastic deformation of the material. However, the crystalline materials as used in the prior art, for example, the Cu-Be alloy, whose Young's modulus E is equal to 130 GPa and having a yield strength σ typically equal to 1 GPa, gives a low EE / E ratio, that is to say of the order of 0.007. These crystalline alloy parts have, therefore, limited elastic deformation. In the case of a writing instrument clip, it is found that the user tends to frequently manipulate this clip and the latter eventually deforms or even break.

Similarly, the use of crystalline precious metals for the manufacture of such a staple is not conceivable given the insufficient mechanical characteristics of these metals. Indeed, these precious metals have in particular a low elastic limit, of the order of 0.5 GPa for alloys of Au, Pt, Pd and Ag, against about 1 GPa for crystalline alloys conventionally used. Given the elastic modulus of these precious metals, which is of the order of 120 GPa, we arrive at an Oe / E ratio of about 0.004. However, a high Oe / E ratio is necessary for the production of such a staple as explained above. Therefore, those skilled in the art are not encouraged to use these precious metals for making such a staple.

Another disadvantage of existing writing instruments is the spring placed in the lower part of the body and which provides the restoring force to exit / retract the writing tip. Indeed, this spring is a single piece that sometimes escapes from the body of the writing instrument when replacing the writing tip, which eliminates a basic function of the writing instrument.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a writing instrument that overcomes the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior art by providing a writing instrument made of a single piece of at least partially amorphous material.

For this purpose, the invention relates to a writing instrument comprising

a body extending longitudinally along a central axis (C);

an elastic element attached to at least a part of the body; characterized in that the elastic member and said at least a portion of the body are of material and are made of at least partially amorphous metal alloy.

Advantageous embodiments of this writing instrument are the subject of the dependent claims.

In a first advantageous embodiment, the metal alloy comprises at least one element which is of the precious type, included in the list comprising gold, platinum, palladium, rhenium, ruthenium and rhodium. , silver, iridium or osmium.

In a second advantageous embodiment, the clip and said at least part of the body are made of totally amorphous material.

In a third advantageous embodiment, said material is free of cobalt, beryllium or nickel.

In another advantageous embodiment, said elastic member is a clip extending substantially parallel to the central axis from a first end attached to at least a portion of the body to a free end.

In another advantageous embodiment, said elastic element is a spring comprising at least one element extending substantially radially towards the central axis within said at least part of the body.

In another advantageous embodiment, said body comprises at an end before an opening through which a writing tip can exit.

In another advantageous embodiment, said body comprises at a front end a conical nose attached to said body and comprising an opening through which a writing tip can exit.

In another advantageous embodiment, said body further comprises complementary members directly embedded in said body during a casting operation or hot forming.

The invention also relates to a method of producing a writing instrument according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the body is made by the following steps: a) to provide the material constituting the body; b) producing said body by casting said material in a mold; c) cooling the assembly so as to give said body an amorphous structure; and d) recovering said body.

Another method of making a writing instrument is characterized in that the body is made by the following steps: a) making a preform with said at least partially amorphous material; b) heating the dies between the glass transition temperature Tg and the crystallization temperature Tx of said material; c) placing the preform between the dies; and d) pressing the preform with the dies for a predetermined time to replicate their shape on each of the faces of the preform; e) cooling said body to maintain the at least partially amorphous state.

Advantageously, the dies or the mold comprise surface conditions so as to replicate directly during the casting operation or hot forming.

Surprisingly, precious metals in amorphous form have a high ratio e / E for the production of parts such as the staple or the spring according to the present invention.

A first advantage of the present invention is that it has more interesting elastic characteristics. Indeed, in the case of an amorphous material, the ratio Oe / E is increased by raising the elastic limit oe. Thus, the material sees the stress, beyond which it does not return to its original shape, increase. This improvement of the ratio oj E then allows a larger deformation. This makes it possible to optimize the dimensions of the clip according to whether one wishes to increase the measurement range of the clip or to reduce the size of said clip for an equivalent measuring range. Similarly for the spring, the restoring force can be adjusted by changing the dimensions of said spring.

Another advantage of these amorphous materials is that they open new perspectives of formatting for the development of complicated shapes with greater precision. Indeed, the amorphous metals have the particular characteristic of softening while remaining amorphous in a given temperature range (Tx-Tgj specific to each alloy (with Tx: crystallization temperature and Tg: glass transition temperature). It is possible to shape them under a relatively low stress and at a low temperature, which makes it possible to reproduce fine geometries very precisely because the viscosity of the alloy decreases sharply and the latter thus marries all the details of the mold.

The present invention also relates to a protection element of a writing tip of an instrument comprising a cap extending longitudinally along a central axis and arranged to fit on the body of said instrument, and a staple. extending substantially parallel to the central axis from a first end attached to the cap to a free end characterized in that the clip and said cap are made of material and are made of at least partially amorphous metal alloy.

In a first advantageous embodiment, the metal alloy comprises at least one element which is of the precious type, included in the list comprising gold, platinum, palladium, rhenium, ruthenium, rhodium, silver, iridium or osmium.

In a second advantageous embodiment, said clip and said cap are made of totally amorphous material.

In a third advantageous embodiment, said material is free of cobalt, beryllium or nickel.

In another advantageous embodiment, said cap further comprises complementary members directly embedded in said body during a casting operation or hot forming.

The invention also relates to a method of producing a writing instrument which is characterized in that the cap is made by the following steps: a) to provide the constituent material of the cap; b) producing said cap by casting said material in a mold; c) cooling the assembly so as to give said cap an amorphous structure; and d) recovering said cap.

The method for producing a writing instrument is also characterized in that the cap is made by the following steps: a) making a preform with said at least partially amorphous material; b) heating the dies between the glass transition temperature Tg and the crystallization temperature Tx of said material; c) placing the preform between the dies; and d) exerting pressure on the preform with the dies for a predetermined time to replicate their shape on each of the faces of the preform, e) cooling said cap so as to maintain the at least partially amorphous state.

Advantageously, the dies or the mold comprise surface conditions so as to replicate directly during the casting operation or hot forming.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The objects, advantages and characteristics of the writing instrument according to the present invention will appear more clearly in the following detailed description of at least one embodiment of the invention given solely by way of non-limiting example and illustrated by the accompanying drawings in which: FIG. 1 schematically shows a longitudinal sectional view of a writing instrument according to a first embodiment of the present invention; fig. 2 schematically shows a side view of a writing implement according to the present invention; and FIG. 2A schematically shows a radial sectional view of a writing instrument according to the present invention; and FIG. 3 schematically shows a side view of a writing instrument according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Figs. 1 and 2 show a sectional view of a writing instrument 1 according to a first embodiment. This writing instrument 1 comprises a body 2 which extends longitudinally along a central axis C between a front end 3 and a rear end 4. The front end has an opening 5 through which a writing tip 6, which is not visible since retracted, can come out. This writing tip 6 may be a pencil or a pen or ballpoint or a felt tip disposed at the end of a refill (not shown) extending longitudinally in the body 2. At the rear end 4, the writing instrument has a push button 7 which can actuate a mechanism, not shown, output / retraction of the tip.

This writing instrument is also provided with an elastic element 10 such as a staple 8 used for the user to hang the writing instrument for example to a shirt pocket. This clip 8 consists of an arm 81 provided at a first end 82 with a protuberance 83 to be in contact with the body of the writing instrument. This clip is fixed, by a second end 84, to the body 2 of the writing instrument.

In a variant, the body 2 can be made by two parts, a conical nose 9 and a barrel to which the conical nose is fixed. It can also be made in three parts, a first part at which the clip is fixed, a second part for gripping said instrument and a third part which is the conical nose attached to the second part. These three parts thus form said body 2.

Advantageously according to the invention, at least the first part of the body 2 and the clip 8 are made of material and are made of a totally amorphous or partially amorphous material. In particular, metal glasses are used

4 that is to say amorphous metal alloys. This configuration of having at least the first part of the body 2 and the clip 8 monoblock offers a more solid and better quality.

Indeed, the advantage, in terms of deformation of these amorphous metal alloys, comes from the fact that during their manufacture, the atoms component amorphous material do not arrange according to a particular structure as is the case for crystalline materials. Thus, even if the Young's modulus E of a crystalline material and of an amorphous material is identical, the elastic limit, oe, is different. Indeed, the amorphous material is differentiated by an elastic limit oeaplus higher than that of the crystalline material of a ratio substantially equal to two. This allows the amorphous materials to be able to withstand greater stress before reaching the elastic limit as, the stress thus supported being four to eight times greater than that supported by a crystalline equivalent material.

In the first place, this configuration improves the reliability of the clip 8 on the writing instrument. Indeed, the elastic limit oea is higher which makes the plastic region more distant and therefore reduces the risk of plastically deforming the clip 8 when the user manipulates the writing instrument.

In addition, advantageously, it is found that a staple 8 of amorphous material also allows for the same constraint, the optimization of its dimensioning to withstand the same constraints. Indeed, the dimensions of the clip 8, such as the thickness modify its deformation. Advantageously, with an increasing elastic limit, the stress that can be applied to the clip 8, without plastic deformation, increases. It then becomes possible to keep the same resistance to stress by reducing its thickness. The clip 8 becomes, therefore, thinner and therefore less visible which can bring a plus in terms of aesthetics.

Moreover, amorphous materials or amorphous metal alloys have the characteristic of being harder than their crystalline equivalents. As a result, the body 2 made of such materials will be harder and therefore more resistant.

Examples of amorphous materials that may be used are: Zr41 Ti14Cu12Ni10Be23 whose Young's modulus E is equal to 105 GPa and the elastic limit is σθ = 1, 9 GPa, and which has a ratio oj E = 0.018 and Pt57.5Cu14.7Ni5.3P22.3 whose Young's modulus E is 98 GPa and the yield point is ae = 1.4 GPa with a ratio Oe / E = 0.014. It will be understood that the alloys recited in the following patents: US 5,288,344; US 5,618,359 and US 7,368,022 are incorporated by reference in said application.

Of course, there are other characteristics that may be of interest, such as the allergenic appearance of the alloy. Indeed, it can be noted that the materials that are crystalline or amorphous often use alloys comprising allergenic elements. For example, such types of alloys include cobalt, beryllium or nickel. Thus, variants of the invention can be made with alloys not containing these allergenic elements. It is also possible that allergenic elements are present but that they do not cause an allergenic reaction.

According to another variant of the invention, it can be provided that the at least first part of the body 2 and the agrate 8 are made of noble material. Indeed, in the crystalline state, the noble materials such as gold or platinum are too soft to allow the realization of a staple 8 flexible and robust. But when they are in the form of metal glass, that is to say in the amorphous state, these precious metals are then endowed with characteristics such that their use becomes possible while providing a valuable and aesthetic appearance . Preferably, the platinum 850 (Pt 850) and the gold 750 (Au 750) are the precious metals that will be used for producing the assembly formed by the at least first part of the body 2 and the staple 8. Of course, other precious metals may be used such as palladium, rhenium, ruthenium, rhodium, silver, iridium and osmium. It will be understood that the alloys cited in the following patents: WO 2006/045106 and WO 2004/059 019 are incorporated by reference in said application.

It can also be seen that the amorphous metal alloys have an ease of formatting. Indeed, the amorphous metals have the particular characteristic of softening while remaining amorphous in a given temperature range (Tx-Tg) specific to each alloy. It is thus possible to shape them under a relatively low stress and a not too high temperature.

This method, specifically described in US patent 2003/0 047 248 incorporated by reference in the present application, consists of a hot forming of an amorphous preform. This preform is obtained by melting the metal elements constituting the amorphous alloy in an oven. This fusion is done under control with the aim of obtaining a contamination of the oxygen alloy as low as possible. Once these elements are melted, they are cast as a semi product, then cooled rapidly to maintain the amorphous state. Once the preform is made, the hot forming is performed in order to obtain a final piece. This hot forming is carried out by pressing in a temperature range between Tg and Tx for a determined time to maintain a totally or partially amorphous structure. This is done in order to maintain the characteristic elastic properties of the amorphous metals. The different stages of definitive formatting are then: i. Heating the dies having the negative shape of the assembly formed of the at least first portion of the body 2 and the staple 8 to a selected temperature, ii. Introduction of the amorphous metal preform between the hot matrices, iii. Application of a closing force on the matrices in order to replicate the geometry of the latter on the amorphous metal preform, iv. Waiting for a chosen maximum time,

5

Claims (20)

v. Opening of the matrices, vi. Rapid cooling of the assembly formed of the at least first part of the body 2 and the clip 8 below Tg, and vii. Output of the assembly formed of the at least first portion of the body 2 and the staple 8 of the dies. This shaping mode can reproduce very precisely fine geometries because the viscosity of the alloy decreases sharply, the latter thus marrying all the details of the mold. The advantage of this method is that there is no solidification shrinkage which makes it possible to have a more precise part, produced at a lower temperature than by injection. In addition, this makes it possible to make at least a first part of the body 2 and the staple in one and the same step. In addition, having at least the first portion of the body 2 and the staple 8 from the material reduces the risk of tearing. Of course, other types of formatting are possible such as injection shaping. This process, described specifically in US Pat. No. 5,71 1,363 incorporated by reference in the present application, consists in molding the alloy obtained by melting the metal elements in an oven, in the form of any part such as a bar and that in a crystalline or amorphous state, it does not matter. Then this piece of any form of alloy is melted again to be injected into a mold having the shape of the final piece. Once the mold is filled, it is rapidly cooled to a temperature below Tg in order to avoid the crystallization of the alloy and thus obtain the assembly formed of the at least first part of the body 2 and the staple 8 of amorphous or semi-amorphous metal. Thus, it is possible to form the assembly formed of the at least first portion of the body 2 and the clip 8 according to the desired geometry. An alternative is to make decorations directly during the manufacture of the assembly formed by the at least first part of the body 2 and the staple 8. For this, the decorations of the writing instrument 1 such that the type of Geneva coast, beading, satin or guilloche are made directly in the negative impressions of said mold or said matrices used for casting respectively hot forming. Thus, in addition to the advantages mentioned above, this variant also makes it possible to do without the heavy tools currently used to make these decorations in series. It is understood that the method therefore allows the realization of a writing instrument decorated more quickly and, incidentally, cheaper. Advantageously, it may be provided that complementary members such as pearlescent inserts or precious stones are embedded in the writing instrument. It may be provided that this complementary member is directly placed in the mold or on the dies and inlaid during the casting or hot forming steps. This complementary body is thus an integral part of the writing instrument and is not a reported part. In a second embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the writing instrument 1 comprises a protective element or cap 20 intended to be fixed on the body 2 and to protect the front end 3. Indeed, the writing tip 6 is arranged at this end before 3 and it is sometimes necessary to protect this writing tip, especially in the case of a pen or felt tip. This cap 20 comprises a component extending longitudinally along the central axis C. This component is arranged to fit on the body 2 of said instrument. It is conceivable that said protective element comprises a clip 80. This clip 80 extends substantially parallel to the central axis (C) from a first end attached to the component to a free end. Advantageously, the clip 80 and said cap 20 are made of material and are made of at least partially amorphous metal alloy. Of course, the variants described for the first embodiment are also possible for this second embodiment. In the case of a pusher writing instrument and mine or retractable ball, it will also be noted that the body 2 may further comprise a return spring 1 1 of the writing-charging tip assembly like this. can be seen in fig. 2 and 2A. Advantageously, this spring comes from material with the body 2 and can take the form of a perforated washer extending radially towards the center of the body 2 ensuring the spring effect. Alternatively this washer can be replaced by a plurality of tongues extending radially towards the center of the body 2. A slight incline may be present to ensure better operation. The use of amorphous metal alloy makes it possible to obtain a spring which bears a higher stress, guaranteeing greater reliability. This return spring 1 1 can also be made directly with the body 2 during a hot forming or casting operation. It will be understood that various modifications and / or improvements and / or combinations obvious to those skilled in the art can be made to the various embodiments of the invention described above without departing from the scope of the invention defined by the appended claims. claims 1. Writing instrument (1) comprising - a body (2) extending longitudinally along a central axis (C); - an elastic member (10) attached to at least a portion of the body; characterized in that the elastic element (10) and said at least a portion of the body (2) are made of material and are made of at least partially amorphous metal alloy. 2. The writing instrument as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the metal alloy comprises at least one element which is of the precious type, included in the list comprising gold, platinum, palladium, rhenium, ruthenium, rhodium, silver, iridium or osmium. 3. Writing instrument according to claim 1, characterized in that the clip and said at least part of the body are made of totally amorphous material. 4. Writing instrument according to one of the preceding claims characterized in that said material is free of cobalt, beryllium or nickel. 5. Writing instrument according to one of the preceding claims characterized in that said elastic member is a clip (8) extending substantially parallel to the central axis (C) from a first end attached to at least a portion of the body to a free end. 6. writing instrument according to one of the preceding claims characterized in that said elastic member (10) is a spring (1 1) having at least one member extending substantially radially towards the central axis (C) to the interior of said at least a portion of the body (2). 7. Writing instrument according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said body comprises at a front end an opening through which a writing tip can exit. 8. Writing instrument according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that said body comprises at a front end a conical nose fixed to said body and comprising an opening through which a writing tip can exit. 9. Writing instrument according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said body further comprises complementary members directly embedded in said body during a casting operation or hot forming. 10. A method of producing a writing instrument according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the body (2) is formed by the following steps: a) to provide the material constituting the body (2); b) producing said body by casting said material in a mold; c) cooling the assembly so as to give said body an amorphous structure; and d) recovering said body. 1 1. A method of producing a writing instrument according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the body (2) is made by the following steps: a) make a preform with said material at least partially amorphous; b) heating the dies between the glass transition temperature Tg and the crystallization temperature Tx of said material; c) placing the preform between the dies; and d) exerting pressure on the preform using the dies for a predetermined time to replicate their shape on each of the faces of the preform, e) cooling said body (2) so as to maintain the state at least partially amorphous. 12. A method of producing a writing instrument according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that the dies or the mold comprise surface conditions so as to replicate them directly during the casting or forming operation. hot. 13. Protective element of a writing tip of an instrument comprising a cap (20) extending longitudinally along a central axis and arranged to fit on the body of said instrument, and a clip (80) s' extending substantially parallel to the central axis (C) from a first end attached to the cap to a free end characterized in that the clip and said cap are made of material and are made of at least partially amorphous metal alloy. 14. Protective element according to claim 13, characterized in that the metal alloy comprises at least one element which is of the precious type, included in the list comprising gold, platinum, palladium, rhenium, ruthenium, rhodium, silver, iridium or osmium, 15. Protective element according to claim 13, characterized in that said clip (80) and said cap (20) are made of totally amorphous material. 16. Protective element according to one of claims 13 to 15 characterized in that said material is free of cobalt, beryllium or nickel. 17. Protective element according to claims 13 to 15, characterized in that said cap (20) further comprises complementary members directly embedded in said body during a casting operation or hot forming. 18. A method of producing a writing instrument according to one of claims 13 to 17, characterized in that the cap (20) is formed by the following steps: a) to provide the constituent material of the cap (20) ; b) producing said cap (20) by casting said material in a mold; c) cooling the assembly so as to give said cap (20) an amorphous structure; and 7 d) recovering said cap (20). 19. A method of producing a writing instrument according to one of claims 13 to 17, characterized in that the cap (20) is formed by the following steps: a) make a preform with said material at least partially amorphous; b) heating the dies between the glass transition temperature Tg and the crystallization temperature Tx of said material; c) placing the preform between the dies; and d) pressing the preform with the dies for a predetermined time to replicate their shape on each of the faces of the preform, e) cooling said cap (20) to maintain the state at least partially amorphous. 20. A method of producing a writing instrument according to claim 18 or 19, characterized in that the dies or the mold comprise surface conditions so as to replicate them directly during the casting or forming operation. hot. 8