DE29614202U1 - Cap sharpener for mechanical pencils - Google Patents

Description

Cap sharpener for mechanical pencils

The present invention relates to a cap sharpener for mechanical pencils, and more particularly to a pencil sharpener which is mounted in the upper portion of a clip-fitted cap of a mechanical pencil and can sharpen the associated pencil lead.

When drawing and writing, most people use a conventional mechanical pencil with a coarse, refillable lead (approximately 2 mm). To make the pencil easy to write with, a lead sharpener is attached to the mechanical pencil. The lead sharpener is a tubular seat with a tapered metal tube at one end and a V-shaped tool holder extending from the tip of the tapered metal tube that holds a V-shaped metal blade. The other end of the tubular seat has an eraser. In the normal state, the end of the tubular seat that has the sharpener is pushed over the pencil body, while the eraser at the opposite end is exposed. When the pencil lead needs to be sharpened, the tubular seat is pulled off the pencil body, the pencil lead is inserted into the tapered metal tube, and the pencil lead is rotated clockwise, which allows the V-shaped blade to sharpen the pencil lead. However, this conventional sharpener has the following disadvantages :

1. When the lead is inserted into the top of the tapered metal tube, engaged with the V-shaped blade and rotated together with the pencil body, care must be taken to keep the long axis of the pencil lead and the long axis of the receiving seat substantially parallel to each other, otherwise there is a risk of breaking off a fragile refill lead.

2. This lead sharpener has only one opening, namely the opening of the tapered metal tube, so that the lifted lead powder easily accumulates in it and is difficult to remove.

Another conventional lead sharpener is known which has an ordinary pencil cap at one end and a cuboid seat with a blade for sharpening the pencil at the other end. However, this conventional cuboid sharpener is mainly used for ordinary pencils and not for mechanical pencils.

It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a cap sharpener for mechanical pencils which is designed as a unit with a pencil cap so that the cap can hold the pencil with substantially constant mutual alignment when the pencil lead is sharpened by the sharpener and in which the chip powder originating from the pencil lead can be emptied.

This object is achieved according to the invention by a cap sharpener for mechanical pencils, which has the features specified in claim 1. The dependent claims

are directed to preferred embodiments of the present invention.

The cap sharpener according to the invention comprises a cap with a blind end in which a central through-hole is provided through which a refill lead can be pushed from below, and above and in the vicinity of this through-hole a blade seat which has a surface inclined with respect to the center line of the hole and carries a blade, the lead shavings being dispensed through an opening.

Further features and advantages of the invention will become clear upon reading the following description of preferred embodiments, which refers to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of the cap sharpener according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is a side view of a mechanical pencil provided with the cap sharpener according to the invention with the cap placed on the writing tip of the pencil;

Fig. 3 is an exploded view of a cap according to a second embodiment of the present invention; and

Fig. 4 is a side view of the mechanical pencil with cap sharpener according to the invention, with the cap sharpener attached to the rear end of the pencil.

As shown in Fig. 1, the cap sharpener according to the invention contains a cap 1, at the upper end of the cap 1

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a cylinder 2 and a blade 3 on one side of the cylinder 2. As shown in Fig. 2, the mechanical pencil contains a pencil housing 4 with a lead end 41 onto which the cap 1 can be placed, and a push button 42 on the end of the pencil housing 4 opposite the lead end 41.

The cap 1 has a blind end 11 in an intermediate section which closes the cylinder 2, a central through-hole 111 in the blind end 11 which creates a connection between the cap interior and the cylinder interior through the blind end 11, two elastic supports 12 which extend downwards in the peripheral wall of the cap 1, and two grain-shaped projections 121 which are formed on the lower sections of the respective elastic supports 12. The cylinder 2 has an opening 21 on one side which is aligned with the blade 3. The blade 3 can be inserted obliquely through the opening 21 of the cylinder 2.

In use of the cap sharpener, as shown in Fig. 2, the cap 1 is pushed onto the pencil case 4, whereby the refill lead 41 is pushed through the through hole 111 of the blind end 11 and thereby reaches the cutting edge of the blade 3 in the cylinder 2. When the cap 1 and the pencil case 4 are rotated in opposite directions, due to the shape of the cap 1, the pencil case 4 can be kept aligned with the cap 1 even during the rotation, whereby the tip of the refill lead 41 can be sharpened and the lead shavings powder from the opening 21 are immediately emptied.

In Fig. 3, another embodiment of the cap sharpener for mechanical pencils according to the invention is shown. Here, the cap 1 and the cylinder 2 are formed separately. The blade 3 is attached to the cylinder 2. The

Cylinder 2 is connected to the blind end 11 by the engagement of a recessed connecting surface 221 on the open end 22 of the cylinder 2 with a projecting connecting surface 112 on the upper end of the cap 1. The cylinder 2 contains a cavity adapted to collect lead shavings.

When the sharpener mounted in the barrel 2 is not in use, the cap 1 can be put on the push button 42 at the other end of the pencil case 4, whereby the two grain-shaped projections 121 then protrude into a groove in the pencil case 4 near the push button 42, as shown in Fig. 4. This prevents accidental detachment of the cap 1 from the pencil case 4.

Claims (3)

Slot claims 1. Cap sharpener for mechanical pencils, in which a lead sharpener (3) is integrated in a pencil cap (I) is trained, characterized in that the cap (1) has a blind end (11) at its upper section and a cylinder (2) at the top of the blind end (11), the blind end (11) has a central through hole (111), at least one elastic holder (12) is provided in the peripheral wall of the cap (1), from which a grain-shaped projection (121) extends into the interior of the cap, the cylinder (2) contains a blade (3) which is arranged obliquely with respect to the centre line of the cap (1), and through the through hole (111) of the blind end (II) a pencil lead (41) can be pushed to reach the blade (3) in the cylinder (2). 2. Cap sharpener for mechanical pencils according to claim 1, characterized in that the cylinder has an opening (21) which is aligned with the blade (3) and allows emptying of chip powder. 3. Cap sharpener for mechanical pencils according to claim 1, characterized in that the cylinder (2) is formed separately from the cap (1), the blade (3) is mounted in the cylinder (2) within a cavity (22) at an angle with respect to the cylinder axis and the cylinder (2) is engaged with the blind end (11) of the cap (1) by means of a recessed connecting surface (221) and a protruding connecting surface (112), and the cavity in the cylinder (2) is used to collect the lead shavings powder.