GB2247865A

GB2247865A - Multiangular pen

Info

Publication number: GB2247865A
Application number: GB9117058A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Shizuo Yamanaka
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1987-12-07
Filing date: 1988-12-06
Publication date: 1992-03-18
Anticipated expiration: 2008-12-06
Also published as: GB2247864A; GB2247864B; GB9117055D0; GB9117058D0; GB2247865B

Abstract

A pen which is able to write equally well in any direction comprises a multiangular pen nib (1), a pen nib holder sleeve (31) having a through hole adapted by means of grooves (34) to hold the pen nib (1) and to prevent it from rotating, a holding sleeve (38) having a guide hole communicating with the hole in the pen nib holder sleeve (31), and ink introducing cores (40a) made of fibrous material passing through the holes in the sleeves to pen nib (1). A pen holder (41) (Fig. 1) houses an assembly of the pen nib, the sleeves and an ink holding member (45). Holder pieces (36) are provided integral with the front end of holder sleeve (31). <IMAGE>

Description

Title: MULTIANGULAR PEN The present invention relates to a multiangular pen which is excellent in rigidity and durability and which can be easily manufactured.

In order to overcome the disadvantage that writing can be done only in one angular direction when the conventional writing means having a pen nib is used, there has been proposed a multiangular pen comprising plural pen nib pieces (three pen nib pieces, for example) each having substantially the same construction as that of the conventional pen nib and said pen nib pieces being bonded back-to-back to one another to enable writing to be done in all directions.

One of these multiangular pens is disclosed in U.S.

Patent Specification No. 4465391, for example. This multiangular pen comprises a pen nib having a trunk extending in the longitudinal centre axis and projections radially and outwardly projected from the trunk with a certain angular interval of about 1200 interposed between the projections, and a pen core closely contacted with the outer surface of the pen nib to hold the latter.

In the case of this pen nib assembly, however, the pen core must be made of synthetic resin and fine ink passages which allow ink to flow to the front end of the pen nib due to capillarity must be formed at the barrel portion of the pen core. This takes a long time and makes the process difficult.

Holder pieces which are intended to closely contact with the outer surface of the pen nib must be shaped to meet the pen nib and this calls for accuracy in the manufacturing process.

The pen nib is fitted into a holder at the front end of the pen core and supported by this holder. Depending upon the force on the pen nib, therefore, the holder can be bent and deformed to make the pen nib unsteady.

The present invention aims to provide a multiangular pen having a rigid pen nib and which is capable of substantially reducing the difficulty of manufacturing the pen.

A second aim of the present invention is to provide a multiangular pen capable of carrying out the pen nib assembly with reliability.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a multiangular pen comprising a pen nib having a trunk extending in the longitudinal direction of the pen, plural projections radially and outwardly projected from the trunk with a certain angular interval interposed between the projections, plural slits each extending downward from the tip of the trunk between the projections and plural clearances each extending along the tip portion of the projection, and an ink chamber surrounded by the slits and projections, said slits and projections being alternately arranged with the same angular interval interposed between the slit and the projection and the tip portion of said pen nib being formed as a pyramid; a pen nib holder sleeve having a through hole extending along its centre axis to house the pen nib and also having a tapered portion whose diameter becomes smaller and smaller as it comes nearer and nearer the front end thereof; a holding sleeve having a guide hole extending in its longitudinal direction and communicating with the pen nib housing hole, said holding sleeve being fitted into the pen nib housing hole at the back end side of said pen nib holder sleeve to strike against the back end face of said pen nib; ink introducing cores made of fibrous material and extending to the ink chamber, passing through the guide hole and pen nib housing hole to the ink chamber in the pen nib; a penholder for housing an assembly of the pen nib, pen nib holder sleeve and holding sleeve; and an ink holding member; wherein grooves are formed on the inner face of the pen nib housing hole in the pen nib holder sleeve to fix and hold the pen nib to prevent it from rotating and at least a holder piece having a passage therein through which the ink introducing core is passed is arranged integral to the front end of said pen nib holder sleeve.

According to the invention, the base end portions of the ink introducing cores are inserted into the ink reservoir in the multiangular pen to have the supply of ink. The ink which has entered into the ink introducing cores is introduced to the centre of the pen nib, passing through the ink introducing cores, the hollow portion of the pen nib holder sleeve, and passages in the holder pieces located at the front end of the pen nib holder sleeve.

The ink introducing cores are made of fibrous material and ink is introduced to their front ends due to their capillarities and fed to the front end portion of the pen nib. The pen nib is stopped and fixed in the pen nib holder sleeve by the stopper section on the inner face of the holder sleeve. This prevents the pen nib from becoming loose relative to the pen nib holder sleeve and to the penholder, thereby keeping the pen steady while it is used to write on a sheet of paper.

The invention will now be further described, by way of example, with reference to the drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section through one embodiment of a multiangular pen according to the invention; Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line II-II in Fig. 1 in the direction of the arrows; Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line III-III in Fig. 1 in the direction of the arrows; Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line IV-IV in Fig. 1 in the direction of the arrows; and Fig. 5 is an enlarged longitudinal section showing in detail a pen nib assembly employed in this embodiment of multiangular pen according to the invention.

Referring to the drawings, the multiangular pen according to the invention comprises a sleeve 31 for fixing and holding a pen nib 1 which may be similar to the pen nib described and illustrated in British Patent Specification No. 2213107 except that, in this case, the three nib pieces 2 meet at the centre and there is no central channel.

The pen nib holding sleeve 31 takes the form of a cylinder tapered at the front end portion thereof and the diameter in this tapered portion becomes smaller as it comes nearer the front end. As apparent from Fig. 1, holes 32a and 32b for housing the pen nib are formed in the cylinder. The pen nib housing holes 32a and 32b communicate with each other in the pen nib holder sleeve 31. As shown in Fig. 2, the pen nib housing hole 32a located on the base side of the pen nib holder sleeve 31 has a substantially circular section. The pen nib housing hole 32b located on the front end side of the pen nib holder sleeve 31 is provided with pen nib fixing grooves 34 on its inner face 33.As shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the pen nib fixing grooves 34 are radially formed on and extended along the inner face 33 of the pen nib housing hole 32b, with an interval of 1200 interposed between the adjacent grooves 34. An air hole 35 is also radially formed, passing through the wall of the pen nib holder sleeve 31. Further, the pen nib holder sleeve 31 is provided at the front end thereof with holder pieces 36 each having such a section that can be fitted between the projections 5 of the pen nib 1 and also having a passage 37 therein communicated with the pen nib housing hole 32b. When the pen nib 1 is attached to the pen nib holder sleeve 31, the outer face of the trunk 4 and the inner face of the holder piece 36 are combined with each other to form the passage 37 at the front end portion of the pen nib 1, as shown in Fig. 4. Each of the passages 37 is terminated just a little before the front end of the holder piece 36.

Reference numeral 38 represents a holding sleeve inserted into the pen nib housing hole 32a from the base end of the pen nib holder sleeve 31. The sleeve 38 is provided with three grooves 39 radially formed on the inner face thereof with an interval of 1200 interposed between the grooves 39. The outer diameter of the sleeve 38 is made a little larger than the inner diameter of the pen nib housing hole 32a. The sleeve 38 is forcedly pushed into the pen nib housing hole 32a and fixed there.

Reference numerals 40a and 40b represent ink introducing cores, each of which has such an outer diameter that enables the ink introducing core itself to be inserted into the groove 39 in the sleeve 38, but this outer diameter of each of the ink introducing cores is made smaller at the front end portion as to enable the core itself to be inserted through the passage 37 in the holder piece 36. The ink introducing cores 40a and 40b are made of a liquid permeating material such as polyester, nylon, acryl, felt, glass fibres and cotton.

The pen nib 1 is inserted into the pen nib housing holes 32a and 32b in the pen nib holder sleeve 31 from the base end (or back end) of the pen nib holder sleeve 31. The front end portion of the pen nib 1 is tapered and when the pen nib 1 is inserted through the pen nib housing holes and its front end portion is projected by a certain length from the front end of the pen nib holder sleeve 31, therefore, it is stopped by the front inner rim of the pen holder sleeve 31. When the sleeve 38 is pushed this time into the pen nib housing hole 32a at the base end side of the pen nib holder sleeve 31, its front end strikes against the back end of the pen nib 1 in the pen nib holder sleeve 31 to fix and hold the pen nib 1 in the pen nib holder sleeve 31.When the pen nib 1 is inserted into the pen nib holder sleeve 31, the projections 5 of the pen nib 1 are fitted into the grooves 34, respectively, on the inner face 33 of the pen nib housing hole 32b and the movement of this pen nib 1 is thus restricted both in its rotating direction and in a direction perpendicular to its centre axis. When the sleeve 38 is inserted into the pen nib holder sleeve 31, the movement of the pen nib 1 is also restricted in the direction of its centre axis. The ink introducing cores 40a and 40b are inserted into the sleeve 38 along the grooves 39 at the base end of the pen holder sleeve 31.

In the case of this embodiment, two ink introducing cores 40a and 40b are inserted into two of the three-forked grooves 39. The ink introducing cores 40a and 40b extend into the pen nib housing hole 32b in the pen nib holder sleeve 31, passing through the grooves 39, and then reach the passages 37 in the holder pieces 36, passing through the pen nib housing hole 32 partitioned by the pen nib 1.

The front ends of the ink introducing cores 40a and 40b are contacted with the slits 7 at the front ends of the passages 37, said slits 7 being formed at the tips of the trunk of the pen nib 1. One of the passages 37 in the pen nib housing hole 32b partitioned by the pen nib 1 and having no ink introducing core therein is communicated with outside the pen nib holder sleeve 31 through the air hole 35.

When the pen nib 1, pen nib holder sleeve 31, sleeve 38 and ink introducing cores 40a and 40b are assembled with one another, as described above, a pen nib assembly of the multiangular pen can be provided. This pen nib assembly is attached to a penholder 41.

The penholder 41 comprises a cylindrical body 42, a holder section 43 attached to the front end of the cylindrical body 42, and a plug member 44 for closing the back end of the cylindrical body 42. The inside of the cylindrical body 42 is opened at its front end and closed at its back end by the plug member 44, so that a slender container chamber can be formed in the cylindrical body 42. An ink holding member 45 in which ink has been contained is packed in this slender container chamber.

The ink holding member 45 is contacted at its front end with a ring-shaped flange 46 radially projected from the inner face of the cylindrical body 42, while it is contacted with the plug member 44 at its back end. The ink holding member 45 is thus fixed in the container chamber of the cylindrical body 42. The ink introducing cores 40a and 40b in the pen nib assembly held by the holder section 43 are projected into the ink holding member 45 in the cylindrical body 42 at their back end portions to form ink introducing passages. The flange 46 is struck against a ring-shaped flange 47 projected radially and outward from the outer circumference of the sleeve 38, to that the sleeve 38 can be fixed not to move in forward and backward directions in the pen nib housing hole 32b.

The ink which has moved from the ink holding member 45 to the base portions of the ink introducing cores 40a and 40b passes through the fibres in the ink introducing cores. It is then introduced near the pointed tip of the pen nib 1, passing through the grooves in the sleeve 38, the pen nib holder sleeve 31 partitioned by the pen nib 1, and the passages in the holder pieces 36. The ink introducing cores 40a and 40b are contacted with the slits 7 at and near the front ends of the holder pieces 36, as described in Patent Specification No. 2213107.

This enables the ink to enter into the pen nib 1 through the slits 7 and when the ink reaches the front end of the pen nib 1, it is stored in the ink chamber 10 at the front end of the pen nib 1 (see Fig. 10 of Patent Specification No. 2213107).

When the user uses the pen to write on a sheet of paper, ink stored in the ink chamber 10 permeates outside the pen nib 1 through all of the clearances 8 and slits 7 surrounding the ink chamber 10. The ink chamber 10 serves to house the ink, which has flowed from the ink holding member 45 to the ink introducing cores 40a and 40b, into the pen nib 1 through the slits 7. The ink chamber 10 further allows the ink to come to all of the six clearances 8 and slits 7 and to permeate outside the pen nib through the clearances 8 and slits 7 in the same manner. The ink introducing cores 40a and 40b are closely contacted with the slits 7 at that area of the pen nib where ink enters into the ink chamber 10 and the holder pieces 35 are closely and elastically contacted with the pen nib 1, surrounding the ink introducing cores and the slits which are closely contacted with each other.This prevents air from entering from outside into the ink passages to disturb the flow of ink. This also prevents ink from coming out of the ink introducing cores 40a and 40b and flowing outside from between the holder pieces 36 and the pen nib 1. The ink is thus caused to enter into the ink chamber 10 through the slits 7 and when it comes nearer the front end of the pen nib 1, it permeates outside the pen nib 1, passing through any one of the six clearances 8 and slits 7. This moving of ink into and out of the ink chamber 10 depends largely upon the capillarities of the clearances 8 and slits 7. Even when the pen is left not used, keeping its pen nib directed upward, ink can be held due to the capillarities of the slits 7 and ink introducing cores 40a and 40b, thereby preventing the ink from flowing back from the ink chamber 10. The user can enjoy his writing whenever he wants to write on a sheet of paper.

According to this example of the multiangular pen, a through-hole is provided in the pen nib holder member, extending in the longitudinal direction of the holder member, and the ink introducing cores made of liquidpermeating material are inserted in this through-hole and contacted with the ink holding member, for the purpose of supplying ink into the pen nib through the slits arranged at the pen nib. Ink can be thus introduced from the ink holding member to the vicinity of the pen nib, passing through the ink introducing cores, because the capillarity is kept all the way through the ink passage.

This enables ink to be stably introduced from the ink holding member to the vicinity of the pen nib. Further, the pen nib is inserted into the pen nib holder sleeve and fixed there not to move in any direction. In addition, it is pushed and held at its back end by the holding sleeve. The attaching and fixing of the pen nib relative to the penholder can be thus achieved with reliability to make the pen steady while it is being used to write on a sheet of paper. When the pen nib is made of ceramic, the tip portion of the pen nib is resistant to deformation and damage even if it is subjected to slight impacts, thereby keeping the pen ready whenever the user wants to use it.

Claims

1. A multiangular pen comprising a pen nib having a trunk extending in the longitudinal direction of the pen, plural projections radially and outwardly projected from the trunk with a certain angular interval interposed between the projections, plural slits each extending downward from the tip of the trunk between the projections and plural clearances each extending along the tip portion of the projection, and an ink chamber surrounded by the slits and projections, said slits and projections being alternately arranged with the same angular interval interposed between the slit and the projection and the tip portion of said pen nib being formed as a pyramid; a pen nib holder sleeve having a through hole extending along its centre axis to house the pen nib and also having a tapered portion whose diameter becomes smaller and smaller as it comes nearer and nearer the front end thereof; a holding sleeve having a guide hole extending in its longitudinal direction and communicating with the pen nib housing hole, said holding sleeve being fitted into the pen nib housing hole at the back end side of said pen nib holder sleeve to strike against the back end face of said pen nib; ink introducing cores made of fibrous material and extending to the ink chamber, passing through the guide hole and pen nib housing hole to the ink chamber in the pen nib; a penholder for housing an assembly of the pen nib, pen nib holder sleeve and holding sleeve; and an ink holding member; wherein grooves are formed on the inner face of the pen nib housing hole in the pen nib holder sleeve to fix and hold the pen nib to prevent it from rotating and at least a holder piece having a passage therein through which the ink introducing core is passed is arranged integral to the front end of said pen nib holder sleeve.

2. A multiangular pen according to claim 1, wherein said pen nib fixing grooves formed on the inner face of the pen nib housing hole in said pen nib holder sleeve extending radially and outwardly in the longitudinal direction of the holder sleeve and the projections of said pen nib are fitted into the grooves to prevent said pen nib from rotating.

3. A multiangular pen according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein said pen nib is stopped in the pen nib housing hole by the tapered portion of said pen nib holder sleeve so as not to move in the forward direction.

4. A multiangular pen according to any preceding claim, wherein said pen nib in the pen nib housing hole is restricted by the holding sleeve fitted into the pen nib holder sleeve so as not to move in the backward direction.

5. A multiangular pen according to any preceding claim, wherein each of said holder pieces has such a section that can fit the trunk of said pen nib and they can contact elastically with the trunk of said pen nib.

6. A multiangular pen according to any preceding claim, wherein the guide hole in the holding sleeve has a three-forked section.

7. A multiangular pen according to any preceding claim, wherein said ink introducing cores extend from the ink holding member, passing through the guide hole in the holding sleeve, between the inner face of said pen nib housing hole and the pen nib, and passages in the holder pieces.

8. A multiangular pen according to any preceding claim, wherein the front end of each of said ink introducing cores is contacted with the slit from outside the pen nib.

9. A multiangular pen substantially as described herein with reference to the drawings.