GB983843A - Improvements in retractable writing instruments - Google Patents

Abstract

983,843. Writing instruments. SCRIPTO Inc. June 7, 1961, No. 20539/61. Heading B6P. In a ball-point pen in which the writing unit can be longitudinally projected to writing position against spring pressure by pressing a side button inwards, the button is held in its ball-projected position by a stationary latch. The rear end of the writing unit 103 is slidable in the tubular front end of a guide member 106 fixed in the barrel and is engaged by a cam 117 pivoted to the guide member at 120. An actuating member 110 is laterally slidable in a longitudinal recess 113 in the member 106 and is biased outwards by a spring 116. A pocket clip 112 is mounted on the actuating member and when the writing unit is in retracted position projects through a slot 111 in the barrel. The front end 122 of the actuating member engages the cam 117 and, when the parts are in the Fig. 2 position, holds it so that the writing unit is maintained in projected position against the rearward bias of a return spring 104. Lugs 109 on the actuating member slide in transverse slots 114 in the guide member and when the actuating member is pressed inwards to the Fig. 2 position the lugs 109 latch behind shoulders 107 in the slots so as to hold the actuating member in that position against the bias of the spring 116. In order to unlatch the lugs the operator presses the clip 112 and member 110 further inwards so that the lugs engage curved cam faces 108 in the slots 114. Engagement between the lugs and the cam faces causes slight forward movement of the member 110 within the barrel so that when inward pressure on the clip is relaxed the member 110 and the clip are free to move outwards under the influence of the spring 116 to a position where the lugs 109 are beyond the shoulders 107, the clip 112 is outside the barrel and the member 110 abuts against the inner wall of the barrel. In this position the actuating member end 122 allows the cam 117 to pivot in a clockwise direction so that the writing unit is retracted by the spring 104. The writing unit is projected by pressing the clip 112 inwards until the lugs 109 engage behind the shoulders 107. In modifications the spring 116 is omitted and the member 110 carries a transverse pin and the member 106 is formed with inclined slots, or vice versa whereby the members are pivoted to each other near their rear ends.