JP2000355187A - Writing utensil - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To supply ink by a new means instead of by capillary force and thereby enable restarting of the ink supply even when the ink supply is once suspended by detecting the presence of the ink near a ball and controlling a means to supply the ink for recording to the ball in response to a detection result output. SOLUTION: A ball 1 is held in a freely rotating manner and in such a state that the ball 1 is not ejected out, keeping a gap for allowing outflow of the ink between an enclosure 2 and the ball 1. In addition, the ball 1 is rotated in contact with a recording medium to make the ink flow out of an ink reservior 3 for writing. Electrodes 4a, 4b of an ink sensor are provided in the ink reservior 3 and a signal to indicate the emptiness of the ink is output when the resistance value of both electrodes 4a, 4b is increased, while a signal to indicate the filling of the ink is output when the resistance value is decreased. Further, an electricity/heat energy converting element 7 for discharging the ink is provided on a heater board 5 supported on a base plate 24 and a tip tank 8 and a nozzle are constituted on a top plate 6. The element 7 controls the discharge of the ink from an ink tank 10 by a signal from the sensor 4 with the help of a control circuit 14 through a drive circuit 13 on a PCB 12.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink supply and control for a ball-point pen, and more particularly to a writing instrument which stores a plurality of color inks and can write in any color.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, ink is introduced into a chip provided with a writing ball at a tip portion, and the ball is rotated so that ink on the surface of the ball and its surroundings flows out to apply ink to a recording medium. Since a ballpoint pen is supplied with ink by the capillary force of the ink, the ink must always be in contact with the ball, and if an ink flow path break occurs, it becomes impossible to write, and It was difficult to write, refill ink, and replace ink.

[0003]

Therefore, in the present invention,
It is an object of the present invention to supply ink by a new means instead of the conventional capillary force so that ink supply can be resumed even if the ink is once interrupted.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method in which ink is supplied to a ball in the vicinity of the ball by a pump function of discharging ink by thermal energy instead of capillary force. By having the control means for detecting and supplying the consumed amount and the consumed amount, it becomes possible to perform the writing even when the ink flow path is cut off, for example, upward writing, ink refilling, and ink replacement. To do. In addition, since the ink supply can be temporarily interrupted, the ink color can be exchanged, and an object of the present invention is to provide a means for enabling an unprecedented method of using a ballpoint pen.

Therefore, in the present invention, the above object is achieved by providing a writing instrument according to any one of the following items (1) and (2): (1) Contact with a recording medium A writing instrument that includes a ball that rotates by moving as a result of the ball rotating, causing ink existing on the surface of the ball and its periphery to flow out, and applying ink to the recording medium.
A writing instrument comprising: means for supplying recording ink to the ball; means for detecting the presence or absence of ink near the ball; and a control circuit for controlling the ink supply means based on an output of the detecting means. .

(2) The writing implement according to (1), wherein the control circuit controls the supply of a predetermined amount of ink from the ink supply means when the ink detection means detects the absence of ink. .

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail based on a preferred embodiment with reference to the drawings.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIGS. 1A and 1B show a main part of a writing instrument according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG.

<Structure> In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a ball (chip), which has a gap for allowing ink to flow by a housing 2 as a support member, and the ball 1 does not fly out.
In addition, it is held rotatably, and rotates by contacting a recording medium such as paper, so that the ink in the ink reservoir 3 flows out and is written.

Reference numeral 4 denotes an ink sensor composed of electrodes 4a and 4b, and detects the presence or absence of ink in the ink reservoir 3 by using the conductivity of the ink. 5 is the base plate 2
The heater board is supported on 4 and includes a plurality of electrothermal energy conversion elements 7 for discharging ink.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a top plate, which is a structural member that forms a nozzle (not shown) and a common liquid chamber (chip tank) 8 in each of the plurality of electrothermal energy conversion elements 7. The ink discharged from the nozzle adheres to the surface of the ball 1 in the ink reservoir 3 due to the viscosity and surface tension of the ink. The ink in the ink tank 10 is supplied to the top plate 6 via an ink flow path (communication tube) 9. Ink tank 1
At 0, an ink supply port 11 for refilling is provided.

Ink flow path (connecting pipe) 9, ink tank 1
0 and the ink supply port 11 are independent of three colors of ink, cyan (C), magenta (M), and yellow (Y). The electrothermal energy conversion element 7 on the heater board 5 is connected to a drive circuit 13 on a PCB (printed circuit board) 12, and a control circuit 14 controls ejection of ink. The battery 15 supplies power to the electrothermal energy conversion element 7 and power to the control circuit.

FIG. 2 is an external view of a writing instrument according to the present embodiment.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a ball described with reference to FIG. 1, which is recorded on a recording medium 17 such as a writing paper in contact with the ball. Reference numeral 16 denotes a print switch for controlling whether or not recording is possible. Reference numeral 18 denotes a cap which, when removed, enables supply of ink and replacement of the battery 15. Reference numeral 19 denotes a rotary switch for selecting a color of ink to be supplied.

(Control Circuit) FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control circuit for controlling power supply to the electrothermal energy conversion element 7, and FIG. 4 is a timing chart example showing the state of each signal line in FIG. is there.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 20 denotes a block for generating a heat pulse ENB (FIG. 4) for driving the electrothermal energy conversion element 7, which measures the resistance value between the ink sensors 4a and 4b and determines whether the resistance value is large. Is always a heat pulse ENB
Is output at a constant cycle, and when the resistance value decreases, a predetermined number of pulses are output and the operation is stopped.

Reference numeral 21 denotes a Schmidt type driver for inverting and transmitting the signal of the print switch 16. 22
Is a Schmitt type driver for inverting and transmitting the selection signal of the rotary switch 19, and 22c, 22c for each color.
m and 22y. Reference numeral 23 denotes AND gate means for the heat pulse ENB output from the heat pulse generation block 20, the print switch 16 signal, and the color signal. The output is connected to the drive circuit 13, and supplies power to the electrothermal energy conversion element 7. Do.

The electric heat energy conversion element 7 is provided with N for each color.
Rc1 to RcN, Rc
m1 to RmN and Ry1 to RyN.

In FIG. 4, the PRINT SW signal is "HI" when the print switch 16 is pressed.
State.

The sensor resistance signal is transmitted to the ink sensor electrode 4
When there is ink between a and 4b, the resistance value decreases, and when there is no ink, the resistance value increases.

The heat pulse ENB signal is common to all the signals, and outputs a pulse signal at a constant period when the sensor resistance is high (when there is no ink) and when the sensor resistance changes low (when ink was supplied). (Time) Output three pulses at a fixed period and stop.

The color signal COLOR is supplied to the rotary switch 1
9, one of the three colors becomes "hi" and the other color signals become "low".

The heat signal drives the drive circuit 13 only when the inputs of the AND gate 23 are all at "hi", power is supplied to the electrothermal energy conversion element 7 connected to the drive circuit 13, and ink is ejected. Is done.

[0024]

As described above, in the writing instrument according to the present invention, the ball which is rotated by moving in contact with the recording medium, and the ink on the surface of the ball and its periphery is discharged by the rotation of the ball. Means for supplying recording ink to the ball of a writing implement for applying ink to the recording medium; means for detecting the presence or absence of ink near the ball; and controlling the ink supply means by an output of the detecting means. When the ink detection unit detects that there is no ink, the control unit supplies a predetermined amount of ink from the ink supply unit, thereby performing upward writing, ink refilling, ink replacement, and the like. Even then, it becomes possible to write.

Further, since the ink supply can be temporarily interrupted, the ink color can be exchanged, and a new method of using a ballpoint pen becomes possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a main part configuration of a writing instrument according to an embodiment, (a) front view, and (b) side view.

FIG. 2 is an external view of a writing implement of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a power supply control circuit for the electric thermal energy conversion element.

FIG. 4 is an example of a timing chart of each signal line in FIG. 3;

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 ball (chip) 2 housing (supporting member) 3 ink reservoir 4 ink sensor 5 heater board 6 top plate (ink discharge means) 7 electrothermal energy conversion element 8 chip tank 9 ink flow path (communication tube) 10 ink tank 11 Ink supply port 12 Printed circuit board (PCB) 13 Drive circuit 14 Control circuit 15 Battery 16 Print SW 17 Recording medium 18 Cap 19 Rotary SW for ink color selection 20 Heat pulse generation block 21 Driver 22 Driver 23 AND gate 24 Base plate

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Kimiyuki Hayashizaki 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo F-term in Canon Inc. (reference) 2C350 GA03 HA08 HA10 HA12 HA13 HC03 HC04 HC05 KA09 KA10 KC08 KF01 NA10 NA11 NA19

Claims (2)

[Claims] A ball that rotates by contacting and moving with a recording medium, and by rotating the ball, ink existing on the surface of the ball and around the ball is caused to flow out, and the ink is discharged onto the recording medium. In a writing instrument to be applied, the writing instrument includes means for supplying recording ink to the ball, means for detecting the presence or absence of ink near the ball, and a control circuit for controlling the ink supply means based on an output of the detecting means. A writing implement characterized by the following. 2. The writing implement according to claim 1, wherein the control circuit controls the supply of a predetermined amount of ink from the ink supply unit when the ink detection unit detects the absence of ink.