JPH09234987A - Stirring member - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it possible to easily rescatter a sediment in an ink tank by constituting a stirring member stored in an ink writing instrument in a freely movable manner of plumb parts and an elastic material connecting and fixing these plumb parts. SOLUTION: In a writing instrument of such a type that a valve is released by the sliding of a pen point 1, a stirring member 10 is constituted of two plumb parts 10a, 10b and a coil spring 10c as an elastic material which connects the plumb part 10a to the plumb part 10b. When the plumb 10a on the front side of the stirring member 10 is buried deep into the sediment 9a of an ink component, the supply of an ink into the ink through hole 4a of a valve seat 4 fails and the ink in the pen point is depleted, resulting in the generation of a blur in writing. Therefore, if the writing instrument is shaken, the plumb part 10b is vibrated into a motion which in turn, is transmitted to the coil spring 10c and the plumb part 10a buried in the sediment 9a. Consequently, the sediment 9a is rescattered to its original state, and the wiring instrument is recovered to a normal use condition.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the fact that ink components contained in a free state (so-called raw ink state) are settled and deposited inside an ink tank of a recorder such as an ink type writing instrument or an ink jet printer. The present invention relates to a stirring member which is arranged in an ink tank together with ink for suppressing the occurrence of ink and for redispersing the deposited ink components.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a writing instrument, a recorder, or the like that accommodates ink in an ink tank in a free state, there has been a component in which the ink component sediments and accumulates with time depending on the type of ink. If the components of the ink settle down and accumulate with time, the ink supply to the ink ejection mechanism such as the pen tip and the print head will be delayed, which is not preferable. This problem is particularly noticeable when the ink uses a large amount of pigment as a coloring material or when the ink has a high ink viscosity.In writing instruments, the ink is stirred in the ink tank together with the ink. A ball, a rod or the like is arranged as a member, and by shaking the writing instrument itself, the weight of the stirring member is used to forcibly stir the deposited pigment. Also, considering that the stirring member may be buried in deposits such as pigments,
It is also known to use a stirring member having a plurality of balls arranged or a rod body having a long overall length.

[0003]

However, in the case of using a plurality of balls, if one ball is buried in the deposit, the ball will not move, and the ink will be moved by the movement of the remaining stirring balls. Will be stirred. There is a problem that the stirring ball buried in the sediment cannot be expected to have the ability to redisperse the sediment, and may also hinder the movement of the stirring ball that is not buried. The impact of the non-buried agitating ball against the agitated agitating ball can move the agitated ball to some extent, but the assembly work is increased because it is necessary to put multiple balls in the ink chamber during assembly. There is also a problem that if one is left out, it will not be used as a stirring member.

Also, when a rod having a long length is used as a stirring member, if a part of the rod is buried in the deposit,
There is a problem that the stirring effect cannot be exerted as expected because the movement of the stirring member is restricted. In addition, since the total length (volume) of the ink tank is limited to some extent, the long total length naturally limits the amount of movement of the ink tank, resulting in a poor effect of redispersing the deposit. In any case, the conventional stirring member, once buried in the deposit, could hardly expect the effect of redispersing the deposit.

[0005]

That is, according to the present invention, in order to prevent the components of the ink contained in the ink tank in a free state from settling and depositing and to redisperse the deposited ink components. In the stirring member arranged in the ink tank together with the ink, the stirring member is characterized by at least a plurality of weight portions and an elastic body connecting and fixing the plurality of weight portions.

[0006]

In the stirring member according to the present invention, since the plurality of weight portions are connected and fixed by the elastic body, the vertical and horizontal movements of the weight portion which is not buried in the deposit are caused by the elastic body. Since it is transmitted to the buried weight, the sediment can be re-stirred relatively easily. In addition, the effect of re-dispersion on the sediment around the elastic body due to the amplitude motion of the elastic body itself that is connected and fixed to the weight part can be expected, especially in the lateral direction due to being fixed to the weight part not buried in the sediment. The exercise of
The effect of reopening the weight part buried in the deposit can be expected. Further, by connecting the plurality of weight portions with the elastic body, it is possible to handle them as an apparently integrated body, and it is possible to reduce the number of man-hours during assembly.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The stirring member of the present invention basically comprises a plurality of weight portions and an elastic body connecting the weight portions.
The weight portion is mainly for agitating by moving in the ink in the ink tank, and may be any one that can freely move in the ink by oscillating the main body of the writing instrument or the like. Examples of the shape include a ball, a disk, and a donut shape. The material may be a metal that does not cause problems such as rust and corrosion due to ink, a metal coated with a resin, or a ceramic.

Further, as an elastic body for connecting the weights,
A coil spring, synthetic rubber or the like can be exemplified, and they may be fixed to each other so as to transmit the vibrations of the weight parts, and they may be welded, bonded, press-fitted or fixed. Here, although the total size of the stirring member depends on the ink used, it is necessary to design the distance between the weight parts in consideration of ink deposition so that the weight members are not completely embedded in the deposit. There is.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An example used in a writing instrument will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an example used for a writing instrument of a type in which a valve is opened by sliding a pen tip 1. The inside of the aluminum barrel 2 is used as it is for the ink tank portion 2a.
In addition, the pen tip holder 3 having the pen tip 1 slidably mounted on the tip of the barrel 2 is installed, and the opening of the barrel 2 is
A valve seat 4 having an ink through hole 4a, a valve body 5 capable of sealing the ink through hole, and a coil spring 6 for urging the valve body 5 forward.
A spring receiving cylinder 7 that houses the coil spring 6 is installed. A cap 8 is detachably fitted to the pen tip holder in order to protect the pen tip and prevent ink from being dried from the pen tip. In the ink tank portion 2a inside the shaft cylinder 2, the ink 9 is stored in a free state without relying on the ink-absorbing ink holding member such as the fiber bundle.
In addition, an ink stirring member 10 is housed in the ink tank portion 2a together with the ink 9. Note that the ink 9 is assumed to be a water-based pigment ink, and for the purpose of explanation, an ink deposit (in this example, the pigment is mainly settled) is schematically indicated by the reference numeral 9a. is there.

The stirring member 10 includes two weight portions 10a and 10a.
b and a coil spring 10c made of super steel which is an elastic body for connecting and fixing the weights to each other. For convenience of explanation, it is assumed that the weight portion shown on the pen tip side is 10a and the weight portion on the opposite side is 10b. FIG. 2 shows an enlarged perspective view of the stirring member 10. The weights 10a and 10b are disc-shaped objects made of metal, respectively, and are connected to the coil spring 10c by welding. Furthermore, in order to secure the fixing, it is possible to appropriately use an adhesive or the like.

As shown in FIG. 1, when the weight portion 10a on the front side of the stirring member 10 is buried in the ink component deposit 9a, the ink supply to the ink passage hole 4a of the valve seat 4 is delayed. As a result, the ink is not supplied to the pen tip and the handwriting is blurred. Normally, if the stirring member is buried in the deposit of the ink component, the stirring member will not easily escape from the deposit even if the writing instrument is shaken greatly.
It will be regarded as a writing failure, but in the case of this example,
Unless the other weight 10b is buried in the deposit, the weight 10b which is not buried is shaken by shaking the writing instrument.
Can be amplitude-moved, and the movement can be transmitted to the coil spring 10c and the weight portion 10a buried in the deposit to redistribute the deposit 9a to the original state.

FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 show another embodiment. The same reference numerals as in the previous example shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are attached to the basic parts. Unlike the previous example, the one shown in FIG. 3 is an example used in a type in which the valve is opened by pressing the knock portion 11 provided at the rear end of the writing instrument to supply ink to the pen tip. Yes, ink tank part 2a
A knock rod 12 for transmitting the pressing operation of the knock portion 11 to the valve body 5 is installed therein. In such a case,
In order to prevent the knocking rod 12 from interfering with the stirring action of the stirring member 10, the weight members 10a and 10b of the stirring member 10 are annular, and the knocking rod is inserted into the center hole 10d. By doing so, the knock rod 12 also serves as a movement guide for the stirring member 10, and the barrel 2 is formed of, for example, the ink tank portion 2a with a transparent synthetic resin such as polypropylene, acrylic resin, or polyethylene terephthalate. It can be said that it is preferable to apply an ink-repellent coating for ensuring the visibility of the remaining amount of ink on the inner surface without damaging the coating layer. As shown in FIG. 4, which is an enlarged perspective view of the stirring member 10, the weight portions 10a and 10b of the stirring member 10 of this example are shown.
The weight of the weight portion 10 is fixed between the coil spring 10c and the coil spring 10c.
the coil spring 10c in the groove 13 formed in
It is done by fitting the end part of.

FIG. 5 shows another example of the stirring member 10. The weights 10a and 10b are made of a metallic spherical material, and the weights 10a and 10b and the coil spring 10c are connected and fixed by welding as in the first embodiment. In addition to this, as the shape of the weight portion, a cone shape or a propeller shape can be exemplified, but it is not necessary that the weight portion 10a and the other weight portion 10b have the same shape. When they are of the same shape, they can be inserted with either side facing up when they are placed in the barrel of a writing instrument, and work efficiency is improved, but different shapes or materials can be used in consideration of the stirring effect. It can be different. In particular, considering its function, it can be said that it is preferable to form the weight portion 10b on the side not to be buried in the deposit with a material having a higher specific gravity than the weight portion 10a, or to increase the deposition to make the weight heavy. Further, it is preferable that the coil spring 10c connecting the weight portions to be capable of large amplitude with a small force, such as one formed of a relatively thin wire.

[0014]

As described above, the stirring member of the present invention can easily re-disperse the deposits in the ink tank by connecting and fixing a plurality of weights with the elastic body, and can be applied to a writing instrument or a recorder. It is also easy to assemble.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an example used for a writing instrument.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a second embodiment showing the case of using it for another writing instrument.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of the third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Pen tip 2 Shaft cylinder 2a Ink tank part a 3 Pen tip holder 4 Valve seat 4a Ink through hole 5 Valve body 6 Coil spring 7 Spring receiving cylinder 8 Cap 9 Ink 9a Deposit 10 Stirring member 10a Weight 10b Weight 10c Coil Spring 10d Center hole 11 Knock part 12 Knock bar 13 Groove

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A stirrer disposed in an ink tank together with the ink in order to prevent sedimentation and deposition of ink components contained in the ink tank in a free state and to redisperse the deposited ink components. In the member, the stirring member is composed of at least a plurality of weight portions and an elastic body that connects and fixes the plurality of weight portions.