US3205865A - Writing instrument with retractable and yieldable point - Google Patents

Description

' Sept. 14; W65" B. H. LAMMERS WRITING INSTRUMENT WITH RETRACTABLE AND YIELDABLE POINT Filed May 15, 1963 INVENTOR I BERNARD HZ. A MM EH5 ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,205,865 WRITING INSTRUMENT WITH RETRACTABLE AND YIELDABLE POINT Bernard H. Larnmers, 1447 Oakview Drive, McLean, Va. Filed May 13, 1963, Ser. No. 279,739 1 Claim. (Cl. 12042.03)

This invention rel-ates to a ball point-type writing instrument wherein the ball point is held in a retracted sheathed position when not in use and is yieldably supported in a projected position for use, whereby the ball point or scribing element will float or glide over a piece of paper with which it is in writing contact.

A primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved ball point-type writing instrument wherein a substantially uniform pressure will be maintained constantly on the ball point while it is in writing contact with a piece of paper, so that a more uniform amount of ink will be dispensed from the writing ball to eliminate the fading as frequently results where too much pressure is applied in writing with a ball point pen.

A further object of the invention is to provide a pen which will write more smoothly due to the tendency of the point to glide over the paper resulting from the ability of the point to yield relative to the barrel in which it is supported, so that a floating action will result which will enable the pen to be operated with less effort.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide a pen which will use less ink while insuring a uniform dispensing of the ink, thereby resulting in less frequent replacement of the ink reservoir or cartridge, than with conventional retractable ball point pens wherein the point is rigidly held in a projected, writing position.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter become more fully apparent from the following description of the drawing, illustrating a presently preferred embodiment thereof, and wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a longitudinal sectional view, partly in elevation and partly broken away, illustrating the improved writing instrument with the writing point thereof in a retracted position;

FIGURE 2 is a view similar to FIGURE 1 but showing the Writing point yieldably held in a projected position;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary detailed view, partly in elevation, partly broken away and partly in section, of a portion of the writing instrument, and

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken substantially, along a plane as indicated by the line 44 of FIGURE 1.

Referring more specifically to the drawing, the writing 0 instrument in its entirety is designated generally 6 and includes a barrel 7 composed of a forward section 8 and a rear section 9, which sections are threadedly connected at their adjacent ends in a conventional manner, as seen at 10.

A conventional writing unit, designated generally 11, is slidably mounted in the barrel 7 and includes a cartridge or reservoir 12 constituting the rear portion of the unit 11 and a ball point 13 constituting the forward end of said writing unit 11. A plug 14 is mounted in the rear end of the cartridge 12 and has a vent port 15 eX- tending longitudinally therethrough and through a restricted stem portion 16 thereof which projects rearwardly from the cartridge 12.

A coil spring 17 is disposed in the forward barrel section 8 around a tubular forward portion 18 of the writing unit 11 and has a forward end which seats against a rearwardly facing annular shoulder 19 of the hollow interior of the barrel section 8, and a rear end which abuts an annular forwardly facing shoulder 20 which surrounds the rear end of the tubular portion 18.

A conventional latch unit, designated generally 21, is

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mounted in the rear barrel section 9 and includes a sleeve 22 containing a latch member 23 which is mounted for reciprocating and oscillating movement in said sleeve, and a plunger 24 which projects outwardly from the rear end 25 of the barrel section 9 and which has a restricted forwardly extending neck 26 which extends into the sleeve 22.- The latch unit 21 is of a conventional construction and is fully disclosed in US. Patent No. 3,007,- 444, issued November 7, 1961, and as said latch mechanism constitutes no part of the present invention, it has not been fully illustrated in the drawing and will not be described in detail.

A thrust transmitting means, designated generally 27, includes a coil spring 28 and a rigid element 29. Said thrust transmitting means is interposed between the rear end of the writing unit 11 and the latch element 23. The forward end of the spring 28 abuts against the plug 14 and engages around the stem 16, and the rear end of the spring 28 abuts against the forwardly facing annular shoulder 30 of the element 29 and engages around a restricted forward end 31 of said element 29. The element 29 has a restricted rear end or stem 32 which extends into the forward end of the sleeve 22 and abuts against the forward end of the latch element 23. The rear end of the spring 28 may fit loosely around the forward end 31 of the element 29 or the end convolution thereof may be secured thereto, and the forward end of said spring may engage loosely around or may be secured to the stem 16.

The writing instrument 6 may contain an ornamental sleeve 33 surrounding a portion of the exterior of the upper barrel section 9 and which is recessed to receive said sleeve, and against which a conventional pocket clip 34 of the writing instrument 6 engages.

FIGURE 1 shows the writing instrument 6 with the parts disposed when the instrument is not in use and is to be carried, for example, in a garment pocket. As seen in FIGURE 1, the latch 23 is in a released and retracted position and the plunger 24 is in a retracted rearmost position projecting a substantial distance rearwardly from the rear end 25 of the barrel. The forward compression spring 17 is extended and under a relatively slight compression for holding the writing unit 11 and the thrust transmitting means 27 in retracted positions. With the parts thus disposed, the ball point 13 is disposed in a restricted bore portion 35 of the barrel section 8 and which opens outwardly of the tapered forward end or 'nose 36 of said barrel section, and the spring 28 is relaxed and fully extended. With the part-s thus disposed, the rear end of the stem 32 extends into the sleeve 22 beyond a shoulder 37 which defines the rear end of a forwardly opening notch 38 of the sleeve 22, and so that said rear end of the stem 32 bears against the forward end of the retracted latch 23. FIGURE 2 shows the writing instrument with the writing unti 11 in a projected position. Movement of the Writing unit 11 from its position of FIGURE 1 to its position of FIGURE 2 is accomplished by exerting a forward pressure on the rear end of the plunger 24 for displacing said plunger forwardly from its position of FIGURE 1 to its position of FIGURE 2. The latch element 23 is displaced forwardly with the plunger 24 for moving the element 29 of the thrust transmitting means 27 forwardly in unison with said latch element and from its position of FIGURE 1 to its posi tion of FIGURE 2. The forward end of the latch element 23 has a lateral projection 39. When the projection 39 moves into registry with the notch 38, the latch element is caused to rock in the sleeve 22 so that the projection 39 swings into the notch 38. When the forward pressure is released on the plunger 24 the springs 17 and 28 cause a rearwardly facing shoulder 40 of the projection 39 to abut against the forwardly facing end or at shoulder 37 of the notch 38 for thereby latching the assembly 21 in its projected position of FIGURE 2 to hold the writing unit 11 in its projected writing position of said figure.

As the rigid element 29 is projected forwardly with the latch element 23 from its retracted position of FIGURE 1 toward its projected position of FIGURE 2, the rear spring 28 is compressed. The spring 28 is stronger than the spring 17 so that after an initial partial loading of the spring 28, the writing unit 11 will be projected forwardly and 'When the latch element 23 and the rigid element 29 have reached their forwardmost position of FIGURE 2, the writing unit 11 will be in its fully projected position of FIGURE 2 with the ball point 13 thereof disposed beyond and spaced from the forward end or nose 36 of the barrel 7. In this position of the parts, the springs 28 and 17 will be compressed or loaded; however, the spring 28 is stronger than the spring 17 to normally maintain the ball point 13 in its position of FIGURE 2 and with the spring 17 tending to bias the writing unit 11 rearwardly and back to its position of FIGURE 1.

In writing with the instrument 6 pressure is applied to the ball point 13 through the barrel 7, latch assembly 21, thrust transmitting means 27 and the remainder of the writing unit 11. Accordingly, the spring 28 permits the writing unit 11 including the ball point l3ito yield rearwardly while the instrument 6 is in use so that the ball point 13 will yield from its position of FIGURE 2 part way to the barrel nose 36, and will have a floating action back and forth between its position of FIGURE 2 and the nose 36 so that it will glide smoothly over a writing surface, not shown, and with a substantially uniform pressure being exerted on said surface so that an even flow and an even distribution of ink onto the writing surface will result. In addition, this gliding or floating action of the point 13 will produce an effortless writing action on the part of the user of the instrument 6.

The shoulder 40 is disengaged from the shoulder 37 in a conventional manner by pressure again being exerted on the rear end of the plunger 24 in a forward direction, so that when the plunger 24 is thereafter released the loaded but weaker spring 17 may displace the writing unit 11, thrust transmitting means 27, latch element 23 and plunger 24 back to their retracted positions of FIGURE 1. Actually, when the assembly 21 is unlatched the spring 28 will initially move the latch assembly parts and the element 29 substantially back to their positions of FIGURE 1, during which movement the spring 28 will be unloaded, and thereafter the spring 17 can move the writing unit 11 rearwardly to its retracted position.

It will be understood that the yieldable thrust transmitting means 27 could include only the spring 28 which could be made longer so that its rear end would engage directly with the latch element 23. It will also be understood that the yieldable thrust transmitting means could be utilized with other types of retractable ball point writing instruments having different latch assemblies from the latch assembly 21, which is only intended to illustrate a conventional lat-ch assembly for holding the writing unit in a projected position and which may be released so that the writing unit can be moved rearwardly to a retracted position by a spring such as the spring 17.

Various other modifications and changes are contemplated and may obviously be resorted to, without departing from the function or scope of the invention as hereinafter defined by the appended claim.

I claim as my invention:

A writing instrument including a barrel, a writing unit reciprocably mounted in said barrel having a ball point defining a forward end thereof, a latch assembly supported in the rear part of said barrel, a spring contained in a forward part of the barrel and bearing against a forwardly facing part of the writing unit for urging said writing unit rearwardly toward the latch assembly and to a retracted position, and a yieldable thrust transmitting means disposed in said barrel and having'a forward end engaging a rear end of the writing unit and a rear end engaging a part of said latch assembly, said thrust transmitting means being longitudinally compressed by manipulation and movement of said part of the latch assembly forwardly to a projected position-for biasing the'writ-ing unit forwardly of the barrel against the action of said spring to yieldably support the ball point in a projected position beyond the forward end of the barrel and to retain said part of the latch assembly latched in a projected position, said thrust transmitting means including a compression spring constituting a forward portion thereof and a rigid element constituting the rear portion thereof, said compression spring being of a strength greater than the strength of said first mentioned spring, and the over-all length of said thrust transmitting means being such as to occupy the space in the barrel between said part of the latch assembly and the rear end of the writing unit with the spring thereof substantially unloaded when the writing unit is held in a retracted position by said first mentioned spring for retaining said part of the latch assembly in a released position.

References Cited by the Examiner,

UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,946,311 7/60 Craig -42.03 3,007,444 11/61 Lockwood 120-4203 FOREIGN PATENTS 875,820 8/61 Great Britain.

EUGENE R; CAPOZIO, Primary Examiner.

LAWRENCE CHARLES, JEROME SCHNALL,

Examiners.

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