US3572954A

US3572954A - Writing device

Info

Publication number: US3572954A
Application number: US837792A
Authority: US
Inventors: Raymond Cheron
Original assignee: LE FOYER ET CIE
Current assignee: LE FOYER ET CIE
Priority date: 1969-02-18
Filing date: 1969-06-30
Publication date: 1971-03-30
Anticipated expiration: 1988-03-30
Also published as: GB1237043A; DE6943669U; NL7001549A; DE1956538A1

Abstract

A writing device with a tracing point comprises detachable head fitted with a writing member and ink conducting means so that when the head is mounted on the writing device ink is fed to said member enabling one to write with the same. The member is a nib or a ball.

Description

United States Patent Inventor Raymond Cheron Villeneuve Saint-Georges, France App]. No. 837,792 Filed June 30, 1969 Patented Mar. 30, 1971 Assignee Le Foyer Et Cie Paris, France Priority Apr. 2, 1969, Feb. 18, 1969 France 6,910,013 and 6,903,984

WRITING DEVICE 10 Claims, 14 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 401/18, 401/21, 401/23, 401/209, 401/199, 401/224, 401/241, 401/249 Int. Cl 843k 27/08 Primary Examiner-Lawrence Charles Attorney-Waters, Roditi, Schwartz & Nissen ABSTRACT: A writing device with a tracing point comprises detachabIe head fitted with a writing member and ink conducting means so that when the head is mounted on the writing device ink is fed to said member enabling one to write with the same, The member is a nib or a ba11..

Patented March 30, 1971 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Patented March 30, 1971 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented March 30, 1971 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 w @r i v mg wnrrrnc nsvrcs FIELD OF THE lNVENTiON The invention relates to writing devices comprising writing instrument having a tracing point.

PRIOR ART Writing instruments having a nib, or fountain pens as well as writing instruments having a ball, or ballpoint pens, are known. Writing instruments, sometimes called markers, or tracers, the writing member of which is made up of a tracing point of fibrous or cellular material, are also known.

Up to now these instruments are distinct.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has as its object the provision of a writing instrument which may be used at will as a fountain pen or as a ballpoint pen or as a marker.

According to the invention, there is provided a writing device comprising a writing instrument having a tracing point, the writing device further comprising a detachable head having a writing member otherthan a tracing point and ink conduction means for controlled feeding of the said member when the head is mounted over the tracing point on the writing instrument.

The invention will be well understood from the description of embodiments thereof which follows, given by way of example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the front part of a marker;

FllG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of a nib head;

vFlG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of a writing device according to the invention, when utilizable as a fountain pen;

FlG. is a view similar to FIG. 3, but for another embodiment;

FllG. 5 is a sectional view, on a larger scale, of a part of the device shown in FlG.

FlG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of the front part of another embodiment of a writing device;

'FlG. '7 is a plan view, on a larger scale, of a conduit of the device of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a rear end view of the conduit of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 7, but for another embodiment;

FlG. it) is a sectional view along the line 10-10 in FIG. 9;

FIG. ii is a view similar to FIGS. 3 and 6, but for a variant;

FM]. 12 is a sectional view, on a larger scale, of a part of the device shown in FIG. 11;

FIG. H3 is a view of the rear end of a writing device; and

FIG. M is a similar view to that of FIG. 13, with a writing head in position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Reference is first made to FIGS. 1 to 3. The writing instrument comprises a marker A (FlG. 1), the body 10 of which is connected by tapping ill and thread 12 to a point device 13. This point device comprises a body 14 and a rear tubular appendage ll5 carrying thread 12. The point device I3 is bored axially along a passage 16 in which is housed a marking member 17 in the shape of a stern and terminating in a point 18, usually of a conical shape, having a tip 19. In the stem 17 a groove 20, communicating with the exterior by a port 2!, ensures the entry of air. A striker 22 is driven intO an internal bore 23 of the tubular appendage of the point device. It has a central passage 24, which extends the passage 16 and which houses the rear part of the stem 17; at its rear end 25, the striker terminates in an oblique cutting edge 26. Housed inside the body to is a store of ink which is either of a free level-and which can be contained in a cartridge, then opened by cooperation with the striker ZZ-or else present in a capillary charge.

This marker can be used in the conventional manner.

With the marker A there cooperates a nib device B, which comprises a body 30 (FIG. 2), the rear edge 31 of which caps the edge 27 of a shoulder 28 on the point device l3 (FiG. 3), so that the lateral surface 32 of the body 30 is in extension of the surface 29 of the body it). A ring 33 is fitted in a groove 34, of rectangular section, in the body it A rear bore 35 of the body 3t) cooperates with the lateral surface 36, of conjugate shape, of the point device. A front bore 37 of the body 30 houses a nib 38, made of gold or steel, of tubular or other shape, the rear edge 39 of which abuts against a shoulder 49 in the body 30.

Arranged inside the nib 38, and lining a large portion of its internal surface 41, is a tongue &2 made from spongy material forming a fold 43 at its rear part in the region of the shoulder 40 from which it extends following an extension 44, of prismatic or conical shape, or prism-conical, as far as an edge 45 substantially in contact with the internal surface of the bore 37.

When the market A is capped with the nib device B, as shown in FIG. 3, the tracing point 18 comes into contact with the extension 44 of the tongue 42, so that a capillary communication is established between the nib 38 and the ink store, through the medium of the tongue 42, the extension 44, and the stem 17, the instrument being able to function in the manner of a fountain pen.

If necessary, more especially when the ink store of the tracer is free level, compensation means are housed inside the nib 38 and/or the bore 37 to retain ink which escapes from the store, for example in the case of a temperature rise.

' When one wishes to use the instrument as a marker once again, it is sufficient to remove the nib device B and the instrument resumes its configuration shown in FlG. i. Equally, if, for any reason, the nib is damaged, the instrument can continue to be used for writing by returning it to its marker state.

Reference will now be made to FIG. 4, which is similar to FIG. 3, but shows another embodiment. In this embodiment, a tongue 5%, with which the nib is in contact, has a descending branch Sll (FIG. 5), which is in contact, by its rear face 52, with a washer 53 made of more rigid capillary material, for example porous material, which has an orifice 54 in the shape of a truncated cone. The point is is housed in this orifice upon the positioning of the nib device B, thus ensuring a contact of large area between the washer 53 and the branch 51. In this embodiment, the compensation means 55 for retaining ink form part of the marker A and are operative both when the writing instrument is used as a marker and when it is used as a fountain pen.

Reference will now be made to E1108. 6 to 8. The fountain pen head 64) is adapted to fit on the front end of a writing instrument 61, the writing member of which is made up of a stem 62 terminating in a point 63. The head comprises a body 64 having a cylindrical bearing surface 65 cooperating with a shoulder as on the writing instrument til for detachable mounting. The head so houses a conduit 67, made up of a core 68 of plastic material of a generally cylindrical shape, having a beveled front face 69. The core 68 and the body 64 define an annular gap in which a nib 70 is housed.

The core 63 has a capillary bore 72 of circular transverse section which is blind at its front end 86 and open at the rear end 7i of the core to receive the point as when the head fill is placed on the writing instrument fit.

A longitudinal and radial slot 73, the orifice 74 of which on the external surface 75 of the core 68 is situated in the middle of the nib 70, opens into the bore '72. The slot 73 has an incurved front edge 7s.

Other

longitudinal slots

77 and 78 also open into the bore 72 and have

orifices

79 and 80 which are arranged obliquely. The

ends

81 and 132 of the slots on the front face '71 are spaced from the longitudinal median plane of the core of and the opposite ends have a common juncture with the slot 73. The distance between the parallel faces 83 and 34% delimiting a slot is smaller than the diameter of the bore 72, so that the capillary path thus ofiered to the inkas from the point @3 is of a decreasing dimension as far as the nib 7%, which is favorable to controlled feeding.

Reference will now be made to FlGS. and iii. in this embodiment, the core 90 of the conduit not only has a central bore @ii, blind at its front end and from which there emerges a radial slot 92, but also semicircular transverse grooves 93, four in number in the example shown, namely 93, 93 which contribute to the controlled feeding of the nib.

in the embodiment of H65. it and 12, the tracer 61, the constitution of which is similar to that which has been described previously, can be capped by a ball writing device iii) so constituted that the feed of the ball is ensured from the tracing point as.

The ball writing device lit comprises a tubular body ill having a transverse vent R31 and an external surface 312 which, initially substantially cylindrical, tapers to an ogival or conical end H3. The internal surface of the body ill comprises a bore l M adapted to cooperate with the shoulder 66 of the writing instrument, a bore 115 of smaller diameter adapted to cooperate with the cylindrical part 103 of the writing instrument, a bore lid of even smaller diameter, which houses the front end M24 of the writing instrument, and a bore H7. in this bore H7 a ball head 118 is tightly fitted. The ball head lid comprises a tubular body H19 in which is mounted a ballpoint 12th. The end E21 of the ball point 120 is crimped so as to maintain a ball 1122 at the end of a passage 123. This passage is extended towards the rear by an enlarged part 32 3.

Housed inside the ball head M8, in its axial passage, is a stem i2, made from a synthetic sponge or similar material having a high coefficient of swelling, for example of the order of five, when it passes from the dry state to the wet state. The stern E25 is in contact, at its front face 12s, with the ball 122'. The length of the stem is such that, when it is inserted in the passage 123-424 and when its front face 126' is in contact with the ball H22, it protrudes from the rear face E27 of the ball head i138 sufficiently for it to be folded back at its end. When the stem is wet, the folded branch 128 comes into contact with the internal surface E29 of the barrel Hi9. When the stem is wet it is also in contact, at its lateral surface H30, with the bore H23 and its front face 1% corresponds closely to the spherical shape of the ball H22.

When the ball writing device Mil is placed on the front part of the tracer oi, as shown in FIG. 32, the tracing point 63 assumes contact with the curved part K23 which forms the external surface of the fold of the rear end of the stem as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 7. Then, when the device iii comes into abutment at its annular face 133 against the shoulder 66, there is surface contact between the tip of the point 63 and the curved part 132, as shown in solid lines in FIG. 12, the friction developed upon the contact between the branch 12% and the bore 129 opposing a general displacement of the stem 125. The ink can then proceed by capillarity between the point 63 and the ball 122, where it effects the satisfactory feed of this latter for writing.

When one removes the ball device lit], by simple pulling,

the writing instrument can be immediately used as a tracer. if one then caps the tracer with the nib device tit), it can be used as a fountain pen.

ln H68. 13 and 14, a writing instrument lthl having a tracing point as described above has, on its rear part, a cylindrical projection 101, which can comprise a metallic packing, on which the body of the fountain pen head or of the ball head can be fitted so that, when one wishes to use the writing device as a marker, and when thus its front part is free of the nib head 6%), or of the ball head Hi this latter can be placed on the rear end of the instrument on the projection Mill. The fountain pen head or the ball head thus placed on the rear end of the writing instrument can be protected by the usual cap.

lclaim:

l. A writing device comprising a writing instrument having a tracing point, ink reserve means connected to said point for capillary feed of ink thereto and a detachable head having a writing member and cpjpillary ink conduction means adapted to cooperate Wlih sai point for the controlled feeding by capillarity of said writing member from said ink reserve means and via said point when said head is mounted over said tracing point.

2. A writing device as claimed in claim 1, in which said writing member is a nib.

3. A writing device as claimed in claim 2, wherein said conduction means comprises an ink feeding tongue in contact with said nib, said tongue including a leg with which the tracing point cooperates when the head is mounted over said tracing point.

d. A writing device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the nib is lined by an ink feeding tongue which is extended by a transverse leg covering a washer of porous material, said washer having a central orifice which-is of a shape corresponding with that of the tracing point.

5. A writing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said ink conduction means comprises a core having a bore adapted to cooperate with said tracing point, and further comprising a nib supported by said core and having slots establishing an ink communication between said. bore and the zone of the surface of the conduit with which the nib is in contact.

6. A writing device as claimed in claim 5, wherein said slots comprise a radial longitudinal slot and oblique slots.

'7. A writing device as claimed in claim 5', wherein the core has a middle longitudinal slot and transverse grooves.

3. A writing device as claimed in claim i, wherein said writing member is a ball.

9. A writing device as claimed in claim 8, wherein said head comprises a stem of spongy material having a high coefficient of swelling in contact with the ball at its front end and the rear end of which is folded and in contact with said point when said head is mounted on said point.

it A writing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said writing instrument comprises a body and means at the rear part of said body to receive the detachable head.

Claims

1. A writing device comprising a writing instrument having a tracing point, ink reserve means connected to said point for capillary feed of ink thereto and a detachable head having a writing member and capillary ink conduction means adapted to cooperate with said point for the controlled feeding by capillarity of said writing member from said ink reserve means and via said point when said head is mounted over said tracing point.

4. A writing device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the nib is lined by an ink feeding tongue which is extended by a transverse leg covering a washer of porous material, said washer having a central orifice which is of a shape corresponding with that of the tracing point.

5. A writing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said ink conduction means comprises a core having a bore adapted to cooperate with said tracing point, and further comprising a nib supported by said core and having slots establishing an ink communication between said bore and the zone of the surface of the conduit with which the nib is in contact.

7. A writing device as claimed in claim 5, wherein the core has a middle longitudinal slot and transverse grooves.

8. A writing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said writing member is a ball.

10. A writing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said writing instrument comprises a body and means at the rear part of said body to receive the detachable head.