US3781123A - Ball-point pens - Google Patents

Ball-point pens Download PDF

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Publication number
US3781123A
US3781123A US00310781A US3781123DA US3781123A US 3781123 A US3781123 A US 3781123A US 00310781 A US00310781 A US 00310781A US 3781123D A US3781123D A US 3781123DA US 3781123 A US3781123 A US 3781123A
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US
United States
Prior art keywords
ball
open channels
reservoir
point pen
microns
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
US00310781A
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English (en)
Inventor
G Linz
L Sommer
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Individual
Original Assignee
Individual
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Filing date
Publication date
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Publication of US3781123A publication Critical patent/US3781123A/en
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    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B43—WRITING OR DRAWING IMPLEMENTS; BUREAU ACCESSORIES
    • B43K—IMPLEMENTS FOR WRITING OR DRAWING
    • B43K1/00—Nibs; Writing-points
    • B43K1/08—Nibs; Writing-points with ball points; Balls or ball beds
    • B43K1/084—Ball beds

Definitions

  • ABSTRACT In a ball-point pen having a ball housing including a support wall and a bearing surface for seating a ball, and means at one end of the ball housing for communicating into a reservoir containing a pasty writing medium, a plurality of open channels are formed in the bearing surface for conducting the pasty writing medium from the reservoir to the ball, the cross sectional area of each open channel being less than 1,000 square microns, sothat the capillary attraction between the open channels and the writing medium is great enough to move the writing medium from the reservoir to the ball against the force of gravity.
  • the support wall and bearing surface are preferably dimensioned to define an annular collecting groove communicating between the surface of the ball and each of the open channels.
  • the present invention relates to ball-point pens.
  • ball-point pens as used herein includes both a writing 'implement containing a cartridge and also a replaceable cartridge by itself.
  • the invention relates pref erably to ball-point pen cartridges having DIN standard dimensions and provided with a writing medium reservoir, the inner cross-section of which is less than mm
  • the term pasty writing medium includes writing pastes having a viscosity at 37 C. of not less than 10 Poise and preferably not more than 250 Poise.
  • Ball-point pens wherein an aperture is formed at the rearward end of the supply reservoir have become extremely popular.
  • ball-point pens of this type when the supply of writing medium decreases, i.e., when the column of writing medium gets shorter, continuous pressure compensation takes place via the aperture. This is essential for the flow of writing medium to the writing point, unless special steps are taken to ensure continuous flow, as for example, by including a pressurized gas above the'writing medium column. Provisions of this kind, however, make the ball-point pen relatively expensive.
  • capillary forces which, in known ballpoint pens, are presentsubstantially in the gap between the ball and the lateral bearing seating. These capillary forces are mainly responsible for the fact that, if the volume of the reservoir is small, no writing medium will flow out of the rearward aperture in the reservoir if the ball-point pen is held with its writing point upwards.
  • the known ball-point pens of the above-mentioned type have the disadvantage that it is impossible to write when the writing point is at a higher level than the rearward end of the reservoir.
  • the reason for this is that when writing in this position, air penetrates into the gap between the ball and the ball seating, and from there into the channels formed in the base seating. This air displaces the writing medium out of the channels and enters the central feed duct which communicates with the reservoir. Consequently, after a short time, the connection between the writing medium column and the writing point is interrupted, so that the capillary force,
  • the channels formed in the bearing surface for the ball are so designed that their capillary effect is, relative to the writing medium contained in them, sufficiently large to move the writing medium from the reservoirto the ball against the force of gravity, so that no air bubble can form between the ink column and the ball.
  • this can be accomplished by keeping the cross sectional area of the channels below 1,000 square microns.
  • the channels (whose crosssection was above 10,000 square microns) did not provide the effect achieved by the present invention.
  • tests have shown that good results can be achieved with channels having a maximum width of 20 microns and a maximum depth of 20 microns. If the spherical base seating is subjected to excessive frictional wear, a channel depth of 20 microns may, under certain circumstances, be insufficient for assuring adequate feeding of writing medium to the ball as the base seating becomes worn, thereby reducing the depth of the feed channels. If the ball sinks in, during the working life of the pen, by for example, 30 microns, then the depth of the channels should be at least 50 microns but should not exceed microns. In the case of those greater channel depths, the channel widths should be at most 10 microns.
  • a writing medium having a surface tension of above 40 dynes/cm.
  • channels which, in the case of a cartridge corresponding otherwise to the DIN standard dimensions and with a 1 mm diameter ball, have a length of approximately 200 microns
  • a channel width of 20 microns therefore, at least 10 channels and, with a channel width of 10 microns, at least 20 channels should preferably be machined into the bearing seating.
  • Fine channels may be formed in the bearing surface, either in the conventional manner, i.e., by punching or, for example, by spark erosion or ultrasonic processing.
  • grooves con necting adjacent channels together may be formed between the channels.
  • lubricants such as molybdenum disulphide may be added to the writing medium.
  • the writing point 1 can be manufactured by the chip-removing machining of a cylindrical blank, for example made of brass. Adjacent to the end of the writing point 1 remote from the bearing surface for the ball is a reservoir (not shown) for the writing medium. The connection between the reservoir and the chamber surrounding the bearing surface faces 2, 3 for the ball 4 is provided by means of a central feed channel 5, 5", the channel section 5 immediately adjacent the bearing surface having a smaller diameter than the section 5" adjacent the reservoir.
  • Reference numeral 2 designates that one face of the recess formed from the front end-face side of the writing point which, after the beading-in of the ball 4, forms the spherical lateral ball seating.
  • the groove in formed by means of a step 7 (FIG. 1) formed on the end-face cavity in the writing point 1.
  • a ball-point pen having a ball housing including a support wall and a bearing surface for seating a ball, a reservoir adjacent the housing and provided in the vicinity of its end remote from the housing with an air inlet opening, a mass of a pasty writing medium having a minimum viscosity of 10 poise at 37 C contained in said reservoir, and means at one end of said ball housing communicating with said pasty writing medium in said reservoir, the improvement comprising a plurality of open channels in said bearing surface for conducting such pasty writing medium from such reservoir to a ball seated on said bearing surface, the cross-sectional area of each of said open channels being no greater than 1,000 square microns, said channels constituting the sole ink flow path between said reservoir and said ball.
  • each of said open channels is not more than 20 microns wide.
  • each of said open channels is not more than 20 microns deep.
  • a ball-point pen having a ball housing including a support wall and a bearing surface for seating a ball, and means at one end of said housing for communicating into a reservoir containing a pasty medium, the improvement comprising a plurality of open channels in said bearing surface for conducting such pasty writing medium from such reservoir to a ball seated on said bearing surface, the cross-sectional area of each of said open channels being no greater than 1,000 square microns, and wherein the reservoir is filled with a pasty writing medium containing a lubricant.

Landscapes

  • Pens And Brushes (AREA)
US00310781A 1966-04-26 1972-11-30 Ball-point pens Expired - Lifetime US3781123A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
DEL0053436 1966-04-26

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US3781123A true US3781123A (en) 1973-12-25

Family

ID=7275384

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US00310781A Expired - Lifetime US3781123A (en) 1966-04-26 1972-11-30 Ball-point pens

Country Status (10)

Country Link
US (1) US3781123A (ref)
JP (1) JPS5232289B1 (ref)
AT (1) AT297534B (ref)
BE (1) BE697186A (ref)
CH (1) CH442071A (ref)
DE (1) DE1511359C3 (ref)
FR (1) FR1500199A (ref)
GB (1) GB1107944A (ref)
NL (1) NL150729B (ref)
SE (1) SE314009B (ref)

Cited By (10)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3836266A (en) * 1972-07-21 1974-09-17 Koh I Noor Rapidograph Tube writing pen
US4116569A (en) * 1977-02-14 1978-09-26 The Gillette Company Ball holder for a ball-point pen
US4795286A (en) * 1985-10-17 1989-01-03 Teibow Co., Ltd. Pen tip structure
US4842433A (en) * 1985-10-17 1989-06-27 Teibow Co., Ltd. Pen tip structure
US5690442A (en) * 1995-02-07 1997-11-25 Mitsubishi Pencil Kabushiki Kaisha Metal tip for ball-point pen
US5709492A (en) * 1994-04-27 1998-01-20 Sakura Color Products Corp. Liquid applicator
US20080107475A1 (en) * 2006-11-06 2008-05-08 Michael Wojcik Fluid applicator device and method of using same
US20190167022A1 (en) * 2015-12-22 2019-06-06 Alberto Arza Moncunill Dispenser-applicator
US20210245543A1 (en) * 2018-07-03 2021-08-12 SOCIéTé BIC Textured ball seat
CN114173608A (zh) * 2019-07-26 2022-03-11 欧莱雅 包括球接纳插入件的化妆品分配移液管以及相关的装置和方法

Families Citing this family (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2215673B (en) * 1988-03-25 1992-04-01 Unilever Plc Roll ball applicator.
CH691172A5 (fr) * 1996-08-27 2001-05-15 Premec Sa Pointe porte-bille pour stylo à bille.

Cited By (16)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3836266A (en) * 1972-07-21 1974-09-17 Koh I Noor Rapidograph Tube writing pen
US4116569A (en) * 1977-02-14 1978-09-26 The Gillette Company Ball holder for a ball-point pen
US4795286A (en) * 1985-10-17 1989-01-03 Teibow Co., Ltd. Pen tip structure
US4842433A (en) * 1985-10-17 1989-06-27 Teibow Co., Ltd. Pen tip structure
US5709492A (en) * 1994-04-27 1998-01-20 Sakura Color Products Corp. Liquid applicator
US5690442A (en) * 1995-02-07 1997-11-25 Mitsubishi Pencil Kabushiki Kaisha Metal tip for ball-point pen
US20080107475A1 (en) * 2006-11-06 2008-05-08 Michael Wojcik Fluid applicator device and method of using same
US8192100B2 (en) * 2006-11-06 2012-06-05 Blistex Inc. Fluid applicator device and method of using same
US20190167022A1 (en) * 2015-12-22 2019-06-06 Alberto Arza Moncunill Dispenser-applicator
US10568446B2 (en) * 2015-12-22 2020-02-25 Alberto Arza Moncunill Dispenser-applicator
US20210245543A1 (en) * 2018-07-03 2021-08-12 SOCIéTé BIC Textured ball seat
US11794509B2 (en) * 2018-07-03 2023-10-24 SOCIéTé BIC Textured ball seat
CN114173608A (zh) * 2019-07-26 2022-03-11 欧莱雅 包括球接纳插入件的化妆品分配移液管以及相关的装置和方法
US20220265025A1 (en) * 2019-07-26 2022-08-25 L'oreal Cosmetic product dispensing pipette comprising a ball receiving insert, and associated device and method
US11849827B2 (en) * 2019-07-26 2023-12-26 L'oreal Cosmetic product dispensing pipette comprising a ball receiving insert, and associated device and method
CN114173608B (zh) * 2019-07-26 2024-03-22 欧莱雅 包括球接纳插入件的化妆品分配移液管以及相关的装置和方法

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE1511359A1 (de) 1969-07-31
SE314009B (ref) 1969-08-25
JPS5232289B1 (ref) 1977-08-20
GB1107944A (en) 1968-03-27
AT297534B (de) 1972-03-27
CH442071A (de) 1967-08-15
NL150729B (nl) 1976-09-15
FR1500199A (fr) 1967-11-03
NL6705839A (ref) 1967-10-27
BE697186A (ref) 1967-10-02
DE1511359C3 (de) 1975-03-27

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