WO1993014941A1 - Writing means - Google Patents

Abstract

Writing means provided with metal parts (2, 3), characterized in that at least one of these parts (2, 3) is made of superelastic metal.

Description

Writing means.

The present invention concerns a writing means, in particular an element for writing provided with a number of metal parts, such as a metal tip and/or a metal clip to slide the element over the brim of a waistcoat pocket, or such like.

It is known that these metal parts usually get quickly damaged, as a result of which the writing means can be no longer used.

The above-mentioned problem mainly occurs with fountain pens. It is indeed so that the metal pen of it is a very sensitive part which can be irrevocably damaged when a great pressure is exerted upon it or when it suffers a great shock, for example when it falls onto the ground.

Conventional metal clips with which writing means are usually equipped, fountain pens as well as other writing means, are also disadvantageous in that they are relatively quickly damaged, either because they are used incorrectly by the user of the writing means, or because the clip is slid over an object which is too thick. As a result of this the clip is irrevocably deformed or it breaks off after a while, such that it loses its function.

The present invention aims a writing means which excludes the above-mentioned disadvantages.

To this aim the invention concerns a writing means, provided with metal parts, characterized in that at least one of these parts consists of a superelastic metal.

According to a first possibility, applicable to writing means provided with a pen, such as a fountain pen, the pen will be made of superelastic metal. This is advantageous in that the pen will elastically deform when a great pressure is exerted upon it, and reassume its normal form when said pressure is removed without hereby losing its good qualities. Moreover, a writing means with a pen made of superelastic metal is shock-proof, such that no damage will occur when such writing means accidentally falls onto the ground onto its tip.

According to a second possibility, applicable to all sorts of writing means, the writing means is provided with a clip made of superelastic metal, such that this will always reassume its normal form, regardless of the deformation to which said clip is subjected.

Preferably, the superelastic metal is made of a memorized-form alloy with a transformation temperature which is lower than the service temperature. According to yet another preferred embodiment, use can be made of a superelastic spinodal alloy.

In order to better explain the characteristics according to the invention, by way of example only and without being limitative in any way, the following preferred embodiments are described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

figure 1 shows a writing means, in particular a fountain pen, according to the invention; figure 2 shows the fountain pen from figure 1 while a great pressure is being exerted upon it; figure 3 shows the part from figure 1 indicated by F3 in the case where a great pressure is exerted on the clip of the writing means. In the example shown in figures 1 to 3 the writing means 1 of the invention is a fountain pen. The invention is special in that this writing means 1 has a number of metal parts, such as the actual pen 2 and the clip 3, which are made of a superelastic metal.

As shown in figure 2, the pen 2 can hereby elastically bend outwards under the influence of a great pressure Fl without being damaged. As soon as this great pressure Fl is removed, the pen 2 reassumes its normal form and once again shows the same writing qualities as any normal metal pen.

Preferably the pen 2 has a split shape or has two legs 4 and 5, which further facilitates the elastic bending.

As shown in figure 3 the clip 3 can be bent very far outwards under the influence of a pressure F2. If the clip were made of an ordinary metal, it would break off or at least become irrevocably deformed. By using a superelastic metal, the clip 3 reassumes its original position as soon as the pressure F2 is removed as shown in figures 1 and 2.

Preferably, for the above-mentioned superelastic metal use is made of a memorized-form alloy. However, use can also be made of a superelastic spinodal alloy.

According to the most preferred embodiment, use is made of a memorized-form alloy from the family of Cu-Al, Cu- Zn-Al, Cu-Al-Ni and Ni-Ti.

For the pen 2 a mono-crystal of the above-mentioned memorized-form alloy on the basis of Cu-Al, Cu-Zn-Al or Cu-Al-Ni is preferably used. This provides the pen 2 an elongation quality of 2 to 15%. For the clip 3 a memorized-form alloy of Ni-Ti is preferably used, since this metal is better suited to make such a clip 3.

According to a variant the clip 3 preferably consists of a memorized-form alloy on the basis of poly-crystalline Cu-Al, Cu-Zn-Al or Cu-Al-Ni.

Both the Ni-Ti alloy and the above-mentioned poly- crystalline alloys of Cu-Al, Cu-Zn-Al or Cu-Al-Ni also have an elongation quality of 2 to 15%.

The so-called transformation temperature of the above- mentioned memorized-form alloys are preferably selected below zero degrees Celsius.

Although use is preferably made of materials from the families Cu-Al, Cu-Zn-Al, Cu-Al-Ni and Ni-Ti, the use of other memorized-form families is not excluded. Some other examples are: Cu-Zn, Ni-Ti-Cu, Ni-Ti-Fe, Fe-Pt, Fe- Pd, Fe-Ni-Al, Fe-Ni-Al-Ti, Fe-Ni-Co-Ti, Fe-Mn-Si, Ag-Cd, Au-Cd, Cu-Zn-Si, Cu-Sn, Cu-Au-Zn and Ni-Al. Other materials, in particular metals, can be added to these families in order to influence certain qualities such as malleability, hysteresis behaviour, stability, ageing, strength, grain coarseness, fatigue, etc.

The present invention is in no way limited to the embodiments described by way of example and shown in the accompanying drawings; on the contrary, such a writing means can be made in various forms and dimensions while still remaining within the scope of the invention.

Claims

Claims .

1. Writing means provided with metal parts (2, 3), characterized in that at least one of these parts (2, 3) is made of superelastic metal.

2. Writing means according to claim 1, characterized in that this writing means (1) is provided with a pen (2) of superelastic metal.

3. Writing means according to claim 2, characterized in that this writing means (1) consists of a fountain pen.

4. Writing means according to claim 3, characterized in that the fountain pen is provided with a pen (2) whose tip consists of two legs (4, 5).

5. Writing means according to claim 1, characterized in that this writing means (1) is provided with a clip (3) of superelastic metal.

6. Writing means according to any of the above claims, characterized in that the superelastic metal consists of a memorized-form alloy.

7. Writing means according to claim 6, characterized in that the memorized-form alloy is selected from the family of Cu-Al, Cu-Zn-Al, Cu-Al-Ni and Ni-Ti.

8. Writing means according to claim 2, 3 or 4, characterized in that the pen (2) is made of a memorized- form alloy on the basis of a mono-crystal of the series of Cu-Al, Cu-Al-Ni and Cu-Zn-Al.

9. Writing means according to any of claims 2, 3, 4 or 8, characterized in that the pen (2) is made of metal having a 2 to 15% elasticity.

10. Writing means according to claim 5, characterized in that the clip (3) is made of a memorized-form alloy on the basis of Ni-Ti.

11. Writing means according to claim 5, characterized in that the clip (3) is made of a memorized-form alloy on the basis of poly-crystalline Cu-Al, Cu-Zn-Al or Cu-Al-Ni.

12. Writing means according to claim 5, 10 or 11, characterized in that the clip (3) is made of metal having a 2 to 15% elasticity.

13. Writing means according to any of claims 6 to 12, characterized in that the metal in question consists of a memorized-form alloy with a transformation temperature lower than zero degrees Celsius.

14. Writing means according to any of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the superelastic metal consists of a superelastic spinodal alloy.