GB986822A - Improvements in or relating to reservoir pens - Google Patents

Abstract

986,822. Reservoir pens. H. A. A. EXNER. April 17, 1962 [April 18, 1961; June 30, 1961], No. 14728/62. Heading B6P. In a reservoir pen having a retractable writing mechanism, the reservoir contains a compressible flexible capillary material. The capillary material may be compressed with a reciprocating piston type mechanism or the ink reservoir may be of the collapsible type. In the stylographic reservoir pen shown in Fig. 1, the retractable writing mechanism comprises a reservoir 12, a cylindrical guide 18 having capillary grooves 17, Fig. 3, and a nib section 25 screwthreaded into the writing end of the guide 18. The counterweight 22 of the needle 21 is guided in the central bore of the cylindrical guide 18. To fill the pen the headpiece 11 is unscrewed from the barrel 10 of the pen and the complete writing mechanism removed from the barrel. The nib section 25, which has a ribbed or hexagonal section 29 to fit a key 30 in the top of the push button 31 in the headpiece 11, is unscrewed to expose ink openings 27 in the nib section 25. On the downward stroke of the piston 13, the flexible capillary material 16 is compressed and air is expelled from the reservoir through the channels 17, radial capillary channels 24 in a member 19 and the ink openings 27. On the return stroke of the piston 13, ink is drawn into the reservoir through the ink openings 27. The nib section 25 is screwed home into the cylindrical guide 18 and the writing mechanism, pen-barrel 10 and head piece 11 reassembled. When the piston 13 is at its uppermost position, respiration openings 33 in the reservoir wall expose the inside of the reservoir to atmosphere to compensate for variations in atmospheric pressure. The writing mechanism shown in Fig. 6 comprises a collapsible reservoir 35. To fill the reservoir 36, a push button 38 having a conical extension 39 which co-operates with a flexible tubular sleeve 42 to form a valve, is unscrewed to the position shown in Fig. 7. When the reservoir is compressed, air is allowed to escape through the valve and respiration openings 48, but prevented from entering the reservoir when the same is released. Ink will then enter the ink openings 27 in the nib section 25, previously exposed by unscrewing the nib section 25. In a modification, Fig. 9 (not shown), a floating valve replaces the valve described above. In a further modification, the invention is applied to a ball-point pen, Fig. 11 (not shown) in which the respiration openings in the uppermost part of reservoir have a weak rubber sleeve over them to operate as a valve when filling the pen. This sleeve, however, does not prevent the respiration openings from compensating when there is a change in atmospheric pressure.