US2735403A - morrill - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 21, 1956 H. L. MORRILL, JR

INK SUPPLY MEANS FOR FOUNTAIN PEN 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Feb. 14, 1950 I N VENTOR ATTORNEYAI 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 21, 1956 H. MORRILI., JR *L I INK SUPPLY MEANS FOR FOUNTAIN PEN med Feb. 14, 195o WM/7///A7/////////////////// 7 Ill .I

zu Q l 8 W ATTORNEYS 2,735,403 INK SUPPLY NIEANS FOR FOUNTAIN PEN Harry L. Morrill, Jr., Marietta, Ga. Application February 14, 1950, Serial No. 144,171 Claims. (Cl. 1Z0-42.16)

The invention relates to fountain pens and has as an object the improvement of details of fountain pen structures.

Among the objects of the invention are: the provision of a novel means for hinging the filling lever; of a novel sac presser and spring release for said presser; of a novel reserve ink carrying means; of a novel cap retainer; of a novel leakage storing means, and of such other improvements in structure as will appear from the following description.

illustrative embodiments of various features of the invention are shown in the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the pen and its cap in separated position;

Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal section upon an enlarged scale, of the nib end of the pen with the cap in place;

Fig. 3 is an extension downwardly of Pig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a detail central longitudinal section of the reservoir end of the pen;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 showing a second form of reserve ink retaining means; and

Figs. 6, 7, 8 and 9 are transverse sections on the corresponding section lines of Figs. 1 and 2.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the pen comprises a reservoir section 10 and a writing end section 11 illustrated as joined by a plain slip joint at 12 providing spaced shoulders 13, 14 between which there is retained a cap retaining ring 15 to be described. The shoulder 14 provided by the end edge of the section 10 is of greater width than the shoulder 13 and the excess width seats against a shoulder 16 formed on the section 11, the result being that the ring groove between shoulders 13 and 14 cannot be so restricted as to pinch the ring 15 to hamper its expansion and contraction in cap gripping action.

A circumferential groove 17 is desirably provided for receipt of cement. It is obvious that a screw threaded joint could be utilized between the sections.

The cap 18 is shown as comprising a metal shell portion 19 and an inner liner 20 which may desirably be formed of a plastic or the like.

To coact with the ring 15, the edge of the open end of the shell may be swaged inwardly, very slightly as illustrated at 2l, Fig. 2.

Bleeding has been a nuisance with at least many fountain pens. Such bleeding is caused by pressure or temperature effect upon the air present in a partially filled reservoir which causes the ink in the capillary passages adjacent the nib to be forced out. It may be caused by increase of body temperature on the part of the owner who carries the pen on the person, or by transportation to different altitudes with resultant changes in atmospheric pressure.

To retain ink thus forced from the pen and thus prevent soiling of clothing or the lingers, the liner 20 is shown as formed with capillary slots 22 sulicient in capacity, in the aggregate, to take up and retain the maximum nited States Patent amount of escaping ink at each instance. Since the bleeding is infrequent, the ink retained at one time will normally be permitted to dry up, leaving the slots 22 open for an ensuing instance of bleeding. This pen cap construction, which includes the liner 20 having the capillary slots 22 therein, is disclosed and claimed in application Serial No. 144,159, filed by Herbert W. Sams concurrently with this applicaiton and now abandoned.

To retain a pocket clip 23, the shell 19 is shown as formed with a depressed portion 24 in which an eye 25 of the clip is seated and the liner 20 is formed with an internal screw thread for reception of a cap screw 26 formed with an ornamental head 27.

To vent the interior of the cap, aligned openings 28, 29 are shown in the shell and liner to lie behind the clip 23. To ensure registration of the hole 29 with 28 the liner 20 is shown as formed with a slot 30 receiving a tongue 31 struck inwardly from the material of the shell.

The cap retaining ring 15 of the invention is in effect two rings formed of an integral length of wire desirably of the cross-section illustrated. The wire of which the ring is formed is bent to form one substantially complete turn, then deflected into a cross-over, as 32 Fig. l, then continued into a second substantially complete ring, the ends of the two rings terminating closely adjacent the cross-over, as shown.

This form of cap retention is found to function in a superior manner, as compared with a single split ring.

As shown, the feed bar 33 of the pen extends in a bore in the section 11 and is formed with a capillary slot 34 opening below the nib 35 and to the interior of an ink sac 36 at 37.

To compress the sac 36 for expulsion of air, in filling the pen, a presser plate 38 is placed in contact with the sac and pressure is applied by a lever 39 pivoted upon a ring 40 as at 41. The ring 40, for anchorage, is shown as seated in an internal groove 42. To return the lever and allow the sac to return to normal with intake of ink in the usual manner a spring 43 is shown overlying the pressure plate 38, extending to a bight 44 and continued as a return bend at 45. The resilience of the bight serves to cause the return pressure upon the lever 39.

To retain a reserve supply of ink when the free ink in the sac is depleted there is shown an absorptive body in the sac.

In Fig. 3 the absorptive body is illustrated as a body of spongy material as sponge rubber at 46 located adjacent the delivery end of the sac below the lever 39. In Fig. 4 the spongy body is located in the closed end of the sac. In Fig. 5 the spongy body 47 is illustrated as a pledget of glass wool located above a constriction of the sac. The bodies are shown as adhered to the wall of the sac by means of an adhesive 48 which may desirably be rubber latex.

When the sac is filled the spongy body will be saturated and the absorbed ink will be retained after apparent failure of the ink supply.

When failure of flow of ink indicates that the pen needs refilling, the work in hand may usually be nished by actuation of the filling lever to express the ink from the spongy body for further use.

As is well known the probability of exudation of ink from the pen is greatest when there is little ink remaining therein. When such residue of ink is entirely held in the feed bar it is not infrequent to find the entire supply in the cap. By the structure of the present invention capillary means is provided in the cap to take up the exudation and capillary means is provided in the ink reservoir to hold some ink which cannot be expelled by expansion of air in the reservoir. Therefore, by the combination of the two capillary means, the ink expelled is prevented from soiling the clothing and after such untoward event the pen is still available for use.

Minor changes may be made in the physical embodiment of' the invention, within the spirit of the appended claims, without departureV from the spirit thereof.

What is claimed is:

1.v A fountain pen comprising an elongated pen body, a exible sac forming an ink reservoir housed within said pen body and extending longitudinally thereof, said reservoir having a delivery end in communication with a capillary ink-feed'V passage located in said pen body, a body of ink-absorbent material located within said reservoir, said absorbenty body being attached to a Wall of sa'id sac and being spaced from the delivery end of said reservoir, the size of said absorbent body being substantially less than the volume of said reservoir, a filling lever, and means supporting said tilling lever on said pen body, said ill'ing lever being operable to collapse then release said sac to draw ink into said reservoir through said capillary ink-feed' passage to saturate said absorbent body and till said reservoir, said absorbent body acting to trap a portion of the ink drawn into said reservoir, the, remainder of said ink being free ink capable of being drawn from said reservoir by said capillary ink-feed passage when the pen is used for writing, said absorbent body being compressible by said iilling lever to expel ink held by said absorbent body into said reservoir and thus free said ink and make it available to said ink-feed passage to provide a small reserve supply of free ink within said reservoir after the original supply of free ink not trapped by said absorbent body has been depleted.

2. A fountain pen comprising an elongated ink reservoir having a closed end and a delivery end, said closed end being deiined by a collapsible wall portion of said reservoir and said delivery end being in communication with a capillary ink-feed passage, and a body of inkabsorbent material positioned Within said reservoir at the closed' end thereof, the size of said absorbent body being substantially less than the vol-urne of said reservoir, said collapsible Wall portion being collapsible then releasable to draw ink through said capillary ink-feed passage and into said reservoir to saturate said absorbent body and fill said reservoir, said absorbent body acting to trap a portion of the ink drawn into said reservoir, the remainder of said ink being free ink capable of being drawn from said reservoir by said capillary ink-feed passage when the pen is used for Writing, said absorbent body being compressible by said reservoir collapsible wall portion to expel ink held by said absorbent body into said reservoir and thus free said ink and make it available to said capillary ink-feed passage to provide a small reserve supply of free ink within said reservoir after the original supply of free ink not trapped by said absorbent body has been depleted.

3. A fountain pen according to claim 2 in which the closed end of said reservoir is deined by a tiexible sac having a constricted portion, and said absorbent body is held by the constricted portion of said sac.

4. A fountain pen comprising a exible sac forming an ink reservoir having a closed end and a delivery end, said delivery end being in communication with a capillary ink-feed passage, a body of ink-absorbent material positioned' within saidl reservoir adjacent the closed end thereof, the size of said absorbent body being substantially less than the volume of said reservoir, and means to collapse then release said sac to draw ink through said capillary' ink-feed passage and into said reservoir to saturate said absorbent body and lill said reservoir, said absorbent body acting to trap a portion of the ink drawn into said reservoir, the remainder of said ink being free ink capable of being drawn from said reservoir by said capillary ink-feed passage when the pen is used for writing, said absorbent body being compressible by said sac collapsing means to expel ink held by said absorbent body into said reservoir and thus free said ink and make it available to said capillary ink-feed passage to provide a small reserve supply of free ink Within said reservoir after the original supply of free ink not trapped by said absorbent body has been depleted.

5. A fountain pen comprising an elongated ink reservoir having a delivery end in communication with a capillary ink-eed passage,A said reservoir being defined at least in part by opposed collapsible wall members, and a body of ink-absorbent material positioned within said reservoir away from the location Where said capillary ink-feed passage communicates with said reservoir, said absorbent body being attached to one of said collapsible Wall members and being spaced from the opposed collapsible wall member when said collapsible Wall members are not collapsed whcreby ink may feed past` said absorbent body to said capillary init-feed passage, the size of said absorbent body being substantially less than the volume of said reservoir, said collapsible wall members being collapsible then releasable to draw ink` through said capillary inkfeed passage and into said reservoir to saturate said absorbent body and ll said reservoir, said absorbent body acting to trap a portion of the ink drawn into said reservoir, the remainder of said ink being free ink capable or" being drawn from said reservoir by said capillary inkfeed passage when the pen is used for writing, said absorbent body being compressible by said collapsible wall members to expel ink held by said absorbent body into` said reservoir and thus free said ink and make it available to said capillary ink-feed passage to provide a small reserve supply of free ink within said reservoir after the original supply of free ink not trapped by said absorbent body has been depleted.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 587,032 Blair July 27, 1897 1,353,625 Brandenberg Sept. 21, 1920 1,425,607 Rorison Aug. 15, 1922 1,428,333 Kaufman Sept. 5, 1922 1,560,061 Kish Nov. 3, 1925 1,797,425 Klaus Mar. 24, 1931 1,909,130 Sherin May 16, 1933 1,939,649 Ashmore Dec. 19, 1933 2,438,231 Schultz et al. Mar. 23, 1948 2,453,491 Cardin Nov. 9, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS 611,819 Francev July 17, 1926

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