US3645636A - Ink flow control in a fountain pen - Google Patents

Ink flow control in a fountain pen Download PDF

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Publication number
US3645636A
US3645636A US94836A US3645636DA US3645636A US 3645636 A US3645636 A US 3645636A US 94836 A US94836 A US 94836A US 3645636D A US3645636D A US 3645636DA US 3645636 A US3645636 A US 3645636A
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United States
Prior art keywords
ink
pen
groove
sleeve
feed bar
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Expired - Lifetime
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US94836A
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English (en)
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Otto Mutschler
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Individual
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Individual
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    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B43—WRITING OR DRAWING IMPLEMENTS; BUREAU ACCESSORIES
    • B43K—IMPLEMENTS FOR WRITING OR DRAWING
    • B43K5/00—Pens with ink reservoirs in holders, e.g. fountain-pens
    • B43K5/18—Arrangements for feeding the ink to the nibs

Definitions

  • ABSTRACT [30] Foreign Ap li ti Priority D t Flow of ink from a storage compartment to the writing point of a fountain pen is controlled by a throttling portion in the air 1 1970 Germany 20 17 3539 conduit which admits air to the ink compartment during writing. This portion is kept filled with air by a system of capillary :Jn.tS.((:Ill ..40l/227fi:;)kll/ig ducts including three or more radial ducts in a from face of a [58] Fie'ld 1324 35 partition which separates the compartment from the cavity in the front part of the pen barrel.
  • This invention relates to fountain pens, and particularly to the control of ink flow from the ink storage compartment of the pen to a writing point.
  • a good fountain pen should not leak ink under conditions of low-ambient air pressure, as in an aircraft, nor when exposed to rising temperatures. It is often required that a fountain pen, particularly a cartridge pen, be made ready for use, that is, charged with ink, at the place of manufacture, and be transported over great distances as freight without releasing any of the charged ink although exposed to varying temperatures and air pressures, and being subjected to vibration and mechanical shock.
  • the known fountain pens meeting such requirements are relatively complex and correspondingly costly. They must be built to dimensional tolerances of 0.01 to 0.02 mm., and will not function properly when certain critical dimensions deviate as little as 0.05 mm. from the design value. They are assembled from a relatively great number of parts which are difficult to fit with the required precision.
  • An object of the invention is the provision of a fountain pen in which critical dimensions can be maintained relatively easily because of the paucity of constituent elements and the accessibility of critical parts for manufacture and inspection prior to assembly.
  • this invention aims at providing improved control over keeping the throttling portion of the air conduit filled with ink, and thereby preventing entry of ambient air into the ink compartment and the associated outflow of ink unless the pressure of the ambient air exceeds the fluid pressure in the compartment by a predetermined amount.
  • the control arrangement of the invention and the axial surface of the barrel in the cavity define an annular groove of capillary radial dimensions about the barrel axis adjacent the front face of the partition. The annular groove intersects the air conduit adjacent its throttling portion.
  • the front face of the partition is formed with at least three capillary ink ducts which extend from the aforementioned bore in the partition substantially to the axial barrel surface and communicate with the annular groove, thereby providing a capillary channel for ink flow from the ink compartment to the throttling portion of the air conduit.
  • FIG. 1 shows a fountain pen of the invention enclosing an ink cartridge in fragmentary side elevational section on the longitudinal axis of the pen barrel;
  • FIG. 2 shows the pen of FIG. 1 with a different ink cartridge partly in side elevational section on the barrel axis, and partly in side elevation;
  • FIG. 3 illustrates the pen of FIG. 1 in front elevational section on the line III-III;
  • FIG. 4 shows the pen in rear elevational section on the line IV-lV
  • FIG. 5 is a front elevational section of the pen on the line V-V coinciding with the line IVIV;
  • FIG. 6 shows the pen in front elevational section on the line VI-VI in FIG. 2;
  • FIG. 7 is a section analogous to that of FIG. 6 on the line VII--VII in FIG. 2;
  • FIG. 8 shows the device of FIG. 2 in rear elevational section on the line VIIIVIII.
  • FIGS. 1 and 2 there is seen the front end of a cartridge-type fountain pen whose principal illustrated elements are a writing point 1, the front part 2 of the pen barrel, which is threadedly mounted on a nonillustrated rear part in the fully assembled pen, and a feed bar 3.
  • An ink cartridge 30 (FIG. I) or 31 (FIG. 2) is received in an ink storage compartment of the pen partly bounded by the illustrated front part 2 and otherwise by the nonillustrated rear part of the barrel.
  • the ink compartment is separated from a cavity in the front part of the barrel, which is open in a forward direction, by a partition 26 from which a tube 21 projects into the ink storage compartment and into the ink cartridge 30, 31, the initially sealed ink cartridge being opened by displacement of a ball valve 32 when the tube 21 is inserted into the cartridge.
  • the feed bar 3 projects from the front end of the barrel cavity.
  • the writing point 1 is clamped between the feed bar 3 and the inner wall of the barrel part 2 and projects beyond the bar 3 in the direction of the longitudinal barrel axis.
  • the rear portion 4 of the bar 3 is of circular cross section and generally cylindrical.
  • the bar 3 is formed with a longitudinal slot 5 in a radial plane, the slot being of capillary width as best seen in FIGS. 3 and 4.
  • the slot 5 is closed in a radially outward direction by a sleeve 10 which envelops the rear portion 4, and by the writing point 1 over the remainder of its length.
  • the radial height of the slot 5 decreases from the radial rear face of the bar 3 in a forward direction, and the slot 5 ends behind the front end of the bar 3.
  • the writing point 1 extends about the bar 3 in an arc of less than (FIGS. 3, 6, 7), and the orifice portion 7 of an axial air duct 8 is located diametrically opposite the writing point 1 in the obliquely sloping front face of the bar 3.
  • the angular and axial position of the sleeve 10 on the bar portion 4 is secured partly by engagement of a wedge-shaped key 9 integral with the sleeve with a conforming recess in the front portion of the bar 3 communicating with the slot 5.
  • a helical groove 11 is cut into the outer, mostly cylindrical face of the sleeve 10, and the front end 12 of the groove 11 is axially aligned in communication with the air duct 8.
  • a transverse recess 6 at the front end of the orifice 7 permits a hook or key to be inserted in the feed bar 3 for withdrawing the bar from the barrel part 2.
  • Slots 33 are provided in the front end of the bar 3 in axially spaced radial planes to retain ink surplus delivered to the writing point I, as is conventional, and are sealed from the orifice 7, while communicating with each other.
  • the rearmost turn 14 of the helical groove 11 leads to an axial duct 14 provided in the surface of the sleeve 10 and tapering in a rearward direction to a throttling gap 15 followed by a radially slightly wider axial duct 16 which terminates in the radial rear face of the bar 3.
  • the ducts I4, 16 and the gap 15 are bounded in a radially outward direction by a cylindrically arcuate inner wall of the barrel part 2 and are segment-shaped in cross section, the height of the throttling gap being of capillary size and the ducts 14, 16 being at least partly of capillary height, as is evident from FIG. 4.
  • the front face 27 of the partition 26 is formed with a flat annular recess 23 opposite the rear face of the sleeve 10.
  • the recess 23 thus forms a gap between the partition 26 and the sleeve which extends in a radial plane and is of capillary axial width precisely determined by abutting engagement of conforming shoulders 25 on a flat of the sleeve 10 and on the barrel part 2, the axial position of the feed bar 3 being precisely determined by abutting engagement of the rear portion 4 with the central portion of the face 27.
  • Shallow and wide annular grooves 22, 24 about the outer and inner faces of the sleeve at the rear end of the sleeve are closed radially by the barrel part 2 and the rear portion 4 of the feed bar 3 respectively. They are of capillary radial width and communicate with the gap 23 and communicate with the slot 5 and the duct 16.
  • the face 27 of the partition 26 is formed with a relatively wide and deep radial groove 17, best seen in FIG. 5, which leads to a square axial bore 19 in the partition 26 and in the tube 21.
  • a projection 18 in the bottom of the groove 17, near the bore 19 locally reduces the cross section of the groove 17 whose circumferential width is equal to the width of the bore 19, the groove leading into one side of the bore.
  • Three L-shaped capillary slots extend radially inward of the tube 21 from the other three sides of the bore 19 and axially inward of the partition 26 from the face 27 so that the slots extend from the ink compartment and the interior of a cartridge 30, 31 therein to the radially outer circumference of the face 27, and are connected with the slot 5 and the duct 16 by the grooves 22, 24 and the gap 23, as is also evident from FIGS. 5 and 8.
  • ink is drawn by capillary action from the cartridges 30, 31 through the slots 20 into the gap 23, and partly through the grooves 22, 24, and partly directly into the slot 5, and is supplied to the writing point 1.
  • Ink is also drawn by capillary action from the groove 22 into the duct 16, the throttling gap 15 and the adjacent portion of the duct 14.
  • the air then passes through the duct 16, the radial groove 17 and the square bore 19 of the tube 21 into the ink compartment to permit further release of ink, whereupon the gap 15 is quickly blocked again by air as the pressure in the duct 16 rises toward the pressure of the ambient air.
  • the entire air conduit from the orifice 7 up to and including the bore 19 has a flow section too great to be filled by ink under capillary forces only.
  • the gap 15 is opened and closed so as to permit the ink supply in the writing point 1 to be replenished at the same rate at which the ink is discharged from the point.
  • the rate of air inflow is limited also by the throttling projection 18.
  • the fountainpen described above and illustrated in the drawing consists of the writing point 1 and of four unitary pieces of plastic, one of the pieces being the rear part of the barrel, not shown.
  • the partition 26 and the tube 21 are integral with the front barrel part 2, and the feed bar 3 and sleeve 10 constitute the other two plastic pieces.
  • all other ink and air conduits consist of grooves in the plastic elements which are transversely open or of gaps between the several plastic elements. The necessaRy precise dimensional tolerances can therefore be maintained with relative ease, and can be checked readily.
  • the three capillary ink slots 20 in the tube 21, as a whole, constitute a system whose central axis is below the central axis of the bore 19 and the center of the orifice of the slot 5 in the rear face of the bar 3. It has been found that this arrangement causes the ink supplied to the writing point 1 mainly to be provided by the lowermost slot 20 diametrically opposite the radial groove 17, while the two slots 20, which are located in a common plane provide the gap 23 and the groove 22 with ink for operating the air valve at the throttling gap 15. Smooth ink flow under all operating conditions is provided by the radially elongated portions of the three slots 20 which extend over the full radial width of the partition 26 and to the groove 22 at the outer circumference of the sleeve 10.
  • the location of the ink conduit intake below the air discharge at the rear end of the barrel part 2 in the normal writing position of the pen is instrumental in the proper distribution of the ink which is further assisted by the projection 18.
  • the writing point 1 is located above the air intake orifice 7 on the same side of the barrel axis as the air discharge through the duct 16 and the groove 17 to the bore 19.
  • a fountain pen having an elongated barrel, the barrel having a longitudinal axis, a partition in said barrel axially separating an ink storage compartment in the rear end of said barrel from a cavity in the front end, said partition having a front face in said cavity and being formed with a bore connecting said compartment to said cavity, a writing point forwardly projecting from said cavity, and feeding means in said cavity for feeding ink from said bore to said point, and air from the ambient atmosphere to said bore, said feeding means defining an ink conduit of capillary transverse dimensions and an air conduit having a throttling portion of capillary transverse dimensions and otherwise of transverse dimensions substantially greater than capillary, and control means for keeping said throttling portion filled with ink unless the pressure of said ambient air exceeds the fluid pressure in said compartment by a predetermined amount, the improvement in the control means which comprises:
  • control means and the axial surface of said barrel in said cavity defining an annular groove of capillary radial dimensions about said axis adjacent said front face
  • said front face being formed with at least three capillary ink ducts extending from said bore substantially to said surface and communicating with said annular groove.
  • said front face and said control means axially bounding a gap of capillary width connecting said annular groove to said ducts, said gap extending substantially in a plane radial relative to said axis.
  • said front face being formed with a radial groove extending from said bore substantially to said surface, said throttling portion being bounded by said surface and said control means and axially communicating with said radial groove, the radially outermost portion of said groove being axially aligned with said throttling portion, said groove constituting a part of said air conduit.
  • said control means including a feed bar and a sleeve on said feed bar, said writing point being received between said surface and said feed bar, and said feed bar and said sleeve jointly bounding a portion of said ink conduit, said sleeve having an end face opposite said front face, said faces axially bounding said gap, and abutment means on said sleeve and on said barrel axially engaged to define the relative axial position of said faces.
  • said control means including a feed bar and a sleeve on said feed bar, said writing point being received between said surface and said feed bar, said feed bar and said sleeve jointly bounding a portion of said ink conduit, said sleeve being formed with a helical groove bounded by said surface to constitute a portion of said air conduit, said throttling portion extending from said helical groove toward said gap between said sleeve and said surface and being segment-shaped in cross section.
  • said air conduit tapering in cross section from said helical groove to said throttling portion, a connecting portion of said air conduit connecting said throttling portion to said gap and intersecting said annular groove.
  • said front face being formed with a radial groove, one terminal portion of said radial groove communicating directly with said bore, the other terminal portion of said radial groove being axially aligned with said connecting portion of said air conduit, said gap extending between said other terminal portion and said connecting portion, said radial groove constituting a portion of said air conduit, said ink ducts being offset from said axis in a direction away from said one terminal portion.
  • control means including a feed bar, said feed bar abuttingly engaging said front face.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Pens And Brushes (AREA)
US94836A 1970-04-11 1970-12-03 Ink flow control in a fountain pen Expired - Lifetime US3645636A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
DE2017353A DE2017353C3 (de) 1970-04-11 1970-04-11 Tintenleiter für Füllhalter

Publications (1)

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US3645636A true US3645636A (en) 1972-02-29

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Family Applications (1)

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US94836A Expired - Lifetime US3645636A (en) 1970-04-11 1970-12-03 Ink flow control in a fountain pen

Country Status (9)

Country Link
US (1) US3645636A (de)
JP (1) JPS5114935B1 (de)
AT (1) AT321779B (de)
CS (1) CS154684B2 (de)
DE (1) DE2017353C3 (de)
FR (1) FR2074408A5 (de)
GB (1) GB1277328A (de)
HU (1) HU167640B (de)
YU (1) YU34375B (de)

Cited By (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4382707A (en) * 1980-03-21 1983-05-10 Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph, Inc. Felt tip writing pen
US4712937A (en) * 1984-04-28 1987-12-15 Schmidt Feintechnik Gmbh Plotter stylus with cap covered vent
USD404788S (en) * 1998-01-05 1999-01-26 Gangl Jr John P Front sight for firearm
US6186687B1 (en) * 1998-03-19 2001-02-13 Montblanc-Simplo Gmbh Fountain pen
US9199507B2 (en) * 2010-05-20 2015-12-01 Europe Brands S.à.r.l. Writing instrument and ink cartridge unit
EP2977224A4 (de) * 2013-03-20 2016-11-23 Pilot Corp Also Trading As Pilot Corp Kk Schreibvorrichtung und tintenpatrone

Families Citing this family (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB1346580A (en) * 1970-12-21 1974-02-13 Perry Ltd E S Pens
US3951555A (en) * 1975-04-14 1976-04-20 The Parker Pen Company Modular writing pen
US4458866A (en) * 1978-10-26 1984-07-10 The Garrett Corporation Heat exchanger support system providing for thermal isolation and growth
DE3338227C2 (de) * 1983-10-21 1985-11-28 Mutschler, Otto, 6900 Heidelberg Tintenleiter für Schreibgeräte
DE3526578C1 (en) * 1985-07-25 1987-03-05 Otto Mutschler Ink guide for a cartridge-type or piston-type fountain pen

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE1121973B (de) * 1956-12-22 1962-01-11 Montblanc-Simplo G.m.b.H., Hamburg Tintenleiter für Füllfederhalter
CH360925A (de) * 1956-07-24 1962-03-15 Lamy C Josef Füllhalter
US3521969A (en) * 1968-02-03 1970-07-28 Otto Mutschler Front end assembly for a fountain pen

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CH360925A (de) * 1956-07-24 1962-03-15 Lamy C Josef Füllhalter
DE1121973B (de) * 1956-12-22 1962-01-11 Montblanc-Simplo G.m.b.H., Hamburg Tintenleiter für Füllfederhalter
US3521969A (en) * 1968-02-03 1970-07-28 Otto Mutschler Front end assembly for a fountain pen

Cited By (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4382707A (en) * 1980-03-21 1983-05-10 Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph, Inc. Felt tip writing pen
US4712937A (en) * 1984-04-28 1987-12-15 Schmidt Feintechnik Gmbh Plotter stylus with cap covered vent
USD404788S (en) * 1998-01-05 1999-01-26 Gangl Jr John P Front sight for firearm
US6186687B1 (en) * 1998-03-19 2001-02-13 Montblanc-Simplo Gmbh Fountain pen
US9199507B2 (en) * 2010-05-20 2015-12-01 Europe Brands S.à.r.l. Writing instrument and ink cartridge unit
EP2977224A4 (de) * 2013-03-20 2016-11-23 Pilot Corp Also Trading As Pilot Corp Kk Schreibvorrichtung und tintenpatrone
US9884508B2 (en) 2013-03-20 2018-02-06 Kabushiki Kaisha Pilot Corporation Writing instrument and ink cartridge

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
YU34375B (en) 1979-07-10
HU167640B (de) 1975-11-28
DE2017353A1 (de) 1971-10-21
FR2074408A5 (de) 1971-10-01
GB1277328A (en) 1972-06-14
DE2017353C3 (de) 1974-05-30
AT321779B (de) 1975-04-25
YU44371A (en) 1978-12-31
JPS5114935B1 (de) 1976-05-13
CS154684B2 (de) 1974-04-30

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