Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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SPECIFICATION
This invention pertains to an instrument marker pen
with improved venting means and particularly to such pen with
a vent closure feature which is sealed prior to use but which is
automatically opened upon use by virtue of an engaging element
in the pen holder.
Instrument marker pens have become progressively smaller
and more readily replaceable and disposable as recording instru-
ments have also gotten smaller. Typically such pens for most
modern instruments are very small, and usually are formed of a
molded plastic body and some nib or writing means projecting
therefrom. Often, the body houses a fibrous reservoir material
in communication wlth a capillary nib.
Displacement of ink from the reservoir through the capillary
nib to the writing surface requires that ink in the pen be dis-
placed by ambient air and thus some vent means must be provided
in the pen.
Commonly this is done by a space along the length of the
writing nib such as by housing a round nib in a square cross-section
extending from the pen body.
Other venting means used in the past have included pierce-
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able diaphragm but these have required that the instrument operatorremember to manually pierce the vent and to do so in a manner
~which effectively leaves an opening in the pierceable vent so
~ that the vent effectively provides an air passageway into the
interior of the pen body throughout the use of the pen. Various
modes of failure of such venting means can be readily foreseen.
Pierceable diaphragms for instrumentpens have also been
used in other contexts, such as that seen in U.S. Patent 3,046,556
in which the diaphra~n is pierced by a double tube element attached
to a pump for priming the pen to deliver ink. ;
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In a preliminary patentability search on the invention
hereof, the following patents were located:
3,229,669 KUYT
3,399,020 MARGOLIS et al
3,416,155 JONES
3,482,258 STEEN
3,611,430 WATCHORN et al
3,778,840 DAHL
3,804,540 MUTSCHLER
Of these patents, none are believed relevant to an
integrally vented instrument marker pen as in the present
invention.
U.S. Patent 3,399,020 - Margolis et al discloses that
a sealed cosmetic-containing cartridge may be penetrated
to provide a vent by a prong 16b in Figure 2, associated
with the cartridge holding cap 16. Two deficiencies are
seen in this disclosure, however. In the first place, the
pierceable plastic cartridge is typically resilient and is
even indicated to be so by the deformation shown in Figure
2 of the patent. Thus, it would be expected to form a
seal around the periphery of penetrating spike 16b and not
to provide an effective vent. Further, one designing an
instrument marker pen and looking for a more effective
venting means would not be expected to look for assistance
in or find applicable design features in such an unrelated
art as is represented by a cosmetic applicator.
This is further illustrated by the venting means shown
in all of the other above-referenced patents. In each
case it will be noted that the vent is integrally formed
in the pen body or provided as one of the pen components
but also in each case the vent effectively leaves the
interior of the pen open through the vent means from the
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manufacture of the pen. Thus, none provldes an integrally
formed vent means which is actually sealed or closed until
use and then automatically opened.
Still further, no prior art is known which discloses
an instrument marker pen, the interior of which is sealed
upon manufacture but which is adapted to be effectively
vented upon installation with no separate manipulative
step required on the part of the installer.
It is, therefore, the general objective of the present
invention to provide such a sealed but readily vented
instrument marker pen and particularly to provide a pen
and pen holder which accomplishes this purpose.
To this end the invention consists of an instrument
marker pen comprising a body adapted to slide in a given
direction into a holder, a fibrous ink reservoir within
said body, a capillary nib projecting from said body in
ink delivery communicaton with the reservoir and, remote `
from the nib, a vent in the wall of the body and a
yieldable vent closure carried by the body and adapted to
yield under pressure from the holder in said given
direction in order to provide an air passageway into said
body.
Preferably, this vent closure may consist of a pierce-
able or frangible or displaceable element or diaphragm and
the holder may consist of a piercing tube or a member
adapted to displace or engage a frangible or displaceable
element in the wall or on the exterior surface of the pen
body.
For a better understanding of the present invention,
reference is m~de to the following detailed description of
embodiments thereof taken in conjunction with the appended
claims and the drawings, in which:
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Figure 1 is a sectional view of the instrument marker
pen and holder, prior to assembly, in one form of the
present invention;
Figure 2 is a part.ial sectional view of the pen and
holder of Figure 1 after assembly;
Figure 3 is a partial sectional view of an assembled
instrument pen holder and pen utilizing a different
embodiment of the present invention than that shown in
Figures 1 and 2;
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1031-78
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Figures 4 and 5 show still another embodiment of the
present invention in sectional view, Figure 4 before assembly
and Fi~,ure 5, a partial view, after assembly; and
Figure 6 is a partial sectional view of still another
embodiment of the present invention.
Referring more specifically to Figure l and 2, there
is shown an instrument marker pen consisting of an essentially
flat plastic marker body lO housing a fibrous reservoir material
12. At the front of body lO, stainless steel nib tube 14 pene-
trates body lO and provides ink delivery communication to a
porous writing nib 16 at the forward end thereof from fibrous
reservoir 12 by an ink wicking intermediate material 18.
At the rear of body lO, body closure 20 is seen to
include a vent closure means consisting of a frangible or pierce-
able diaphragm 22 adapted to be engaged upon installation of the
pen in a holder 24 by hollow tubular vent member 26. As shown,
vent member 26 is pointed at its front edge to pierce vent closure
diaphragm 22. In alternative embodiments, a flat forward edge may
be used with a frangible or displaceable closure in place of
~20 :the pierceable diaphragm 22. :
A modified closure engaging means is seen in Figure 3
: in which diaphragm 22 is adapted to be displaced or pierced by
, . .
a vent engaging element of holder 24, the vent engaging element
comprising a lar~er diameter forward end 28 and a reduced diameter
~25 segment 30 adjacent thereto, the larger diameter segment adapted
,. ,
to produce a relatively large vent opening in the closure 20 and
reduced diameter segment 30 providing a vent passageway there-
through in the sp~ce between its outer diameter and the opening
formed by large diameter segment 28.
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~ St:ill another embodiment of the present invention is
seen in Figures 4 and 5 in which closure 21 with a vent opening
30 also includes an integrally formed displaceable vent cover 32
frangible on one side thereof for separation from cover 21 upon
engagement by a surface of holder 34 adapted to engage and dis-
place cover 32.
Still another displaceable vent closure marker is seen
in Figure 6 In this embodiment, a metal ball 36 is friction
fit in vent opening 38 and adapted to be pushed inwardly to open
vent opening 38 by a projection (not shown) of smaller diameter
than opening 38, associated with a marker holder otherwise simi-
lar to those shown in Figures 1 and 4,
While this invention has been described with respect to
a specific embodiment thereof, it is not limited thereto Rather,
i the appended claims are intended to be construed to encompass
not only those embodiments of the invention described and suggested
but such other embodiments of the invention ~hich may be developed
by those skilled in the art without departing from the true spirit
and scope thereof
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