Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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1 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a paper leaf
cutting instrument which is used for making weakened a
desired linear portion on a leaf of paper so that the leaf
of paper may be cut along the linear fragile portion when
necessary.
The present inventor has studied a cutting pen
which may be used like an ordinary writing pen relative to
a leaf of paper and, simultaneously, may be used for
cutting the paper leaf along the writing locus by tension-
ing or pressing the paper leaf.
Since a piece of paper is a sheet made by
entangling fibers with each other and filling fillers
therein, paper normally has only little wet strength.
When paper, maintained under conditions in which it
locally contains a large amount of moisture is scratched
by a needle-like hard element, the entanglement of
contained fibers is easily released, effectively making
the paper fragile along scratch lines. In this
connection, the present inventor has proposed in Japanese
Utility Model Unexamined Publication 62-104900 a cutting
instrument in which a water-absorbing material is
surrounded by a hard element having a tip end to which a
rough surface-machining is applied. According to this
technique, a large amount of water is first supplied to a
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1 portion of the paper, to be made fragile, from the water-
absorbing material of the writing end of the instrument,
and at the same time, the hard element having the rough
surface is moved on the paper under writing pressure. As
a result, a flaw is generated therein. Even in the drying
condition of the paper, the paper may be cut along the
writing locus simply by tensioning the paper.
However, when the hard element surrounds the
periphery of the water-absorbing material in such a
cutting instrument, wettability is not sufficient upon
contact between the hard element and the paper since
moisture is supplied to the paper after the contact
between the hard element and the paper, so that the
writing scratching operation requires strong writing
pressure and the cutting feeling is satisfactory. Also,
when the paper is scratched by a hard element having a
rough surface tip end, the entanglement of fibers can be
released without cutting the fibers of the paper, so that
the paper cutting instrument can not be smoothly moved on
the paper and a wide portion of the paper is made
fragile. In this case, there is a tendency for the cut
portion have a shaggy area.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, an object of the invention is to
provide a paper leaf cutting instrument which is capable
of scratching a leaf of paper under a somewhat large
writing pressure to supply moisture to such an extent
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1 that the paper may be made fragile, immediately there-
after, scratching the wet portion, and then cutting the
paper, when necessary, simply by tensioning the paper
without adversely affecting the outer appearance of the
paper. Furthermore, the instrument may be normally used
as a writing instrument.
In order to achieve these objects of the present
invention, there is provided a paper leaf cutting
instrument which includes a barrel portion accommodating a
liquid supply portion for supplying a liquid for wetting
the paper surface, a wetting end portion mounted on a tip
end of the barrel portion and being supplied with the
liquid from the liquid supplying portion, the wetting end
portion having wettability and compressibility, a paper
leaf expanding/opening portion having an expanding/opening
blade provided in contact with a side surface of the
wetting end portion, and the expanding/opening blade
extending substantially the same length as the wetting end
portion in an axial direction of the barrel portion.
In the specification, the "wetting end portion"
refers to a tip end portion of a water-absorbent property
and compressible material, the tip end portion being
exposed from the barrel portion. The other end of the
wetting end portion comes into contact with the liquid
accommodated in the barrel portion and is always wetted to
form a wetting end portion. When the wetting end portion
is pressed against the paper, the liquid of the barrel
portion is always supplied to the wetting end portion. It
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1 is preferable to use writing liquid, such as ink, as the
liquid for wetting the paper because the instrument may be
also used as a writing instrument.
It is preferable to use an assembly of fiber, a
felt, a hydrophilic porous material, a sponge or the like
as the water-absorbing material according to the present
invention. Among these materials, the assembly of fiber
may supply a sufficient amount of moisture due to the
capillary phenomenon of the fiber forming the material,
even if the assembly is concentrated at high density. In
addition, the assembly of fiber is durable in service life.
These materials at the wetting end portion are
inserted into an end of the barrel portion and project
from the end thereof.
The end of the wetting end portion is so shaped
that it is cut on a slant at from about 30 to 80 degrees,
preferably at about 40 to 80 degrees, in order to carry
out writing even when the instrument is slightly slanted
in the same manner as the writing instrument for supplying
the writing liquid.
The periphery of the wetting end portion is
surrounded in a ring shape by the paper leaf expanding/
opening portion having the paper leaf expanding/opening
blade projecting like a needle. A ring of hard material
from which the expanding/opening blade is formed, surrounds
the wetting end portion. It is possible to insert the
wetting end portion made of water-absorptive and compres-
sibile material into the ring. However, it is preferable
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1 to use a plate member made of metal or the like and bent
into a ring. In this case, it is easy to perform molding,
and in addition, it is possible to provide a ring shape
having one discontinuous portion to impart a flexibility to
the expanding/opening blade and the wetting end portion.
Furthermore, it is easy to insert the water-absorbing
material into the ring. Even after the insertion, the
wetting end portion may be positively gripped due to its
flexibility.
The expanding/opening blade is formed so as to
project from the ring. The end of the blade is sharpened
like a needle and is finished to have a flat smooth
surface so as to slide well on the paper surface. Also,
in order to enhance the cutting effect, it is preferable
to use a sharp inverted V-shaped top as a tip end of the
expanding/opening blade. The corner portion actually works
as a weakened linear machined portion.
The ring and expanding/opening blade of the
paper leaf expanding/opening portion and made of material,
which is hard and dense, such as stainless, brass, other
non-corroding metal, ceramics and the like. In particu-
lar, the expanding/opening blade requires a strength of
150 to 200 g, which is larqer than that of an average
absolute writing pressure of 60 g, which is applied to a
conventional writing instrument. It is also preferable
that the ring of the proximal portion of the paper leaf
expanding/opening portion be inserted into the barrel
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1 portion. By inserting the proximal portion of the ring
into the barrel portion in this manner, the wetting end
portion and the paper leaf expanding/opening portion are
fixed together without fail.
It is necessary that the wetting end portion
extends substantially in the same length as the end of the
expanding/opening blade in an axial direction of the
barrel portion.
When the instrument is used for cutting the
paper leaf, in order to make the paper fragile in a linear
manner, the paper leaf cutting instrument should be held
in an upright condition as much as possible and the
writing should be performed while imparting downwards the
somewhat stronger pressure to the writing instrument, in
lS conformity with a desired line. In this case, the
pressure causes the water-absorbent and compressible
material to be compressed to provide a large amount of
liquid. As a result, the paper is sufficiently wet to be
fragile. Keeping on the writing operation, the wetting
end portion is compressed to be substantially shorter
than the expanding/opening blade, and the inverted V-
shaped expanding/opening blade pushes and opens the
paper fibers of the paper made fragile by the moisture
provided from the end portion, thus cutting a part of
the fiber. Accordingly, in a dry condition of the
paper, the fiber remains open by the expanding/opening
blade. A portion of the paper which is partially cut
becomes extremely fragile but its outer appearance would
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1 be kept almost unchanged. In addition, if a colored
liquid is used, the traversed portion of the paper is
colored. Therefore, if the colored portion is tensioned,
the paper leaf may be cut along the locus of the fragile
portion.
In case of colored liquid, it is sufficient to
use colored water, that is, a water-soluble coloring
agent, such as dye. It is also possible to mix it with
other wetting material, such as glycerin or the like. In
the case where the instrument is used for cutting paper, a
flow rate of the writing liquid from the wetting end
portion is in the range of 0.3 g/m to 1.6 g/m.
A wetting liquid may be filled directly into a
cavity of the barrel portion, or otherwise may be absorbed
into the water-absorbing material, such as a sponge,
inserted into the barrel.
According to the present invention, the proximal
portion of the wetting end portion which communicates with
the liquid supply portion containing a liquid to wet the
paper surface and is accommodated or held in the barrel
portion is surrounded by the ring-like hard element, and
the expanding/opening blade projects from the ring-like
hard element. When the instrument is somewhat strongly
depressed against the paper surface to scratch it while
the instrument is kept substantially in an upright
condition, the tip end of the wetting end portion is
compressed to thereby supply a large amount of liquid for
wetting the paper surface. At the same time, the corner
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1 portion of the expanding/opening blade whose end is
sharpened in the form of an inverted V-shape and is ground
into a flat smooth surface will open the fiber of the paper
leaf to cut a part of the paper which is wetted with the
liquid. Accordingly, even when the paper is in a dry
condition, it is possible to cut the paper along the
scratched flaw simply by tensioning the fragile portion.
The ring made of hard material only surrounds
the proximal end portion of the wetting end portion.
Thus, the ability of the wetting end portion to supply
water is not obstructed.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the accompanying drawings:
Fig. 1 is a side view of a tip end portion of
one embodiment of the instrument according to the
invention;
Fig. 2 is a side view in a writing position of
an embodiment of the instrument according to the invention;
Fig. 3 is a side view in a cutting position of
an embodiment of the instrument according to the invention;
Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a paper leaf
expanding/opening portion of the embodiment of the
instrument according to the invention;
Fig. 5 is a perspective view of an expanding/
opening blade of another embodiment of the instrument
according to the invention;
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1 Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a paper leaf
expanding/opening portion of another embodiment of the
instrument according to the invention; and
Fig. 7 is an illustration of an operation of the
blade of these embodiments of the instrument according to
the invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The present invention will now be described with
reference to the accompanying drawings. Fig. 1 is a side
view of an embodiment of a cutting instrument in accord-
ance with the invention, in which reference numeral 1
denotes a barrel portion of the cutting instrument, and
reference numeral 2 denotes a wetting end portion which
has a diameter of about 3 mm and which is made, e.g., of
polyester fiber, its top end is cut at about 70 degrees.
Reference numeral 3 denotes a paper leaf expanding/opening
portion which surrounds the wetting end portion 2 at a
proximal end portion thereof. The wetting end portion 2
is inserted into a distal end of the barrel portion 1 and
is fixed therein while being surrounded at the proximal
portion 4. The wetting end portion 2 optionally extends
into the barrel portion and serves as a wick in controll-
ing fluid flow from the barrel to a paper surface. An
expanding/opening blade 5 is provided in intimate contact
with an outer longest portion of the wetting end portion
2, which is obliquely cut at its distal end. The proximal
portion 4 may be in the form of a ring which is slightly
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1 opened and discontinuous at one end as shown in Fig. 4, or
otherwise may be in the form of a closed ring 4B, as shown
in Fig. 6 (in accordance with another embodiment of the
invention). The distal end of the wetting end portion 2
is substantially projected to the same length as the
expanding/opening blade 5.
The tip end of the expanding/opening blade 5
projects in the form of an inverted V-shape in a cross
section thereof as shown in Fig. 4. Reference numeral 6
denotes a projecting portion. A corner portion of the
projecting portion 6 serves as a cutting portion 7 which
expands or opens and partially cuts fiber of the wetted
portion of the paper and which actually works to make the
paper fragile.
In assembling the paper leaf cutting instrument
according to the present invention, it is preferable to
use a method in which the wetting end portion 2 is
surrounded in a ring by the paper leaf expanding/opening
portion 3. Also, it is possible to manufacture the
instrument by inserting the wetting end portion 2 into the
paper leaf expanding/opening portion 3B made in a ring
shape in advance as shown in Fig. 6. The internal
structure of the barrel portion is the same as that of a
conventional writing instrument so that colored writing
liquid is supplied to the wetting end portion 2. A supply
rate of the writing liquid is, e.g., at 1 g/100 m when the
writing operation is alway performed.
When the instrument is used as a cutter, when
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1 the cutting instrument is gripped2Q ~stantially is the
upright position, pressed strongly toward the paper 8 and
writingly moved in a direction indicated by an arrow as
shown in Fig. 3, the tip end of the wetting end portion 2
is depressed to thereby bring the expanding/opening blade
5 into direct contact with the paper 8. At this time,
since the paper 8 is pressed in advance by the wetting end
portion 2 as shown in Fig. 7, the paper surface is wetted
with the water so that a wet portion 9 is formed where the
fiber swells. Since the expanding/opening blade 5 presses
the wet portion 9, forces indicated by arrows are applied
to expand the fiber to cut a part of fiber to make the
writing locus fragile along a sharp linear portion. In
this paper there is left only color after the paper is
dried. Thus, the outer appearance of the paper is kept
unchanged from the normal condition. By applying a
tension to that portion, it is possible to cut the paper
with ease.
