This application is a National Stage application of PCT/JP2008/051018, filed Jan. 18, 2008, which claims priority from Japanese application JP 2007-013009, filed Jan. 23, 2007.
This invention relates to a knock-type writing instrument.
Among knock-type writing instruments, one type in which a pen point thrusts out upon depressing a knock rod at the rear end of the holder and draws back upon depressing the knock rod again, is called a double knock-type writing instrument. Further, some knock-type writing instruments comprise a safety mechanism such that when cloth or paper is held by a clip, a nub of the clip is disengaged causing the pen point to draw back.
Writing instruments of several double-knock types have heretofore been known being equipped with the safety mechanism. Here, the safety mechanism means is a mechanism which when a tip of the clip is lifted up in a state where the pen point is at the writing position protruding beyond the end of the holder, the pen point draws back into the holding position in the holder. By this mechanism, clothing will not be stained in case the writing instrument is inserted in, for example, a chest pocket of clothing with the pen point extended.
Japanese Patent No. 3681203 discloses a double knock-type writing instrument of the cam knock system, wherein when a nub of a clip engages with a protuberance of a rotor causing the rotor to stop rotating at a writing position, the writing can be effected. It discloses a safety mechanism, wherein when the tip of the clip is lifted up causing the nub to be disengaged, the rotor draws back to a holding position while being rotated.
Japanese Patent No. 3327879 discloses a system in which when a protuberance of a clip nub comes in collision with a protuberance of a rotor, the rotor stops rotating at a writing position enabling the writing to be effected.
However, the systems disclosed by the above two documents are accompanied by problems as described below. That is, the sum of diameter of a refill (ink container), thickness of a knock member and thickness of the holder becomes the outer diameter of the holder resulting in an increase in the diameter of the holder.
Further, because of such a relationship that the knock member (rotor) engages with the clip nub, it becomes necessary to attain an engaging position. There, a problem remains in that the knocking member must be to be long causing the length of the refill to be shortened correspondingly, the amount of the ink to be decreased and the writing distance to be shortened.
A further problem is that, in order to cope with the above problem, the knock member is extended toward the end of the holder up to a position of a hole with which the nub of the clip engages, and the refill is buried in the knock member. Therefore, the remaining amount of the ink cannot be seen from the outer side.
Japanese Patent No. 3730574 discloses a system in which a moving element that engages with the rotor is brought into engagement with a clip nub due to a protuberance on the side opposite to the engaging portion.
However, the system of this document, is also accompanied by a problem in that, if the knocking operation is effected under such conditions that the safety mechanism has already functioned, the pen point thrusts out, but simply draws back and is not set to the writing position.
An object of this invention is to solve the above problems and to provide a writing instrument featuring a fine holder diameter, a short holder length, a long refill, maintaining good legibility of the remaining amount of the ink, and enabling the pen point to thrust out through one time of knocking operation in a customary manner even after the safety function has worked.
According to the present invention, there is provided a knock-type writing instrument comprising a refill having a writing portion at an end thereof, a spring for urging the refill backward, and a knock rod that is linked to the refill and protrudes beyond a holder, wherein upon depressing the knock rod, the refill is brought to a writing position protruding beyond the front part of the holder and an engaging nub of a clip is engaged with an engaging protuberance of a slide body to maintain the writing position; and wherein a rotor is provided between the knock rod and the refill in front thereof to support the refill, the knock rod and the rotor have first tilted cam surfaces corresponding to each other, and the rotor rotates in only one direction by only a predetermined angle each time due to the reactive force of the spring and responsive to the knocking operation forward and backward in the axial direction; when the knocking operation is effected in a state where the refill is contained in the holder, a second tilted cam surface formed on the rotor comes in contact with a corresponding tilted cam surface of the slide body, a perpendicular surface of the second cam of the rotor comes in contact with a vertical wall of a cam provided in the holder and maintains the refill at a writing position being supported by the load in the axial direction and by the rotational force; when the knocking operation is effected in a state where the refill is at the writing position, the second tilted cam surface of the rotor comes in contact with the tilted cam surface of the holder and, further, rotates upon coming in contact with the tilted cam surface provided in the inner cylinder, and moves to a retreated limit position to maintain the refill at the holding position; the slide body that can move in the lengthwise direction has an inward protuberance in a cut-away portion formed in the inside of the clip of the holder; when the refill is at the writing position, the inward protuberance is brought into engagement with a rear end of the second cam of the rotor, and an engaging protuberance formed on the slide body engages with an engaging step formed in the clip body to maintain the refill at the writing position; when the engagement is released between the engaging protuberance of the slide body and the engaging step of the clip body, the refill is returned by the spring back to the retreated position together with the slide body, and the second cam of the rotor moves to the retreated limit position passing through a gap formed at the back of the tilted cam surface of the holder to maintain the refill at the holding position; and when the knocking operation is effected in a state where the slide body is returned back to the retreated position and the refill is at the holding position, the engaging protuberance of the slide body engages with the engaging step of the clip body and, at the same time, the refill moves to the writing position by the above method and is held at this position.
Embodiments of the invention will now be concretely described based on the drawings.
The knock-type writing instrument of the embodiment comprises a refill 7 having a writing portion at an end thereof, a spring 5 for urging the refill 7 backward, and a knock rod 4 that is linked to the refill 7 and protrudes beyond a holder 1. Upon depressing the knock rod 4, the refill 7 is brought to a writing position protruding beyond the front part of the holder 1 and an engaging nub 2d of a clip is engaged with an engaging protuberance 6b of a slide body 6 to maintain the writing position. A rotor 3 is provided between the knock rod 4 and the refill 7 in front thereof to support the refill 7. The knock rod 4 and the rotor 3 have a knock rod cam 4a and a knock cam 3a forming tilted cam surfaces corresponding to each other, and the rotor rotates in only one direction by only a predetermined angle each time responsive to the forward knocking operation in the axial direction.
Further, when no longer depressed after the knocking operation, the refill 7 is urged backward at all times by the spring 5 and rotates in the same direction as the direction in which the knock rod 4 and the rotor 3 rotate due to a cam protuberance 3b of the rotor 3 and a corresponding cam 2b of an inner cylinder 2. That is, the rotor 3 rotates by a predetermined angle, and rotates once at a given timing (after two times of knocking in this embodiment) to repeat the operation.
The constituent parts will be described below in detail.
The inner cylinder 2 shown in
The knock rod 4 shown in
The rotor 3 shown in
The knock rod cam 4a and the knock cam 3a have mountain-shaped tilted cam surfaces corresponding to each other, and are arranged with their mountain-shaped pitches being deviated, whereby the rotor 3 receives a rotational force in a predetermined direction responsive to the knocking operation in the axial direction. Therefore, the rotor 3 rotates in a predetermined direction responsive to each knocking operation accompanied by the operation of the cam protuberance 3b that will be described later.
Further, the end portion of the rotor 3 is in contact with the rear end portion of the refill 7 at all times, and the position of the cam protuberance 3b in the back and forth direction determines the pen point position at the end of the refill 7.
The slide body 6 shown in
The slide body 6 has a slide body cam 6a at a rear end on the inside thereof and with which will come in contact the cam protuberance 3b of the rotor 3, and, further, has an engaging protuberance 6b at an end on the outer side thereof and with which will come in engagement the engaging nub 2d of the clip 2a.
A spring 5 is arranged at an end of the housing 1 on the inside thereof to urge the knock rod 4 outward.
Next, the action of the thus constituted knock-type writing instrument will be described. First, the knocking operation will be described.
The knocking operation is an operation of depressing the knock rod 4 until it is released by removing a finger therefrom, and stands for a case where the pen point is moved from the retreated state to the writing position. On the other hand, the knock release is an operation of similarly depressing the knock rod 4 until it is released, but stands for a case where the pen point is moved from the writing position to the holding position.
Upon knock-operating the knock rod 4, the rotor 3 and the refill 7 move forward being pushed by the knock rod.
As described above, the rotor 3 is imparted with a rotational force (due to a relationship between the knock rod cam 4a and the knock cam 3a) but is restricted from rotating by a vertical wall of the inner cylinder cam 2b. If the cam protuberance 3b of the rotor 3 moves forward to a position beyond the vertical wall of the inner cylinder cam 2b, there is no restriction and the rotor 3 slightly rotates.
If hand is removed from the knock rod 4, the cam protuberance 3b of the rotor 3 undergoes a rotational motion along the inner cylinder cam 2b. In the ordinary cam knock, the inner cylinder cam 2b has been so cut that the rotation stops at the writing position upon hitting the vertical wall of the inner cylinder cam 2b. According to the above constitution, however, the cam protuberance 3b of the rotor 3 stops rotating upon hitting the vertical wall of the holder cam 1a. At the a when the rotation stops, the pen point at the end of the refill 7 assumes the writing position.
At this moment, further, the cam protuberance 3b of the rotor 3 is on the slide body cam 6a moving from the inner cylinder cam 2b. The load exerted on the rotor 3 in the axial direction thereof, i.e., the load due to the reacting force of the spring 5 and the writing, is transmitted from the cam protuberance 3b of the rotor 3 to the slide body cam 6a, and is supported by a portion where the engaging protuberance 6b of the slide body 6 is in engagement with the engaging ball 2d of the clip 2a.
The invention will be described in further detail with reference to schematic views.
Next, the knock release will be described.
If the knock rod 4 is knock-operated, the pen point is pushed by the knock rod 4 from the writing position, and the rotor 3 and the refill 7 move forward. The rotor 3 has been imparted with the rotational force but is restricted from rotating due to the vertical wall of the holder cam 1a as described above. If the cam protuberance 3b of the rotor 3 moves forward up to a position beyond the vertical wall of the holder cam 1a, the rotor 3 slightly rotates since there is no restriction. If hand is removed from the knock rod 4, the cam protuberance 3b of the rotor rotates along the holder cam 1a.
Due to the reactive force of the spring 5, the cam protuberance 3b of the rotor 3 slides on the surface of the holder cam 1a exceeding the range of the holder cam 1a and, further, slides while being pushed onto the surface of the inner cylinder cam 2b in the subsequent stage, and stops upon coming in contact with the vertical wall of the inner cylinder cam 2b. This position is a position where the refill 7 is held.
The above operation will be described in further detail with reference to
Next, the operation of the safety mechanism will be described.
If the clip 2a is lifted up in a state where the pen point is at the writing position, the engaging protuberance 6b of the slide body 6 is disengaged from the engaging nub 2d at the end of the clip 2a. The refill 7 is pushed rearward by the spring 5. After having been disengaged, therefore, the refill 7, rotor 3 and slide body 6 move backward.
The retreating motion of the slide body 6 has been restricted. If the slide body 6 has retreated to its limit, therefore, the cam protuberance 3b of the rotor 3 is no longer restricted by the vertical wall of the holder cam 1a and is allowed to rotate. Further, if the slide body 6 has reached to its retreat limit, a positional relationship is such that the slide body cam 6a and the inner cylinder cam 2b have nearly the same height, whereby the cam protuberance 3b of the rotor 3 rotationally moves from the slide body cam 6a onto the inner cylinder cam 2b, and the pen point arrives at the holding position.
The above operation will be described in further detail with reference to
Next, described below is the operation after the safety operation.
After the safety has worked, the slide body 6 is pushed by an end of the turn stop 4b of the knock rod 4 in response to a first knocking operation, and returns to the predetermined position. Described below with reference to
This state is the same as the state (
Next, another embodiment of the knock-type writing instrument of the invention will be described.
In this embodiment as shown in
According to the knock-type writing instrument of the present invention as described above, the slide body is arranged in the cut-away portion of the holder under the clip so will not to hinder the writing or portability, and the safety mechanism is constituted being engaged with the clip. Unlike that of the prior art, therefore, the rotor does not have to be partly extended so as to engage with the clip. Since the sum of the refill diameter and the thickness of the holder becomes the diameter of the writing instrument, it is made possible to maintain fine the diameter of the holder and to shorten the length of the holder yet maintaining a large refill length.
Further, the knock mechanism and the safety mechanism are provided in the upper part of the holder, and other parts such as the inner cylinder are not overlapped on the ink legible portion of the refill. By making the holder transparent or by providing a transparent portion, therefore, the refill 7 is easily legible and the remaining amount of the ink can be easily confirmed lending the mechanism best suited for being adapted to the writing instrument of the direct liquid type.
Upon incorporating the slide body in a portion of the cam mechanism that guides the rotary motion of the rotor, further, there is provided a writing instrument which permits the pen point to thrust out through one time of knocking in an ordinary manner even after the safety function has worked.
List of Reference Numerals
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2007-013009 | Jan 2007 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCT/JP2008/051018 | 1/18/2008 | WO | 00 | 7/22/2009 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2008/090966 | 7/31/2008 | WO | A |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20100003062 A1 | Jan 2010 | US |