Fountain marking device with work operable valve

Jan. 13, 1953 j. o. Soldner 2,624,902

FOUNTAIN MARKING DEVICE WITH WORK OPERABLE VALVE

Filed March 9. 1949

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Patented Jan. 13, 1953

2,624,902

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,624,902

FOUNTAIN MARKING DEVICE WITH .WORK OPERABLE VALVE.

Jack O. Soldner, Willoughby, Ohio

Application March 9, 1949, Serial No. 80,425 (CI. 15—139) valve head 17 in seating engagement with the plug.

The nosepiece 11 , is hollow, and has an. interior conically inclined shoulder 22 ending in an . axial ⁵ bore 23. The bore 23 is adapted to carry a. wick 24 in sliding frictional engagement in the bore. Preferably, and as here shown, the wick is gripped in a sleeve 25 which has a number of longitudinal slots at 2S, through a part of its length, ¹⁰ so as to provide wick-gripping fingers 27 which may be contoured to serve a double function, namely to grip the wick and also to provide sufficient frictional engagement with the inner wall of bore 23 to prevent the wick and sleeve assem¹³ bly from falling out.

In use, the wick and. sleeve are pushed inwardly into bore 23 until the upper end contacts the lower end of the valve stem 15.

The upper end of the barrel 18 is provided with 20 a cork or similarly, functioning closure 29. The closure has a vent which here comprises communicating longitudinal and transverse passages 30 and 31 which permit air flow between the atmosphere and the reservoir 13. As here shown, 25 the longitudinal passage 39 has a sleeve 32 which prevents stoppage of the passage 30, if the closure is pushed in too tightly. The closure must of course, have sufficient downward convergence of the walls so that the ends of the transverse 30 passage. 31 have clearance from the inner wall of barrel IS. A simpler vent could be provided by means of a straight drilled opening running all the way through the cork from top to bottom face thereof.

Operation of the device is as follows: Closure 29 is removed, and liquid coloring material (usually supplied with the device) is poured into the barrel reservoir 16. The valve head 17 is seated, and no liquid passes through the annular pas40 sage between valve stem 15 and bore 14. A wick and sleeve assembly is inserted in bore 23. A moderate pressure on the wick is communicated to valve stem 15, and the valve head 17 is unseated permitting some coloring liquid to trickle 45 through bore 14 into the working chamber 33 in the nosepiece. The wick quickly becomes saturated, and can be used to apply the coloring material in any desired way. The contour and texture of the wick can of course be varied for 50 different effects. The spring tension is so regulated that normal writing or coloring pressure does not unseat the valve, but a moderate increase over normal pressure replenishes the working reservoir 33.

The device may be sold in multiple sets, for

Claims.

The invention relates to a coloring or marking device, and more particularly to a device of this character using liquid coloring material, the flow of which is controlled by the user, as will appear. For convenience, in the present specification, the device will be referred to as a marking pencil of fountain type.

An object of the invention is to provide a marking pencil which can be made from a few simple readily obtainable parts, so as to sell at a desirably low price, which is easy to refill and to operate, which can be operated by a child, and which can be readily disassembled for cleaning at suitable intervals.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from a study of the following specification, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which

Fig. 1 is a view of the marking pencil in side elevation;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view through the pencil; and

Figs. 3 and 4 are transverse sectional views taken respectively on the lines 3—3 and 4—4 of Fig. 2.

Referring now to the drawings, the pencil has a cylindrical body comprising a tubular barrel 10 and a nosepiece II which constitutes a front end extension of the barrel. The nosepiece 11 and barrel 10 are retained in juxtaposed alignment on an intermediate plug 12 which may conveniently be of resilient or rubber-like character for tighter frictional engagement, the barrel and nosepiece being telescoped on the plug by a manually forced fit. The nosepiece and barrel may be of different inside diameters, in which case of course the plug has an external shouldered offset, such as the slight offset shown at 13 in Fig. 2. Such offset assists in aligning the nosepiece, in assembly, so that the valve and wick members, to be described below, are disposed in proper operative contact, as will appear.

The plug 12 has an axial bore 14 which carries a valve stem 15 of somewhat reduced diameter with relation to the bore so as to provide annular clearance around the stem for the passage of coloring fluid. Such coloring fluid is contained in the reservoir 16 of the barrel 10. At its upper end the valve stem carries a valve head 17 seatable downwardly on the top of plug 12. The lower end of the valve stem extends below the bottom face of the plug, and has attached thereto a spring-retaining collar 18. Between said collar and the plug is a helical compression spring 19 which is normally biased to maintain

2,624,902 example six in a box, the barrel or nosepiece being suitably colored to identify the color within. If desired, of course, the barrel may be made from a transparent organic plastic material so as to permit direct visual examination of the 5 amount and color of the liquid in the barrel.

An outstanding advantage of the structure resides in the fact that the pencil is assembled from a relatively small number of simple, readily available parts, and since a substantial percent- 10 age of total production goes for juvenile educational and recreational uses, the low cost resulting from the simplicity of construction and assembly is especially desirable. The barrel is a simple piece of tubing which can be bought in 15 standard lengths of stock in plastic, metal, or other material. The top end closure can be a simple cork. The intermediate plug can be a cylindrical block of any material, resilient or otherwise, provided a tight frictional fit is ob- 20 tainable between the plug, the barrel, and the nosepiece. The nosepiece can be machined from plastic or metal stock, or formed by a simple upsetting operation from a metal blank when needed in large quantities. Insertion of the wick, 25 originally or as a replacement, can be done by a child. No previously available fountain type pencil has these advantageous structural features.

When the slots 26 in sleeve 25 open downwardly from the top end of the sleeve, as in the 30 embodiment here shown, they permit easy access of the coloring liquid to the wick, and, sleeve 25 being of spring metal, the spring fingers between the slots serve to transmit valve-lifting force to stem 15 when moderate pressure is ap- 35 plied to the outer end of the wick 24.