Writing devices

Jan. 31, 1967

3,301,221

M. J. VON ARX

WRITING DEVICES

Original Filed Nov. 6, 1962

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United States Patent Office

3,301,221

Patented Jan. 31, 1967

3,301,221

WRITING DEVICES' '

Marcel Joseph von Arx, Montgeron, France, assignor to Rotary Pen Corp., Kenilworth, N.J., a corporation of New Jersey

Application Oct. 6, 1965, Ser. No. 497,594, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 235,763, Nov. 6, 1962. Divided and this application Apr. 11, 1966, Ser. No. 541,850

Claims priority, application France, Dec. 22,1961, 882,949, Patent 81,707

Claims. (Cl. 120—42.13)

This application is a division of copending application Serial No. 497,594, filed October 6, 1965, now Patent No. 3,262,427 issued July 26, 1966, which in turn is a continuation of copending application Serial No. 235,763, filed November 6, 1962, and entitled, “Ball Point Pens,” and now abandoned.

The present invention relates to writing devices and particularly to ball point pens of the multiple writing unit type. Such pens are primarily used with writing units charged with ink of different colors to give a quick color-change in use but they may also be used with units charged with the same ink so that when one unit is exhausted, another can be brought quickly into operation.

In accordance with the present invention there is provided a ball point pen of the multiple writing unit type and having for each writing unit a pusher which is springbiased from an engaged operative position towards the retracted position, in which pen each pusher is provided with a ramp adapted, when the pusher is advanced while another pusher is engaged, to disengage the other pusher and thereby cause it to be spring driven to its retracted position.

In the operation of the pen each pusher is engaged when the point of its writing unit projects in the writing position at the end of the pen and is released for return to its retracted position when another pusher is moved from its own retracted position. Further movement of the other pusher brings the new ball point into the writing position.

In one preferred form of the pen each pusher consists of a head part upon which the ramp is formed and a rod part which passes through a helical spring Which provides the spring bias for the pusher. Mounted between the pushers is a transversely displaceable ball which serves to convey the disengaging reaction of the ramps from one pusher to the other. Conveniently, the pushers are formed with recesses which are penetrated by the ball when the pushers are in the retracted position, said recesses being bounded by the ramps. Conveniently, a guide member for the pusher is mounted on the axis of the pen and provides an abutment for restraining the pushers in the engaged position. Advantageously the guide member is grooved or slotted to accommodate the ramps as the pushers are advanced.

Other features and advantages will become apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments of the invention; other embodiments, proportions and the like may be used without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a part-sectional elevation of a preferred form of the present invention designed for two writing units with one ball point in the writing position and the other retracted; and

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 with both ball points retracted.

In all the figures, the same reference numerals signify corresponding parts.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the pen has two writing units a and a_x arranged symmetrically about its longi10 tudinal axis. Obviously, the pen may be modified to have more than two units, for example three spaced apart by 120°. The units are mounted in the body b of the pen, which has a separately formed cap c.

Each unit is fitted to the rod part d of a pusher, slidably carried in a fixed guide plug e, formed with internally shouldered channels and fixed, for example, to the body of the pen. Threaded over each rod part is a spring f which bears against the base gj of a pusher head g and against the shoulders of the channels e_1; by means of which the pushers slide in the ring e.

Two cavities h, machined or moulded in the upper part of the cap c, are adapted to receive the heads g of the pushers which abut in the retracted position against the shoulder hi. These heads move along a median partition i. The lower part of this partition forms a stop for the forward portion j of the heads. The head g has a recess m, bounded by a ramp portion

An aperture n is formed centrally through the forward part of the partition i of the cap of the pen at the retracted level of the notches m of the heads g. In the aperture n is held a ball o which, as may be seen from the drawings, is displaceable transversely to the axis of the pen.

The operation of the device of the present invention is as follows:

Downward pressure exerted on the head g of the pusher corresponding with the selected color is transmitted both vertically to push the ball point forward, and transversely to the axis of the pen so that the top / of the head of the pusher engages under the partition /. When a pressure is applied to the head g of the pusher, this head displaces the ball o and engages in the operative position. The ball is received in the recess m of the other pusher (FIG. 1). In order to release the engaged pusher and return it under the action of its return spring, it is necessary only to operate the other pusher. Under the action of the ramp ntj of the notch m of the said other pusher, the ball is forced transversely to disengage the head of the engaged pusher and cause its release, the latter returning to its retracted position under the action of the spring f until the head of its pusher engages the upper part of the cap c. Further movement of the head of the pusher corresponding with the new color locks the ball point therefor in the writing position.

It will be noted that the small number and simplicity of the components of the pen are conducive to manufacture at unusually low cost.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiment is therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.