Ink reservoir element for use in a marking instrument, and method and apparatus for producing same
AssigneeAmerican Filtrona Corporation
InventorRichard M. Berger
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Abstract
An ink reservoir element for use in a marking instrument is disclosed, which combines good ink holding capacity and good ink release properties with a wide variety of inks. The ink reservoir element is formed from a coherent sheet of flexible thermoplastic fibrous material, such as a spunbonded polyester fabric or a foam-attenuated extruded polyester fabric, which has been uniformly embossed with a series of parallel grooves. The embossed sheet is compacted and bonded into a dimensionally stable rod-shaped body whose longitudinal axis extends parallel to the embossed grooves. A method and apparatus is disclosed for continuous production of the ink reservoir elements from a continuous web of the fibrous sheet material.
Claims6
An ink reservoir element for use in a marking instrument, comprising a coherent sheet of flexible thermoplastic fibrous material compatible with formic acid compacted together and bonded into a dimensionally stable rod-shaped body, said fibrous material being composed of an interconnecting network of randomly arranged, highly dispersed, continuous-filament thermoplastic fibers which are bonded together at the filament junction;
- at least one surface of said sheet being uniformly embossed with a series of parallel grooves extending longitudinally with respect to said rod-shaped body, forming capillaries capable of transporting ink which extend longitudinally from end to end of the finished element.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.