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US 6,261,015 B1Granted
Roller ball pen with adjustable spring tension
AssigneeBIC Corporation
InventorsBernard J. McCauley, Ryan S. Eddington, Michael Huneke
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A roller ball pen that permits a user to adjust the bias force that biases a roller ball cartridge out of the pen to suit the user's particular writing style. The pen has a body having distal and proximal ends, a roller ball cartridge disposed in the body, a cap removably disposed on the proximal end of the body, a nut slidingly disposed in the cap, a spring attached to the distal side of the nut and abutting the roller ball cartridge, and a drive rod engaged with the nut. Rotation of the drive rod moves the nut distally or proximally, thereby adjusting the bias force applied by the spring to the roller ball cartridge.
Claims27
A writing instrument comprising:
- a body with a distal end and a proximal end;
- a cartridge with a writing end and a butt end, wherein said writing end extends at least partially out of said distal end of said body;
- a cap detachably attached to said proximal end of said body;
- a drive rod with a proximal end and a distal end, wherein said drive rod is coupled to said cap for rotating with respect to said cap without moving longitudinally;
- a control member slidingly disposed in said cap, wherein said distal end of said drive rod engages said control member;
- and
- a biasing element positioned between said control member and said cartridge and configured to bias said cartridge in a distal direction;
- wherein rotation of said drive rod moves said control member longitudinally within said cap, thereby varying the biasing force against said cartridge.
5 more elements
A writing instrument comprising:
- a cartridge having a writing end and a butt end;
- a cap associated with said butt end of said cartridge;
- a drive member rotatably positioned within said cap, said drive member being associated with said butt end of said cartridge at one end and extending from said cap at the other end;
- a control member associated with said drive member and slidingly positioned within said cap, wherein said control member slides, but does not rotate within said cap when said drive member is rotated;
- and
- a biasing element positioned between said cartridge and said control member;
- wherein said cap has a longitudinal axis and said drive remember is gubstatially immovable longitudinally relative to said cap.
4 more elements
A writing instrument comprising:
- a body with a distal end and a proximal end;
- a cartridge with a writing end and a butt end, wherein said writing end extends at least partially out of the distal end of said body,
- a cap detachably attached to said proximal end of said body;
- a drive rod with a proximal end and a distal end, wherein said drive rod is rotatably fixed to said cap;
- a control member slidingly disposed in said cap, wherein said distal end of said drive rod engages said control member;
- and
- a biasing element attached to said control member and configured to bias said cartridge in a distal direction, wherein rotation of said drive rod moves said control member within said cap, thereby varying the biasing force against said cartridge;
- wherein said control member has a hole therethrough which threads therein, and the distal end of said drive rod has threads that engage the threads of said control member.
5 more elements
A writing instrument comprising:
- a body having a first part with a distal end and a proximal end, and a second part with a distal end and a proximal end, said proximal end of said first part shaped for detachable coupling to said distal end of said second part, wherein a cavity shaped for receiving a writing instrument cartridge is formed within said first and second parts and is accessible upon decoupling said first and second parts;
- a drive rod having a proximal end and a distal end coupled to said second part such that said drive rod is rotatable with respect to said second part without moving longitudinally;
- a control member coupled to said drive rod for movement with respect to said drive rod;
- wherein:
- said control member includes a spring abutment surface;
- said cavity within said first and second parts is formed between said distal end of said first part and said spring abutment surface and shaped to receive a spring element and a writing instrument cartridge with the spring element in abutting relation between and against said abutment surface and a butt end of the writing instrument cartridge;
- and
- rotation of said drive rod causes linear movement of said control member to shorten the distance between said spring abutment surface and said distal end of said first part.
5 more elements
A method of adjusting the tension of a biasing element against a cartridge element in a writing instrument, said method comprising:
- providing a cartridge having a writing end and a buttered within a cavity defined within a writing instrument having a distal part and a proximal part detachably coupled to said distal part, said writing end extending through an opening in said distal part;
- extending a drive rod having a distal end and a proximal end through a hole in said proximal part;
- providing a control member with an abutment surface it said distal end of said drive rod;
- providing a biasing element between and in abutment Keith said butt end of said cartridge and said abutment surface;
- moving said drive rod to cause said control member to move toward said cartridge and thereby compress or decompress said biasing element to adjust the biasing force of said biasing element on said cartridge;
- and
- compacting said drive rod to said proximal part for rotating without moving longitudinally with respect to said proximal part, said, method further comprising rotating said drive rod to cause said control member to move toward said cartridge.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.