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US 6,273,627 B1Granted
Expandable writing instrument
AssigneeA.T.X. International, Inc.
InventorsGregor Mittersinker, Richard Joseph D'Amico, Kevin Lee Browning
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An expandable pen has a pen barrel with an expanding middle section. The pen barrel holds a retractable ball point pen refill cartridge When the pen is expanded, the writing tip of the refill is extended from a retracted position inside the pen barrel to a writing position, while the barrel becomes full length for comfort when writing. The pen may be collapsed for storage, which simultaneously retracts the writing tip inside the pen barrel.
Claims20
A writing instrument expandable from a compact storage size to a longer, writing size, the writing instrument comprising:
- a pen body having a front section with a pen point at one end of the pen body and a second end;
- a cap slidably mounted on the second end of the pen body, the pen body, and cap forming a hollow chamber;
- a refill cartridge held longitudinally movable within the hollow chamber, the cartridge having a writing tip at one cartridge end;
- a spring operatively connected between the writing tip and the pen point;
- cam means for longitudinally moving the refill cartridge toward the pen point within the hollow chamber against the spring to extend the writing tip through the pen point to a marking position when the cap is slid away from the pen point on the pen body to an expanded position.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.