Pressure modulated free ink marker for producing variable line width
OwnerGeorge W. Korperinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A liquid marker system utilizes three primary components to permit marking of lines of various widths from a single nib. The three components are a porous nib, a transfer wick and a squeezable container. Operation relies on different squeeze pressures applied to the housing to produce different line widths from the single nib as the nib is moved across a marked surface. The porous wick provides a resistance to flow until the bottle is squeezed and then supplies a minimum of capillary flow to the nib. The user squeezes the container to overcome the resistance of the wick. No venting of the container interior is required because the wick and nib system allows the passage of air into the container when the container is returned to its unstressed (i.e., un-squeezed) condition.
Claims17
A marker system for delivering marker liquid to a surface to be marked, said system comprising:
- a housing adapted to be hand-held and defining an enclosed volume containing the marker liquid, said housing having a distal end;
- a porous marker nib secured in said housing and having a tip projecting from said distal end of said housing;
- and
- transfer means disposed within said housing for providing resistance to flow of liquid therethrough, said resistance being sufficient to block said flow in the absence of a predetermined pressure drop distally across said transfer means, but delivering capillary flow of the contained marker liquid from said enclosed volume to said nib in response to pressurization of said enclosed volume equal to at least said predetermined pressure above ambient pressure;
- wherein said housing is at least partially resiliently squeezably compressible by a human hand in which the housing is held to permit selective pressurization of said enclosed volume.
A method of providing controllable delivery of marker liquid to a surface to be marked, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a). disposing the marking liquid in a squeezably compressible container defining an enclosed volume;
- (b). securing a porous nib to a distal end of said container;
- (c). resistively blocking flow of the marker liquid to said porous nib in the absence of pressurization of said enclosed volume to a predetermined level above ambient pressure;
- and
- (d). in response to compressing said container sufficiently to pressurize said enclosed volume to said predetermined level, delivering capillary flow of the contained marker liquid from said enclosed volume to said nib.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.