Conical nib, method of manufacture of the same, and ceramic composite conical nib

A method of manufacturing a conical nib, comprising the steps of:

• forming a plurality of separated combtooth pieces, the combtooth pieces being able to be converged generally into a virtually conical shape, the combtooth pieces having front ends that combine to form a virtually spherical shape;
• forming a holding member having groove-shaped fixing portions into which base end portions of the plurality of combtooth pieces can be inserted, the holding member being able to arrange the base end portions of the combtooth pieces along a circumference;
• and
• forming a converging member capable of being fitted over an outer circumference of the combtooth pieces arranged along the circumference by the holding member to converge the plurality of combtooth pieces;
• inserting the plurality of combtooth pieces into the fixing portions of the holding member to fix them along the circumference;
• and
• fitting the converging member over the outer circumference of the plurality of combtooth pieces to converge the combtooth pieces.

A ceramic composite conical nib comprising:

• a nib base body having a cylindrical base portion, a plurality of combtooth pieces formed at one end of the base portion along a circumference, centered at a center axis thereof, the combtooth pieces being able to converge progressively toward front ends thereof and combine to form a virtually conical shape, and a plurality of hemisphere-divided portions formed at the front ends of the combtooth pieces, the hemisphere-divided portions being able to converge and combine to form a virtually hemispherical tip portion;
• and
• a converging member formed cylindrical and being able to be fitted over an outer circumference of the nib base body to converge the plurality of combtooth pieces and the hemisphere-divided portions thereof;
• wherein each of the combtooth pieces has a front piece on a front end side thereof including the hemisphere-divided portion and a rear piece on a rear end side thereof;
• wherein the front piece is formed from a ceramic material;
• wherein the rear piece is formed elastically deformable from a synthetic resin or metal material;
• wherein the nib base body is converged by the converging member to form an ink feeding path between each combtooth piece and also form a spherical writing tip at a front end thereof;
• wherein when the writing tip comes into contact with a paper surface, the writing tip deforms and the hemisphere-divided portions thereof move relative to one another to expand the writing tip.