Abstract:
A system including a writing instrument including a body having a marking portion and an eraser portion, wherein the marking portion is configured to dispense a permanent ink and the eraser portion is configured to dispense a solvent which solubilizes the permanent ink.

Description:
[0001]     This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional App. Ser. No. 60/537,648 filed Jan. 20, 2004, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. 
     
    
       [0002]     The present invention is directed to an erasable writing system and, more particularly, to an erasable writing system having a marker with a marker portion and an eraser portion for erasing markings made by the marker portion.  
       BACKGROUND  
       [0003]     Permanent markers are typically used in home, classroom or office environments for various marking purposes. Permanent markers allow a user to mark indicia on various substrates, including polymer and plastic based substrates, without the risk of the markings being smudged or accidentally erased. Permanent markers can also be used to mark on various items which cannot be written upon by other writing instruments. For example, plastic and polymer based substrates typically are not capable of being marked upon with nonpermanent inks.  
         [0004]     Permanent markers may be advantageous in that the risk of smudging the markings is minimized once the ink has dried, thereby minimizing the risk of transference of ink to items and persons that come into contact with the markings. However, a disadvantage of permanent markers is that the markings cannot easily be erased.  
         [0005]     Dry erase markers and the like are often used to provide an erasable marking system. Dry erase markers and the like are not permanent and their markings can easily be removed from a polymeric substrate by the application of frictional forces (i.e. by a hand or by an eraser). However, the easily erasable markings of dry erase markers can accidentally be erased and/or the markings can easily rub off on items or persons coming into contact with the markings.  
         [0006]     Accordingly, there is a need for an erasable writing system for marking on a substrate, such as a polymer or plastic based substrate, without smudging, wherein the marking can be erased. There is also a need for a writing instrument which can write with permanent ink and which can also erase permanent ink.  
       SUMMARY  
       [0007]     The present invention is an apparatus and system for marking and erasing permanent ink from a substrate. In one embodiment, the invention is a system including a writing instrument including a body having a marking portion and an eraser portion, wherein the marking portion is configured to dispense a permanent ink and the eraser portion is configured to dispense a solvent which solubilizes the permanent ink.  
         [0008]     In another embodiment the invention is a method for marking and erasing ink including the steps of providing a writing surface and providing a writing instrument having a body including a marking portion and an eraser portion. The marking portion includes a permanent ink capable of marking on the writing surface and the eraser portion includes a solvent capable of solubilizing the permanent ink. The method further includes the steps of applying the marking portion to the writing surface such that the permanent ink is deposited on the writing surface, and applying the erasing portion to the deposited permanent ink such that the solvent is deposited on and solubilizes the deposited permanent ink.  
         [0009]     Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, the accompanying drawings and the appended claims. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]     The invention can be understood with reference to the following drawings. In the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views. Also, the components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale.  
         [0011]      FIG. 1  is a front elevational view of the marker of the present invention with a portion of the marker body being cut out;  
         [0012]      FIG. 2  is a front elevational view of the marker of  FIG. 1  and including a cap mounted thereon;  
         [0013]      FIG. 3  is a front elevational view of a writing surface being marked upon by the marker of  FIG. 1 ; and  
         [0014]      FIG. 4  is a front perspective view of a binder including a writing surface and being marked upon by the marker of  FIG. 1 .  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0015]     With reference to  FIG. 1 , the marker or writing instrument  10  of the present invention includes a writing instrument body or marker body  12 . The marker body  12  may be generally tubular or cylindrical and may have a first portion  18  and a second portion  20 . The marker body  12  may include a first reservoir  14  located generally inside of the first portion  18  and a second reservoir  16  located generally inside of the second portion  20 , with the first  14  and second  16  reservoirs separated by a divider  15 . The maker body  12  may include a first opening  24  that is located at an end of the marker body  12  adjacent to the first portion  18  and in communication with the first reservoir  14 . The marker body  12  may also include a second opening  30  that is located at the other of the marker body  12  adjacent to the second portion  20  and in communication with the second reservoir  16 .  
         [0016]     The marker body  12  includes a first wick  22  generally closely received in the first opening  24  and extending into the first reservoir  14 . The first wick  22  has an exposed portion  27  extending out of the first reservoir  14 , with the exposed portion  27  having a writing tip  26 . The marker body  12  includes a second wick  28  generally closely received in the second opening  30  and extending into the second reservoir  16 . The second wick  28  has an exposed portion  29  extending out of the second reservoir  16 , with the exposed portion  29  including a tip  34 . The wicks  22 ,  28  may be made from a wide variety of materials, such as felt. Although the marker  10  is illustrated as having a tip  26 ,  34  at each end, the marker  10  may have a wide variety of other configurations for the tips  26 ,  34  and/or wicks  22 ,  28 , including having the tips  26 ,  34 , being oriented at various angles, being located in a side-by-side configuration, etc.  
         [0017]     The first reservoir  14  may be filled with a permanent or indelible ink solution of any of a wide variety of colors. The permanent ink or permanent ink solution in the first reservoir  14  may be nearly any type of permanent ink or ink solution, such as a traditional organic solvent based permanent ink with a wide variety of pigments, dye, colorants or the like, or an aqueous type permanent ink as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,131,776, the contents of which are incorporated by reference. The permanent ink may be an alcohol based (i.e. n-propyl alcohol) or other organic solvent based permanent ink. The permanent ink may be capable of marking on porous surfaces (e.g., paper, wood and the like) and nonporous surfaces (e.g., glass, metal, plastic and other polymer based surfaces). Further, the permanent ink may be resistent to smearing and re-wetting after application and may resist emulsification, dissolving or removal with soap and water.  
         [0018]     The second reservoir  16  may be filled with a solvent that can dissolve the permanent ink or ink solution in the first reservoir  14 . The solvent in the second reservoir  16  may be any solvent that is capable of solubilizing or dissolving permanent ink or a permanent ink solution that has been applied to a surface and allowed to dry. The solvent may be or include an ethyl alcohol, an n-propyl alcohol, or other organic based solvents.  
         [0019]     For example, the solvent may be a dry-erase solution typically used in a dry-erase marker. Thus the solvent may also optionally include a colorant, dye or pigment and a binder resin such that the second portion  20  can operate as a dry-erase marker. In this case, when the dry-erase solution is applied to a polymeric or plastic type surface, the solvent evaporates and the binder resin and colorant remain behind as a friable discontinuous film.  
         [0020]     The permanent ink solution in the first reservoir  14  may be soaked through the first wick  22 , or permanent ink dispensing wick  22 , and wicked through the permanent ink dispensing wick  22  until the permanent ink solution reaches the writing tip  26 . In this manner, when the writing tip  26  contacts a substrate to be written upon, ink from the first reservoir  14  is deposited on the substrate. Similarly, the solvent in the second reservoir  16  soaks the second wick  28 , or solvent dispensing wick  28 , such that the solvent is wicked through the solvent dispensing wick  28  until it reaches the erasing tip  34 . When the erasing tip  34  contacts the substrate, solvent from the second reservoir  16  is deposited onto the substrate and solubilizes (or dissolves) any ink deposited by the permanent ink dispending wick contacted by the solvent. Thus the marker  10  may be a double-ended felt-tip marker, although the marker  10  may include various other manners of dispensing the permanent ink and solvent, such as ball-point dispensers, gel-type dispensers, etc.  
         [0021]     In another embodiment of the present invention, the marker  10  includes a cap  40  for covering either the erasing tip  34  (as shown in  FIG. 2 ) or, alternatively or in addition, the writing tip  26 . The cap  40  prevent the ink and solvent from evaporating through the wicks  22 ,  28  when the marker  10  is not in use. For example, as shown in  FIG. 2 , the cap  40  may include a body portion shaped to form a tight interference fit or seal with the marker body  12  to seal off the associated tip  26 ,  34 . The cap  40  may also include an absorbent portion  42  located, for example, on an outer surface, or outer end surface, of the cap  40 . The absorbent portion  42  may be made of a felt, cotton, foam, sponge-type material or other absorbent type material. The absorbent portion  42  may be used to wipe away markings that are deposited by the writing tip  26  and erased/dissolved by the erasing tip  34 . The marker  10  may include two caps  40 , with each cap  40  located on each end of the marker  10 , and at least one cap  40  may include an absorbent portion  42 , although both caps  40  may include an absorbent portion  42 .  
         [0022]     As shown in  FIG. 3 , a user may mark various markings  52  on a writing surface  50  using the writing tip  26  of the marker  10 . The markings  52  may then be allowed to dry. Once dry, the markings  52  cannot be erased by simply rubbing the markings by hand, or with soap and water or the like. The permanent markings  52  may then be allowed to remain in place for as long as desired. Once it is desired to erase the markings  52 , the erasing tip  34  is applied to the markings  52  to solubilize/erase/dissolve the markings  52 . The erasing tip  34  may be moved over the markings  52  such that the solvent contacts the deposited markings  52  and solubilizes the markings  52 , thereby allowing the markings  52  to be erased. A user may then take the cap  40  and apply the absorbent portion  42  to the writing surface  50  to wipe away or absorb the solubilized markings.  
         [0023]     The writing surface  50  may be made of a typical plastic material such as polypropylene, polyethylene or the like that is capable of being marked upon using permanent ink, but not with typical water based inks. The writing surface  50  may have a glossy finish surface and/or a UV aqueous coating and/or other coatings. Further, the writing surface  50  may have a surface roughness sufficient to absorb or receive ink in the creases and recesses, but not exceedingly rough to make it overly difficult to remove the ink. In one embodiment, the writing surface  50  has an average surface roughness of between about 9-100 microns, or between about 50-1000 microns. The writing surface  50 , permanent ink and solvent should be selected such that application of the permanent ink or solvent to the writing surface  50  does not significantly alter, destroy or marr the writing surface  50 . Proper selection may allow the writing surface  50  to be used many times over for marking and erasing.  
         [0024]     The writing surface  50  may be, include, or be part of various devices or products. For example, the writing surface  50  may be formed as part of a binder  60 , notebook, folder, divider, portfolio, book cover or the like for school or business use (see  FIG. 4 ). Thus, for example, in school use a user may write certain notes or reminders (i.e. a reminder of a homework assignment) on the outer surface of a binder  60  which includes the writing surface  50 . The writing  63  on the binder  60  is written in permanent ink and therefore resists smudging and accidental erasure, even when exposed to water and most common liquids. When the user desires to remove the marking  63  (i.e. when the homework project is complete or when a new homework assignment is received) the user can remove the markings  63  using the erasing tip  34  and absorbent portion  42  of the cap  40 .  
         [0025]     Rather than being part of a school product, the writing surface  50  may simply be a “stand-alone” board such that the writing surface  50  can operate as a bulletin board, and, for example, be coupled to a locker, wall, refrigerator or the like, or be loosely carrier. Thus the writing surface  50  may include magnets, patches of hook-and-loop fastening material (i.e. VELCRO®), hook or other fasteners located on a rear side thereof to aid in attaching the writing surface  50  to various other components. Further, the marker  10  (which may include the cap  40 ) may be packaged together with the writing surface  50  for sale such that the marker  10  and writing surface  50  are marketed and sold together.  
         [0026]     Although the invention is shown and described with respect to certain embodiments, it is obvious that equivalents and modifications will occur to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the specification. The present invention includes all such equivalents and modifications and is limited only by the scope of the claims.