Patent Publication Number: US-11390108-B2

Title: Refill for a writing felt pen

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S) 
     This application claims priority to European Application No. EP 19 305 982.1, filed on Jul. 29, 2019, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present disclosure is related to writing felt pen, and more particularly to a refill for writing felt pen. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Refill for writing felt pen are might present problems of ink stability. Moreover, the refills are generally rather voluminous. 
     SUMMARY 
     Therefore, according to embodiments of the present disclosure, refill for a writing felt pen is provided. The refill includes a deformable pouch and a nib inserted into the deformable pouch, the deformable pouch including a mix of dry absorbent polymer, fibers and dry ink. 
     The deformable pouch may comprise a first pouch made of watertight material and a second pouch made of elastic material. 
     The first pouch may be made of polyethylene (PE), low density polyethylene (PELD), high density polyethylene (PEHD), polypropylene (PP) and/or polyethylene terephthalate (PET). 
     The second pouch may be made of thermoplastic polymer (TPE), styrene butadiene rubber (SBR), styrene butadiene copolymer (SBC), styrene ethylene/butadiene block copolymer (SEBS), styrene butadiene block copolymer (SBS), nitrile rubber (NBR), butadiene rubber (BR), silicone rubber, polyurethane rubber and/or natural rubber 
     The fibres may comprise or be made of polyethylene, polyester, polyamide or polyacrylonitrile, or mixtures thereof. 
     The fibres may be fibres having a denier between 1 and 10 den (denier). 
     The fibres may be continuous fibres having a length greater than 10 cm (centimetre). 
     The continuous fibres may have a length equal to or smaller than five times the maximum barrel length in which the refill is configured to be inserted. 
     The fibres may be staple fibres having a length equal to or smaller than 10 cm. 
     The content of dry absorbent polymer in the mix may be capable of absorbing all the ink when the dry ink is forming a water-based ink. 
     The dry absorbent polymer may be made of polyacrylamide of potassium, polyacrylamide of sodium, polyacrylate of potassium, polyacrylate of sodium or crosslinked poly(itaconate). 
     The nib may be a sintered powder nib comprising polypropylene and/or polyethylene. 
     The nib may include fibres agglomerated by a resin, the fibres being polyester, acrylic, polyamide or polyacrylonitrile and the resin being polyurethane or urea aminoplast. 
     The nib may be an extruded nib comprising polyacetal, polypropylene or polyethylene. 
     The deformable pouch may comprise a neck and the nib may be attached by positive locking to the neck. 
     It is intended that combinations of the above-described elements and those within the specification may be made, except where otherwise contradictory. 
     According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a barrel for writing felt pen is provided. The barrel includes means for inserting and retaining a refill. 
     The barrel may be made of two parts that are assembled together to form the barrel. 
     The deformable pouch may be screwed on the barrel. 
     The deformable pouch may be press-fitted on the barrel. 
     The deformable pouch may be snapped on the barrel. 
     The deformable pouch may be locked on the barrel by a bayonet connexion. 
     According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a kit is provided. The set includes a refill and a barrel. 
     According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a method for refilling a writing felt pen is provided. The method includes the steps of:
         inserting the refill into the barrel;   dipping the nib into water so as to form a water-based ink and absorb the water-based ink into the dry absorbent polymer.       

     The method may include a step of removing an empty ink tank from the barrel. 
     Thanks to the refill including dry ink, the problem of the stability of the ink, for example during storage, is reduced. Moreover, as the refill does not include water, the volume of the refill is smaller than a refill in which the ink is in the hydrated form. Furthermore, the weight of the refill is also smaller than the weight of a refill in which the ink is in the hydrated form. 
     It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the disclosure, as claimed. 
     The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and together with the description, serve to explain the principles thereof. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  shows a representation of an exemplary writing felt pen; 
         FIG. 2A  shows a representation of an exemplary refill according to embodiments of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 2B  shows a representation of another exemplary refill according to embodiments of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 3  shows a representation of the exemplary refill of  FIG. 2A  in a barrel; 
         FIG. 4  shows a dry absorbent polymer and the absorbent polymer with absorbed water; and 
         FIG. 5  shows a flow chart of the method according to embodiments of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments of the disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts. 
       FIG. 1  shows a representation of an exemplary writing felt pen  10  according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The writing felt pen  10  may include a barrel  12  and a deformable pouch  24 . The writing felt pen  10  may include a nib  14 . The nib  14  may be fixed on a neck  26  of the deformable pouch  24 , for example by positive locking of the nib  14  in the neck  26  of the deformable pouch  24 . 
     As shown at  FIG. 1 , the nib  14  may include a writing part  14 A, having a length L 14 A, and partially protruding outside of the deformable pouch  24  and an immersed part  14 B, having a length L 14 B, which is inside the deformable pouch  24 . The diameter of the writing part  14 A may be larger than the diameter of the immersed part  14 B. The nib  14  may present a shoulder present at the transition from the writing part  14 A to the immersed part  14 B. 
     Although the deformable pouch  24  is deformable, the neck  26  of the deformable pouch may be rigid enough so as to allow positive locking of the nib  14  into the neck  26 . The positive locking may be realized by providing the writing part  14 A of the nib  14  with a diameter which is slightly larger than the inner diameter of the neck  26  of the deformable pouch  24 . 
     As shown at  FIG. 1 , the barrel  12  may include a neck  12 B and a ventilation hole  12 A. The neck  12 B of the barrel  12  may include a screw thread for screwing a cap on the writing felt pen  10 . 
     The neck  12 B of the barrel  12  may include beads for snap fitting a cap on the writing felt pen  10 . 
     The deformable pouch  24  may be fixed on the barrel  12  by positive locking of the neck  26  of the pouch  24  to the neck  12   b  of the barrel  12 . 
     The deformable pouch  24  may include a mix  16  of absorbent polymer  18  and fibres  20 . An ink is absorbed in the absorbent polymer  18 . 
     The absorbent polymer  18  is schematically represented as balls but it is understood that the shape of the absorbent polymer  18  is not limited to balls. Indeed, in general, the absorbent polymer  18  may have non regular shape both when no ink is absorbed and when ink is absorbed in the absorbent polymer  18 , as shown at  FIG. 4  without and with water absorbed. 
     As shown at  FIG. 1 , the shape of the barrel  12  is not limited to cylindrical shape and the fibres  20  may be staple fibres. 
     The fibres  20  may be continuous fibres. 
     As shown at  FIG. 1 , the nib  14  is in fluidic communication with the mix  16  and the ink absorbed in the absorbent polymer  18  may flow continuously from the absorbent polymer  18  to the nib  14 . 
     In the writing felt pen  10  shown at  FIG. 1 , it is understood that the barrel  12  may not be deformable, i.e., the barrel may be rigid and/or less deformable than the deformable pouch  24 . 
       FIG. 2A  shows a representation of an exemplary refill  50  according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The refill  50  may include the deformable pouch  24  and the nib  14  inserted into the deformable pouch  24 . The deformable pouch  24  may include a mix of dry absorbent polymer  18 D, fibers  20  and dry ink  28 . 
       FIG. 2B  shows a representation of another exemplary refill  50  according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The refill  50  differs in that the deformable pouch  24  comprises a first pouch  24 A made of watertight material and a second pouch  24 B made of elastic material. 
     By dry absorbent polymer  18 D and dry ink  28 , it is understood that the ink is not liquid or in solution and not absorbed by the dry absorbent polymer  18 D. Example of dry absorbent polymer  18 D is shown at  FIG. 4  (left handside). 
     The fibres  20  may be staple fibres. The fibres  20  may be continuous fibres. 
     Once the ink in the writing felt pen  10  of  FIG. 1  has been used, a method  100  for refilling the writing felt pen  10  may be include a step of removing  102  the empty ink tank from the barrel  12 . By empty ink tank, it is understood that the empty ink tank includes the deformable pouch  24 , the ink content of the deformable pouch  24  not being enough to allow proper use of the writing felt pen  10 . 
     As a non-limiting example, the barrel  12  may be made of two parts that are assembled together to form the barrel  12 . The two parts may be assembled and disassembled so as to open the barrel  12 . 
     The deformable pouch  24  may be screwed on the barrel  12 . The deformable pouch  24  may be press-fitted on the barrel  12 . The deformable pouch  24  may be snapped on the barrel  12 . The deformable pouch  24  may be locked on the barrel  12  by a bayonet connexion. 
     The method  100  may include a step of inserting  104  the refill  50  into the barrel  12 . 
     Once the refill  50  is inserted and fixed to the barrel  12 , the method  100  may include a step of dipping  106  the nib  14 , specifically the writing part  14 A of the nib  14  into water so as to form a water-based ink and absorb the water-based ink into the dry absorbent polymer. 
       FIG. 3  shows a representation of the refill  50  of  FIG. 2A  fixed to the barrel  12  before carrying out the step of dipping  106  the nib  14 . The same applies to the refill  50  of  FIG. 2B . 
     A kit may include one or more barrel  12  and one or more refills  50 , for example, the kit may include on refill  50  fixed on the barrel  12  and one or more refills  50 . 
     Thus, when the refill  50  is already fixed to the barrel  12 , the step of removing the empty ink tank may not be carried out. 
     Throughout the description, including the claims, the term “comprising a” should be understood as being synonymous with “comprising at least one” unless otherwise stated. In addition, any range set forth in the description, including the claims should be understood as including its end value(s) unless otherwise stated. Specific values for described elements should be understood to be within accepted manufacturing or industry tolerances known to one of skill in the art, and any use of the terms “substantially” and/or “approximately” and/or “generally” should be understood to mean falling within such accepted tolerances. 
     Where any standards of national, international, or other standards body are referenced (e.g., ISO, etc.), such references are intended to refer to the standard as defined by the national or international standards body as of the priority date of the present specification. Any subsequent substantive changes to such standards are not intended to modify the scope and/or definitions of the present disclosure and/or claims. 
     Although the present disclosure herein has been described with reference to particular embodiments, it is to be understood that these embodiments are merely illustrative of the principles and applications of the present disclosure. 
     It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope of the disclosure being indicated by the following claims.