Patent Publication Number: US-6663308-B1

Title: Pen warmer

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a device for heating a writing pen. More specifically, the present invention relates to an electric circuit for warming the writing tip of the pen. 
     Writing instruments have been used since the beginning of time to record thoughts, events and history. Early cave men used sharpened stones to scratch pictures into the walls of caves. With the advancement of civilization, alphabets developed along with the written word. One of the earliest pens was developed by the Romans from a hollow reed such as bamboo. One end of the reed was cut into a point and ink was poured into the stem. The writer squeezed the wall of the reed to provide ink to the tip. 
     Around the eighth century the quill pen was introduced. The quill pen was made from a bird&#39;s feather. The quill was sharpened to a point and was dipped into an ink well. The writer used the wet ink on the tip of the quill to write. On average, the useful life of a quill pen was about a week after which time the quill needed to be replaced. The quill pen was the most popular writing instrument for about one thousand years until the introduction of the fountain pen in the early nineteenth century. 
     In the nineteenth century the fountain pen was developed and replaced the quill pen. The fountain pen had several advantages over the quill pen including having an internal ink reservoir. The internal ink reservoir eliminated the need to repeatedly dip the end of the pen into an ink well. Additionally, because the writing end of the fountain pen was metal, the fountain pen had a considerably longer useful life as compared to the quill pen. 
     A major drawback of fountain pens was the likelihood of spilling ink especially when attempting to refill the reservoir. Additionally, the ink for a fountain pen did not dry quickly resulting in the ink smearing and smudging. 
     The ball point pen was developed to eliminate the problem of smearing and smudging associated with the inks used in fountain pens. Ball point pens use an internal reservoir similar to fountain pens, but the ink used is a thicker ink which dries almost instantly after being applied to paper. To apply ink from a ball point pen to paper, the ball is rotated by applying pressure to paper. As the ball is rotated, ink which clings to the ball is removed from the reservoir and applied to the paper. 
     Because a thicker ink is used in ball point pens, several events can occur which prevent the ball point pen from writing. A pen may not be used for an extended period of time resulting in the ink drying around the ball which will prevent the ball from rolling. A second event which prevents a ball point pen from writing is cold weather which results in the ink becoming viscous and not being able to flow. 
     Usually when a ball point pen will not write, the pen is vigorously moved over a piece of paper. The movement can either heat the tip of the pen with friction which reduces the viscosity of the ink. Alternatively, if the ball is fixed into one position with dry ink, the force of the moving the tip over the piece of paper may break the ball lose from the dried ink. In addition to vigorously moving the ball point pen over a piece of paper, other techniques for making a ball point pen including wetting the tip of the pen to moisturize the dry ink and sucking on the tip of the pen to pull ink around the ball point and establish ink flow. If none of the above techniques do not enable the ball point pen to begin writing the pen is typically discarded. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is a device for warming a writing tip of a pen having a conductive surface spaced from the writing tip, the device includes a power source having a first terminal and a second terminal. A first electrically conductive member is attached to the first terminal and a second electrically conductive member is attached to the second terminal and spaced from the first conductive member. The conductive surface of the pen contacts the second electrically conductive member when the writing tip of the pen contacts the first conductive member thereby warming the writing tip. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a top view of the pen warmer of the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view of a writing tip of a pen connecting a circuit of the pen warmer of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     A pen warmer of the present invention is generally illustrated at  10  in FIG.  1 . The pen warmer  10  includes a power source  12  having first and second terminals  14 ,  16 , respectively. A writing tip  34  of a pen  32  is used to connect the first and second terminals  14 ,  16  such that a current flows through and warms the writing tip  34  of the pen  32  as illustrated in FIG.  2 . 
     Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the power source  12  is preferably a nine volt dry cell battery, although other power sources, including other dry cell batteries or other direct current or alternating current sources are within the scope of the invention. The dry cell battery  12  is retained on a base  11  by a stop  13  which preferably is attached to a base  11  with screws. The base  11  is constructed of a non-conductive material, preferably wood. 
     A first conductive member  18  is attached to the first terminal  14 . The first conductive member  18  includes a conductive metal strip  20  that is attached to the base  11 . 
     A second conductive member  22  is attached to the second terminal  16 . A distal end of the second conductive member  22  is disposed over the conductive metal strip  20 . 
     Preferably, the second conductive member  22  includes a first portion  24  which is attached to the second terminal  16  and a second portion  26  attached to the first portion  24  by a hinge  25 . A compression spring  30  biases the second portion  26  of the second conductive member  22  away from the first conductive member  18  thereby preventing the first and second conductive members  18 ,  22  from making contact and completing the circuit. The second portion  26  includes an aperture  28  which is disposed above the conductive metal strip  20  of the first conductive member  18 . Although, a second conductive member  22  having two portions  24 ,  26  hingedly attached is preferred, one skilled in the art will recognize that a single member is within the scope of the invention. 
     In operation, the writing tip  34  of the pen  32  is inserted into the aperture  28  in the second portion  26  of the second conductive member  22  until a side surface of the writing tip  34  contacts the surface of the aperture  28 . A force is applied to the pen  32  which overcome the bias of the compression spring  30  to force the second portion  26  of the second conductive member  22  towards the first conductive member  18  until the writing tip  34  of the pen  32  contacts the first conductive member  18 . The circuit is completed when the writing tip  34  of the pen  32  contacts the first conductive member  18  and the side surface  36  of the writing tip  34  contacts the second conductive member  22 . With the completed circuit, current flows from the first terminal  14  through the writing tip  34  of the pen  32  and to the second terminal  16 . One skilled in the art will recognize that the polarity of the first and second terminals  14 ,  16  can be switched and still achieve the same result, namely current running through and warming the writing tip  34  of the pen  32 . 
     Typically, the pen  32  connects the circuit for about five seconds after which time the writing tip  34  has been sufficiently warmed to enable the pen  32  to write. The pen warmer  10  is also useful in making a working pen write better by heating the tip of the pen. Additionally, the pen warmer  10  is useful as a paperweight. 
     Although the present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, workers skilled in the art will recognize that changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.