Patent ID: 7261484

Claim:
A loss prevention device for pens comprising: a pen having an exterior shell, an interior volume and a writing device housed within said exterior shell, said exterior shell being free of openings therethrough excepting an opening for said writing device to extend out and through; a loss prevention device mounted within said exterior shell of said pen, said loss-prevention device including; a gravity-actuated position sensing switch mounted within said exterior shell of said pen and having; an outer electrically conductive cylinder having a contact end; an inner electrically conductive cylinder having a contact end and mounted within and extending in generally concentric alignment with said outer cylinder; said contact ends of said outer and inner cylinders being generally adjacent to one another; an electrically conductive ball bearing; a generally frustoconical ball bearing chamber having a wide end adjacent said contact ends of said outer and inner cylinders and a narrow end, said ball bearing chamber positioned within said exterior shell of said pen such that when said pen is generally horizontal, said ball bearing falls out of said narrow end towards and into said wide end of said ball bearing chamber and contacts said contact ends of both of said outer and inner cylinders thereby completing an electrically conductive circuit between said outer and inner cylinders through said ball bearing; an audio-generating programmable electronic device for generating an audio signal; loudspeaker means in audio signal transmission connection with said audio-generating programmable electronic device, said loudspeaker means in direct contact with said exterior shell of said pen for transmission of audio output to and through said exterior shell; battery means in power transmission connection with said audio-generating programmable electronic device and said loudspeaker means; said gravity-actuated position sensing switch in operative connection with said audio-generating programmable electronic device such that upon said pen being placed in a generally horizontal position, said ball bearing completes the circuit between said outer and inner cylinders thereby triggering said audio-generating programmable electronic device to output an audio signal to said loudspeaker means which outputs sound to and through said exterior shell of said pen thereby signaling that said pen is oriented in a generally horizontal position.