US800491A - Ink-well. - Google Patents

Description

in/6077M. 0

Awe/we s.

PATENTED SEPT. 26, 1905.

J. H. RIDDIGK. JR. INK WELL APPLICATION FILED OCT. 24,1904.

1 1 fim I r x l I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH H. RIDDICK, JR., OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO WILLIAM C. SCHMIDT, OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.

INK-WELL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

latented Sept. 26, 1905.

Application filed October 24, 1904:. Serial No. 229,698.

To (LZZ wit/mt it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH H. RIDDIoK, Jr., a citizen of the United States, residing at Richmond, in the county of Henrico and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ink-Wells, of which the following isa specification.

This invention relates to an improved inkwell for desk use.

The object of the invention is to provide a closed ink-reservoir of relatively large size in order to contain a supply of ink that will be kept from evaporation and becoming thick and muddy and obviate the necessity of frequent replenishing, a pen-dip chamber for the exposure of a small quantity of ink and connected with said large reservoir, and an atmospheric inlet to maintain a balance or equilibrium of air-pressure, so as to automatically keep the ink in the pen-dip chamher at a constant height.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a vertical sectional elevation of the improved ink-well. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of same.

The reservoir A may be of any preferred sha e and size. It is deemed preferable to ma e this of glass. A pen-dip chamber B for the exposure of a small quantity of ink is attached to the side of the reservoir at its base and is in communication with said reservoir by the passage 0. The particular shape of this pen-di chamber is immaterial. It must have a suita le opening (1 for the insertion of a pen-point, and when in use the ink standing in this opening is the only ink that is directly exposed to the atmosphere.

A suitable cap or cover 6 closes over the pen-dip opening (I. In the present instance this cap is attached by a hingefto a collar or band g, which surrounds the top of the small chamber B. This hinge permits the cap to rest in the closed position or when open to be turned up to a standing position against the front side of the reservoir. The cap is provided with an elastic pad 6', which will fit closely down around the pen-dip opening.

The reservoir A has at its top a mouth h, through which the ink may befilled, and a screw-cap i is arranged to close this mouth air-tight. The cap has a disk washer j, of

elastic material, which insures an air-tight closure. An air-inlet passage-tube It opens through the top of the reservoir and extends therefrom downward, and its lower end It opens Within the reservoir on a level with the top of said pen-dip opening (1 in the small chamber. The inner caliber or capacity of the tube it should be large enough to prevent being easily stopped by any incrustation of ink; but the opening k at the upper end of the tube is very small, only that of a pinpoint, while the o ening at the lower end is relatively larger, being the size of the full caliber of the tube. This difference in the size of the two openings of the tube, the upper one being smaller, prevents any agitation of the ink in the reservoir when moving or handling the ink-well. If the tube becomes incrusted, it can be removed for cleaning and then restored to position. The construction whereby this air-inlet passage or tube is attached to the reservoir A is immaterial. In the present instance its upper end is tightly fixed in a disk or plug Z, of suitable material, such as vulcanized rubber. The small opening k in the tube is exposed at the upper side of the said plug. The disk or plug fits in and tightly closes a hole m in the top of the reservoir, and the tube hangs pendent therefrom down inside the reservoir, and its lower open end is is normally sealed by ink.

The horizontal broken line a across the reservoir A near its top indicates, for the purpose of explanation, the height or level of the ink contained in the reservoir. The space 0 above this level of the ink of course contains air; but there is no direct atmospheric pressure in this space. As the upper end of the tube 7c is open to the exterior air, atmospheric pressure is present within the tube, and at its lower end there is an airpressure which is in balance with the airpressure at the same level of the pen-dip opening (Z. This balance or equilibrium of pressure maintains a constant level of a small quantity of ink at the said exposed opening (Z. When ink is removed from this opening by the pen, this level is momentarily destroyed or disturbed, and sufficient air will thereupon enter the tube It and discharge from its lower end into the ink-reservoir A and thence rise in a bubble at the top space in communication with the latter and said small side chamber having a top opening exposed to the atmosphere; the liquid1eser voir having an air-inlet passage whose upper end opens to the atmosphere through the top of said reservoir and from said top extends. downward of uniform size within the reservoir and having at its lower end an opening of same size as the cross-sectional area of the passage and terminating on a level with the said small chamber-opening exposed to the atmosphere.

2. An ink-well having in combination a liquid-reservoir, A; a pen-dip chamber, B, at the side and. base of the said reservoir with its bottom in communication with the latter by a passage and having a top opening exposed to the atmosphere; a removable airinlet tube, Z", secured to the top of the reservoir and depending downward within the reservoir with its lower end fully open on a level with the atmospheric opening of said pen-dip chamber and having at its upper end an opening to the atmosphere which opening is relatively smaller than said lower end opening.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOSEPH H. RIDDICK, JR.

Witnesses W. F. GORDON, J. W. BLANTON, Jr.

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