US20050175390A1 - Erasable writing system - Google Patents

Abstract

A system including a writing instrument having a body with 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 and a writing surface upon which the marking portion can dispense the permanent ink, wherein the writing surface is part of a school or office product.

Description

• This application is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/828,073 filed on Apr. 20, 2004, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional App. Ser. No. 60/537,648 filed on Jan. 20, 2004. The entire contents of both of these applications are hereby incorporated by reference.
• 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
• 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 that 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 markers.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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
• 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 having a body with 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, and a writing surface upon which the marking portion can dispense the permanent ink, wherein the writing surface is part of a school or office product.
• In another embodiment, the invention is a system including a writing instrument having a body with 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, and a writing surface upon which the marking portion can dispense the permanent ink, wherein the writing surface is part of a school or office product, wherein the school or office product includes at least one flap pivotally attached to the product and movable between a closed position wherein the flap covers at least a portion of the writing surface and an open position wherein the flap does not cover the writing surface.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
• 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.
• FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a marker with a portion of the marker body being cut out;
• FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the marker ofFIG. 1 including a cap mounted thereon;
• FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of a writing surface being marked upon by the marker ofFIG. 1;
• FIG. 4 is a front perspective view of a binder including a writing surface and being marked upon by the marker ofFIG. 1;
• FIG. 5 is a front perspective view of a binder including a writing surface and a flap in a closed position;
• FIG. 6 is a front perspective view of the binder ofFIG. 5 with the flap in an open position;
• FIG. 7 is a front perspective view of a three-ring notebook including a writing surface and a flap in a closed position;
• FIG. 8 is a front perspective view of the three-ring notebook ofFIG. 7 with the flap in an open position;
• FIG. 9 is a front perspective view of a coil-bound notebook including a writing surface and a flap in a closed position;
• FIG. 10 is a front perspective view of the coil-bound notebook ofFIG. 9 with the flap in an open position;
• FIG. 11 is a front perspective view of a folder including a writing surface;
• FIG. 12 is a front perspective view of a book cover including a closure mechanism in a closed position;
• FIG. 13 is a front perspective view of the book cover ofFIG. 12 with the closure mechanism in the open position; and
• FIG. 14 is a front perspective view of the book cover ofFIG. 12 positioned over a book.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
• With reference toFIG. 1, a marker orwriting instrument10 is shown and includes a writing instrument body ormarker body12. Themarker body12 may be generally tubular or cylindrical and may have afirst portion18 and asecond portion20. Themarker body12 may include afirst reservoir14 located generally inside of thefirst portion18 and asecond reservoir16 located generally inside of thesecond portion20, with the first14 and second16 reservoirs separated by adivider15. Themaker body12 may include afirst opening24 that is located at an end of themarker body12 adjacent to thefirst portion18 and in communication with thefirst reservoir14. Themarker body12 may also include asecond opening30 that is located at the other of themarker body12 adjacent to thesecond portion20 and in communication with thesecond reservoir16.
• Themarker body12 includes afirst wick22 generally closely received in thefirst opening24 and extending into thefirst reservoir14. Thefirst wick22 has an exposedportion27 extending out of thefirst reservoir14, with the exposedportion27 having awriting tip26. Themarker body12 includes asecond wick28 generally closely received in thesecond opening30 and extending into thesecond reservoir16. Thesecond wick28 has an exposedportion29 extending out of thesecond reservoir16, with the exposedportion29 including atip34. Thewicks22,28 may be made from a wide variety of materials, such as felt. Although themarker10 is illustrated as having atip26,34 at each end, themarker10 may have a wide variety of other configurations for thetips26,34 and/orwicks22,28, including having thetips26,34, being oriented at various angles, being located in a side-by-side configuration, etc.
• Thefirst reservoir14 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 thefirst reservoir14 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 entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. The permanent ink may be an alcohol (i.e. n-propyl alcohol) based 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.
• Thesecond reservoir16 may be filled with a solvent that can dissolve the permanent ink or ink solution in thefirst reservoir14. The solvent in thesecond reservoir16 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.
• 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 thesecond portion20 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.
• The permanent ink solution in thefirst reservoir14 may be soaked through thefirst wick22, or permanent ink dispensingwick22, and wicked through the permanent ink dispensingwick22 until the permanent ink solution reaches thewriting tip26. In this manner, when thewriting tip26 contacts a substrate to be written upon, ink from thefirst reservoir14 is deposited on the substrate. Similarly, the solvent in thesecond reservoir16 soaks thesecond wick28, orsolvent dispensing wick28, such that the solvent is wicked through thesolvent dispensing wick28 until it reaches the erasingtip34. When the erasingtip34 contacts the substrate, solvent from thesecond reservoir16 is deposited onto the substrate and solubilizes (or dissolves) any ink deposited by the permanent ink dispending wick contacted by the solvent. Thus themarker10 may be a double-ended felt-tip marker, although themarker10 may include various other manners of dispensing the permanent ink and solvent, such as ball-point dispensers, gel-type dispensers, etc.
• In another embodiment of the present invention, themarker10 includes acap40 for covering either the erasing tip34 (as shown inFIG. 2) or, alternatively or in addition, the writingtip26. Thecap40 prevents the ink and solvent from evaporating through thewicks22,28 when themarker10 is not in use. For example, as shown inFIG. 2, thecap40 may include a body portion shaped to form a tight interference fit or seal with themarker body12 to seal off the associatedtip26,34. Thecap40 may also include anabsorbent portion42 located, for example, on an outer surface, or outer end surface, of thecap40. Theabsorbent portion42 may be made of a felt, cotton, foam, sponge-type material or other absorbent type material. Theabsorbent portion42 may be used to wipe away markings that are deposited by the writingtip26 and erased/dissolved by the erasingtip34. Themarker10 may include twocaps40, with eachcap40 located on each end of themarker10, and at least onecap40 may include anabsorbent portion42, although bothcaps40 may include anabsorbent portion42.
• As shown inFIG. 3, a user may markvarious markings52 on awriting surface50 using thewriting tip26 of themarker10. Themarkings52 may then be allowed to dry. Once dry, themarkings52 cannot be erased by simply rubbing the markings by hand, or with soap and water or the like. Thepermanent markings52 may then be allowed to remain in place for as long as desired. Once it is desired to erase themarkings52, the erasingtip34 is applied to themarkings52 to solubilize/erase/dissolve themarkings52. The erasingtip34 may be moved over themarkings52 such that the solvent contacts the depositedmarkings52 and solubilizes themarkings52, thereby allowing themarkings52 to be erased. A user may then take thecap40 and apply theabsorbent portion42 to the writingsurface50 to wipe away or absorb the solubilized markings.
• The writingsurface50 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 writingsurface50 may have a glossy finish surface and/or a UV aqueous coating and/or other coatings. Further, the writingsurface50 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 writingsurface50 has an average surface roughness of between about 9-100 microns, or between about 50-1000 microns. The writingsurface50, permanent ink and solvent should be selected such that application of the permanent ink or solvent to the writingsurface50 does not significantly alter, destroy or marr the writingsurface50. Proper selection may allow thewriting surface50 to be used many times over for marking and erasing.
• The writingsurface50 may be, include, or be part of various devices or products. For example, the writingsurface50 may be formed as part of a school or office product such as a binder60 (FIG. 4),70 (FIGS. 5 and 6),80 (FIGS. 7 and 8), a notebook90 (FIGS. 9 and 10), a folder100 (FIG. 11), a book cover110 (FIGS. 12 and 13), as well as a divider, a portfolio, a tablet, a note pad, a clipboard, a briefcase, storage case, a compact disk case, a computer case, an electronic device case or the like for home, school, business or office use. 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 abinder60,70,80 which includes the writingsurface50. The writing63 on the binder60 (seeFIG. 4) 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 marking63 (i.e. when the homework project is complete or when a new homework assignment is received) the user can remove themarkings63 using the erasingtip34 andabsorbent portion42 of thecap40.
• As shown inFIGS. 5 and 6, in one embodiment thebinder70 includes afront cover71, aback cover72 and aspine portion73. Thefront cover71 andback cover72 are pivotally coupled to thespine portion73. Thebinder70 includes azipper closure mechanism74 that couples thefront cover71 andback cover72 together. Thebinder70 also includes a flap75 (havinginner surface77 and outer surface79) pivotally coupled to thefront cover71 and securingdevices76 located on aninner surface77 of theflap75.
• The writingsurface50 is formed on or as part of the front cover71 (as shown inFIGS. 5 and 6) and/or the back cover72 (not shown). Theflap75 is hingedly connected to anouter edge78 of thefront cover71 and pivots from an open position, wherein theflap75 is spaced away from the front cover71 (seeFIG. 6) to a closed position, wherein theflap75 lies over the front cover71 (seeFIG. 5) to cover all or a portion (anywhere from about 10% to about 100%) of the writingsurface50 on thefront cover71. When theflap75 is in the closed position theflap75 protects the writingsurface50. The securingdevices76 may be positioned on the facing surfaces (i.e.,inner surface77 offlap75 andsurface50 of front cover71) to secure theflap75 in its closed position. The securingdevices76 may be hook-and-loop fasteners, magnets, tacky material or the like. The flap75 (i.e., includinginner surface77 and outer surface79) and/orspine portion73 may also include a writing surface50 (not shown).
• As shown inFIGS. 7 and 8, in a second embodiment a three-ring binder80 includes afront cover81, aback cover82 and aspine83. Thefront cover81 andback cover82 are pivotally coupled to thespine83. Thebinder80 includes a flap84 (havinginner surface86 and outer surface87) pivotally coupled to thefront cover81 alongedge85.
• The writingsurface50 is formed on or as part of the front cover81 (and/or back cover82) and thespine83. Theflap84 is hingedly connected to theouter edge85 of thefront cover81 and pivots from an open position, wherein theflap84 is spaced away from the front cover81 (seeFIG. 8) to a closed position, wherein theflap84 lies over the front cover81 (seeFIG. 7) to cover all or a portion of the writingsurface50 on thefront cover81. Theflap84 may be secured to the front cover81 (when in the closed position) by various means (not shown), such as hook-and-loop fasteners, magnets, tacky material or the like. In an alternative embodiment, theflap84 also includes a writing surface50 (not shown) located on either side thereof.
• As shown inFIGS. 9 and 10, in a third embodiment a coil boundnotebook90 includes afront cover91, aback cover92, a plurality of sheets ofpaper93, a coil binding94, a flap95 (havingfront surface98 and back surface99) and securingdevices96. The sheets ofpaper93 are positioned between the front and back covers91,92 and theflap95, front and back covers91,92 and plurality of sheets ofpaper93 are bound together along their bindingedges97 by coil binding94.
• The writingsurface50 is formed on or as part of thefront cover91 and/or theback cover92. Also, the front98 (seeFIG. 9) and/or back99 surface of theflap95 may include awriting surface50. Theflap95 pivots about the coil binding94 from an open position, wherein theflap95 is spaced away from the front and back covers91,92 (seeFIG. 10) to a closed position, wherein theflap95 lies over one of thecovers91,92 (seeFIG. 9) to cover all or a portion of the front or back covers91,92. Theflap95 may be secured in the closed position (i.e., to the front or back covers91,92) by the securing devices96 (e.g., hook-and-loop fasteners, magnets, tacky material or the like).
• As shown inFIG. 11, in a fourth embodiment afolder100 includes afront cover101, aback cover102 and a pen/pencil holder103. Thefront cover101 is pivotally connected to theback cover102 along apivot edge105. Theback cover102 has a surface area larger than that of thefront cover101 and has afirst edge104 that extends upwardly beyond the front cover to provide an area for attaching the pen/pencil holder103. Theentire folder100 may be constructed from an appropriate material such that theentire folder100 is a writingsurface50. Alternatively, only a portion of the front or back covers101,102 may include the writingsurface50.
• As shown inFIGS. 12-14, in a fifth embodiment abook cover110 includes afront cover portion111, aback cover portion112 and aclosure mechanism113. The front andback cover portions111,112 are adapted to be received over or around the front and back covers of a book122 (FIG. 14), respectively, and may be constructed from various materials such as cloth, polymeric-type material, cellulose-based materials or the like. Theclosure mechanism113 includes anelastic portion114, awriting surface portion115 having a writingsurface50 and securingdevice116. Afirst end118 of theelastic portion114 is attached to theback cover portion112 and asecond end119 is connected to thewriting surface portion115. The securingdevice116 includes hook-and-loop fastening material120 and is connected to thewriting surface portion115. The hook-and-loop fastening material120 engages corresponding hook-and-loop material117 affixed to thefront cover portion111 to secure thebook cover110 in the closed position (seeFIG. 12).
• Rather than being part of a school or office product, the writingsurface50 may simply be a “stand-alone” board such that the writingsurface50 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 writingsurface50 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 writingsurface50 to various other components. Further, the marker10 (which may include the cap40) may be packaged together with the writingsurface50 for sale such that themarker10 and writingsurface50 are marketed and sold together.
• 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.

Claims (22)

1. A system comprising:

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 said eraser portion is configured to dispense a solvent which solubilizes said permanent ink; and

a writing surface upon which said marking portion can dispense said permanent ink, wherein said writing surface is part of a school or office product.

2. The system ofclaim 1 wherein said school or office product is selected from the group consisting of a binder, a notebook, a folder, a divider, a portfolio, a book cover, a compact disk case, a computer case and an electronic equipment case.

3. The system ofclaim 1 wherein said writing surface includes a polymeric material that is chemically resistent to said solvent.

4. The system ofclaim 1 wherein said writing surface is made of polypropylene or polyethylene.

5. The system ofclaim 1 wherein said writing surface is located on a front cover of said school or office product.

6. The system ofclaim 1 wherein said writing surface is located on a spine of said school or office product.

7. The system ofclaim 1 wherein said school or office product includes at least one flap pivotally attached to said product, said flap being movable between a closed position wherein said flap covers at least a portion of said writing surface and an open position wherein said flap does not cover said writing surface.

8. The system ofclaim 7 wherein said at least one flap includes a flap writing surface capable of being marked upon by permanent ink, wherein said flap writing surface is chemically resistant to at least one solvent capable of solubilizing said permanent ink.

9. The system ofclaim 8 wherein said flap writing surface is part of a binder, a notebook, a folder, a divider, a portfolio, a book cover, a compact disk case, a computer case or an electronic equipment case.

10. The system ofclaim 8 wherein said flap writing surface includes a polymeric material selected from the group consisting of polyethylene and polypropylene.

11. The system ofclaim 7 further comprising at least one securing device for securing said flap to said writing surface.

12. The system ofclaim 7 wherein, when said flap is in said closed position, said flap covers about 10% to about 50% of said writing surface.

13. The system ofclaim 7 wherein, when said flap is in said closed position, said flap covers about 50% to about 75% of said writing surface.

14. The system ofclaim 7 wherein, when said flap is in said closed position, said flap covers about 75% to about 100% of said writing surface.

15. The system ofclaim 8 wherein said flap has a supplemental flap writing surface on an opposite side of said flap writing surface.

16. The system ofclaim 7 wherein said school and office product is a binder having a spine, a front cover and a back cover, wherein said front and back covers are pivotally attached to said spine and wherein said flap is pivotally coupled to a free edge of said front or back cover.

17. The system ofclaim 1 wherein said school and office product is a folder having a front cover pivotally coupled to a back cover, wherein said back cover has a top edge that extends beyond a top edge of said front cover and includes a pen/pencil holder fixedly attached to said top edge of said back cover.

18. The system ofclaim 1 wherein said school and office product is a book cover having a front cover portion, a back cover portion and a closure mechanism, wherein said front cover portion is adapted to be received over the front cover of a book and said back cover portion is adapted to be received over the back cover of a book.

19. A school or office product comprising:

a spine;

a front cover pivotally attached to said spine;

a back cover pivotally attached to said spine; and

a writing surface located on at least one of said spine, said front cover and said back cover, wherein said writing surface is capable of being marked upon by a permanent ink and is chemically resistant to at least one solvent capable of solubilizing said permanent ink.

20. The school or office product ofclaim 19 wherein said writing surface includes a polymeric material selected from the group consisting of polyethylene and polypropylene.

21. The school or office product ofclaim 19 wherein said writing surface is a part of said front cover.

22. The school or office product ofclaim 19 further comprising at least one flap pivotally attached to said front cover for covering a portion of said front cover.

Images