Provided are a reversibly thermochromic aqueous ink composition having excellent writability and few problems such as aggregation of a colorant, an increase in viscosity of the composition, or a decrease in handwriting density, and a refill or an aqueous ballpoint pen using the reversibly thermochromic aqueous ink composition.

A reversibly thermochromic composition is a reversibly thermochromic aqueous ink composition containing a reversibly thermochromic microcapsule pigment encapsulated in a microcapsule formed from an organic resin, an N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone polymer, glycerin, and water, in which when contents (% by mass) of the reversibly thermochromic microcapsule pigment, the N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone polymer, and the glycerin with respect to a total mass of the ink composition are P.sub.MC, P.sub.PVP, and P.sub.G, respectively, 0.3≤P.sub.MC/(P.sub.PVP+P.sub.G)≤4, and 0.2≤P.sub.PVP/P.sub.G≤5, and a refill or an aqueous ballpoint pen incorporating the reversibly thermochromic aqueous ink composition.

A thermochromic writing instrument including a writing body, storing a thermochromic ink therein, stored in a barrel; an operation body provided in the barrel to be operated to longitudinally move the writing body; a nib of the writing body configured to be capable of appearing from a front end of the writing instrument, wherein the writing instrument 1 further includes a friction unit, for rubbing handwriting in the thermochromic ink and capable of thermally changing the color of the handwriting by frictional heat generated at that time, and at least one clip body as the operation body, the friction unit 10 is provided at a rear end of the barrel, and the clip body is provided in an area other than the rear end of the barrel.

A thermochromic writing instrument including a writing body, storing a thermochromic ink therein, stored in a barrel; an operation body provided in the barrel to be operated to longitudinally move the writing body; a nib of the writing body configured to be capable of appearing from a front end of the writing instrument, wherein the writing instrument 1 further includes a friction unit, for rubbing handwriting in the thermochromic ink and capable of thermally changing the color of the handwriting by frictional heat generated at that time, and at least one clip body as the operation body, the friction unit 10 is provided at a rear end of the barrel, and the clip body is provided in an area other than the rear end of the barrel.

A refill for writing implements has an ink reservoir tube (1) made of resin material and formed to be a straight cylinder and a writing tip (2) attached to one end of the ink reservoir tube (1), and a value of an expression of D.sup.4−(D−2t).sup.4 is selected to be 45 or greater, where D denotes an outer diameter of the ink reservoir tube (1) and t denotes a thickness of the ink reservoir tube (1). It is possible to secure the necessary storage amount of ink in the ink reservoir tube (1) without increasing the outer diameter thereof, and is also possible to provide a refill for a writing implement and a writing implement which allow one to keep writing comfortably without feeling of discomfort in writing.

Provided is aqueous ink composition for a writing instrument, which contains water and microspheres having a water-insoluble dye and a matrix constituted from a polymer wherein the water-insoluble dye is higher densely present in the inner part of the matrix than at the surface of the matrix, and at least one of the following (a) and (b) is satisfied: (a) the circularity coefficient of the microspheres, as measured by image analysis, is 0.6-1.0, and (b) the 10% strength of the microspheres, as determined in a micro-compression test, is 5-30 MPa.

Provided is aqueous ink composition for a writing instrument, which contains water and microspheres having a water-insoluble dye and a matrix constituted from a polymer wherein the water-insoluble dye is higher densely present in the inner part of the matrix than at the surface of the matrix, and at least one of the following (a) and (b) is satisfied: (a) the circularity coefficient of the microspheres, as measured by image analysis, is 0.6-1.0, and (b) the 10% strength of the microspheres, as determined in a micro-compression test, is 5-30 MPa.

A writing tool includes a refill having an ink reservoir tube formed to be a straight cylinder whose wall thickness is less than 0.56 mm; and a writing tip or a relay member holding the writing tip attached to a first end of the ink reservoir tube, wherein the refill is detachably attached to a barrel, wherein in the refill, amounting strength between the writing tip or the relay member holding the writing tip and the ink reservoir tube is set higher than a mounting strength between the barrel and a connecting portion of the ink reservoir tube. There is provided a writing tool that can prevent the occurrence of a problem such as leakage of ink at a time of replacement of refills and perform replacement of refills smoothly.

An ink composition contains a carbon black and/or an organic pigment, water, a polysaccharide, two or more of diols, and particles of an acrylic resin. The two or more of diols include a first diol having from 5 to 7 carbon atoms and a second diol having from 1 to 4 carbon atoms, and a content of the first diol in the ink composition is 0.05 wt % or more.

An ink composition contains a carbon black and/or an organic pigment, water, a polysaccharide, two or more of diols, and particles of an acrylic resin. The two or more of diols include a first diol having from 5 to 7 carbon atoms and a second diol having from 1 to 4 carbon atoms, and a content of the first diol in the ink composition is 0.05 wt % or more.

A device for reproducing a color on demand. The device includes a body including a tip and a scanner. The body also includes a control unit, a plurality of ink reservoirs, an ink supply system, a mixing tank and a sensor. The control unit communicates with the scanner and ink supply system to reproduce a desired color that has been scanned.