How to make a quill pen patented 1809 part 5
Fifthly. I now come to describe what I conceive to be as important a part of this invention as any of the foregoing, and on which its utility and public benefits will superiorly depend ; namely, a property which enables me to use those pens without the assistance of an inkstand, or any other vessel to contain ink in the usnal way, and by which not only the time lost in dipping the pea, a waste of ink by the improper dispersion of it, will be avoided, but the ink will in all seasons, by being excluded from any contact with the outward air, be preserved in its most perfect and pure state, notwithr standing it may be ever so long kept in either hot or cold climates ; and as the ink by this contrivance is.always equally portable with the pen, it will ,afford uncommon convenience and utility to all those,professions and avocations where pens’and ink are necessary to be carried for the purpose of’immediate use. This property I produce as follows; that is to say, instead of using the common stick, or other methods of handling those .pens, as above described, J take a hollow tube, of silver, or any other metal or materials proper for the purpose, and these tubes being made taper at the lower end, and closed in a round or domical form, will effect the office of the stick, as aforesaid. I then fix the pen, (by means of a socket made to’fit as before,) of whatever class it may be formed, according to the rules already described. I then make a small perforation in any part of the tube, or hollow stick, a little distance from the point, so that when it is turned towards the centre of the pen the ink may be let down into the mouth. I then take this hollow handle, which is the substitute for the stick, as aforesaid, and its upper end being open and unstopped, I pour it full of ink, taking care to stop with the finger the capillary opening at the lower end, as above described, ‘and when full I stop, and make airtight, wiUi a cork, cap, or otherwise, the upper end, a.nd thus I have this tube, of whatever length and dimensions it may be, completely filled with ink ; but which, ink, on account of the air-tight state of the tube or vessel, as above, ‘will not, on being turned with its email end downwards, in’ a position to write, discharge Vei,. XVIII.—Second Series, I.
farce force down the ink to the pen by the hand or screw, &c. &c. It is necessary for me to observe here, at after a portion of the ink contained in the hollow handle, as aforesaid, has been exhausted by writing with on the compressing principle, and not having any influx of air to supply the space generated by the loss of ink, the pressure for disgorging it will become of necessity in-, creased; but to remedy this defect, when necessary, nothing more is required than to turn the pen with its handle downwards, and by which means as much air will be instantly drawn into the ink cavity, at the capillary aperture, as will restore the balance of the medium that had been destroyed by the exuding of the ink, as above stated. These I denominate compound fountain pens.
