IMPROVEMENTS IN PENHOLDERS
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th August 1869.- A communication from abroad by Louis'
Dezarnaud, of Paris, in the Empire of France.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office,"
No. 8, Southampton Buildings, London, Consulting Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PENHOLDERS,'
a communication, to be as follows:-
The said Invention relates to penholders for metallic pens which
receive the pen in the centre of the holder, so that they may be laid
upon a table or upon a sheet of paper without soiling it, and to peculiar
means whereby the soiling of the fingers by ink on the end of the pen-
holder is prevented, and whereby also the fingers are kept from reaching
down and being stained by the ink on the pen, while at the same time
such protective means offer no obstacle to the introduction of the pen-
holder into any inkstand, and when once deposited on a table the said
penholder will rest thereon without any tendency to roll. The said
penholders may be constructed of any suitable metal or material, and

page_text: may be made plain or ornamental and of any desired form and dimen-
sions, and may be constructed with a removable tube or socket or in one
solid piece.
In constructing a penholder according to these improvements I take
a tube (preferably of metal) which has a curved or fluted portion
arranged to receive inside the tube under the said fluted portion the
shank of a metallic pen. Except at this part it is quite round. Into
this tube is inserted a stem or handle. In the tube is a longitudinal
narrow aperture or slot crossed by a narrow transverse aperture which
is of a length equal to the diameter of the penholder. In the end of the
tube is placed the clip which is fixed to the tube at the back by means
of small ridges struck from the exterior to the interior of the tube. In a
cylindrical part of this clip is a longitudinal slot or opening terminating
in a transverse aperture from which the clip is fluted or curved to corres-
pond with the part of the tube under which it lies, and it is between these
two fluted or curved portions that the shank of the pen is inserted.
At each side of the back of the clip is a longitudinal slot, which slots or
openings are closed by the pressure produced by the pen when the same
is introduced between the curved parts of the clip and the tube or
holder. At the end of the clip is a small tongue having a small slit at
each side extending towards the cylindrical portion. A cylinder is fitted
to slide freely in the metallic tube between the end of the clip and the
stem or handle. At the back of the upper end of this cylinder is a
small tongue similar to that above described but extending in the
opposite direction.
At the bottom of the cylinder is a small right-
angled opening. A small ring is placed upon each of the above men-
tioned small tongues, which rings are connected by an elastic band
having a half twist or a little more. A tube, whose interior circum-
ference equals that of the exterior of the tube of the holder first above
described, is provided with a metal ring or hoop formed with radial or
star like projections. This tube and ring are movable and may be
attached to the penholder at the will of the writer to form a guard.
This guard is furnished interiorly with a small stud which is made to
take into the transverse slot in the tube of the penholder, the said
guard will allow the pen to be inserted into wide-mouthed inkstands,
and by turning the guard till the stud enters the longitudinal slot the
stud will slide endwise in the same and the pen may be introduced
into an inkstand with a very narrow aperture. The protecting ring or

page_text: guard may have any desired number of projections, and may be of various
forms and dimensions.
In one modification of my Invention the penholder is made hollow
for a portion of its length, and is provided with a metal bush which at
will can be adapted to the end of the penholder upon which is fixed the
protecting ring or guard. The hollow part of the penholder encloses
a tube which is fitted to slide therein. In the outer end of this tube is
a curved opening in which is fixed the shank of the pen. The inner
end of the said tube is connected by an elastic ring to a small pin passed
through the stem of the penholder. A small stud on the said inner end
of the sliding tube passed through the elastic ring projects through an
aperture in the hollow part of the holder, and forms the means for
adjusting the sliding tube endwise therein. By pressing this stud the
pen may be caused to project into the inkstand, and as soon as the stud
is released the elastic ring will draw the pen back.