IMPROVEMENTS IN DRAWING PENS AND COMPASSES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Lucius Curtis Bailey, of the Topographical
Department, War Office, No. 4, New Street, Spring Gardens, in the
County of Middlesex, Staff Commander in H.M. Royal Navy,
for the Invention of " IMPROVEMENTS IN DRAWING PENS AND
COMPASSES."
Sealed the 29th January 1869, and dated the 1st August 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Lucius Curtis Bailey
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 1st August 1868.
I, LUCIUS CURTIS BAILEY, of the Topographical Department, War
Office, No. 4, New Street, Spring Gardens, in the County of Middlesex,
Staff Commander in H.M. Royal Navy, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DRAWING PENS AND COMPASSES,'
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements applicable to drawing
pens and compasses, the object being to regulate and adjust the instru-
ments to draw lines, curves, or circles of any definite fineness or
thickness. I propose to form the screw (which brings the blades of the

page_text: pen closer together, or permits them to spring further apart) with a head
divided into radial spaces with numbers thereon, and to cut on the upper
blade close to the screw head an indentation in a medial line with the
centre of the .pen, by which means the position of the screw and its
divisions in relation to the fixed medial line will always serve to indicate
the space between the points of the blades, so that the exact fineness or
thickness of line can be drawn as required without the necessity of
testing the instrument as is ordinarily done.
In the event of Drawings being ordered to be executed the thickness
of the line can be indicated by numbers from a series of lines ruled by
one of the instruments, and thus the same numbers will regulate all
other instruments made on the principle of this Invention.
An ink feeder is to be attached to the pen in order to avoid the
necessity of supplying the ink by means of a hair pencil. I make the
feeder of glass or other suitable material in the form of a globe or
cylinder with a tapering tube extending within the blades. The opening
should be made on one side of the globe or cylinder for supplying ink,
and the instrument may be laid flat on the drawing board without the
escape of ink.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Lucius Curtis Bailey, in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 1st February 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LUCIUS
CURTIS BAILEY, of the Topographical Department, War Office, No. 4,
New Street, Spring Gardens, in the County of Middlesex, Staff Com-
mander in H.M. Royal Navy, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Lucius Curtis Bailey, Her special
licence that I, the said Lucius Curtis Bailey, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Lucius Curtis
Bailey, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter

page_text: during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN DRAWING PENS AND COMPASSES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Lucius Curtis Bailey, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was
to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Scal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Lucius Curtis Bailey, do hereby.
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
My Invention relates to certain improvements applicable to drawing
pens and compasses, the object being to regulate and adjust the instru-
ments to draw lines, curves, or circles of any definite fineness or
thickness. I propose to form the set screw (which brings the blades of
the èpen or compass closer together, or permits them to spring further
apart) with a head divided into radial spaces with numbers 'thereon
after the manner of a scale, and to cut on the upper blade close to the
screw head an indentation in a medial line with the centre of the pen,
by which means the position of the screw and its divisions in relation to
the fixed medial line will always serve to indicate the space between the
points of the blades, so that the exact fineness or thickness of line can
be drawn as required without the necessity of testing the instrument as
is ordinarily done.
In the event of drawings or plans being ordered to be executed
the thickness of the lines can be indicated by numbers from a series
of lines ruled or described by one of the instruments, and thus the
same numbers will regulate all other corresponding instruments made
on the principle of this Invention.
An ink feeder may be attached to the pen in order to avoid the
necessity of supplying the ink by means of a hair pencil direct to the
blades. The feeder may be made of glass or other suitable material in
the form of a globe or cylinder with a tapering tube extending within
or between the blades. The opening for the supply of ink should be

page_text: on the side of the globe or cylinder so that the instrument may be laid
flat on the drawing board or table without the escape of ink.
Fig. 1 of the annexed Drawings represents a plan view of a drawing
pen with the screw applied; and Fig. 2 a plan view of the screw head
divided into twelve radial spaces with numbers on an enlarged scale. If
necessary a more minute series of divisions may be made, but in ordinary
practice twelve will be found sufficient.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I claim and desire to be secured to
me by the herein in part recited Letters Patent, the application to
drawing pens and compasses of a screw having radial divisions and
numbers thereon, forming a scale in connection with a medial line cut
in one of the pen blades, whereby the thickness or fineness of lines to be
drawn may be accurately regulated and adjusted, and a corresponding
adjustment afforded in relation to all other instruments of similar dimen-
sions constructed in rccordance with the Invention, substantially as
herein specified and shewn.
In witness whereof, I, the said Lucius Curtis Bailey, hav
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of January,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine
Witness,
ALEX. PRINCE,
Office for Patents,
4, Trafalgar Square,
Charing Cross.
L. C. BAILEY. (L.S.)