IMPROVEMENTS IN RESERVOIR OR FOUNTAIN PENHOLDERS
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Moreton Prichard at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th November 1868.
I, JOHN MORETON PRICHARD, of No. 18, Park Street, South Hackney,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RESERVOIR OR FOUNTAIN PENHOLDERS," to be
as follows:
My Invention relates to penholders constructed to carry within them
a supply of ink which in writing can be caused to flow freely to the
pen or nib, but which will not flow spontaneously from the holder, so
that the same may be conveniently carried in the pocket or deposited
upon a table or desk without soiling or injuring the same from the
escape of the ink. The barrel of my penholder either in part or
altogether serves as the ink reservoir, and I therefore dispense with all
separate tubes or other apparatus inserted in or attached to the pen-
holder for holding the ink. The pen is attached to the penholder in the
method ordinarily employed when hollow penholders are used, that is
to say, by being inserted in a tube whose opposite end is inserted into
the barrel of the penholder in such manner that it may be withdrawn
at pleasure. I perforate this end of the said tube with one or more

page_text: holes to allow the ink to flow to the pen; or the said end may be left
entirely open for that purpose, the sides of the said tube being made to
fit into the barrel in an air-tight manner by a coating of india-rubber or
otherwise. If the inside end of the tube, that is, the end inside the
barrel, is left quite open the part which holds the pen must (and in other
cases may be reduced in size, or a strip or tongue or other device may
be inserted therein to regulate the flow of ink to the pen. The reservoir
may be filled through the aperture into which this tube is inserted, or
the ink may be poured in through an aperture uncovered for the purpose
in some other part of the sides or the other end of the reservoir, the
tube end of the reservoir being in the latter case closed during the
process of filling. In this latter case the tube is not required to be
withdrawn for the purpose of filling the barrel or reservoir and may
therefore be fixed permanently therein. The barrel or reservoir itself
may be constructed to hold the pen without a separate tube for that
purpose. In this case a perforated partition may be inserted between
the reservoir portion of the holder and the portion which holds the pen,
or the end of the reservoir which holds the pen may be reduced in size,
or a small tongue or strip or other device may be inserted for the
purpose of regulating the flow of the ink. In these cases the reservoir
is filled through an aperture in some other part of it, which aperture is
covered when the pen is being used, the egress of the ink through the
end of the reservoir where the pen is inserted being prevented during
the process of filling by means of a plug or other device; or if the flow
of ink is regulated by the strip or other device the same may be with
drawn for the purpose of filling the reservoir. A portion or portions or
the whole of the sides or end of the reservoir must be formed of some
elastic or compressible substance, and by pressure upon such substance
the ink is forced through the perforations or apertures provided for that
purpose, and flows therefrom to the pen. If desired the penholder may
be provided with a cap, to protect the pen when in the pocket.