AN IMPROVED FEEDING INKSTAND
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Fortuné François Benvenuti, of Swansea, in the
County of Glamorgan, Professor of Languages, Member of the
National Academy of Paris, and Principal of the Swansea Training
Sealed the 7th June 1870, and dated the 24th December 1869.
PROVISIONÁL SPECIFICATION left by the said Fortuné François
Benvenuti at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition; on the 24th December 1869:
Í, FORTUNÉ FRANÇOIS BENVENUTI, of Swansea, in the County of
Glamorgan, Professor of Languages, Member of the National Academy
of Paris, and Principal of the Swansea Training School, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED FEEDING INKSTAND,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to inkstands, and consists of certain improve-
ments in their construction whereby ink or other liquid can be supplied
to the dipping cup or cups with which these inkstands are provided for
as long a time as the ink is required to be in use.

page_text: These inkstands may be made of earthenware or other suitable
material, of various shapes and dimensions, and are formed with a lower
chamber, reservoir, or container for the ink or colour to be used; a little
above the level of the upper orifice of the dipping cup this container is
separated from the upper portion of the inkstand by a horizontal par-
tition having a very small hole in its centre; at or near the bottom of
this container is a hole or tube through the side thereof connecting the
dipping cup therewith; and at or near the top of the said container, and
opposite and a little higher than the top of the dipping cup, is an air
valve or hole and cork.
The upper part of the inkstand above the horizontal partition
terminates in a tubular shouldered collar fitted to receive a metal lid or
cap. Into the said tubular collar is fitted air-tight one-half of a hollow
vulcanized india-rubber ball, over which the lid is tightly fixed so as to
rest on the shoulder of the collar. In the centre of the top of the lid is:
a hole through which a piston connected with the lid works freely up
and down.
To fill the inkstand the air valve is opened and the ink poured into
the dipping cup, whence it passes into the container through the afore-
said hole or tube until it attains the required level, when the air valve is
closed. The ink is forced into the cup, when required, by pressing the
piston down as far as it will slide; then by turning it round it will be
maintained in that position by means of two flanges that catch under
and against the borders of the hole through which it slides. In this
position the india-rubber half ball is pressed down, which causes a
compression of the air within that forces the ink to rise in the cup. If
it is required to empty the cup the piston is turned back to its former
position, when the elasticity of the ball raises it up and the ink returns
into the interior of the inkstand.
When different inks or colours are required to be supplied from one
inkstand the interior is made with as many partitions or separate
divisions as there are cups, the means of propulsion and the valve
remaining the same.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Fortuné François Benvenuti in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 24th June 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FORTUNÉ
FRANÇOIS BENVENUTI, of Swansea, in the County of Glamorgan, Professor
of Languages, Member of the National Academy of Paris, and Principal
of the Swansea Training School, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Fortuné François Benvenuti, Her special
licence that I, the said Fortuné François Benvenuti, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Fortuné
François Benvenuti, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter 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 "AN IMPROVED FEEDING INKSTAND," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Fortuné François Benvenuti, 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
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Fortuné François Benvenuti, 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 :-
This Invention relates to inkstands, and consists of certain improve-
ments in their construction whereby ink or other liquid can be supplied
to the dipping cup or cups with which these inkstands are provided for
as long a time as the ink is required to be in use.
These inkstands may be made of earthenware, glass, or other suitable
material, of various shapes and dimensions, and are formed with a lower

page_text: chamber, reservoir, or container for the ink or colour to be used; a little
above the level of the upper orifice of the dipping cup this container is
separated from the upper portion of the inkstand by a horizontal par-
tition having a very small hole in its centre; at or near the bottom of
this container is a hole or tube through the side thereof connecting the
dipping cup therewith; and at or near the top of the said container, and
opposite and a little higher than the top of the dipping cup is an air
valve or hole and cork.
The upper part of the inkstand above the horizontal partition
terminates in a tubular shouldered collar fitted to receive a metal lid or
cap. Into the said tubular collar is fitted air-tight one-half of a hollow
vulcanized india-rubber ball, over which the lid is tightly fixed so as to
rest on the shoulder of the collar. In the centre of the top of the lid is
a hole through which a piston connected with the lid works freely up
and down.
To fill the inkstand the air valve is opened and the ink poured into
the dipping cup, whence it passes into the container through the afore-
said hole or tube until it attains the required level, when the air valve is
closed. The ink is forced into the cup when required by pressing the
piston down as far as it will slide; then by turning it round it will be
maintained in that position by means of two flanges that catch under
and against the borders of the hole through which it slides. In this
position the india-rubber half ball is pressed down, which causes a com-
pression of the air within that forces the ink to rise in the cup. If it is
required to empty the cup the piston is turned back to its former position,
when the elasticity of the ball raises it up and the ink returns into the
interior of the inkstand.
When different inks or colours are required to be supplied from one
inkstand the interior is made with as many partitions or separate
divisions as there are cups, the means of propulsion and the valve
remaining the same.
a is the reservoir or ink container; b, the dipping cup; c, a channel
connecting the dipping cup with the ink container; d, a plug made 3.5.
with a whalebone or other stem, and fitted near the top with a disc of

page_text: vulcanised india-rubber, leather, or other flexible material, which par-
tially closes the terminal opening of the channel c and prevents the ink
or fluid from being forced in the form of a jet above the level of the top
of the dipping cup by the movement of the piston herein-after described;
e is the air reservoir or cup, which may form an integral part of the ink
container, or be made separately and fitted thereto; in the diaphragm
which divides this air compartment or in the bottom of the cup, as
the case may be, there is a hole or perforation k; fis a semi-globe of
vulcanised india-rubber, which is made to fit accurately the inside of the
last-mentioned compartment or cup; g is a lid (by preference of metal)
made to fit over and close this compartment or cup externally; h, a
rising and falling piston fitted in the top of this lid, and made with a
terminal convex button or presser i, which when lowered to the position
shewn by the dotted lines (see ', i¹,) depresses the crown j of the semi-
globe to the position j¹ and forces the air under it in the cup c through
the hole or perforation, which the pressure of the air then acting upon
the surface of the ink in the container a causes it to ascend into the
dipping cup b. The ink thus raised from the container is maintained in
the dipping cup as long as required by turning the piston h, which is
made with one or more side feathers working in notches in the top of
the lid g partially round, as shewn at 1, when the piston will be thereby
locked in the lowered position. When the ink is no longer required in
the dipping cup by turning back the piston h and raising and turning it
to its normal position the elastic power of the semi-globe will then cause
the latter to regain its normal form and the ink in the dipping cup to
descend into the container a and be thus kept in the required limpid and
non.evaporating condition till again wanted for use. By repeating the
movements of the piston h as above described a supply may be obtained
and maintained in the dipping cup as often as required. n is a plug or
valve, which may be removed or opened for allowing a supply of or
escape of air when necessary. To charge the inkstand remove this plug
and pour the ink into the dipping cup till it rises to the required level,
then replace the plug and the inkstand is ready for use.
When two kinds of ink or inks of different colours are required in the
same inkstand two dipping cups are provided on opposite sides of the
container, and the latter is divided by a vertical webb or partition
crossing the same in a diagonal or other direction.
In some cases I substitute for the semi-globe fa simple flexible flat

page_text: diaphragm or disc of any suitable material across the top of the ink
container, and fix the same thereto air-tight either by a string or other
external binder or by the lid itself; or I fix such diaphragm in the lid
and cause the depression of such diaphragms to act upon the ink in the
container in the manner herein-before described.
I claim the inkstands formed and fitted as herein described or in any
similar manner, whereby the pressure of the air acting by means of a
flexible semi-globe or diaphragm upon the surface of the ink in the
container is made to fill the dipping cup, and vice versa.
In witness whereof, I, the said Fortuné François Benvenuti, have 1
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of June, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy..
E
FORTUNE FRANCOIS BENVENUTI. (L.S.)