IMPROVE- MENTS IN PENS."
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Barlow, junior, of 2, Old Palace
Yard, in the City of Westminster, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PENS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Barlow
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 7th January 1874.
I, WILLIAM HENRY BARLOW, junior, of 2, Old Palace Yard, in the
City of Westminster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PENS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to construct a writing pen which may
be used with greater facility than metal pens as now ordinarily formed,
and also to construct them to hold a greater supply of ink. For this
purpose I form a writing pen of three, four, or other number of stalks,
or wires, or needles fixed at one end at distances apart from one another
to a socket piece or base, and at their opposite ends brought together to

page_text: a point so as to form a conical pen, the apex of which will form the
writing point.
The socket piece may be of metal or other suitable material, and may
at the back be formed with a projecting screw to screw into the end of a
holder; or other means of connecting it to a holder may be adopted.
The spring wires, or needles, or stalks forming the pen may be of
aluminium, bronze, gold, or steel, or of vulcanite, or other suitable metal
or material, and may, if desired, be furnished at their ends with points
of iridium or other hard material to prevent them from wearing away.
When a pen constructed as above described is dipped into the ink the
space between the wires, or needles, or stalks becomes filled, and in
writing with the pen thus charged it will produce a uniform thickness
of line whether there be much or little ink held in it.
When writing with such a pen a person can write much more quickly
than with ordinary writing pens, and as they do not require to be dipped
so frequently into the ink they are well adapted for use in all cases
where quick writing is required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Henry Barlow in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 7th July 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY BARLOW, junior, of 2, Old Palace Yard, in the City of West-
minster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said William Henry Barlow, junior, Her special license that
I, the said William Henry Barlow, junior, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Henry Barlow,
junior, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN PENS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Henry Barlow, junior, 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 Inven-
tion, 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 William Henry Barlow, junior, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:
-
The object of this Invention is to construct a writing pen which may
be used with greater facility than metal pens as now ordinarily formed,
and also.to construct them to hold a greater supply of ink. For this
purpose I form a writing pen of three or more stalks, or wires, or
needles, fixed at one end at distances apart from one another to a socket
piece or base, and at their opposite ends brought together to a point so
as to form a conical pen, the apex of which will form the writing point.
The socket piece may be of metal or other suitable material, and may
at the back be formed with a projecting screw to screw into the end of a
holder; or other means of connecting it to a holder may be adopted.
The spring wires, or needles, or stalks forming the pen may be of
aluminium, bronze, gold, or steel, or of vulcanite, or other suitable
metal or material, and may, if desired, be furnished at their ends with
points of iridium or other hard material to prevent them from wearing
away.
When a pen constructed as above described is dipped into the ink the
space between the wires, or needles, or stalks becomes filled, and in
writing with the pen thus charged it will produce a uniform thickness
of line whether there be much or little ink held in it.
When writing with such a pen a person can write much more quickly
than with ordinary writing pens, and as they do not require to be dipped
so frequently into the ink they are well adapted for use in all cases
where quick writing is required.

page_text: And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into effect I have in the Drawings hereunto annexed shewn
examples of pens constructed in the manner above described.
Figure 1 shews a side view of a pen formed of six wires or needles a
fixed at equal distances apart around a base 6, as shewn at Figure 2,
and at their opposite ends brought together to a point; c is a screw at
the back of the socket to screw into the end of a holder, such as shewn
at Figure 3.
In the pen shewn at Figures 1 and 2 the wires or needles are fixed
into holes bored into the base. In place of this they might be fixed into
slots formed around the edge of the base, as shewn at Figures 4 and 5.
The
pen shewn in these Figures is formed with four stalks or wires of a
material such as horn or vulcanite.
In place of forming the pens of separate stalks, or wires, or needles
fixed into a base, as above described, they may be stamped out from
thin sheet metal in the manner illustrated at Figure 6, and such stamped
out piece of metal may afterwards be bent up to form a conical pen
similar to those shewn at Figures 1, 2, 4, and 5. Or a piece of thin metal
may be stamped out to a conical form, as shewn at Figure 7, and be
afterwards bent round to form a similar pen. Or they may be stamped
out from a flat strip of thin metal in the manner indicated at Figure 8.
Pens formed from sheet metal in the manner illustrated at Figures 6,
7, and 8 may be made tubular at their base to slip on to the end of a
stick or holder in a similar manner to ordinary penholders, or they may
be otherwise formed to enable, them to be readily attached to a holder.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner of
performing the same I would have it understood that I claim, the manu-
facture of pens with three or more stalks, wires, or needles, brought
together to form a writing point, substantially as herein described.
2
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Barlow, jun'., have 3
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.