AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF HOLDER FOR LEADS AND OTHER MARKING MATERIALS."
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Bennett Johns Heywood, of Leicester Square, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
CONSTRUCTION OF HOLDER FOR LEADS AND OTHER MARKING MATERIALS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Bennett Johns Heywood
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd June 1856.
I, BENNETT JOHNS HEYWOOD, of Leicester Square, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF HOLDER FOR LEADS AND OTHER MARKING
MATERIALS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel mode of propelling the lead or other
marking material towards the point of the pencil case. Instead of employing
a screw or a sliding ring or projecting pin for forcing the propeller forward, I
use a loose propeller which lies in the rear of the lead, and when the pencil
case is jerked will strike against the end of the lead and drive it forward
towards the point of the pencil case. The like effect may be produced by
giving the loose propeller a forward impetus by the recoil action of a com-
pressed spring. The bore of the point of the pencil case I make sufficiently
small to bind against the lead or other marking material, and retain it in
position while the pencil case is in use.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Bennett Johns Heywood in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 2nd December 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENNETT
JOHNS HEYWOOD, of Leicester Square, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Bennett Johns Heywood, Her special license that I, the said Bennett Johns
Heywood, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Bennett Johns Heywood, 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 CONSTRUCTION OF HOLDER FOR LEADS AND OTHER MARKING MATERIALS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Bennett Johns Heywood,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Bennett Johns Heywood, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
The object of this Invention is to simplify the construction of what are
known as ever-pointed pencil cases, by removing the necessity for the use of
either a screw, a sliding ring, or even a projecting pin for forcing forward the
propeller which acts upon the rear end of the lead or other marking material.
In constructing cases or holders according to this Invention, I turn a piece of
wood, bone, or other suitable substance into a cylindrical form, as shewn at
Fig. 1 in the accompanying Drawing, and point it at one end like an ordinary
pencil case, I then bore it through from end to end, making the diameter of

page_text: the bore correspond (or nearly so) with the diameter of the lead or other
marking material to be used therewith, and I thus form a case a, a, for the
reception of a considerable length of lead, slate, or other pencil. The top of
the case I provide with a screw thread to receive a cap b. For a propeller I
employ a piece of wire c (see the longitudinal section, Fig. 2,) of such diameter
as will permit of its moving freely by its own gravity in the case, and of
striking the rear end of the lead like a hammer when the case is jerked, and
so protruding the lead from the case. I insert first the lead or other marking
material in the case, and then the loose propeller in the rear of the lead, I
then screw on the cap b, and the pencil case is ready for use.
The bore of the point of the case a I make sufficiently small to bind against
the lead or other marking material, and keep it in position while the pencil
case is in use. This is a matter that requires attention, for if the bore is made
too large the lead will retreat into the case when pressure is put upon the
point in the act of writing or drawing; and, on the other hand, if sufficient
freedom is not given to the lead it will not answer to the blow of the propeller
but will remain within the case. Moderate care, however, in the manufacture
of cases for the reception of thick leads will ensure the proper amount of
frictional contact between the lead and the case. In order to propel the lead
forward, it is only necessary to jerk the case forward smartly in the direction
of its length, and the loose propeller c will then strike against the rear end of
the lead and impart a slight forward movement to the lead, which movement
may be increased at pleasure by repeating the jerking motion.
To prevent the blow of the propeller from crumbling the lead, which has
sometimes occurred where tender or brittle leads have been used, I propose to
apply a disc of vulcanized india-rubber or other soft substance to the striking
end of the propeller, and I thus modify the force of the blow which it imparts
to the lead.
"
For the purpose of fitting this kind of pencil case to receive leads of small
diameter, such as those for example which receive the trade mark of II or M,
I propose to split the point of the case and to make it slightly conical on its
periphery, as shewn at Fig. 3, so that by means of a binding ring d, tapped so
as to take into a screw thread formed around the point, any required amount of
pressure may be put upon the lead.
Having now set forth the nature and object of my Invention of an
improved construction of holder for leads and other marking materials,
and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be
understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim pro-

page_text: pelling the lead or other marking material of pencil cases towards the point of
the case by means of a loose or unattached propeller acting by impact, as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Bennett Johns Heywood, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Second day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
BENNETT JOHNS HEYWOOD. (L.S.)