MENTS FOR WRITING AND MARKING, AND FOR THE PREPARATION OF CERTAIN SUBSTANCES FOR CONVERSION INTO INSTRUMENTS FOR WRITING AND MARKING, AND FOR THE APPLICATION TO USEFUL PURPOSES OF CERTAIN PRODUCTS ARISING FROM PREPARATION AFORESAID
Year: 1859

page_text: MENTS FOR WRITING AND MARKING, AND FOR THE PREPARATION OF CERTAIN
SUBSTANCES FOR CONVERSION INTO INSTRUMENTS FOR WRITING AND MARKING,
AND FOR THE APPLICATION TO USEFUL PURPOSES OF CERTAIN PRODUCTS ARISING
FROM PREPARATION AFORESAID."
Sealed the 1st April 1859, and dated the 8th January 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Cobbold at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th
January 1859.
I, EDWARD COBBOLD, of Hendon, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
INSTRUMENTS FOR WRITING AND MARKING, AND FOR THE PREPARATION OF CERTAIN
SUBSTANCES FOR CONVERSION INTO INSTRUMENTS FOR WRITING. AND MARKING, AND
FOR THE APPLICATION TO USEFUL PURPOSES OF CERTAIN PRODUCTS ARISING FROM
PREPARATION AFORESAID," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in improvements in pens, particularly reed or cane
pens. Pens have been made of reed or cane, they were used it appears by
the ancients, as handed down to us; they are very imperfect instruments for
writing, and mark with a coarse thick stroke. This is owing to a portion of
the soft spongy material lining the interior of the reed or cane at the point of
such pen.coming in contact with the paper during the act of writing. I divest
the reed or cane, or strips thereof, by means of a sharp grooved. instrument.
not unlike a gouge (or by other suitable means) of all or of a sufficient portion
of the said soft spongy material to render them when split and made into pens

page_text: capable of performing very clear and fine writing. I further improve these
pens by means of certain springs and reservoirs separately or conjunctively.
applied thereto, and so arranged as that the reservoir or spring, or spring and
reservoir, shall take exactly even pressure on the back of the pen across or
transversely to the split of such pen. This transverse pressure enables me to 5
use a pen with an unprecedented length of split, for it allows the points of the
pen to open to an unusual extent by pressure in the act of writing, but closes
them up instantaneously and very perfect on suspension or relaxation of such
pressure, while the spring aforesaid, or spring and reservoir traversing up and
down said pen, may be made to effect transverse pressure at any convenient
point across the split, and so vary the calibre of stroke, as may be required.
I attach these improved reed or cane pens to-any suitable holder, but I find the
following peculiarly servicable for this purpose, I take an ordinary quill, and
reducing its back and belly, as for an ordinary quill pen, I proceed to punch
two or more holes in the back thereof, of sufficient size to admit the strip of
reed or cane that has been prepared as aforesaid and converted into a pen, to
pass up into the interior of the barrel of the quill, leaving the nib or point of
the pen (with or without transverse pressure spring and reservoir,) protruding
to any required extent (vide specimen 20).
Again, I take a strip of cane of suitable size, and I hollow out (by means of
the grooved instrument aforesaid) a small chamber at the end thereof, leaving
about the eighth of an inch more or less at the extremity intact. The substance
so left being very tough is not liable to split. This I perforate with a sharp
crescent or other suitable shaped instrument passing it through into the chamber
aforesaid. The strip of cane thus treated forms a good holder for pens,
herein-before described (vide specimen 15), or I make another suitable holder
for these pens, thus, by grooving the entire length of such strip of cane, and
adapting to the end thereof an inch more or less of vulcanized india-rubber
tubing, I insert the pen between it and the grooved strip of cane aforesaid (vide
specimen 16). Or, I take a quill, and cutting an "inch more or less from the
stump end thereof, I insert the small end of the detached portion into the barrel
of said quill, setting it fast by means of an india-rubber pledget or wedge, or
by other suitable means, and I produce thus a holder also peculiarly adapted
for my improved reed and cane pens (vide specimen 18).
It is obvious, that the aforesaid reservoirs or springs, or springs and
reservoirs, or the like thereto, herein-before described as applicable to reed
and cane pens, may be applied with equal advantage to pens in general, or to
any pen-stick, or penholder, so long as transverse pressure at the back or
across the split of any pen be produced thereby. It is likewise obvious that

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Cobbold in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th July 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD'
COBBOLD, of Hendon, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her reign
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Edward Cobbold, Her special licence that I, the said Edward Cobbold,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Edward Cobbold, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVE
MENTS IN INSTRUMENTS FOR WRITING & MARKING, AND FOR WAITING & MARKING,
CERTAIN SUBSTANCES FOR CONVERSION INTO INSTRUMENTS FOR WRITING & MARKING,.
AND FOR THE APPLICATION TO USEFUL PURPOSES OF CERTAIN PRODUCTS ARISING.
FROM PREPARATION AFORESAID," upon the condition (amongst others) that I;.
the said Edward Cobbold, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Edward Cobbold, 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 follow-
ing statement, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
My Invention relates to improvements in pens generally, and in particular
to reed and cane pens; my Invention also relates to the preparation as
hereinafter set forth of reed and cane, & of other stalks or stems of similar
structure or kind possessing a hard silicious cuticle, to be used for conversion

page_text: into instruments for writing and marking. Pens have heretofore been made
of reed & other similar materials, but, in a very imperfect manner, and are.
not made or sold as instruments for writing, but simply for coarse marking,
and they produce a coarse thick stroke. I have found that this defect in the
reed pen, &c., as made and sold is owing to a portion of the soft spongy
cellular material lining the interior of the reed at the point of such pen,
adhering thereto, and coming in contact with the paper in the act of marking
with such pen.
In order to remedy this defect in the reed or cane, or other similar stalks,
and render it suitable for conversion into an instrument for writing, I divest
the same, or strips thereof (cut up into various suitable widths, or sections and
lengths for pens) by means of a sharp gouge-like instrument (or by other
suitable means) of all or of a sufficient portion of the said soft, cellular, spongy,
material to render such reed, or strips, or portions of reed or cane, when made
into pens either by means of a penknife or other suitable instrument, or by
machinery capable of performing clear and fine writing equal in every respect.
to the writing capable of being produced by the quill and metal pens of com-
merce. I further improve these pens or instruments by means of certain
springs and reservoirs applied either separately or in conjunction, and so
arranged that the springs or springs and reservoirs shall take exactly even
elastic pressure on the back of the pen across or transversely to its split.
By means of the transverse elastic pressure-of such springs or springs and
reservoirs, a pen with an unprecedented length of split may be used; such pens
are consequently capable of producing a stroke of unprecedented calibre,
inasmuch as the elastic pressure aforesaid allows the labria or points of the pen
to open to any required extent (beyond the point of transverse impingement of
such spring or spring and reservoir by pressure in the act of writing, but
closes them up immediately and very exactly on suspension or relaxation of
such pressure;
and further, this elastic pressure of the spring, or spring and
reservoir may by adjustment be brought to bear on any required transverse
line across the split at the back of such pen. I would here remark, however,
that I do not confine myself to transverse elastic pressure of said springs or
springs and reservoirs across the back of such pens, as by reversing the said
spring and the other parts, I cause elastic transverse pressure to be produced
on the belly or underside of said pen, setting the split thereof slightly open,
and thereby causing a continuous flow of ink to descend to the point, rendering
by this means the point at the back of the pen, that is to say, the outer coating
or external enamel of the reed at the point aforesaid capable of performing
clear and uniform or pencil-stroke writing and marking.

page_text: I would observe, that I believe the elasticity of all pens hitherto made,
whether of quill, metal, horn, reed, bone, or any other substance whatever, has.
been derived from, and is dependant on the elasticity of the substance itself of
which such pens have been made, so that the nibs or points after separation in
the act of writing have been brought again into juxtaposition by the inherent
resistance and resiliancy of the material itself of which the pen is composed.
Now, it is plainly evident by the premises hereof, that one of the distinctive
features of my Invention in regard to an increase of elasticity in the pen and
in its calibre of stroke is, that it is not required to be altogether dependent on
itself alone for elasticity, but to a considerable extent on the elasticity and
compensating power of the spring applied, so that the two points shall resume
juxtaposition after separation as well by the force of the spring acting in aid
of the sides and shoulders of the pen as by the elasticity of the sides and
shoulders of the pen itself.
The improved reed or cane pens herein described may be attached to any
suitable holder, but I find the following peculiarly applicable for the purpose:
-I take, for example, a quill, and cutting away a portion of the barrel as for
a quill pen, I proceed to punch two or more holes in the back thereof.of
sufficient size to admit the strip of reed or cane prepared as aforesaid, and
converted into a pen to pass up into the interior of the barrel of such quill,
leaving the point of the pen protruding to any required extent.
The bar or portion between the two holes punched in the quill as described
forms a fulcrum for the support of the pen when inserted; but I do not confine
myself to this arrangement of said holder, for I have discovered that by
removing the said bar, and cutting or punching a continuous and somewhat
elongated aperture, I am enabled to furnish a still more elastic & efficient
fulcrum by encircling such continuous and elongated aperture with a band of
vulcanized india-rubber (or other suitable substance,) such band by its trans-
verse position forming a fulcrum sufliciently elastic and yielding to allow the
pen to pass up easily into the barrel of the quill, yet sufficiently firm to
support it in its position, and at same time performing the office of a spring,
whereby any desirable amount of play may be imparted to the pen by pressure
in writing.
It will be clearly obvious, that although by way of example I have exhibited
the barrel of the quill is elucidatory of this species of holder, a barrel of
metal, reed, gutta percha (or other suitable material) may by the like treat-
ment be rendered equally available for such purpose. Or, again, I make
another suitable holder for the pens aforesaid thus:-I groove the entire
longth of a strip of cane or of any suitable pen-stick, and I adapt to the end

page_text: thereof an inch more. or less of vulcanized india-rubber tubing, and I insert
the pen between it (the india-rubber) and the grooved stick aforesaid. But
although I prefer that such strip or stick aforesaid should be grooved for the
better adaption of the reed pen, it is not absolutely necessary that it should be
so grooved, for I have found by experience that by the application of a band
of vulcanized india-rubber tubing or other suitable elastic material to the
extremity of a plain stick, or of an ordinary quill or reed, I produce a holder
capable of accommodating itself to hold with sufficient tenacity the pen
inserted. Or, again, I take a quill, and cutting an inch more or less from the
stump end thereof, I insert the small end of the detached portion into the
barrel of said quill, setting it fast by means of an india-rubber plug or wedge
(or by other suitable means), and I produce thus a holder peculiarly suited to
my improved reed and cane pens.
It will be plainly obvious that the aforesaid springs or springs and reservoirs,
or the like thereto herein-before described as applicable to reed or cane pens,
may be entirely or for the most part applied with corresponding advantages to
pens in general, or to any pen-stick or penholder so long as the same or the
like results be produced thereby. It is likewise obvious that the holders
herein set forth as applicable to reed and cane pens may be applied also to
pens generally.
⋅
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 represents several views of a strip of cane prepared for use as a pen
to be applied to a stick or holder for writing, and in which the length of
reed or cane is divided or marked out to form several penis as the preceding
"ones become worn out. A is a face or inside view of the reed or cane; B is
the back view; C, the side or edge view; and D, a section of the same down
the centre. These several views represent a section or strip of a cane or reed
as prepared according to my Invention, the parts a, a, a, showing where the
soft spongy material has been scooped out, leaving nothing but the hard
substance or shell of the reed or cane, which is made into a pen, as in the
ordinary manner, or with a pen-making machine; b, b, b, represent parts of
the reed or cane where the whole or part of the thickness of soft spongy
material is left adhering to the reed in order to form a stop to the split of the
pen to prevent its too elongated severance.
Fig. 2 represents different views of these reed pens applied to holders or pen
sticks, arranged according to my Invention, and furnished with springs and
auxiliaries to writing, also according to my Invention, E being a back view of
the pen or holder so furnished, and F an edge view of the same. The view G

page_text: hows a modification of the spring auxiliary applied to the pen; these
en-sticks or holders may either be grooved to receive the pen, or they may be
ylindrical, and the hollow of the pen simply placed in contact with the
ircumference of the stick, and held by the small piece of india-rubber tube. C
ear one end, and by a small ring of same material at the other end. The.
examples before mentioned show also the application of the springs, by which
the transverse elastic pressure at the back of the split of the pen is given.
is a small steel spring, attached to the pen by a ring f of india-rubber or
otherwise, while the free end presses on the back of the pen transversely to the:
split at any desired point. I place a small piece of gutta percha, india-rubber,
or other material g at the free end of the spring, and fix it by a small cross
pin h passing through 9 between the pen and piece g, which pin transmits the
pressure of the spring to the back of the pen, and keeps the piece g in a
curved position round the sides of the pen; thus, while exerting no side
pressure, it forms a reservoir for ink, and prevents the possibility of spring e
slipping sideways out of position. Instead of e forming the spring to exert
pressure on the back of the pen, this part may be inelastic, and entirely
dependant on the ring f for. its elasticity, which ring, if of vulcanized india-
rubber, will answer the purposes desired. The application of this spring
produces the effects on the pen herein-before described, and which is
unnecessary bere to repeat. The spring j, represented in G as applied for
like purposes, is simply a piece of india-rubber, such as represented at Fig. 3;
having two or more holes cut in it, as seen in that Figure, and which when
threaded on the pen in the manner indicated in G, Fig. 2, produces like effects
to the spring represented as applied to E and F...
Fig. 4 represents a modification of the holder, the same as in Fig. 2, the
reed pen being without spring or other appliance.
Fig. 5 represents modifications of the foregoing reed or cane peus with
springs applied; in this case H is the side view of a pen, in which the holder
is formed of the same piece with the pen, and I a back view of the same,
while K is a side view of a similar pen, but in which a reservoir for containing
a supply of ink is applied. In this example the reed or cane is simply cut
down to form the pen, taking care to denude the interior of the soft spongy
substance sufficiently to give the pen the character herein-before mentioned.
The holder is also formed either of the reed entire or reduced to any required
form and size. e.is the steel spring, secured by the collar of india-rubber f,
as before mentioned; i is a small. additional elastic band, to increase the
pressure of the spring e, if necessary.
It must be understood that all these springs,..with their appliances, slide.up

page_text: and down nearer to or farther from the point of the pen, for the purposes
herein before explained; or they may be made to remain stationary and
permanently attached to pen or holder.
K, Fig. 5, represents a similar kind of pen, furnished with back pressing
spring, to which a reservoir k, to contain ink, is applied, which consists simply
of a short piece of quill, india-rubber, or other tube, fixed on the spring e, and
transmitting its pressure to the pen. The reservoir, on being dipped into the
ink to replenish the pen, becomes filled, the contents of which it afterwards
supplies to the pen during the act of writing, and as it becomes exhausted in
that operation.
Fig. 6 represents a length of English reed used as a pen and holder, the pen
being made on the end of the reed. L is a back, and M a side view of this
pen, which is furnished with the steel spring e and reservoir k, as before
described. In this case the spring is attached to a metal collar or barrel 1,
which may be slid up and down to vary the position and effect of the spring,
and so regulate the hardness or softness of the pen.
Fig. 7 represents back and side views of a cane or reed pen such as at
Fig. 5, but with the vulcanized india-rabber back spring placed on it, and
as before mentioned with reference to G, Fig. 2, and shown separately at
Fig. 3.
5
Fig. 8 represents a front view and section of a pen of reed or cane which
is adapted for writing with a holder like ordinary steel pens. It is prepared
in the same manner as the pens shown at Fig. 1, but of a single length only.
Fig. 10 represents a back view and section of a cane pen furnished with a
modification of the vulcanized india-rubber spring for regulating the softness
or the hardness of the pen'; it consists simply of a small band of vulcanized
india-rubber q, passing round the back of the pen, and with the doubles hooked
on to either end of the wire w passing across the under side of the front of the
pen. These several springs represented in the different Figures have the
effect of rendering the pens hard and suitable for fine writing when their
pressure is exerted near their point, but which at the same time permit of
broad strokes and bold writing being executed without any alteration of the
position of said spring, and simply by increased pressure, the long split opening
under such pressure beyond the point of transverse impingement of such spring
across the split, but again closing when relaxation of such extra pressure takes
place. It will be observed in the section o of the reed that the soft part b is
left as described with reference to Fig. 1, to prevent the split extending
too far.
Fig. 11 represents. an ordinary quill pen furnished with a steel spring or

page_text: inelastic piece e, and parts of vulcanized india-rubber, as applied and
described with reference to E and F, Fig. 2, the object being to use the long
split, as described. The spring e may be otherwise secured, or the other
descriptions of springs before described may be applied for a like purpose.
The reservoir & may also be added if desirable.
Fig. 12 represents the application of the spring e, by which the back elastic
pressure is applied to a steel pen. In order to permit of the application of
spring e, I manufacture steel pens weak in the sides, either by reason of the
effect of the extraordinary length of split or by leaving little metal in the sides
of those pens, as represented in the Figure; or it may be effected by reducing.
their rigidity in any other suitable manner.
Fig. 13 at P represents a section of one of my improved penholders, and at
Ra back view of the same, but without the pen which is shown in P; it
consists simply of an ordinary quill, from which I cut a short piece s, say
three-quarters of an inch; this I reverse and insert within the barrel of the
pen from which it has been cut; I also make three cuts, two longitudinal, and
one across the barrel, as seen at t in.R, whereby a tongue piece of the barrel
is partially liberated, which I force inside, as seen at n; in P this forms a stop
for the piece s, and also for the pen, which is inserted and held between the
barrel of the quill and the pieces; this pen is provided with the vulcanized
india-rubber spring j, Fig. 3, which it will be observed is for the most part
within the belly or face of the pen producing the pressure on the back by its
tendency to straighten.
Fig. 14 represents another of my improved quill penholders. In this case
the stump of the quill is cut off & holes punched in the back of barrel, so as
to form a kind of grated opening with one or more cross-bars or parts for the
support of the pen when threaded through the holes and inserted into the
barrel.
'
Figs. 15 & 16 represent a. modification of the holder Fig. 14. In this case
one hole is cut of an elongated form in the quill or other barrel, and a band of
vulcanized india-rubber placed around the barrel about the middle of the
length of the opening; this band occupies the position of the bar left in the
quill, Fig. 14, and like it forms a fulcrum to hold the pen, but which is much
more elastic than the other. The pen is threaded inside the quill and over
the elastic band, as will be readily seen in the section, Fig. 16, & in trans-
verse section; Fig. 17; by cutting the elongated hole deepest at the front end,
and keeping the band at that part, the pen may be readily inserted and
afterwards fixed more or less rigidly by slipping the band back.
With regard to certain residuary products as applicable to useful purposes,

page_text: it will be evident that in the course of the manufacture of the reed or cane of
foreign growth the soft cellular spongy material lining the interior of such
reed will accumulate; this, when removed from the reed, will be of con-
siderable size and thickness, and by reason of its porosity will readily absorb
ink or fluid in considerable quantities; this material, if pointed after the
manner of a pencil, may be used as a stump or instrument for marking either
with ink or other coloured fluid.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of perform-
ing the same, I would remark that I am aware reed pens have heretofore been
used, that therefore I do not claim the exclusive right of the use of such pens
or of springs, ink reservoirs, or holders, otherwise than as herein described
and claimed; but what I claim as my Invention to be protected by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is,--
First, the manufacture of reed and cane pens, as herein-before described;
also the preparation of reeds or canes or other reed-like stems, either in their
entire circumference or separated into sections, and sufficiently denuded of the
spongy inner coating, whereby to form pens capable of producing clear and
distinct writing and marking.
Secondly, I claim the application of springs or springs and reservoirs to
pens, especially pens having great length of split, as and for the purposes
berein-before described.
Thirdly, I claim the several arrangements of penholders as described
with reference to Figs. 2, 4, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, & 18, of the Drawings
hereunto annexed.
And, lastly, I claim the application of the refuse material for stump marking
or writing purposes, as last herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Cobbold, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
W. CLARK, Patent Agent,
53, Chancery Lanc,
London.
EDW. COBBOLD. (L.S.)