AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN METALLIC PENS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Lees, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR
IMPROVEMENTS IN METALLIC PENS."
Sealed the 19th October 1855, and dated the 19th April 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Lees at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 19th
April 1855.
I, THOMAS LEES, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufac-
turer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVE-
MENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN METALLIC PENS" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the use of malleable cast iron for the manufacture
of pens. In carrying my Invention into effect, I cast into ingots any of those
varieties of cast iron which may be annealed by being heated with peroxide of
iron. After annealing the said ingots I roll them into sheets of suitable
thickness. During the said rolling the metal acquires such elasticity as renders
it fitted for making metallic pens.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Lecs in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th October 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
LEES, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Lees, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Lees, my exccu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Lees,
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 IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVE-
MENTS IN METALLIC PENS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Thomas Lees, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
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 Thomas Lees, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof (that is to say):-
My Invention consists in the use of malleable cast iron for the manufacture
of pens. By malleable cast iron I wish it to be understood that I mean such
cast iron as becomes malleable after having been heated or annealed in contact
with powdered hæmatite or peroxide of iron. In carrying my Invention into
effect, I cast into ingots any of those varieties of cast iron which are capable
of being annealed or rendered malleable by being heated in contact with
hæmatite or peroxide of iron. I anneal the said ingots or render the same
malleable according to the method well known and commonly practised in the
manufacture of articles of malleable cast iron. After annealing I roll the
said ingots into sheets of a thickness suitable for the manufacture of pens
therefrom. During the annealing of the ingots, the cast iron is made soft or

page_text: malleable, and during the rolling of the same a partial hardening is effected on
the iron, which renders it elastic, and fitted for the manufacture of pens. In
converting the said malleable cast iron into pens, any of the machines may be
employed which are or may be used in the manufacture of steel pens.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described, as the same may be varied with-
out departing from the nature of my said Invention; but I claim as my
Invention, the manufacture of pens from malleable cast iron, that is to say,
such cast iron as has been annealed or made malleable by being heated in
contact with the iron ore called hæmatite, or other oxide of iron, as herein
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Lees, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Sixteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw.
THOMAS LEES. (L.S.)