AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF INKSTANDS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Anthony Heath, of No. 12, Union Square, Islington,
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF INKSTANDS"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Anthony Heath at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th
January 1862.
I, ANTHONY HEATH, of No. 12, Union Square, Islington, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF INKSTANDS," to be as follows:-
pen
My Invention consists principally in providing a more ample stock of ink
capable of being brought into use when required with perfect facility, and in
certain uniform quantities, capable of being altered at pleasure, and protecting
the from coming in contact with the sediment which the ink deposits.
I commence with a vessel holding a quart more or less into which I fit two
or more uprights, having perpendicular slits which admit the arms of a
small plate, and regulate its position and elevation; this plate is sustained by a
spiral spring; a small vessel, I call the ink cup, rests upon this plate and is
filled by means of a tube sliding upon an upright pivot, the tube having a foot
or projection at the bottom; a slight turn with the hand brings the foot over

page_text: the plate, a moderate pressure sinks the plate, the cup descending also
becomes filled and is brought by the spring into its proper position.
I now describe how the pen is protected from the sediment, and the quantity
of ink required is obtained. Within the ink cup fits a lineing or shell with a
perforated bottom (wire gauze being the best), the sediment passing through
this gauze keeps the pen clean. A caller or flange at the top of the shell or
lineing has three or more screws inserted through it, by which means the shell
is elevated or depressed in the ink cup, and hence the precise dip is obtained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Anthony Heath in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 7th
July 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANTHONY
HEATH, of Islington, in the County of Middlesex, 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 sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Anthony Heath, Her special licence that I, the said Anthony Heath, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Anthony
Heath, 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 IN THE CONSTRUC-
TION OF INKSTANDS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Anthony
Heath, 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 Anthony Heath, 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:-
My Invention in the construction of inkstands consists principally in being

page_text: able to fill the smaller vessel or ink cup at pleasure, from the larger one in
which it is placed; in protecting the point of the pen from the sediment of
the ink, and in limiting the quantity of ink in the cup, so that the pen can
only take up so much as it will hold, but which quantity may be increased or
diminished to suit the pen in use, or the pleasure of the writer.
I now proceed to describe in writing, and further illustrate by Drawings,
how these objects are accomplished.
I commence with a vessel capable of holding a pint (more or less) of fluid,
see Figure 1, and construct a frame consisting of two plates of similar diameter
secured to two or more uprights, with a slit or opening cut partially through
from the lower end upwards, see Figure 2; (which is placed in the vessel)
a, a, the plates; b, one of the uprights; c, an uprightpin or wire; in the centre
of this frame is placed a plate (I call the rest), having two or more arms, and
two or more pins slightly projecting from the upper surface, see Figure 3; the
arms work in the slits of the uprights, the pins support the smaller vessel or
ink cup, this cup is about two inches in diameter and one inch deep, having
holes pierced near the upper edge, see Figure 4, and is placed in the centre of
the frame upon the rest, the cup and rest are sustained in their position by a
spiral or similar shaped spring placed under the rest, or they may be supported
by two or more coiled springs attached to the arms of the rest and upper plate
of the frame. The ink cup is filled by depressing the rest with a curved arm
attached to the bottom of a tube sliding up and down the upright or wire
c, in Figure 2. This I call the depresser, see Figure 5, which is lifted to a
certain elevation, turning the arm towards the center, and by pressing down-
wards the cup becomes filled, the spring or springs restoreing it to its former
position.
I now describe how the pen is protected from the deposit of the ink, and
how the quantity of ink available is limited, yet capable of being increased or
diminished. Within the cup I place another which I call the skeleton cup,
having a wire gauze at the bottom which allows the sediment to pass through,
and thus protecting the point of the pen fron contact; (or it might be perforated
glass or metal, or whatever would allow the deposit to pass through) a number
of perforations at the side of this vessel allows the surplus ink to pass through,
and by the aid of a flange or coller affixed to the cup, having two or more
screws through it resting on the top, the cup may be lowered or raised, and
thus the quantity of ink available for use may be increased or diminished or
this may be done the coller screwing into the neck of the larger vessel.
For the representation of the skeleton cup see Figure 6.

page_text: These I claim as new and my Inventions so far as regards their application
in the construction of inkstands.
In witness whereof, I, the said Anthony Heath, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-two.
ANTHONY HEATH. (L.S.)