CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON METAL PENS AND ON PENHOLDERS
Year: 1834

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, NEIL
ARNOTT, of Bedford Square, in the County of Middlesex, Esquire, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-fifth day of January, in the fourth year of His reign,
did, for Himself, Ilis heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Neil Arnott, His special licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said Neil Arnott, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Neil Arnott, my exors, adñiors, or assigus, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON METAL PENS AND ON PENHOLDERS;" in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Neil Arnott,
shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Neil Arnott, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to performed, are particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to

page_text: My Invention consists,―
First, in giving to writing pens, as composed of the stock or holder, and of
the short writing part itself, often called a pen, an elasticity which allows the
length of the instrument, or the distance between the nibs and writer's fingers,
to vary considerably, according to the pressure of the hand, without any bend-
ing being produced in the general axis of the instrument, which elasticity may
therefore be called longitudinal to distinguish it from the transverse clasticity
of common pens existing near the extremity, and seen in the bending and
separation or opening of the nibs, and which is retained in this pen to the
extent to which it can be useful; and my Invention consists,―
Secondly, in giving to pens with three or more nibs a construction which
allows the nibs, when pressed endways, to open more or less asunder, so as to
increase and diminish the breadth of the stroke in proportion to the pressure.
The longitudinal elasticity above mentioned, which gives increased latitude and
freedom of motion to the writer's hand, and confers many other advantages, I
obtain in three ways:-First, by introducing into the structure of the stock or
holder a spring or elastic substance which shall yield only in the direction
required; secondly, by giving such form and position to the short pen of metal
as shall cause its nibs to play up and down in the axis or nearly in the axis of
the general instrument; and, thirdly, by combining these two modes. The
accompanying Drawings will explain the modes.
The
Fig. 1 exhibits a longitudinal section of the spring penholder. a is a short
metallic or other pen placed in the holding part b, made in the manner of
common penholders; c is a flat, spiral, or other spring placed between the
holding part and the stock or metallic tube d, which spring is fixed below to
the holder, and above to the stock, or to a plug placed in the stock, so that
the spring may be within the stock while the spring is yielding to pressure.
pen is retained always in its proper position by the guide rod or spindle
e, e, e, which ascends from the holding part b, through the spring c, and
through a guide plate at f higher in the stock. On the spindle beyond the
guide plate is screwed a nut or collar, by turning which the tension of the
spring, and the hardness or softness of the pen, are modified. It is evident
that, instead of the spring here represented, other forms and kinds of spring
or elastic substance may be used, and that if the plug near the bottom of the
stock be rendered also a guide plate, by having its opening only large enough
to admit the spindle, the spring may be placed anywhere in the tube.
Ju Fig. 2 is shown how the required elasticity may be made to exist in the

page_text: short metallic pen itself. The nibs are bent down at a to have nearly the
direction of the stock d, c, from the nibs. The pen is nearly horizontal to b,
where it becomes a simple plate e, returning to be fixed to the stock at c.
The bend or doubling in this form causes the nibs to play up and down
nearly in the axis of the general instrument; and the elasticity may be either
chiefly in the part a, b, or divided between it and the part b, e.
The required
elasticity is partly in the short pen, and partly in the holder, when the short
pen terminates near the curve or angle b, Fig. 2, at which the holder must in
that case also begin.
The second object of my Invention, the pen with many nibs, which, on
pressure, open out, so as to swell the stroke, is explained by Figures 3 and 4.
These pens, besides insuring the very free discharge of the ink which belongs
to the three-nibbed drawing pen already in use, owing to the number of
channels acting by capillary attraction to draw it towards the point, have
various other advantages. The nibs in writing require to be held in a position
nearly vertical at whatever angle the stock or handle is attached.
Fig. 3 shews the same construction of stock as Fig. 1; but the part b,
instead of being a common pen-holding part, is a solid piece of metal, into
which three legs are fixed like the feet of a tripod, only with their ends meet-
ing below at a, with flattened surfaces, so as to form a good pen joint. e is
a small disc or triangle of metal with three grooves or holes in it, through
which the legs pass, and which being pushed downward by the descent of the
handle or stock d, f, to which it is fastened by the stiff arm e, d, forces the
nibs asunder, the yielding of the spring c allowing the descent to take place in
the act of writing.
Fig. 4 shews another modification of this pen. d, f, is a simple stock or
handle, with a metallic plate C, D, affixed to its bottom. a and b are two
pen nibs or points, (the third nib, for simplicity's sake, not being shewn in
the Drawing), of which that on the left side, a, is connected by a flat spring
to the right side of the plate at D, and the nib b to the opposite side of tho
plate at C, the supporting springs thus crossing or piercing each other. It is
evident that pressure on these nibs will cause them to separate.
In making the Drawings I could exhibit only certain forms and proportions
in the instruments; but of course I do not restrict myself to these, as the
objects are evidently attainable by a great variety.
In witness whereof, I, the said Neil Arnott, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-four.
NEIL (L.s.) ARNOTT.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fifth day of July, in the
year of our Lord 1834, the aforesaid Neil Arnott came before our said Lord
the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and
all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of
the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-fifth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-four.