AN IMPROVEMENT IN BOXES OR CASES AND CARDS TO CONTAIN OR HOLD PENS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Josiah Mason, of Birmingham, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN BOXES OR CASES AND CARDS TO CONTAIN OR HOLD
PENS."
Sealed the 8th November 1859, and dated the 12th September 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Josiah Mason at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 12th
September 1859.
I, JOSIAH MASON, of Birmingham, do hereby declare the nature of the
Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN BOXES OR CASES AND CARDS TO CONTAIN OB
HOLD PENS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object an improvement in boxes or cases and cards
to contain or hold pens.
In the sale of pens it is preferable to have them packed by the manufacturer
in sealed cases or boxes for the protection of the purchaser, and it is desirable to
have a specimen of the contents of each box or case on the outside of the same,
and held there in such a manner that it may be removed to be examined by the
purchaser, and yet so that the specimen may not be liable to injury when the
box or case is packed with others. Now my improvement consists in making
each box or case with a recess or recesses suitable for receiving one or more
pens, by preference at the top thereof. A flexible or other suitable fastener is
provided to retain the pen or pens in the recess or recesses, and this is arranged
so as to hide or cover only a small portion of the pen or pens, and so as to
allow the pen or pens being readily removed from and returned to the recess
or recesses.

page_text: In some cases I make a portion of the top or other part of the box of
india-rubber or other flexible material, and the specimen pen is laid on this
flexible material and is there held by a suitable fastener; the pen then, when
the box is packed together with other boxes, enters below the surface of the
box, the flexible surface being deflected. If a box is to contain more than
one sort of pen then the box is provided with a corresponding number of
recesses or flexible surfaces.
In like manner may cards for holding pens be recessed and have elastic or
other fasteners across the recesses so that each pen may lie in a recess and be
retained more securely and advantageously from falling therefrom than by the
present means of attaching pens to cards.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Josiah Mason in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th March 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSIAH
MASON, of Birmingham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Josiah Mason, Her special licence that I, the said
Josiah Mason, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Josiah Mason, 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 BOXES OR CASES AND CARDS TO CONTAIN OR HOLD PENS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Josiah Mason, 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 1, the said Josiah Mason, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the fol-
lowing statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object an improvement in boxes or cases and cards
to contain or hold pens.
In the sale of pens it is preferable to have them packed by the manufacturer
in sealed cases or boxes for the protection of the purchaser, and it is desirable
to have a specimen of the contents of each box or case on the outside of the
same, and held there in such a manner that it may be removed to be examined
by the purchaser, and yet so that the specimen may not be liable to injury
when the box or case is packed with others. Now my improvement consists
in making each box or case with a recess or recesses suitable for receiving one
or more pens by preference at the top thereof. A flexible or other suitable
fastener is provided to retain the pen or pens in the recess or recesses, and
this is arranged so as to hide or cover only a small portion of the pen or pens,
and so as to allow of the pen or pens being readily removed from and returned
to the recess or recesses.
In some cases I make a portion of the top or other part of a box of india-
rubber or other flexible material, and the specimen pen is laid on this flexible
material, and is there held by a suitable fastener; the pen then, when the box
is packed together with other boxes, enters below the surface of the box, the
flexible surface being deflected. If a box is to contain more than one sort of
pen, then the box is provided with a corresponding number of recesses or
flexible surfaces.
In like manner may cards for holding pens be recessed and have elastic or
other fasteners across the recesses, so that each pen may lie in a recess and be
retained more securely and advantageously from falling therefrom than by the
present means of attaching pens to cards.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed more fully
to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Fig. 1 shews a plan, and Figure 2 a section of a box or case for containing
pens constructed according to my Invention. a is the box or case the size and
shape of which may be varied; b is the cover or top. The box or case may
be made of pasteboard or other suitable material. In the centre or other
convenient part, by preference of the cover, is formed a recess c, which is closed
by a surface d of india-rubber or other suitable flexible material, and across
such flexible material is in an elastic strap or it may be other fastener e, under
which the specimen pen is placed and securely retained. Hence when several

page_text: of such boxes or cases are packed one on the other, the specimen pens on the
outside of the boxes or cases will be pressed inwards so that the bottom of
one box or case will come flush with and pack closely on the top of another
box or case, notwithstanding there is a specimen pen between them, and when
released, if the flexible surface d be elastic the specimen pen may be arranged
to stand above the general surface of the box or case. Figure 8 shews a plan
and Figure 4 a section of another box or case, in the cover of which there is
a recess c formed in the cover or top of such depth that the specimen pen
introduced therein will be at all times retained below the general level of the
upper surface; e is an elastic strap, or it may be other form of fastener across
the recess.
In some cases the recesses made in boxes or cases are lined with
or formed of thin sheet metal stamped or formed suitably to enter the
recess. Figure 5 shows a plan, and Figure 6 a section of a box or case,
having a recess formed of or lined with thin metal applied within the recess or
opening c, and an elastic band or strap e across the lined recess. When a box
or case is intended to contain two or more descriptions of pens two or more
recesses may be similarly made in such box or case in order that a specimen
pen of each description may be shewn outside of the box or case. Figure 7
shews a plan, and Figure 8 a section of a card with several recesses for
receiving pens; these recesses are shewn to be lined or formed with thin
sheet metal stamped or raised in a suitable manner to receive the sizes and
forms of pens it is intended to hold, but the metal linings may be dispensed
with, and the recesses c, c, made in the card board or other material_without
any lining. Each recess is to have an elastic band or other suitable holder
to retain the pen securely.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is, the
manufacture of boxes, cases, and cards for containing and holding pens having
recesses to receive and have fastened therein pens as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Josiah Mason, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
JOSIAH MASON. (L.S.)