A NEW OR IMPROVED METALLIC PEN
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Hinks, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, and George Wells, of Biriningham aforesaid, Manu-
facturers and Copartners, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED
METALLIC PEN."
Sealed the 27th May 1853, and dated the 4th March 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Hinks and
George Wells at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 4th March 1853.
We, JOHN HINKS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, and
GEORGE WELLS, of Birmingham aforesaid, Manufacturers and Co-
partuers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A
NEW OR IMPROVED METALLIC PEN" to be as follows:-
Our new or improved pen resembles the ordinary metallic pen, ex-
cepting that it has on its back a transverse depression at that part
where the central slit terminates and the slide slits or piercings are
made. In the ordinary metallic pen, the strip of sheet metal of which
the said pen is made is bent into a nearly semi-cylindrical form, and

page_text: in using the said pen the pressure exerted by the hand causes the points
of the said pen to yield; but the said points, in yielding, open; that is to
say, in bending back they separate; but by making a depression on the
back of the said pen across that part where, on account of the side slits
or piercings, the pen most readily yields, then the said yielding takes
place more readily, and, without the same amount of opening of the
points for the yielding, takes place at a point where the metal is nearly
flat, and hence it yields more readily, and without so much opening at
the points as occurs in a pen of the ordinary construction. A pen made
according to our Invention feels, in writing, more like a quill pen than
the ordinary steel pen does. We do not confine ourselves to any precise
form or size of the said depression, neither do we limit ourselves as to
its extent; that is to say, it may either extend across the back of the
pen, so that the central slit and side slits or piercings may be included
in it; or it may not extend so far across the back of the pen as to in-
clude the said side slits or piercings. By varying the extent of the said
depression and its size, we can produce pens in which we obtain any
desired amount of yielding and opening at the points.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Hinks and George Wells, in the Great
Scal Patent Office, on the 1st September 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
Joux Hisks, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, and GEORGE
WELLS, of Birmingham aforesaid, Manufacturers and Copartners, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto us, the said John Hinks and George Wells. Her special
licence that we, the said John Hinks and George Wells, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said John Hinks

page_text: and George Wells, our 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 "A NEW OR IMPROVED METALLIC PEN," upon the condi-
tion (amongst others) that we, the said John Hinks and George Wells,
or one of us, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or
under the hand and seal of one of us, 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 we, the said John Hinks and George Wells,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1, represents a back view of a pen constructed according to
one of the methods of carrying our Invention into effect. Fig. 2,
represents a side view of the same. Our new or improved metallic pen
differs from metallic pens as ordinarily constructed, in having a depression
on its back at or near that part of the same where the central slit ter-
minates the said depression is marked b, in the several figures. In
the ordinary metallic pen, the strip of sheet metal of which the said pen
is made is bent into a nearly semi-cylindrical form; and in using the
said pen the pressure exerted by the hand causes the points of the said
pen to yield and also to open; that is to say, in bending back, the said
points separate; but by making a depression on the back of the pen
across that part thereof where the pen most readily yields, that is to
say, at or near the part where the central slit c, terminates, and the
side slits or piercings d, d, are made, the said yielding takes place more
readily, and without the same amount of opening of the points; for the
yielding takes place at a point where the metal is nearly flat, and hence

page_text: it yields more readily than it would do if the metal were curved, as in
the ordinary metallic pen; and the opening of the said points is less than
in the ordinary metallic pen, for the said points on yielding move in
planes more nearly parallel to each other (owing to the flatness of the
yielding parts, and the said parts being situated in the same or nearly
the same plane) than they would do were the yielding part curved, as in
the ordinary metallic pen. We do not limit ourselves to any precise
form or size of the said depression, neither do we limit ourselves as to
its extent; thus it may either extend across the back of the pen, so
that the central slit and side slits or piercings may be included in it, or
it may not extend so far across the back of the said pen as to include
the said side slits or piercings. By varying the extent of the said depres-
sion and its size we can produce pens in which any desired amount of
yielding is combined with any desired amount of opening of the points
of the said pens.
We sometimes carry our Invention into effect in the manner
represented in back view in Fig. 3, in side view in Fig. 4, and in
section in Fig. 5; that is to say, we do not extend the depression
b, all across the back of the pen, but make it only on the sides
thereof, as shown at b, b, in the said Figures 3, 4, and 5. In this
method of carrying our Invention into effect the side slits or piercings
are omitted, and a central piercing of the form (or some such form)
represented at e, is made for the purpose of detaching the points from
the middle part of the body of the pen. In this method of carrying
our Invention into effect the ordinary slit does not open into the depres-
sion 6; the said depression consequently is only concerned in the bending
back of the points of the pen; the opening of the said points is wholly
dependent upon
that part of the pen below the depression, and in which
the slit is situated. When the yielding or bending back of the pen and
the opening of the points are thus made almost independent of each
other, greater facilities are afforded of determining the relative amount
of cach than when both these actions are combined in the same part of
the pen.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, we wish it to be under-

page_text: stood that we do not limit ourselves to the precise methods of carrying
our Invention into effect herein described and illustrated in the accom-
panying drawing, as the same may be varied without departing from the
nature of our said Invention; but we claim as our Invention the making
of a transverse depression on the backs of metallic pens, at or near
that part of the said pens where the central slit terminates, whether
the said depression extend wholly or only partially across the backs of
the said pens.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Hinks and George Wells,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Thirty-first day of
August, in the year of our Lord 1853.
Witness, GEORGE SHAW.
JOHN HINKS.
(L.S.)
GEORGE WELLS. (L.S.)