IMPROVEMENTS IN FOUNTAIN PENHOLDERS, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS APPLICABLE TO OTHER PENHOLDERS
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Williams at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd November 1875.
I, WILLIAM WILLIAMS, of Swansea, in the County of Glamorgan,
Jewellers' Assistant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FOUNTAIN PENHOLDERS, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS
APPLICABLE TO OTHER PENHOLDERS," to be as follows:-
Fountain penholders according to my Invention are provided with a
reservoir for the ink in the body of them. The ink is conducted into
this reservoir and from the reservoir to the pen by means of a conducting
tube, and the ink is drawn into the reservoir or forced therefrom as
required by a piston which may be formed in any suitable manner, but
I generally construct these pistons of cork with metal washers on each
side of them of nearly the same diameter as the cork but so as to work
freely in the reservoir. The end of this reservoir opposite to the con-
ducting tube is turned inwards or is otherwise formed to prevent the
piston being accidentally drawn too far out, and the rod of the piston is
connected by screw and nut to an outer case formed to slide on the
reservoir like the parts of a telescope.

page_text: The penholder proper is provided with any suitable spring or clip
arrangement for holding the pen, and the ink is supplied through the
conducting tube to the pen, and it is there held by what I call an ink
retainer. This ink retainer is somewhat of the form of an elongated
spoon, the point or outer end of which comes to the inside of the pen,
whilst the stem or tail of it is supported with capability of sliding so as
to adjust the position of the ink retainer in relation to the pen, and a
stud or handle is formed on or applied to it to aid this adjustment. A
small air hole is applied to the chamber under the reservoir, and a
socket or cap is provided to enclose the pen and parts immediately
connected therewith to keep those parts free from air when not in use,
and the small air hole is applied to the chamber below the reservoir to
provide an escape for the air when the cap is pushed on, and this renders
the penholder completely air-tight. The outer end of this cap may be
formed as or to receive a seal, and such fountain penholders may be
formed of metal, or glass, or carthenware with metal mounting.
The arrangements described admit of a large conducting tube being
employed for the free conducting of the ink.
The ink retainer serves to retain the ink fed by the conducting tube
and prevent its passing too freely to the point of the pen, such ink
retainers are applicable to other penholders when such are cut away or
formed to admit of the sliding of the tails of them, and the handles to
the ink retainers may be bent or formed in one or more pieces to pass
round or partly round the holder and be of a variety of shapes adapted
to support the pen off the table or other place on which it may be
resting, and I place this handle in position so as not to be too high to
enter the ink with the pen, nor so high as to interfere with the fingers
of the writer, and I generally form it small enough to enter the neck of
an ordinary bottle.