IMPROVEMENTS IN METALLIC PENS AND PENHOLDERS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Isaac Smith, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Machinist, and Alfred Sommerville, of Birmingham
aforesaid, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
METALLIC PENS AND PENHOLDERS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Isaac Smith and
Alfred Sommerville at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 7th September 1853.
We, ISAAC SMITH, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Machinist, and ALFRED SOMMERVILLE, of Birmingham aforesaid,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Ix-
PROVEMENTS IN METALLIC PENS AND PENHOLDERS" to be as follows:-
Fig. 1, represents our improved penholder and pen, the latter in side
view; and Fig. 2, represents the said pen in back view. Our Inven-
tion with respect to penholders of wood, metal, or other substance
consists in making a spiral or other groove thereon, as shown in Fig. 1,
so as to give elasticity to the said holder, and yet to leave it of sufficient
diameter (saving the said groove) to be agreeable to hold. Any other
method of figuring the holder which will make it elastic, yet leave it

page_text: sufficiently large in diameter to be held conveniently, may be resorted
The improvement in the pen consists of the sliding spring saddle a,
which has for its object the determination of a greater or less amount
of yielding in the points of the pen. By sliding the said saddle towards
the point of the pen the said pen is made "harder," and by sliding it in
the contrary direction it is made "softer." Sliding saddles have been
used for this purpose before, but the novelty in our Invention consists
in forming in the said saddle the curve b, whereby an elasticity is given
to the said saddle which causes it more effectually to answer the desired
object of regulating the yielding of the pen. Instead of one curve b,
as represented, two or more such curves may be used. We sometimes
use the slider b, in combination with the points or nibs of pens, having
themselves little or no elasticity, the said slider b, giving the elasticity
to the said points or nibs.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Isaac Smith and Alfred Sommerville in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 6th March 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
ISAAC SMITH, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Machinist,
and ALFRED SOMMERVILLE, of Birmingham aforesaid, Merchant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto us, the said Isaac Smith and Alfred
Sommerville, Her special licence that we, the said Isaac Smith and
Alfred Sommerville, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Isaac Smith and Alfred Sommerville, our exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the termi
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the

page_text: Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
METALLIC PENS AND PENHOLDERS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said Isaac Smith and Alfred Sommerville, 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 Isaac Smith and Alfred Sommerville,
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:
Our Invention consists in the methods herein-after particularly
described of varying or increasing or diminishing the clasticity of
metallic pens, and also the methods herein-after particularly described
of giving elasticity to penholders. Figure 1, represents in side view,
and Figure 2, in front view a metallic pen to which our Invention is
applied. Our said Invention consists of the sliding spring saddle a.
which has for its object the determination of a greater or less amount
of yielding in the points of the pen. The said saddle consists of a
picce of sheet metal of the form represented in Figure 3; the said
piece, Figure 3, being placed upon the pen in the manner illustrated
in Figures 1, and 2; the ends b, c, of the saddle, Figure 3, being bent
round the parallel edges of the pen so as to retain it thereon, as repre-
sented in the view of the concave or under side of the pen, Figure 4.
The said saddle has a curve or arch represented at d, in the several
Figures, by which form elasticity is given to the said saddle. By
sliding the said saddle towards the point of the pen the said pen is
made "harder," that is to say, greater pressure is required to effect a
given amount of yielding in the points of the said pen; and by sliding
the said saddle in the contrary direction, that is to say, from the point
of the said pen, the said pen is made "softer," that is to say. less
pressure is required to produce a given amount of yielding in the said
points.

page_text: Sliding saddles have long been used for this purpose, but the novelty
in our Invention consists in forming in the said saddle a curve d,
whereby greater elasticity is given to the said saddle than when it is
made without the said curve, which greater elasticity causes it more
effectually to answer the desired-object of regulating the yielding of the
points of the pen. Instead of one curve d, as represented in Figures
1, 2, and 3, two curves may be used, as represented in Figure 5; or a
greater number of such curves may be employed, or an angular figure
may be given to the part d, as represented in Figure 6. We some-
times make curves in the arms b, c, Figure 3, for the purpose of
adapting the saddle to pens of different sizes, as represented in the
section, Figure 7, in which said Figure the curves in the arms of the
saddle are marked e, f. We sometimes use the sliding saddle herein
described in connection with points or nibs of pens having themselves
little or no elasticity, that is to say, composed of two separate or
detached nibs placed in a holder in which they are capable of yielding;
the said sliding saddle being made to press upon and give elasticity to
the said nibs. Our improvement in penholders consists in giving
elasticity to the same, whether the said penholders be made of wood,
metal, or other substance, by cutting rectilinear grooves or a helical
groove or helical grooves, or cutting other figures or devices thereon;
the said grooves, devices, or figures leaving the said holder of sufficient
diameter (saving the parts so cut) as to be agreeable to hold in the
hand.
Figure 8, represents a penholder constructed according to our In-
vention, in which a series of rectilinear grooves are made thereon
parallel to the axis of the said holder; Figure 9, represents a pen-
holder constructed according to our Invention in which a helical
groove is made on the said holder; and Figure 10, represents a pen-
holder constructed according to our Invention in which two helical
grooves are cut, one of the said grooves being right-handed and the
other left-handed. Instead of one or two grooves, as represented and
described with regard to Figures 9, and 10, any other number of
grooves may be employed. When the said penholders are made
of hollow cylinders, such as nietallic or other tubes, the slit may be
made very fine, as illustrated in Figure 11. Instead of the said slits,

page_text: lines of any other form or ornamental designs or devices may be cut on
or in the said holders. We are aware that lines, ornaments, or devices
have been previously made by pressure upon penholders made of
wood and other substances, but the said impressed lines, ornaments, or
devices do not give the same elasticity as lines, ornaments, or devices
made by cutting away a portion of the substance of which the holder
is made.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and the
manner of carrying the same into effect, we wish it to be understood
that we do not limit ourselves to the precise methods herein described,
as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of our
said Invention; but we claim as our Invention,-
Firstly, constructing sliding saddles for regulating the elasticity
of metallic pens according to the method or methods herein described
with reference to the accompanying Drawing.
Secondly, giving elasticity to penholders of wood, metal, or other
substance by making grooves, ornaments, or devices thereon; the said
grooves, ornaments, or devices being made by cutting or otherwise
removing a portion of the substance of which the said holders are made.
In witness whereof, I, the said Isaac Smith, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Third day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
ISAAC SMITH. (L.B.)