IMPROVEMENTS IN PENHOLDERS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Josiah Mason, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PENHOLDERS."
Sealed the 18th May 1872, and dated the 28th December 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Josiah Mason at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th December 1871.
I, JOSIAH MASON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PENHOLDERS," to be as follows:-
My Invention has reference to those kinds of penholders consisting of
an outer tubular part or barrel and an internal 'elastic binder, between
which binder and the interior of the barrel the pen is held.
My said Invention consists in making the internal elastic binders of
penholders of the kind described, and connecting them to the barrels or
tubular parts of the penholders in the manner herein-after described.

page_text: According to my Invention I make the elastic binder of the pen-
holder from a cruciform or four-arm blank of sheet metal, the said
cruciform blank being raised by press tools into a tubular form. By the
raising process the several arms of the blank are brought nearly together
or closed upon one another, and are highly elastic. That part of the
blank from which the arms start forms in the finished binder a closed
end or nose to the said binder. The extreme free or unconnected ends
of the arms of the elastic tubular binder are bent at right angles or
nearly so to the other parts so as to form lips or ears to the said free
ends. The binder is connected to the tubular or barrel part of the pen-
holder by means of an annular groove in the said barrel part, into which
the lips or ears on the ends of the spring arms of the binder are made
to engage. When the binder is so engaged with the barrel part the
penholder is complete, the pen being held between the inner side of the
barrel and the outer side of the spring binder. When the pen is intro-
duced into the holder the elastic arms are compressed, and by their
elasticity press upon the pen and hold it firmly in its place. The groove
by which the binder is fixed in its place in the barrel constitutes a stop
against which the heel of the pen abuts when placed in the holder.
Penholders made according to my Invention are capable of holding
slip pens with rounded heels of various kinds.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Josiah Mason in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 21st June 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSIAH 2
MASON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the g
thirty-fifth 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,

page_text: 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PENHOLDERS," 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 I, the said Josiah Mason, 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 :-
My Invention has reference to those kinds of penholders consisting of
an outer tubular part or barrel and an internal elastic binder, between
which binder and the interior of the barrel the pen is held.
My said Invention consists in making the internal elastic binders of
penholders of the kind described, and connecting them to the barrels or
tubular parts of the penholders in the manner herein-after described.
According to my Invention I make the elastic binder of the pen-
holder from a cruciform or four-arm blank of sheet metal, the said
cruciform blank being raised by press tools into a tubular form. By the
raising process the several arms of the blank are brought nearly together
or closed upon one another, and are highly elastic. That part of the
blank from which the arms start forms in the finished binder a closed
end or nose to the said binder. The extreme free or unconnected ends
of the arms of the elastic tubular binder are bent at right angles or
nearly so to the other parts so as to form lips or ears to the said free
ends. The binder is connected to the tubular or barrel part of the pen-
holder by means of an annular groove in the said barrel part into which
the lips or ears on the ends of the spring arms of the binder are made
to engage. When the binder is so engaged with the barrel part the
penholder is complete, the pen being held between the inner side of the
barrel and the outer side of the binder. When the pen is introduced

page_text: into the holder the elastic arms are compressed, and by their elasticity
press upon the pen and hold it firmly in its place. The groove by which
the binder is fixed in its place in the barrel constitutes a stop against
which the heel of the pen abuts when placed in the holder.
Penholders made according to my Invention are capable of holding
slip pens with rounded heels of various kinds and sizes.
Having explained the nature of my Invention I will proceed to
describe with reference to the accompanying Drawing the manner in
which the same is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in longitudinal section the metallic part of a pen-
holder constructed according to my Invention; Figure 2 represents in
elevation and plan the elastic binder of the penholder detached; Figure 3
is the blank from which the said binder is made; Figure 4 is an eleva-
tion of the barrel or tubular part of the penholder; and Figure 5 is the
blank from which the said barrel is made.
The elastic binder a consists of a series of spring arms joined to a
central part or nose b. The said binder is raised into a tubular form
from the cruciform or four-arm blank of sheet metal represented in
Figure 3 by press tools, the action of the said press tools bringing
the several arms of the blank nearly together as represented in Figure 2,
the central part 2 of the blank forming a closed end or nose 6 to the
binder. The extreme or unconnected ends of the several arms of the
binder are bent so as to form lips or ears, the said lips being marked c, c.
The binder may be made from a blank having two, three, or more than
four arms. In the barrel d of the penholder an annular groove e is
made, the said groove being situated flush with the cylindrical surface
of the barrel. The elastic binder a, b, c, Figure 2, is introduced into the
barrel d with the ends c, c, foremost, the said binder being connected to
the barrel d by the lips c, c, springing into the annular groove e in the
barrel as illustrated in Figure 1. The binder is thereby securely con-
nected to the barrel, and the penholder is completed by the insertion of
the usual stick or handle into the barrel d. The heel of the pen f is
held between the inner side of the barrel d and the outer side of the
elastic binder a, the elasticity of the arms of the said binder causing
them to press upon the pen and hold it firmly in its place. The annular
groove e constitutes a stop against which the heel of the pen abuts.
Instead of making the annular groove in the barrel by means of which

page_text: the binder is fixed in its place flush with the cylindrical surface of the
barrel the said annular groove may be made to project from the said
surface. This form of barrel is represented combined with a spring
binder in longitudinal section in Figure 6, and elevation in Figure 7, the
projecting annular groove being marked e. Figure 7ª represents the
blank from which the barrel of the penholder, Figures 6 and 7, is
made.
Instead of making the barrels from sheet metal bent into a tubular
form they may be made from ordinary tubing.
Figure 8 represents in elevation a modification of the elastic binder
Figure 2, and Figure 9 represents the blank from which the binder
Figure 8 is made. In this modification the ears by which the binder is
connected with the barrel are made at the closed end of the binder
instead of at the extreme ends of the elastic arms. These ears are
marked g in the finished binder, and the pierced parts near the centre of
the blank from which the said ears are made are similarly marked. The
elastic arms of this binder are bowed at their free ends. The elastic
binder, Figure 8, is introduced into the barrel d, nose end foremost, and
its ears 9, 9, spring into or engage with the annular groove e in the
barrel d in the manner represented in Figure 10. By the insertion of
the binder, Figure 8, into the barrel d, the bow-shaped ends of its arms
are compressed together so as to form a nearly closed nose or end to the
binder and increase its elasticity or gripping power.
1
An elastic binder of the kind last described may be made from a blank
in which the several arms are situated parallel to one another instead of
each arm of the series being situated at right angles to the next one. A
blank of this kind is represented in Figure 11, and an elastic binder
made from the said blank is represented in Figure 12. The inner end of
this binder is provided with a convex ring-like flange h, which when the
binder is introduced into the barrel springs into the groove e of the
barrel and fixes the binder in its place. The elastic binder Figure 12
fixed in the barrel d is represented in section in Figure 13.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do
not limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated, as
the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my Inven-
tion; but I claim as my Invention, the improvements in penholders

page_text: herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing,
that is to say, constructing the internal elastic binders of penholders of
a series of spring arms substantially in the several ways described and
illustrated, also connecting the elastic binder with the barrel or tubular
part of the penholder by means of lips or ears or a projection or flange
on the said binder engaging with an annular groove in the said barrel
substantially as described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Josiah Mason, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
Witness,
HENRY SKERRETT,
Clerk to Geo. Shaw,
Birmingham.
JOSIAH MASON. (L.S.)