CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF INKSTANDS
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
GALL, of No. 11, Beresford Terrace, Walworth, in the County of Surrey,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-second day of May, in the fourth year of Her reign,
did give and grant unto me, the said William Gall, my exors, admňors, and
assigns, Her special licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said William Gall, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, and every of them,
by myself or themselves, or by my or their deputy or deputies, servants or
agents, or such others as I, the said William Gall, my exors, admors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times hereafter during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies
and Plantations abroad, the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF INKSTANDS;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained
a proviso obliging me, the said William Gall, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to
cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the said recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same (relation being thereunto had) may more fully
and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Gall, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention to be as
follows:-
In the construction of an inkstand it is desirable that the ink should be
presented in a dipping place of convenient form and at a constant height,
that the surface of ink exposed to the air should be as small as possible, that
the ink for use should be supplied from the upper part of the ink-holder or
reservoir, and that this reservoir should be always completely filled by ink to
the exclusion of air. The two first requisites are obtained in inkstands con-
structed upon the bird-fountain principle; but in all such the ink for use is
supplied from the bottom of the reservoir, where the sediment has settled, and
the reservoir being filled partly with ink and partly with air, the surface of
the ink therein is liable to become mouldy, and any increase of temperature or
diminution of atmospheric pressure causes the air in the reservoir to expand,
and the ink in the dipping place to rise and run over. In the inkstand
herein-after described I propose to obtain the advantages and to obviate the
imperfections of the common bird-fountain inkstands.
The Drawing attached to this Instrument represents a vertical section
through the centre of the inkstand. a, a, a, a, is the ink-holder; b, the
dipping place; c, a very small hole through which the ink flows; d, d, is a
hole through which the ink-holder may be filled, and is closed by a stopper of
any convenient construction; e, e, is a circular metal rim or collar cemented to
the ink-holder; f,f, is a flexible membrane (elastic by preference), which is
securely fastened to the ink-holder, forming the bottom of the reservoir for the
ink g, g; h, h, is a circular plate with a stem j, j, on which is a screw; k, k, is
the outer case, at the top of which a groove is formed to receive the collar e, e,
which turns freely therein, but is secured in its place by a cap 1, 1, screwed or
fastened to the case; m, m, is a bar carried from side to side with a tapped
hole in the centre to suit the screw j, j; and n is a small spring. This
section represents an inkstand of convenient dimensions for common use.
The parts colored blue are made of glass, those colored yellow of brass, and
ff, colored red, is india-rubber; but other materials may be used. h, h, should
be fastened to ff, with india-rubber varnish or other cement. The hole (c)
should be as small as possible, and so much of the worm of the screw j, j, cut
away, as will allow it to turn round freely when the diaphram f, f, is at the
top and bottom of the ink-holder. If f, f, be an elastic material, the spring
(n) is not requisite. To fill the inkstand: take out the stopper from the hole
(d, d), and pour in the ink, having previously depressed the diaphram until
the screw j, j, turns freely (this peculiar construction prevents the diaphram

page_text: being torn or the screw strained by overturning); insert the stopper, and a
slight turn of the ink-holder will cause the screw j, j, to act, and press up the
diaphram ff, and thus the ink will be forced into the dipping place, and as
consumed replaced by turning round the ink-holder.
And such improvements in the construction of inkstands being, to the
to the best of my knowledge and belief, entirely new, and never before used in
that part of Her Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
called England, Her Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
and all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, I do hereby declare
this to be my Specification of the said Invention, and that I do verily believe
this my Specification doth comply in all respects fully and without disguise
with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent con-
tained, whereof I do hereby claim, with such immaterial variations of form and
construction as experience may suggest, the Invention of such an inkstand
as the above, and to maintain exclusive right and privilege to the said
Invention.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-
second day of November, One thousand eight hundred and forty-
one.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-second day of November,
in the year of our Lord 1841, the aforesaid William Gall came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.