A NEW METHOD OF MAKING AND CONSTRUCTING PENS FOR WRITING WITH
Year: 1809

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
BRAMAH, of Pimlico, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-third day of "
September, in the forty-ninth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the
said Joseph Bramah; my exors, admors, and assigns, His especial licence; full
power, sole privilege; and authority, that I, the said Joseph Bramah, my
exors, admors, and assigns, during the term of years therein mentioned, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend; within England; Wales;
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A NEW METHOD OF
MAKING AND CONSTRUCTING PENS FOR WRITING WITH;" in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Joseph Bramah, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to cause a particular
description of the: nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the sanie
is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within two calendar months after the date of the said recited Letters. Patent,
sin and by the same; relation being thereunto had, will more fully. and at
largo appear.
as
NOW KNOW YE, that. in compliance with the said proviso, 1, the said
Joseph Bramah, do hereby declare that my said Invention is particularly
described and ascertained as follows; that is to say :-
I do not rest my claim to novelty or excellence in the Invention solely on

page_text: my having produced by this my said Invention pens either superior in their
component quality or effect when used to write with, but the superior merits
and advantages derivable therefrom depend on the following particulars, and
are performed as hereunder described, namely:-
First, I take the quill of a swan, goose, or any bird of which pens can or
have been made, and after having cut off the point to prepare for slitting in
the usual way, I then sever the barrel of the quill from its top, as near the
feather part as the nature of the quill will admit for making a clear and
proper slit at the upper end, as well as the extremo point usually made into a
pen; I then slit, by a knife or other proper instrument, both ends of the said
barrell of the quill, and make at each a compleat pen, so that I can by this
means produce two ready-made pens instead of one out of one quill, which
will promote in favor of those departments where they do not cut or mend
their pens, not only the considerable saving of one moiety of the whole con-
sumption, but add facility to business, because I mean to adapt as a handle to
these pens for common use nothing more than a straight round stick, which
being a little taper at the extremity below the hand, may be readily inserted
into the cylindrical part of the quill, which is left whole between the two pen
points, as above described; by this means the pen, when worn and blunted by
use at one end, can in an instant be withdrawn from the stick and the other
end applied. These I call the first class of compound pens, and in some
instances I mean to prepare the aforesaid sticks or handles with a taper point,
as above described, at both ends, so that by fixing a single compound pen at
each end, four compleat pens will be produced, which can both be instantly
reversed as before as they become dull, and by which property both con-
venience and facility will be gained, of great importance in many instances of
penmanship and business, and which latter sort with four points on one handle
I.call double compound pens.
Second, in order to produce the greatest possible saving in the present
expensive article of quills, I take them of all sizes as they may come to hand,
and after having cut off the extreme point, and severed every barrel from the
top, as in the former instance, I take and divide the barrel from one end to the
other longitudinally by means of a proper cutting instrument, exactly into
two half cylindrical parts, and by this means I save one-half of every
quill, being that part which is always wasted by the knife, in making
pens the common way, and consequently I have two quills or parts of
quills equally competent to produce pens, with only a little minus in the
quality of the belly part of some quills. Those half quills being thus prepared,
I make, as in the first section, a pen at each end of both the said half quills,

page_text: by which means I produce at once four pens out of one quill, of equal utility
to those made from whole quills in the usual way. These pens I denominate
tribble compound pens, and I mount them for use on sticks as before, either at
one or both ends. These sticks are formed precisely similar to those already
described, a little taper at one or both ends, and to one or both of which taper
ends I slip on a socket, made either of the barrel of a quill, silver, or other
metal, and which socket is a little taper also, and so made to fit the stick so as to
admit it (being first rounded off at the ends) to project before the extremity of
the socket about one-eighth of an inch, so that when this stick or handle is
withdrawn a little out of the socket, an interstice is made between the socket
and the stick of the thickness of a quill's substance; then the pen, consisting
of the half quill as before, being put into the socket with a proper projection
of the point before it, and the stick being forced forward, will by its taper
form compleatly fasten in the pen, and render it fit for use with the projecting
point, and which point when dulled by use, may, by withdrawing the stick as
above described, be replaced by the pen at the other end, and thus, by one
quill instead of two, as in the first section, the same benefit and convenience is
produced.
Third, in order to produce a farther saving, not only in the article of quills,
but also in facilitating business, I take and divide quills longitudinally, as
before, not only into halves, but in some cases, and according to the size of the
quill, into three, and even four parts, and when this is done I again divide
these parts into lengths, and cut them transversely into two, three, four, and
some into five lengths, according to the ultimate dimensions or lengths of the
different sized quills. I then make, as before, a pen at each extremity of these
lengths, some for large and others for small hand, at discretion, and by this
means I am able to produce out of the smallest sized quills eight pens, out of
others twelve, and from that to thirty (and from swan quills even more)
compleat pens for sinall hand, drawing, and other purposes, equal in both
goodness and durability to those produced out of whole quills. These pens
last described I call fragment forms, and I mean to mount them on handles
for common use, in the manner described in section the second; but when
they are mounted, so as to be carried in the pocket, I mean to handle them
variously, either with brass or otherwise; and as they may be mounted or
handled almost an infinite variety of ways, without either advantage, or the
contrary, I rest no merit or propose any claim on whatever method I may in
this branch of the manufacture think it proper to adopt.
Fourth, in order to facilitate the fabrication of these pens, and to give them
such a degree of truth and regular goodness in their formation as is unattainable

page_text: by the use of pen knives, or any other kind of instrument heretofore adopted as
a substitute for cutting them by hand, I take two pieces of steel of a scantling
size, of about three-eighths of an inch by two-eighths, and of about one inch
or inch and a half in length, as I think it necessary, these I fix in a frame by
the side of each other, having between them on the two of their broadest sides
a thin piece of steel, of the same size in its width, and about the thickness of
a fine watch spring, and in its length considerably above the length of the two
before-mentioned pieces, between which it is fixed; this I call the lancet, or
that part of the intended apparatus or machine which cuts the slit, and lets
down the ink in the mouth of every pen, and the point or cutting extremity is
made of a shape I find best to answer in practice, and is shapened with an
edge, both as thin and regular in the middle of the flat substance as possible,
because on this regularity and thinness depends both the fineness of the slit
and its centrical adjustment in the pen's point when those component parts
are properly and accurately fitted to each other, by filing, grinding, &c. on
those sides in contact, and also fitted into a frame, in which they are fastened by
a screw, so calculated as to either fasten or occasionally release them; they are
then ready to receive their proper form on their ends or extremities meant to
cut and form the pen's mouth; to effect which, these ends of the scantling
pieces are filed upon the bevil, or diverging from each other on the inside, so
as to form an open mouth to the extent in length up the pieces, to any
distance which may be found necessary for the intended purpose, so that when
these pieces are again brought into contact on the fitting sides as before, the
mouth formed will be of a triangular shape, which, when sloped or sharpened
off on the back side will exactly represent what is called a parting tool for
carving and engraving of wood. These pieces of steel are then hardened and
properly tempered, so as to be capable of receiving and retaining a sharp
cutting edge, and when that is done they are fit for use. The other thin
piece of steel above described, and termed the lancet, is also sharpened in a
proper form like a chisel, or otherwise, as will best answer, and then put into
its place between the scantling pieces, as before described, having the
extremity of its blunted end above the top ends of the side pieces, between
which the said lancet is confined, so that when the whole is fixed, as before
stated, in the frame, and fastened with the screw, the lancet can be tapped
down with a hammer at pleasure, and rendered capable of a nice and accurate
adjustment when applied to use. This method of fixing the lancet between
those pieces which cuts the chaps and forms the mouth of the pen on cach
side of the slit is of great consequence, and it must always cause both the
chaps of the pen's point to be cauetly equal in width from the slit. This

page_text: frame and pieces, as above, being thus mounted and equipped, the whole is
fixed or connected to the slider or ram of a small fly press, such as are used
for cutting and stamping in the common way of other manufactures, and
which I need not therefore describe. This being done, I place under the
lower or cutting point of the instrument a piece of very hard wood or metal,
which is made on its upper surface facing the cutting tool of a shape either
concave or convex, like a reed or a flute, to receive the half or a segment of
the quill, either with the concave or convex side uppermost, as I may find it
best in practice; this I call the bed or anvil, on which the quill is laid when in
the act of being cut and shaped into a pen, and which bed or anvil is cut or
receives its counter shape, so as to exactly correspond and fit the cutting part,
as above, by a blow or cutting stroke made by the instrument itself, so that
there can be not the smallest error in their contact when in use, and which
properly will cause a clear and not a ragged cut always to be made upon the
quill. This bed or anvil is also fixed, and held in its place by being driven
tight into a horizontal grove in the bed of a cutting press, so that when the
contact with the cutting tool should slacken and become blunt with use, a
small blow made by a hammer, or being forced towards the cutter a little by
a regulating screw, the next blow or cut made by the press will renew the
contact and make good this defect; and by this means, added to the ready
manner in which the pieces of steel which form the mouth and the lancet also
may be sharpened when taken out of the frame, the engine can be continually
kept in a state of perfection with a little trouble. When the apparatus is thus
equipped for action, and the ram or slider of the cutting press has been limited
to its motions by a proper stop, the lancet may be so adjusted by the tapping
of a small hammer as to just cut through the thickness of the substance of
the quill and no farther; and it must be here observed, that the ends of the
pieces which cut and form the chaps of the pen must be as much shaped upon
the bevil as to cause the operation of the cut to finish at the point of the pen
and not at the shoulders of the point, because in the latter case the point of
the lancet would have of necessity to pass as far beyond the thickness of the
quill as the extra motion for finishing the mouth would require, and by which
the two chaps of the pen would be distended by the thickness of the lancet's
taper form, and consequently receive such a false cut as to leave the chaps
with a hair point each.
In making pens by this instrument I do not mean in general to nib
or cut the point square and clean by the operation of cutting the mouth
and producing the capillary slit, but I intend rather, when the parts of divided
quills, as above described, are cut into lengths, they shall be cut both

page_text: square and clean enough to answer for the point, and in which case it
must be obvious, that by forcing the quill, when in the operation of forming
the pen a little more or less near the junction of the triangular mouth of the
cutters, the width of the pen's point will consequently be increased or
diminished in its dimensions, so that by a nice adjustment in this respect I
shall be able to cut the point broader or narrower at pleasure, and by so doing
I can cut pens calculated for every kind of hand with strict accuracy; and also
by canting the bed or anvil on wbich the quill rests either to the right or left
from a right angle with the center of the cutter, I can form pens with points a
little out of the square either way, for such as are used for ingrossing and
other particular purposes.
Fifth, I now come to describe what I conceive to be as important a part
of this Invention as any of the foregoing, and on which its utility and public
benefits will superiorly depend, namely, a property which enables me to use
these pens without the assistance of an inkstand, or any other vessel to contain
ink in the usual way, and by which, not only the time lost in dipping the pen,
a waste of ink by the improper dispersion of it will be avoided, but the ink
will in all seasons, by being excluded from any contact with the outward air,
be preserved in its most perfect and pure state, notwithstanding it may be ever
so long kept in either hot or cold climates; and as the ink by this contrivance
is always equally portable with the pen, it will afford uncommon convenience
and utility to all those professions and avocations where pens and ink are
necessary to be carried for the purpose of immediate use.
This property
I produce as follows, that is to say:-Instead of using the common stick or
other methods of handling those pens, as above described, I take a hollow
tube of silver, or any other metal or materials proper for the purpose, and
these tubes being made taper at the lower end, and closed in a round ar
demical form, will effect the office of the stick, as aforesaid. I there fix the
pen (by means of a socket made to fit as before), of whatever class it may be
formed, according to the rules already described. I then make a small per-
foration in any part of the tube or hollow stick a little distance from the point,
so that when it is turned towards the center of the pen the ink may be let
down into the mouth. I then take this hollow handle, which is the substitute
for the stick, as aforesaid, and its upper end being open and unstopped, I pour
it full of ink, taking care to stop with the finger the capillary opening at the
lower end, as above described, and when full I stop and make air-tight with
a cork cap or otherwise the upper end, and thus I have this tube, of whatever
length and dimensions it may be of, compleatly filled with ink, but which ink,
on account of the air-tight state of the tube or vessel, as above, will not, en

page_text: being turned with its small end downwards in a position to write, discharge
even the smallest portion of the ink into the pen. But in order that those
who use the pen may cause it to receive a proper supply, I cause these
cylinders or hollow tubes, as aforesaid, to be made so thin as to be readily
compressed out of a circular shape by a small pressure between the thumb
and fingers which hold the pen, so that whenever this necessary pressure takes
place, the tube being lessened in its arial dimensions, the ink consequently is
compelled to ooze out of the small capillary opening at the lower end into the
pen, so that by a greater or more moderate pressure of the fingers, as above,
the pen will receive a greater or less charge at pleasure, just in the same
proportion, and thus the act of writing may unceasingly be continued till all
the ink contained in the cylindrical handle is exhausted, let that quantity be
more or less; and I have proved by experience, that a tube sufficient to form
a moderate sized handle to the pen, will, when filled with ink, supply those who
write the most constant and with the smallest intermission for at least a whole
day, and many who write but little may even perform a long time with such
a charge, and by making a bulb at the upper extremity, or in any other part
of this hollow handle; the capacity for holding in kmay be extended to any
quantity within the limits of convenience in the instrument, and whatever this
quantity may amount to, the pen may be incessantly written with until the
whole of this ink is exhausted. Instead of discharging the ink from the
fountain down to the pen by compressing the tube or hollow handle, as already.
stated, I intend in some instances to use, instead of a cork or any other kind
of stationary stopper at the upper end, a sliding piston, like that of a small
forcing pump, and which piston may be slided down the interior of the tube
to force down the ink to the pen by the hand. or screw, &c. &c. It is
necessary for me to observe here, that after a portion of the ink contained in
the hollow handle, as aforesaid, has been exhausted by writing with on the
compressing principle, and not having any influx of air to supply the space
generated by the loss of ink, the pressure for disgerging it will become of
necessity increased; but to remedy this defect when necessary, nothing more
is required than to turn the pen with its handle downwards, and by which
means as much air will be instantly drawn into the ink cavity at the capillary
aperture as will restore the balance of the medium that had been destroyed
5 by the exudance of the ink, as above stated. These I denominate compound
fountain pens.
Sixth, in order to give all kind of common pens the property of those last
described, that is to say, the fountain or perpetual writing principle, I take
any common pen made of a good quill which is air-tight in the barrel, and if

page_text: the quill be too hard in its cylindrical texture to be easily compressed by the
fingers, as described in the foregoing section, in that case scrape or shave of
the front where the thumb in holding the pen rests, and make it by this opera
tion so thin that the end of the thumb will be a little more than the necessary
force for holding the pen, cause that part of the quill to be changed from a
cylindrical form to an oval or other oblated figure, already described, and when
this is done I take a small cork or bit of round stick, or any other substance
calculated to operate as a stopper, and which I force into the open end of the
pen above the mouth, leaving such a projection into the mouth as will admit
of this stopper to be withdrawn at pleasure by the point of a knife or other-
wise; when this is done, I make then in the part of this stopper which falls
in contact with the back of the pen above the slit a small grove, not larger
in dimensions than the smallest pin hole, longitudinally along the surface of
the stopper, so as to cause the smallest channel possible for the conveyance of
the ink down to the mouth when the barrel of the quill is pressed, as above-
described; when this is done the pen is compleated and ready for action. I
then out of a small bottle, or otherwise, take and fill with ink the whole barrel
of the quill, leaving only room enough to prevent the stopper from falling in
contact with the ink when forced into its place. The pen is now prepared to
write, and then by pressing the quill, as above directed, I cause as much ink
to exude through the small channel as will charge the pen, and I find that
such is the use and convenience with which this can be performed, that I
even can supply the pen in half the time necessary for passing the pen from
the end of the line finished to begin another; and what adds to the further
excellence of theso pens is, I can let down at pleasure either the smallest
possible portion of ink, or as easily totally fill the pen's mouth; and it must be
at the same time obvious that not the smallest portion of this ink in either of
the above cases can be carried on to the external side of the pen's point, which
is always the case when the pens are dipped into a stand, and by which the
fingers of the writer is always smeared without the greatest care.
Seventh, and last, in order to compleat this important system of writing, and
render it as beneficial as pessible, I have adopted for the use of all public
offices, the law, and all other stationary situations, where writing is performed,
such a principle of supply for each person so employed as will enable them
to write for any length of time with one charge of the fountain, without ceasing
for a single moment, or even finding in any climate the smallest inconvenience
from the usual failure and variation in the quality of the ink; I mean in some
instances where numbers of persons are employed to write in stationed situa-
tions, and there the method will apply to supply a plurality of writing desks

page_text: with ink from one general reservoir, which may, be of any dimensions, as the
case may require, and placed on a shelf or other elevated situation of sufficient
altitude above the desks to cause the ink to be easily conveyed therefrom by a
small descending main down to each stationary desk, just as water is directed
into. the different parts of houses for domestic purposes, and into which main
I insert a very small cock at which each writer can fill the hollow fountain or
handle of his pen at pleasure when exhausted of its ink, according to the
methods before described; and. I also mean, in some instances to join to. these
corks a very small flexible tube (made of leather or other materials fit for the
purpose) by a screw, similar to that of the hose pipes of a fire engine, and
these tubes I make of a sufficient length to amply reach any point of such desk
where the pen of each writer may be called upon to operate on books. or other-
wise. I then cause the lower end of: this: flexible tube, as: aforesaid, to be
joined to the upper extremity, or. top of the hollow handle of the pens by a
screw, just like the brass. nozzle. of a fire engine, out of which the jet d'eau.
issues when throwing water;: when this is done, by opening the small cork, above
mentioned, the pen: will always: fill, and, when the cock is shut again the ink
will not run out at the capillary opening into the mouth of the pen without
some extra force, as in those instances above described, namely, that of moving
down the stopper, or compressing the tube or handle out of a circular shape.
This effect I produce in the present instance by compressing between the
fingers any part of the small flexible tube, above mentioned, wherein the stop-
cock and the pens top, and by which pressure the mouth of the pen will be
charged to a greater or less degree, at the pleasure of the writer, and by this
means, and a sufficient constant supply of ink in the main reservoir, the act of
writing may be unremittingly continued for any length of time. When I
mention that the above small tubes must be flexible, I do not mean that they
are to be so soft or pliable in their draineterical texture or strength as to be
pressed out of a circular shape or collapsed by the pressure of the atmosphere,
O because in that case the ink would spontaneously be discharged down into the
pen, and therefore, in order that they may resist this pressure, as aforesaid, I
take a long slip of thin calf. or. other leather, cut parallel, and of. a.sufficient.
width, to wrap round a small wire,, which I apply as a mandrell (say, about
one-eighth of an inch in diameter), and of any length I please, with as much
5 overplus leather as will, when both the edges are thinned in cutting so as to
overreach each other when turned round the manderill to form a splice; I then,
while the wire manderill is in, join the splice or junction seam of the leather
with glue or glueinous gum, &c., so as to form the tube intended, and after
which take and wrap the exterior part of the tube with small wire or well-

page_text: twisted thread from one end to the other, just in the same manner as the bass
strings of any wire instrument in music, and by this means, although flexible iu
their length they are diametrically stout enough to resist the atmospheric pres-
sure as above proposed, and yet flexible enough to yield to the extra pressure
of the fingers used for the purpose of letting down the ink into the pen.
Instead of using leather to fabricate these tubes, I mean sometimes to sub-
stitute parchment, prepared paper, or any other substance I may find in practice
to answer best, and in which instance these materials may make several folds
or revolutions round the wire mandrill and then be wrapped with thread or
wire as before; and in both instances, when the tube is thus finished and com-
pleatly dry, the mandrill must be withdrawn, leaving in its absence the tubical
hollow space required. I mean, in some instances, instead of the methods
above described for letting down the ink from the hollow handle or tube into
the pen, to make a small perforation for the admission of air in the upper
extremity of the said handle or tube, and which perforation I stop or unstop
by means of a small valve, slide, or otherwise, so that when open the ink will
descend and charge the pen at pleasure, and when stopped it will be prevented.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Bramah, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of November, One thousand eight
hundred and nine.