PENHOLDERS."
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Duncan Cameron at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 6th August 1879,
DUNCAN CAMERON, of Edinburgh, Wholesale Stationer.
PENHOLDERS."
"IMPROVEMENTS IN
My Invention consists of the improvements herein fater described in penholders
for holding pens of the kind called slip pens, whereby the pen is so connected to the
holder that in writing it is capable of such an amount of yielding as communicates
an agreeable elasticity much resembling that of a quill pen.
In making a penholder according to my Invention I form the tubular metallic
part or barrel of the holder of an open jointed tube of thin sheet brass, or other
hard and elastic metal or alloy. The said barrel is fitted on a body or stick of
wood, ivory, or other material, non-metallic by preference. In the said tubular
part or barrel of the holder I form a series of slits or piercings parallel to the axis
of the holder, and extending nearly the whole length of the barrel. These slits may
either be straight or of an undulating or wave like figure, or may have a zig-zag
shape similar to that of the acting edge of a saw.
Although I prefer to make the slits whatever their figure may be parallel to the
axis of the penholder, yet I do not limit myself thereto, as they may be inclined to
the said axis and have a helical direction, that is, the figure of a quick threaded
screw with nearly the same effect.
The slip pen is inserted between the said barrel and the body or stick of the
holder and in consequence of the slits or piercings in the barrel the pen is held less
rigidly than by an ordinary penholder, and in writing the pen is capable of the
limited amount of yielding hereinbefore referred to.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Duncan Cameron in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th January
1880.
DUNCAN CAMERON, of Edinburgh, Wholesale Stationer.
PENHOLDERS."
"IMPROVEMENTS IN
My Invention consists of the improvements herein after described in penholders
for holding pens of the kind called slip pens, whereby the pen is so connected to
the holder that in writing it is capable of such an amount of yielding as com-
municates an agreeable elasticity much resembling that of a quill pen.
In making a penholder according to my Invention I form the tubular metallic
part or barrel of the holder of an open jointed tube of thin sheet brass, or other
hard and elastic metal or alloy. The said barrel is fitted on a body or stick of
wood, ivory, or other material, non-metallic by preference. In the said tubular
part or barrel of the holder I form a series of slits or piercings parallel to the axis
of the holder, and extending nearly the whole length of the barrel. These slits
may either be straight or of an undulating or wave like figure, or may have a
zig-zag shape similar to that of the acting edge of a saw.
Although I prefer to make the slits whatever their figure may be parallel to
the axis of the penholder, yet I do not limit myself thereto, as they may be inclined
to the said axis and have a helical direction, that is, the figure of a quick threaded
screw with nearly the same effect.
The slip pen is inserted between the said barrel and the body or stick of the
holder, and in consequence of the slits or piercings in the barrel the pen is held less
rigidly than by an ordinary penholder, and in writing the pen is capable of the
limited amount of yielding herein before referred to.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing represents in side elevation, and Figure 2
partly in section, a penholder for holding a slip pen drawn double the real size, the
tubular metallic part or barrel of the said penholder being constructed according to
my Invention.
a is the tubular metallic part or barrel of the penholder fitted on the body or
stick b of wood, ivory, or other material, and c is the slip pen held in the holder by
being inserted between the stick b and the barrel a, as represented. The said
tubular metallic part or barrel a is made of an open jointed tube of thin sheet
brass, or other hard and elastic metal or alloy. In the said tubular part a is a
series of longitudinal slits or piercings d, d, of an undulating or wave like figure.
That part of the barrel a in which the slits or piercings d, d, are made has the
bulged or convex figure represented, so that the said bulged or convex part of the
holder is not in contact with the cylindrical stick. The slit or pierced middle part
of the barrel is thereby made elastic and capable of yielding, and as the holder is
gripped at that part in the act of writing an agreeable elasticity resembling that of
a quill pen is obtained.
Figure 3 represents in elevation, and Figure 4 in section, a penholder constructed
according to my Invention, in which the barrel is provided with a series of straight
parallel slits or piercings e, e, instead of undulating or wave like slits or piercings.
In this case the barrel is made of the same diameter throughout, and in order to
permit of the ready yielding of the barrel at that part where the slits or piercings
are made in it, the stick b is cut away, as shown in the section Figure 4. The
action of this holder is the same as that of the holder first described.
Figure 5 represents in elevation a penholder made according to my Invention, in
which the slits or piercings are situated helically about the barrel or have the
figure of a quick threaded screw. The said helically arranged slits or piercings are
marked f, f.
Although I have represented in the accompanying Drawing those forms of slits
or piercings which I have found to answer best in practice, yet I do not limit

page_text: myself thereto, as other shaped slits or piercings may be employed. For example,
the slits or piercings may have a zig-zag shape similar to that of the acting edge
of a saw; or one part of the barrel may be provided with straight slits, and
another part with inclined or helical slits, or piercings of different figures may be
combined in the same holder.
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 claim as my Invention,
the improvements in penholders for holding slip pens herein before described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, making in the tubular
metallic part or barrel of the penholder a series of slits or piercings of the kind and
for the purpose described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Duncan Cameron, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty first day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty.
Witness,
JAMES HALDEN,
Edinburgh.
DUNCAN CAMERON. (L.S.)