IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-FEEDING INKSTANDS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-FEEDING INKSTANDS." -A com-
munication from abroad by Charles Close, of New York, in the United
States of America.
Sealed the 21st January 1862, and dated the 12th November 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 12th November 1861.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane;
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-FEEDING INKSTANDS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention of improvements in self-feeding inkstands relates to that
class of inkstands in which the ink is contained in a reservoir apart from the
pen cup, and is conveyed to the latter by a lateral tube or channel. The
present Invention consists in adapting an additional tube or channel to the
reservoir, so as to connect the upper part of the reservoir with the upper
part of the pen cup, so as to maintain the ink therein at a uniform level, or

page_text: nearly so. When it is desired to fill the inkstand, a short tube with a funnel
top is inserted in the aperture in the pen cup, communicating with the lower
part of the reservoir. Ink is poured into the funnel, and rises in the reser-
voir, thereby forcing out the air therefrom through the upper or additional
tube, until the ink rises to the level of the opening communicating with this
additional tube. The ink will then begin to run down the same into the pen
cup, when the supply of ink must be stopped, and upon removing the funnel
tube the ink will rise in the pen cup to the proper level, and will always be
maintained there while a body of ink remains in the reservoir.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton, in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 12th May 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,. WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to timë
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 SELF-FEEDING INKSTANDS," being a communication from
abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward
Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should parti-
cularly 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 William Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is

page_text: to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
In self-feeding inkstands, which consist of a reservoir and pen supplying
cup near the bottom, and connected with the reservoir by a branch tube or
passage for the flow of the ink from the reservoir to the cup there is much
uncertainty of action and irregularity in the depth of dip. These inconveni-,
ences are owing to the variable pressure, by consumption of the column or,
head of ink in the reservoir that supplies the cup. The too great rarefaction
of the air and changeableness of the pressure in the space above the ink in.
the reservoir also gives rise to inconvenience, and the attempts which have
been made to remedy these defects in inkstands of this class, by making the
reservoir of a circular form, and employing a piston, operated by a screw with.
wool inside, and the many other plans proposed to regulate the feed to the.
cup, have been objectionable on account of their complication, liability to.
derangement, and departure from the self-feeding principle, which the first-
mentioned device embraces. The present improvements obviate such defects,,
and the Invention is not limited in operation as regards the relative heights of
the reservoir and cup, and necessarily preserves a fixed regularity of action.
and depth of dip in the pencup, without the liability to fail, or changeable-.
ness.. These objects are effected in a simple manner without any loose or
working parts.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 represents a sectional view of one of
the improved inkstands in the process of being filled, and Fig. 2 is a similar.
view of the inkstand when filled or ready for use, both Figures showing the
inkstand in vertical section.
In the inkstand represented in the accompanying Drawings the reservoir A
is made close at top and bottom, and has no opening for the admission of air
by leakage of any stopper plug cap or when filling, except by a specially
arranged tube or passage b, which forms the novel feature of the present
Invention. This tube or passage b is arranged to form an angular connection
with the partially exhausted air space at or within the top of the reservoir
above the ink, and the pen cup c at its top or at or about the height the ink
is desired to stand in the open dipping or pen cup c, which is further connected
with the reservoir at or near the bottom of the reservoir and cup by the usual
branch connecting tube or passage o. To fill the inkstand a filler may be
used formed of a pipe e, Fig. 1, surrounded near its bottom by a cork or other,
soft or flexible disc f of sufficient size to constitute a close cover around the

page_text: áperture in the bottom of the cup, which establishes the ink connection with
the reservoir. The end of the pipe e of the feeder may project into the
aperture, and the pipe e, provided with a funnel at its top is to be made of
sufficient height to admit of the ink when the feeder is placed in the cup, as
described, being passed into the reservoir to nearly the full height thereof.
The air will escape from the reservoir (whilst the filling is going on) by the
upper connecting tube or passage b, which forms an air connection between
the top of the reservoir and the body of the cup. No ink must be in the cup
whilst first filling in the ink; if this method of filling and form of filler be
adopted, and on removal of the filler e, the ink will rush into the cup c from
below, and will rise therein till it fully or slightly more than fully covers the
lower end or bottom opening of the upper connecting tube or passage b, as
shewn in Fig. 2. In doing this the ink shuts off the admission of fresh
atmosphere to the interior of the reservoir A, and by thus gradually closing
the admission, while the ink in the reservoir continues to descend to supply the
cup, the atmospheric pressure on the ink in the reservoir is necessarily slightly
reduced, and a sustaining power is obtained to keep the ink in the cup cat a
level slightly over or just covering the bottom opening or end of the upper
connecting passage b, which level is continually preserved during the falling of
the ink in the reservoir to meet the drain upon it in the cup by the repeated
use of the pen. The full atmospheric pressure upon the ink in the cup, and
the action of or upon the ink in the reservoir serves to establish the specified
equilibrium, and the pen each time it is inserted to take a fresh supply from
the cup, causes a temporary exposure or uncovering of the lower end of the
upper connecting tube or passage b, and slightly agitates the ink in the
passage so as to form an air space or channel along the upper edge of the
tube or passage b for a small quantity of air to pass up into the upper vacant
space of the reservoir A, so as to compensate by pressure and fresh supply or
increase of air, for the reduction in the amount of head and increase of vacant
space formed by the falling column in the reservoir. As long as the column.
is above the lower end or mouth of the upper connecting tube, a quick return
or rise of the ink must take place in the cup till the ink covers the mouth of
the upper connecting tube b, when the further rise of the ink will be arrested,:
as before, the ink in the cup by the operation of the pen being caused to form
an opening and closing valve to the lower end or mouth of the upper con-
necting tube b. The action of the pen, by its insertion in or withdrawal from
the ink in the cup, will be readily perceived as causing a much more certain,
immediate, and less tardy return of the ink to its proper level in the cup than

page_text: ..
in the arrangements before referred to, which have no upper separate air
tube 6 thus relatively arranged, but are dependent upon the action of the one
lower branch or passage a for the renewal of ink to the cup, and the passage
or working of the air through the body of the ink in the reservoir. In the
improved inkstand, however, a better action is produced, owing: to the
sensitiveness of the ink at the lower end of the upper connecting tube b to
the disturbing action of the pen, both by reason of the small quantity of ink in
the tube and its immediate connection with the surface of the ink in the cup
wherein the pen dips, assisted by the free passage for the ascending air that
replenishes the reservoir when the pen on being dipped agitates the surface of
the ink in the cup, and causes the ink as a valve to uncover temporarily.
the mouth or lower end of the upper connecting tube. In this connection it
may be remarked that it will be well to make this upper connecting tube 6 of
sufficient size in diameter to overcome objectionable capillary attraction, so as
to make certain and render quick the operation of the fluid valve, which the
ink forms at the bottom of the tube, for establishing a freer and more rapid
ingress of air to the reservoir when the pen takes its dip as specified. Of
course any desired form or ornamental appearance may be given to the
inkstand, and the passages a and b arranged so as to be concealed from sight
or be made to present quite a different aspect, and the same may be said of
the cup and reservoir.
The description of self-feeding inkstand to which this improvement has
reference has been distinctly pointed out, and its operation is entirely different
from that of another form usually made of porcelain, and somewhat resembling
it in appearance. In this latter there is a reservoir, cup, and two connecting
tubes or passages, the one, however, of which has the same objectionable
double office to perform which the former ones referred to possess, namely,
that of admitting air to the reservoir, and letting down the ink into the cup.
The other passage does not act in the same way as the upper connecting tube b,
but forms a different connection branching from the side of the cup at the
desired level, and serves to carry surplus ink into an overflow chamber arranged
within or at the bottom of the reservoir. This complexity of parts and com-
partments, and operation is in many respects highly objectionable. Moreover
in this latter description of inkstand the reservoir is filled from below by taking
out a screw plug or stopper. I would here remark that if liability to leakage
can be overcome this method of filling the reservoir might be adopted as a
mode of supplying the improved inkstand with ink.
Having now described the Invention of improvements in self-feeding

page_text: inkstands, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and having
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I claim as a new and
useful improvement on the description of self-feeding inkstand here referred
to, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, the arrangement and combination
of the upper tube or passage b for connecting the top or air space of the
reservoir A with the dipping or pen cup c, as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)