A NEW OR IMPROVED PEN- HOLDER
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Morrison, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Machinist, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED PEN-
HOLDER."
Sealed the 28th November 1856, and dated the 22nd September 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Morrison at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd
September 1856.
I, JOHN MORRISON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Machinist,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED
PENHOLDER," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of a penholder constructed in the following
manner: In the interior of a hollow cylinder or tube of metal I place a
semi-cylindrical plate of metal, between which and the outer tube the pen is
held. The said internal semi-cylinder is connected with the tube by means
of pins or studs on the opposite edges of the former engaging in slots in
opposite sides of the latter. The said slots are not parallel to the axis of
the tube, but are so inclined thereto, that when the semi-cylindrical piece is
pushed up the tube it is made to approach and at length to come in contact

page_text: with the said tube in consequence of the obliquity of the said slots. A pin
or stud on the back of the semi-cylindrical or sliding piece projects through
a straight slot in the back of the penholder, and by pressing the said pin
or stud the semi-cylindrical or sliding piece may be moved up or down the
tube.
In using my improved penholder, the pen is introduced between the tube
and the semi-cylindrical or sliding piece, and the latter being drawn up the
tube, by pressing the stud projecting through the back of the penholder, the
pen is grasped and held firmly between the tube and the sliding piece. By
pressing the stud towards the end of the pen the said pen becomes detached
from the holder.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Morrison in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th March 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
MORRISON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Machinist, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Morrison, Her special licence that I, the said John
Morrison, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said John Morrison, my executors, 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 "A NEW
OR IMPROVED PENHOLDER," upon the condition (amongst others) that 1, the
said John Morrison, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Morrison, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists of the new or improved penholder, constructed in the
manner herein-after described, and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing.
Figure 1 represents in elevation one of my new or improved penholders
with a pen inserted therein, and Figure 2 represents a vertical section of the
same; Figure 3 represents a vertical section of the same without the pen;
Figures 4 and 5 represent the blanks from which my new or improved pen-
holder is made, and Figures 6 and 7 represent the said blanks bent into their
proper form unconnected together.
The blank a, Figure 4, is bent or coiled into the hollow cylinder b,
Figures 1, 2, 3, and 6, and the blank c, Figure 5, is bent into the semi-
cylindrical form, represented at d, Figure 7, the ears or pins e and f being
bent at right angles to the part d at the points at which they are respectively
situated. In the blank a are three slots g, h, i, the slots h, i, being inclined
to one another, as represented. When the blank a is rolled into the hollow
cylinder 6 the slots g, h, i, occupy the positions represented in the several
Figures 1, 2, 3, and 6. The part d is placed in the interior of the barrel or
cylinder b, as represented, the ear or pin e entering the slot g, and the ears
or pins entering the slots h, i. When the piece d is in the position repre-
sented in Figure 3 a pen may easily be inserted between the lower end of
the said piece d and the end b' of the barrel or cylinder b. After the insertion
of the pen between the parts d and b' the said pen is pushed into the holder
until it and the part d assume the positions represented in Figures 1 and 2,
in which positions the pen is held firmly in the holder. As the piece d enters
the hollow cylinder b, the ears or pins f, f, moving along the oblique slots h, i,
cause the said part d to move obliquely and diminish the space between the
said part d and the barrel or cylinder b, the pen thereby becomes grasped
tightly between the parts & and 6. The ear e working in a slot g limits the
motion of the part d, and the said part & may be moved by applying the
thumb nail to the said ear or pin e. By pressing the ear e towards the point
of the pen the said pen is liberated and projected from the holder.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described and represented, as the same
may be varied without departing from the nature of my said Invention; but

page_text: I claim as my Invention the new or improved penholder herein-before
described, and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, a pen-
holder in which the pen is grasped between the inside of a tube and an
internal slide, which said slide by moving obliquely causes the said pen to be
grasped tightly between the said tube and slide.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Morrison, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw.
JOHN MORRISON. (L.S.)