IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC PENS
Year: 1848

page_text: BABINGTON & SPURGIN'S SPECIFICATION..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME,
BENJAMIN GUY BABINGTON, of George Street, Hanover Square, in tho
County of Middlesex, Doctor of Medicine, and JOHN SPURGIN, of Guildford
Street, in the County of Middlesex, Doctor of Medicine, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria; by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-seventh
day of March, One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, in the eleventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Benjamin Guy Babington and John Spurgin, our exors, adiňors,
and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
we, the said Benjamin Guy Babington and John Spurgin, our exors, adiňors,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Benjamin Guy Babington
and. John Spurgin, our exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time, and at all times thereafter 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, our Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC
PENS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that we, the
said Benjamin Guy Babington and John Spurgin, or one of us, shall cause
a particular description of the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under our
hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, to be inrolled in
Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next

page_text: and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance the said proviso, we, the said
Benjamin Guy Babington and John Spurgin, do hereby declare that the nature
of our Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference
being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon (that is to say):-
Our Invention consists of applying zinc, or a suitable alloy of zinc, in
contact with metallic pens in such manner as to produce galvanic action when
the pen is in use or containing ink, and thus to confine the oxidation or
corrosion to the zinc, by which the points or nibs of the pens will only be liable
to wear by friction caused by the act of writing. And in order that our
Invention may be most fully understood and readily carried into effect, we
will proceed to describe the Drawing.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figures 1, 2, and 3 shew three forms of metallic pens having zine applied
thereto in such manner as to produce galvanic action according to our
Invention. We would here remark that the shape or form of the metallic
pens used when carrying out our Invention may be varied, and the manner of
affixing or applying zinc to the pens may also be varied, so long as the
arrangement or combination of the pens and the pieces of zinc be such as to
produce the desired galvanic effect. The Drawing shows the pens on a
magnified scale, in order that the mode of fixing the zinc thereto may be
more readily understood. a is the metallic pen, which, as before stated, may
be of any desired shape or form. 6 is the piece of zinc which, it will
be seen, is fixed at one end to the pen by passing through the hole c in the
pen, the portion of zinc which passes through the hole c being spread out
or revitted so as to make it secure. This mode of fixing or applying the zinc
being, we believe, the best and most simple which can be resorted to for
obtaining certain contact of the two metals, but other means of affixing or
applying the zinc in contact with metal pens may be employed if preferred by
the manufacturer, and in place of affixing the zinc to the pens it may be
attached or affixed to holders which are to receive metallic pens, provided the
zinc be so used that on combining a holder and a metallic pen the zinc will
be in such contact and be so placed in combination with the pen that when
containing ink a galvanic action will be produced, and the points or nibs of
the pen protected, but we prefer to fix the zinc directly to the pen.