Improvements in or relating to Pen Holders.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application. 31st Oct., 1893-Accepted, 2nd Dec., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Pen Holders.
A communication by BYRON BENJAMIN GOLDSMITH, of 19, East 74th Street,
New York, in the County and State of New York, United States of America,
Manufacturer.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON F.C.S. M.I.M.E. of the Agency for
Foreign Patent Solicitors 6, Lord Street, Liverpool and 6, Bank Street,
Manchester, both in the County of. Lancaster and 323 High Holborn in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention has reference to improvements in pen-holders made of cork and
has for its object the utilization of short waste pieces of cork, and the production
of a cheaper and, at the same time, a stronger pen-holder than if the same were
made of one single piece of cork.
In order to provide pen-holders which are elastic to the touch, so as to be easily
and firmly grasped without strain to the hand of the user, they have heretofore
been made of a single piece of cork, but such pen-holders have proven to be very
fragile, since even the best selected cork, without any apparent external flaws, breaks
In addition thereto, pieces of
very easily, as is well known to those skilled in the art.
cork of the length and thickness required to form the body of the pen-holder are
not easily obtained and are very expensive; for these reasons cork pen-holders
have not come into general use.
With a view of overcoming these difficulties it has been proposed to make
pen-holders composed of two long strips of cork, glued one on each side of a flat
strip of wood or metal, with the edges of the wood or metal exposed. By this
procedure the strength of the pen-holder was increased, but the elasticity of touch
was impaired, since there remained two lines of stiff, inelastic material exposed to
the touch: In addition thereto the cost of manufacture of such pen-holder is quite
as great as that of pen-holders made of a single piece of cork.
By the improvements hereinafter described, a pen-holder is produced which
combines the stiffness and strength of wood or other reinforcing core, with the
elasticity to the touch of pen-holders made of a single piece of cork, and which at
the same time is considerably cheaper than any pen-holders heretofore made and
into the construction of which cork entered. All this will more fully appear from
the following detail description in which reference is made to the accompanying
drawing, by which this improvement is illustrated as follows:-
Figure 1, is a longitudinal section of a pen-holder embodying this invention in
the course of manufacture;
Figure 2, is an elevation of the finished pen-holder;
Figure 3, is a cross section on the line x-x of Figure 2, upon an enlarged
scale;
Figure 4, is a longitudinal section of a modified construction of the rear end of
the pen-holder,
Figures 5, 6 and 7, are longitudinal sections, showing further modifications of
construction of the pen-holder, and
Figure 8, is a longitudinal section of the modified form of the rear end of the
holder shown in Figure 1.
Like numerals of reference indicate like parts.
The strengthening or reinforcing core 1, (see Figs. 1, 2 and 3), which may be
made of any suitable material, but which by preference is made of wood, is a
cylindrical rod; it is made cylindrical only for the sake of ease of manufacture,

page_text: but may be made of any other cross section. This rod is considerably thinner than
the complete pen-holder and only serves as a stiffening core for the cork mantle 2.
This mantle is made up of any irregular pieces of any desired length, and need not
be particularly selected and flawless; waste cork stoppers are perfectly adapted
for the construction of this pen-holder and in Figure 1 are shown four waste pieces
of cork, each having a central bore, but otherwise not particularly shaped, except
that their ends are squared off, as indicated at the division lines 3. The bore of
each piece of cork is of such size that the pieces may be forced over the core with
some considerable friction, and the ends of each piece being smoothly squared off,
they will fit against each other so closely, that the division line will barely be
perceptible in the finished article. These pieces of cork are glued together end to
end and may also be glued onto the wooden core, although this latter is not
absolutely necessary.
In Figure 1, the core is shown in solid lines to be somewhat shorter than the
aggregate length of the cork pieces, but the core may also extend to the full
aggregate length of the cork pieces, as indicated by the dotted lines 4, by which
construction the breaking off of the reduced end of the finished holder will be
prevented.
This object may also be secured by constructing the rear end of the pen-holder in
the manner shown in Fig. 7. In this case the wooden core terminates in a button 4¹
against the shoulder of which the first cork section abuts; this gives a strong
finish to the rear end of the holder, and permits of ornamenting the tip by
varnishing or otherwise.
After the cork mantle has in this manner been built up, it is turned down to the
required shape, as indicated by the dotted lines 5, so that the finished pen-holder
has the shape represented in Figure 2.
In the front end of the core there is made an incision 6, by means of a barrel
saw, for the reception of the pen, and it will be seen that since the pen is held in
the wood and not in the cork, this end of the holder will not break off by continued
pressure, in writing, as is the case with pen-holders made entirely of cork. In
Figure 2, the lines of juncture of the successive pieces of cork are not indicated,
since in reality they are scarcely visible in the finished article.
The construction of the rear end of the peu-holder may be modified as shown in
Fig. 4. In this case the wooden core 1, does not extend into the last cork section 2¹,
and is for a short distance reduced in thickness, as indicated at 7. A thin metal
tube 8, the bore of which tightly fits the reduced portion 7 of the core 1, and the
exterior of which tightly fits into the bore of the cork section, is then forced over
the reduced portion of the core and into the cork-section; and on to the projecting
portion of this metal tube the last section 2¹ of the cork is forced.
For this purpose a cut may be made into the inner end of the cork section 2¹,
by a barrel saw, or otherwise, but if the tube 8, is thin enough this is unnecessary,
since the sharp edge of the tube will penetrate the cork without much difficulty.
It will be understood that glue or cement is applied both to the interior and
exterior of the tube.
In Figure 5, a modified construction of the peu-holder as a whole is shown.
In this case all the cork sections are united by short metallic tubes 8, and for the
reception of these tubes circular cuts with a barrel saw may be made axially into
the ends of the cork sections, although this becomes unnecessary if the tubes are
sufficiently thin, as above explained. In this construction the metal tubes 8,
constitute sectional strengthening cores for the pen-holder.
A further modification is shown in Fig. 6, where the cork sections are united by
wooden dowel pins 9, fitting into axial holes in the ends of the cork sections and
glued or cemented thereto; these dowel pins constitute in this case the sectional
strengthening cores of the pen-holder.
With either of the constructions shown in Figs. 5 and 6, any ordinary or
improved metallic pen-holding sleeve may be used, or in place thereof, a short
wooden core may be glued into the front end and provided with a slot of the

page_text: kind shown in Fig. 3; a metallic pen-holding sleeve may also be used with the
construction shown in Fig. 1, as will be readily understood.
Other materials than cork may be used for the mantle without deviating from
the fundamental idea of my invention; thus for instance, leather, soft rubber, and
other soft and elastic substances may be utilized. In the manufacture of articles
made of these materials considerable waste occurs, and the small irregular cuttings,
which would otherwise be useless, can be stamped into washers or short tubes and
strung upon the core of the pen-holder, and then turned down so as to form the
soft elastic mantle of the same. It is therefore to be understood that by the
term "cork these and other equivalents are meant to be included.
"
When short and otherwise waste cork pieces are used it is also practicable to
join them in the manner shown in Fig. 8, that is to say by forming a tenon 10, at
one end and a corresponding socket at the other end of each cork section and
glueing or cementing the pieces together. In this case the glue or cement 11, when
set or hardened, constitutes the sectional core for the holder, giving to the same
the required strength, as will be readily understood.
A pen-holder constructed in any of the manners herein described is soft and
elastic to the touch, throughout its whole length, and all around its circumference,
just like a pen-holder made entirely of cork, and has superior strength, owing to
the core or core-sections.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-.
1. A pen-holder consisting of a central core or cores and a sectional mantle of
cork entirely surrounding the same, substantially as described.
2. A pen-holder, consisting of a central core or cores, and an enveloping sleeve
or mantle of cork, composed of sections abutting end to end, substantially as
described.
3. A pen-holder, consisting of a reinforcing core or cores, and sectional sleeves of
cork, glued end to end, and completely surrounding the core or cores, substantially
as described.
4. A pen-holder, made of sections of cork cemented end to end and reinforced in
part or throughout its whole length by a core, substantially as described.
5. A pen-holder, made of sections of cork joined by sectional metallic tubular
cores and cemented end to end, substantially as described.
6. A peu-holder, consisting of a wooden core and a sleeve of cork enveloping
the same, composed of sections glued together end to end, substantially as
described.
7. A pen-holder, consisting of a wooden cylindrical core, with an enveloping
mantle of cork, composed of sections glued end to end to the core, substantially as
described.
8. A pen-holder, composed of sections of cork joined and glued together, end to
end, substantially as described.
Dated this 30th day of October 1893.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.