US373677A - James buchanan mitchell - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) v J. B. MITCHELL.

FOUNTAIN EEN.

No. 373,677. Patented Nov. 22, 1887.

N. PETERS. Phamumngmpmn wnshngiuu. D c.

i UNITED STATES PATENT ErrcE.

JAMES BUCHANAN MITCHELL, OF NEW' YORK, N. Y.

FOUNTAIN-PEN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 373,677, dated November 22, 1887.

Application tiled January 18, 1856, Serial No. 188,835, (No model.)

To @Z whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES BUCHANAN y MITCHELL, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Fountain-Pens, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the annexed drawings, forming part of this specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a fountainpen in which theink will flow freely without escaping in such quantities as to smirch or blot the paper or soil the hands.

My invention consists in the hereinafter-de scribed iustrumcntalities for attainingsaid objects. y

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is aside view of my fountain-pen. Fig. 2 is a view of a part ofthe same with the pocket of elastic rubber, which surrounds the pen and lower part of holder, removed. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of the instrument with the point-cover in place. Fig. 4 shows the elastic pocket. Fig. 5 is a cross-section of the lower part of the barrel, showing the slots in which the pen is held. Fig. 6 is across-section of the pen. Fig. 7 is a longitudinal section of a modified form of the point-cover.

A represents the barrel of the instrument, which may be composed of two joints or sec` tions screwed together, as shown, in the lower of which the pen B, which is preferably of a less concave or raised forni than the peus in generai use, is inserted and held by its longitudinal edges in the slots b.

c is an elastic iluidtight pocket formed of the tube c and the conical or tapering eXten sion c" of the same, of elastic rubber or other liexible material, through which the point of the pen B projects. In the rear of the pen is an imperforate diaphragm, D, which is constructed integral with the barrel and covers the cross-sectional area of the same. At either side of said diaphragm apertures e areformed in the body of the barrel.

The outer surface of the barrel is raised in that part of it through which those apertures which open into the reservoir are made in the forni of aprojectiomwhich may be of any shape such that it can be distinctly felt through the thin elastic tube c by the fingers of the writer. It will be seen that by this construction the orifices e and the elastic tube c together forni a valve connecting the barrel-chambers on the two sides of the diaphragm D. When the elastic tube c is transversely compressed over the projection F between the thumb and finger, it rises in a slightly-bulging form or buclrles7 over the apertures, forming a trough in its under surface, through which ink will pass toward the pen, escaping from the barrel above the diaphragm D and re-entering below'it. The projection F is not indispensable to the proper compression of the rubber for this purpose, but adds very great-ly to the convenience and precision with which it can be accomplished by indicating the exact position ofthe apertures e and preventing the thumb and finger from slipping toward each other over the convex surface of the barrel in the act of opening the valve. It will be seen that the valve above described is formed by the apertured barrel and the tubular section c of the elastic pocket c, independently of the tapering section c, as the ink, after passing below the diaphragm D, might be conveyed to the point of the pen by a trough, tube, or other means, in combination with which the valve would still be of great use.

The peu may be of the form of the splitnibbed pens in general use; but I prefer that it should be raised7 but little, so that it shall depart less from a dat form, and the space between the concave surface of the pen and the inner surface of the tapering pocket surrounding it shall be thin, in order that it may retain ink by capillarity and prevent it from passing too freely to the point of the pen.

The pen may be held in position by a variety of means; but I prefer to insert it by its longitudinal edges in longitudinal slots b, formed for the purpose on the inner surface ofthe tubular holder. Vhen thus inserted, the pen is securely held and the following advantages are gained: When the holder is of hard rubber and a gold pen is crowded into close Contact with that material over its entire width, the sulphur combined with the rubber, as is well known to makers of gold pens, acts upon and penetrates the alloy of the pen, so that it becomes brittle and often cracks or splits after a time under the pressure by which it is held in place in the holder. This evil'is IOO obviated in my device, above described, because the pen comes in contact with the holder only at its edges, where it is held by a light pressure, and the surfaces exposed to the action of the sulphur are very small. This method of insertion has also the advantages of being simple and secure, and of bringing the point of the pen of attened form approximately in the line of the axis of the tubular holder, which gives the Writer asteadier and easier control of the pen than when it is inserted at one side of the holder in the ordinary manner. to fountain-holders, but adapted to all tubular pen-holders. y

In order to prevent the pocket c from being forced downward on the barrel and pen by the pressure ofthe hand, I form a band or projecting ring, g, at or near the foot of the barrel, over which the pocket c is tightly stretched, and thus held at a suitable distance above the point of the pen.

To protect the point ofthe pen from injury when not in use I provide a point-cover, H. Near the closed end of this point-cover I insert a partition or diaphragm, h, of any suit able material, through an opening in which the point of the pen shall project intoa Wastechamber, K. The object of this chamber is to receive and retain any small amount of ink that may escape from the peninto theend of the point-cover when the pen is laid down or carried in the pocket, so that such ink may not quickly spread upward on the lower part of the holder and be communicated to the iingers when the pen yis used. The partition might be of hard material and integral with the point-cover; but I prefer to make it of elastic rubber, so that the opening will adj ust itself to the form of the pen projecting through This device is obviously not conti ned it. It'may be secured in place by a variety of means, as by a ring of hard material crowded or screwed against it, as shown in Fig. 7; but I prefer to secure it by uniting with it a thick ring or shorttube, h', of elastic rubber, crowded into the closd end of the point-cover, With the partition h attached to and extending over the end of the tube h', that is nearest to the holder, as shown in Fig. 3.

I claim as my inventionj 1. In a fountain-pen, the combination of the exible tube c with the barrel A, provided with the diaphragm D and apertures e, and

having upon that part of its outer ksurface` through which the apertures are made the projection F, of any form such that it may be distinctly felt by the thumb and finger through the iiexible tube c',t0 the end that the position oi" the apertures e may thereby be recognized and the tube c conveniently compressed over them, as specified.

2. A point-cover for a fountain-pen, having Within it .a chamber for containing waste ink,

formed bythe insertion near its closed end of a partition, of elastic rubber or other suitable material, through an opening in which the point of the pen shall project into said chamber, substantially as described.

3. Apoint-eover for a fountain-pen. consisting ofthe tube H, closed at one end, combined With the circular partition h,of elastic rubber, having a perforation or opening to receive the point of the pen, united with the thick tube h', of elastic rubber, as and for the purpose specified.

JAMES BUCHANAN MITCHELL.

Witnesses:

JOHN ALGERNON OWENs, WILLIAM C. CooK.

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