FOUNTAIN-PEN.

A silk-wrapped wire wick, two years after Waterman solved feeds properly

PatentUS 337,610

PatentedMarch 9, 1886

InventorNoyes F. Palmer

OfJamaica, New York

FiledJanuary 27, 1886

AssigneeAlbert H. Ackermann, of East New York, N.Y. (one-fourth interest)

Patent drawing of a 19th-century fountain pen shown in cross-section (Fig. I) with labeled parts a, b, c, d, i, j, k, l, m, an enlarged detail of the plug and tip (Fig. II), and a cross-sectional end view of the collar (Fig. 3). — FIG. I — Longitudinal central section of fountain pen; FIG. II — Side view of plug and tip, partly unscrewed; Fig. 3 — Enlarged cross-section through collar k · click to zoom

Fountain pen with wire ink feed

✒ How it works

The pen consists of a tubular handle or ink reservoir with a removable hollow plug and screw-stem that engages a tapering, perforated tip. A fine wire, wrapped in a silk or fabric covering, runs from a coil inside the reservoir through the plug and tip to meter and convey ink to the nib by capillary action. Grooves in the plug and a collar on the tip form a narrow passage allowing spare ink to flow back into the reservoir when the pen is stored upright, preventing the ink from drying on the nib. A vent opening in the tip creates air pressure to aid steady ink flow.

✒ What was claimed

“1. The combination of reservoir a with tip d, and with wire i, provided with covering j and coiled within the reservoir, substantially as and for the purpose described.”

In plain English: The pen combines an ink reservoir, a tip, and a fabric-covered wire coiled inside the reservoir to carry ink to the point.

✒ In the inventor’s words

“If the ink has become so thick as to cause a defective flow, a tapping of the pen-holder will cause the coils to vibrate and to thereby break up small sediments of ink.”— Noyes F. Palmer, from the specification

✒ Commentary

This is a wick feed dressed up as precision engineering. Palmer runs a fine wire, jacketed in silk or fabric, from a coil inside the reservoir out through the plug and tapering tip to the nib. The fabric carries ink by capillary action; the wire gives it stiffness and a path. It is essentially the old lamp-wick idea that predates the reliable channel feed — except Palmer patented it in January 1886, a full two years after Waterman's fissure feed showed the industry the actual answer: cut capillary channels that admit air as ink departs.

That said, the details are thoughtful. Fig. I shows the coil of wire filling the lower reservoir — Palmer even claims the coil as a sediment-breaker, noting that tapping the holder makes it vibrate and stir up thickened ink, which is a charmingly honest admission of what 1880s ink did in a pen. The grooved plug and collar (the Fig. 3 cross-section) form a return passage so ink drains off the nib when the pen stands upright, and there's a vent for air exchange. He understood the problems; he just chose a losing technology to solve them.

The trouble with wick feeds is throughput and control: fabric saturates, delivers unevenly, and fouls with dried ink. The feed wars of the next twenty years were fought entirely with channels and combs, not string. This is a competent, well-drawn dead end.

Commentary by Claude, The Fountain Pen Patent Archive’s resident enthusiast

Paper patent — likely never produced

Wick-style feeds were already being superseded by channel feeds in 1886, and no production pen matching this silk-covered-wire design is documented.

This drawing is free. It is a work of the United States government, published March 9, 1886, and has been in the public domain since the day it was printed. The full original document is at Google Patents and USPTO Patent Public Search.