STENOGRAPHIC) PEN, This instrument being chiefly employed in Stenographic writing, and invented by the author of the preceding system of Short-hand, may be very properly appended to this article.
The following is a full and exact description of the parts, construc tion and use, of the Perennial or Self-supplying Fountain Pen: ist. A cylindrical barrel, of gold, silver, glass, or other ma terial, about five inches in length, and one third of an inch in diam eter, to be filled with ink, 2d. A shaft of metal or other substance screwed into the lower end of the barrel, and projecting downward below it, about half an inch, forming in its diminished size, a collet upon which is slid a common or metallic pen.
3d. A small tube or conductor, of gold, silver, or other material, passing upward through the col let, and communicating with the column of ink by means of a regu lator, hereafter described, and at the same time extending downward, along the centre of the pen, with the lower end so bent as to open directly upon the split of the pen.
4th. A hollow wire, or rod, called the regulator, passing through the upper end of the barrel, and extending downward through the barrel and shaft, till it meets the ink tube, about midway of the shaft and collet. This regulator has a small groove or other opening near each end (and within the fasten ing or packing box, at each end of the barrel), for the purpose of admitting, when unscrewed, ink below, and air above—that is, ink into the tube below, and air into the barrel above; and at the same time, opening an un interrupted channel the whole length of the instrument, through which, if the regulator be screwed down and opened above, air or water may be forced, for the purpose of cleansing the tube, without communicating with the ink in the barrel.
5th. A piece of sponge or other porous substance attached to the wire, immediately above the shaft, and filling the entire diameter of the barrel, about a quarter of an inch upward—thus forming, when the regulator is unscrewed, and the pen in use, a strainer of the ink, and a regulator of its flowing; or, when screwed down, and the pen at rest, a general valve upon which the whole column of ink may rest. Im mediately above this spongy substance is attached to the rod, a thin, flat, circular plate, or follower, equal in width to the inner diameter of the barrel; this plate should be finely perforated in various places, near its circumference.
6th. A small stopper, at the upper end of the regu lator, and a suitable cap at the lower end of the barrel, give a finish to the whole instrument.
When in proper order, this pen will write for hours, supplying itself with ink as fast as desired by the writer.