6, Sanford-Ink & Wirt-Pen Hands,

[rhr]

Here are some pictures of hands using writing implements. Trademark no. 05241 was issued to Sanford Mfg. Co. for "Inks" on Oct 16, 1877, and used since 1874. It consists of an image of an upright keg of ink with the words "Sandford’s Ink" on the front, and with two hands drawing ink from a c-o-c-k-valve spigot into an inkwell. Paul E. Wirt's trademark no. 37034 for "Fountain-Pens", issued on Sept 10, 1901, and used since June 30, 1901, was for "the representation of a hand holding a fountain-pen", that is, "the figure of a hand is represented as being posed in a pen-grasping position" holding a fountain pen with a pregnant barrel. The illustration page is missing from the trademark, so I am including a link to a copy of an ad from the time that makes use of the trademark image. Compare it to the pens in the illustrations in US patent nos. 651,736, 651,737, and 651,738. I have a whole binder full of these kinds of patent images, about 300 of them, all showing hands in the act of writing. I mentioned a couple of them in my previous series in a segment about my publisher's symbol and printer's dingbats.

 

George Kovalenko.

 

 

If you want to perform the trademark searches yourselves, simply cut and paste, or type the trademark numbers into the search window in the Registration Certificate Portlet. --G.

Edited April 29, 2010 by rhr