43, The X-Patents

July 21, 2007

The X-Patents.

And last but not least, here's one of the disappeared ones. As you can see from the story retold by John H. Lienhard in his online column, The Engines Of Our Ingenuity, "The Lost Patents", most of the x-patents did not survive, and the attempt to restore them has not been altogether successful. Well, I am pleased to announce here that at least one more of those lost x-patents shall be restored, and a fountain pen patent, no less. A fellow pen collector and contributor to the pen discussion on the various pen message boards was instrumental in finding this lost x-patent. I owe her a great debt of gratitude for sharing her discovery with me. Her name will appear in the next volume of my book, in the illustration list and the introduction, and the illustration itself will appear at the head of the chapter of US patents. There are other fountain pen patents that are earlier than this one, but there are no surviving patent images for those, either, so this one by default is the earliest US pen patent image, so far.

I can't include a link to this patent, yet, seeing as there are no patent images online, so for this one, sadly, you'll have to wait just a little longer. ;~)

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And this brings to a conclusion this second series of some of my favorite pen patents, which should actually be the first. Perhaps someone else can be persuaded to take over and do a third series, and a third volume of patents, because I'm burnt out after having done Volumes 1 and 2, and I ain’t doin’ it no more. There is still a lot out there to be found in the period after 1957. There's enough for Volume 3, the patents from 1958 to 1975, and Volume 4, those from 1976 to the present. But this series just illustrates the kinds of things that can be found in the early period of pen patents, and the type of research that is made possible, if one has a chronological list of all the US pen and pencil and ink patents to work from. Mind you, you'll have to look at every single one of them to find all the interesting and goofy ones. ;~)

George Kovalenko.

Some pen videos · July 22, 2007

I can't include a link to this patent, yet, seeing as there are no patent images online, so for this one, sadly, you'll have to wait just a little longer. ;~)

This sounds like JKRowling protecting the secrets of the "Deathly Hallows".

Are you going to have a midnight party when this volume comes out? :)

Seriously, thanks for posting all these.

To be honest I was hoping for a European patent volume.... Any chance?

July 22, 2007

I can't include a link to this patent, yet, seeing as there are no patent images online, so for this one, sadly, you'll have to wait just a little longer. ;~)
This sounds like JKRowling protecting the secrets of the "Deathly Hallows".
Are you going to have a midnight party when this volume comes out? :-) :-)

After all that hard work, I'm certainly not going to give away the beginning. ;~)

Seriously, thanks for posting all these. To be honest I was hoping for a European patent volume.... Any chance?

Let me quote myself, for those who are hard of reading. ;~)

I ain’t doin’ it no more.

Let me get this straight. All of Europe?! All of the European countries?! Why don't you do the European patent volume?! There's nothing stopping you from doing it. I'm afraid it's a bit esoteric and something that only you and a few other specialists are interested in.

George Kovalenko.

Edited July 22, 2007 by rhr

Some pen videos · July 22, 2007

Let me get this straight. All of Europe?! All of the European countries?! Why don't you do the European patent volume?! There's nothing stopping you from doing it. I'm afraid it's a bit esoteric and something that only you and a few other specialists are interested in.

Europe esoteric? I thought the whole fountain pen thingy is esoteric :~)

Anyway, as long as things are electronic something can be done for after 1920.

Unfortunately we have to wait for Google to do Europe for the earlier ones...

Again, thanks, it has been fun...