Our Ancestors' Pens and Inks

[Paddler]

Here is a photo of a "master ink bottle", a school inkwell, and a pen holder from the early 20th Century.

 

The bottle is stoneware made by M Bourne & Son, Denby Pottery, near Derby, England. It used to contain "writing fluid" manufactured by P. & J. Arnold of London. It was the "master ink bottle" used in schools, post offices, court houses, and other places where large amounts of ink were used. I dug this bottle out of the dirt floor of my grandmother's general store warehouse. It could date from as far back to the middle of the 19th Century.

 

The Inkwell is from a desk in our local school. It has a shoulder that keeps it from slipping through the hole in the desk top. These were used up to 1956 when Sheaffer began to market their first cartridge pens.

 

The pen holder is from our early 20th Century schools. It is just a Japanned stick with a round slit in the end to match the curvature of the nib tang.

 

Paddler

 

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_XcOp8lCtJ-I/SV_LQPRew2I/AAAAAAAAAK0/haaBsIpmgAk/s400/Master%20Ink%20Bottle.jpg

[welch]

Interesting items!

 

When I was in kindergarten and up until 4th grade (roughly 1957), in some classes our desks had plastic inkwells and in others they had circular spaces for glass inkwells...like your Sheaffer.

 

Our local drugstore chain sold stick pens at least until 1960, and maybe later. Right alongside the cheery blue and yellow boxes holding bottles of Sheaffer Skrip Writing Fluid.

[Larynxa]

I've always thought that manufacturers' insistence on calling ink "writing fluid" was a shining example of complicating language purely for the sake of marketing.

 

"Ink" describes the liquid you use to make marks on paper---just one word of three letters.

 

It took a team of ad men working for various companies, to expand that to a total of 12 letters in two words: "writing fluid"---just in case anyone didn't know the definition of ink.

 

And then, Sheaffer's advertising department took things to their ultimate level of complication by insisting that Skrip was a "successor to ink"---three words, 14 letters, incorporating the original three-letter word purely to claim that Skrip was NOT what it so obviously was!

 

 

 

(Why, yes, I do have an English degree...)

Edited December 11, 2009 by Larynxa

[stevlight]

These are great. I just showed the 4-5 yr olds I teach one of my fountain pens. We have drawn with sticks dipped in ink and will be drawing after the holidays with metal dip pens, then fountain pens. They are so interested and it really gets a lot of them interested in drawing and writing--plus it is one of my passions so of course i am excited about it. Wish we had the desks with the holes and ink wells that would be so cool.

[pen2paper]

were there many other items you found?

was invited to a dig in Nashville historic site, but during daytime August heat.. beyond my ability to quickly adapt.

19thC privy digs are interesting.

 

 

[Paddler]

were there many other items you found?

was invited to a dig in Nashville historic site, but during daytime August heat.. beyond my ability to quickly adapt.

19thC privy digs are interesting.

 

Why, yes, now that you mention it. I found these in the detritus of the general store. I cannot find out what they are called or what they were used for. The frames are cast iron, the pins are steel, the hinge with the loop is brass. I have taken these for years to museums, historical reenactments, Amish hardware stores, everywhere. Nobody can tell me.

 

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_XcOp8lCtJ-I/SWYhixPEaPI/AAAAAAAAALM/llLQTIMHHDA/s400/Mystery%20Frobnitz.jpg

[pen2paper]

were there many other items you found?

was invited to a dig in Nashville historic site, but during daytime August heat.. beyond my ability to quickly adapt.

19thC privy digs are interesting.

 

Why, yes, now that you mention it. I found these in the detritus of the general store. I cannot find out what they are called or what they were used for. The frames are cast iron, the pins are steel, the hinge with the loop is brass. I have taken these for years to museums, historical reenactments, Amish hardware stores, everywhere. Nobody can tell me.

 

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_XcOp8lCtJ-I/SWYhixPEaPI/AAAAAAAAALM/llLQTIMHHDA/s400/Mystery%20Frobnitz.jpg

hmm, very interesting.. the materials suggest a utilitarian. non-garment item..

if the item was very small, 1/2-1 inch, and lighter garment friendly metal, brass silver gold.. would suggest a skirt lifter..the visible riding/dancing ones were ornate.. working ones plain, but usually white metal, steel.

The 19thC inner-garment contraptions were a series of levers, pulleys and pins.

Wildoaklane, has, as I recall, participated in some living history programs???

were there any remnants of cord or leather attached when 1st dug up?

pin through heavy textile? and hanging?

again, if light, jewelry-like, with pin in center-a posy/violet holder.

could these have held banner loops? like GAR Banners?

those are my guesses for now..

will post a link to a patent picture of a flounce skirt lifter 'contraption' tomorrow.

these usually had clamps/pads to protect the material. my french-made cycling skirt lifts are steel, and slightly smaller..pads, not pins.

http://www.buttoncou...v%20Devices.htm

http://www.buttoncou...com/patents.htm

at the bottom of this page on patents you will find access to US Patents, and may be able to discern what your item is there.

Let us know what you find out..Very curious now!

http://www.rubylane....sgallery/ilist/,cs=Clothing:Skirt+Lifter,,+Skirt+Lift,id=2.32.html

NAYY on this one.

http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&rlz=1T4GWYA_enUS331US331&q=skirt+lifters&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=C_QiS70ckKY2tZG14wk&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=5&ved=0CCYQrQQwBA

NAYY on these too..but you can see the close comparison..

Edited December 12, 2009 by pen2paper

[Paddler]

were there many other items you found?

was invited to a dig in Nashville historic site, but during daytime August heat.. beyond my ability to quickly adapt.

19thC privy digs are interesting.

 

Why, yes, now that you mention it. I found these in the detritus of the general store. I cannot find out what they are called or what they were used for. The frames are cast iron, the pins are steel, the hinge with the loop is brass. I have taken these for years to museums, historical reenactments, Amish hardware stores, everywhere. Nobody can tell me.

 

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_XcOp8lCtJ-I/SWYhixPEaPI/AAAAAAAAALM/llLQTIMHHDA/s400/Mystery%20Frobnitz.jpg

hmm, very interesting.. the materials suggest a utilitarian. non-garment item..

if the item was very small, 1/2-1 inch, and lighter garment friendly metal, brass silver gold.. would suggest a skirt lifter..the visible riding/dancing ones were ornate.. working ones plain, but usually white metal, steel.

The 19thC inner-garment contraptions were a series of levers, pulleys and pins.

Wildoaklane, has, as I recall, participated in some living history programs???

were there any remnants of cord or leather attached when 1st dug up?

pin through heavy textile? and hanging?

again, if light, jewelry-like, with pin in center-a posy/violet holder.

could these have held banner loops? like GAR Banners?

those are my guesses for now..

will post a link to a patent picture of a flunce skirt lifter 'contraption' tomorrow.

these usually had clamps/pads to protect the material. my french-made cycling skirt lifts are steel, and slightly smaller..pads, not pins.

 

Nothing was attached to these things - no fabric or leather. I have ten of them - all alike. Many people have been able to invent uses for them. They are heavy enough to be part of a horse harness, but I am assured by people who know horses that this is not the case. One woman, a seamstress, said it holds a spool of thread and a loop of string hangs it from a quilter's neck - keeps the thread handy. One guy said it is a gunsmith's tool for driving pins out of a gun's receiver. A hunter said it is to hang a deer by the feet for skinning. There are almost as many opinions as queries.

 

Paddler

[lensassaman]

 

Nothing was attached to these things - no fabric or leather. I have ten of them - all alike. Many people have been able to invent uses for them. They are heavy enough to be part of a horse harness, but I am assured by people who know horses that this is not the case. One woman, a seamstress, said it holds a spool of thread and a loop of string hangs it from a quilter's neck - keeps the thread handy. One guy said it is a gunsmith's tool for driving pins out of a gun's receiver. A hunter said it is to hang a deer by the feet for skinning. There are almost as many opinions as queries.

 

Perhaps they aren't a specialized item, but rather a general purpose clasp; think of all the items sold in hardware stores today that, if found centuries later, wouldn't have a single specific use associated with them. Or perhaps i'm just adding another opinion!

 

(I'm curious to know what they are, too. It's interesting to me that we could be so clueless about a seemingly common device that was in use only a few generations ago!)