"pat Apl For" - Can One Find Info?

[Dave Johannsen]

Just a quick question... In another thread (here) I mention that I found a Houston pen, the cap of which is imprinted "pat apl for." I believe that there was no patent awarded for the cap design (presumably the part of the pen for which patent protection was sought). So, I am led to ask if one can find information on patent applications that were denied? Is this information kept and accessible? Thanks for any information on what happens to applications for which no patent is issued.

 

 

Dave

[devaldez]

The US Patent and Trademark office maintains a search-able database that include most, if not all, patents applied or granted.

 

http://www.uspto.gov...earch/index.jsp

 

Using this search query brought up 45 patents, with numbers 34 through 43 apparently related to the Houston Pen Company (I didn't check, but they all seem to relate to fountain pens). Please do feel free to try other queries as I didn't try very hard...

Edited July 19, 2010 by devaldez

[Dave Johannsen]

The US Patent and Trademark office maintains a search-able database that include most, if not all, patents applied or granted.

 

http://www.uspto.gov...earch/index.jsp

 

Using this search query brought up 45 patents, with numbers 34 through 43 apparently related to the Houston Pen Company (I didn't check, but they all seem to relate to fountain pens). Please do feel free to try other queries as I didn't try very hard...

 

Thanks for the link. The problem is that, to quote from the USPTO website: "Patents from 1790 through 1975 are searchable only by Issue Date, Patent Number, and Current US Classification." The patent application for which I am searching would have been applied for, almost surely, during the 1920s. So, I have been using "Google Patents" (with all its associated OCR issues), but am pretty confident that this only includes patents that were awarded (and not applications).

 

 

Dave

[Roger W.]

If there was no patent granted you won't find it online. You might be able to find it in the archives in Alexandria. J.G. Rider is like that as part of the capitalization Rider put in a couple of patent applications that failed to be awarded so I've no hope of finding out what they were. You can search patents easier using Google patents than the US Patent office.

 

Roger W.

 

Corrected the location per George's post.

Edited July 19, 2010 by Roger W.

[rhr]

Actually, the link provided by devaldez, search query, is quite promising. Somehow the search that was performed found a few items, i.e., the last three items in the list, that all date to before 1976, including one actual Houston patent from 1929. So the USPTO might have to revise their disclaimer, "Patents from 1790 through 1975 are searchable only by Issue Date, Patent Number, and Current US Classification". They must be slowly working their way backwards and digitizing and adding patents to the searchable list.

 

As for the "Pat Apl For", you'll have to go to Alexandria to search their full hardcopy files to find the rejected applications. There's still the possibility that the patent for the cap feature might have been issued to someone other than Houston, and in a category that has nothing to do with pens, for instance, the attachment of the ringtop mechanism, or the chain clip, in which case you'll have to invoke the proverbial needle-in-a-haystack corollary. ;~) I presume that you already have the 1919 patent in the barrel imprint.

 

George Kovalenko.

 

[Dave Johannsen]

There's still the possibility that the patent for the cap feature might have been issued to someone other than Houston, and in a category that has nothing to do with pens, for instance, the attachment of the ringtop mechanism, or the chain clip, in which case you'll have to invoke the proverbial needle-in-a-haystack corollary. ;~) I presume that you already have the 1919 patent in the barrel imprint.

 

I've tried lots of searches using Google, browsing lots and lots o' patents (anything that I could think of that could be related to Houston, two-piece caps, rings, chains, Sioux City, etc). However, you're right that the connection may be far more tenuous than I could possibly imagine (or no connection at all, other than licensing someone else's invention). I have a suspicion, though, that it was a Houston designed invention for which patent protection was sought.

 

As for the 1919 patent, yep I have that. However, on neither 1919 patent imprinted Jiffy pen that I own have I been able to get any part of the pen to yield to reasonable pressure. It seems that the knurled end piece ought to turn or extend to operate the plunger, but it doesn't budge at all. I guess that I'm not curious enough to risk damaging the pen by applying either more pressure or heat.

 

I have some other Houston questions to investigate when I have more time. I really want to know who I can contact in Iowa to find documents pertaining to General Manufacturing Co. The web turns up nothing, so I need to figure out how to dig a bit deeper (i.e., what state office might still have incorporation records, tax records, etc).

 

Again, thank you for all the help, George. I really do look forward to purchasing a copy of "The Pen Makers" when it is completed (I want learn much more about Schnell, Barrett, Mooney, Welty, etc.).

 

 

Dave

[Roger W.]

There's still the possibility that the patent for the cap feature might have been issued to someone other than Houston, and in a category that has nothing to do with pens, for instance, the attachment of the ringtop mechanism, or the chain clip, in which case you'll have to invoke the proverbial needle-in-a-haystack corollary. ;~) I presume that you already have the 1919 patent in the barrel imprint.

 

I've tried lots of searches using Google, browsing lots and lots o' patents (anything that I could think of that could be related to Houston, two-piece caps, rings, chains, Sioux City, etc). However, you're right that the connection may be far more tenuous than I could possibly imagine (or no connection at all, other than licensing someone else's invention). I have a suspicion, though, that it was a Houston designed invention for which patent protection was sought.

 

As for the 1919 patent, yep I have that. However, on neither 1919 patent imprinted Jiffy pen that I own have I been able to get any part of the pen to yield to reasonable pressure. It seems that the knurled end piece ought to turn or extend to operate the plunger, but it doesn't budge at all. I guess that I'm not curious enough to risk damaging the pen by applying either more pressure or heat.

 

I have some other Houston questions to investigate when I have more time. I really want to know who I can contact in Iowa to find documents pertaining to General Manufacturing Co. The web turns up nothing, so I need to figure out how to dig a bit deeper (i.e., what state office might still have incorporation records, tax records, etc).

 

Again, thank you for all the help, George. I really do look forward to purchasing a copy of "The Pen Makers" when it is completed (I want learn much more about Schnell, Barrett, Mooney, Welty, etc.).

 

 

Dave

 

You check with the Iowa Secretary of States' Office. Very freindly when I was looking for the original Sheaffer incorporation. Most States are Secretary of State but, you might need Division of Corporations, etc. (SOS for Iowa anyway).

 

Roger W.

[Dave Johannsen]

You check with the Iowa Secretary of States' Office. Very freindly when I was looking for the original Sheaffer incorporation. Most States are Secretary of State but, you might need Division of Corporations, etc. (SOS for Iowa anyway).

Thanks Roger. I will try to contact them and see if they have the resources to help with this.

 

 

Dave

[Dave Johannsen]

Again, thanks Roger. Browsing from the Secretary of States' page to the Iowa libraries page, I was able to locate a design patent awarded to Houston for his hook pin (D55515). I didn't have this one before, so you've made my day.

 

 

Dave

[rhr]

I was able to locate a design patent awarded to Houston for his hook pin (D55515).

Way to go! That just might be your "Pat Apl For". You see how there is no mention of a fountain pen anywhere in the patent?

 

George Kovalenko.

 

[Dave Johannsen]

Way to go! That just might be your "Pat Apl For". You see how there is no mention of a fountain pen anywhere in the

If only the pen in question had the hook... Alas, it is missing. Interesting, though, that the stylized "J" clasp wasn't patented until 1920. I guess I need to pull out some folders from a couple of years ago (when I last thought about these things) to see if I ever had any idea of when Jiffy first appeared (right now, I honestly don't recall).

 

By the way, I hope that was a new one for you, as well (I would like to make even a small repayment to you).

 

 

Dave

Edited July 20, 2010 by Dave Johannsen

[rhr]

By the way, I hope that was a new one for you, as well (I would like to make even a small repayment to you).

You're right, a small repayment has been made. Thank you. And the reason I didn't have it was the one that I gave above, that there was no mention of a fountain pen anywhere in the patent. As I say in the introduction to the patent book, I suspect that there are many patents out there like this one that I haven't found yet. Also, Google Patents wasn't online when I was doing my patent research. By the way, since the design was on Google Pats all along, we both could have found it there earlier, but only by searching for Houston's name alone, without including "fountain pen" in the search. ;~)

 

I don't think the missing hook is an issue, or a problem. It was probably there when the pen was brand new and was first sold in a store, and only went missing much later. It could easily be replaced from someone's spare parts, I should think.

 

George Kovalenko.

 

Edited July 20, 2010 by rhr

[Dave Johannsen]

I don't think the missing hook is an issue, or a problem. It was probably there when the pen was brand new and was first sold in a store, and only went missing much later.

 

I only meant that it would be evidence that the "pat apl for" refers to the design patent for the hook. If the hook were present and were one of the other styles found on Houston pens, then the imprint on the cap would obviously refer to something else (perhaps the odd two-piece cap). It seems unlilely that we'll ever be able to answer this question definitively, but that the hook may be the likely culprit.

 

 

Dave