The Inclined-Valve Inkstand: A Glass Clapper That the Pen Pushes Open

"The nature of my invention consists in the application of an inclined valve or clapper A. See the vertical cut section in the annexed drawings, Figure 1. Said clapper is made of plate glass, (or other material with a hard smooth surface) with a bracket hinge B, made of copper or silver plate, cemented upon its under surface." "The objects gained by the above arrangement are, the exclusion of the atmosphere from the ink, and security from spilling the same in the upsetting of the inkstand, also of cleaning the point of the pen on the edge of the valve, which is an inevitable result at each time the pen is inserted or withdrawn in using."

**Top and funnel.** Print a lid for a small glass jar with a funnel through it whose lower end is cut off at 45°, and two small studs beside it with gaps for a hinge wire. **Clapper.** Cut a small piece of glass sheet a little larger than the funnel's lower opening and grind its edges. Cement a strip of brass shim under it with epoxy, bent up at one side into a tube round a length of steel wire as the hinge. **Springs.** Wind two small coil springs of steel wire on the hinge wire, one each side, with their ends set to press the clapper up against the funnel's cut end. Set the wire's ends into the studs' gaps and pinch them shut. **Test.** Fill the jar with ink, fit the lid, and dip a pen through the funnel: the clapper opens and closes, and wipes the nib as it comes out. Over a tray, tip the stand over and see how much escapes. Leave it a week beside an open jar of the same ink and compare them.

**Walter Hunt** of New York, New York, assignor to Augustus T. Arrowsmith, received US 4,221, dated 7 October 1845. His bracket hinge B of copper or silver plate was cemented under the clapper and bent into a thimble C round the hinge wire E, whose ends were let into gaps in two studs F, F cast on the inkstand's top G; a plug tube L with a cork let the stand be cleaned. His claim is the inclined valve with a glass or other hard, smooth surface, with the inclined ink tube, the valve forced upward by springs. **Honest limits.** A printed top, a steel-wire spring and brass shim stand in for his cast top, silver springs and copper plate. The notebook treats the ink as still; its sizes, depths and spring force are examples. Your upset test and week of standing are the result.