The Oil-Wick Fountain Brush: A Can Whose Wick Is the Brush

An oil can and a rag spill, and a brush dipped in oil drips. Preston H. Clingan of Florence, Colorado, received US 787,278, dated 11 April 1905, for "a can of very simple form which is so constructed as to prevent the possibility of spilling the contents thereof": an open thimble hangs from the can's mouth to near its bottom, a rolled burlap wick inside it is frayed above the mouth into a brush, and oil in the chamber round the thimble reaches the wick from underneath. This rung works out how high a wick can lift oil, then builds the can from a jar, a tin and burlap and weighs the oil it lays on a board.