Match-stick filler

The match-stick filler system is one of many systems designed at the beginning of the century to try to automate the fountain pen ink filling. In this case it was a matter of compressing the rubber tank through the use of a match (or a toothpick or other similar tool) that went to press, through a hole made on the shaft of the pen, on the compression bar.

The problems of this mechanism were mostly related to providing adequate positioning to the pressure bar (it was usually glued). The system was not particularly sturdy, nor elegant, and it assumed however the possession of a match, without which it turned out useless. To this problem some producers had obviated making the clasp dismountable and usable to the place of the match, or creating an opportune protuberance on the head of the cap or using some alternative form in order to furnish an adequate partridge.

Il sistema pertanto risulta alquanto primitivo dato che nessuno aveva trovato una soluzione al suo problema più rilevante, quello per cui in caso di rottura del sacchetto di gomma interno, l'inchiostro poteva fuoriuscire dal forellino presente sul corpo della penna con le immaginabili poco gradevoli conseguenze.

Brevetti correlati

• Brevetto n° US-766560, del 1904-08-02, richiesto il 1904-05-16, di Otto E. Weidlich, Weidlich. Sistema di caricamento.

• Brevetto n° US-827022, del 1906-07-24, richiesto il 1905-07-22, di David B. Kaufmann, Unbranded. Sistema di caricamento.

• Brevetto n° US-1049465, del 1913-01-07, richiesto il 1912-01-18, di William F. Duryea, Salz. Sistema di caricamento.

• Brevetto n° US-1198994, del 1916-09-19, richiesto il 1916-06-29, di Claes W. Boman, Eagle. Sistema di caricamento.

• Brevetto n° US-1475954, del 1923-12-04, richiesto il 1923-02-10, di David Klein, Eclipse. Sistema di caricamento.