 Description
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"THE NEW WRITING INSTRUMENT
No one using an ordinary pen constantly, or even for any considerable portion of the time, can fail to feel the want of something better adapted to ordinary writing than steel of gold pens. The constant dipping, which not only takes time, but is fatiguing; the liability to blotting; and, in the case of steel pens, their failure soon after they get into good condition for use – are all serious objections which existed from the first days of pens and ink until the invention of the complete little instrument shown in the above engraving. Here we show the MacKinnon fountain pen in actual use, and give a fac simile of the writing down with it. In general outline it resembles many of the penholders or pencils now in use. The handle is a tube which holds ordinary writing or copying ink. The writing point is conical, and terminated in a graceful tube of gold, tipped with iridium, polished smooth as glass. Through a fine aperture drilled through the iridium on the point, the ink flows at the slightest tonch on any surface, and it is so constructed that as soon as the pressure of writing is removal, the ink instantly ceases to flow.
With one filling this pen is capable of writing from seventy to eighty pages of foolscap. It can never blot, and when not in use it is closed perfectly tight, so that the ink cannot thicken or dry. Any good ink may be used, and the ink reservoir is readily filled by means of a small glass filler accompanying each pen. The MacKinnon Pen is not only of the greatest service to those who write continuously, but it is a very necessary record, and to whom it is serious inconvenience to carry the ordinary writing materials.
This pen has several advantages over its competitors, the most important of which are: The improved valve, which is operated by a weight instead of spring, making its action more reliable and rendering it less likely to get out of order. The writing point, which is a circle of iridium – one of the hardest of substance known – perforated with a fine tapering hole, through which the ink flows in writing. The patent for perforating iridium is controlled by the MacKinnon Pen Company, and is applied exclusively to their make of pens.
These pens have been in use in the Scientific American office for over a year, and have given good satisfaction. "
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