Topic: Ink Wells, Ink Bottles and Stands

[agincourt17]

Photos of a lithographed Thacker's Ink No. 606 ink tablets tin complete with original contents. The lid is colour lithographed with a view of a small sail boat in the shadow of an erupting Mount Vesuvius, and the sides have views of Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, the Pyramids, Egypt, and Niagra Falls, America.  (Permission to re-use these images on the GMB granted by tinmanrsa).

Fred.

[agincourt17]

Glass ink with pen (sic.) RD 300519, registered by Charles Harris, Ford Street, Hockley, Birmingham, Warwickshire, on 13 May 1876 - Parcel 3. Class 3 : glass.

The design representation clearly describes the design as for a 'glass ink with pen rack combined'.

Ford Street, Hockley, Birmingham (postcode B18 5PL) has been completely redeveloped with modern housing. 

"Ford Street consisted of a row of houses on one side and factories on the other side. The houses were 2 up and 2 down [back-to-back terraces] and the toilet was outside. At the top end of the street was the tram station. During the war, Birmingham was repeatedly bombed by the Germans ... and there were several direct hits by bombs on Ford Street."
http://www.francisfrith.com/birmingham/2up-and-2down_memory-162861
 
No glaringly obvious genealogical match to Charles Harris, but this may be a lead:
1871 census: at Birmingham - Charles Harris , GLASS MOULDER, (34, head of household, b. Yardley, Worcestershire), with his wife, Eliza (28, b. Wordsley, Staffs.), his sister -in law, Harriet Hanke (30, b. Wordsley), and Francis Hanke (0, b. Wordsley - Harriet Hanke's son).

Interestingly, Charles' wife was born in Wordsley, in the heart of the Stourbridge glass industry.
 
Christening of Albert  Harris, son of Charles and Eliza Harris, 18 June 1876, Birmingham.
Christening of Herbert Harris, son of Charles and Eliza Harris, 23 February 1879, Birmingham.
Christening of William Harris, son of Charles and Eliza Harris, 16 October 1887, Birmingham.

Fred.

[Paul S.]

thanks for the additional information Fred, very interesting and a good glimpse back into the past.            The Thacker's ink tablets shown in your link etc. appear to have been intended for use only with relevant ink bottle, and of course water, an effective way to make up ink as and when you need it.
In my fountain pen collection I have an example of a Thomas De Le Rue (London) 'The Pelletink Pen' made for use on active service I believe, possibly a little prior to WW II................    this has a two compartment barrel, one to contain water and the other for a supply of ink pellets.    The cavity nearest the nib was filled with water and a single ink pellet added  -  when mixed and ready to go this would then allow the ink to run through the feed and up into the nib.           No idea as to efficiency or whether it leaked, and if you were stuck in the desert then a source of water might be difficult.
I think some of the early inks were on the acidic side and bad news for steel nibs, so 14 ct. gold nibs a good idea - which most of them were.

Here a few more ink items which I hope are of interest.

[agincourt17]

Thank you for this latest batch of design representation, Paul. I hope to add them to the GMB RD database shortly.

Re:RD 282882, registered by Toy & Jones [Toy & Frederick Jones] of  38 Howard Street, Birmingham on 10 June 1874 - Parcel 4. Class 3 : glass.  No description of item given in summary.
RD 283567, registered by Toy and Jones [Toy & Frederick Jones] of  38 Howard Street, Birmingham, Warwickshire on 13 July 1874 - Parcel 3. Class 3: glass. No description of item given in summary.

Bit of a mystery really.

The designs certainly seem to resemble ink wells or inkstands, but without a reasonable description with the design registrations I suppose they could be paperweights, for example.

A search of TNA online summary of design registrations fails to reveal any additional design registrations by the registrant.

Howard Street, Birmingham, (current postcode B19 3HH) is near St. George's Church and Hockley, just outside the north-eastern boundary of Birmingham's famous Jewellery Quarter. Now occupied purely as an inner city industrial location (mostly 20th century redevelopment with a few factory remnants from the late 19th century), but in the mid- to late-1800s it was a mixed area of residential terraced houses (dating from c. 1820-1840) with rear and side 'courts' intermingled with many small workshops and factories - jewellers, silversmiths, gun parts manufacturers, brass founders, light engineering and general metalworking, etc. - typical of the  type for which Birmingham was justifiaby industrially renowned. at the time.
http://epapers.bham.ac.uk/2853/
http://epapers.bham.ac.uk/2857/
http://epapers.bham.ac.uk/2856/

I've drawn a blank with my genealogical researches so far. There are a few males with the surname Toy associated with area from the 1830 through to 1900 but most seem to be simply tradesmen or labourers, and none seem to fit the profile for a registrant of a glass design. Frederick Jones is a very common name in the district at the time and I can't find a likely fit as such either.

Fred.

[Paul S.]

quote.................  "The designs certainly seem to resemble ink wells or inkstands, but without a reasonable description with the design registrations I suppose they could be paperweights, for example"  ....

You're quite right of course Fred  -  I've become so paranoid about thinking I'm seeing these things  ...  Is this an ink well I see before me  ......
I might well be inventing them now......... and there's nothing in the Register for either of these two., but the shape looked promising

If you'd like to delete them, we can.

[agincourt17]

Let them stand, Paul. All grist to the mill.

Fred.

[Paul S.]

this is possibly the last few I have for the time being - others may surface in due course, but it looks as though I have exhausted examples from the lozenge period - but if people do find some more please let me know.
The John Short Downing pen tray shown below is similar to another design form them which was posted a few days back, No. 290191 - one has a curved shape to the end whilst the other is a square ended tray.

Always good to see these things in the flesh, should anyone have an example to show.

 

[Paul S.]

back a few posts, Fred mentioned Registration No. 282577 dated 26 May 1874 - "ornamental design for glass inkstand; Class 1: metal !!"................    this was another item Registered by John Short Downing  -  this is Kew reference BT 44/3.

I requested this Representation book from the desk, but regret to say it's presently unavailable due to extremely poor condition, and awaiting conservation..........   suffering from mould I believe.               Not that it matters too much since it's metal and not glass, but I would have posted a picture just out of curiosity to complete the Downing list.      Anyway this is just to say we won't now see this one.

Not quite sure how this one is described as 'glass inkstand' if it's a CLASS I Registration (for Metal) ??  -   

[neilh]

Just to put into perspective how many ink well designs may be out there, the Percival Vickers 1881 catalog has 28 unregistered inkwell designs, and a further 5 plain ink well pots, and that's just one company!

[Paul S.]

thanks Neil - yes appreciate there must be millions of them out there, so the few Registered designs that I've shown are just the tip of the iceberg so to speak, and as I hope has been very obvious, it was never my intention to show unregistered designs for that very reason.