A New Tool
Innovations in ink-pen designs had already come a long way over time -- from feather quills to steel to fountain-pen units. But by the early twentieth century, professional graphic designers and sign painters still devoted an incredible amount of their time to the art of lettering such work because of the uniform size and shape of the tips of their tools.
Then Seattle's Ross F. George came up with a radically innovative idea: a pen with various sizes and shapes of metal nibs that would allow an artist to vary the width of an ink line with a subtle twist of the pen. It proved to be effective and much more efficient timewise. George then refined the idea with input from his mentor and peer, William Hugh Gordon.
Applying for a Patent
Sensing that the invention would have serious commercial applications, they partnered up and sought out the best lawyer in town in order to file a design patent application with the U.S. Patent Office. And they apparently located the right man for the job: Henry L. Reynolds (5152 Holly Street). Reynolds, according to The Seattle Daily Times, "first came to Seattle in 1887. He was the first patent attorney in Seattle and Washington State" ("Long-Time Patent Attorneys Visit Here").
A three-page document was produced featuring diagrams of the pen and nibs, and the typical description of their claims. That application form (Serial No. 868,780) was signed by Reynolds (and two witnesses, P. L. McElwain and J. E. Prouty) and submitted to the government.
About a year and a half later, on February 22, 1916, their patent (No. 1,172,785) was granted. With a manufacturing and marketing deal signed with the C. Howard Hunt Pen Co. of Camden, New Jersey, the Lettering Pen went into production and onto a wildly successful future as a new tool that would be cherished by countless artists and cartoonists.
