From the Crypt III: How Smart Was Jay Rider, Really?

(This page published November 8, 2022)

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This is one of a series of short articles that I posted on an Internet forum in 2012. The Internet being a graveyard, I’ve exhumed them for preservation on this site.

I’ve long admired the Rider “Perfection” pen, produced by the J. G. Rider Pen Company of Rockford, Illinois.

Based on U.S. Patent N^o 737,920, awarded to Jay G. Rider on September 22, 1903, the pen was an eyedropper filler without a separate section. Instead, it had a special feed that was notched on the bottom so that you could use your fingernail or the pen’s clip to pull the feed out, leaving the nib in place, to fill the pen. Here’s the relevant patent drawing.

Well, my admiration is a little dimmed these days, I have to say. While I was doing some research this week on the Laughlin Manufacturing Company, I discovered a patent taken out by Joseph F. Betzler and assigned by him to James W. Laughlin. U.S. Patent N^o 686,920, dated November 19, 1901, is in essence identical to Rider’s later patent.

Laughlin never made pens to Betzler’s patent, and now I wonder whether Rider might have seen it at some point, varying his design just enough that it would pass muster at the patent office.

Did You Enjoy This Article?

Here are links to the other six articles in this series.

From the Crypt I: Moore & Evans — Who Were They?
From the Crypt II: Camel and…
From the Crypt IV: How Smart Was Francis Cashel Brown, Really?
From the Crypt V: The Parker Pen Company Didn’t Really Invent the “51”.
From the Crypt VI: Thar She Blows! The Blow Filler and What Followed
From the Crypt VII: How Smart Was Walter Sheaffer, Really?

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