ALBERT G. BAGLEY AND THE AMERICAN WRITING REVOLUTION
Bagley Ingenuity
Albert Gilman Bagley apprenticed under Simeon Hyde alongside Levi Brown until 1838 when Bagley opened a Gold Pen business at 1 Front Street, just down the street from Brown's 10 Front Street address in Brooklyn. He followed Levi Brown’s lead into the Gold Pen revolution in the United States, embracing America's thriving economy to transform a new technology into art in the calligrapher's hand.
Bagley Gold Pen Nibs
As an early pioneer in the developing technology of gold pen manufacturing, Mr. Bagley experimented relentlessly to perfect his gold nib tipping process and marketed models that would become iconic during the 1840s and 1850s
Models included Bagley’s United States Pen, The Congress Pen, The Union Pen, and others marketed through a network of retailers. Bagley Gold Pen nibs became sought after worldwide.
Bagley Extension Penholders
Bagley extension penholder innovations reverberated among the growing circle of gold pen makers in New York City, and his related patent awards in 1846 and 1847 set the stage for his arrival as the dominant American producer.
The transition of pens from utility to art arrived in the 1850s with the creation of spectacular penholder designs in 18k gold and sterling silver.
Albert G. Bagley's most often noted patents were awarded for pen and pencil cases constructed of one or two tubes inside or outside of others to make a stronger pen-case when drawn out. This format proliferated, both 2-tube and 3-tube varieties, with some marked with the Bagley 1850 patent and a rare few still exist marked with the 1846 patent.
Mr. Bagley worked to improve the manufacture of pen holders and was awarded a patent in 1847 for a method of forming metallic pen-barrels by drawing, thereby reducing manufacturing steps, employee time on task, and lowering manufacturing costs. Thanks to this innovation, Bagley‘s factory dramatically increased precision, consistency, and production volume.
Patent number 4,991, awarded on February 27, 1847, mentions the savings in manufacturing time and labor. This patent is cited by General Electric Company within its 1996 patent numbered US5727581A and by Cerus Endovascular Limited within its three patents: EP3510945A1, EP3782576A1, and EP4011303A2 for occlusion device technology innovations between 2014 and 2016.
Albert G. Bagley‘s 1846, 1847, & 1850 patents are classified as “pioneer” status patents, firmly establishing the legacy of Bagley ingenuity.
Bagley’s United States Pen
Mr. Bagley created highly marketable Gold Pen nibs named after Patriotic themes and famous Monarchy, ultimately creating demand through a retail network of stationers and other goods marketers across the United States. Demand for Bagley Gold Pen nibs as well as his famous patented extension pen holders resulted in the Bagley factory operation striving to fulfill voluminous orders arriving from within and outside of America. His practice of offering the patent pen holders ”to-the-trade” enabled Bagley to profit from the developing sales cycles of his peers, the revolutionary American Gold Pen Makers.
The Links to Albert G. Bagley Legacy below provide insights into the genius of his patents, background about his Gold Pen factories, the manufacturing steps of the first large volume Gold Pen nib and only extension pen holder manufacturing operation, a timeline of the century-long company history, and gallery of the Bagley and successor products.
Albert G. Bagley, New York
