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 Patent No. 10859, awarded on 30 September 1842, For an unalterable metallic nib.

Mr. Mallat stated in his patent … “Struck by the innumerable disadvantages presented by all the feathers invented to date, I imagined a feather which combined the advantages of remaining unalterable, however long it was used.

I have added to these advantages a more solid arrangement, which protects the pen from all inconvenience, keeps the ink at a suitable distance, allowing it to flow only according to the need of the beak, while preventing it from being able to spurt out on paper.

The body of the nib is of gold, plain or other acid-proof metal which reddens in the ink; moreover, the ends of the beaks are adorned with rubies or another unalterable stone.

The tutor that I add under the pen, as seen in a, fig. 2°, supports the beaks, which makes it easy to arm the springs so that they exert a slight pressure on the stake, which means that the beaks can never cross, since they arrive with force to fix on a point. solid and unchanging.

The tutor prevents the spurting of the ink in that it moderates the elasticity of the beaks, and maintains them when the nib is raised to form the hairlines.”

Mallat found that gold gave the nib great flexibility, while a rib composed of platinum & silver fixed under the nib maintained even firmness, preventing the two gold strips from “crossing” while constituting a reservoir for the ink. To remedy the wear of gold nib points, he inserted ruby chips to each tip. 

On June 30, 1843, Mr. Mallat filed an improvement to his 1842 patent.

Mallat’s improvement was the addition of iridium tipping.

Quoted from a translation of his patent improvement language…

“PATENT OF ADDITION AND IMPROVEMENT.

By my primitive patent, the manufacture of my nibs was in gold, platinum or other metal, and at their end I fitted or crimped points in rubies, hard stones or other unalterable parts.

These parts are osmium or iridium which I solder to the tip of my pen nibs, to replace my rubies or other hard stones, which do not have the same advantages that metal presents to me as regards use and manufacture.

The pen, armed at its extremities with rubies or hard stones, at first offers difficulty for manufacture, and hence raises the price twice; then danger of breaking by falling.

On the contrary, the nib to which I weld the osmium, the iridium presents more guarantee as for the solidity, and facilitates the manufacture by giving the means of making it more elegant and finer.

Moreover, this metal is so strong that the metal of the nib will break rather than it.”

He later began to apply grains of iridium or osmium to nib tips. Gold was expensive and iridium even more so. The cost of his gold and silver penholders, coupled with the threaded, fixed gold nib resulted in only wealthy elites having accessibility to this product. This pen is scarce due to extremely low production.  

1846 Scientific Notices.

REPORT BY M. DE SILVESTRE, OF THE COMMITTEE OF ECONOMICAL ARTS, ON THE MANUFACTURE OF THE METALLIC PENS OF JEAN BENOIT MALLAT.

Translated from the " Bulletin de la Société d'Encouragement" for the London Journal of Arts, Sciences, and Manufactures, and Repertory of Patent Inventions:

Gentlemen, although the invention of metallic pens dates about fifty years back, it is only within the last fifteen years that these pens have come into very general use, and, consequently, that their manufacture has acquired a degree of  importance; in practice, however, many serious inconveniences have been found to arise from the nature of the substance of which they are composed, as well as from the processes employed in their manufacture. Thus, in a given quantity of metallic pens, a very small number, only, are made to suit the purchaser; for, in general, they work badly on paper, and quickly deteriorate when used; in consequence also of the little importance attached to the temper of these pens, many of them bend from want of sufficient temper, whilst others break from being too much tempered.

The means hitherto adopted to avoid these inconveniences has been, to offer a large produce for consumption at a very low price, in order, as much as possible, to decrease the loss arising from the number of ill made and useless pens, a means which is evidently inefficacious.

M. Mallat has proposed to introduce into the manufacture of metallic pens certain improvements, which would certainly increase their cost, but at the same time make them infinitely better and more durable.

The nibs of M. Mallat's pens are not obtained by one stroke of the punch. Each pen is composed of several parts, which, from the nature of the substances employed in their composition, are equally invulnerable to exterior agents: these different parts are, the nibs, the stem or barrel, and the points.

The two nibs, manufactured separately by the machine, and then connected by means of the stem, are formed from an alloy of gold, platinum, silver, and copper, in such proportions that, though retaining the appearance of the gold, they combine, with the unchangeability of this metal, the most perfect elasticity.

The stem or barrel, on which the nibs are rivetted, is composed of platinum and silver.

M. Mallat employs, in the construction of the points of the nibs, the ruby, and another still harder substance, called osmiuret of iridium. This alloy, in the granular state as obtained from the platinum ore, is soldered to the extremity of each nib, and is ground to the desired form by means of emery and diamond dust. The osmiuret of iridium, on account of its extreme hardness, completely resists the action of the Turkey stone, which is commonly used among jewellers.

As regards the ruby points,they are firmly fixed to the extremity of each nib, and then ground by the ordinary process.

The assiduity with which M. Mallat has conducted his manufacture for several years,has led to the most satisfactory results; for, in addition to his pens being composed of inoxydizable substances, which assures them great durability, their points are always smooth, which facilitates their use on all sorts of paper; the consumer has therefore merely to choose a pen of a suitable degree of hardness.

Finally, the best testimony which the Committee of Economical Arts can furnish, in proof of the eulogium which they deem worthy to bestow on M. Mallat, is the number of orders and sales entered in his books. 

These entries serve to show the progress of his manufacture,and consequently the estimation in which his productions are held. 

During the first year, 1843, M. Mallat delivered for consumption nearly fifteen hundred pens ; the second year this number increased to about two thousand five hundred ; the third year arose to five thousand ; and in the present year, 1846, M. Mallat anticipates a demand for ten thousand pens, and yet each pen cannot be sold under six francs. 

I may add that M. Mallat is the inventor of several machines which are essential to his manufacture, and which are highly creditable to his ingenuity.

A special ivory handled pen holder for which the 1842 Gold Pen nib marked Mallat Brevete is known for but mounted with a J. Bramah clamp for a quill nib composed of .950 silver. 

The Dieppe ivory handle is exceptionally long and intricately carved, the 8 inch length offered a fragility that rarely survived.

The Mallat business began to manufacture other calligraphy related products including sealing wax.

In 1864, he created one of the first commercially exploited reservoir penholders, commercialized as the SIPHOÏDE. This pen was constructed primarily of woods, with ink filling performed by a threaded wooden rod suction filling mechanism and ink flow regulation to the nib by a wood bolt.

Jean-Benoît Mallat died in 1877, a father leaving a prosperous business to his son.

Source: A Passion for Pens

 by Pierre Harry & Jean-Pierre Lacroux