clipped from this 2025 article (until I can find a more direct source)
Paul Wirt, in his own words
by
L. Michael Fultz
On June 20, 1884, Paul E. Wirt filed an application for a U. S. Patent for his invention of a feed bar and other components for a fountain pen. On February 3, 1885, Wirt was granted Patent number 311,554. In October, 1886, Wirt filed a complaint at Equity in the United States Circuit Court for the Eastern District of New York against Francis C. Brown, the maker of the Caws fountain pen, for infringement of the Wirt Patent. In January, 1887, Wirt filed another complaint against Daniel W. Lapham and Francis H. Bogart, the makers of the Lapham’s Rival fountain pen. Wirt claimed that he was the sole inventor of the top feed fountain pen and that all others, including Brown, Lapham and Bogart were barred from using his invention unless and until they arrange a license from Wirt.
Mr. Wirt testified in both trials about his invention and about his business. At the time, he testified that he was 39 years old and residing in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. In his testimony, Mr. Wirt said: “I am, by profession, (an) attorney at law and also making and selling fountain pens. (I have) been making and selling fountain pens for about three years.” “I have been experimenting in fountain pens from the year 1880 or 1881.”
Wirt further testified that “The principle involved in the operation and construction (of my pens) is the feeding of ink to the top side of the pen, by laying a shaft over the pen, one end of the shaft or feeder projecting into the ink to lead and attract and keep the ink down around the heal of the pen, while the other end lies out over the pen for supplying it for writing.” “The shaft or feeder is held in the nozzle at an intermediate point of its length.”
“I made a computation of the number of pens sold in America and I fixed the number at 120,000.” “I have sold and introduced in the United States all… (the pens of my manufacture) … excepting about, at a rough calculation, I should say twenty or thirty gross. (Those) have been sold in England, Germany, France, Mexico and Australia.”
Charles C. Wirt, Paul E. Wirt’s 27 year old brother and Superintendent of Manufacturing for the Wirt Pen Company, also testified in these proceedings. “I reside in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. I am engaged in the construction and repairing of Paul E. Wirt fountain pens (and have been so engaged for) nearly
four years.” Charles Wirt then testified about the details of several competing pens, pointing out how each of them violated or relied upon the principals of Wirt’s Patent.
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The first true fountain pen manufacturer. Before Wirt there were some minor companies that made a few pens that sometimes worked. The best of which was the MacKinnon stylographic pen. Wirt sold a dependable pen right from the start in the early 1880s. LE Waterman is often called the father of the fountain pen, but when he started selling pens a year or 2 after Wirt, he sold dozens when Wirt was selling hundreds. Wirt was the biggest seller of fountains pens before 1900. Wirt still had a good fountain pen after 1900, but he was no longer a major player in the market by 1910. By the 1920s he was basically selling a lever filler which was the same as others on the market with no major appeal except that they worked.
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