Thomaston Sleeveboard Pen - Inlayed Shield and Patent
Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2015 2:40 am
This is a Thomaston Sleeveboard Pen Knife I picked up in the last month or so which I think has a pretty cool story. Though I buy a pen knife on occasion it is not my first choice for a pattern style but something intrigued me when I saw a photo of the master blade back side which had stamped "patent applied for" - couldn't quite make it out but took the chance and won the knife. I didn't know what to make of it as I had read anybody could stamp "patent applied for" on their blades... of course folks want to see the patent number. After receiving the knife and confirming what I had seen, I did a patent search online and found the patent which is attached below. The knife is no doubt celluloid but I believe with binders based on color and density perhaps it is less likely to self-destruct based on what I have read 
but this knife has its own nice home away from the others anyway 
. The inlayed shield is celluloid and check out the surface as it appears to have been textured with a series of cuts that look like they were produced by a sharp multi-pointed comb (for lack of a better word). Charles W Platts was the inventor and ran Thomaston knife in the 1920s (you can see his signature on the bottom of patent diagram of this knife with a date of 1922 - the patent when published is dated 1924 on following pages). According to Platts this knife design had many advantages - including more durability and the ability to stamp your initials on the shield rather than do an expensive engraving which he states will tarnish anyway ... Please read the patent for a full description of claims and advantages if you are interested - I think you may enjoy it! {I think you can enlarge the patent photos for reading - wasn't sure if I could have downloaded the pdf which I have and thought the jpegs would work better. Also please let me know if you want the link to patent on the web and you can view other patents which Platts referenced for his claims and future patents that referenced Platts patent for their claims including the Imperial Knife company in 1945 and La San Marco di Francesco Bugatti & C. S.A.P.A. as late as 2007 for kitchen cutlery.
The knife itself is 3 & 1/4" closed, hard snap to both blades, no wobble and the blades look near full... Well here's the story in photos and patent at end.. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did... I really like this knife, to put it mildly, and a great addition to my collection !! (Now on to trying to get some pics of the Holley Hunter and a few others to post... I know you guys love photos as you said when I joined the forum 
)...
Lee
Here's the money shot 
but this knife has its own nice home away from the others anyway . The inlayed shield is celluloid and check out the surface as it appears to have been textured with a series of cuts that look like they were produced by a sharp multi-pointed comb (for lack of a better word). Charles W Platts was the inventor and ran Thomaston knife in the 1920s (you can see his signature on the bottom of patent diagram of this knife with a date of 1922 - the patent when published is dated 1924 on following pages). According to Platts this knife design had many advantages - including more durability and the ability to stamp your initials on the shield rather than do an expensive engraving which he states will tarnish anyway ... Please read the patent for a full description of claims and advantages if you are interested - I think you may enjoy it! {I think you can enlarge the patent photos for reading - wasn't sure if I could have downloaded the pdf which I have and thought the jpegs would work better. Also please let me know if you want the link to patent on the web and you can view other patents which Platts referenced for his claims and future patents that referenced Platts patent for their claims including the Imperial Knife company in 1945 and La San Marco di Francesco Bugatti & C. S.A.P.A. as late as 2007 for kitchen cutlery. The knife itself is 3 & 1/4" closed, hard snap to both blades, no wobble and the blades look near full... Well here's the story in photos and patent at end.. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did... I really like this knife, to put it mildly, and a great addition to my collection
!! (Now on to trying to get some pics of the Holley Hunter and a few others to post... I know you guys love photos as you said when I joined the forum )...Lee
