Electric pen

Thomas Edison's electric pen, part of a complete outfit for duplicating handwritten documents and drawings, was the first relatively safe electric-motor-driven office appliance produced and sold in the United States.

Edison recognized the possible demand for a high-speed copying device after observing the incredible amount of document duplication required of merchants, lawyers, insurance companies, and those of similar occupations.

Edison and his associate Charles Batchelor observed that as this device punctured the paper, a mark was left underneath by its chemical solution.

Other uses for the invention were personal letters, pamphlets, music, contracts, circulars, and architectural and mechanical drawings, among other types of documents.

[1] However, by 1880, the business for the electric pen started to decline when other inventions that were more efficient soon overtook Edison’s product in the market, causing it to eventually fall into obscurity.

[2][3] The major drawback to Edison’s electric pen was its wet cell battery, which had to be taken care of and maintained by experienced telegraphists.

[1][4] Due to its messy nature, it was important for Edison to incorporate batteries that were more acceptable to clerks who had to take care of the pen and its underlying machinery.

[1] These pens, along with other cheaper and simpler stencil-making technologies quickly became more popular and widely used, until all were eventually overtaken by the typewriter by the late 1880s.