Gaylord Fountain Pen Pistol
In 1954, Sol Harry Gaylord, Jr. and James Tollinger filed a patent for a ‘Fountain Pen Pistol’, their patent was granted in July 1958. The patent itself was assigned to Gaylord Products, Incorporated, based in Chicago.
The pen pistol is made up of an receiver that resembles a fountain pen with a short rifled barrel inside. In addition to the usual clip the pen has a cocking piece near its middle. This piece was used to cock the firearm and release the striker to fire the gun. The cocking piece can be seen labelled on the patent diagram as ‘23′.
The Gaylord pistol pen is shown to fire a rimfire cartridge with a prominent spitzer projectile but no calibre is mentioned in the patent text. The weapon was loaded by unscrewing the barrel at its threaded breech. The patent explains that the pen could then be “cocked and fired by holding the stock with the fingers while the related thumb is employed to cock and release the firing pin carrier.”
I was unable to find further details about the assignee company, Gaylord Products, Incorporated, other than that they also held a number of patents for a number of hair related products such a hair clips. I was unable to find any further patents filed by Sol Gaylord, Jr. but James Tollinger’s name does appear on patents for shotguns filed in the early 1970s, assigned to the Ithaca Gun Company.
Sources:
‘Fountain Pen Pistol’, S.H. Gaylord, Jr. & J. Tollinger, US Patent #2844902, 29th Jul. 1958 (source)
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