wirt infant pen

this wirt infant pen is an old BCHR pen with a gold overlay.  wirt was making fountian pens before waterman.  he was quite an early inovator but by the time he made this pen he was already falling behind the times.  it dates from somewhere between 1908-1920.  watermans spoon feed had been around for years and wirt was still using a strait channel feed.
its length capped is exactly 3" counting the first fixed ring on the cap.

the feed sadly is broken.  the pen still works fine but i am thinking about making a new one for it. 

i managed to dig up the patent date on here.

http://www.fountainpen.it/images/2/2e/Patent-US-978420.pdf

this was another wirt i found on ebay.  this one also has the V monogram