38, The Thomas Ink Cat,

[rhr]

Most ink bottle collectors are fond of the Thomas ink company's image of a sitting black cat with a Cheshire grin and the slogan "Ask For Me" beneath it. Trademark no. 82,731, Levi H. Thomas Co., "Inks And Writing Fluids", July 18, 1911, used since January 1879, is for the word "Thomas", but not the familiar image of the black cat. I haven't been able to find that trademark, and don't even know whether it was ever issued. Also see patent no. 286,893, William A. Auble, "[Paper] Can For Ink", Oct 16, 1883, a master ink assigned to Levi H. Thomas. Perhaps patent no. 193,387 was a precursor for that one. There's also patent no. 331,843 for Levi H. Thomas's "[Paper] Ink-Bottle" from Dec 8, 1885, and his design no. 25,789 for an ink "Bottle" from July 21, 1896.

 

George Kovalenko.

 

 

If you want to perform the trademark searches, simply cut and paste, or type the trademark numbers into the search window in the Trademark Document Retrieval Portlet.

Edited July 13, 2010 by rhr