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Part of a device for duplicating handwritten documents
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. To satisfy this demand, Edison invented the electric pen, which uses a perforating function inspired by the printing telegraph. Edison and his associate Charles Batchelor observed that as this device punctured the paper, a mark was left underneath by its chemical solution. Edison took advantage of this property and built the electric pen around it. The development of the electric pen took place in the summer of 1875. US patent 180,857 for autographic printing was issued to Thomas Edison in 1876, covering the pen, the duplication press, and accessories.

The electric pen was the key component of a complete duplicating system, which included the pen, a cast iron holder with a wooden insert, a wet cell battery on a cast iron stand, and a cast iron flatbed duplicating press with an ink roller. All the cast iron parts were black japanned, with gold striping or decoration. The hand held electric pen was powered by a wet cell battery, which was wired to an electric motor mounted on top of a pen like shaft. According to the manual, the motor drove a reciprocating needle that could make 50 punctures per second or 3,000 per minute. The user was instructed to place the stencil on firm blotting paper on a flat surface, then use the pen to write or draw naturally to form words and designs as a series of minute perforations in the stencil. Once the stencil was prepared, it was placed in the flatbed duplicating press with a blank sheet of paper below. An inked roller was passed over the stencil, leaving an impression of the image on the paper. Edison boasted that over 5,000 copies could be made from one stencil.

Edison’s main target audience included firms that depended on duplicating documents to run their business. Another advertisement made by the pen reads “Like Kissing Every Succeeding Impression is as Good as the First Endorsed By Every One Who Has Tried It! Only a Gentle Pressure Used.” with the words floating around an embracing couple.

Aside from companies, the electric pen was also marketed to the general public. Other uses for the invention were personal letters, pamphlets, music, contracts, circulars, and architectural and mechanical drawings, among other types of documents. In late 1875, the pen was at first sold only in the East Coast of the United States at the starting price of $30. It was further spread to the Midwest, British Columbia, and England after its rise in popularity when more than 150 pens were being sold monthly. What was previously done by hand was now done much faster thanks to this revolutionary device. Around this time, tattoos started to rise as a cultural phenomenon thanks to their popularity among European nobility. O’Reilly took advantage of this and produced an electric tattoo needle to give him the edge in this new market. O’Reilly enjoyed considerable success until his abrupt death in 1908. Charles Wagner, O’Reilly’s apprentice, inherited the business from his master. This particular Electric Pen includes a rare battery box. The owner sells the Pen to the Pickers for $12,000, which they expect to resell at a higher price.