Help: United Service Fountain Pen

[suger]

I just got a vintage Singed United Service black fountain pen with 14K gold nib.It is black plastic and it is signed on the cap “US Untied Service, The Middlesex Co, Middletown Conn.Clipfill”.It has silver toned clip that is signed “Mercantile Ap. 19.10”.The nib is stamped “14K AL 09”.

 

I don't know any background of this pen. Can anyone help me?

 

Thanks!

[rhr]

Hi suger,

 

Interesting pen. I hope it isn't "singed", because it is probably made of hard rubber, and that would mean it was exposed to a flame. ;~)

 

I looked at the image of the nib, and it looks like it's stamped "14KT ALCo. C3". That makes it an Aikin Lambert Co. nib, but not the whole pen. The sliding accommodation clip is now known to be a Waterman's/ALCo. product, but that's also not the whole pen.

 

I'd like to see a clear image of the imprint before I make a firm identification, but until then here are some guesses. I don't have anything on the company name, "US United Service, The Middlesex Co., Middletown, Conn.", but I don't think it is a pen company. The pen may have been used as a promotional giveaway by that company.

 

At first I was looking for patents for a matchstick filler with a hole cover similar to the split retainer rings that Conklin crescent fillers have, but I didn't find any because there wasn't much there to patent. But then I came back to the word "Clipfill" and had more success. That single word in your post was almost like a smoking gun. Your pen was probably made by the Duryea Co., or Duryea-Hoge Co., or the Hoge Mfg. Co. The nib may be original, but the clip has been replaced. The original clip probably looked like the one in William F. Duryea's patent 1,049,465. Your pen has a slight variation of the protecting, or concealing ring, or "split ring" in the patent. Here's a picture of a J.Ullrich & Co. pen that uses the same clip-fill idea, but minus the concealing ring. And here's some more reading on L&P about more of those types of pens.

 

George Kovalenko.

 

Edited August 20, 2010 by rhr

[rhr]

There's also the possibility that the pen was made by ALCo., either for Duryea, or under a license from Duryea using his patent, and that might explain why it has a Waterman's/ALCo. clip. Take a look at this pen in the previously cited thread.

 

George Kovalenko.

 

Edited August 20, 2010 by rhr