Fountain Pen Companies With Continuous Histories

[Edwaroth]

Can anyone direct me to a list or know of manufacturers who have been in continous production since inception? Companies such as Onoto which have been ressurected would not fit what I am searching for. Thank-you in advance for any help you can impart.

Ed

 

 

[Scribblesoften]

There may not be a list but maybe we can make one here on your thread. How modern do you want to start? And when you say in continuous production, would you consider companies like Sheaffer, Parker, and Waterman to fit your criteria? They have not stopped being produced. Let's make a list but first define the criteria.

 

Edited for spelling. Darn touchscreen.

Edited February 22, 2014 by Scribblesoften

[Vintagepens]

Waterman, Parker, Montblanc/Simplo, Sheaffer, Pilot/Namiki come to mind.

 

Pelikan/Gunther Wagner is a very old company, but only started making fountain pens in 1929. And then there are companies such as Eagle, which are also very old, but haven't made fountain pens in a long time.

[Edwaroth]

I think what I am trying to find are companies that have not gone defunct and have been ressurected, I believe the likes of Pelikan and Aurora fit the bill.If that helps.

[tinta]

Just checked my copy of: "Fountain Pens of Japan".

With the exception of the WW II years, when the use of gold was severely limited & pen manufacturers often made other goods for the Japanese war effort,...the Sailor-brand seems to have survived as Sailor since 1911.

I'm not sure about the other two companies in the Big Three (Pilot-Namiki, Platinum), but this now gives me the impetus to read over those chapters.

Thanks!

[Edwaroth]

I suspect Platinum is, but yes, Pilot is continuous also.

Edited February 22, 2014 by Edwaroth

[Inkling13]

It's sad that the US has lost all of our companies to others due to corporate greed. Pilot, Platinum, and Sailor have kept their ownership, in part due to the work ethic of pride in one's company and treating its workers like family. Positions in these companies are often times handed down from one generation to the next. You would not sell off a cousin for a doller, but that's what we have done...

[tinta]

Both Platinum & Pilot/Namiki have long legs in the pen industry.

In 1918 Ryosuke Namiki founded the Namiki Seisakuso Co. Their trade name became Pilot.

In 1919 Syunichi Nakata founded the Nakaya Seisakusho Co., becoming the Platinum Pen Co. in 1924.

(The company that makes the "grail" urushi Nakayas started out in the year 2000 & adopted Platinum's original name.)

Sailor has been producing pens for more than a century now.

I believe all three Japanese companies also make their own nibs.

Edited February 24, 2014 by tinta

[Blade Runner]

Strike Conway Stewart off the list. Original company gave up in the mid 70s.

[Vintagepens]

Actually, it would make more sense to flip the original question around. The great majority of existing fountain pen companies do have a continuous history. Those companies whose names were taken from unconnected predecessors that went out of business years before are a tiny minority, probably numbering fewer than a dozen. Off the top of my head, the list would include the following:

 

Conklin

Conway Stewart

Kaweco

LeBoeuf (defunct in its reincarnation, as well)

Mabie Todd

Onoto

Wahl-Eversharp

[MisterBoll]

Diplomat

[Florida Blue]

Actually, it would make more sense to flip the original question around. The great majority of existing fountain pen companies do have a continuous history. Those companies whose names were taken from unconnected predecessors that went out of business years before are a tiny minority, probably numbering fewer than a dozen. Off the top of my head, the list would include the following:

 

Conklin

Conway Stewart

Kaweco

LeBoeuf (defunct in its reincarnation, as well)

Mabie Todd

Onoto

Wahl-Eversharp

 

You could also add the newly revived Astoria.

 

I'm not sure where Richard Binder's Gate City Pen Co. would fit into that. He didn't revive any companies, but he did revive certain models and brands like Dunn.

[Sasha Royale]

Louis Waterman invented the modern fountain pen feed.

George Parker created the "self-filling" fountain pen.

William Donald Sheaffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aw. I can't go there !

[Scribblesoften]

Osmia/Faber Castell has been around for quite a while and they are still in production.

[simp]

Osmia/Faber Castell has been around for quite a while and they are still in production.

They stopped making fountain pens for many years in the late 60s.

 

For the Italian ones only Aurora, Omas and Montegrappa have continous production.

 

Simone

[Tinjapan]

It's sad that the US has lost all of our companies to others due to corporate greed. Pilot, Platinum, and Sailor have kept their ownership, in part due to the work ethic of pride in one's company and treating its workers like family. Positions in these companies are often times handed down from one generation to the next. You would not sell off a cousin for a doller, but that's what we have done...

 

I would suspect that instead of corporate greed it is more along the lines of the cost of employing Americans is now so high that these companies would go under if they continued to do so.

I'm an American living in Japan and my Japanese aquaintences in corporate Japan all say that Americans are paid too much. Japanese do not start work at a company, they enter it and it is their entire existence. When their boss comes up to them as they are leaving for home at 9 pm Friday night and tells them to pack their bags, they are being sent to Hokkaido on the first plane tomorrow for three years, that they will be allowed to travel back to Tokyo once a year to visit their family, unless of course a business trip interfers, the Japanese employee responds "Yes of course" and off he goes. No matter that he promished his daughter that he would take her to Disney Land that same Saturday for her fifth birthday.

How many hours of "sabisu" or "service" to the company of unpaid overtime did the American employees at those once American companies do each week? Far less than their counterparts in Japan.

I am not in favor of these practices, but you can not compete with such when your work force demands far more from you for far less devotion.

Trying to compare Japanese and American companies and employees is a very, very difficult thing to do.

[Florida Blue]

How many hours of "sabisu" or "service" to the company of unpaid overtime did the American employees at those once American companies do each week? Far less than their counterparts in Japan.

I am not in favor of these practices, but you can not compete with such when your work force demands far more from you for far less devotion.

Trying to compare Japanese and American companies and employees is a very, very difficult thing to do.

 

Actually, there are a lot of stories of Parker employees who devoted their entering working lives to the company. Phillip Hull started working at Parker's Janesville factory in 1934 making parts for their economy pens during the evening and working as a janitor at night. He retired in 1979 as the Senior Vice President of the Parker Pen Co.

There was also Charles Cobden who, to be fair, was English, but worked at Parker's factories in Janesville, Newhaven and Toronto for 34 years in repair and on lathes.

There are also the famous Sheaffer Years of Service pins. Sheaffer gave out pins from 5 to 45 years of service at the company. Quite a few 40 and 45 year pins were awarded to longtime employees at the Ft. Madison factory.

The employees of these companies were deeply devoted to the products that they made and the mission of high standards for quality.

 

I think that the American sense of dedication and loyalty to a job or employer has changed over time, but much of that I chalk up to employers taking less interest and care in their employees for various social, political and economic reasons. My mother recently retired (2 years ago) after working for the same employer for 40 years.

Edited March 21, 2014 by Florida Blue

[pico]

This research will need to be quite deep and detailed. Continuous operation does not necessarily mean single ownership. If a pen company continuously produced and evolved their product line under a market name, but switched controlling ownership, I'd classify them as continuously produced.

 

But, some have gone down and simply been resurrected in name only by another manufacturer. Some try to put out nostalgic style products, but they are not a true evolution of the products of the original company. These would not count on this list.

 

And, I think the collapse of american manufacturing was not necessarily due to labor costs. To this day there are lots of places where labor is pretty cheap in the US. Given fair labor practices (no prison or child labor). Compared to much of the world, our 40-50 hour work weeks are not considered short. I feel the real problems started when corporations stopped focusing on product domination and market growth to simple accounting practices to increase quarterly report figures in the 60s to 80s. When the corporate officers are more focused on 90 day numeric results than long term product success, it won't bode well for the future of a company. This practice is true to this day and there is no motivation for them to change. Turning into a catch 22 of corporations not longer caring about the labor force, and the labor force having little loyalty to corporations. Also, having studied Japanese labor practices vs. actual productivity, their ungodly hours spent "on the job" are not necessarily productive hours. It's a complex subject.

[Tinjapan]

Actually, there are a lot of stories of Parker employees who devoted their entering working lives to the company. Phillip Hull started working at Parker's Janesville factory in 1934 making parts for their economy pens during the evening and working as a janitor at night. He retired in 1979 as the Senior Vice President of the Parker Pen Co.

There was also Charles Cobden who, to be fair, was English, but worked at Parker's factories in Janesville, Newhaven and Toronto for 34 years in repair and on lathes.

There are also the famous Sheaffer Years of Service pins. Sheaffer gave out pins from 5 to 45 years of service at the company. Quite a few 40 and 45 year pins were awarded to longtime employees at the Ft. Madison factory.

The employees of these companies were deeply devoted to the products that they made and the mission of high standards for quality.

 

I think that the American sense of dedication and loyalty to a job or employer has changed over time, but much of that I chalk up to employers taking less interest and care in their employees for various social, political and economic reasons. My mother recently retired (2 years ago) after working for the same employer for 40 years.

Of that I have no doubt. However, I think we naturally equate dedication and service to mean the same "over there" as it does " here". Did any of those folks you mentioned take postings that left them isolated from their families for very long periods? Would they? Would any of the companies you mentioned have even thought to impose on their employees to miss the birth of their first born child? To be physically separated from their family for their childrens' entire childhood? These situations are much rarer for families that live in Tokyo but not at all uncommon for families that live out in the provences.

 

While I have many second hand accounts that I could share I'll choose one and we can see if any of the folks you have ever known in the States have lived the same without divorcing. While in college in Niigata, Japan my language exchange partner missed our regularly schedualed weekly meeting. When I asked around school I found that he had not been on campus for a couple of days. The following week he did show and explained why he was ascent. His father was living in Tokyo as a 'geographical bachelor' while my friend lived with the rest of the family in Niigata City. Late one evening early the previous week, my friend's father called. He would be in Niigata for business and hoped to steal away for a brief visit with his family. So my friend stayed home from school for several days hoping to be able to see his father. He waited for the call from his father for much of the week. Such was his fathers dedication to his job and the need to socialize with his customers and collegues that he was not even able to sleep in his own bed in his own home, nor dine with his family when sent by his company to his home town for business. In the end, he met his father for a very quick lunch before his father had to return to Tokyo. "How many times a year do you get to see your father?" I asked. "Sometimes for Golden Week ( in May) and for New Years only." He answered. "How long have your family been living like this?" I asked. "For 12 years." Was his reply. Over the years I've lived here, I have witnessed and heard many such stories. That is what dedication means to a Japanese employer.

 

Did any of the folks you mentioned miss twelve years of their childrens' lives for the companies they worked for? I doubt it and I for one would have little respect for them if they did.

 

Did any of the companies above take it for granted that their employees would be no more in the lives of their children than a stranger that takes up couch space at holiday time? I hope not. And yet these companies must somehow compete with companies that do.

 

Now, I'll grant that I do not know anything about the fountain pen industry in the States. However, I have a bit of knowledge of industries with labor unions. My grand father was a union boss by the time he retired. He remains the most outspoken critic of unions I have ever heard. He used to complain about the unions today saying it does one no good to kill the company one works for. He said many many times that American employees, especially unions, were pricing themselves out of the labor market. And with the omnipresent critism against corporate America these days, I assumed, perhaps incorrectly, that much of what "Gramps" used to say probably applied to American fountain pen companies and their work forces. To be honest, I am certain that to some extent it did/does, but how big a part I couldn't begin to guess.

 

As for myself, I teach English conversation in Japan and work for seven different employers; three universities, one language school, one medical tech school, two corporations apart from several private students. One of my corporate positions ends on Mach 31 this year because of the April 1st consumption tax increase. The type of employment I have with them requires them to pay me this upcoming 3% tax increase. They being a very small family owned corporation, they can not afford this increase in light of the financial difficulties they are suffering from their US buyers going bancrupt. The other corporation is huge and have announced that our pay will be increading by 3% due to the tax increase, they still have a lot of overseas business and thus the need for our services. Should I blame the first company for "Corporate greed" for terminating my position? I do not. In fact, due to thier business situation, I am honored that I was able to continue for so long with them. If they had asked, I would have accepted a pay cut to keep the job. Maybe I should have offered....

 

When a ship is foundering, one should not hesitate to throw one's personal gear overboard to keep the vessel afloat....unless they are looking forward to a very long swim.

[Tinjapan]

This research will need to be quite deep and detailed. Continuous operation does not necessarily mean single ownership. If a pen company continuously produced and evolved their product line under a market name, but switched controlling ownership, I'd classify them as continuously produced.

 

But, some have gone down and simply been resurrected in name only by another manufacturer. Some try to put out nostalgic style products, but they are not a true evolution of the products of the original company. These would not count on this list.

 

And, I think the collapse of american manufacturing was not necessarily due to labor costs. To this day there are lots of places where labor is pretty cheap in the US. Given fair labor practices (no prison or child labor). Compared to much of the world, our 40-50 hour work weeks are not considered short. I feel the real problems started when corporations stopped focusing on product domination and market growth to simple accounting practices to increase quarterly report figures in the 60s to 80s. When the corporate officers are more focused on 90 day numeric results than long term product success, it won't bode well for the future of a company. This practice is true to this day and there is no motivation for them to change. Turning into a catch 22 of corporations not longer caring about the labor force, and the labor force having little loyalty to corporations. Also, having studied Japanese labor practices vs. actual productivity, their ungodly hours spent "on the job" are not necessarily productive hours. It's a complex subject.

The reasons give, I too am sure play a part. But I almost never hear of the costs of employing someone in these discussions. Every time the minimum wage increases, employers must make difficult decisions. Do they increase the price of the goods and services they offer which most likely will reduce sales or do they cut costs to recover the increase in wages? If they reduce costs, do they lower the quality of what they offer, again risking losing sales or do they cut employee hours and or benefits?

 

When the cost of our favorite ink goes up, we have choices to make. We buy less of this ink or cut back on buying something else so that we have the increased amount of money needed to continue buying the same amount of ink. At some point we may switch to a less expensive ink.

 

Corporations are forced to make the similar choices each time the union goes on strike or higher costs are imposed upon them by various laws and regulations or market increases. This fact seems to be left out of every discussion of why companies close shop and move overseas.

 

Also, how much are we the customer at fault. Many folks on this network post about going to a brick and mortor store to test out pens then buying them online at a discount. Is it corporate greed that shuts down the brick and mortor store downtown and shifts operations to an overseas warehouse?

Corporate greed exists. But it is not soley responsible for the economic problems we are facing. There are many other factors staring us in the face that no one wants to discuss that are IMO at least as important. Step one to solve any problem is to identlfy the problem. Instead, we colectively villify the easy target of corporate greed as the only facet of the problem. If the other parts of the problem aren't discussed, the solution will always remain elusive.

 

I also totally agree with your comments on long hours not equalling productivity. That is part of what I meant when I wrote earlier that it is a very difficult comparison to make. Oh! The stories I have about productivity over here!! Would be laughable if I didn't have to slug my way through it.

 

Thanks for the comments, BTW. I hope I do not come across as being combative, that is not my intent.